| Miley Cyrus from Wikimedia.commons |
Marijuana is safer than alcohol. It’s an idea so easy to understand, that even vapid pop music stars understand it.
Mile Cyrus, famous at one time for being a ‘tween sensation superstar and now just famous for being famous, tells Rolling Stone that she’s seen too many people burn out on booze – but that potheads she knows never seem to go down that road.
According to Mexican news sources, members of the Party of the Democratic Revolution are drafting laws that would allow people to cultivate cannabis at home, smoke it at specific clubs and bars and possess up to 25 grams.
Currently, possession of up to five grams of cannabis is decriminalized in Mexico along with small amounts of other drugs like LSD and cocaine.
Growing up in a rough Miami neighborhood in the 1970’s, Carl Hart was no stranger to life on the streets. One of eight kids, living in decrepit low-income housing projects, Hart watched his abusive father physically torment their mother for years.
Raised amid gunshots, domestic violence, and utter poverty, Hart was using and pushing a variety of drugs, had held someone at gunpoint, was committing robberies, and had unknowingly fathered a child – all by the age of 16. He seemed to be right on track to becoming another statistic in south Florida, another wasted youth.
| It always feels like somebody’s watching me. |
Well, crazy tokers of the internet: you were right. I’ve argued for years that no one gives a shit what you do online as long as it doesn’t involve kids or weapons, even though a tiny hit of Durban Poison will have me drawing the shades and painting mental pictures of what prison is like.
But apparently the NSA cares what EVERYONE is doing. All the time. Our prized privacy is under attack, but here are some positives:
The St. Louis Riverfront Times cover story this week tells the horrible and frightening tale of Schwagstock founder and Grateful Dead cover band musician Jimmy Tebeau, who was sentenced to federal prison not for any drugs he bought, used or sold – but for the drug usage of the people who attended his festival.
For simply being the venue owner, federal agents have ruined the 45-year-old’s life and put him in prison for the next 30 months.
| Scott “Trikky” Saed. |
To help all of us non-glass artists better understand the industry, evolution and art and science behind how our pipes, bubblers and bongs are made we’ve asked one of Colorado’s most prominent and best-known artists — Scott “Trikky” Saed — to take on a quasi-regular column we like to call: Glass Class.
This week, Trikky spins us right round with his tale of coming to work on a lathe.
| A plant of “Charlotte’s Web”. |
Charlotte Figi has been through more hardships in her six short years than most people do in a lifetime. About a year and a half ago, seizures caused by a rare genetic disorder would rip through her tiny body up to sixty times in a day.
Things had become so bad, that her parents had signed “do not resuscitate” forms for their daughter – deciding that if it was her time to go, then it would at least be the end of her suffering. At the end of their rope, her parents tried one last thing to prolong their daughter’s life: medical cannabis. Not only did it work, it’s drastically improved the quality of life for little Charlotte and other children around Colorado. Unfortunately, the treatment isn’t legal for most U.S. children affected by this condition.
Last week we gave you several headlines about a recent ACLU survey which showed that statistics covering marijuana arrests across the nation were falling along strict, and disturbing, racial lines.
According to the report, on the national level blacks are four times more likely to be arrested for a weed-related crime, despite the fact that blacks and whites use marijuana at relatively equal rates. That disparity in arrest rates jumps as high as 18 to 1 in cities like St. Louis where local Metro Police Chief Sam Dotson dismisses accusations of racial profiling with blockhead quotes like, “Law enforcement is not…black and white.”
| Organization of American States logo. |
Leaders and representatives of the 34 nations that make up the Organization of American States (OAS) held its annual general assembly meeting last Thursday in Guatemala to discuss a range of issues, with a debate about marijuana legalization expected to take center stage.With many of the OAS member-nations being wracked by drug war related violence, a debate over immediate solutions to curb illegal narcotics trafficking was considered to be a top priority by many attending and observing the 3-day meeting. Instead, the conference concluded with no specific judgment being given regarding the decriminalization or legalization of drugs like cannabis in the Western Hemisphere.
| Cannabis Culture. |
| Marc Emery. |
Marc Emery, who was convicted and jailed for the non-violent “crime” of selling pot seeds to people in the U.S. from Canada, has been placed in solitary confinement in the prison where he is serving his 5-year sentence.
His offense now? Playing in a rock and roll band and being proud of his accomplishments in learning the bass guitar over the last two years.