Toke of the Town — Marijuana and Cannibis News

Billionaire Soros Gives $1 Million To Prop 19 Pot Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 26, 2010 Culture, News

George Soros: “Police could focus on serious crime instead”

Billionaire financier George Soros on Tuesday donated $1 million to support Proposition 19, the California ballot initiative to legalize, tax and regulate recreational cannabis use.

The cash from Soros, a longtime supporter of marijuana law reform, should allow a much more intense media blitz in the final week before Election Day.

Prop 19, which has had some trouble raising money, had only just rolled out its first television ad in the Los Angeles area on Monday, eight days before the election, reports Josh Richman of the Oakland Tribune.

Denver City Council Eliminates Private Cannabis Caregivers

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 26, 2010 Growing, Medical

Graphic: OFCB

The Denver City Council has dealt a crushing blow to private medical marijuana caregivers, passing regulation to make such operations all but obsolete within the Mile High City.

In a 12-1 vote Monday night, the council approved a measure to limit city households to just 12 plants total, and only two patients per home, who must also live in the household, reports Tim Martin at John Doe Radio.

Only Councilman Doug Linkhart dissented, reports Christopher N. Osher at The Denver Post.

Wilkinson’s Novel ‘Witchgrass’ Gets It Exactly Right

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 26, 2010 Culture, Products

Graphic: Witchgrass

There is so much damage and devastation inflicted on American communities by our government’s senseless war on cannabis that the sheer magnitude of the tragedy can sometimes overwhelm us. Bust statistics and prison terms blur into a cacophony of numbers, a calculus of pain as they inexorably pile and snowball.

But one thing that can really take us right back to the reality of the situation — that the war on marijuana destroys lives — is to take a look at a close-knit community and the individuals in it, and how they are impacted when the heavy hand of pot prohibition enters the picture.

That’s exactly what author Dave Wilkinson does with his novel Witchgrass: A Pipe Dream, originally released in 1994 and reprinted this year. The book portrays shattered lives and conflicted families as a New England town splits apart.

Trouble comes to rural Maine as a middle school student is recruited in a DARE class to inform on her parents for marijuana (talk about a storyline ripped from the headlines). As we see the toll the Drug War takes on a small New England town, we are left to ask why.

He Should Switch To Pot: Sheen Found Drunk, Naked In Hotel

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 26, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: Coed Magazine

Charlie! It’s not too late to switch to cannabis!

Boys and girls, it’s time for another story to remind us why cannabis is preferable to alcohol.

Celebrity and party boy Charlie Sheen was hospitalized early Tuesday morning after he was found drunk and naked in a trashed New York City hotel suite.

Just two months out of rehab, Sheen, 45, in the company of a call girl, reportedly trashed his suite after learning he’d lost his wallet and cellphone, report Larry Celona and Jamie Schram at the New York Post.

Security officers at The Plaza Hotel on Fifth Avenue called the cops just after 2 a.m. Tuesday after finding Sheen and his suite both trashed, sources told the Post.

Tables and chairs had reportedly been thrown around the room, and a chandelier was also damaged, according to reports. You don’t suppose he (or the hooker) had been swingin’ from the chandelier, do you?

Sheen, star of the hit sitcom Two And A Half Men (you really should watch it if you enjoy well-done filthy innuendoes) was accompanied by his ex-wife Denise Richards, who was staying in a separate room at the hotel, according to sources.

Video of the Day: Should Be Legalized

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2010 Culture, Products

Graphic: Zazzle

Written and performed by comedian Steve Berke and featuring the talented and alluring Charlotte Bruyn, “Should Be Legalized” is a pro-legalization parody of Eminem’s “Love The Way You Lie.”

The video, directed by Adam Mutchler, stars Valerie White and Michael Malone.

For those who are into trivia, note that the massive bong rip occurs at 4:20 in the video.

Emperor of Hemp Featured On FDL Movie Night Monday

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2010 Culture, Products

Graphic: Emperor Of Hemp

The Jack Herer documentary, Emperor of Hemp will be the featured film on Firedoglake.com’s Movie Night Monday October 25, beginning at 8 p.m. (Eastern Time) and ending at 9:30 p.m.

A story on the film by Lisa Derrick will begin at 8 o’clock and kick off a live online chat with Director Jeff Jones and Writer/Producer Jeff Meyers.

“Firedoglake’s Just Say Now campaign has been instrumental in supporting medical and recreational marijuana legalization initiatives this political season,” Meyers told Toke of the Town on Monday.

When we lost cannabis activist Herer on April 15, he passed into the hallowed hall of hemp history, a man who devoted his life to the cause of marijuana freedom.

Jack pledged to fight every day of his life until either cannabis was legal, he was dead, or until he turned 84. He took the pledge very seriously and never stopped fighting, giving an impassioned speech at Hempstalk 2009 and then collapsing with the heart attack that ended up taking his life a few months later.

Yes On 19 Releases Pro-Legalization TV Ad [Video]

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2010 Culture, News

Graphic: Yes On 19

Former San Jose Police Chief Says Marijuana Initiative Will Improve Public Safety

The campaign to pass Proposition 19, the California ballot measure to legalize, control and tax cannabis, released a television ad on Monday featuring former San Jose Police Chief Joseph McNamara, who makes a strong public safety case for ending the current prohibition on marijuana.

“Let’s be honest: The war against marijuana has failed,” Chief McNamara says in the ad.

Police Called To Check Out ‘Nasty’ Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2010 News

Graphic: thebmillerexperience

Dude, maybe you should wait until it’s legal. A Pennsylvania man is facing possible charges after he called 911 to complain about some “bad marijuana” he had just bought, which turned out not to be pot at all.

Police did not identify the 21-year-old Uniontown man, who called a Fayette County emergency dispatcher Wednesday and said he had bought some questionable cannabis, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

He asked police to check the pot out for him, according to authorities.

After responding to the man’s Millview Street residence, cops noticed, you guessed it, a “leafy green substance” on the couch. The man whined to the officers that he had bought the stuff earlier that day, and when he smoked it, “It was nasty.”

Detective Donald Gmitter said a field test determined the substance was not marijuana, but did not reveal anything else — as in, what the hell it was. Preliminary results showed it was not a controlled substance, according to the police report.

Toke of the Town Interview: Mendocino Sheriff Tom Allman

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2010 Culture, Growing

Photo: Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office

Sheriff Tom Allman: “The difference between what Eric Holder did and Bush’s assistant U.S. attorney is nothing.”

Northern California’s Mendocino County is world renowned for the quality and quantity of cannabis grown there. As part of the Emerald Triangle, along with Humboldt County, local buds including “Mendo Purps” have helped marijuana users everywhere have a happier day.

Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman has been supportive of medical cannabis growers who go by the rules. He stands as an example of a law enforcement official who engages in a respectful dialogue with the cannabis community, rather than talking down to it or dictating to it.

What would it be like to be sheriff of a county where marijuana rules the economy — a county known for growing some of the finest cannabis in the world?

Toke of the Town‘s correspondent, blogger Jack Rikess of the Haight in San Francisco, got a chance to sit down with Sheriff Allman and find out.

Their wide-ranging discussion covered the unique marijuana culture of Mendocino, the possible impact of Prop 19 cannabis legalization on the county’s pot-centered economy, and the Sheriff’s innovative zip-tie program for legal growers.

Let’s listen in as Toke‘s Rikess and Sheriff Allman have a relaxed talk.

Oregon: Big Names Line Up For And Against Pot Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Graphic: Oregon Measure 74

Oregon voters may notice this election that some big names are supporting Measure 74, a voter initiative that would approve state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries.

Radio listeners on Monday heard a new ad with the voice of former Portland mayor and police chief, Tom Potter, supporting the measure, reports Dan Tilkin at KATU News.

“But I do support Measure 74,” Potter says in the radio ad. “It regulates medical marijuana. That change is overdue. Since medical marijuana is legal, we need to regulate it.”

The measure would allow authorized patients to buy cannabis, so that they would no longer have to either grow their own, rely on a personal grower, or count on other patients with extra medical marijuana.

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