PRO-POT CROWD MEETS IN LONGMONT

LONGMONT -- There were T-shirts, vendors, live music. In that
respect, it could have been like a thousand other events at the
Radisson Conference Center.

Of course, those thousand other events might not have been promoting
the use of medical marijuana.

"Free un-medicated cookie samples," one booth's sign
proclaimed.

"Run THC," a T-shirt displayed, thrown slightly into shadow by a
purple grow light in the next booth over.

"Get your medical marijuana license today," read another sign, this
one for Mile High Meds.

Sunday marked the first-ever Colorado Medical Marijuana Festival,
billed as "celebrating the sacred herb." For patients with their
paperwork in order -- marked among the crowd by their pink wristbands
- -- that celebration could include acquiring medical marijuana, but
not consuming it. Not until they left the property, anyway.

"You can't smoke on the premises, man," a security guard advised one
patient checking in. "I haven't heard anything about medicating on
the premises."

It took about seven months for organizers to set up the event,
including permissions from the Boulder County Drug Task Force. The
convention might have been impossible even a few years ago, organizer
Sean Bookman acknowledged, and still would be unthinkable in many
parts of the nation.

"The whole industry is pretty fresh," Bookman said. "We had to jump
in when we saw the opportunity."

It's an opportunity that's facing uncertain times. Several Colorado
cities, including Longmont, have placed a moratorium on new
dispensaries. A new state law(HB 1284) waiting for Gov. Bill Ritter's
signature would set up a licensing authority and allow cities and
towns to ban dispensaries entirely.

Several dispensary owners had lobbied for some sort of regulation,
but some now fear the current bill will shut most dispensaries down.

"I think there's people that see a gold mine in it," said Dan
Kastanek of MariTrust, a Denver dispensary that opened its doors
April 20. "Regulations need to be made, but it's unclear if they need
to be so stringent."

Eulalio Rodriguez Jr., one of the day's speakers, said dispensaries
should face similar rules as liquor stores or bars -- no sales to
minors, no operating near a school or church, and so on.

"We need real regulations, not hypotheticals," he said. "All that tax
revenue is going to go back into the community. We may have the
majority of cardholders in Boulder -- why not capitalize on it?"

Others were capitalizing in different ways. On the main convention
floor (separated from the patients-only room), one could find pipes,
bowls, stickers, even security systems. One booth even promoted a
candidate for Congress.

At its heart, Bookman said, the event was meant to be
educational.

"This is not a 'pot rally' or a 'pot festival,'" he said. "This is an
event for patients, for the industry and for people in general to
come together."