Growing

Full-Court Press: Feds Go After Mendo Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 28, 2011 Growing

Photo: Ganja Farmer’s Emerald Triangle News

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

I love my job.

Every time I leave San Francisco for Mendocino like I did the other day, whether it’s for an interview like I had arranged or for snooping and sleuthing for an upcoming story, I get giddy. It brings out the Tom Sawyer in me.

I’m like that kid the movie, The Black Stallion, when during the climax of the big horse race he throws off his racing goggles and grabs Big Black’s mane like they are one. He rides the galloping horse like they did back on the island when it was just the two of them.

MBS: Australia’s Terrific New Marijuana Strain [Pictorial]

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 28, 2011 Global, Growing

All photos: Moonunit

Australian cannabis breeders are kicking ass with their own unique genetics, producing a multitude of potent strains. One of the best recent innovations is called MBS (Mind, Body and Soul), and is a creation of renowned breeder Moonunit.

MBS is about 60 percent indica and 40 percent sativa, according to Moonunit, though it expresses in a more indica fashion.

“MBS is comprised of Deep Chunk for the mind, Zoid Fuel for the body, and C-99 for the soul,” Moonunit told me by way of explaining the strain’s Aussie genetic background.

Moonunit described is as “a spreading, good yielding plant, with the early maturation of an indica and some of the growth qualities of a sativa.”

“It grows dense, hard, nuggety buds,” he told me. “Some samples have grown green, whilst others will tend to show purpling with cooler nights, some almost black. The large amounts of trichomes resemble snow, and the dark purple backing gives the buds excellent aesthetic qualities and bag appeal.”

Israel’s Medical Cannabis To Be Locally Grown

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 28, 2011 Global, Growing

Graphic: Jewlicious

Medical marijuana will be grown in Israel for at least the next two years, because imports would be 10 times more expensive, according to the Israeli Health Ministry.

Health Ministry director-general Dr. Ronni Gamzi decided on Thursday to establish a unit within the ministry to manage and supervise the supply of medicinal cannabis, reports Judy Siegel at the Jerusalem Post.

The unit is scheduled to begin operating in January 2012.

The Israeli Pharmacists Association’s members are pressing for permission to distribute medical marijuana to authorized patients through their pharmacies.

Study: Marijuana Growers’ Kids In Better Health

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 28, 2011 Culture, Global, Growing

Photo: Niagara Regional Police/Canadian Press

New research questions the automatic removal of children living in marijuana grow-ops, finding they may not be exposed to any alarming health risks. In fact, children of marijuana-growing homes are healthier than other kids, according to the research.

A new study from Canada flies in the face of stereotypes regarding the offspring of marijuana-growing parents. Children from homes where cannabis is grown were healthy and drug-free, according to the study — in fact, healthier than other children — leading to questions about why such kids are often removed from their homes.

The research from the Motherisk Program at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children indicates the automatic removal of kids from marijuana-growing parents can be worse for the children than allowing them to stay at home, according to Gideon Koren, a University of Toronto professor and the program’s director, reports CBC News.

Confusion Reigns In Washington Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 22, 2011 Dispensaries, Growing, Legislation

Graphic: Sodahead

Changes to Washington state’s medical marijuana laws kick in today, Friday, July 22. But cities, counties, providers and patients are still trying to make sense of the new guidelines, a patchwork of confusing and often contradictory rules left by Governor Christine Gregoire’s hen-hearted line-item veto of legislation which would have regulated the shops.

The dispensaries have popped up all over the state in the past couple years, reports Liz Jones at KUOW. But the changes in Washington’s medical marijuana law make dispensaries illegal, while authorizing “collective gardens” of up to 45 plants for up to 10 patients.

2011 CA Atty. Gen. Marijuana Guidelines Leaked; Read ‘Em Here

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 22, 2011 Growing, Legislation, Medical

Photo: Office of the Attorney General

California Attorney General Kamala Harris

A draft copy of the new 2011 California Attorney General’s guidelines on medical marijuana have been leaked. They are reproduced below in their entirety.

An official release of these guidelines is expected sometime between now and the end of August.

The section on collectives and dispensaries, among others, doesn’t seem to be good news for patients as far as affordable access is concerned; the section seems to limit individual patient options.

“While many advocates argue for ‘safe access’ I want not only ‘safe access’ but ‘affordable access’ and at times I get the impression that ‘affordable access’ is lost in the discussion among many,” commented Brett Stone, who manages the Medical Marijuana News group on Yahoo!, through which he released the draft guidelines.

“A special thanks to Shona Gochenaur of San Francisco’s Axis of Love for uncovering and forwarding this copy to me,” Stone said.

Frontline: ‘The Pot Republic’ Airs On PBS July 26 & 29

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 21, 2011 Culture, Growing, News

Photo: Frontline

Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Randy Johnson (left) visits a marijuana farm run by Matt Cohen (right), as featured in “The Pot Republic,” airing July 26 and 29 on PBS.

Frontline is presenting “The Pot Republic,” a report on the effort to legalize marijuana in California, this month on PBS.

While the bulk of cannabis used in the United States used to come across the border from Mexico, Colombia, Canada and elsewhere, more than half of it is now believed to be domestically grown, much of it in California, “where an enormous black market has emerged under the cover of the state’s medical marijuana law,” at least if PBS is to be believed.

With more than a third of the U.S. now experimenting with some form of legalization and decriminalization — and several California counties attempting to openly regulate cannabis production — Frontline and the Center for Investigative Reporting teamed up to take a look at the country’s oldest, largest and most wide-open marijuana market.

Deputies Arrest 84-Year-Old Running Marijuana Grow House

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 21, 2011 Growing, News

Photo: WTSP

Some of the plants seized from the home of 84-year-old Bernardino Gonzalez. Of course, asshole cops couldn’t resist going ahead and mutilating the plants, just to prove what macho ass-bags they are.

An 84-year-old Florida man faces drug-trafficking charges after Sarasota County, Florida sheriff’s deputies busted into his home and claimed they found 60 marijuana plants in what they described as an “elaborate” grow house.

Members of the Special Investigations unit conducted surveillance on the home, wasting untold thousands of taxpayer dollars in the process, after a butt-insky deputy responding to an unrelated call in the neighborhood claimed he smelled the odor of cannabis coming from the area.

The Sheriff’s Office claims it pinpointed the smell as coming from a home in Island Date Street and were able to get a search warrant, reports Beau Zimmer at WTSP.

Former Cop Seeks Out Marijuana Grows For Landlords

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 20, 2011 Global, Growing, News

Photo: CTV

Brian Gladstone, Griffin Security: “The only way to be certain is to go inside and have a look, but this gives the landlord a reason to go have a look”

A former Canadian Mountie in British Columbia is offering a controversial new service designed to help landlords tell if their tenants are cultivating indoor marijuana gardens.

Brian Goldstone of Griffin Security uses infrared cameras to detect unusual amounts of heat inside a home from the outside, reports Brent Shearer at CTV News. He wants landlords to hire him to search for marijuana operations on their properties.

Video: ‘Largest Ever’ Marijuana Field Torched In Mexico

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 18, 2011 Global, Growing, News

One of Mexico’s largest-ever seizures of marijuana was torched by the army in El Rosario, Baja California on Friday.

The massive haul went up in smoke three days after Mexican soldiers found a pot plantation covering almost 300 acres, according to the Defense Department, reports Russia Today.

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