Search Results: alapoet (133)

Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

By Ron Marczyk, RN

“It is clear that we’re in the midst of a serious national conversation about marijuana.” ~ Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske
Let’s start that serious national conversation about marijuana! Seventy-five years late is better than never. Why now? Because marijuana legalization support is growing and is more popular by several points then any politician in the country! 
  
This new marijuana majority has the momentum, the votes and the moral high ground; if you support prohibition you are showing your age and your lack of medical science knowledge and you shouldn’t be in office making decisions that affect young people 18-34 who are the new face of America.
 
This new marijuana spring just gave birth to legalization.

Harborside Health Center

Chief Federal Magistrate Maria-Elena James on Monday ruled in favor of Harborside Health Center, which describes itself as the biggest nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary in the United States, and denied motions by Harborside’s landlords asking the court to order an immediate halt to the sales of medicinal cannabis at their properties.

Judge James also declined to grant a motion from the City of Oakland to immediately halt the federal government’s legal efforts to close Harborside, but scheduled a hearing later this month to hear more arguments in the City of Oakland’s lawsuit against the Feds in a 17-page opinion [PDF] described by Harborside as “highly significant.”
“We are grateful that Judge James carefully considered the facts and arguments in the Harborside case, and decided to grant us our day in court,” said Harborside Health Center Executive Director Steve DeAngelo. “We have always believed that a Bay Area jury will recognize the value that Harborside brings to the community, and refuse to allow the federal government to seize the properties where we are located.

Steve Elliott ~alapoet~
Pictured: “Holland” strain from CannaRx in Seattle

No Excuses Entertainment, LLC’s iBAKE TV and Mj Spectator Team Up For Best Cannabis Picture of 2012 Contest
Now you can turn that killer cannabis photo into cold hard cash.
No Excuses Entertainment, LLC,  iBAKE TV & Mj Spectator have teamed up to bring the cannabis industry the Best Bud Picture of 2012 contest. First place will receive $1,000 cash, Second Place will receive $500 cash, and Third Place will receive $250 cash.
Entries must be uploaded by February 10, 2013, according to the sponsors, and the winners will be announced at the 2013 Medicated Chef Contest, February 16, 2013 at The Oriental Theater in Denver, Colorado.

All photos by Steve Elliott ~alapoet~
The glass entry case contained all 200 flower entries, and a couple dozen concentrate entries in the center wheel

The ninth annual Emerald Cup medical cannabis competition — a Humboldt County, California-based event in which only outdoor, sun-grown, organic marijuana and concentrates are allowed — was held this past weekend in Redway, and Toke of the Town was there.

The winning strain (left), entry #47, Chem Dawg, from Cannabis Aficionado

Two hundred strains of marijuana were entered (compared to last year’s 108 entries), as well as a couple dozen concentrates. Winners were selected, and the Grand Prize winner — entry #47, ChemDawg Special Reserve, grown by Leonard Bell and Elenah Elston (first female to take the top spot in this cannabis competition) — was announced. A very happy Leonard and Elenah, who together run the company Cannabis Aficionado, won an all-expenses paid trip to Jamaica for seven days and nights.
The winning strain, according to the lab results posted on Facebook by The Emerald Cup, contains 18.4 percent THC and 0.9 percent CBD.
Entrants in the Emerald Cup are judged by entry numbers only. It’s a completely blind judging process, i.e., the judges have no idea who grew it, what strain it is, or anything else about it. Entrants are judged on the high, appearance, smell, taste, and potency, with the high counting twice as much as the other components (and rightly so).

Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

By Phillip Dawdy
Special to Toke of the Town
Today is Legalization Day in Washington. Evergreen State voters made a loud and clear statement on November 6, dear readers, and here we are 30 days later leading the way in — finally! — taking cannabis to a new and different place.
This is the first time full legalization (or “legalization,” as some I-502 detractors still insist) has happened anywhere on Earth since America banned the fabulous cannabis plant in 1937. That’s a big deal — for Washington, for America, and for the world.
Even if you didn’t vote for 502 due to its many flaws, I encourage you to embrace this moment because something like this only comes around once in our lives. Americans, including my grandfather, have died for our right to tell the feds to stuff it over cannabis.
Breathe deep. Full absorption.

~ alapoet ~
Toke of the Town editor Steve Elliott celebrating three years of high points and big hits

Three years ago today — actually, three years ago tonight, at 7:08 p.m. Pacific time — my THC-stained fingers hit the “Post” button for the first-ever story on Toke of the Town.

“The good thing about a free marketplace of ideas is,” I wrote, in the first sentence ever to appear on this site, “despite the best efforts of prohibitionists and their fear-mongering propaganda, the truth eventually prevails.”
More than 3,600 stories later — and with hundreds of joints, medibles, and bongloads littering my path — I’m still loving this gig, and judging by pageviews, so are close to half a million of you every month.

Alfie420_2006/Photobucket

By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent

I think it’s essential at Thanksgiving that we remember what’s important and yes, what we are thankful for, as we lay out our fat pants in anticipation for a day of complete stuffage. Before we begin the mental preparation needed for enduring the forced march that is Uncle Bill and the onslaught of his incredibly misguided and alcohol-scented opinions, before it gets crazy, this is what I’m thankful for. 
I’m thankful that every day, marijuana becomes more accepted.
I’m thankful for the people who celebrate 4/20 as a holiday. It is a flame for the rest of the world to smell.

Steve Elliott ~alapoet~
Washington, Oregon and Colorado will be voting Tuesday on various cannabis legalization plans

Marijuana history is about to be altered forever in the United States; after tomorrow, at least one state — and possibly three — will almost certainly have legalized cannabis.
Colorado, Oregon and Washington voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide the fate of ballot initiatives that would, to one degree or another, move toward ending marijuana prohibition in their respective states.  A win at the ballot would be a first of its kind in U.S. history; no state has ever legalized cannabis before.
The latest polls show that slight majorities in Colorado and Washington support their initiatives. Washington’s well-funded I-502, unfortunately, has incited lots of division within the cannabis community in that state, largely due to its inclusion of strict marijuana DUI limits which appear to be unsupported by science. Oregon’s Measure 80 trails by about seven points in the polls. It is the most favorable to cannabis consumers of the three initiatives, and makes the fewest concessions to law enforcement, but, unlike the other two, attracted little out-of-state funding from well-heeled supporters and marijuana reform groups.

Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

“Federal Government Should Respect State Reforms, Not Waste Money on Failed Policies”
 
In a response to a teleconference this afternoon featuring former drug czars and Drug Enforcement Administration officials calling on the federal government to vigorously oppose attempts to reform marijuana laws, the Marijuana Policy Project said that marijuana prohibition is a failed policy and urged the Department of Justice to allow states to experiment with alternatives to arresting adult marijuana users.
In November, voters in Colorado, Washington, and Oregon will decide on ballot initiatives that would remove criminal penalties for adult marijuana use. Two of these initiatives, in Colorado and Washington, would replace current marijuana laws with tightly regulated systems similar to those used to control alcohol. (Unfortunately, Washington’s “legalization” measure, I-502, would also institute a DUI-cannabis level unsupported by science.)
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