DALY CITY – The City Council recently approved a temporary ban on medical-marijuana dispensaries, but that won't stop the International Cannabis & Hemp Expo from coming to town next month.
The exposition arrives at the Cow Palace for the first time April 17 and 18, featuring speakers, vendors and a restricted area where legitimate medical-pot patients can consume the drug they themselves bring.
"It's mainly to bring awareness and education to the public" regarding the medical, recreational and industrial uses of marijuana, said Bob Katzman, the expo's chief operations officer. Industrial uses of the plant include hemp clothing.
"We want to enlighten people on the fact that we are looking at an estimated $8 billion-a-year industry in California alone," Katzman said Friday.
No pot will be sold on the premises, he said, but patients who bring their own medical marijuana will be able to go into a "safe, secure" area to use the product, he said.
"It will be an area outside the building and only accessible to people who prove to have a valid prescription for medical-marijuana use," said Joseph Barkett, chief executive officer of the Cow Palace, which is owned and operated by the state Department of Agriculture's Division of Fairs and Expositions.
Cow Palace officials have been working with the expo's organizers the past several months to ensure the event is run in a legal, safe and professional manner, Barkett added.
"We're satisfied" that appropriate measures have been taken, he said.
The city's 45-day moratorium on the establishment of dispensaries has no bearing on the expo, Vice Mayor Carol Klatt said.
"They have a right to come," Klatt said, "and it's state property. It's the state that is allowing it to go there. We have no control of that."
Klatt and her fellow council members agreed on the moratorium March 22 so the city can have time to study a possible ordinance regulating dispensaries, they said. Cities statewide have been struggling to decide how to address such an operation since voters in 1996 passed Proposition 215, which legalized medical marijuana.
Besides Daly City, South San Francisco, San Bruno and Redwood City have placed temporary bans on medical-pot collectives. In February, Millbrae became the first city in San Mateo County to outlaw them.
But Katzman believes such action by cities will prove futile. "It's state law that cities must implement ordinances," he said. "They will eventually lose that fight" to put up bans.
While many cities remain reluctant to allow collectives, a statewide initiative to legalize marijuana has qualified for the November ballot.
If voters approve the initiative, adults 21 and older would be permitted to possess up to an ounce of marijuana; anyone could grow up to 25 square feet of plants per residence; and local governments would be asked to craft rules on distributing and taxing marijuana.
Katzman believes the measure will pass, he said, but the government will have a particularly hard time regulating it in the beginning.
"I think it will do well" in the polls, he said.
"But I don't think the infrastructure exists yet to handle it like with tobacco and alcohol – it'll take time," he added. "There needs to be some sort of agency to govern cannabis that doesn't exist, and frankly, the government doesn't have the experience or the educational resources to do it properly."
At the expo, key figures in the movement to legalize marijuana are scheduled to speak, including cannabis activist Richard Lee, of Oakland, and state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, sponsor of a separate pot-decriminalization bill.
Local bands such as the Lovers Drugs and Hypnotic Vibrations will perform, and vendors will sell and give out information on hemp apparel, music and books, seed manufacturers, nutrient suppliers and legal services.
The expo should draw about 20,000 people over two days, Katzman said.
News Hawk: Warbux 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Inside Bay Area
Author: Neil Gonzales
Contact: Home - Inside Bay Area
Copyright: 2010 The Oakland Tribune
Website: Pot expo comes to Cow Palace - Inside Bay Area
The exposition arrives at the Cow Palace for the first time April 17 and 18, featuring speakers, vendors and a restricted area where legitimate medical-pot patients can consume the drug they themselves bring.
"It's mainly to bring awareness and education to the public" regarding the medical, recreational and industrial uses of marijuana, said Bob Katzman, the expo's chief operations officer. Industrial uses of the plant include hemp clothing.
"We want to enlighten people on the fact that we are looking at an estimated $8 billion-a-year industry in California alone," Katzman said Friday.
No pot will be sold on the premises, he said, but patients who bring their own medical marijuana will be able to go into a "safe, secure" area to use the product, he said.
"It will be an area outside the building and only accessible to people who prove to have a valid prescription for medical-marijuana use," said Joseph Barkett, chief executive officer of the Cow Palace, which is owned and operated by the state Department of Agriculture's Division of Fairs and Expositions.
Cow Palace officials have been working with the expo's organizers the past several months to ensure the event is run in a legal, safe and professional manner, Barkett added.
"We're satisfied" that appropriate measures have been taken, he said.
The city's 45-day moratorium on the establishment of dispensaries has no bearing on the expo, Vice Mayor Carol Klatt said.
"They have a right to come," Klatt said, "and it's state property. It's the state that is allowing it to go there. We have no control of that."
Klatt and her fellow council members agreed on the moratorium March 22 so the city can have time to study a possible ordinance regulating dispensaries, they said. Cities statewide have been struggling to decide how to address such an operation since voters in 1996 passed Proposition 215, which legalized medical marijuana.
Besides Daly City, South San Francisco, San Bruno and Redwood City have placed temporary bans on medical-pot collectives. In February, Millbrae became the first city in San Mateo County to outlaw them.
But Katzman believes such action by cities will prove futile. "It's state law that cities must implement ordinances," he said. "They will eventually lose that fight" to put up bans.
While many cities remain reluctant to allow collectives, a statewide initiative to legalize marijuana has qualified for the November ballot.
If voters approve the initiative, adults 21 and older would be permitted to possess up to an ounce of marijuana; anyone could grow up to 25 square feet of plants per residence; and local governments would be asked to craft rules on distributing and taxing marijuana.
Katzman believes the measure will pass, he said, but the government will have a particularly hard time regulating it in the beginning.
"I think it will do well" in the polls, he said.
"But I don't think the infrastructure exists yet to handle it like with tobacco and alcohol – it'll take time," he added. "There needs to be some sort of agency to govern cannabis that doesn't exist, and frankly, the government doesn't have the experience or the educational resources to do it properly."
At the expo, key figures in the movement to legalize marijuana are scheduled to speak, including cannabis activist Richard Lee, of Oakland, and state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, sponsor of a separate pot-decriminalization bill.
Local bands such as the Lovers Drugs and Hypnotic Vibrations will perform, and vendors will sell and give out information on hemp apparel, music and books, seed manufacturers, nutrient suppliers and legal services.
The expo should draw about 20,000 people over two days, Katzman said.
News Hawk: Warbux 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Inside Bay Area
Author: Neil Gonzales
Contact: Home - Inside Bay Area
Copyright: 2010 The Oakland Tribune
Website: Pot expo comes to Cow Palace - Inside Bay Area
