Public medical marijuana smoking

Authorities in Santa Cruz are paving the way for medical marijuana activists to light up at an upcoming festival:

City leaders in Santa Cruz, Calif., will suspend the city's no-smoking rule to allow medical marijuana users light up during an annual festival.

The smoking ban will be lifted to allow for the medicinal use of marijuana during the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana annual festival Sept. 29, the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News reported Wednesday.

"I think there's a solid basis for supporting this group," said Councilman Mike Rotkin, who joined Mayor Emily Reilly in creating the resolution that exempted 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."

Of course, this isn't blanket permission to smoke marijuana; obviously you have to have a prescription to use it medically. But it does provide for some nice fat photo ops, I have to say. There's nothing quite like an obvious, open sense of community to help spur local activism, and when your community is so stigmatized by so many, getting out at a festival like this and being able to smoke up is bound to be good for morale if nothing else.