City OKs Day of Public Toking

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." (More medical marijuana stories.)