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Let’s Make 2013 The Year We End Cannabis Prohibition

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 31, 2012 Culture, Legislation

By Robert Platshorn

The Silver Tour

In 2011, with the help of Irv Rosenfeld and volunteers from NORML of Florida, I developed a free show that would entertain and educate seniors on the benefits of medical marijuana. It was something that no activist organization had ever done.

We “took it on the road.” Our first show was in front of an audience of six people, in an alleyway behind a Green Party storefront. The next show was in the back room in a Denny’s for 20 Libertarians.

When we were ready for the “Big Time,” Karen Goldstein, president of NORML of Florida, booked us into Ladies Auxiliary meeting at the Reform Synagogue of a South Florida Century Village. The show rocked! They lined up to sign letters and petitions demanding “safe legal access” to nature’s most important medicine. The rest is history.

Tokin’ Road Trip: Humboldt County’s Emerald Cup

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 18, 2012 Culture, Products

All photos by Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

The glass entry case contained all 200 flower entries, and a couple dozen concentrate entries in the center wheel

The ninth annual Emerald Cup medical cannabis competition — a Humboldt County, California-based event in which only outdoor, sun-grown, organic marijuana and concentrates are allowed — was held this past weekend in Redway, and Toke of the Town was there.

The winning strain (left), entry #47, Chem Dawg, from Cannabis Aficionado

Two hundred strains of marijuana were entered (compared to last year’s 108 entries), as well as a couple dozen concentrates. Winners were selected, and the Grand Prize winner — entry #47, ChemDawg Special Reserve, grown by Leonard Bell and Elenah Elston (first female to take the top spot in this cannabis competition) — was announced. A very happy Leonard and Elenah, who together run the company Cannabis Aficionado, won an all-expenses paid trip to Jamaica for seven days and nights.

The winning strain, according to the lab results posted on Facebook by The Emerald Cup, contains 18.4 percent THC and 0.9 percent CBD.

Entrants in the Emerald Cup are judged by entry numbers only. It’s a completely blind judging process, i.e., the judges have no idea who grew it, what strain it is, or anything else about it. Entrants are judged on the high, appearance, smell, taste, and potency, with the high counting twice as much as the other components (and rightly so).

I-502 Fight Behind DEA’s Seattle Dispensary Letters?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 24, 2012 Dispensaries, News

MyNorthwest.com

Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes: Did he pull the trigger on Thursday’s DEA letters? Our source says yes.

Were medical marijuana dispensaries targeted for opposing I-502, which is sponsored by Seattle’s city attorney?

The Drug Enforcement Administration letters sent out to 23 Seattle-area medical marijuana access points on Thursday are already stinking to high heaven, just over 24 hours later, as allegations of improper influence cloud the air.

According to Toke of the Town‘s well-placed source in the Washington cannabis community, Seattle Attorney Pete Holmes saw, at Hempfest, the strong opposition to Washington state Initiative 502, the “legalization” measure with a strict and unscientific DUI provision that has torn the community asunder. And, according to this version of events, Pete decided he really didn’t like the medical marijuana industry very much.

Our source tells us that when Holmes got home from Hempfest, still smarting from public relations drubbing the No On 502 folks handed the Yes team at the protestival, he allegedly influenced his good friend U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan to send the letters which went out to dispensaries on Thursday.

Tommy Chong Fighting Prostate Cancer

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2012 Culture, Medical, News

Wikipedia

Cheech (left) and Chong in 1972

Comedy legend Tommy Chong, 74, half of the iconic cannabis comedy duo Cheech & Chong, is fighting prostate cancer, he announced Saturday.

He was diagnosed “about a month ago,” Chong told CNN.

He revealed his condition in an interview about cannabis decriminalization, saying he first noticed symptoms about eight years ago while in prison for selling “drug paraphernalia” on trumped up federal charges (all he did was ship glass Chong bongs through the mail to people who had ordered them).

“I’ve got prostate cancer, and I’m treating it with hemp oil, with cannabis,” he told CNN’s Don Lemon. “So (legalizing marijuana) means a lot more to me than just being able to smoke a joint without being arrested.”

A NORML Life: Cannabis Documentary Is Top Notch

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 22, 2011 Culture, Products

Photo: Cinema Libre Studios

Director Rod Pitman’s just-released cannabis documentary, A NORML Life, goes beyond the recitation of facts and figures to capture the beating heart of the legalization movement, in all its passion, its commitment and its excitement.

It’s an extraordinary job by Pitman, producer Doug Ross and a rich cast of cannabis characters including Seattle Hempfest founder Vivian McPeak (who, near the beginning of the show, rightly says America’s marijuana laws are “fixing a problem that never existed,”), and it wastes no time in going for the emotional resonance which is the reason many of us are involved in this movement.

The documentary, which compellingly tells the proud story of advocates fighting for the legalization of marijuana, was released by Cinema Libre Studios on DVD last week. The film presents a strong case that the use of medical marijuana is effective, and that it is a safe alternative to pharmaceutical medicines.

This Weekend: Hempfest Marks 20 Years With Biggest One Yet

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 18, 2011 Culture, News

Graphic: Seattle Hempfest

There has to be a Number One in every category. When it comes to pot rallies, Seattle Hempfest is the biggest and arguably the best on the planet.

The monster marijuana rally — or “protestival,” as organizer Vivian McPeak puts it — is marking 20 years of existence with this year’s event, held at Myrtle Edwards Park on the beautiful Seattle waterfront — and for the first time ever, Hempfest is slated for three days.

The party begins at high noon on Friday, August 19 and continues until 8 p.m., then things start up again at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, lasting until 8 each night.

‘Toke Signals’ Forum To Discuss Future of Marijuana in WA

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 17, 2011 Culture, News

Graphic: Seattle Weekly

Tomorrow night at 7, I’ll be onstage in Seattle with seven other panelists to discuss what’s next for marijuana in Washington State.

The event, sponsored by Seattle Weekly and KCTS 9, is called “Toke Signals: The Future of Marijuana in Washington State.”

And there’s still time to submit questions for the panel, reports Curtis Cartier at Seattle Weekly.

The forum will be at KCTS 9’s studio near Seattle Center and will feature:

• John McKay: Former U.S. Attorney and Seattle University Law Professor who prosecuted Marc Emery

• Rick Steves: Author, PBS travel correspondent and marijuana law reform advocate

• Steve Elliott: Seattle Weekly’s “Toke Signals” medical marijuana dispensary review columnist and Toke of the Town blog editor

Ann Arbor Sets Marijuana Dispensary Application Fee At $600

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 16, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: Ann Arbor Wellness Collective

Nebula, available at Ann Arbor Wellness Collective, 321 E. Liberty Avenue, Suite 1.

The Ann Arbor City Council voted unanimously at its August 15 meeting to establish an application fee of $600 for licenses to operate a medical marijuana dispensary in the Michigan city.

According to city officials, the application fee covers a total of about nine hours of work by staff in the city clerk’s office, police department, planning department, and the city attorney’s office, reports The Ann Arbor Chronicle.

It sounds as if prospective dispensary owners won’t be through paying money to the city even after they cough up the six Benjamins. The ordinance distinguishes between an “application fee” (which this is) and a “license fee.” License fees, according to city ordinance, are to be reviewed by a licensing board, the members of which will be appointed by Mayor John Hieftje.

Attorney On New Approach Washington: ‘This Is Not Marijuana Legalization’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 8, 2011 Legislation, News

Photo: Douglas Hiatt

Douglas Hiatt: “It is not legalization, and it is going to criminalize patients in this state”

The New Approach Washington initiative, which has gained financial support and big backers for relaxing Washington state’s marijuana laws, is not real cannabis legalization, according to Seattle-based activist/attorney Douglas Hiatt of Sensible Washington.

“It is not legalization, and it is going to criminalize patients in this state,” Hiatt told Toke of the Town Monday afternoon of New Approach Washington. “They’re using polling to justify their positions, saying we have a ‘nervous public,’ and that we have to win at all costs.”

The New Approach Washington initiative would authorize the Washington State Liquor Control Board to regulate the production and distribution of marijuana for sale to adults 21 and older through state-licensed stores. A new marijuana excise tax would be earmarked for prevention, research, education and health care. State and local retail sales taxes would be directed to the general fund and location budgets.

Seattle City Council Votes 8-0 To Allow Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 18, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Photo: Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Cass Stewart mans the counter at Apothecary Seattle on Capitol Hill. The Seattle City Council on Monday voted to license the city’s dispensaries.

Medical marijuana dispensaries are alive in Seattle, at least for now. The Seattle City Council, on a unanimous 8-0 vote Monday, approved an ordinance which licenses and taxes dispensaries in the city.

The ordinance now heads for the desk of Mayor Mike McGinn for his signature, reports Philip Dawdy at 4Evergreen Group. The mayor is expected to sign the ordinance.

The ordinance requires that medical cannabis dispensaries have city business licenses, pay business and occupation (B&O) taxes and be at least 1,000 feet away from schools.

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