MARIJUANA MAVEN WON'T BUTT OUT

Legal Hassles Don't Dissuade 'Stan The Man'

In the 1940s and '50s, Stan Eby was part of a strong-man balancing
act, traveling the country and becoming a regular in the early days of
Santa Monica's famous "Muscle Beach."

Some 60 years later, Eby runs a marijuana dispensary - Stan the Man
Collective - on the outskirts of Vallejo, and is under legal fire for
alleged illegal operations due to city zoning policies.

When Eby talks about why he bears police raids and legal hurdles
instead of dropping his efforts, he spends little time explaining.
"Because I want to help people while I'm alive," Eby said of his motivation.

"Nobody's ever OD'd - there's never been a death from it. That's a
pretty good record, isn't it?" Eby asserted, comfortably barefoot in
his Glen Cove home, with its front door open to visitors.
"(Marijuana's) just a plant and herb that helps people."

Vallejo city attorneys filed suit against the dispensary last month,
saying the business lacks the correct business license to operate in
the city, and that the city zoning code does not permit marijuana
sales. A Solano County Superior Court judge will consider Thursday
closing the dispensary down while the case moves forward.

Eby would not share his age, but acknowledged that an acquaintance's
public announcement of 97 was overshooting the mark. Eby is somewhere
in his 80s - "maybe," he said.

"I don't discuss my age," Eby said. "My doctor said, 'Never tell
anybody how old you are.' "

Although Eby said his hearing isn't so great, and he trembles between
comments, there are similarities between a young man known for
gymnastic feats of strength and willpower to push forward in bringing
medical marijuana to the masses.

Born in a small Nebraska farming town near Omaha, Eby said he went to
work after the Great Depression with the government-sponsored Civilian
Conservation Corps, where he earned $30 a month and met the man who
would become his performing partner for 12 years. The partners took
the stage names of The King Brothers - Stan and Don King, and built up
their hand-balance stamina for years before acquiring some renown.

"I met Don down at the CC camp, in the barracks. ... He was walking up
and down the aisle," Eby said. "We were just a couple of hicks from
the farm ... wanting to work out."

"We hitchhiked down to San Francisco. ... All we had was 10 cents in
our pockets. You know how much the ferry was? Five cents," Eby said.

"It took us five years, and we started winning all the amateur shows
in San Francisco."

In a 1951 edition of "The Billboard: The World's Foremost Amusement Weekly"
the review of a performance at New York's Palace theater described The King
Brothers as "one of the best opening acts seen in a long time," commending
them for the "surprise laughs" they drew with a dog and prop in their
performance.

"Their studied, slightly exaggerated movements are a pleasure to
watch," the reviewer commented.

Eby's reminiscing was interrupted by a visit from Ken Estes, Stan the
Man club founder, along with another dispensary partner, who ducked
out back on Eby's patio to check on the marijuana growth.

"How about those sativa (plants)? Aren't they something else?" Eby
said proudly to his co-worker.

The two then briefly debated how tall the plant would grow, and if it
would stop short of the top of Eby's fence.

"I have a permit from a doctor that I can grow 25 plants," Eby said.
"I don't even grow that many out here. And it's perfectly legal; the
cops can't touch them. If they touch them, I could sue them - which I
would do."

Running a marijuana club in Vallejo, for Eby, is a clear-cut matter.
He said he does not understand why the city has decided to take only
his business to court, despite nine other documented dispensaries
around town, and with a pending statewide November vote to legalize
general marijuana use.

"I just can't understand people who have bad personal thoughts, and
don't realize that (medical marijuana is) perfectly legal now," Eby
said. "Just because a few people think that way, you shouldn't stop
the people who really need it."