SANTA CRUZ LIFTS PARK SMOKING BAN FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA FESTIVAL

SANTA CRUZ -- City leaders have made an exception to the no-smoking
rule at parks to allow an annual tradition to continue.

The smoking ban, less than two years old, will be lifted temporarily
for medical marijuana users to medicate at San Lorenzo Park during
next week's Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana annual festival.

"I think there's a solid basis for supporting this group," said
Councilman Mike Rotkin, who joined Mayor Emily Reilly in writing the
resolution to exempt WAMM from the smoking ban. "They're pretty
selfless folks. It's not like they're out there profiting off other
people's medical needs."

WAMM is a cooperative started in 1993 for seriously ill medical
marijuana patients to grow and share the plant. The cooperative has
about 200 members.

The City Council unanimously approved the exemption last week.

The smoking ban was created in March 2006 to protect public health
and safety at San Lorenzo and Grant Street parks.

The ban would have prevented organizers and attendees of WAMM's Sept.
29 festival from using their medicine, WAMM co-founder Valerie Corral
said. Corral spoke with Reilly about her medical concerns about
patients not using marijuana while attending the event and didn't
want them to have to stay home.

Smoking has been a regular part of the WAMM festival, which has taken
place annually for 14 years to raise awareness and funds for medical
marijuana issues and celebrate the community's support for the
cooperative Corral started with her husband, Mike Corral.

Corral estimated nearly 2,000 people attended last year's festival.

Smoking marijuana takes place inside a tent by a small portion of
attendees, she said.

"This isn't Ohio," Corral said Tuesday. "It makes perfect sense to
use medical marijuana in a very discreet and thoughtful manner. This
is the way it's always been and there's never ever been a remote complaint."

Rotkin said the council would likely make similar exceptions for
other groups doing good in the community.

He cited the city's sleeping ban, which prevents camping in city
parks, as an example. "If the Boy Scouts wanted to have a sleep out
in Harvey West Park, we'd say yes," Rotkin said. "WAMM falls into
that general category."

However, Councilman Ed Porter said he had "mixed feelings" about
granting the temporary exemption.

The issue was on the council's consent agenda, a list of items passed
without discussion, and was not questioned by the council or public.

"If it were publicly discussed, I'd probably have voted no," Porter
said. "I just decided not to be the only one to question it, so I
remained silent."

The exemption will be in effect from noon to 5 p.m. Sept. 29.