Our sister paper, The Denver Westword, had a post earlier this week about a Denver Police Department campaign focusing on trick-or-treaters and the possibility they might be given pot edibles for Halloween sparked fresh accusations of fear-mongering. But this reader suggests that something like this could actually happen — although not for the reasons hyped by the DPD.
It appears to us that nearly half the online dating profiles out there express affinity for long walks on the beach. The other half seem to say, “420 friendly,” at least in L.A. Los Angeles marijuana entrepreneur Miguel Lozano noticed that too, and this year he launched cannabis dating site my420mate.com with partner Jay Lindberg.
Lozano, a clothier who helped to organize the Bong Olympics way back when and who plans a 20-year anniversary of that event soon, says his was the world’s first pot dating platform. He says it’s also the most prominent. A Google search seems to prove that: It comes out on top.
The latest entry in our marijuana edibles video series arrives at a propitious moment: This week, a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment official formally recommended that almost all such products be banned. Among the arguments against a change of this magnitude is the demand described by Incredibles owner and edibles working group member Bob Eschino, who says he’s currently selling about 60,000 infused chocolate bars every month.
Marijuana has unfortunately become a life sentence to too many Americans, who are now rotting away in jail over a plant. Among those are the DeLisi brothers, arrested in 1980 after creating one of the largest marijuana smuggling operations in the country. Our colleagues at the Broward-Palm Beach New Times take a look at the DeLisis as well as numerous other Americans locked up for life for ganja in their cover story this week:
“Reformers say the long sentences handed out to relatively harmless pot dealers during the War on Drugs should be revisited. In the 1980s, when crack cocaine ravaged the nation, lawmakers introduced mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, and tough prosecutors tacked on conspiracy charges that could add decades of prison time. Now, however, 23 states plus Washington, D.C., have legalized medical marijuana, and polls indicate that 80 percent of Floridians will follow suit by voting for a constitutional amendment in the November 4 election. Why are taxpayers still footing the multimillion-dollar bill to incarcerate guys peddling a substance we’ve come to think of as medicine?”
Do yourself a favor and head over to the New Times for the whole story.
| Keep your friends close. Keep your enemies closer. Keep your Friends List private. |
You may remember a couple of weeks ago we reported here on a story about DEA agents in New York stealing a suspect’s online identity and creating a fake Facebook profile in her likeness in an attempt to lure her friends into guilt-ridden admissions of their own.
The suspect, Sondra Arquiett, sued the Drug Enforcement Agency and the federal government for $250,000 and was due to begin court proceedings on the matter this week, but the suit is now in mediation as the feds try to buy their way out of the embarrassing situation. The revelation that law enforcement was using the popular social media networking site to conduct undercover investigations was just another on a growing list of incidences that have left those still logging on wondering just how real, and how safe, Facebook actually is.
As a general rule, the worst thing that can happen during a comedy set is realizing you’ve accidentally stumbled into some kind of hellish Dane Cook/Daniel Tosh marathon. But it could be worse! You could, for example, be sitting in a comedy show around midnight at the Upright Citizens Brigade’s Chelsea theater when four members of New York’s finest come in, fish you out of the audience, and arrest you. That’s what looks to have happened this past Saturday night, during a UCB variety show called Underground Americana. The comedian onstage, Adam Newman, says he watched officers come in with flashlights and immediately handcuff a guy sitting to the left side of the stage. When Newman asked what was going on, an NYPD officer advised him to “shut the fuck up.”
Sweet Mary Jane Cooks Up Cannabis Success in Denver from Voice Media Group on Vimeo.
For the second of Westword‘s video series about pot edibles in Colorado (following our profile of Dixie Elixirs), the team sat down with Karin Lazarus, owner of the award-winning Sweet Mary Jane Bakery — and also ventured into the kitchen, where the magic is made.
| Prohibition has many faces |
If you are wondering why it is taking so long to legalize cannabis in America, you have supreme dumbasses like 24-year old Patrick Wayne Austin of Missoula, Montana to thank.
Blasting cans of compressed and highly flammable butane gas through a weed-filled tube indoors? Check. Doing it in an apartment building? Check. Doing it with a child in the house? Check. Posting about your wacky adventures as an “extract artist” on social media sites like Facebook? Check mate.
| Clockwise, from top left: Mark Grace, Charles Barkley, Tom Chambers, Michael Beasley, Daryl Washington, and Jason Kidd. |
Local law-enforcement agencies have had plenty of run-ins with Phoenix’s professional athletes over the years.
Below, check out our picks for the 20 most memorable arrests of Arizona Cardinals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Coyotes, and Phoenix Suns athletes. Phoenix New Times has the full list.
A teenager who died after she attended the Hard Summer festival in August succumbed to an ecstasy overdose, the L.A. County Department of Coroner ruled this month.
Despite a common misperception in the rave scene that MDMA deaths are caused mostly by adulterated pills, toxicology tests turned up no other drugs in the system of 19-year-old Emily Tran, Capt. John Kades told L.A. Weekly today. More at the Informer.