Culture

21st Annual Boston Freedom Rally Is Saturday, September 18

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 17, 2010 Culture, News

The Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition (Mass Cann) will host its 21st annual Freedom Rally Saturday, September 18, beginning at High Noon on the Boston Common.

This year’s theme, “Cannabis Is Medicine,” highlights Mass Cann’s ongoing efforts to obtain passage by a reluctant Legislature of a law that would allow patients or registered caregivers, with their doctor’s written recommendation, to possess and grow marijuana for the patient’s personal medical use.

Cannabis Quote Of The Day: Jack Kerouac

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 16, 2010 Culture

Graphic: Hemptopian

Rhode Island Marijuana School Goes Up In Smoke

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 16, 2010 Culture, Products

Graphic: NESAHS

Class dismissed.

An outfit previously billed as New England’s first medical marijuana school has decided to cancel its inaugural class and indefinitely postpone operations, citing concerns that the Rhode Island Department of Health has not offered its explicit approval.

The New England School of Alternative Horticultural Science’s founder, Luis Hernandez, pointed to a September 2 article in The Brown Daily Herald in which a spokeswoman for the Health Department expressed reservations and concerns about the school.

“From the Health Department’s point of view, our one concern is that accurate information is presented, not only about what the law permits in terms of growing (marijuana) but about the rules and regulations for caregivers and patients.”

BOYCOTT: Arizona Cardinals Give $10K To Stop Medical Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 16, 2010 Culture

Graphic: Phoenix NewTimes

If you support the Arizona Cardinals, you are supporting marijuana prohibition and opposing safe access for medical cannabis patients.

The National Football League’s Arizona Cardinals have joined the fight against legalizing medical marijuana in their state, donating $10,000 to “Keep AZ Drug Free” on Thursday.

No self-respecting marijuana advocate — or anyone who cares about safe access for patients, to the medicine that works best for them — will attend a Cardinals game from this point forward.

The Cardinals’ donation to the war chest against Proposition 203, which would make medical marijuana legal in the state and let chronically ill or severe pain patients buy small amounts of pot from state licensed dispensaries with a doctor’s approval, makes absolutely no sense, especially given the fact that many NFL players could benefit from the herb’s palliative and pain-relieving properties.

Government: Marijuana To Blame For Increased Drug Use In 2009

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 15, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: Associated Press

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske: Marijuana is “an entry drug”

A new U.S. government report blames increased marijuana use for a rise in the overall use of illicit drugs among Americans. That’s good news, for anyone who’s familiar with just how non-toxic is marijuana, compared with other illegal drugs.

The annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows the rate of “illicit drug use” (including marijuana) rose from eight percent in 2008 to 8.7 percent in 2009, reports Peter Maer at CBS News. The survey also found more use of ecstasy and methamphetamine.

Officials claim they are especially concerned about use of illegal drugs by young people. The survey, by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), found 21.2 percent of young adults experimented with illegal drugs in 2009.

The trend “was also driven in large part by the use of marijuana,” according to the report.

National Geographic Explorer Looks At ‘Marijuana Nation’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 13, 2010 Culture

Tuesday, September 14, 10 p.m.

Photo: National Geographic Explorer

Marijuana is the most widely used “illicit drug” on the planet, according to National Geographic, and Explorer rerun focuses mostly on cannabis in Canada with an encore airing (OK, a rerun) of the episode Marijuana Nation at 10 p.m. Tuesday night.

“Reporting from secret farms and not-so-secret grow houses of marijuana cultivators, Lisa Ling goes into their world — where marijuana is not just a drug but a way of life,” National Geographic informs us.

Marijuana: Fight Back With The Facts

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 12, 2010 Culture

Photo: Buzzle.com

I’ve been smoking marijuana for 33 years — since I was 17.

Coming of age in Alabama in the 1970s as a cannabis user, I learned one thing very clearly by getting busted for pot five times by the time I was 25 years old:

I don’t like the laws against marijuana.

They’re dumb, they don’t work, they don’t keep anyone who wants cannabis from getting it, and they destroy people’s lives for no good reason.

I decided to fight back with the facts.

Marijuana Trading Cards Celebrate High Achievements

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 10, 2010 Culture, Products

Photo: East Bay Express

A Berkeley medical marijuana dispensary has released a spiffy set of cards that allows cannabis enthusiasts to compare high-scoring strains such as Afghani Goo and Grand Daddy Purple.

“It was really just like an evolution of the labeling system,” said David Bowers, manager at the Berkeley Patient’s Care Collective, a 10-year-old pot shop on Telegraph Avenue. Introduced in March, the cards feature glossy photos of beautiful buds along with details about their defining traits and medical usefulness, reports Josh Harkinson at Mother Jones.

“Consumers want to get rid of physical pain, restore appetite, or find mental relaxation, and different strains help,” Bowers told David Downs at East Bay Express.

U. of Miami Baseball Player Busted For Selling Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 9, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: Richard C. Lewis

Miami’s Frankie Ratcliff, left, wipes out Fordham University infielder Brian Kownacki as he slides on March 16 in Coral Gables.

While the University of Miami’s football team has cleaned up its media image, from time to time another of the school’s athletes keeps that good old “Thug U” outlaw image alive. A freshman on the university’s baseball team was arrested Wednesday night for trying to sell marijuana to undercover cops on campus.

Freshman Frankie Ratcliff, 19, was busted around 9 p.m. after offering to sell 21 grams to narcs for $220. He then foolishly signed a consent form allowing police to search his apartment, where they found more pot, totaling 101 grams, and 19 vials of “athletic enhancer” steroids.

Famous Pot Critic Talks About His First Year On The Job

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 9, 2010 Culture, Dispensaries

Photo: WBAL

Marijuana critic William Breathes at work

It’s been a year now since Denver Westword rolled up, I mean rolled out its Mile Highs and Lows dispensary reviews. The process of a newspaper looking for and hiring a marijuana critic attracted lots of attention from the press last year, and rightly so, as it is yet another sign of the generational shift in attitudes toward the weed that seem to be all around us these days.

Pot critic William Breathes came to national prominence in the flurry of coverage, including reports on CNN and BBC, and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

Cannabis connoisseurship has of course existed as long as marijuana consumers have known the difference between schwag and dank. But actually getting paid to be a pot critic is a relatively new development.

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