| Photo: misshightimes.com |
| Miss High Times 2010 contestant Caitlin, of Santa Cruz, California, with part of this year’s 16 million ounces |
Whoa, dude. Californians smoke 16 million ounces of marijuana a year (yeah, genius, that’s a million pounds), according to a recent report prepared for the Legislature. That’s almost half an ounce for every man, woman and child in the state.
The numbers, from a recent state Board of Equalization report, were prepared for legislation introduced by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) which would legalize, tax and regulate marijuana for Californians 21 and older, reports Peter Hecht at The Sacramento Bee.
Ammiano’s legislation, AB 2254, would create a regulatory structure for marijuana similar to that used for alcohol. The bill would allow taxed sales to adults, while banning sales to or possession by those under 21.
Other interesting findings included in the report:
• California is America’s top marijuana growing state, with 8.6 million pounds of cannabis produced annually, at an estimated value of $13.8 billion. If those numbers are accurate, that represents more than a third of the entire pot crop of the United States. “The fact that California’s largest cash crop continues to go untaxed and unregulated is astounding, especially in such tough economic times,” said Aaron Smith, California policy director of the Marijuana Policy Project.
| Photo: The Olympian |
| Olympia City Councilman Joe Hyer pleads not guilty to three marijuana felonies, Tuesday, March 9, 2010 |
Olympia, Washington City Councilman Joe Hyer pleaded not guilty to three marijuana felonies Tuesday, with his attorney suggesting that “a trusted political mentor” entrapped and cajoled Hyer into selling him marijuana twice due to “depression” and “sexual needs.”
“Judge Pomeroy, I plead not guilty to all charges,” Hyer said during his arraignment.
Hyer is charged with two counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance and one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, each a Class C felony, reports Jeremy Pawloski at The Olympian.
Hyer, 37, was arrested at his home last month by members of the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force after a “confidential informant” wearing a wire bought pot from the councilman twice during “controlled buys” in February, according to court papers.
| Photo: Country.com.br |
A federal appeals court in Argentina has ruled that a grandmother has to stand trial for growing two marijuana plants in her back yard.
Argentina’s Supreme Court ruled in August 2009 that it is unconstitutional to punish adults for privately using marijuana, as long as the use doesn’t hurt anyone else. For that reason, a federal judge had previously issued a stay against prosecuting the woman, who swore she used the cannabis solely for herself, reports CNN.
But the public prosecutor’s office appealed the ruling, and a federal appeals court overturned the previous decision because the woman lives with her two sons and a grandchild.
The three-page appeals court ruling said the grandmother could not prove the marijuana was solely for her personal consumption.
Last year’s unanimous Supreme Court ruling made Argentina the second Latin American nation within a one-week span to allow personal use of a formerly illegal drug.
| Photo: DEA |
Colorado’s legislators, currently in the midst of trying to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries, are asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to stop raids of medicinal cannabis operations.
A group emailed the request to Holder on Monday, following up on a letter sent last week, according to the Associated Press.
According to the lawmakers, the raids are discouraging dispensary operators and medical marijuana patients and growers from working with the Colorado Legislature on proposed regulations.
The letter was sent by Sens. Chris Romer and Nancy Spence, and Reps. Tom Massey and Beth McCann.
A suburban Denver man has been charged with marijuana possession in federal court after DEA agents raided his home and found 224 pot plants.
The raid took place only hours after segments aired of a television interview with Chris Bartkowicz, in which he boasts of his $500,000 basement grow operation, his $637,000 home and his expected $400,000 profits this year.
| Photo: Fred & Friends |
| Another birthday rolling around? Happy doobie to you! |
Having a hard time coming up with high-concept birthday ideas for that significant stoner in your life? For the pothead who has everything, Toke of the Town presents a few good ideas to spark that next birthday celebration into the stratosphere.
Lit™ Birthday Candles
Happy doobie to you!
The next time a birthday rolls around, get things started on a high note. Put a new twist on lighting the candles with Lit™ birthday candles from Fred & Friends. Each package contains eight “perfectly rolled” candles which for all the world look like joints.
The eight-candle packs of Lits sell for $5.21 at Amazon, and are also available online at Perpetual Kid, Mortimer Snodgrass, Patina, Pop Deluxe, The Spoon Sisters, Kitchen Kapers, Cool Stuff Express, and Baron Bob.
| Photo: AP/Gemunu Amarasinghe |
| “Dude… I am soooo high.” (Or the local equivalent.) Men smear colored powder on each other’s faces during celebrations of Holi, the Hindu spring festival of color. |
They’re getting that old time religion in northern India, as the annual Holi festival, an extravagant Hindu spring celebration of colors, is observed with potent marijuana milk shakes.
The festival, celebrated in March each year (the exact date depends on the lunar calendar), is an occasion during which men, women and children play wildly with water guns and colored powder, according to The Observers. And the fact that “bhang thandai,” an almond-flavored milk shake blended with cannabis, is a prominent part of the celebration doesn’t hurt the festive atmosphere one bit.
| Photo: Tobias Elgen |
| The ferry Wenatchee enroute to Bainbridge Island, Washington (background), where your pockets are considered pot paraphernalia |
Ever hear that if cops really want to bust you, they can find a way? Well, maybe it’s true.
Because there’s no local statute for misdemeanor level marijuana possession — under 40 grams — if you get arrested on Bainbridge Island, in Washington’s Puget Sound, you aren’t prosecuted under any law dealing with pot, reports Josh Farley at the Kitsap Sun.
But that won’t keep you from being busted.
“We can arrest someone for having drug paraphernalia,” said Scott Weiss, an island officer. “But not for marijuana.”
Turns out “paraphernalia” can be defined pretty loosely, to say the least.
“Even if they have marijuana in their pocket, then the pocket becomes the paraphernalia,” Kitsap County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Claire Bradley said.
| Photo: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration |
Plants that could help an estimated 2,400 local medical marijuana patients are in danger of dying with the power cut at CannaHelp dispensary after Thursday’s lockdown of the California pot collective’s building, owner Stacy Hochanadel said Friday.
“The just pulled out all the power so the plants are going to die,” Hochanadel said, reports Marcel Honore of The Desert Sun. “The heat, the lack of light, the lack of watering” puts the 400 plants “in danger of being unusable.”
| Photo: 4&20 blackbirds |
| “Just get me some more reefers… NOW!” |
Every few months, you can count on it: Another “scientific” study that attempts to draw some connection, however tenuous, between getting high and going crazy. But those outlandish claims amount to just putting a white lab coat on the “Reefer Madness” warnings of the 1930s, and it’s easy to see why.
I mean, get real: Considering modern rates of usage, if cannabis really produced psychosis, the streets would be choked with a gibbering throng of burned-out potheads. It doesn’t. They aren’t.
“I’ve said it for years now,” film director John Holowach, responsible for the documentary High: The True Tale of American Marijuana, told Toke of the Town. “If pot and mental illness were linked, the two should rise and fall with one another, but they don’t.”