Browsing: Culture

Photo: www.freedomsphoenix.com
Calm down, Chief. It’s just pot.

​Port Orchard, Wash., Police Chief Al Townsend is against legalizing pot, and he’s called a new bill to legalize marijuana in the state “ludicrous.”

“If the goal of the bill is to legalize marijuana for the purpose of generating tax revenue, that’s ridiculous,” Townsend wrote in an email to Kitsap Sun crime reporter Josh Farley.
Chief Townsend calls into question the judgment of his fellow Kitsap Countian, Rep. Sherry Appleton (D-Poulsbo), one of the co-sponsors of HB 2401, which would legalize marijuana for persons 21 and older.

Photo: Seattle Hempfest
Christmas Day Vigil For Prisoners of the Drug War: Here’s the group from 2008. Be there this year, Dec. 25 from noon until 2 p.m.!

​A Christmas Day vigil to honor and show support for Americans arrested for marijuana and non-violent drug use, and to oppose America’s cannabis and drug laws, will be held in Seattle from noon to 2 p.m. December 25.

Seattle Hempfest and the November Coalition invite “anyone with a peaceful nature” to join the vigil at the King County Jail to stand against America’s marijuana laws and show solidarity with those unjustly incarcerated.
“We will be respectful and we will increase the peace with our presence,” said organizer Vivian McPeak of Seattle Hempfest.
Vigil attendees are expected to be polite, non-confrontational and not to block access to any thoroughfare at any time, according to McPeak.

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Here’s what pot does to you. Just ask Jill Wellock!

​Freelance writer Jill Wellock has a problem.

She really, really dislikes marijuana and, apparently, those who use it.
Wellock generously shares this extreme distaste with us in a guest op-ed piece in today’s edition of The Olympian, the newspaper of Olympia, Washington, the state’s capitol.
Jill gets right down to business with a real winner of a headline:
‘Marijuana saps initiative, ambition and responsibility’
Headline aside, we know right off the bat we’re in for a bumpy ride when Jill starts off by confiding in us that she attended a “rough junior high.” Apparently not really one for nostalgia, Wellock recalls “the stoner girls” carving “Joe Elliot” [sic]“into their forearms with wood screws to prove Def Leppard allegiance.”
Oh, Jill. First of all, if they carved “Joe Elliot,” they aren’t done carving, because the rock star’s name is spelled “Elliott.” Maybe you should give those “stoner girls” a call and tell them they need to get back out the wood screws.
Secondly, if these had been real “stoner girls” during the time period mentioned, they wouldn’t have been carving freakin’ Def Leppard tributes on their arms; it would have been Marilyn Manson. Or maybe Jerry Garcia.

Photo: www.legis.state.wi.us
Dope of the Day Leah Vukmir: Just take your pharmaceuticals, and forget about that silly marijuana.

​A Republican legislator’s accusation that medical marijuana supporters have a secret agenda of legalizing pot for everyone drew boos from many in a room packed with sick people in wheelchairs or walking with canes, AP reports.

Rep. Leah Vukmir claimed there are no medical reasons to use marijuana and that suffering patients should do things that “do not require individuals to light a joint.”
For her complete lack of empathy for her fellow human beings, along with an obnoxious dose of hubristic arrogance combined with insufferable ignorance, Toke of the Town enthusiastically awards Rep. Vukmir our ignoble Dope Of The Day award.

Photo: normstamper.com
Norm Stamper of LEAP: “Legalizing pot but not other drugs will leave huge social harms unresolved”

​With marijuana legalization apparently headed for the California ballot in 2010, Seattle’s former police chief is asking, “Why stop there?”, reports Matt Coker in the OC Weekly.

Police veteran Norm Stamper wore the blue for 34 years, and was the top cop in Seattle from 1994 until 2000. He’s also the author of Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Exposé of the Dark Side of American Policing and one of the most prominent members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).
Norm breaks it down in an AlterNet post, “Let’s Not Stop At Legalizing Marijuana,” citing polls that show a majority of Americans realize legalizing pot will produce a host of benefits, including, of course, the fact that 800,000 people a year will no longer be arrested for the herb. Taxation and regulation further bolster the pro-legalization arguments.

Seniors living at the Laguna Woods Village retirement community, also known as “Leisure World,” didn’t have a medical marijuana dispensary — so they formed their own patient-run collective, as reported by Ellen Leyva at KABC.

The city of Laguna Woods, with a majority of older residents, was one of the first in Orange County, Calif., to pass an ordinance allowing medical pot dispensaries. But nobody’s opened a shop yet, so these folks took matters into their own hands.

“A group of patients got together and decided we’d try to grow our own and make it available for our neighbors who also have doctor recommendations, but are too ill to grow,” said Lonnie Painter, a resident and member of the Laguna Woods for Medical Cannabis Collective.

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California’s 2010 election: Be there, or be square.

​Californians will get a chance to vote on legalizing marijuana next November.

The Tax & Regulate Cannabis 2010 ballot initiative has gathered the 650,000 signatures it needs to get the issue on the November 2010 ballot, according to Daniela Perdomo at AlterNet.
If passed, the initiative would legalize marijuana for all adults in California.
“This is the next step to sane cannabis policies and the end to the hypocrisy and unjust prohibition of cannabis,” sponsor Richard Lee told AlterNet.
One recent poll showed 54 percent support among Californians for legalization.
According to Lee, polls showing majority support for legalization and taxation of marijuana, along with the recession, mean that the initiative could be viewed as a watershed, and even a first step in changing federal marijuana laws.

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​The federal government just released the latest ‘Monitoring The Future‘ survey of teen drug use, and as Bruce Mirken over at the Marijuana Policy Project wrote, “the results do not bode well for current policies.”

In the past 30 days, more high school seniors smoked marijuana (20.6 percent) than smoked tobacco (20.1 percent), according to the survey.
In 2009, marijuana use in the prior 12 months was reported by about 12 percent of the nation’s 8th graders, 27 percent of 10th graders, and 33 percent of 12th graders.
While teen marijuana use is slightly up, it’s in the same general range it’s been in for years; meanwhile, teen tobacco use continues to decline, and has dropped precipitously since 1990.
“Regulation of tobacco, combined with solid educational campaigns, has clearly cut youth access to cigarettes,” Mirken said, “It’s time for officials to take off their blinders and apply those same proven policies to marijuana.”

Federal Art Project

“A weed is a flower, too, once you get to know it.” ~ Eeyore from “Winnie The Pooh”

After 72 years of the debate being controlled by those who’ve made it taboo to even talk honestly on the subject, it’s time to tell the truth about marijuana.
The deck remains stacked, of course, in favor of cannabis prohibition. The reason? Folks who know that marijuana should be legal are often too intimidated to say so — because, until now, speaking cannabis truth has sometimes carried a heavy price.
For years, a few brave medical doctors such as Lester Grinspoon of Harvard have been voices in the wilderness of marijuana prohibition. Their repeated calls for an open and honest debate on the subject have largely fallen on deaf ears.
Until now, when it comes to marijuana, those who know won’t say, and those who say don’t know.


The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is considering the taxation of marijuana — and, for once, we’re not talking about the medical kind.

S.F. Supevisor David Campos just introduced legislation top create a task force to look at recreational marijuana regulation and taxation, KGO-TV reports.

“The taxation of non-medical cannabis is something people have talked about,” Campos said. “I am someone who is very committed to making sure this industry is responsible.”

According to Campos, the task force would periodically report back to the Supervisors over the course of three years.