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Brazil Holds Its First Cannabis Cup

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 1, 2012 Global, Growing, News

The prizes Bud de Ouro (Gold Bud) and Flor Absoluta (Absolute Flower) went to an Ice from the Brazilian grower F.B.

The cannabis community is making great strides in the South American nation of Brazil. Now our friends to the south have held their first-ever Cannabis Cup competition.

Last Saturday, April 28, the 1st Copa Canábia Rio 420 (Cannabis Cup Rio 420), was held with 12 marijuana samples — each with eight grams — from different parts of Brazil, and one strain from Argentina.

Sergio Vidal, a leading Brazilian cannabis activist, author of the first Brazilian cannabis growing guide and a good friend of Toke of the Town, was lucky enough to serve as a judge at the Copa Canábia Rio 420, and he reports the Argentinian strain was no joke.

Bringing Mendocino To The Table: A Timeline of Cannabis

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 10, 2012 Culture, Growing

Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio

Jack’s Timeline of the History of Cannabis

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

• Your Higher Power provides Cannabis to the Earth.

• 2737 BCE: Shen Nung’s Pen Ts’ao, in China, refers to Cannabis as a “superior” herb in the world’s first medical text, or pharmacopoeia.

• For the next several thousand years, Cannabis and Hemp are utilized in almost every major civilization in the Old World including everything from paper to sails.

• 1632 AD, America gets a new cash crop when the Pilgrims bring Cannabis to the New World in their carry-on luggage.

• 1776 AD: Declaration of Independence drafted on hemp paper.

Feds: Medical Marijuana Patients Not Targeted, But Growers Are

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 9, 2012 Growing, Medical

Patrick Whittemore/Boston Herald

U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz: “While this office does not intend to focus its limited resources on seriously ill individuals who use marijuana as part of a medically recommended treatment program in compliance with state law, individuals and organizations who are in the business of cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana, and those who knowingly facilitate such activities, will be in violation of federal law and be subject to federal enforcement.”

Medical marijuana advocates in Massachusetts say they’ll take their cause to the ballot if the Legislature won’t pass it, but the usual objections are being raised by law enforcement officials, who say that legalizing medicine cannabis could put the state at odds with the federal government.

The Humanitarian Medical Use of Marijuana bill would protect registered patients, doctors, caregivers and dispensers from local and state marijuana laws, but not from the federal law enforcement like the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). If the Legislature rejects or fails to act on the measure by May 2, certified signatures of 11,485 Massachusetts voters are needed to place a binding question on November’s general election ballot.

Seriously ill patients don’t have to fear a knock on the door from gun-toting feds, according to White House and U.S. Department of Justice officials, but those same officials told the Boston Herald they won’t turn a blind eye to others who break federal laws, including doctors and state-licensed dispensaries, reports Laurel J. Sweet.

Toke Interview: ‘Heart of Dankness’ Author Mark Haskell Smith

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 3, 2012 Culture, Growing, Products

Library Foundation of Los Angeles

Editor’s note: Los Angeles writer Mark Haskell Smith’s new book Heart of Dankness sprang from his news coverage of the Cannabis Cup for the L.A. Times. Novelist Smith sampled varieties of marijuana that were unlike anything he’d experienced before, unlike any typical stoner weed. In fact, it didn’t get you “stoned,” as such. This cannabis possessed an ephemeral quality known as “dankness.”

Haskell began a journey into the international underground where super-high-grade marijuana is developed. He tracked down the ragtag community of underground botanists, outlaw farmers, and renegade strain hunters who pursue excellence and genetic diversity in cannabis. The dank journey climaxes at Amsterdam’s Cannabis Cup, which Mark portrays as the Super Bowl/Mardi Gras of the world’s largest cash crop.

Cannabis writer and connoisseur Caitlin Podiak got a chance to chat with Haskell Smith about the book, about good cannabis, and about what, exactly, constitutes a state of dankness. Enjoy!

Discussing Dankness

By Caitlin Podiak

Special to Toke of the Town

Caitlin Podiak: Your quest for the “heart of dankness” centers on the annual High Times Cannabis Cup event in Amsterdam. But how relevant do you think those awards are to cannabis users in California? I know many of the strains we have here come from Dutch seeds, but beyond that, I wonder how much the Amsterdam Cannabis Cup results should matter to us in the United States.

Mark Haskell Smith: Oh, I think they’re very relevant to what goes on in California. The strains that win the Cannabis Cup ultimately become the popular strains you find in medical dispensaries or being sold by dealers. AK-47, Super Silver Haze, Willie Nelson, Lavender, LA Confidential… these are all fairly common strains nowadays, but they were first introduced at the Cannabis Cup. I imagine Kosher Kush, which is originally a SoCal strain, will become huge in the next year or two because it just won the Indica Cup in Amsterdam. It’s sort of like Coachella for cannabis. It’s where the unknowns get their shot at the big time. And that resonates in California. We want those seeds.

Man Turns Himself In For Growing Weed ‘To Do The Right Thing’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 2, 2012 Growing, News

WPBF

Michael Cabral entered the police station carrying 12 marijuana plants, seeds and “drug paraphernalia.”

Maybe some people really shouldn’t be allowed to grow cannabis.

A Florida man walked into the Port St. Lucie Police Department on Monday carrying marijuana plants and seeds, saying “he wanted to turn himself in to do the right thing,” according to the cops, reports WPBF.

Michael Cabral, a resident of the Treasure Coast, entered the police station carrying 12 marijuana plants, seeds and “drug paraphernalia,” according to Port St. Lucie police.

Cabral, 34, told the cops he was growing the plants for his personal use.

Oaksterdam University Being Raided By Federal Agents

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 2, 2012 Culture, Growing, News

KTVU

Proud storm troopers: Cocky federal agents outside Oaksterdam University on Monday morning

“Confirmed RAID currently happening at Oaksterdam University – DEA and IRS. Please come show support, bring signs, get the word out. 1600 Broadway and 1776 Broadway Oakland!” – Sacramento Americans for Safe Access (Facebook status update, 8:20 a.m.)

Oakland’s Oaksterdam University, famed as the first and probably biggest institution of cannabis education, was taken over by federal agents on Monday morning.

Toke of the Town was able to confirm reports Monday morning that owner Richard Lee had at first been detained in his apartment by federal agents. He was reportedly released around 10 a.m.

Officers wearing U.S. Marshals, Internal Revenue Service and Drug Enforcement Administration jackets swarmed over the Oakland medical marijuana teaching facility at the corner of 16th Street and Broadway before 8 p.m. Monday morning, reports NBC Bay Area. Yellow “crime scene” tape was keeping everyone away.

Washington, DC Announces 6 Marijuana Cultivation Sites

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 30, 2012 Growing, Medical, News

Cafe Vale Tudo

“Medical marijuana will soon be growing just blocks from the White House and Congress…”

~ Bill Piper, Drug Policy Alliance

Announcement Comes As Obama Administration Escalates Attack On Medical Marijuana Patients And Caregivers In California, Colorado And Other Medical Marijuana States

A nearly 15-year fight in the nation’s capital to allow patients suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases to use marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation has reached a crescendo, with the city naming six locations that will be allowed to grow medical marijuana legally under local law (including a company owned partly by celebrity talk show host Montel Williams).

Oz Cannabis Grower/Tincture Maker: The Medicine Will Continue

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 28, 2012 Global, Growing, Medical

Mullaways Medical Cannabis Pty Ltd

Tony Bower, above, with cannabis plants and materials from anonymous donors after a recent police raid seized his entire crop, which had been labelled for individual patients

One does not simply shut down an Australian medical cannabis farm. At least, not when Tony Bower’s running it.

Just days after a police raid, Bower — an Australian medical marijuana grower and tincture maker — is undeterred and has assured his patients that their supply of medicinal cannabis tincture will be uninterrupted. According to Bower, the director of Mullaways Medical Cannabis Pty Ltd in New South Wales, anonymous donors have donated cannabis plants to keep the operation going.

“I would like to thank those people who have kindly donated plants and supplies to help the medicine to continue,” Bower said on Wednesday. “People need the medicine. I don’t want anyone to be worried or stressed. The medicine will continue to be there for them.”

Medical Cannabis Grower, Tincture Maker Shames Aussie Cops

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 21, 2012 Global, Growing, Medical

Mullaways Medical Cannabis Pty Ltd

Tony Bower, Mullaways Medical Cannabis Pty Ltd: “I know that I can help people with my medicine”

The director of Mullaways Medical Cannabis Pty Ltd in New South Wales, Australia on Wednesday shamed the police for recently raiding his grow operation, saying he has maintained “clear accountability and transparency” in his business. “All relevant state and federal government departments have been fully aware of Mullaways’ operations for years,” said Tony Bower.

“I am deeply offended that the New South Wales Police force have brought charges against me under the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act,” Bower said. “The medical cannabis seized by police, and the tincture does not fall under the scope of the New South Wales Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act. I intend to vigorously defend the charges.”

Ironically, Mullaways tincture — which contains high levels of CBD and other cannabinoids, but very low levels of THC, the primary marijuana ingredient which gets you high — is even less psychoactive than Sativex, the legal cannabis tincture manufactured by British prescription drug giant GW Pharmaceutical.

“The medical cannabis tincture does not get people stoned; it is non-psychotropic and is not open to misuse,” Bower explained.

U.S. Says St. Vincent Is Caribbean’s Top Marijuana Source

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 19, 2012 Global, Growing, News

Travelvice

Big marijuana farms, like the one visible at the center of this photo, are common in St. Vincent.

The United States claims that the archipelagic nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is “the source for the majority of cannabis” in the Caribbean.

“According to officials, marijuana producers have recently started labeling their product for export,” says the U.S. Department of State’s 2012 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, according to the Antigua Observer.

“Police have also observed a trend of younger nationals entering the trade,” the State Department added, apparently unfamiliar with the past 50 years of history.”Regional trade has also increased with Trinidad and Tobago, sending drugs and guns in exchange for cannabis. Officials described a ‘marked increase’ in remittance flows.”

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