Toke of the Town

Browsing: Culture

Who is Better for America? Donald Trump or Steve DeAngelo?

0
By on Culture

Redheaded Blackbelt/Celebitchy
Steve DeAngelo, left, and Donald Trump

By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent
On Monday, July 9, this office filed civil forfeiture actions against 1840 Embarcadero, Oakland, California, and 2106 Ringwood Avenue, San Jose, where Harborside, a marijuana dispensary claiming over 108,000 customers, operates.

This office has used its limited resources to address those marijuana dispensaries that operate close to schools, parks and playgrounds. As I have said in the past, this is a non-exclusive list of factors relevant to whether we should commence civil forfeiture actions against marijuana properties, and circumstances may require us to address other situations.

I now find the need to consider actions regarding marijuana superstores such as Harborside. The larger the operation, the greater the likelihood that there will be abuse of the state’s medical marijuana laws, and marijuana in the hands of individuals who do not have a demonstrated medical need. 

The filing of the civil forfeiture complaints against the two Harborside properties is part of our measured effort to address the proliferation of illegal marijuana businesses in the Northern District of California.

U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag in San Francisco
America loves Donald Trump. He’s has a big show, property all around the world, and for some, they wished he’d be our next commander-in-combover. Does America listen to what The Donald has to say because he’s sexy, smart, and for the world of ideas he brings to better us all. No. We listen to The Donald because he’s rich.
America loves a winner. And they love losers too. 
In the middle of staggering unemployment, we loved to hear the phrase, “You’re fired!” To see someone leave the boardroom angry and utterly humiliated on national TV keeps the Atlantic City hotels full and the Trump good name fresh in the hearts of many Americans.
Steve DeAngelo is big too. He’s big in the cannabis world. How big? He’s the kind of big that lands you on the Feds’ radar for being too just too damn big.  
Steve Angelo, like Donald Trump, had his own reality show. Some would say that wasn’t the first instance of Steve DeAngelo reaching for fame. That he’s been catering to the limelight since the early 2000’s when he arrived on the California cannabis scene. Prior to that, as an activist and entrepreneur, his resume was pretty solid. 
Read More

The War On Foie Gras, And The Gras Underground

0
By on Culture

Charles Haynes/Wikipedia
Foie gras with mustard seeds and green onions in duck jus

The World According To Jack

I’m Tired of Having Shit Jammed Down My Throat

Commentary By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent
Gavage; (French orig., to gorge) 
1. Practice of feeding an animal against their will
 2. Supplying a nutritional substance by means of a plastic tube.
On July 1st of 2012, California banned Foie Gras from being sold in state’s restaurants or stores. Those epicureans among us know that Foie Gras is made from the liver of a goose or a duck that has been forcibly enlarged by being fed utilizing a long funnel that transfers corn or other grains directly into the bird’s stomach. The mash is forced down their throats many times a day fattening up the birds for slaughter while producing, some say an exquisite liver-like substance in the process. That’s basically Foie Gras, not counting thousands of years of French history.
This popular and well-known delicacy is like smashed giblets drenched with butter purée and pressed in a liver-casing that’s guarantees a creamy rich good time. Now it is prohibited to sell Foie Gras in California, just as it has been outlawed Illinois and in London for some time.
So your first thought is, when they outlaw Foie Gras, only outlaws will have Foie Gras.
Wrong, Ducky. When the ban came down prohibiting the fatty bloated liver spam, dedicated activists hardly wasted any time responding with the birth of the Foie Gras Black Market. The parallels to the prohibition on… alcohol are uncanny.
Read More

Humboldt Stories: The Family Farmhouse

0
By on Culture, Growing




North Coast Journal Blogthing

It’s not Weeds, it’s real.

By Sharon Letts

The property manager broke
it to her gently. The house she grew up in, the home she hoped would one day
help her through retirement was damaged by a grow operation she knew nothing
about. Of course, the property management people didn’t know either. No one
knew.

“That’s how it is,” she thought as she drove through her own
neighborhood. “All of these homes could be grow houses. You really can’t tell.”

Read More

UK Agents Search, Question Brit Veteran On Way To Netherlands

0
By on Culture, Global

NORML UK
Des Humphrey (right) with Dutch coffeeshop entrepreneur, Nol Van Schaik
 

By Chris Bovey
NORML UK
Frequent travelers are used to heightened security at airports these days. It’s standard practice for hand luggage to be x-rayed and to have to walk through a metal detector. But British army veteran and medicinal cannabis activist Des Humphrey, got more than he bargained for last weekend when he arrived at Bristol Airport in England to fly to Amsterdam to attend the 25th anniversary of the Birdy Coffeeshop in Haarlem, invited by owner Wilco Sijm.
After Des’ bags had been x-rayed, the UK border staff then emptied their entire contents, rummaging through all his clothes, checking the pockets and performing swab tests on them. His wheelchair was given a full once over: checking the wheels, under his seat, every square inch. Des himself was fully patted down and his pockets were emptied.
When they had finished and Des thought he was finally on his way, he was then stopped again by a British policeman who informed him the border agency staff were looking for cannabis and proceeded to question him on his cannabis usage. Well, those who know Des Humphrey also know that he is more than happy to talk about cannabis and, as you might expect, ended up having a nice chat with the police officer.
Read More

State of the Herb in Humboldt: 3rd Annual Cannabis Expo

0
By on Culture, Products

Sharon Letts
Kevin Jodrey, cultivation director for Humboldt Patient Resource Center, in HPRC’s Q & A booth.

Story and Photos By Sharon Letts
While Southern Humboldt’s finest has yet to fully come out of the hills of hiding, cannabis as medicine has found its way down the dirt roads, and onto the blackboard.
For the third year in a row 707 Cannabis College founders Kellie Dodds and Pearl Moon, with cohorts, have welcomed others to speak their minds on the “State of the Herb” at the Mateel Community Center in Redway, surrounded by Humboldt’s finest… redwoods and clear, blue skies.
The college sponsored Cannabis Expo has become a a place of learning, with some of Humboldt’s finest speaking out and sharing a wealth of information few have access to.
After all, Humboldt is where it all began, taking cannabis cultivation to an entirely scientific level, using biological know-how, and continuing to expand its lungs of knowledge, coming out of the green closet, and out into the open air.
Longtime Southern Humboldt grower and cultivation director of the Humboldt Patient Resource Center, Kevin Jodrey, took his place on the hot seat, answering questions from attendees on indoor or outdoor cultivation – something unheard of just a few years ago.
Read More

Get The Greed Out Of The Weed Tour Will Be At DNC

0
By on Culture, News

GreedOutOfWeed.org

Get The Greed Out Of The Weed, a group of what seems to be incurable optimists is still holding out hope that President Obama will do the right thing when it comes to marijuana policy. In their view, that would mean a “baby steps” approach of rescheduling marijuana from its current ultra-restrictive Schedule I status under the Uniform Controlled Substances Act to the least-restrictive Schedule V.
Get The Greed Out Of The Weed leader, AIDS/HIV activist and medical marijuana pioneer Richard Eastman is a busy man these days. Right after he returns to Washington D.C., for the next stop on the Get The Greed Out Of The Weed Tour on July 22 along with thousands of AIDS/HIV activists for the “Keep The Promise March On Washington,” he will begin planning his protest at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.
Read More

Humboldt Stories: Marijuana Anonymous

0
By on Culture

Sharon Letts

It’s not Weeds, It’s real.
“Hi, I’m Caitlin and I’m a Stoner”
Story and Photos By Sharon Letts
Caitlin walked quickly through the living room, into the dining room, and back out through the kitchen, then back again.
“I should leave in 15 minutes,” she thought, and made one more loop around the house.
“No fucking willpower,” she said aloud, and without another thought, she went straight into the bedroom, took a small tray from the bookshelf, and sat on the bed.
On the tray sat a wooden box, and inside held a rolling machine, papers, lighter, ashtray, and a little jar of kief-rich trim.
The plastic rolling machine hurt the inside of her thumb as she rolled the device. Friends teased for her lack of hand-rolling-know-how. “You aren’t a stoner, Caitlin, you are a casual user,” they chided.
Read More

County Counsel Busted With Pot, Gun; Mendo County: Yawn

0
By on Culture, News

County of Mendocino, California
Mendocino County Counsel Doug Losak: Busted for marijuana possession and a concealed pistol

Smoking marijuana and carrying firearms are such widely accepted behaviors in Mendocino County, California, it seems to have barely raised any eyebrows when the county’s top legal adviser was cited on Tuesday for possessing a small amount of cannabis and a concealed pistol in his Volvo.

Mendocino County Counsel Doug Losak faces a closed-door performance evaluation by the Board of Supervisors following his citation, reports Glenda Anderson at the Press Democrat, but meanwhile, he remains on the job.
Possessing three grams of marijuana is no big deal in Mendocino County, said Supervisor John Pinches. “It’d be like you stopped a woman and found a tube of lipstick in her purse,” he said.
Pinches said the allegations do not change his opinion that Losak is a fine interim county counsel who remains eligible to take on the job full time. Pinches discounted the allegation that Losak possessed a concealed weapon, a misdemeanor.
Read More

Weed Not Greed Tour Will Be At Democratic Convention

0
By on Culture, News, Products

Weed Not Greed Marijuana Legalization Tour

“This will be the biggest tour to make cannabis legal and will have a memorable effect on the people of the USA.”

~ David Kowalsky, Cannabis Information Network
More and more Americans are letting their voices be heard on the subject of marijuana legalization. The Weed Not Greed Tour will be making its way across the country and will visit 21 cities in 33 days.
The tour plans to be departing from Seattle Hempfest, the biggest cannabis protestival in the world, which will be held August 17 through 19, and will be present at the Democratic National Convention with its final destination being Washington, D.C., on September 11.
The aim is to spread the word about cannabis and to let the people’s voices be heard, so that people will understand about marijuana and not view it as just another illegal drug.
Read More

Here’s How You Can Help Make The Culture High

0
By on Culture, Products

Nimbin Television

Exclusive Interview: Adam Scorgie, Writer, The Union

By Anthony Martinelli
Special to Toke of the Town

The Union: The Business Behind Getting High is a groundbreaking documentary released in 2007, seen by millions, that focuses on the logistics of the illegal cannabis industry, as well as the history and harms of prohibition. Now the writer of that film is preparing to make the long-awaited follow-up, provided financial backing falls into place.
With interviews and quotes ranging from Harvard psychiatry professor Dr. Lester Grinspoon, to Fear Factor host Joe Rogan (“I didn’t start smoking pot till about five years ago; I thought pot made you stupid. Then I realized when I was like, 30 years old that I was tricked. I was like, you gotta be fucking kidding me!”), The Union has played a vital role in opening up the public conversation on cannabis law reform.
Now, five years later, a sequel is in the works, and as with most films independent of big studio dollars, “in the works” implies very boldly that a lot of work needs to be done. In this case, the makers of The Union are calling upon supporters to pre-purchase copies of its sequel, which would be titled The Culture High, in order to assure that it even gets made.
Read More
1 … 73 74 75 76 77 … 157