ENTREPRENEURS DISCOVER GOLD AS 'POT CULTURE' WAFTS INTO MAINSTREAM

In June, an estimated 25,000 people attended the inaugural THC Expo
hemp and art show in downtown Los Angeles, an event that pumped
hundreds of thousands of dollars into the local economy — including a
$22,400 payment directly to the city of Los Angeles for use of its
convention center.

Barneys New York in Beverly Hills is celebrating the Woodstock spirit
by selling $78 "Hashish" candles in Jonathan Adler pots with
bas-relief marijuana leaves; Hickey offers $75 linen pocket squares or
$120 custom polo shirts bearing the five-part leaf; and French
designer Lucien Pellat-Finet is serving up white-gold and diamond
custom pot-leaf-emblazoned wristwatches for $49,000 and belt buckles
for $56,000.

Earlier this year, Season 5 of Showtime's "Weeds" kicked off with
promotional materials plastered on bus shelters, buses and billboards
throughout the city. Last year, just across from the tourist-packed
Farmers Market, a "Pineapple Express" billboard belched faux pot smoke
into the air. Even the '70s slacker-stoner comedians Cheech Marin and
Tommy Chong are back. After recently concluding an international tour,
they say they are working on another movie, voicing an animated
version of themselves and even batting around the idea of staging a
Cheech and Chong Broadway musical.

Rolling into mainstream

After decades of bubbling up around the edges of so-called civilized
society, marijuana seems to be marching mainstream at a fairly rapid
pace. At least in urban areas such as Los Angeles, cannabis culture is
coming out of the closet.

At fashion insider parties, joints are passed nearly as freely as hors
d'oeuvres. Traces of the acrid smoke waft from restaurant patios, car
windows and passing pedestrians on the city streets — in broad
daylight. Even the art of name-dropping in casual conversation — once
limited to celebrity sightings and designer shoe purchases — now
includes the occasional boast of recently discovered weed strains such
as "Strawberry Cough" and "Purple Kush."

Public sentiment is more than anecdotal; earlier this year, a
California Field Poll found that 56 percent of California voters
supported legalizing and taxing marijuana. In July, voters in Oakland
overwhelmingly approved a tax increase on medical marijuana sales, the
first of its kind in the United States, and Councilwoman Janice Hahn
has proposed something similar for Los Angeles.

"In this current economic crisis, we need to get creative about how we
raise funds," Hahn said in a statement.

Smoking pot used to be the kind of personal conduct that could sink a
Supreme Court nomination (Douglas Ginsburg in 1987) or embarrass a
presidential candidate (Bill Clinton in 1992). In contrast, it seems
to be a nonissue for the current inhabitant of the Oval Office; Barack
Obama issued his marijuana mea culpa in a 1995 memoir.

A different madness

Drug references in popular music have multiplied like, well, weeds in
the past three decades. Marijuana's presence on TV and in movies has
moved from the harbinger of bad things including murderous rage
("Reefer Madness" in 1936) to full-scale hauntings ("Poltergeist" in
1982) and burger runs gone awry ("Harold & Kumar go to White Castle"
in 2001) to being just another fixture in the pop-culture firmament.
Cannabis crops up on shows such as "Entourage," "Curb Your
Enthusiasm," "True Blood" and "Desperate Housewives," and even on
animated shows such as "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy."

Robert Thompson, a professor of television and pop culture at the
University of Syracuse S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications,
says marijuana's new status is no surprise.

"The people who are making movies and television shows, from the
scriptwriters to the director and the producers — a very large chunk
of those are probably people who grew up not only much more
comfortable with marijuana's presence in society but probably as
consumers themselves of it," Thompson said.

The new drunk

"As a result, it's almost switched with alcohol. Think back to Dean
Martin and Foster Brooks — their whole comedy act was the fact that
they were in the bag — that now is seen a lot less often. The stoner
is the new drunk."

There's one hitch.

General marijuana use is, of course, illegal. Under federal law,
marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance (in the same category
as LSD, heroin and peyote) and possession of it is punishable by up to
one year in jail and a minimum fine of $1,000 for a first conviction.
According to the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Report, in 2007 there were
872,721 arrests in the U.S. for marijuana violations.

For Californians not covered under the state's medical marijuana law
(which continues to engender controversy among those who believe it's
abused by recreational users), possession of 28.5 grams or less is a
misdemeanor punishable by a $100 fine.

What's more, passing a drug-free urine test is still a prerequisite
for many jobs.

Scofflaws

Nonetheless, some indulge. Marijuana reform groups say it's a $35.8
billion domestic cash crop. And today's cannabis consumers — the state
chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws
estimates the number of Californians who have smoked at least once in
the past year is 3 million — open their wallets for pot-themed movies,
handbooks, energy drinks, hemp clothing and ganja-themed bus tours,
all part of the ever-widening marijuana-adjacent economy.

How much is spent?

"It's hard to say," said Brian Roberts, co-founder of the THC Expo.
"Do you count 'Pineapple Express' that did $100 million at the box
office? Do you add in Dr. Dre's '(The) Chronic' and '2001' albums that
(together) sold over 10 million copies?

"What I can tell you is that (the expo) pumped over $400,000 into the
local economy," he added, citing expenditures for security guards and
other temporary staffers, banners, decorations, printing and
advertising, among other things.

The so-called marijuana movement has attracted some surprising names.
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, has spoken out about decreasing penalties for
possession and protecting medical marijuana users. Earlier this year,
Glenn Beck of Fox News announced on the air: "Look, I'm a libertarian.
You want to legalize marijuana, you want to legalize drugs — that's
fine."

David Bienenstock, senior editor of New York-based marijuana magazine
High Times and author of "The Official High Times Pot Smoker's
Handbook," said: "Whether you're with the press or a politician, it's
no longer a third rail. In the past it could have cost you your job.
Now people are at least able to have those conversations."

Let's do it again

Roberts, for one, is ready. He's already booked 50,000 square feet at
the Los Angeles Convention Center for next year's THC Expo. It's going
to happen April 23-25 — right after the April 20 date that's become a
kind of pot smokers' national holiday.

"They're happy to have us back," Roberts said. "They told me the food
concessions sold $38,000 worth of food on the first day alone — and
that's more than they do in a whole week at the California Gift Show."