| Graphic: Radioactive24two/Deviant Art |
As a veteran of stoner culture who can remember the years before mass media latched onto the 420 phenomenon in general, and specifically the celebration of April 20 (4/20) as America’s fastest-growing holiday and high celebration of all things cannabis, I have to admit I find the entire scenario a little strange.
On the one hand, I’m thrilled that marijuana gets a holiday of its own, and even more so that it then gets the coverage, as an issue, that it really deserves all 365 days a year. The consumption of cannabis in public places by large crowds of people carries some powerful symbolism and is a meaningful show of solidarity.
At the same time, I’m well aware that those who are inclined to dismiss the seriousness and validity of the marijuana movement are simply going to use April 20 to do exactly that — and then ignore it again for 364 more days.
| Graphic: Dedroidify |
| John Lennon, 1940-1980, was a genius songwriter and an LSD enthusiast. |
Fans of Beatles legend John Lennon have uncovered where he hid his LSD stash on the grounds of his southern England home more than 40 years ago.
Several large broken glass bottles in a leather holdall were discovered by builders digging up the lawn of his old home, Kenwood, in Surrey, reports The Sun.
According to legend, Lennon buried a large quantity of acid in his garden in 1967 when The Beatles proclaimed they’d given up drugs in favor of transcendental meditation.
When the Fab Four returned from the spiritual odyssey on which hoped to learn great truths from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India, John had second thoughts about wasting all that LSD, and tried to dig it up. The musician never found his acid stash again.
| Graphic: How Weed Won The West |
Is How Weed Won The West an entertaining film? Yes, absolutely. You won’t get bored watching it.
The film takes a compelling look at California’s Emerald Triangle, one of the major marijuana production areas in the world, and looks at the scene in dispensary-heavy Los Angeles, where things are in flux just before what looks to be a major crackdown on the horizon.
Additionally, the jack-booted tactics of San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis are rightly called to task.
Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance, certainly one of the most intelligent and articulate spokesman for drug reform policy in the United States, thankfully gets plenty of screen time, along with Don Duncan of Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and cultivation legend and multiple Cannabis Cup winner Bret Bogue.
And yeah, to be honest it was a thrill to see one of my SF Weekly “Chronic City” articles during the film, sharing the screen with Alex Jones.
But is it, on balance, a valuable film for the movement? That depends.
| Photo: Orange County Sheriff’s Department |
| Andrew VanMourick, 21, of Dana Point, California, was taken into custody along with three other suspected pot thieves. |
Three men tunneled into a California medical marijuana dispensary, according to police — the second burglary at the same location in two weeks.
A recently installed alarm system inside the dispensary alerted deputies to the break-in, said Jim Amormino, Sheriff’s Department spokesman, reports Salvador Hernandez of The Orange County Register.
The three men tunneled their way into the dispensary from an adjoining business, according to police. They began stacking cannabis plants near the back door of the dispensary when the alarm sounded, sending deputies to the location, Amormino said.
The deputies arrived to see three men running from the dispensary.
| Photo: Andreas Fuhrmann/The Record Searchlight |
| Patient Donna Will tends to her garden at her Tehama County, California home. Both Will and her partner, Jerrey Doran, are medical marijuana patients and also grow for other patients. |
Tehama County Supervisors on Tuesday will consider starting a $40 registration fee for medical marijuana gardens.
The fee wouldn’t be set at the Tuesday vote, but the vote could establish a May 4 public hearing where the board would consider the fee, reports Geoff Johnson at the Red Bluff Daily News.
Supervisors on April 6 already approved a medical marijuana cultivation policy prohibiting growth within 1,000 feet of schools, churches or bus stops, linking the number of plants allowed to parcel size, and requiring medical marijuana growers to register their gardens with the Tehama County Health Services Agency.
| Photo: The Real Potheads of North Hollywood |
The Real Potheads of North Hollywood are celebrating the stoner holiday with 420 Day, a fabulous spoof of Groundhog Day and The Twilight Zone.
The Real Potheads of North Hollywood is an upcoming comedy about all things marijuana.
The social satire follows the lives of four potheads and their square friend. Shot in mock “reality show” style, the show follows these 21st Century slackers’ misadventures.
From running out of weed to discovering an exotic strain of cannabis that turns women into lesbians, you never know what to expect next in North Hollywood.
The show doesn’t spare anyone — it pokes fun at stoners and squares alike.
“Join us and watch these 420 stereotypes in their day-to-day,” said Dave Levin, co-creator and executive producer. “You’ll laugh so hard you’ll cough in the middle of your bong hit.”
View all three parts of 420 Day after the fold.
| Photo: Black & Right (who’s stupid enough to think it’s “dumb”) |
| Look at all that smoke! The crowd was once again more than 10,000 at last year’s CU 4/20 smokeout, April 20, 2009. Are the cops really going to hand out tickets this year? |
An uptight University of Colorado regent has said the Boulder campus should do a better job “cracking down” on pot smokers who gather for the “unsanctioned” 4/20 smoke-out.
Last year, about 10,000 people gathered to smoke marijuana — or just watch — during the public protest, reports Brittany Anas at the Boulder Daily Camera. Police have largely turned a blind eye to pot smoking at the event, usually issuing just a few tickets spurred by “other illegal activities.”
| Graphic: Cannabis Therapy Institute |
Two law enforcement bills are now working their way through the Colorado Legislature that would, according to Cannabis Therapy Institute, seriously harm medical marijuana patients and their caregivers. According to CTI, both of these bills have seen strong support from legislators, both Democrats and Republicans.
Law enforcement bill #1 (SB 109) would destroy the confidentiality of the Registry by allowing the government to use patient records to determine “suspicious” activity by physicians. It allocates more than $1 million of patient registration fees to prosecute these supposedly “suspicious” physicians.
| Graphic: Chelsea Green Publishing |
It runs against the most basic business acumen to give your product away for free, but next week that is just what Chelsea Green Publishing is going to do.
On April 20, free downloads of Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People To Drink? are available all day on Scribd.com. Users will be able to download, print and share.
Paperback copies of the book will be available on the Chelsea Green website for a discounted price of $10.
April 20 is significant because over the years “420” has become a counterculture holiday, where the primary mode of celebration is smoking marijuana publicly.
Chelsea Green Publishing said the move is intended to raise awareness of marijuana’s relative safety when compared to alcohol in the face of California’s impending referendum for legalization in November.
In one of those oh-so-delicious twists of irony, April is also, coincidentally, National Alcohol Awareness month.
“This promotion is all about getting the message out there,” said Kate Rados, Chelsea Green’s director of digital initiatives. “Via our partners and web communities, we’ll be offering the free download to more than 200,000 people.”
| Photo: LA Kush |
The Los Angeles City Council voted 9-1 Friday to approve final amendments to a local medical marijuana dispensary ordinance it passed earlier this year.
Conspicuously absent from the final ordinance was a controversial provision that caused medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) to file a lawsuit against the city. The ordinance previously required dispensary operators to find a new location within seven days after the law took effect, which ASA argued was a violation of due process.
Although Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed the dispensary ordinance into law on February 3, the city was required to adopt a supplemental permit fee ordinance before the law could take effect.