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City OKs Day of Public Toking

Ban on smoking in Santa Cruz parks lifted for medical-marijuana fest

By Zach Samalin, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 20, 2007 7:09 PM CDT

(Newser) – Two kinds of "green laws" collided in Santa Cruz, Calif., when a local group that distributes free medical marijuana came up against a smoking ban in the park where the group holds its annual festival. The city council reached a healthy compromise, providing attendees in need of self-medication with a pot-smoking tent, the San Jose Mercury News reports.

Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana grows and provides free marijuana to its 250 members, 80% of whom are terminally ill. Smokers outside the tent Sept. 29 will be cited, and the ban goes back into effect the next day. "This is not Golden Gate Park, and it's not 1964," said WAMM's co-founder. "It's not going to be a big smoke-out."

[Images (4)]

[Videos (1)]

A flower blossoms outside Santa Cruz City Hall. In a measure to protect public health, the city banned smoking in public parks last year, but a one day compromise has been reached for for users of medicinal... (User: BrendelSignature; Wikimedia Commons)

"This is not Golden Gate Park, and it's not 1964," said Valerie Corral, co-founder of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana. "It's not going to be a big smoke-out." (Shutterstock.com)

The one-day exception to the ban on public smoking will permit festival-goers to use medical marijuana in a designated tent. (Shutterstock.com)

Ban Introduced On Smoking Marijuana In Public Areas (Getty Images)

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Senator Barack Obama on Medical Marijuana--Aug. 21, 2007 (livefreenh (YouTube))

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City OKs Day of Public Toking