Laraine Newman takes the lead in this great sketch from Saturday Night Live. I was 16 when this first aired in April 1977 (and yes, I was watching).
Yearly Archives: 2011
| Graphic: Lifeboat Foundation |
| Queen Victoria famously used cannabis to ease her royal menstrual cramps. |
By Jack RikessToke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent
In honor of the 100th anniversary of Women’s Day, I present the Top 11 Women of Weed, ladies I think have made a difference, cannabis-wise, in my life.
11. Queen Victoria
If you are of a certain age, she is the first famous pot smoker that we heard of in the Sixties.
Because she used cannabis for her majestic cramps, she also was the first internationally known medical marijuana patient.
England may be getting a new king soon, but Queen Vicky will always be the royal “oui” to me.
| Graphic: Cafe Press |
A New Hampshire House committee on Wednesday brought seriously ill Granite Staters closer to relief with a 14-3 “ought to pass” vote on a bill to allow the medical use of marijuana.
The House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee endorsed House Bill 442, which creates a narrow exception in New Hampshire law for people with certain qualifying medical conditions to use marijuana medicinally with a doctor’s recommendation.
HB 442 now moves on to the full House for a vote.
Introduced by Rep. Evalyn Merrick (D), herself a cancer survivor, the bill has five Republican cosponsors, including the chair of the Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee, Rep. John Reagan (R-Deerfield).
| Photo: Los Angeles Times |
The office of Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen “Nuch” Tratanich has stepped up its efforts to close unlicensed medical marijuana dispensaries, notifying landlords and operators of 140 pot shops that they must close immediately.
In a letter sent Monday, the office contacted dispensaries which did not file applications to participate in a lottery to choose 100 that will be allowed to operate in the city, reports John Hoeffel at the Los Angeles Times.
The city clerk received 228 applications from dispensaries and is currently reviewing them all to make sure they qualify for the drawing. To qualify, pot shops must have been in business since September 14, 2007.
| Photo: Terry Pierson/The Press Enterprise |
| Agents found “Wally,” a four-foot, 55-pound alligator, in a home where marijuana was being grown. They claim he was guarding the plants. |
California narcotics investigators raiding what they called a $1.5 million marijuana growing operation found a four-foot alligator they claimed was guarding the crop.
Now, I know the press just loves exotic pets guarding marijuana crops, just how effective a guard would a four-foot alligator be? Not very, if one can judge by the photo of someone holding the fuckin’ thing. Turns out the gator was just as (in)effective at guarding pot as the B.C. marijuana bears were last year.
In any event, the Riverside County drug task force members, along with Department of Justice agents, moved in on the East Hemet house Monday night, seizing nearly 2,300 marijuana plants, reports KTLA News.
| Photo: The 420 Times |
Los Angeles voters on Tuesday approved a measure to tax medical marijuana dispensaries as a new source of revenue for the budget-challenged city.
Early returns from Tuesday’s polls showed most voters favored Measure M, which would allow the city to collect $50 out of each $1,000 in “gross reimbursements” that dispensaries receive from patients, reports Yang Lina at Xinhua.
With 40 percent of precincts counted, Measure M was ahead by a margin of 62 percent to 38 percent, reports Gene Maddaus at LA Weekly.
| Graphic: Santa Fe Reporter |
| N.M. Gov. Susanna Martinez: “I do not support distributing marijuana for any purposes” |
A bill to repeal New Mexico’s medical marijuana law — supported by the state’s new Republican governor — will not receive a vote this year, as the sponsor of the bill has reportedly pulled the legislation.
A secretary in the office of freshman state Rep. James Smith (R-Sandia Park), who initially sponsored a bill that would kill the state’s medical marijuana program, confirmed that attempts to dissolve the program have been aborted, reports Alexa Schirtzinger at the Santa Fe Reporter.
| Graphic: THC Finder |
| Voters in the Sunshine State could get a chance to decide for themselves about medical marijuana — if the Republican-controlled Legislature will let them. |
Florida voters could get a chance to decide for themselves about medical marijuana next year — if the Republican-controlled Legislature will let them.
Rep. Jeff Clemens (D-Lake Worth) has filed a joint resolution that, if passed by the Legislature, would let Floridians vote on a state constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana.
Just last week, a Republican pollster found high support in The Sunshine State for medicinal cannabis, with 57 percent — almost enough to pass a state constitutional amendment, which would require 60 percent.
So, Florida. Are you going to insist on a chance to decide for yourselves about medical marijuana? Or are you going to stand idly by while your Republican-controlled Legislature ignores you for yet another year?
A “Legislative Action on Medical Marijuana” press conference has been scheduled for Thursday, March 10 at 11 a.m. at Florida’s Capitol in Tallahassee.
| Graphic: VaporMe.com |
Every new industry is driven by risk-taking pioneers, and it’s no different with medical marijuana in the District of Columbia. Entrepreneurs trying for a piece of the cannabis action in D.C. are crafting business plans, arranging financing, and readying for fierce competition to get licenses to operate five dispensaries and 10 cultivation centers.
Whether motivated by prospective profits or a belief in the medicinal value of marijuana, “everyone is cagey about their plans, because no one is certain who is in the hunt,” reports Paul Schwartzman at the The Washington Post.
“People are hiding in the shadows,” said Alan Amsterdam, co-owner of a hemp store and part of a team hoping to open a marijuana dispensary and cultivation center. “Then they’ll strike like a cobra.”
| Photo: My Fox 8 |
| Tavaries Moore won’t be working as a prison guard again anytime soon. However, he has a promising future as a trustee. |
A North Carolina prison employee has been arrested and accused of smuggling marijuana inside the facility.
Tavaries Cordero Moore, 22, of Greensboro, N.C., is getting the book thrown at him. Moore is charged with possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana, felony possession of marijuana, possession of a controlled substance in a prison facility and aiding and abetting providing drugs to an inmate, reports My Fox 8.
Moore is an employee of the Caswell Correctional Facility in Caswell County. Deputies said they began their investigation on March 1, reports WXII 12.