See our coverage of the event, including photos, here.

Downtown L.A. will be smelling quite skunky this afternoon.

That's because the “Smokeout For Safe Access Rally” featuring Cypress Hill, Tommy Chong, Kottonmouth Kings and more is set to hit the area (and we do mean “hit”) starting at 4 p.m.

The event aims to protest both a proposed L.A. city ban on medical marijuana dispensaries and a federal crackdown on pot collectives in California:

The marching, of course, starts at 4:20 p.m., when pro-cannabis forces will walk from City Hall to the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building a few blocks away.


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A press release about the event, co-organized by Americans for Safe Access, doesn't claim the artists are performing (they'd need a permit to do that). Rather it produces a roster of folks — including local ASA chief Don Duncan, Fashawn and MC Supernatural — who will be speaking at the protest.

Cops did not seem aware: “This is the first we've heard of it,” LAPD Officer Karen Rayner told the Weekly when we contacted her last night about the event.

It appears Cypress Hill has more to promote than the decriminalization of marijuana. According to a statement:

The rally comes two days before the Cypress Hill SmokeOut–the all day, mind-opening music festival set for Saturday, March 3 at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino, CA. The festival will feature over twenty artists on two stages, a Medical Marijuana Expo and a Patient Consumption Area, providing private and peaceful area for registered California medical marijuana patients.

We can smell it from here.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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