California Legalization: Ammiano finds a foe in San Diego
Who could possibly hate decriminalizing a harmless plant, and saving countless corrections and law enforcement dollars? A dickhead from San Diego, of course. (San Diego would be great if it wasn’t for so many right-wing, racist residents.)
While Assemblyman Tom Ammiano is pushing to pass a modestly reworked new pot measure, Assembly Bill 2254, that would legalize marijuana use for California adults 21 and over and give the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control authority to tax and regulate pot like booze.
His enemy: John Redman, executive director of the San Diego-based California Alliance for Drug Free Youth, who says: “There are groups and organizations ready to fight this. They have awoken a sleeping giant.”
Bring it on, fuckface.
'High Times' brings a Cannabis Cup to the West Coast
High Times has christened a new medical marijuana quarterly magazine, as well as a California-based Medical Cannabis Cup, and its first-ever West Coast office. Good luck to them.
The High Times Medical Marijuana News and Reviews is an all-new newsstand magazine focused on the needs of medical cannabis patients and providers nationwide.
HIGH TIMES is also proud to announce that our first annual Medical Cannabis Cup will be held this June 19-20, in San Francisco. Modeled after the HIGH TIMES Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, this new competition will include expert judging of the best and most medicinal cannabis, hashish and edibles from California’s legal medical marijuana dispensaries.
To coordinate these new ventures, and to continue the magazine’s comprehensive coverage of the emerging medical marijuana movement, HIGH TIMES will soon open its first ever West Coast Office, headed by Senior Editor David Bienenstock, a seven year veteran of the magazine and author of The Official HIGH TIMES Pot Smoker’s Handbook.
Fate of legal, Cali chron in hands of soccer moms, AARP
The November 2010 election in California will feature at least one notable ballot initiative: a proposal to tax and regulate personal use of cannabis. Oakland organization Tax and Regulate Cannabis 2010 reports turning in over 700,000 signatures from California voters, all but qualifying the them for the statewide ballot. Remember to register to vote, kiddies. Seriously, calendar it. [TRC]
'NY Times': Researching medical marijuana is, like, hard
Believe it or not, doctors can’t get a bunch of purple-urple and run trials on people to see if it indeed mellows them out or cures macular degeneration. Such basic research is largely illegal, the New York Times has learned, all on its own.
The University of Mississippi has the nation’s only federally approved marijuana plantation. If they wish to investigate marijuana, researchers must apply to the National Institute on Drug Abuse to use the Mississippi marijuana and must get approvals from a special Public Health Service panel, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration.
And how long do those approvals take?
Lyle E. Craker, a professor of plant sciences at the University of Massachusetts, has been trying to get permission from federal authorities for nearly nine years to grow a supply of the plant that he could study and provide to researchers for clinical trials.
And do theese approvals ever get granted?
“As the National Institute on Drug Abuse, our focus is primarily on the negative consequences of marijuana use,” said Shirley Simson, a spokeswoman for the drug abuse institute, known as NIDA. “We generally do not fund research focused on the potential beneficial medical effects of marijuana.”
Jeez, NYT, it’s like there’s an agenda out there to stop such research from ever occurring. But that’s just crazy talk. [New York Times]
'Patch Pirate' gets 'deaded' in failed Nevada County, CA. pot heist
Nevada County, CA., way up north above San Francisco, has emerged as another Emerald Triangle of cannabis cultivation in California, complete with the requisite batshit crazy home invasion robberies, car chases, and thousands of dollars of cash strewn about the highway. That’s the latest from San Juan where a New Year’s pot farm robbery went cinematicaly awry.
Lil' Wayne throws the most bluntastic open house ever
Weed and video hos are normally a good thing, but not for the real estate agents trying to sell Lil’ Wayne’s Miami apartment. From the New York Post:
“My fiancée and I called to make an appointment to see it, and the broker, deadpan, goes, ‘I have two questions: Are you offended by the smell of marijuana? And do you mind coming late in the afternoon? It’s currently rented by Lil Wayne, and these are not morning people.”
Adds our spy: “Once we got there, a member of Wayne’s posse opened the door to the overwhelming smell of marijuana. Two hot, rap-video-looking girls were walking around in nothing but a bra and underwear, blasting hip-hop. We just went in and looked around and tried not to stare.”
U.S.'s first MJ cafe opens in Portland
Really? The “first”? Ok:
The Cannabis Cafe in Portland, Oregon, is the first to give certified medical marijuana users a place to get hold of the drug and smoke it – as long as they are out of public view – despite a federal ban. ... Members pay $25 per month to use the 100-person capacity cafe. They don’t buy marijuana, but get it free over the counter from “budtenders”. Open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., it serves food but has no liquor license.
[Reuters via Dosenation]
Ace pitcher Tim Lincecum faces marijuana charges
All-star phenom Tim Lincecum faces misdemeanor marijuana charges after a traffic stop in Washington state. The 2008 Cy Young Award winner was pulled over for speeding, but ended up handing over a pipe and 3.3 grams of sticky-icky.
An officer approached Lincecum’s 2006 Mercedes and smelled marijuana as the pitcher rolled down his window. Schatzel said Lincecum immediately complied with a request to hand over the drug and a marijuana pipe from the car’s center console.
First it was record-breaking gold medalist Michael Phelps, and now it’s the insanely talented pitcher Tim Lincecum. Kids, don’t forget to eat your Weedies.
[ESPN]
