EVENT TO ROCK THE JOINT

At the Annual Cypress Hill Smokeout, Patients Can Legally Smoke Marijuana.

By its very name, the Cypress Hill Smokeout, a single-day rap and
rock music festival, is engineered with a red eye toward the
narcotically inclined. But this Saturday, for the first time in the
event's dozen-year history, medical marijuana patients will be
permitted to roll it up, light it up and inhale. And for those who
don't have a card, a doctor will be on duty to issue one.

The arrangement is the result of a pact between the board of San
Bernardino's National Orange Show Events Center and Smokeout
promoters Guerilla Union and Cypress Hill. It will allow for a
dedicated consumption area to be set aside for patients possessing a
valid doctor's recommendation.

In creating a safe zone for smokers, the concert, which will feature
performances by Incubus, Deadmau5, Erykah Badu and two dozen others,
places itself in the middle of a political issue that reaches its
apex on Nov. 2, when Californians will weigh in on Proposition 19,
called the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010. The
measure would allow anyone 21 or older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.

"This is about more than just offering a place where people with
medical marijuana cards can smoke marijuana freely," said Chang
Weisberg, the founder of Guerilla Union. "We have a marijuana expo
where we promote activism, compassion and education. We believe that
medical marijuana is the gateway to responsible tax-regulated
consumption. Big alcohol, big medicine and big tobacco fan a lot of
negative stereotypes regarding cannabis, and we're trying to dispel
them." He adds that the agreement is the result of Guerilla Union's
successfully executing the Smokeout and two other music festivals,
Paid Dues and Rock the Bells.

The decision comes at a time of shifting social mores toward
marijuana, with 14 states currently allowing medical consumption for
patients who have obtained a doctor's recommendation. Earlier this
month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law that reduced marijuana
possession of under an ounce from a misdemeanor to an infraction. .

"The idea was [Weisberg's], but we needed to make sure that there was
a list of do's and don'ts that would be followed," said Dan Jimenez,
the general manager of the National Orange Show Events Center. "No
alcohol will be served in the consumption area, and we'll have extra
security guards on hand to ensure proper guidelines are being followed."

The rules and regulations were drawn up with help from Americans for
Safe Access (ASA), an Oakland-based organization that bills itself as
"the nation's largest organization of patients, medical
professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and
legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research." The ASA
will be in charge of verifying potential entrants who want to access
the smoking area.

"Contrasted with Northern California, Southern California has been
slower to embrace medical marijuana and its consumption in these type
of environments. We're trying to reassure people that this can be
controlled and regulated -- it won't be a smokeout free-for-all,"
said Don Duncan, the California director of the ASA. "We'll have
volunteers and staff members screening patients. We'll have safety
monitors. There's a possibility that someone may try to game the
system, but we have an experienced crew who are capable of spotting
people with fake recommendations."

Though the San Bernardino Police Department has not condoned the
agreement between Guerilla Union and the Orange Show, it has agreed
to honor patients' rights to use medicinal marijuana as granted under
1996's Proposition 215. There will continue to be undercover
narcotics officers at the Smokeout, but Lt. Gwendolyn Waters, the
Southeast District commander of the city of San Bernardino, says that
they will restrict their focus to other illicit substances. No
marijuana will be permitted to be sold on the premises.

"The Orange Show is private property, so it's not within our rights
to prevent a medical marijuana consumption area. We don't condone or
consent to it, and we don't think it's a good idea, but it's legal by
law and we'll do everything in our power to make sure it goes off
safely," Waters said. "Its success will depend on the users and
attendees of the concert. If they want to ensure that this will
happen in the future, they're going to have to be responsible and
behave respectfully."

A certified card-carrying medical marijuana patient himself, B-Real
of Cypress Hill viewed the decision as a partial culmination of a
lifetime of efforts devoted to the medical marijuana and legalization cause.

"This is something that we've been working toward since we started
the Smokeout. It's a dream come true to get headliners like Incubus,
Manu Chao, Nas and Damian Marley at a venue where medical patients
can smoke as they see fit," the South Gate-raised rapper said. "We're
seeing the times change and people's views evolve. No longer are they
as willing to accept what the government has to say about marijuana.
People are more informed these days, they're more tolerant and more
accepting than they've ever been."