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Happy 73rd Birthday To Stoner Comedian Tommy Chong

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 24, 2011 Culture, Products

Tommy Chong is a legend among stoners. The Canadian-American comedian, actor and musician, well known for his stereotypical portrayals of hippie-era pot smokers, turns 73 years old today. He was born May 24, 1938 in Edmonton, Alberta.

Chong is most widely known for his involvement in the Cheech & Chong comedy duo, which recorded a series of albums and then filmed a series of movies centered around marijuana-related humor. He also became well known for playing the hippie character “Leo” on Fox’s That 70s Show.

In 2003, Chong — as a highly visible and successful symbol of the stoner lifestyle — was targeted by two American investigations code-named Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter. He was charged for his part in financing and promoting Chong Glass/Nice Dreams, a company started by his son Paris.

Canadian Marijuana Bears Wake Up With The Munchies

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 24, 2011 Global, Growing, News

Photo: CBC News

RCMP officers were amused last year when the friendly bears came out to greet them as they raided a marijuana grow operation. Now they’ve woken up after a long winter’s nap — and they have a major case of the munchies.

The infamous marijuana bears of British Columbia have woken after their winter hibernation, and they have the munchies — but they seem to be weaning themselves off dog food, according to the man who was once feeding them $100 of kibbles a day.

Allen Piche of Christina Lake, B.C., pleaded guilty in March to feeding the roughly two dozen wild black bears on his remote property after the B.C. Conservation Service last summer charged him and ordered him to stop, reports CBC News. Piche was charged after police found the mellow bears when they raided a marijuana grow operation on his property last August.

Initially there was speculation the bears might be guarding the cannabis crop, but Piche denied that.

Caution: B.C. Medical Marijuana Grow-Ops Targeted By Thieves

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 10, 2011 Global, Growing, News

Photo: PNG/Regina Leader-Post

Home basement grow-ops like these are being targeted by thieves around Langley, British Columbia, Canada.

Some British Columbia residents who are legally licensed to grow medical marijuana are being ripped off by thieves.

Three Langley, B.C., medical marijuana grow-ops have been robbed in the past six months, reports Cassidy Olivier at The Province. But Royal Canadian Mounted Police said there is “no way to tell” if the grows are being specifically targeted because they are a medicinal cannabis operation, or simply because they have pot.

“We’re very concerned,” said Supt. Derek Cooke of the Langley RCMP, reports CBC News. “This is a significant problem for the community.” There are more than 800 legal medical marijuana grow-ops in B.C., according to Cooke.

Canada: Marijuana Activist Kicks Off B.C. NDP Leadership Race

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 29, 2010 Global, News

Photo: The Vancouver Sun

Dana Larsen holds marijuana at The Medical Cannabis Dispensary, which he operates in Vancouver, in this 2008 photo.

Longtime Canadian marijuana activist Dana Larsen has become the first candidate to enter the British Columbia NDP leadership race, announcing that he plans to make cannabis legalization an election issue.

Larsen, 39, officially kicked off his campaign Wednesday morning, reports CBC News.

“I support B.C. NDP policies which call for cannabis to be legally taxed and regulated,” Larsen said. “Cannabis is British Columbia’s biggest industry and it should be brought above ground.”

Toking In 2010: Biggest Cannabis Stories of the Year

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 23, 2010 Culture, News

Graphic: Naming And Treating

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

Here are the stories, tidbits and bong-thoughts of 2010 that caught my attention.

Veterans and Weed

In July, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs changed its stance from “attention” to “at ease” by allowing the use of medical marijuana for GI’s in the states where medicinal cannabis is legal.

Maybe one of the biggest underreported stories of the year was the acceptance by the U.S. federal government to allow marijuana as a possible medical treatment.

Bear-Guarded B.C. Pot Stolen From Police; Wired To Dynamite

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 26, 2010 Global, Growing

Photo: LoveToKnow

In another bizarre twist in the story of a British Columbia marijuana grow-op that was guarded by happy, mellow bears, thieves have stolen 10 kilograms of the seized pot from police and wired it up to dynamite in a booby trap.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers tracked the stolen cannabis, which had been pilfered from a Mountie evidence locker in Grand Forks, to a home in Greenwood, B.C., reports Bill Kaufmann at the Toronto Sun.

The Grand Forks RCMP responded last week to what turned out to be a phony emergency call, and while they were gone (did all of these Dudley Do-Rights respond to the call?) someone broke into their evidence room and made off with the marijuana, according to Sgt. Jim Harrison.

Save The B.C. Marijuana Bears! Jason Priestley Joins The Fight

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 24, 2010 Global, Growing, News

Photo: RCMP

An RCMP officer poses with two of the bears found at a marijuana grow-op in British Columbia. The bears were quite friendly and wanted to lay on top of investigating officers’ patrol cars.

Actor Jason Priestley has joined a growing global campaign to save more than a dozen docile, mellow black bears that were found protecting a marijuana crop in British Columbia, Canada.

Police discovered 14 bears — which they believed to have been lured there with dog food by the owners to protect the illegal crop from cannabis thieves — wandering happily around the property during a pot raid on July 30.

Officials originally said they planned to destroy the bears if they couldn’t fend for themselves and continued to depend upon human food.

Canadian Marijuana Growing Operation Guarded By Bears

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 18, 2010 Global, Growing

Graphic: Freaking News

Looks like Smokey has a kushy new gig. Police in southeastern British Columbia, Canada have raided a marijuana grow operation that was reportedly guarded by black bears.

Officers raiding the operation two weeks ago at Christina Lake, B.C., about 160 miles east of Vancouver, found two residential buildings and a fenced-off growing operation. Police said Tuesday they found about 1,000 cannabis plants, reports CBC News.

They also found about 10 bears that the homeowner appeared to be using to discourage people from stealing any pot plants, according to Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Fred Mansveld.

”[Officers] soon noticed the bears were docile and tame,” Mansveld said. “One of them jumped on our unmarked car for awhile. But it soon became apparent they were habituated to the grow operation.” I’ll bet they were!

Ban-Happy Town May Be First In Canada To Nix Pot Growing

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 20, 2010 Global, Growing, Medical

Photo: Lincoln Clarke

If this is your garden and you live in Pitt Meadows, Mayor Don MacLean has a message for you: Get the hell out of town.

Pitt Meadows may be the ban-happy capital of Canada.

The list of outlawed businesses in the sleepy little British Columbia town include massage parlors, X-rated video stores, strip bars, hydroponic gardening stores, nuclear power plants, used car lots, and even giant advertising icons placed on the tops of buildings — you know, those big gorillas you see at car dealerships.

Existing municipal bylaws ban all those things in Pitt Meadows, and now they’re going after legal medical marijuana — the first town in Canada to do so, reports Rod Mickleburgh at The Globe And Mail.

“We are just saying ‘no,'” said Pitt Meadows’ longtime mayor, obvious Nancy Reagan fan Don MacLean, of the town’s move to ban the production of medical marijuana.

Legal Trick Could Block Prince Of Pot’s Extradition

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 17, 2010 Global, News

Photo: Cannabis Culture

Marc Emery, the Prince of Pot, might not be seeing much more cannabis for awhile if a novel legal maneuver doesn’t work.

Supporters of B.C. marijuana activist Marc Emery, the Prince of Pot, are trying an unconventional legal maneuver to stop his planned extradition to the United States — keeping him in Canada to face charges there first.

In a little-known quirk of Canadian law, individuals can swear criminal charges against another person or group. In recent years, such private prosecutions have been used by activist groups to take corporations to court.

Patrick Roberts, a resident of West Kootenay, B.C., used the tactic five years ago when he filed conspiracy charges against Emery, in relation to his mail order marijuana seed business.

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