Search Results: don ray band (33)

Chris Roberts/S.F. Examiner
Catherine and Steve Smith founded HopeNet 14 years ago and have diligently gone by state and city laws

The ranks are thinning. Two more of San Francisco’s most well-known medical marijuana dispensaries closed their doors permanently on Tuesday, both due to the federal government’s crackdown in states which have legalized the medicinal use of cannabis.

HopeNet and the Vapor Room both announced they would shut down due to threatening letters sent to their landlords by the federal government, reports Joe Rosato Jr., of NBCBayArea.com.
“The Justice Department sent out landlord one of those nasty letters,” HopeNet cofounder Catherine Smith said. “So this is our D-Day; we have to leave.”
HopeNet was founded 14 years ago by Smith and her husband on Ninth Street in San Francisco’s South of Market. The business has long been regarded as an excellent example of a working, legitimate medical marijuana dispensary which carefully abides by state and city laws. Smith worked alongside city officials, serving on the Medical Marijuana Task Force and helping craft S.F.’s groundbreaking city ordinance on medicinal cannabis.

Charles Haynes/Wikipedia
Foie gras with mustard seeds and green onions in duck jus

The World According To Jack

I’m Tired of Having Shit Jammed Down My Throat

Commentary By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent
Gavage; (French orig., to gorge) 
1. Practice of feeding an animal against their will
 2. Supplying a nutritional substance by means of a plastic tube.
On July 1st of 2012, California banned Foie Gras from being sold in state’s restaurants or stores. Those epicureans among us know that Foie Gras is made from the liver of a goose or a duck that has been forcibly enlarged by being fed utilizing a long funnel that transfers corn or other grains directly into the bird’s stomach. The mash is forced down their throats many times a day fattening up the birds for slaughter while producing, some say an exquisite liver-like substance in the process. That’s basically Foie Gras, not counting thousands of years of French history.
This popular and well-known delicacy is like smashed giblets drenched with butter purée and pressed in a liver-casing that’s guarantees a creamy rich good time. Now it is prohibited to sell Foie Gras in California, just as it has been outlawed Illinois and in London for some time.
So your first thought is, when they outlaw Foie Gras, only outlaws will have Foie Gras.
Wrong, Ducky. When the ban came down prohibiting the fatty bloated liver spam, dedicated activists hardly wasted any time responding with the birth of the Foie Gras Black Market. The parallels to the prohibition on… alcohol are uncanny.

Sharon Letts

“It’s Not WeedsIt’s Real.”


By Sharon Letts
Nick took the leash down from the hook on the wall. “Here, boy!” he said to the carefree mutt, galloping toward him. “Let’s go for a walk!”
Walking Buster was the hardest part of watching his friend’s house. It meant he had to walk around the neighborhood with the dog, without making eye-contact with the neighbors.
“Just don’t offer any information,” Jake lectured. “I don’t even know their names,” he added. “And they don’t know mine, and that’s the way we all like it.”
Jake said there were a lot of grow houses here in Cutten. The town was an old, established neighborhood in Humboldt’s County seat, and still considered a family neighborhood with parks, a school and a town center. 
This was just one of Jake’s houses and no one lived here. A four-bedroom California ranch-style, with four grow rooms for the ladies and a false room in the garage for growing babies. Nick was just one of several house-sitters keeping watch at any given time.

All photos by Sharon Letts

She’s The Brains, He’s The Strains: On The Road With Craig & Sharon


Story and Photos by Sharon Letts
Strain Review by Craig Carroll

•••••••

Introduction: Changing the Way People Think About Cannabis, One Bud at a Time

By Sharon Letts

Craig and I came of age in the 70s. He surfed and played guitar in rock bands, while I rode the waves on a Boogie Board and gardened.
Both of us reaped the benefits of cannabis: Craig for anxiety and undiagnosed autism; me for menstrual cramps and depression. I can’t speak for the boys, but we girls knew what worked each month, and pitied the girl relying solely on Midol and a heating pad.
Both of us watched as cannabis grew up to be good medicine, then was legalized in California in 1996. Neither of us rushed out to get a “Prop. 215 card.” I was busy raising my daughter; he was teaching high school and starting a family. Both of us stopped smoking for long periods of time. 
Surprisingly, it was age and health issues that brought the herb back into our lives. 
Heading into menopause, already suffering from digestive issues and weight gain caused by Thyroid Disease, I began using cannabis to relax my stomach where I hold my stress. 
Sleeplessness with menopause has become a huge issue for me, and a honey tincture provides at least six good hours of sleep a night, allowing me to write. 
While others may go the pharmaceutical route, we’ll stick to this simple herb. Our travels will have Craig looking for a pick-me-up for his chronic fatigue and relief for his chronic pain. I’ll be perusing the edible isles for sleep-aids and help with my flucuating mood swings.
Each trip will include a review of the top five collectives from the town we are visiting, while Craig reviews its top strains, deciphering aesthetics of the bud, and potential medicinal benefits.
We’ll also find a canna mover and shaker from that town and have a hang-out, chatting about what’s going on with the medicine in their world.
If your personal favorite club isn’t listed, not to worry, we’ll pass through town again! Send in your favorites and who knows, maybe your friendly neighborhood collective will make our list during our next trip.
So, sit back, relax, roll-up a fatty, and enjoy the ride!

Steve Schrenzel/NGT
The Stanley brothers inspect young crops at their medical marijuana growhouse.

​A new TV series called “American Weed” is premiering on the National Geographic Channel tonight (Wednesday, February 22) at 10 p.m. ET/PT. According to NatGeo, the show “goes inside Colorado’s pot culture and explores the legal world of medical cannabis from various perspectives, including the growers, patients and dispensary owners, cops, caregivers and opponents.”

The all-new series “finds Colorado medical marijuana businesses under scrutiny and facing mounting pressures from local residents,” according to National Geographic.

All photos by Jack Rikess

By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent
​This is going to be very hard for some people to understand.
I sometimes smoke cannabis recreationally.
Even though I am allowed to be a card-carrying Cali medical marijuana patient due to a thrown-out disc from my care-giving days — and scary migraines that, at their worst, feel like I’m a walking Munch painting —  there are days when I just like to get stoned.
Here’s another little tidbit. Sometimes, when I do smoke recreationally, it takes me away from a physical place to what shrinks like to call the “Happy Spot.” 
And then I open my eyes and I’m back from wherever.

Aaron Evans
Aaron Evans of The Green Brothers got a chance to sit down with Toke of the Town’s Becky Bonghits Fogarty for a good, long, in-depth talk about weed and life and music.

By Becky Bonghits Fogarty
Toke of the Town
Michigan Correspondent
Aaron Evans, founder of The Green Brothers and Dove Ink Records, is a powerful force in the legalization of marijuana as well as a constant workhorse striving to affect positive change in our world in every way he can. As an activist and artist he stands on the front lines against the twisted laws of the government, fighting daily to end the prohibition of marijuana.
Since beginning his battle, Aaron has been featured in NUG, Skunk, High Times and countless other publications in print and online. As an author/emcee, producer, designer, photojournalist, and marijuana activist, Aaron Evans, aka Claude 9 aka Eyamme, is a unique entity within the culture, carving his own lane and blazing trails along the way.
Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Aaron is currently based in San Diego, with a fan base that spans the entire globe. With a blend of free flowing, lyrical, and musical talent Aaron’s artistic styling can be described as THC-infused funk, hip hop, jazz, and soul.
You can find out more about Aaron and his eclectic talents at www.aaronevansimagination.com.

Patients Against I-502

The Unraveling of Dominic Holden
By Lee Rosenberg
The New Approach Washington campaign turned in its signatures this week for Initiative 502. This initiative would legalize personal possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and regulate the distribution and sale of the drug to anyone over 21 [in Washington state]. It also introduces a per se DUI limit for “active” THC – in layman’s terms, the amount of “unprocessed” THC in your body.
Over at Slog, Dominic Holden continues to lash out at the folks in the medical marijuana community who oppose it – primarily due to the DUI provisions. I’ve been trying to stay out of this fight for my own sanity, but Holden’s anger is so misdirected (and misinformed), I have to speak up.

THC Finder

​A California court of appeal on Monday rejected a pound of marijuana as evidence in a case where police opened a shipped package they claimed smelled strongly of pot. If upheld on further appeal, the case could have far-reaching effects on future California prosecutions in which a “probable cause” search was based on smell alone.

“Was the warrantless search justified based on smell alone?” wrote Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert of the Second District Court of Appeal in Ventura, reports Kate Moser at The Recorder. “Not according to the California Supreme Court. To smell it is not the same as to see it.”

Sprayground
If there is a cooler backpack, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen it.

​Sprayground has launched an all-new line of cool backpacks, including one in which I’m sure a lot of Toke readers will be interested: the “Pipe Dreams” design.

Yeah, finally there’s a backpack as cool as you are. And it’s that back-to-school time of year, too, so why aren’t you rockin’ one of these around that university campus yet?
Sure, Sprayground creates hot bags with iconic imagery, but the design of the backpacks is thoughtful, too. Each one features a plush velour-lined notebook compartment that will accommodate up to a 17-inch laptop, as well as an inside slip pocket for an iPad or tablet PC.
The main compartment includes inner slip pockets and zippers for organization and other devices like MP3 players/iPods and mobile phone holders.
Sprayground backpacks, including the “Pipe Dreams” design, are available for $48 (plus about $5 for FedEx shipping) directly from www.sprayground.net and across the U.S. at boutique stores like Kiston and major retailers such as Nordstrom.