WAMMFEST FACING MAJOR DOWNER IF SANTA CRUZ COUNCIL DOESN'T LIFT SMOKING BAN

SANTA CRUZ -- WAMMfest, the annual event where medical marijuana
patients toke up in San Lorenzo Park while touting the benefits of
their medicine, may be in for a major bummer.

Organizers might have to throw a marijuana festival without the smoke.

On Sept. 27, Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana will hold its
annual WAMM Festival -- a medical pot, hemp and music celebration.
The group last week requested an exception from the city's ban on
smoking in San Lorenzo Park so its 200 patients could attend the
event and inhale their medicine.

With Councilman Tony Madrigal sick, the City Council on Tuesday split
the vote 3-3 and the motion failed. All council members voiced their
support for medical marijuana, but not all were crazy about granting
an exception to city rules for a festival celebrating drugs that are
illegal without a prescription, fearing it could draw recreational tokers.

The issue will return to the council on Sept. 23. But Mayor Ryan
Coonerty, who voted for the measure the first time around, will be
absent -- raising the possibility of another tie. While Madrigal said
he supports lifting the ban, one of the other council members who
voted "no" Tuesday -- Ed Porter, Cynthia Mathews or Lynn Robinson --
would have to change their stance to lift the ban and allow patients
to light up in the park.

"In all likelihood it will be a 3-3 vote and it will not pass," Coonerty said.

Porter, a teacher at Santa Cruz High School, said he supports medical
marijuana but does not want to lift the ban because "inevitably the
festival becomes a recreational thing and a celebration in the park."

"I encounter students who want to use it recreationally and I need to
work against that. I think it's a problem," he said.

For Valerie Corral, the co-founder of WAMM, the situation is infuriating.

"I don't understand the big kerfuffle about taking legal medicine,
really. I think it's absurd," Corral said. She does not plan to move
the festival at this late date; instead, Corral said she is preparing
vaporizers for the event, which heat cannabis to the point where
active ingredients are released but smoke is not.

Councilwoman Emily Reilly, who with Coonerty and Councilman Mike
Rotkin voted to lift the ban, said she still hopes to find a way
around the smoking ban.

"This is not and never has been about the recreational use of illegal
drugs. This is about having compassion for sick and dying people," Reilly said.

WAMMfest in recent years has come under the jurisdiction of the
city's no smoking rule, which applies in San Lorenzo and other parks.
The council unanimously approved a temporary suspension of the
smoking ban for last year's event, and organizers planned a closed
tent for patients who couldn't wait to get home to take a hit.

However, Sentinel reports from last year's festival showed that many
participants did smoke joints on the lawn, and some drove in from out
of town for what they considered a recreational event.