Pubdate: Mon, 31 May 2010 Source: Daily Times-Call, The (Longmont, CO) Copyright: 2010, The Daily Times-Call Contact: http://www.timescall.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1475 Author: Scott Rochat PRO-POT CROWD MEETS IN LONGMONT LONGMONT -- There were T-shirts, vendors, live music. In that respect, it could have been like a thousand other events at the Radisson Conference Center. Of course, those thousand other events might not have been promoting the use of medical marijuana. "Free un-medicated cookie samples," one booth's sign proclaimed. "Run THC," a T-shirt displayed, thrown slightly into shadow by a purple grow light in the next booth over. "Get your medical marijuana license today," read another sign, this one for Mile High Meds. Sunday marked the first-ever Colorado Medical Marijuana Festival, billed as "celebrating the sacred herb." For patients with their paperwork in order -- marked among the crowd by their pink wristbands - -- that celebration could include acquiring medical marijuana, but not consuming it. Not until they left the property, anyway. "You can't smoke on the premises, man," a security guard advised one patient checking in. "I haven't heard anything about medicating on the premises." It took about seven months for organizers to set up the event, including permissions from the Boulder County Drug Task Force. The convention might have been impossible even a few years ago, organizer Sean Bookman acknowledged, and still would be unthinkable in many parts of the nation. "The whole industry is pretty fresh," Bookman said. "We had to jump in when we saw the opportunity." It's an opportunity that's facing uncertain times. Several Colorado cities, including Longmont, have placed a moratorium on new dispensaries. A new state law(HB 1284) waiting for Gov. Bill Ritter's signature would set up a licensing authority and allow cities and towns to ban dispensaries entirely. Several dispensary owners had lobbied for some sort of regulation, but some now fear the current bill will shut most dispensaries down. "I think there's people that see a gold mine in it," said Dan Kastanek of MariTrust, a Denver dispensary that opened its doors April 20. "Regulations need to be made, but it's unclear if they need to be so stringent." Eulalio Rodriguez Jr., one of the day's speakers, said dispensaries should face similar rules as liquor stores or bars -- no sales to minors, no operating near a school or church, and so on. "We need real regulations, not hypotheticals," he said. "All that tax revenue is going to go back into the community. We may have the majority of cardholders in Boulder -- why not capitalize on it?" Others were capitalizing in different ways. On the main convention floor (separated from the patients-only room), one could find pipes, bowls, stickers, even security systems. One booth even promoted a candidate for Congress. At its heart, Bookman said, the event was meant to be educational. "This is not a 'pot rally' or a 'pot festival,'" he said. "This is an event for patients, for the industry and for people in general to come together." - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D