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Pot Party Has Higher Purpose
01.21.07|Miami Herald|Nicholas Spangler

C.D. Flash, organizer of the ninth annual Medical Marijuana Benefit at Tobacco Road, was nowhere to be found but surely around somewhere: near the stands selling incense and Tupac portraits and Indonesian mangosteen juice shots or mixing with the crowd or stealing a toke?
Probably not, on the last. It seemed nobody was. This was like a bacchanal with only Fresca to drink. The air smelled, if anything, of hamburgers.

Into the crowd, then. Will the drug be legalized in our lifetimes? Should it be? ''Absolutely,'' said Dan Alexander, philosophy major and treasurer of the Florida Atlantic University branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, unsurprisingly.

``It's been illegal for 70 years in the U.S. but before that, for 6,000 years, it was perfectly legal everywhere. But people are afraid of the unknown. Water is more lethal. You can die from drinking too much water!''

Dan told a sad story about the time his dad, a police officer active in drug education, heard him take a hit off his bong. ''Oh, no,'' said his dad. ''Oh, yeah,'' said Dan. ``It disappointed him.''

Then Dan pointed out Elvy Musikka, a former Hollywood resident who now lives in Oregon, who said she's one of five people in the nation legally authorized to smoke marijuana for medical reasons. There used to be more, she said, but they died, not because of the marijuana but because they were quite ill to start with.

''They've been shipping it to me 19 years'' to alleviate glaucoma, Musikka said. ``It comes from the University of Mississippi in pre-rolled cigarettes -- maybe 300 of them in a big tin. I go through a half pound in a month.''

''After smoking daily for 19 years, my brain controls it. I decide when is the proper time to relax enough to let me get there,'' she said.

Conversation took an abrupt turn to the Lord. ''Don't arrest a patient for using God's work -- don't call yourself a Christian and do that,'' she said. ``That's blasphemy!''

She begged pardon for getting excited and mentioned that she never goes anywhere without a stash. She pulled out an amber pill bottle that held 10 very fragrant cigarettes. Somebody asked if getting on a plane was very difficult. ''Oh, I just stick it in my bag,'' she said. 'I don't ever tell them. I know it'll be harder to explain. Once in Tampa I got stopped, and I started talking to the lady, but she just waved: `Oh, just go on.' So I did.''

There followed a brief interview with the artist Danny Fila, plowing through a hamburger at the bar. One of Flash's minions had invited him to do some drawings. He thought, in deference to the occasion, he'd sketch someone ``puffing a joint and then outside their head, a million little things going out of it.''

And there, flitting by the corner of one's eye, was Flash. After nine consecutive annual Medical Marijuana Benefits and Concerts, marijuana remains illegal. And the prospect of legalization seemed still a bit dim, no?

''I don't really -- you have to take it in context,'' he said. ``It builds public awareness and connection with the community. Honest hardworking people should not have to sneak around if they want to smoke.''