Culture

Navy Warns Sailors After Marijuana Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 7, 2013 Culture, Legislation, News

Although the voters in the state of Washington — home to several of the United States’ biggest naval bases — recently legalized marijuana, the Pentagon has reminded sailors that federal drug policies remain unaffected for members of the military.

The zero tolerance drug policy for all members of the U.S. Armed Forces was instituted by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1981 after the fatal crash of a Prowler on board the USS Nimitz killed 14 crew members and injured 45 others. (The crash, of course, had nothing to do with marijuana, but autopsies showed several members of the flight deck crew tested positive for pot, so that gave them a convenient scapegoat upon which to blame the tragedy.)

Online Voting Starts For Worldwide Cannabis Cooking Contest

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 4, 2013 Culture, Products

Medicated Chef/Facebook

Online voting has started for what is being called the first worldwide cannabis cooking contest, the 2013 Medicated Chef Contest, hosted by iBAKE TV.

Contest videos will stay up on YouTube at www.youtube.com/medicatedchefcontest until January 10. The top three videos with the most YouTube “Likes” will joint contestants Slick Chef of Nebraska and Trang Ngo of Denver on Saturday, February 16, at the contest finale in Denver at The Oriental Theater.

All of the final videos from contestants are uploaded and are live for voting. The videos will stay online until January 10 at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time. The top three videos, as measured by YouTube “Likes,” will compete in an “Iron Chef”-style contest.

Pot-Growing School ‘THC University’ Opens In Denver

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 3, 2013 Culture, Growing, Products

Coleridge Knew In 1803 That Medical Marijuana Worked

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 2, 2013 Culture, Medical

Review Books

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

A letter from 1803 reveals that early 19th century British Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge — known not only for his writing talent (“Rime of the Ancient Mariner”; “Kubla Khan”) but also for his opium appetite — was aware of the medical properties of cannabis, and that it would be useful in treating his friend’s intestinal ailments.

Coleridge wrote the letter to his landscape painter friend Samuel Purkis of Brentford, Middlesex, to ask about acquiring some bhang (a hashish preparation) for his friend Tom Wedgwood, according to the Australian maritime history website Merchant Networks.

He requested that Purkis ask the eminent Sir Joseph Banks — whom Coleridge had heard was in possession of some — for some bhang. Banks advised the government of Great Britain on what best to do to expand British-controlled supplies of hemp.

Coleridge wanted the bhang to treat the intestinal malady of his friend Tom Wedgwood, son of the famous potter Josiah Wedgwood; Sir Joseph Banks knew Josiah. As Banks probably knew, Tom’s health collapsed when he was about 21 — not coincidentally, when he was experimenting with silver nitrates and photography (the younger Wedgwood is credited with being the Father of Photography).

Let’s Make 2013 The Year We End Cannabis Prohibition

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 31, 2012 Culture, Legislation

wn.com

By Robert Platshorn

The Silver Tour

In 2011, with the help of Irv Rosenfeld and volunteers from NORML of Florida, I developed a free show that would entertain and educate seniors on the benefits of medical marijuana. It was something that no activist organization had ever done.

We “took it on the road.” Our first show was in front of an audience of six people, in an alleyway behind a Green Party storefront. The next show was in the back room in a Denny’s for 20 Libertarians.

When we were ready for the “Big Time,” Karen Goldstein, president of NORML of Florida, booked us into Ladies Auxiliary meeting at the Reform Synagogue of a South Florida Century Village. The show rocked! They lined up to sign letters and petitions demanding “safe legal access” to nature’s most important medicine. The rest is history.

We Will Be Free: End Marijuana Prohibition

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 31, 2012 Culture, Legislation

This inspiring two-minute message is brought to you by Larry Talley of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

Humboldt Stories: Branding Humboldt’s Finest

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 29, 2012 Culture, Growing

WKOW

Humboldt Stories

“It’s not Weeds, it’s real.”

By Sharon Letts

“Did she say eight?” Caitlin asked, fidgeting with the coffee server.

“Eight-ish, I think she said. She talked so fast,” Nick laughed. “She’s New York all the way, you know? Manhattan, Dahling,” Nick mocked.

“I just hope we’re doing the right thing,” Caitlin said. “Seems like packaging and branding right now is putting the cart before the horse, so to speak. If Prop. 19 would have passed it wouldn’t be so much of a problem — maybe.”

Worth Repeating: The New Cannabis-Based Economy

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 28, 2012 Culture

Mother Jones

Fuel, food, shelter, healing, and spiritual enlightenment — the amazing cannabis plant it does it all!

Marijuana Spring 2013, Part 2

By Ron Marczyk, RN

Toke of the Town Columnist

Marijuana legalization for personal use is just the start. This vote also frees medical marijuana research, hemp farming, and a return to a hemp-based economy that will play a vital part in reversing the coming man-made environmental disaster.

Marijuana prohibition criminalizes the use of the safest, most versatile plant known to man.

Marijuana prohibition is in large part a cause of global warming.

Marijuana prohibition has stopped 75 years of human progress; it is an idea that will be thrown on the scrap heap of history.

Cannabis Indica Volume 2 Released

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 27, 2012 Culture, Growing, Products

The first volume of S.T. Oner’s lush Cannabis Indica examined 100 strains from 100 leading marijuana breeders. Now it’s time for another trip through the dankest, fattest buds this side of the Hindu Kush, featuring information about the genetic history, growing traits, taste and effects of some of the very best cannabis grown across the globe.

The second book of the Cannabis Indica series (there’s also two volumes of Cannabis Sativa already out) continues the exploration of indica strains. From Afghan Mountain Black to Zindica, 100 more indica strains are showcased in all their glory with full color photos and encyclopedic information. (The planned series will eventually include six books, presumably three volumes of Indica and three of Sativa.)

Master cannabis grower and Cannabis Cultivation author Mel Thomas provides the introduction to Cannabis Indica, Volume 2. But Mel’s contribution is far more than a typical introduction; it’s title “What the Kush? A History of the Cannabis Indica Plant” lets you know the ambitions considerably exceed that humble appellation. Thomas’s quest to find pure indica at its source — as he had done for pure sativa in Thailand, a few years before — makes for some eye-opening and informative readcing.

Want Cannabis Reform? Be Vocal

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 26, 2012 Culture

Marijuana.com

By Anthony Martinelli

Communications Director

Sensible Washington

One thing that’s easily noticed when working in the cannabis reform movement is that there’s an embedded fear in many individuals when it comes to standing up for supporting legalization, and working publicly to get it done. On one hand, it’s hard to blame these people: Cannabis prohibition is a very real, very dangerous beast. The government has spent a lot of time, and resources, to put this fear into the public.

On the other hand, free speech is a constitutional right, and standing up for what we believe in should be a core principle of being an active citizen of our great, yet ever-progressing country. It’s easy to forget that in relative terms, we’re a young nation, and we have a lot to improve upon — we can’t let complacency be an enemy.

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