Marijuana and Cannabis Culture
Big pharma/tobacco/ag is coming for our pot: this much we know. With a market potential of "billions" being floated around, they certainly won't leave it in the hands of Joe Grower. 
When Colorado passed the most permissive cannabis laws in the history of the world this week, stakeholders did everything they could to prevent the corporate takeover of "Phizanto Morris" in the state. That's what they'll tell you, at least. In reality, they just fucked over toking entrepreneurs in 49 states, D.C., and whatever Puerto Rico is these days.
No, its not going to make you stoned. It's could make you fat, though. A butcher in Seattle has begun serving pork from pot-fed pigs, and says the taste is hog-heaven.BB Ranch.
Cassandra Sawywer with the Seattle Met uncovered the tip the other week in talking with the head butcher of BB Ranch butcher shop at the Pike Place Market in Washington. He dubbed them "pot pigs", and came up with the idea with Bucking Boar Farms owner who already serves pigs used vodka grains from a nearby distillery.
To help all of us non-glass artists better understand the industry, evolution and art and science behind how our pipes, bubblers and bongs are made we've asked one of Colorado's most prominent and best-known artists to take on a quasi-regular column we'd like to call: Glass Class.
Scott "Trikky" Saed.
This week, our glass guide Scott "Trikky" Saed, professes his love for the simplicity and beauty of marbles.
Here's an awful situation no matter which way you view it. One-year-old Harley Bradford and her two-year-old brother, Jason, are dead after their mother found them both face down in a San Diego area swimming pool just before 10 a.m. on Monday morning. The children's mother has yet to be charged with a crime. 
CBS8 San Deigo.
The mother, identified as Tessie Behrens by CBS8 San Deigo, claims that she could not find her kids when she awoke at the home of a family friend around 9:30 a.m. Searching frantically, she found them both unconscious in the pool.
Discussions about the bill to regulate Colorado's ground-breaking marijuana legislation, Amendment 64, continue to draw in unexpected implications -- including language that essentially requires that marijuana magazines like High Times be treated as though they're porn. If that section lasts, they'll be hidden behind the counter -- no matter how many clothes are on the cover. 
And now that the proposal is an official part of the main bill, the countdown to a lawsuit has begun. Westword has more on the likely legal battle.
Teaming up for the first time since their red carpet victories with Argo, writer Grant Heslov and actor George Clooney (who co-produced Argo) have reportedly been recruited by Sony Pictures to produce a feature film about a 1970's Southern California pot smuggling ring, tentatively titled Coronado High. 
George Clooney.
But while there's little doubt the script would be hit with moviegoers, the mere rumors of the flick have put the tiny Coronado Island community back in an unwanted spotlight.
If you combined Saturday Night Live's "Really?" segment with ESPN's celebration of boneheaded NFL plays titled "C'Mon Man!" you would have my reaction to Derek Rosenfeld's recent HuffPo article trashing our commander in chief. In his piece "President Obama Is the Last Person Who Should Joke About Marijuana", Rosenfeld, who is the Internet communications associate at the venerable Drug Policy Alliance, took issue with one joke from the Prez's annual White House Correspondents Dinner. 
What was so egregious about Obama's marijuana diss? It wasn't one to begin with.
When Colorado voted to "Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol" last November, a lot of eyes grew wide, and by New Years Eve, experimental pot clubs were popping up across the Front Range with varying levels of success. Quasi-legal, they were testing a legal gray area until the state decides how they'll handle social smoking spots - likely not allowing them at all.
DAB ME, BRO!
And I'm okay with that. But it's not because I'm some pro-restrictions prohibitionist fuck. Far from it. It is because pot-centric, cannabis-only imitation bars are most likely going to suck .
With April 20th, or 4/20, falling on a Saturday this year, the annual pot smokers' holiday saw events, festivals, and concerts crop up in cities and states across the country in celebration of all things cannabis. 
Wikipedia commons.
With a recent Pew Research Center poll showing a 52% majority of Americans polled being in favor of legalizing pot, and with new medical marijuana legalization bills underway in ten states, a lot of critical eyes were on the weed scene this past weekend.
>em>High Times Magazine threw arguable the biggest private pot parties in the nation over the weekend, drawing tens of thousands of people over two days to the Exdo Events Center in Denver for the magazine's third cannabis contest in as many years. Past events were all medical cups. But this year's was billed as the first true Cannabis Cup that was open to everyone.
William Breathes.
And apparently, that word got out to everyone. In our two days at the festival, we met dozens of folks from Texas, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and even a few awesome Kiwis from New Zealand - including the owner of New Zealand's only hemp store. All were blown away by the open use around them - which is completely understandable when you come from places where marijuana isn't as tolerated as Colorado. Shit, it was even impressive in scope for those of us used to such spectacles.
