Toke of the Town

Search Results: picnic (13)

How Denver Westword baked a marijuana apple pie for the Denver County Fair

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By on Culture, Say what?


Straight off the cooling rack, the pie hit all the right notes. Its filling was gooey and sweet, full of chewy chunks of apple, its Dutch-style crust crumbly and buttery, with pleasant herbal overtones. This pie wouldn’t have been out of place at a family picnic or Thanksgiving dinner — if not for the fact that it was packed to the rim with marijuana.
We’d decided to bake a weed-infused pie in order to do our bit for the upcoming Denver County Fair.
Inspired by Colorado’s legal-weed wave, earlier this year the fair announced it would have a pot pavilion that put a stoner spin on traditional county fair festivities, complete with Grateful Dead karaoke and a prize for the best marijuana plant. In the months leading up to the fair, the buzz around the pot component grew big enough that organizers axed a planned beer pavilion and doubled the area devoted to cannabis.

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He Stood Up: A Reason To Be Thankful

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By on Culture

Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition

By Ron Crumpton
A few weeks ago, Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition had a picnic at Rhodes Ferry Park in Decatur. As usual, I spoke to many patients. There was one story that really got to me.
I met a man who had just happened by on his bicycle, saw the AMMJC sign and decided to stop and talk. The man had been diagnosed with cervical spine disease; due to this, he suffered from seizures, and was no longer able to work.
He had been turned down for disability, and was waiting for his appeal. The man told me that he had no home to call his own, he was staying with friends when he could, and on the streets when he could not.
As we talked, I learned that his physical problems were not the only challenges this man had to face. He had been diagnosed as being manic-depressive with suicidal tendencies, after his four-year-old son was murdered in 2002.
He told me that he suffered from allergic reactions to codeine, and was unable to take many pain medications. Most of the other medications that he was taking for muscle spasms, appetite, sleep, depression and seizures made him ill, and to make things worse, years of taking these medications had damaged the lining of his stomach, caused him to develop a tumor and a hernia.
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The War On Foie Gras, And The Gras Underground

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By on Culture

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.
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Toke Interview: ‘Heart of Dankness’ Author Mark Haskell Smith

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By on Culture, Growing, Products

Library Foundation of Los Angeles

Editor’s note: Los Angeles writer Mark Haskell Smith’s new book Heart of Dankness sprang from his news coverage of the Cannabis Cup for the L.A. Times. Novelist Smith sampled varieties of marijuana that were unlike anything he’d experienced before, unlike any typical stoner weed. In fact, it didn’t get you “stoned,” as such. This cannabis possessed an ephemeral quality known as “dankness.”

Haskell began a journey into the international underground where super-high-grade marijuana is developed. He tracked down the ragtag community of underground botanists, outlaw farmers, and renegade strain hunters who pursue excellence and genetic diversity in cannabis. The dank journey climaxes at Amsterdam’s Cannabis Cup, which Mark portrays as the Super Bowl/Mardi Gras of the world’s largest cash crop.

Cannabis writer and connoisseur Caitlin Podiak got a chance to chat with Haskell Smith about the book, about good cannabis, and about what, exactly, constitutes a state of dankness. Enjoy!

Discussing Dankness
By Caitlin Podiak
Special to Toke of the Town
Caitlin Podiak: Your quest for the “heart of dankness” centers on the annual High Times Cannabis Cup event in Amsterdam. But how relevant do you think those awards are to cannabis users in California? I know many of the strains we have here come from Dutch seeds, but beyond that, I wonder how much the Amsterdam Cannabis Cup results should matter to us in the United States.
Mark Haskell Smith: Oh, I think they’re very relevant to what goes on in California. The strains that win the Cannabis Cup ultimately become the popular strains you find in medical dispensaries or being sold by dealers. AK-47, Super Silver Haze, Willie Nelson, Lavender, LA Confidential… these are all fairly common strains nowadays, but they were first introduced at the Cannabis Cup. I imagine Kosher Kush, which is originally a SoCal strain, will become huge in the next year or two because it just won the Indica Cup in Amsterdam. It’s sort of like Coachella for cannabis. It’s where the unknowns get their shot at the big time. And that resonates in California. We want those seeds.
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Whitney Houston’s Death Prompts Call For Drug Policy Reform

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By on News

Celebrity Picnic
Whitney Houston, R.I.P.

​Over the weekend, as news of the tragic passing of Whitney Houston spread, speculation about the cause of death and the award-winning singer’s history of drug use caused many people to reconsider our nation’s failed war on drugs. Among them was fellow singer Tony Bennett, who called on attendees of a pre-Grammy gala to join him in the fight to end drug prohibition.
 
“First it was Michael Jackson, then Amy Winehouse, now the magnificent Whitney Houston,” he told the audience. “I’d like every person in this room to campaign to legalize drugs.”
“Let’s legalize drugs like they did in Amsterdam,” Bennett said. “No one’s hiding or sneaking around corners to get it. They go to a doctor to get it.”
 
While Holland hasn’t actually legalized drugs, its policies are focused on reducing the harms associated with drugs, rather than arresting nonviolent drug users.
Most significantly, the possession and sale of small amounts of marijuana are tolerated by the government, which has separated marijuana from the market for harder drugs. As a result of this policy and more readily available treatment options, drug use and addiction rates in the Netherlands are far lower than in the United States.
 
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Marijuana Activist Legend Gatewood Galbraith Dies

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By on News

Lex18.com
Gatewood Galbraith (1947-2012)

​The legendary Gatewood Galbraith, colorful Kentucky political figure known as “The Last Free Man In America,” died quietly in his sleep at home Tuesday night. Gatewood, a perennial candidate for public office and a lifelong marijuana advocate, changed the cannabis movement forever with his homespun wisdom and plain-spoken honesty.

Gatewood, who defended individual rights in the streets, in the courtrooms and on political stages around the country, was perhaps best known for his advocacy of hemp farming and the legalization of marijuana, along with his sense of humor.

Galbraith had run for governor last November, finishing third in a three-candidate race won by incumbent Gov. Steve Beshear.
“Dear Friends I have just been notified that Gatewood passed away last night,” his running mate, Dea Riley, posted on Facebook this morning. “I am heading to Lexington to be with his family. Please say a prayer for his family and friends and all those who loved him. I am heartbroken.”
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Medical Marijuana Bill Coming To Alabama Legislature

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By on Legislation, Medical, News

Graphic: AMMJC

​When my sister in Alabama suffers severe nausea due to a major stroke she had last year, she’s not allowed to use the most effective medication. In fact, if she did that, she could be put in jail.

You see, Lynda can’t use medical marijuana — even though it works better than any of the harsh pharmaceuticals her doctor prescribes — because it’s very much against the law in Alabama.
That could all be changing soon, thanks to the Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition (AMMJC), which, just two months after its founding, on Thursday announced that the Alabama Medical Marijuana Patient’s Rights Act will be introduced in the next session of the Alabama Legislature.
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Benefit Event Set For Fired Walmart Medical Marijuana Patient

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By on Medical, News

Photo: Joseph Casias
Cancer patient Joseph Casias, former Employee of the Year at Walmart: “I just don’t understand why it is so bad to use something that helps me and many others who suffer with illnesses and pain”

​Once in awhile, corporate America commits such a glaring injustice that people are sickened by the inhumanity of it. Such was the case last year when a Michigan Walmart fired its former Employee of the Year, Joseph Casias, after he showed up positive for marijuana on a routine drug test — despite the fact that he is a seriously ill cancer patient legally using medical cannabis on the recommendation of his physician.

Casias, 30, who has an inoperable brain tumor, was sacked by the Battle Creek Walmart after he failed a routine urine screen following a workplace injury. And despite a chorus of nationwide protest, the corporate behemoth stuck by its heartless decision and eventually prevailed in court after a judge upheld the dismissal.
Casias said that he only used marijuana after his work shift, and never used on the job. He tried cannabis after his oncologist suggested it.
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Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition Takes It To The People

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By on Legislation, Medical, News

Photo: AMMJC
Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition Co-President Ron Crumpton, right, is interviewed by newspaper reporter Jason Bacaj of The Anniston Star.

​State Lawmaker: ‘Good Possibility’ He Will Sponsor A Medical Marijuana Bill In Alabama Legislature
Did you know that the Heart of Dixie stands an excellent chance to become the first medical marijuana state in the Deep South?
The newest Alabama group working to allow marijuana as medicine is taking its message to the people with a series of picnic-style meetings across the state. The Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition (AMMJC) group’s second event, was held Saturday in Jacksonville at Germania Springs Park.

A crowd that grew to close to 70 people was on hand for the picnic, including a state lawmaker who said there is a “good possibility” that he will sponsor a medical marijuana bill in the Alabama Legislature next year.
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Alabama Building A Path Toward Allowing Medical Marijuana

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By on Legislation, Medical, News

Graphic: AMMJC

​Some folks just won’t take me seriously when I tell them that Alabama stands a good chance to become the first state in the Deep South to legalize medical marijuana. I can only conclude they are so skeptical because they don’t realize how determined — and, OK, I’ll say it —  how stubborn Alabama people can be. (Yes, I grew up there.)

On Saturday I got to meet meet with the Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition at their very first gathering, held at beautiful Smith Lake Park near Cullman. I came out of that meeting more convinced than ever that the Heart of Dixie is going to surprise a lot of political observers by recognizing the rights of medical cannabis patients, and that this will happen a lot sooner than many people expect.
The reason for this seemingly unlikely scenario is what could be described as an alliance on this issue between liberal-leaning Democrats and libertarian Republicans, two groups which can agree that the government should allow seriously ill medicinal cannabis patients to use the doctor-recommended medicine which works best for them.
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