Controversial festival secures site
RENO, Nev. “”mdash; After facing scant opposition, Burning Man
organizers have secured a two-year permit to stage the
counterculture festival on the northern Nevada desert.
Bureau of Land Management officials said the gathering that has
generated considerable controversy in the past prompted complaints
from only a few people this year.
Billed as the world’s largest interactive art festival,
the event is expected to attract more than 30,000 people from most
states and 20 countries over the week leading up to Labor Day.
Every year, organizers build a seven-square-mile encampment on a
dry lake bed on the Black Rock Desert about 120 miles north of
Reno. Drugs, clothes and inhibitions are optional.
Physician to set guidelines for medicinal marijuana
SANTA CRUZ “”mdash; Santa Cruz County supervisors chose a doctor
to help set medical marijuana rules.
Supervisors chose George Wolfe, a local physician and former
county health officer, to lead a panel of doctors in developing
guidelines for medical use of the drug. They will decide how much
medical marijuana patients need for treatment and how much patients
should lawfully be able to possess.
The group is to report back to supervisors in August.
In 1996, California voters passed a law permitting doctors to
prescribe marijuana to alleviate symptoms of chronic or terminal
illness.
Sheriff Mark Tracy said he recommended that a physicians group
advise the board to ensure guidelines for dispensing marijuana are
based on medical expertise.
A state law passed last year sets some guidelines on how much
marijuana, or how many plants, patients or caregivers may keep on
hand. But the law allows cities and counties to set their own
limits.
Reports from Bruin wire services.