Rapper B-Real, medical marijuana advocates rally at L.A. City Hall

For the first time since Occupy L.A. rolled out of town, it was smoke instead of smog that permeated the air on Thursday outside Los Angeles City Hall.

More than 100 medical marijuana enthusiasts gathered on the steps outside Los Angeles City Hall on Thursday afternoon for a peaceful protest rallying against the city’s ongoing attempts to ban or limit medical marijuana dispensaries. The “SmokeOut for Safe Access Rally,” featuring Cypress Hill's B-Real, Tommy Chong and the band Kottonmouth Kings, drew a respectable crowd ready to march in support of medical pot. And let’s not forget their mission to snag some easy promotion for the Cypress Hill SmokeOut Festival happening Saturday at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino. The protest was a joint effort (rim shot, please!) between festival organizers, Americans for Safe Access and the Medicine & Music Project.

The event began at 4 p.m. on the west steps of City Hall, where Cypress Hill rapper B-Real, Americans for Safe Access California Director Don Duncan, rapper MC Supernatural and comedian-activist Tommy Chong came to deliver brief speeches to protesters.

“Nothing better than rolling up a fat one, sittin’ on the courthouse steps, watch me rap one… yo I can handle this they’re so scandalous, tryin’ to ban medical marijuana in Los Angeles,” rapped MC Supernatural.

Cypress Hill Smokeout returns with Sublime with Rome, more

Start heating up the vaporizers and medicating your glaucoma: Cypress Hill Smokeout is returning on March 3 to the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino. 

Pre-sale tickets for Guerilla Union/Live Nation customers go on sale Wednesday and to the general public on Saturday. The bill features a slate headlined by Sublime with Rome, Wiz Khalifa, Cypress Hill, and Korn. Other artists scheduled to perform include Latin music legends Cafe Tecuba and the Dirty Heads. More artists will be announced closer to the date of the show. As in past years, the event will double as a concert and medical marijuana expo. Provided medical marijuana patients have a valid prescription from a doctor, there will be a designated area where they can smoke.

Ticket prices range from $86 to VIP packages of $461. 

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Medical Marijuana Patients will be able to smoke openly at this year's Smokeout

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--Jeff Weiss

Photo: Cypress Hill. Credit: Cypress Hill. 

Medical marijuana patients will be able to smoke openly at this year's Cypress Hill Smokeout

Cypress Hill has made no bongs about where its allegiances lie. The venerable South Gate-raised rhymers have been teaching America how to get high and the right ways to do it, since Bush père owned the Oval Office. And since 1998,  the group's struck the match for the Cypress Hill Smokeout, along with Guerilla Union (the organization behind Paid Dues and Rock the Bells).

Following a hiatus, the festival returned last year with performances from a reunited Sublime (minus the late Bradley Nowell), Goodie Mob, the Geto Boys, Redman & Method Man, and Slipknot. This year's event, slated for Oct. 16 at San Bernardino's NOS Events Center,  features headlining performances from Incubus, Manu Chao, Nas and Damian Marley, Erykah Badu and MGMT.

But perhaps the most interesting story about the festival's latest incarnation is that it boasts a dedicated consumption area for medical marijuana patients. The fruits of an arrangement brokered between Guerilla Union and local municipal and law enforcement officials, the safe haven is the first known pact of its kind in Southern California concert history. In advance of the festival, Pop & Hiss spoke with Guerilla Union's Chang Weisberg about how the deal went down.

What was the process behind persuading the local authorities to permit this sort of safe haven for medical marijuana cardholders?

It was a long one. We had to get the OK from the police department and the city of San Bernardino.  None of them will endorse what we're doing, or even say that they’re behind this. However, they took a major step by saying, 'We’ll work with you, we'll give you this opportunity and privilege.' It stems from having succesfully executed Paid Dues, Rock the Bells and the Smokeout for over a decade.

But this is about more than just a place where people with medical marijuana cards can smoke marijuana freely. We have a medical marijuana expo where we promote activism, compassion and education. We believe that medical marijuna is the gateway to responsible tax-regulated consumption. Obviously, big alcohol, big medicine and big tobacco fan a lot of negative stereoytypes regarding cannabis.

Cypress Hill and Guerilla Union announce the return of the Cypress Hill Smokeout

With a marijuana legalization bill on the ballot in November, it's only fitting that Cypress Hill and Guerilla Union would partner with marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access for this year's Cypress Hill Smokeout.

Slated to cloud San Bernardino's NOS Events Center on Oct. 16, the annual event features an array of groups united by their ardor for what Cypress Hill so aptly captured on "Hits from the Bong." In their only North American performance of the season, Incubus take the headlining spot, but the organizers have wrangled an impressive undercard including Distant Relatives (Nas + Damian Marley), Manu Chao, MGMT, Atmosphere, Living Legends, Slightly Stoopid, Living Colour and Deadmau5 (performing "unhooked"). Of course, the legendary South Gate trio of B-Real, Sen Dog and DJ Muggs will take the stage, performing their 1991 classic, "Cypress Hill," in its entirety.

The organizers promise more special announcements in the coming weeks, with a lineup totaling 20 acts scattered across three stages. In addition, the all-day festival features a full-scale medical marijuana expo, which the press release touts as "the ultimate destination for advocates, businesses, consumers and like-minded individuals to congregate and interact." The expo will also boast various exhibits centered on legalization and education, with promises of "expert panel discussions, guest speakers and celebrity appearances." The odds of a Cheech and/or Chong sighting are high. 

If you're insensate to the charms of Slightly Stoopid, there will also be a 4:20 movie night screening "classic cannabis-themed films." And yes, if you were wondering, there will be a "massive munchie gardens."

Tickets go on sale Saturday.

-- Jeff Weiss

Photo: Cypress Hill performs at Lollapalooza on Saturday in Chicago. Credit: Brent Lewis / RedEye / Chicago Tribune / MCT

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