Culture

Mayor of Ithaca, NY Announces Support For Legalizing Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 4, 2012 Culture, Legislation, News

Mayor Svante Myrick, Ithaca, N.Y.: “New York should lead on this issue just as we led on repealing alcohol prohibition”

Svante Myrick, the mayor of Ithaca, New York, announced on Tuesday that he thinks it’s time to legalize marijuana. The 25-year-old elected official’s announcement comes one month after voters in Colorado and Washington strongly approved measures legalizing marijuana.

“Despite having arrested over 20 million people for marijuana nationally — a number larger than the entire population of New York State — marijuana prohibition has failed to make our communities safer,” Mayor Myrick announced exclusively to the organization Marijuana Majority. “By legalizing and regulating marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol we can free up our already overburdened courts and law enforcement agencies to focus on serious and violent crime.

National Poll Shows Record 58% Think Marijuana Should Be Legal

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 4, 2012 Culture, News

BookRags

Only One-Third Would Approve of President Obama Interfering in Implementation of Colorado and Washington Ballot Measures

Marijuana will officially become legal for adults in Washington on Thursday when new law goes into effect

According to a national poll conducted by Public Policy Polling (PPP) from November 30 to December 2, a record high 58 percent of American voters said they think marijuana should be made legal, compared to only 39 percent who do not. In addition, 50 percent of respondents said they think marijuana will become legal under federal law within the next 10 years.

All Border Collies Are Descended From A Dog Named Hemp!

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 3, 2012 Culture

Dutch Border Collie Database

This is Old Hemp, the father of the modern Border Collie breed. He sired more than 200 puppies.

Talk About Collie Weed, Eh?

The Border Collie as we know it today is descended from a dog named Old Hemp. Old Hemp’s style was reportedly different from that commonly seen during his era, as he worked more quietly than other sheepdogs of the time.

This style was adopted and used by other breeders and trainers and became the dominant style among Border Collies within a few generations, according to Wikipedia.

While dogs much like the Border Collie existed centuries ago. As confirmed by old paintings and lithographs, sheherds’ dogs in the days of old looked quite similar to today’s Border Collie.

Marijuana Injustice: Peter Knew It Wasn’t About Peter McWilliams

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 30, 2012 Culture

PeterMcWilliams.org

R.I.P. Peter McWilliams (1950-2000)

By Robert Platshorn

The Silver Tour

Long before he was incarcerated, Peter McWilliams wrote about the injustice of our cannabis laws. Peter’s death is significant only as statistic in our insane drug war. There have been thousands of Peters who lost their lives as a result of a cruel and impersonal system that incarcerates hundreds of thousands of our citizens — ordinary, hardworking Americans who have committed no crime against person, property or society.

If you believe that Peter was singled out for his activism, you have nothing left to fight for. He’s gone! The truth is he was treated like every other prisoner in the federal justice system. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of marijuana offenders, both in and out of prison, who are in exactly the same situation as Peter at the time of his death.

In my 30 years in federal prison for marijuana, I saw dozens of pointless unnecessary deaths, and hundreds who lost limbs or contracted debilitating diseases simply for lack of treatment.

Poll: Most Americans & Canadians Ready To Legalize Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 30, 2012 Culture, Global, News

T-Shirt Wonderland

Two Thirds of Respondents Expect Marijuana To Be Legal In Next 10 Years

A majority of people in the United States and Canada believe cannabis should be readily available for those who want to use it, a new two-country Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.

In the online survey of representative national samples, a majority of Canadians (57 percent) and Americans (54 percent) support the legalization of marijuana.

Most respondents in each Canadian region back the legalization of cannabis, including 64 percent of Atlantic Canadians and 60 percent of British Columbians.

Minister Still Behind Bars On Marijuana Charge

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 28, 2012 Culture, News

Roger Christie/Facebook

Rev. Roger Christie in happier days, as a free man in 2010

As Cannabis Becomes Legal in Colorado and Washington, Hawaiian Minister Roger Christie Remains Locked Up

As more Americans demand legalization of cannabis, thousands of prisoners, including Reverend Roger Christie, are still locked up on nonviolent marijuana charges. Since July 8, 2010 Rev. Christie has been behind bars without bail awaiting trial on federal charges of marijuana possession and trafficking, despite being a Christian minister with a state sanctioned license as a “Cannabis Sacrament Minister.”

Humboldt Stories: Leaving The Life Of A Grow House

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 27, 2012 Culture

All photos by Sharon Letts

Humboldt Stories

“It’s not Weeds, it’s real.”

Moving

By Sharon Letts

Caitlin stopped and turned to look one more time at the bed she had shared with Jake for more than five years. Part of her felt a pang of sadness — of not wanting to leave — and that was an odd feeling, considering the neglect and abuse she had suffered in his care.

She picked up her pillow and put it under her arm. The bed looked empty and small. The room unfamiliar with her lovely things removed.

She would not miss the lifestyle of living in a grow house. Especially one in a tract house community where no one says hello — it was like living in a strange Twilight Zone episode where your house was quarantined off from the rest of the world. A neighborhood where you couldn’t chat over the picket fence and say, “Would you like to come in for a cuppa?” That is, unless it was understood the “cuppa” was a “bowl of,” with a wink.

My Uncle Says He Doesn’t Believe In Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 27, 2012 Culture, Medical

Fins Technology

By Al Byrne

Veterans for Medical Cannabis

I have written about cannabis used for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), cancer, pain, post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS) and other maladies but there is a patient story that needs addressing. For him when you say cannabis he says marijuana, when you say it’s medical he says it’s a farce, when you say endocannabinoid system he says, What?

It’s my uncle (1). He’s sick in the head. No one I know has any one idea of what would cause such a problem. Everybody agrees it is a combination of forces, you could also say pressures that have warped his thinking. I’ve spoken to dozens of cannabis experts in my time and all think the same – my uncle’s lost his mind.

Song of the Day: Fire It Up by the Don Ray Band

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 27, 2012 Culture, Products

Toke of the Town’s Song of the Day, “Fire It Up,” was written by Don Ray and guitarist Billy Smart at the request of the Florida Cannabis Freedom Festival, which took place last weekend.

The song has also gotten the attention of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and the Don Ray Band will be performing at the NORML Southeastern Conference concert on December 15 at the Douglas Corner Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee.

You can buy “Fire It Up” on ReverbNation by clicking here.

Three Years, Man! Toke Of The Town Born On This Day In 2009

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 23, 2012 Culture

~ alapoet ~

Toke of the Town editor Steve Elliott celebrating three years of high points and big hits

Three years ago today — actually, three years ago tonight, at 7:08 p.m. Pacific time — my THC-stained fingers hit the “Post” button for the first-ever story on Toke of the Town.

“The good thing about a free marketplace of ideas is,” I wrote, in the first sentence ever to appear on this site, “despite the best efforts of prohibitionists and their fear-mongering propaganda, the truth eventually prevails.”

More than 3,600 stories later — and with hundreds of joints, medibles, and bongloads littering my path — I’m still loving this gig, and judging by pageviews, so are close to half a million of you every month.

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