Yearly Archives: 2011

New Test Can Detect Marijuana In Your Fingerprints

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 26, 2011 News

A new technology that analyzes the sweat from your fingertips could revolutionize the drug-testing market, purportedly providing onsite results in minutes with a test so sensitive it can even detect marijuana intoxication.

The test, produced by the British company Intelligent Fingerprinting, uses gold nanoparticles and “special antibodies” to latch onto metabolites in the fingerprint, reports Stephen C. Webster at The Raw Story. It turns a specific color depending on which drug byproducts are detected.

While it can be configured to search for drugs like nicotine, methadone and cocaine, what may turn out to be its most important innovation is its purported ability to help determine if someone is actively intoxicated on cannabis.

Diffuser Beads Help Cool Down Hits From The Bong

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 26, 2011 Products

Photo: 2K Industries LLC

Diffuser Beads, designed to cool the smoke in your bong or water pipe, come in six colors

I recently had a chance to try 2K Diffuser Beads, small plastic beads that are placed in the water chamber of a water pipe or bong. The beads cool down the smoke by adding more surface area, acting as a percolation chamber to break up the smoke before it reaches your mouth and lungs, making it less harsh.

They were created for those who enjoy the fun of smoking out of a water pipe, but find the hit a bit harsh.

The beads, made of high-grade recycled plastic described by the company as “100 percent safe and non-toxic,” intermix with the smoke and water. This forces the smoke to separate and travel around each individual bead, softening the hit. Between 500 and 600 diffuser beads come in every jar.

Move To Shut Marijuana Dispensaries Inches Forward In WA

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 26, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Pre-rolled joints at Rainier Wellness Center in Tacoma, one of the dispensaries targeted by the city for shutdown

Tacoma, Washington’s push to shutter more than 30 medical marijuana dispensaries inched forward on Monday, as cannabis outlets in unincorporated Pierce County also received letters from the Sheriff’s Department putting them on notice.

Sheriff Paul Pastor said his office sent letters to about 15 dispensaries late last week to tell them about the county’s interpretation of a state law that took effect Friday, reports Jordan Schrader at the Tacoma News Tribune. The law is what remains of SB 5073, which would have legalized dispensaries in the state but was instead gutted by a line-item veto from hen-hearted Governor Christine Gregoire.

‘Holy Hippies’ Tells Story Of 1971 Pot-Fueled Spiritual Bus Caravan

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 25, 2011 Culture, Products

Graphic: Voluntary Peasants

For those who were too young or weren’t born yet, have you ever wondered what it would have been like to be in the first wave of hippies that crested in the late 1960s and early 70s? So have I.

Now you can get a real window on that world, perhaps a clearer window than ever before. Actually, it’s more of a total immersion in that world rather than just a window on it, because Holy Hippies and The Great, Round-the-Country Save-the-World School Bus Caravan is written very much from an inside viewpoint.

Holy Hippies is Book Two of Stiriss’s “Voluntary Peasants Trilogy,” penned by former UPI journalist turned hippie Melvyn Stiriss. Toke of the Town also loved Book One, Enlightenment: What’s It Good For when it was released last December.

The trilogy is the first comprehensive, inside story of The Farm, the biggest, most successful hippie commune in United States history, located at Summertown, Tennessee.

The Farm won the “alternative Nobel Peace Price,” the Swedish-based Right Livelihood Award, “for caring, sharing and acting with and on behalf of those in need at home and abroad.”

The place really was a haven of good vibes; I visited several times during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and got a warm welcome each time. I remember being struck by the fact that the sentries at the front gate of The Farm didn’t shake your hand — they hugged you.

Canada: Medical Marijuana Shop Owner Slams Police After Raid

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 25, 2011 Dispensaries, Global, News

Photo: Les Bazso, The Province

Randy Caine, owner of Langley Medical Marijuana Dispensary, said he has been “blindsided” by a raid on his business by RCMP.

The owner of a medical marijuana dispensary in Langley, British Columbia is protesting a police raid during which officers confiscated about four kilograms of cannabis meant for sick people.

Randy Caine, 57, who once challenged Canada’s marijuana laws all the way to the Supreme Court, said helping people with chronic pain should not be a crime, reports Kent Spencer at The Province.

“If my greatest fault was being overly helpful to sick people, is that a criminal offense?” Caine, owner of Langley Medical Marijuana Dispensary, said on Friday.

“I have been transparent about medical assistance with the authorities from the start,” Caine said. “I had no idea they were this concerned. I was blindsided.”

Five RCMP officers wearing bulletproof jackets executed a search warrant on July 19, claiming they’d received “numerous” complaints about Caine’s operation.

New Zealand Party Guarantees Access To Marijuana If Elected

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 25, 2011 Global, Legislation, Medical

Graphic: ALCP

A political party in New Zealand has guaranteed patients access to medical marijuana if elected to office in November.

The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (ALCP) said it will disband Medsafe if elected to ensure that cannabis and other natural medicines are freely available to patients who need them, reports Scoop.

According to the group, Medsafe in 2007 began a “modern day witch hunt” against the natural health industry in New Zealand, prosecuting merchants and seizing stock from producers of natural remedies who say their products have therapeutic benefits.

Canada: Marijuana Arrests On The Rise

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 25, 2011 Global, News

Graphic: Ed Rosenthal

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government arrested 58,000 Canadians for marijuana possession last year.

Canada’s crime rate has dropped to its lowest level in almost four decades, according to Statistics Canada, but marijuana-related arrests are dramatically increasing.

Stats Canada shows that 58,000 Canadians were arrested for cannabis possession in 2010, a number that is 14 percent higher than the year before, reports Renee Bernard at News 1130.

Pot smokers are being unfairly targeted by the Harper government, according to Jacob Hunter with the Beyond Prohibition Foundation.

Case Dismissed; Men Want Their Medical Marijuana Back

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 25, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Photo: KOMO News

All charges against Guy Casey, above, were dismissed — but the cops still don’t want to give his medical marijuana back.

Two operators of a Tacoma, Washington medical marijuana dispensary beat drug charges earlier this year. Now they want their cannabis back.

Guy Casey and Michael Schaef said they are legally authorized to possess the marijuana seized during a raid and that the government no longer has any interest in the pot, reports Adam Lynn at the Bellingham Herald.

They’ve asked a Pierce County Superior Court judge to return to each of them 48 ounces of harvested marijuana and 30 plants — or their equivalents in cash.

Fistful of Reefer: ‘Reeferpunk’ Novel Is Western On Weed

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 24, 2011 Culture, Products

Graphic: Reeferpunk

Fistful of Reefer is a dieselpunk, weird Western pulp novel featuring goats, guns, and the camaraderie of outcasts. Marijuana was the plan, liberty the dream, revolution the result. Viva this!

David Mark Brown’s debut novel is the first in a series he calls Reeferpunk — an alternate history that explores the ramifications of an industrial revolution sans cheap oil.

Set along the Texas-Mexico border during the waning years of the Mexican Revolution, Fistful of Reefer focuses on a group of unlikely heroes and their equally unlikely foe as they stumble upon the fringes of a cabal bent on nothing short of redrawing geopolitical boundaries and world domination.

Anticipated release of this ebook exclusive is July 31. ~ Editor

By David Mark Brown

Special to Toke of the Town

If any of you are old enough, you might remember the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups commercial, “You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!” The ad ended with the tagline, “Two great tastes that taste great together.” That’s how I feel about Reeferpunk. Whether you end up preferring punk in your reefer or reefer in your punk, from now on they just gotta go together.

Confusion Reigns In Washington Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 22, 2011 Dispensaries, Growing, Legislation

Graphic: Sodahead

Changes to Washington state’s medical marijuana laws kick in today, Friday, July 22. But cities, counties, providers and patients are still trying to make sense of the new guidelines, a patchwork of confusing and often contradictory rules left by Governor Christine Gregoire’s hen-hearted line-item veto of legislation which would have regulated the shops.

The dispensaries have popped up all over the state in the past couple years, reports Liz Jones at KUOW. But the changes in Washington’s medical marijuana law make dispensaries illegal, while authorizing “collective gardens” of up to 45 plants for up to 10 patients.

Previous 1 … 48 49 50 51 52 … 121 Next