Among Theater’s Coming Attractions Is Medicinal Pot

The theater still shows old black and white movies, and film posters line the walls.

But beginning Monday, there will be a new kind of concession stand treat at the Forks Theater, and it won’t be popcorn, Goobers or Junior Mints. The white clapboard building is set to become home to the Ukiah Cannabis Club, which will provide marijuana to the terminally ill.

Among the items for sale will be “Green Five Star Medicinal” at $20 per gram, “Mexican B” at $5 per gram. There also will be pot brownies, cookies and muffins.

Despite the inviting decor--miniature figures of silent film stars and white park benches inside--director Cherrie Lovett said the club has a serious mission.

“This is a medical facility,” she said. “This is not a place to party.”

The club’s purpose will be a place where sick people can buy marijuana or pot-laced baked goods, Lovett said. They also will be able to talk to counselors or relax among people with common ailments.

Lovett suffers from lupus and has been smoking marijuana to help stimulate her appetite and keep off hard drugs such as morphine. She founded the club because of her experience with the Cannabis Club of San Francisco, where she said she was impressed with the family atmosphere.

The opening of the club comes just days after a federal judge barred the government from prosecuting doctors who recommend marijuana to their patients. The action Friday was an important victory for backers of Proposition 215, the initiative that California voters approved in November.

Mendocino County Sheriff Jim Tuso and Dist. Atty. Susan Massini so far have refused to publicly comment on the Ukiah club.

The marijuana comes from growers in Mendocino and Humboldt counties and from as far away as the Lake Tahoe area.

Lovett has taken her case to Mendocino County authorities and is confident that the club is legal under the provisions of Proposition 215 and will be strictly regulated.