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Marijuana Advocates To Protest Drug Czar’s Seattle Appearance

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 3, 2011 Culture, News

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske requested — and got — a meeting with the editorial board of the Seattle Times after the newspaper endorsed marijuana legalization. The Drug Czar is bound by law to oppose marijuana legalization.

Immediately after the Seattle Times ran an editorial supporting marijuana legalization, Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske made plans to visit the newspaper on Friday, March 4 — presumably to tell them where they have erred. In response to that, cannabis legalization advocates plan to protest Kerlikowske’s appearance at the paper by rallying on public sidewalks around the Times building.

Yes, it may be the first time in history that protesters have shown up to support a newspaper editorial on any subject!

Some observers have wondered whether the meeting is an attempt at intimidation by the Drug Czar, especially since the Times is one of the largest newspapers yet to support legalization.

Protest Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske’s Appearance at the Seattle Times

LOCATION: Sidewalks adjoining the Seattle Times at 1120 John Street

TIME: From 7:30 a.m. until the Drug Czar departs the Seattle Times building

Iditarod Expands Drug Testing After Last Year’s Pothead Victory

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 2, 2011 Culture, Global

Photo: Screwed US

Medical marijuana patient Lance Mackey has won the past four Iditarod races. Drug tests were instituted last year — at the urging of jealous opponents, Mackey believes — but the champ tested clean. Now they’re expanding the drug tests.

Drug tests are back this year for Iditarod dog-sled mushers under updated rules that could now disqualify participants who smoke marijuana before — not just during — the race.

The Iditarod began testing for illegal drugs for the first time last year, reports Kyle Hopkins at The Tacoma News Tribune. Anchorage-based WorkSafe set up a makeshift drug-testing lab in a city supply room in White Mountain, the next-to-last checkpoint on the trail. Officials pulled mushers aside and forced them to take urine tests during their mandatory eight-hour stay in the village.

The top finishers all tested clean, according to Iditarod officials, including champion Lance Mackey, who believed jealous competitors called for the drug tests in hopes the throat-cancer survivor and well-known medicinal cannabis smoker would test positive.

Nepal’s Holy Men Banned From Selling Cannabis At Temple

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 2, 2011 Culture, Global

Photo: Nepal Mountain News

A sadhu smokes marijuana at Pashupatinath, Kathmandu, Nepal at the Shivaratri festival. Hundreds of holy men from Nepal and India gather yearly for the festival, where religious-based cannabis use is common.

Thousands of holy men — known as sadhus — have been banned from selling cannabis to religious festival-goers at an ancient temple in Nepal.

Hindu devotees are gathering at the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu to celebrate the holy festival of Shivaratri. Sadhus — Hindu holy men who renounce the world around them for spiritual goals — traditionally celebrate Shivaratri by smoking cannabis, reports Joanna Jolly at the BBC.

But those found selling pot at the temple this year will face eviction or even arrest by armed police, temple officials say — even if they are holy men.

Since last week, plainclothes police have been “mingling” with the sadhus to “identify anyone selling drugs.” Meanwhile, religious festival attendees are forced to endure the sight of young, gung-ho law enforcement officers defiling and disrespecting a venerated spiritual tradition dating back thousands of years.

About 20 sadhus have already been arrested and forced to an area outside the city, according to officials.

Arizona Teacher Fired Over Anti-Pharm Bumper Sticker

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 28, 2011 Culture, News

Photo: CBS 5 News

This bumper sticker was enough to get a high school English teacher fired in Arizona.

“Have you drugged your kid today?” That’s the bumper sticker that got an Arizona schoolteacher fired.

It was just one of 61 bumper stickers on high school English teacher Tarah Ausborn’s Toyota Prius, reports Judy Molland at Care2. But after the teacher refused to peel off the sticker after five parents at Imagine Prep High School complained and administrators ordered it — or her car — removed, she was fired.

School administrators told Ausborn she could keep the sticker on her vehicle if she’d promise to park off campus for the rest of the school year. But Ausborn stuck to her guns, and lost her job.

Congressman Frank Backs Marijuana Legalization At Expo

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 28, 2011 Culture, Legislation

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) told attendees at the first Maine Medical Marijuana Expo on Saturday that current laws against marijuana use are expensive, are applied unevenly and should be repealed.

“People who make a personal decision to smoke marijuana should not be subject to prosecution,” Frank said, noting that the legalization movement has allies in the libertarian wing of the Republican Party, reports David Hench at the Kennebec Journal. “This is the kind of fight that’s worth making. It’s winnable.”

Frank was present during a marijuana arrest at James Ready’s home in Ogunquit, Maine last October. Ready is well-known for his long term relationship with Congressman Frank, reports My Fox Boston.

The Congressman’s message was well received by a crowd of about 100, including many vendors set up for the day-long exposition in Portland, Maine.

Rapper Juvenile Busted For Marijuana (Again)

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 28, 2011 Culture, News

Photo: Honeymag

Almost exactly a year to the day after his last pot bust, rapper Juvenile was arrested over the weekend for marijuana possession in Sterlington, Louisiana.

Juvenile, 35, whose given name is Terius Gray, was reportedly pulled over for speeding, reports Danielle Harling at Hip Hop DX. He was reportedly going 75 miles per hour in a 65 mph zone. Upon approaching the car, the officer detected the smell of marijuana, and when asked about the scent, Juvenile handed him a small bag of pot.

“He was very courteous and respectful as he could be,” Sterlington Police Sgt. Jacob Greer told the Associated Press. “He asked me if I recognized him, and I said ‘No. Now, if you were George Strait I’ll probably have recognized you.”

Besides being charged for possession of marijuana, Juvenile was also charged with speeding and driving with a suspended license.

He was released from jail after posting a $750 cash bond; he’s currently scheduled to appear in court on April 1.

Does Marijuana Really Need A Big-Box Store Like Walmart?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 26, 2011 Culture

Graphic: Adam Vieyra/SD City Beat

The future of marijuana retailing in America? We hope not.

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

It is 8:05, Pacific Standard Time and the TV is rehashing the morning news. I’ve already boogie-boarded the Net for the past couple of hours reading the wires, the tubes, The Times; NY and LA, the blogs and of course the RSS feeds I have from all cannabis-related well-springs.

While the real news should be all about what’s happening in the Mideast (over there) or the Midwest (over here), but as of a minute ago, some guy in New York on Good Morning, America has just pulled out this tease before going to commercial. “Up next, the Wal-Mart of Weed, to open today in Sacramento, California.”

Drug Czar Meeting With Paper After It Calls For Pot Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 25, 2011 Culture, News

Photo: Injustice In Seattle

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske requested — and got — a meeting with the editorial board of the Seattle Times after the newspaper endorsed marijuana legalization

Immediately after the Seattle Times ran an editorial last week supporting marijuana legalization, the newspaper got a telephone call from Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske in Washington, D.C., Seattle alternative weekly The Stranger reports.

Kerlikowske, who heads up the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), wanted to fly to Seattle to “talk personally” to the paper’s full editorial board, reports Dominic Holden at The Stranger.

Holden called the meeting “an apparent attempt by the federal government to pressure the state’s largest newspaper to oppose marijuana legalization.”

WeedMaps Website Offers Daily Coupons For Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 25, 2011 Culture, News

Graphic: WeedMaps

Buying bud on a budget? WeedMaps has a deal for you.

WeedMaps, known for directing medical marijuana users to nearby dispensaries in states which allow it, has borrowed an idea from Groupon, the popular coupon-swapping website, and is now offering daily coupons and discounts on medicinal cannabis, reports Jeremy A. Kaplan at Fox News.

While the service has been called “Groupon for ganja,” site founder Justin Hartfield was quick to point out the differences between the two.

“It’s only like Groupon in the sense that there’s a new deal every day,” he told FoxNews.com. “We’re not accepting money from end users.” Groupon customers buy merchandise online, he explained, meaning subscribers rely on the daily coupon website itself to handle the transactions.

Mendo Farmers Collective Delivers Marijuana… In Orange County

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 24, 2011 Culture, Growing

Photo: Peter Hecht/The Sacramento Bee

Tim Blake, a legendary Mendocino County marijuana grower, tends his outdoor greenhouse with his dogs. Blake cultivates medical marijuana and runs Area 101, a spiritual retreat celebrating Mendocino’s marijuana culture.

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

It might be hard to believe for some of my younger readers that at one time, in order to get a Starbucks coffee, you had to brave the suicide-invoking rain, a thang called “grunge” and have to be in Seattle or thereabouts. Now that concept seems preposterous. As Janeane Garafalo once said, “I don’t want to say that Starbucks are everywhere, but I woke up this morning and they were building one in my living room.”

Maybe one day the same will be said about Mendocino and Humboldt marijuana. Maybe one day, getting your medicine will be as easy as standing in line at your nearby coffee shop or getting it delivered right to the house, just like the wine clubs that we belong to have done for 50 years.

And the race is on…

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