Culture

R.I.P., Captain Trips: Jerry Garcia Would Have Been 68 Today

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 1, 2010 Culture

Captain Trips was a majestic conduit of pure Being when he played the guitar. He wove soaring, wailing sonic explorations of space and time, heartache and joy which took ecstatic Deadheads along for the ride.

Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead could take the ineffable, the wordless and express it with breathtaking eloquence and sensitivity and nuance. When Uncle Jerry plugged in, he didn’t just plug into an amp. He plugged into Godhead itself.

He was born in San Francisco on August 1, 1942. August 9 will mark the 15th anniversary of his death in 1995.

Happy Birthday and Thank You, Jerry!

Stoner Photo of the Day: Becky Rocks a ‘Tax Pot Now’ Tee

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 30, 2010 Culture, Products

Photo: chron.ron

Becky LeSabre shows us where the money’s at

Toke of the Town‘s Stoner Photo of the Day comes courtesy of veteran photographer chron.ron, whose abundant bud-shooting talents have come to our attention before. Check out his site at www.gen-why.com.

Truth Comes Out: Adults See Alcohol, Tobacco Riskier Than Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 30, 2010 Culture, News

Graphic: OC NORML

Americans view alcohol and cigarettes as more dangerous than marijuana. Tellingly, even a majority of adults who drink alcohol rate it as riskier than pot. Those who never drink alcohol are more evenly divided.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey released this week found that a scant 17 percent of American adults rate use of marijuana as riskier than drinking alcohol. Fifty percent say alcohol is more dangerous, while 26 percent rate the two as equally risky.

Similarly, 46 percent say smoking cigarettes is more dangerous than smoking pot. Twenty-four percent disagree, saying marijuana is more dangerous than tobacco. One in four, 25 percent, say tobacco and alcohol are equally dangerous.

Your Dream Job: Denver Pot Reviewer Gets Paid To Get High

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 30, 2010 Culture, Dispensaries, Medical

WBAL

Marijuana critic William Breathes at work

A Denver man gets paid to smoke cannabis and write about it as one of the first professional medical marijuana critics in the country.

Denver’s Westword alternative newspaper has hired the man, who goes by the name “William Breathes,” to review marijuana dispensaries and the quality of the cannabis they sell, reports WBAL TV.

“He has his journalism degree,” said a Westword editor. “He was a good writer, and he could punctuate and he could spell, which was very different than a lot of people who applied for the job.”

Breathes said he has been smoking marijuana for 15 years to ease chronic stomach pains. Now he smokes pot to pay the mortgage.

Eric Roberts In Celebrity Rehab… For Marijuana!

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 28, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: Andrew Bako/NBC

Eric Roberts, now playing the part of a marijuana addict. Hey Eric, any chance of you just shutting the hell up and going home?

Sometimes fading Hollywood stars, attention junkies that they are, do the dumbest things to keep their names in the headlines. Eric Roberts checked into “Celebrity Rehab” last week, and his wife, Eliza, told the press that he was there to be treated for his addiction to medical marijuana, reports The Huffington Post.

“Eric quit drugs and alcohol in 1995,” Eliza told E!. “He has no interest in anything, other than marijuana.”

According to Eliza, Eric had previously tried prescription pills to treat anxiety, but they didn’t agree with him, so he turned to cannabis for a cure.

To the rest of us, that may sound damn close to “no problem,” but that’s not the way Eric sees it.

“He uses marijuana as a medication,” Eliza said. “He has a prescription. However, a dependency is a dependency and he doesn’t want to be dependent on it anymore.”

Michigan Police Worried About Big Marijuana Convention

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 28, 2010 Culture, Products

Graphic: Miami For Change

Police in Pontiac, Michigan say they are concerned about plans to hold what is being called “the largest cannabis/wellness event ever held in the Midwest” at the Silverdome in October.

The First Annual International Cannabis Convention is scheduled for Halloween weekend, October 29-31, according to event organizers Medical Marijuana Inc., reports Zlati Meyer at The Detroit Free Press.

Organizers expect up to 50,000 visitors, and have scheduled entertainers, exhibits, vendors, speakers and classes for the event. Vendor booth space is for sale as of this week.

Stoner Photos of the Day: Sunny Sunshine

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 27, 2010 Culture

Photo: Sunshine

Sunshine: “I try to live up to my name by bringing sunshine and happiness to my life and others.” Mission accomplished!

Man oh man, they really know how to grow ’em in the heartland.

Sunny Sunshine, 23, a 5-foot, 2-1/2-inch firecracker from Oklahoma City, Okla., is beautiful proof of that.

“I try to live up to my name by bringing sunshine and happiness to my life and others,” said Sunny, a student and accountant.

“I’m a junior in college, getting a degree in accounting,” Sunny said. “I’m good with numbers; what can I say? And for anyone who’s seen the movie Grandma’s Boy, it is hard to be an accountant stoned, but that’s what after work is for.”

Turns out Grandma’s Boy is one of Sunny’s favorite movies. It’s also the source of one of her favorite movie quotes: “Does someone have a light? I found this weed. I wanna smoke it.”

“I wouldn’t want to miss out on something amazing because I was too small minded to try,” Sunny said. “I do my best to not judge and hope for the same in return.”

“I can get very passionate about my beliefs,” she says, “but I always try to make sure I know where they are coming from too and try to reach a mutual understanding of ideas.”

First Time: A Plurality Of Americans Supports Legal Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 27, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: Showtime

“Weeds” star Mary Louise Parker: Cultural bellwether?

There’s more good news for supporters of marijuana legalization. For the first time ever, Rasmussen Reports’ poll of American adults has a plurality supporting legalization: 43 percent think marijuana should be legalized, while 42 percent think is should remain against the law.

Almost two-thirds of Americans — even those who are against it — now believe that marijuana will be legalized within the next 10 years.

A “plurality” in polling terms simply means that more people are in favor of pot legalization than are opposed to it.

That’s quite an improvement from a year ago, when a similar Rasmussen poll found 41 percent supporting legalization and 49 percent opposed, reports policy analyst Jon Walker at FireDogLake.

“It is possible that Prop 19, by bringing the debate to the forefront, is starting to noticeably move national opinions by forcing people to take some time to actually think about the issue,” Walker said.

This Is Art Appreciation: 4 Pounds Of Pot Found In Painting

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 27, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: WSB TV

Gordon Clement, 80, had this painting for five years before he discovered four pounds of marijuana inside the frame. See photo of the cannabis after the fold.

A Georgia man who bought a painting at auction years ago last weekend discovered there was more to the artwork than met the eye when he found thousands of dollars worth of marijuana hidden inside it.

Gordon Clement, 80, of Cherokee County, Ga., said he found four pounds of cannabis stashed inside the frame of the painting he now owns, reports WSB TV.

Rather than being cool about it, just smoking the damn stuff and enjoying the painting like he should, Clement opted to take the whiney approach.

Prayer For Global Cannabis Freedom

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 27, 2010 Culture, Growing

Photo: The Growing Hemp Debate

The key to so many problems in our world today is cannabis, the Tree of Life.

Cannabis hemp will displace petrochemical and pharmaceutical corporations that dominate our politics today, and decentralize wealth and influence at a time of growing technological advancement.

Stop the Drug War before they kick in your door.

For those facing execution for anti-cannabis laws in Malaysia and elsewhere, work for global cannabis freedom.

For those languishing in jails and prisons for anti-cannabis laws everywhere, work for global cannabis freedom.

For our forests, the web of life and the Mother Earth, which suffers from extraction of her resources and poisoning of our environment, work for global cannabis freedom.

For economic and political justice, work for global cannabis freedom.

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