| Moderate in the Middle |
Four new medical conditions could eventually qualify patients to participate in Arizona’s medical marijuana program.
The state health department is considering whether it should add depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and migraines as “debilitating conditions,” which would allow patients suffering from those conditions to legally use medicinal cannabis under Arizona law, reports Yvonne Wingett Sanchez at The Arizona Republic.
If the new conditions are approved, Arizona would be the only state in the nation to specifically allow medical marijuana for anxiety and depression, according to Will Humble, director of the state Department of Health Services, which oversees Arizona’s medical marijuana program. However, California’s broadly written medicinal cannabis law basically allows physicians to recommend marijuana for any condition that, in their medical opinion, it could help.
| Joe Mabel |
| The medical marijuana industry in Washington state does not oppose legalization in the wholesale manner in which Dominic Holden, above, claims they do; they merely object to many of I-502’s provisions |
By Philip Dawdy
Special to Toke of the Town
The road to cannabis legalization is certainly proving to be an odd one in Washington State, filled with so many ironies that I’ve lost count. Here comes another set of ironies.
On April 13th, the New York Times published an op-ed by Dominic Holden, “news” editor of The Stranger. Its contents prompted me to send the following letter to the editor, which the paper decided wasn’t important enough to share with its readers. In my opinion, Holden has been writing about I-502 in a way that is both deceptive and journalistically unprofessional.
Here’s what I sent the Times:
In journalism school, I was taught that journalists should strive to avoid conflicts of interest and should always reveal them in instances where they cannot be avoided. Interesting then that in his “Smokeless in Seattle” opinion piece on April 13 in which he lambasted the medical marijuana industry for opposing a legalization initiative in Washington State, Dominic Holden did not inform readers that he used to be an employee of the ACLU of Washington.
| All photos by Sharon Letts |
She’s The Brains, He’s The Strains: On The Road With Craig & Sharon
Story and Photos by Sharon Letts
Strain Review by Craig Carroll
•••••••
Introduction: Changing the Way People Think About Cannabis, One Bud at a Time
By Sharon Letts
Craig and I came of age in the 70s. He surfed and played guitar in rock bands, while I rode the waves on a Boogie Board and gardened.
Both of us reaped the benefits of cannabis: Craig for anxiety and undiagnosed autism; me for menstrual cramps and depression. I can’t speak for the boys, but we girls knew what worked each month, and pitied the girl relying solely on Midol and a heating pad.
Both of us watched as cannabis grew up to be good medicine, then was legalized in California in 1996. Neither of us rushed out to get a “Prop. 215 card.” I was busy raising my daughter; he was teaching high school and starting a family. Both of us stopped smoking for long periods of time.
Surprisingly, it was age and health issues that brought the herb back into our lives.
Heading into menopause, already suffering from digestive issues and weight gain caused by Thyroid Disease, I began using cannabis to relax my stomach where I hold my stress.
Sleeplessness with menopause has become a huge issue for me, and a honey tincture provides at least six good hours of sleep a night, allowing me to write.
While others may go the pharmaceutical route, we’ll stick to this simple herb. Our travels will have Craig looking for a pick-me-up for his chronic fatigue and relief for his chronic pain. I’ll be perusing the edible isles for sleep-aids and help with my flucuating mood swings.
Each trip will include a review of the top five collectives from the town we are visiting, while Craig reviews its top strains, deciphering aesthetics of the bud, and potential medicinal benefits.
We’ll also find a canna mover and shaker from that town and have a hang-out, chatting about what’s going on with the medicine in their world.
If your personal favorite club isn’t listed, not to worry, we’ll pass through town again! Send in your favorites and who knows, maybe your friendly neighborhood collective will make our list during our next trip.
So, sit back, relax, roll-up a fatty, and enjoy the ride!
| Rebels With Just Cause Award |
By Steph Sherer
Executive Director
Americans for Safe Access
Ten years ago today, I stood below the biggest free-standing billboard in San Francisco and watched volunteers drop a huge banner that said “Defend Medical Marijuana” right next to one of the busiest freeways in the city.
It was the beginning of a series of actions and media work in response to former Drug Czar Asa Hutchinson’s visit to the Bay Area. He was coming to town to gloat about raids at medical cannabis dispensaries and gardens, and we were determined to tell a different story. That’s how the nation’s largest medical cannabis patients’ advocacy organization got its name – Americans for Safe Access v. Asa Hutchison or “ASA v. Asa.”
| California NORML |
“Obama Keep Your Promise”
Cannabis advocates will mark their annual 4/20 holiday with a protest of the federal raids on medical marijuana in Oaksterdam.
Demonstrators will gather at the federal building in downtown Oakland at 11:30 am for a rally, then march up Telegraph Avenue to Oaksterdam to make their views known.
| Narfolaxer |
| Oaksterdam founder Richard Lee is fully separating himself from the school and his other cannabis-affiliated businesses |
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent
Two weeks and a few days after the Federal Government raided Richard Lee’s world in Oakland, showing the Cannabis World who’s boss, Oaksterdam is back.
At a mid-morning press conference held in the last remaining quarters left to the University, Richard Lee officially stepped down as the school’s dean to pursue drug policy reform, on a national level, full-time. Dale Sky Jones, Oaksterdam’s executive chancellor, will continue the University’s commitment of quality training for the cannabis industry, as per Richard’s mission statement.
| GoldenGatePark.com |
| San Francisco’s 4/20 celebration typically culminates in Golden Gate Park at Hippie Hill |
By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent
“People are coming to Haight-Ashbury like the Grateful Dead is back in town,” said longtime resident Jack Rikess. “They’re walking down the street and smoking joints. It’s going to be unreal. This could be the last illegal 4/20 in San Francisco.”
That was the quote I gave to the Sacramento Bee way back in 2010 when asked about living next to Golden Gate Park where San Francisco holds one of the biggest smoke-outs in the nation celebrating April 20th, the traditional marijuana smoker’s holiday.
Back then, I actually thought the marijuana wars were over. The public was having a change of heart and mind, and I thought that marijuana, if not legalized soon, would be decriminalized to the point of equating smoking a joint to the same enforceable penalty as pulling the “Do Not Remove” tag off of a pillow.
| slumz.boxden |
| The University of Colorado at Boulder will be on lockdown this Friday, complete with campus police conducting checkpoints and demanding proper ID from everyone in sight. The reason? Authorities want to finally snuff out the school’s annual pro-pot rally. |
Attorney Robert J. Corry, Jr., filed an emergency temporary restraining order in Boulder District Court on Thursday, asking the court to prohibit the University of Colorado at Boulder from closing its campus to the public on 4/20.
The UC-Boulder administration has said they will shut down the entire campus to non-students for the entire day on Friday in order to stop a legal protest that is protected by the First Amendment. Students will be allowed to enter campus only if they show their student ID card.
“What the university is trying to do is kill a fly with a nuclear ICBM,” Corry told The Raw Story‘s Stephen C. Webster on Thursday. “It’s completely overreaching to shut down an entire campus to all members of the public.”
| Marty Caivano/Colorado Daily |
| A reveler lights up at the 4/20 smoke out on the CU-Boulder campus last year. |
The eternal culture battle between the straights and the stoners continues to play itself out as 4/20, the international cannabis holiday, becomes a lightning rod for controversy. The latest iteration of the battle has more than 350 University of Colorado – Boulder students RSVPing to a Facebook event encouraging students to wear a suit and tie to campus and around Boulder on Friday, April 20, to protest the 4/20 smoke out.
That’s right — they want you to pledge your allegiance to a morally, ethically and financially bankrupt system that has spent untold tax dollars, for the past 75 years, arresting millions of people for no better reason than that they choose to use a harmless plant. And they want you to do that by identifying with the overarching, corrupt power structure so strongly that you validate their tottering worldview by donning a suit, the symbol of their drab mindless conformity and hen-hearted unwillingness to rock the boat.
| Vitamin Thick |
| CU-Boulder regularly holds one of the biggest 4-20 events in the country, but CU administrators have closed the campus to the public and are threatening arrests |
CU-Boulder to Close Campus to Visitors, Threatens Arrests
DPA to Urge Reform of Punitive Marijuana Laws in Colorado on 4/20 with Airplane Banner, Full Page Ads and On-the-Ground Presence
April 20, the quasi-official holiday for people who enjoy marijuana, is recognized by millions around the world. This year’s holiday will have a deeper significance for Coloradans as Amendment 64 is on the ballot to tax and regulate marijuana. Amendment 64 decriminalizes marijuana for adults and allows local municipalities and the state to establish a non-medical, regulatory framework for cultivation, distribution and sale.