The clouds of pot smoke over the barbecue area weren't from your average party, though. The event was a fundraiser for Green Aid, a nonprofit defense fund for medical marijuana patients and providers who are or have been charged with drug offenses.

Medical marijuana group Area 420 hosted the event April 24. Organizer Jim Lohse of Cupertino initially encountered some resistance from Santa Clara County park rangers who said cannabis could not be used at the barbecue, but things were smoothed out beforehand. The only trouble the day of the event was caused by a few cars parked in short-term spots too long and a sign that was placed in a restricted area.

Lohse said the purpose of the event was not only to raise funds for Green Aid, but also to foster understanding of Proposition 215, the California state law allowing the medical use of marijuana for some conditions. It was also simply a social gathering.

"Everyone reads Proposition 215 differently," Lohse said by phone before the event.

He spoke of friends who have had marijuana confiscated by police, only to have it returned later when they were found to be in legal possession.

"It's been a long haul, and it's going to be a long haul," said Christine Flora, another event organizer. In 1998, Flora's doctor recommended she use pot for depression and headaches. She has had marijuana confiscated and returned twice by law enforcement.

"We want to do something for our county," Flora said. "We have no dispensary here."

Dispensaries in San Francisco, Oakland and elsewhere provide the drug to patients with medical recommendations from licensed physicians, but advocates in Santa Clara County have been unsuccessful in starting one here.

"There have been several times that dispensaries were supposed to open, and somehow the plans keep getting put off," Lohse said. "We're kind of tired of waiting for someone to do it."

Medical pot users say many people do not view it as a legitimate treatment. Part of that perception may be due to the tendency of medical users to smoke for recreational purposes, too.

Sunnyvale resident Mike Lazzarini said he used marijuana for several years before getting a medical recommendation.

"It always helped me deal with stuff," he said at the barbecue. "If I had a horrible day I would smoke and it would help me relax and focus."

Lazzarini said a car accident about a year ago left him with chronic back pain. He discovered that smoking marijuana provided relief from that pain, so he sought and received a doctor's recommendation.

Lohse said marijuana users often look to the drug for relief instead of traditional prescription medication for several reasons.

"People on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale turn to it because they're not able to get or afford prescription drugs," he said.

In addition, some people find that traditional pain drugs make them feel worse or limit function.

"To be honest, I smoked pot just a half an hour ago, and I'm able to have a reasonable discussion with you," Lohse said by phone. "If I had taken codeine a half hour ago, I would be wiped out."

Brent Cytron, another Sunnyvale resident with a medical marijuana recommendation, agreed.

"I had really bad depression," he said. "I used to take Prozac. It had a negative effect on me. I thought about how I had to take this pill to make me OK, and it actually made me feel worse. I thought about how in high school I smoked and it made me happy. I realized it might still do that."

Cytron and Lazzarini said they weren't just trying to have a legal cover for their recreational use of the drug. In fact, they said they are upset by people who seek fraudulent medical recommendations.

"That gives other legitimate users a bad name," Cytron said. "It's like people who have a cross on their car and then cut you off in traffic."

The day after the barbecue, Lohse said he was pleased that the barbecue was incident-free.

"It was really mellow," he said. "If you took the same kind of crowd and put alcohol in there, it would have been a different story."

For more information about Area 420 or the medical use of marijuana, visit www.area420.com.