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Toke N’ Tusk: Kevin Smith’s new horror comedy aimed at stoners
09.17.2014
06:08 pm
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Kevin Smith is a productive stoner. He learned the trait from Seth Rogen, and it is most evident if you have ever listened to his weekly smodcast where you can often hear the pull of a joint mixed in with endless ideas and frequent laughter. On one such episode, Smodcast #259 “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” Smith created—from what turned out to be a fabricated British rental listing—the entire plot and premise for his daring new film Tusk, out in theaters September 19th.

Billed as a “transformational tale” where a man is involuntarily changed into a Walrus, Tusk gets about as far out of the normal as possible for a marketable motion picture. And the marketing department took that wildness as inspiration when developing their plan for Tusk, creating a side-project called Toke N’ Tusk which includes the first-ever marijuana tie-in for a movie. Two strains of “Tusk-inspired” weed, “Mr. Tusk” and “White Walrus,” are being packaged and sold in contrasting canisters at Buds & Roses in Los Angeles, California through September 26th. The idea for this promotion being that sometimes seeing a film through a different lens can produce dramatic results.
 

 
Starring Justin Long as Wallace Bryton, a rising star in the podcast world who heads off on his own to Canada to interview an overnight YouTube sensation, Tusk begins as a bright and comedic movie. In the opening minutes you’re momentarily convinced into thinking that you are watching a classic Kevin Smith film. The laughter is brief however, and the tale quickly turns dark after unforeseen circumstances require Bryton to change his plans, salvaging his journey to the Great White North by following a promising lead deep into the heart of Manitoba. It is there inside a grand house tucked away in the woods, that the audience is introduced to the curious and uncomfortable world of Howard Howe, brilliantly played by Michael Parks.

Over the course of an evening and a long cup of tea, Bryton is regaled with stories from this old seasoned traveler, who he learns he had lived alone on an island for three years with only a walrus who saved his life to keep him company. Affectionately referred to as “Mr. Tusk,” this walrus had quite an impact on Howe, and he yearns to be reunited with his old friend. Eventually Bryton passes out due to a heavy drugging from Howard Howe, and upon finally waking up becomes a clueless hostage in misery. This moment is when real story begins. With an awesome surprise performance by Johnny Depp as Inspector Guy LaPointe, and generous support by the striking Genesis Rodriguez and grown-up Haley Joel Osment, Tusk crosses the line between horror and comedy again and again. Similar to the effects of a very strong strain of pot that one perceived as weak, Tusk leaves its viewer unsure as to whether they should lean back and laugh or just sit slightly forward in shock, uncomfortable in their seat. This up-down trajectory is what makes Kevin Smith’s return to film outstanding. It’s totally unexpected.

Tusk is in theaters this Friday, September 19th
 

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09.17.2014
06:08 pm
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Anonymous marijuana activist punks the LA Times with satirical press release
07.31.2012
03:28 pm
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UPDATE: Pharmacy Hoax Revealed

San Diego, CA – The San Diego chapter of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the nation’s largest medical cannabis advocacy group, working with LGBT activism group Canvass for a Cause and as part of the The Yes Men’s “Yes Labs” project, released a series of satirical press releases on Tuesday which indicated that U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy would begin targeting pharmacies for closure using asset forfeiture proceedings. The purpose of the action was to draw attention to the U.S. Attorney’s harmful efforts to deny patients access to doctor-recommended medical cannabis.

“Just as the closure of retail pharmacies, like CVS or Walgreens, is poor public health policy, so is the federal government’s crackdown on medical cannabis dispensaries,” said Eugene Davidovich of San Diego ASA. “Pharmacies, like medical cannabis dispensaries, play an essential role in our communities as they help the sick and dying treat and manage various medical conditions,” continued Davidovich. “Laura Duffy and the Obama Administration have no place interfering in the implementation of state law by shutting down dispensaries that thousands of patients rely on.”

The real Laura Duffy isn’t joking. In October 2011, Duffy and her fellow U.S. Attorneys in California began an escalated attack on medical cannabis businesses. “The California marijuana industry is not about providing medicine to the sick,” said Duffy at the time. “It’s a pervasive for-profit industry that violates federal law.” Since October, Duffy has used threats of criminal prosecution and asset forfeiture to close over two hundred medical cannabis facilities in her District.

Despite claims from Attorney General Eric Holder that his Justice Department was only targeting dispensaries operating “out of conformity with state law,” Duffy and the other U.S. Attorneys have indiscriminately targeted these facilities, regardless of “conformity,” shutting down all but a few in San Diego County. Most recently Duffy attempted to shut down the only collective in her district that is operating under a permit from the Sheriff’s department.

For many patients who cannot sustain the regular consumption of pharmaceutical medication, cannabis isn’t simply an alternative; it’s their only option. From reducing nausea and increasing appetite for people living with cancer or HIV/AIDS to stabilizing chronic pain, the vast majority of California’s medical cannabis patients rely on dispensaries. Advocates argue that by closing dispensaries, Duffy and other U.S. Attorneys are pushing thousands of patients into the illicit market and complicating the job of law enforcement.

“Today’s press releases may have been a hoax, but for the thousands of patients adversely impacted by Duffy’s attacks on medical cannabis, it’s no joke. The LGBT community fought hard to legalize HIV/AIDS medicine for their family and we carry on that tradition today” said Rachel Scoma, from Canvass for a Cause. “Patients need safe and legal access to their medication, not prosecution from the federal government.”

*****

The Los Angeles Times is retracting a story that was posted on their website this morning at 8:42 am:

20 San Diego pharmacies targeted by feds in drug sales crackdown

Twenty pharmacies in San Diego suspected of unusually high rates of drug sales are being targeted for a variety of enforcement actions, U.S. attorney Laura Duffy announced Tuesday.

The pharmacies, including some owned by major chains, are in the La Jolla, Carmel Valley and Pacific Beach areas of San Diego, Duffy said.

The enforcement actions will include civil forfeiture lawsuits, warning letters to pharmacy owners and criminal charges. Some will be given 45 days to shut down or face harsher penalties, Duffy said. The specific pharmacies are expected to be announced later Tuesday.

The pharmacies “are part of a pervasive for-profit industry that facilitates the distribution of drugs for illegitimate use,” Duffy said in a prepared statement.

Other pharmacies may be included later, officials said.

Duffy said she hopes the action by her office becomes a model for other U.S. attorney offices.

“Prosecutorial discretion means I decide how and when to enforce laws,” she said.

It wasn’t just the LA Times that got hoodwinked, it was the San Diego Reader that fell hook, link and sinker for the bogus email as well.

What’s truly pathetic about this matter is that if you read the actual text of the “hoax” email, it’s clear—and I mean to say that it’s not even a little bit debatable—that it is a satirical commentary on the ridiculous crackdown on legal, state-sanctioned medical marijuana dispensaries!

For fuck’s sake, did they even read this before they reported on it? Evidently not!

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA San Diego, California
United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy
For Further Information, Contact: Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Shiner (619) 619-302-5235

For Immediate Release
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY PUTS PHARMACY OPERATORS AND PROPERTY OWNERS ON NOTICE
Curbing illegal drug use via shutdowns will keep communities safe.

NEWS RELEASE SUMMARY – July 31, 2012 United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy today announced enforcement actions against local pharmacies for distribution of drugs for illegal purposes. Immediate enforcement will target pharmacies in the Coastal areas of La Jolla, Carmel Valley, and Pacific Beach; chosen for both the high rates of pharmaceutical drug abuse and high property values of targeted pharmacies. Affected pharmacies will have 45 days to shutdown in order to avoid harsher penalties.

The Pharmaceutical shutdown initiative is aimed at curtailing drug abuse and its associated societal problems in the Southern District of California. Enforcement is proceeding against twenty pharmacies in San Diego County and will include actions such as: Civil forfeiture lawsuits against properties involved in drug trafficking activity, which includes, in some cases, sales consistent with state or local ordinances; Letters of warning to the owners and lienholders of properties where potentially illegal sales are taking place; and Criminal cases targeting commercial pharmaceutical activities.

“These pharmacies are not only about providing medicine to the sick. They are part of a pervasive for-profit industry that facilitates the distribution of drugs for illegitimate use. Doctors are prescribing unneeded medication; kids are overdosing on aspirin; police are finding pill bottles at junior high schools. Addiction and abuse of these drugs are serious problems in our communities and parents have come to me with their concerns. These pharmacies have provided not just medication - prescription and otherwise - but all the serious repercussions that come with it, including significant public safety issues and often irreparable harm to our youth.” said Duffy.

The Southern District of California will be the first in the nation to confront the problems associated with drug abuse by targeting storefront pharmacies with asset forfeiture proceedings. The operation will also be a model of fiscal discipline as asset forfeiture may render enforcement efforts cost-neutral.

If successful in San Diego, Duffy’s office will lobby for the implementation of this policy throughout the United States.

“Prosecutorial discretion means I decide how and when to enforce laws. Although this action is unprecedented, in my judgment it’s necessary to ensure we continue making progress in the war on drugs. Economic decline, climate threats, cybercrime, illegal immigration, and a general loss of faith in the political process have colored these drastic times. Now is the time to get tough in a fiscally responsible way.” Duffy stated.

Asset forfeiture is the seizure of property found to have been used for an illegal purpose. The tactic has been used to nearly end access to medical marijuana in San Diego. In 2011, the Southern District of California seized $29.7 million in property using asset forfeiture.
Though initially only twenty pharmacies will be targeted for closure, the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of California will continue to investigate facilities which illegally provide dangerous substances to our communities.

For Press Inquiries contact: Frank Shiner, Deputy Assistant to the US Attorney, Logistics and Narcotics (619) 302-5235***

How much more obvious could this be, huh? I guess the best place to hide something is right out in the open, no one ever thinks to look there!

United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy, whose office was supposedly the source for the prank press release, said “We did not issue those press releases. We are looking into the source of those emails.”

I’m sure they will be. Don’t look for anyone to step forward to take credit for this particular prank, ‘cos this looks like it might be a federal offense. Still, it’s a sophisticated prank and well done to the perpetrator! Long may you prank!

Thank you, Morpheus!

Posted by Richard Metzger
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07.31.2012
03:28 pm
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The Green Mile: A perspective from deep in LA’s busiest pot district on the weed ban vote
07.25.2012
03:00 pm
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The Los Angeles City Council voted 14-0 yesterday to ban pot dispensaries in the city limits. The ban would force approximate 750 storefront pot shops to shut down immediately. Any dispensaries that fail to comply voluntarily will face legal action from the city.

From The Los Angeles Times:

Medical marijuana activists who had packed the council chambers jeered when the vote came down. More than a dozen Los Angeles Police Department officers were called in to quell them.

Under the ban, medical patients and their caregivers will be able to grow and share the drug in small groups of three people or less.

But the activists say most patients don’t have the time or skills to cultivate marijuana. One dispensary owner told the council that it would cost patients a minimum of $5,000 to grow marijuana at home.

In a seemingly contradictory move, the council also voted to instruct city staff to draw up an ordinance that would allow a group of about 170 dispensaries that registered with the city several years ago to remain open. Councilman Jose Huizar, who voted against that motion, said it might give the public “false hope” that the ban wound not be enforced.

He said the ban would be enforced, especially against problem dispensaries that have drawn complaints from neighbors. “Relief is on its way,” he said.

Fuck you, Jose Huizar! Relief from what? Who gets relieved?

And to the rest of the clowns on the City Council, have fun shutting 750 businesses that pay some of the best service industry wages in Los Angeles (many pot shops are unionized and offer healthcare benefits to employees). I can’t think of a STUPIDER use of the LAPD than firing people and forcing law abiding businesses to close. What a waste of taxpayer resources this is.

I’m furious about this vote and as a city resident, I’d like to add my voice to the chorus of condemnation of the City Council’s actions.

I live in an area of the city near the so dubbed “Green Mile,” a stretch known for its numerous, highly visible cannabis dispensaries. Within walking distance, there are approximately twelve dispensaries. Take a slightly longer walk and that number rises at least threefold.

By contrast, there are but two Starbucks, one McDonald’s, One Burger King, one KFC, one Jack in a Box, two Subways, two 7-Eleven stores and no Carl Jrs. It goes without saying that these are minimum wage jobs, whereas the average wage at a pot dispensary is $20 per hour.

In five years of living in this part of Los Angeles, I’ve seen every single one of these places pop up and what changes the neighborhood has gone through in that same period of time. Not only that, I have PERSONALLY visited almost all of them.

Here’s what I’ve noticed:

Since the recession, there have been very, very few new retail businesses that have opened along the “Green Mile” other than pot dispensaries. A few things, but not many. In every case, they are inhabiting real estate that was not being used, and that had not been used in some time. A lot of these previously empty buildings got much needed paint jobs, let’s just say, and many long empty buildings were rehabilitated by the dispensary owners.

I have seen no appreciable rise or fall in the neighborhood crime rate and I am sure the local police would probably agree. There is no discernible difference. No change. None.

From everything that I HAVE SEEN, these places all seem to be run by law-abiding, friendly, intelligent people. They all seem to be doing okay financially, even though there are so many of them (you’d think the density of pot shops would be a drag on business, but even with the shops that are two to a block this doesn’t seem to be the case. I guess people in LA must like pot, huh?).

I’ve never heard one neighbor complain about the pot dispensaries.

I have seen many of the people living in the neighborhood going in and out of the various dispensaries. My neighbors on either side of me go to the same place I go to.

Only one of the dispensaries operating along the “Green Mile” seems in any way shady to me, but to be honest, I’ve never actually seen anything even remotely shady (nothing) in the three years the place has been open. Maybe I just steer clear of it because I think they sell schwaggy weed!

Who’s actually complaining to Jose Huizar or is he hallucinating these complaints? What’s the point of this citywide ban? I live in the heart of one of the areas most dense with pot dispensaries and I’d have to rate their existence as “positive” for the neighborhood and in no way negative.

It’s worth noting that last October when President Obama made a campaign stop at the popular soul food restaurant, Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles, that he was within a few blocks, if that, of about six HARD TO MISS medical marijuana dispensaries. I’m talking about places with green glowing neon pot-leaf signs. Obviously the Secret Service checked out the area and the entire route the President’s bus would take down Pico Blvd. beforehand and YET THEY HAD NO PROBLEM WITH THIS.

So what up, Jose Huizar?

Councilman Huizar and his pal City Attorney Carmen Trutanich have had bugs up their asses for a long time about the cannabis dispensaries, but I doubt that many other Los Angelenos feel the same way as they do. The train left the station on this matter back in 2007.

No one cares but the politicians. The issue has been settled by the free market, so to speak. The local range of opinion, in my experience, ranges from positive to benignly not giving a shit. My neighbors, from what I can tell from living here for five years, look at it variously from the POV of being pot users themselves, non-pot users who don’t give a damn what other people do, people who would rather have ten more pot dispensaries than one additional liquor store with pan-handling winos in the parking lot, people who never thought of it one way or the other, etc, etc. I’ve not seen one business harmed by their proximity to a medical marijuana dispensary, nor have I heard a peep from any local business owners about any perceived negative effect the pot shops have had on them, because there haven’t been any negative effects.

I live here and I mean to tell you, nothing has changed for the worse and arguably, they have changed for the better. More people are employed, more taxes are paid, more landlords get paid, more landlords pay taxes on what they got paid by their new tenants, the buildings get tidied up, and so forth.

Jose Huizar probably thinks he’s going to be mayor one day for pulling this off. Carmen Trutanich, clearly, sees himself one day as the California State Attorney General, and getting the law enforcement and prison unions on your side is necessary to make a statewide run like that. Carmen… Jose… I gotta tell you two knuckleheads something: I would never vote for you. You’d have to be running against, I don’t know, Sarah Palin, for me to ever even consider voting for you.

In fact, I wouldn’t vote for ANY of these sitting city council members (Bill Rosenthal was on vacation and didn’t vote) at least in a primary, either. I’m looking at YOU, Eric Garcetti. What the fuck is wrong with you? Herb Wesson, I will NOT be voting for you again. You do not represent MY interests with a vote like yours.

Yesterday’s Los Angeles City Council 14-0 vote against the pot dispensaries was predictable, but annoying, even if you suspect, as I do that they won’t actually do anything and that the ban will just be ignored by most of the dispensaries as it is appealed.

Does anyone on the city council actually think that the hundreds of thousands of pot heads living in the Los Angeles metro area are just going to stop smoking weed if the city closes the dispensaries down?

All this ban is going to do is see a few thousand people put out of some of the only decent paying jobs being created in the city at a time of super high unemployment, and the marijuana trade, previously taxable, going underground again, but much more openly than it was done in the past. The whole thing is just stupid and a waste of time and money.

Posted by Richard Metzger
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07.25.2012
03:00 pm
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Crime rates rise in Los Angeles where city closed marijuana shops
09.22.2011
03:21 pm
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Green Cure on WeedMaps, a local non-profit medical cannabis dispensary.
 

The RAND Corp. reviewed police crime statistics for ten days before and after city officials in Los Angeles closed several cannabis dispensaries last summer when a new local ordinance went into effect. RAND researchers examined the neighborhoods of 170 businesses that remained open and another 430 which were ordered to close. That’s a pretty big sample.

Well, well, well, what do you know?  Crime increased as much as 60% in areas within three blocks of a shuttered dispensary compared to three blocks around operating dispensaries. I’m sure this isn’t what the RAND Corp; expected to find. Los Angeles City councilman Ed Reyes called the report an “eye opener.” Via the Washington Post:

“If medical marijuana dispensaries are causing crime, then there should be a drop in crime when they close,” said Mireille Jacobson, a RAND senior economist and the study’s lead author. “Individual dispensaries may attract crime or create a neighborhood nuisance, but we found no evidence that medical marijuana dispensaries in general cause crime to rise.”

Crime was among the concerns that prompted the City Council to pass the ordinance that put strict guidelines on the pot clinics and forced many of them to close. Law enforcement authorities have long argued collectives attract crime because they often handle large amounts of cash and thieves can resell marijuana. Two workers at different dispensaries were killed during robberies in June 2010.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca went one step further last September when he said nearly all dispensaries operate as criminal enterprises, a claim that infuriated medical marijuana supporters who have said law enforcement officials have resorted to scare tactics to advance their agenda.

“They have perpetuated this myth that there is more crime associated with collectives,” said James Shaw of the Union of Medical Marijuana Patients, an advocacy group for medicinal marijuana users. “This council should be emboldened to revise the ordinance so it’s not so draconian to the patients and their associations.”

Damn right they should revise it! For readers outside of Los Angeles, to give you a feel for things here: at one point the city claimed there were up to 900 medical marijuana dispensaries. Whether that’s accurate or not, I can’t say, but there were and there still are a LOT of them. More than there are McDonald’s or Starbucks by a long-shot. As in several times more and then combine that total. From my apartment, I can walk (not drive) to a dozen or more of them. Each and every one of them is a law-abiding business as far as I can tell. Not one has even the whiff of being a “criminal enterprise.” Some of them operate just like, say, a nice wine store would. Since they provide more foot traffic in the areas they operate in—and usually have security guards—maybe this is the sole reason the seem to have a dampening effect on crime?

But who cares what the reason for lower crime is? I thought lower crime was supposed to be a good thing? What is the City Council doing closing down lawfully run businesses that provide MORE jobs than McDonald’s and Starbucks combined? These dispensaries pay taxes, too.  The Los Angeles City Council needs to mind its own business and leave these businesses alone.

Posted by Richard Metzger
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09.22.2011
03:21 pm
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Home DePot: Marijuana superstore opens in Phoenix
06.02.2011
12:56 pm
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Although I doubt that the farmers in Humbolt County will have much to worry about in the short term, Arizona’s looking for its own piece of the medical marijuana gold rush, with the weGrow superstore catering to marijuana growers, opening yesterday in Phoenix. Think of it as a big hydroponic garden center that sells everything you need to lovingly grow the chronic save for the plants themselves. Two weGrow big box locations already exist in California, in Oakland and in the state capital of Sacramento. Via Reuters:

The 21,000-square-foot store offers some 2,000 products, including soil, grow lights and irrigation trays, specially designed for effective marijuana growing, [weGrow founder Dhar ] Mann told Reuters.

A doctor also is on site to furnish eligible patients the initial medical approval needed to apply to the state health department for cards authorizing them to legally grow and use marijuana as treatment for a variety of qualifying ailments.

Alluding to some of America’s leading big-box chains, the company’s own press materials describe the weGrow franchise as the “Wal-Mart of Weed,” while various media reports have referred to it as “Home DePot.”

The store’s opening came on the same day that Arizona was to have begun accepting applications from individuals seeking one of 125 permits the state plans to grant for the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries. But that process was put on hold last week.

On Friday, the state went to federal court seeking to clarify whether its citizens were at risk of federal prosecution for participating in activities sanctioned under Arizona’s medical marijuana act, passed by voters in November.

Arizona is the 16th state in the nation, plus the District of Columbia, to decriminalize marijuana for medical purposes.

So far under 4000 people in Arizona have been approved for medical cannabis use, but Mann is taking his weGrow franchises going nationwide with a store to open in Washington, DC in July and outlets in Denver, Detroit and perhaps Los Angeles to follow soon after.

Zhar Mann told the San Francisco Chronicle that he already had contracts in hand for an additional 75 weGrow locations. The Oakland store, which I hear is 60,000-square-foot. supposedly made over $500,000 in the first two months of operation. The “grow your own medicine” movement is a market estimated to be worth billions of dollars. I think that’s a pretty good estimate!
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.02.2011
12:56 pm
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If Willie Nelson can sing his way out of jail, how about other pot offenders?
03.29.2011
12:07 pm
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When I read this, my first thought was “I wonder if everyone currently serving prison time for cannabis possession in America will be able to sing their way out of jail?” Good for this judge and good for Willie Nelson. This just goes to show what a mockery of justice the marijuana laws are in certain states. From Spinner:

Surprise, surprise—Willie Nelson was busted with a personal amount of marijuana on his tour bus last fall. Of course, it probably would’ve been a much bigger surprise if the search turned up nothing, but in this day and age, where many touring musicians have doctor recommendations allowing them to legally “medicate” in home states such as California and Colorado, not many people care. Especially when there are natural disasters, political upheavals and even revolutions to deal with.

Indeed, that’s kinda the stance that even the prosecutor in Nelson’s case seems to be taking. TMZ reports that the prosecutor would be willing to let Nelson’s punishment fit an increasingly popular perception of the crime—rather than let him face up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine, if Nelson sings ‘Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain’ inside the courtroom, then all will be forgiven and the 77-year-old country singer will have to pay just a $100 penalty.

Both Nelson and the presiding judge must accept the terms for this to happen, but our guess is that Nelson’s expert attorney—Joe Turner, who got Nelson’s previous marijuana charge dropped, in 1994—is tuning up the guitar. Let freedom sing!

Willie Nelson is 77-years-old. There is no way in hell that any “law” is going to come between Willie and his “Willie Weed” (which I have personally sampled and it’s great). Shouldn’t they just issue him some sort of honorary “get out of jail free” card for when he’s touring, good in any state in America?

Below, the American icon sings “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” on the CMA awards show in 1975:
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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03.29.2011
12:07 pm
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Cannabis cinema at The 7th Annual Artivist Film Festival

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Frequent readers of this blog know that California’s thriving medical marijuana scene is rather…uh… near and dear to our hearts. Tomorrow night in Los Angeles, at The 7th Annual Artivist Film Festival, there will be a free festival screening of director Kevin Booth’s How Weed Won the West documentary at the Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, at 7p.m. Booth will be in attendance for a Q&A after the screening. He will be joined by NORML’s Allen St. Pierre and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition’s Lt. Diane Goldstein. All screenings at the Artivist Film Festival are free, tickets for How Weed Won the West can be reserved here.

While California is going bankrupt, one business is booming. How Weed Won the West is the story of the growing medical cannabis/marijuana industry in the greater Los Angeles area, with over 700 dispensaries doling out the buds. As a treatment for conditions ranging from cancer and AIDS, to anxiety, ADHD, and insomnia, cannabis is quickly proving itself as a healthier natural alternative to many prescription drugs. Following the story of Organica, a collective owned by Jeff Joseph that was raided by the DEA in August of ‘09, the film shows that although some things have changed with Obama in office, the War on Drugs is nowhere near over. From Kevin Booth, the producer/director of Showtime’s American Drug War, How Weed Won the West puts California forward as an example to the rest of the country by documenting how legalizing marijuana can help save the economy.


 

 
Also screening for free at the Artivist Film Festival in a similar “herbal genre” is Hempsters, 9:00pm on Friday December 3 at the Egyptian with the director in attendance for a Q&A afterwards:

This lively documentary directed by Michael Henning, begins with the arrest of Woody Harrelson for planting four feral hemp seeds in Kentucky and his subsequent trial and acquittal, then joins traveling Hemp activist Craig Lee and a number of featured old-school Kentucky tobacco farmers who just want to grow the multipurpose crop as a way to save their farms. Viewers meet Alex White Plume, leader of the Lakota “Tiospaye” (family clan), and the first family to plant industrial hemp on American soil since the 1950′s. He makes a startling case that his right to grow hemp is a sovereignty issue. Julia Butterfly Hill goes to extreme lengths to protest the pulping of old-growth forests by living for over two years at the top of a 1,000 year old redwood tree in Northern California. Gatewood Galbraith, the fiery orator of the US Reform Party, attempts to bring to the public at large to its senses in his own inimitable style. A hyper-paced ride with a sizzling soundtrack, this motion picture puts hemp at the heart of just about every grassroots issue in America today. Featured players include Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Ralph Nader and Woody Harrelson. More than a political study of cannabis, Hempsters is a rousing portrait of our country’s most spirited and sensible free-thinkers.

 

 
Get free tickets for the Hempsters screening here.

The 7th Annual Artivist Film Festival

Posted by Richard Metzger
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12.01.2010
05:56 pm
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Cannabis sodas: No smoking (necessary)
10.22.2010
05:12 pm
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Colorado residents with a doctor’s prescription for medical cannabis will soon be able to purchase a mass-produced THC-infused soft drink that comes in several flavors. A Colorado-based company called Dixie Elixirs is preparing a line of marijuana-laced sodas for the medical-cannabis market that now numbers 14 states. Not sure exactly how something like this would work across state lines, but I suppose that they’re about to find out. Maybe they’ll have to have plants in each state, which will—HELLO—provide new jobs. Decriminalizing pot is a no brainer.

It’s amusing to note that “discretion” is one of the key advantages to the product (i.e. not smoking something) but maybe they’d want to leave the pot-leaf off the bottle, then! Strikes me as like when people have Grateful Dead bumperstickers. Might as well have one reading “I’ve got pot (and/or LSD) in the car!”

It’s also worth mentioning that a hundred years ago Coca-Cola famously used to have a coca leaf extract which provided its “kick.” This seems tame in comparison.

I’ve tried a similar type of cannabis soda (not a Dixie Elixer, to be clear) but it didn’t do much for me. Okay, I drank three and still felt nothing. Maybe these guys will get it right. The market for something like this could be massive, especially if California’s voters pass Prop 19.

Via Discovery

Posted by Richard Metzger
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10.22.2010
05:12 pm
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CannaCare ad: California’s first medical marijuana commercial
09.02.2010
08:42 pm
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This is the first known medicinal marijuana advertisement to be aired on television. Commercial provided by permission from CannaCare. This spot first ran on FOX 40 in Sacramento, California in August of 2010.

 

Posted by Tara McGinley
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09.02.2010
08:42 pm
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L.A. city officials try to get a grip on medical marijuana
11.23.2009
06:03 pm
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As city officials grapple with the issue (notice I didn’t write “problem”) of what to do about the proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles, it seems likely that City Council members will ignore the calls from City Atty. Carmen Trutanich and L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley for a citywide shut down of the cannabis clubs in favor of a more nuanced approach. But that won’t be easy either, as L.A .Times reporter John Hoeffel writes this morning.

Additionally, proposals to limit the number of dispensaries are likely to face several legal hurdles and courtroom challenges before they can be implemented and proposals to restrict the amount of cannabis each dispensary can have on hand per month have, so far, suggested totals that most Los Angeles-based collectives would currently sell every few days. The City Council will be challenged to balance concerns of patients, business owners and law enforcement with the potential for substantial revenues created from taxing cannabis sales—taxes that could result in more teachers and better road repairs for the city, advocates say.

Ironically, as L.A. prepares to crack down on medical marijuana, opinion seems to be trending nationally in favor of full decriminalization of marijuana and a tax on its sale. In 2009, there has been a noticeable sea change in how the issue is reported on in the mainstream media. While there are critics who believe, like Trutanich and Cooley, that marijuana dispensaries increase crime and provide outlets for Mexican drug cartels, the view from outside of Los Angeles doesn’t appear to be one of fear, but of curiosity, or dare I say it, even envy.

Like this article, “Support for legalizing marijuana grows rapidly around U.S.” which appeared in today’s Washington Post:

The boom town atmosphere brought complaints from some neighbors, but little of the crime associated with underground drug-dealing. Advocates cite the latter as evidence that, as with alcohol, violence associated with the marijuana trade flows from its prohibition.

“Seriously,” said Bruce Merkin, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group based in the District, “there is a reason you don’t have Mexican beer cartels planting fields of hops in the California forests.”

Meanwhile award-winning L.A. Times business columnist David Lazarus channels his inner Cheech and Chong with this droll video commentary on the matter: 

 


Cross posting this from Brand X

Posted by Richard Metzger
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11.23.2009
06:03 pm
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Put that in your pipe and smoke it
11.18.2009
10:18 pm
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With a philosophy seemingly diametrically opposed to that of elected law enforcement officials in Los Angeles, the attorney general of Colorado, John Suthers (a Republican), has advised the governor of that state that medical marijuana sales should be regulated and taxed like alcohol and tobacco (and not tax- exempt like pharmaceuticals are, as medical cannabis is not prescribed per se, but “recommended” by doctors). This plan seems consistent with the stark reality in these dark times that state and county governments need to seek new avenues of public funding that will not prove to be politically unpopular. Medical cannabis activists have long been pro-taxation, as it confers legitimacy on the space.

The taxation of medical marijuana sales is something that we hear a lot about in California, and the above graphic gives some idea of how much money would be left on the table should medical marijuana be banned—or merely hounded and harassed out of business—here in Los Angeles. City Atty. Carmen Trutanich and Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley have declared their intentions to continue fighting the medical marijuana dispensaries, but it’s important to keep in mind that 77% of Los Angeles residents indicated that they were for the regulation and taxation of dispensaries, according to a recent Mason-Dixon poll.

No matter what sort of spin you put on the issue, ignoring the revenue-creating potential of taxing cannabis sales—which will continue, legally or otherwise—hardly seems prudent when we live in an era in which local governments can’t afford to fix potholes or hire schoolteachers.

Cross posting this from Brand X/Graphic via Sloshspot

Posted by Richard Metzger
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11.18.2009
10:18 pm
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Has anyone told Trutanich? L.A. voters support medical cannabis dispensaries with a strong majority

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Limelight-loving L.A. City Atty. Carmen Trutanich has been making headlines and television appearances in recent weeks with his all-out legal assault on medical marijuana dispensaries. Unfortunately for Trutanich, U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder feels that prosecution of medical marijuana patients should be a low priority for law enforcement officials and said so in a memo released Monday. Ouch. Trutanich and L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley got another setback on Monday as well when a circuit judge ruled that the city’s moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries was illegally extended. Double ouch.

But what might be the most compelling reason of all for Trutanich and Cooley to back off the cannabis biz is the overwhelming support for medical marijuana of the voters who elected them both in the first place.

As John Hoeffel reports from the L.A. Times local desk, over three-quarters of eligible voters are strongly pro-medical marijuana and would prefer to see the dispensaries regulated and taxed, not forced to close:

The poll, completed Monday and Tuesday, also found that 74% support the state’s medical marijuana law, while 54% want to see marijuana legalized, regulated and taxed.

The Marijuana Policy Project, based in Washington, D.C., commissioned the poll by an independent firm, Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, after Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley threatened all dispensaries in the county with prosecution.

—snip—

The poll of 625 voters found that 77% of voters want to regulate dispensaries, while 14% want them closed. Both Democrats (83%-7%) and Republicans (62%-30%) support regulation over prosecution. The Los Angeles City Council is on the verge of adopting regulations after two years of debate and almost 13 years after voters passed Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act.

Even with the stated 4% give-or-take margin of error of the Mason-Dixon poll, this is a uniquely compelling report for Trutanich and Cooley to pay close attention to, especially since it will be these very same voters who’ll be determining their reelection prospects in the future.

Medical marijuana poll: Most L.A. voters support dispensaries by John Hoeffel

Cross posting this at Brand X

Cannabis Orbs by Sookie Sooker

Posted by Richard Metzger
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10.23.2009
07:15 pm
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Medical Cannabis Industry Exhales Over Attorney General’s Memo and Judge’s Ruling

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Oh, to have been a fly on the wall Monday when L.A. City Atty. Carmen Trutanich and Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley got the dual bad news—well, bad news for them at least—about the U.S. Justice Department’s memo regarding marijuana policy and the California Superior Court’s injunction, which bans enforcement of the city’s moratorium on cannabis dispensaries, issued that same day.

Employees of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles have been showing up for work daily for the last few weeks fearing imminent police raids and participating in “raid drill” workshops, but these nerve-wracking preparations were for naught in the wake of the court’s injunction and Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr.‘s statement when he released the new guidelines. ?

Posted by Richard Metzger
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10.21.2009
12:34 am
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