Happy Friday, Stashers! I was so proud to be standing next to some of my fellow cannabis warriors in the Global Marijuana March last weekend. In the beautiful city of Portland, Oregon, we got to enjoy music from today’s artist, CHIEF GREENBUD. He entertained the crowd with his music and personality. A talented country and folk artist, he is the whole package, a one man guitar band with a message and a mission.  Today’s track, “The Legalization Song” is a poignant anthem with a simple question, “What do we do about legalization?” A comedian at heart, Chief Greenbud calls Nashville, Tennessee home but travels freely between festivals, events, biker rallies and fairs leaving behind smiles and friends. We owe a lot to the comedians who push acceptance of cannabis culture into mainstream society using laughter as their weapon of choice. Hail to the Chief! You can visit Chief Greenbud’s myspace page to hear more of his music and buy his CD (it’s sooo good). Add the Chief as a friend, he is a friendly guy and he LOVES to have new friends.

Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2008-05-09

It’s Friday, May 9th and it’s 4:20 somewhere in the world! I’m your host, “Radical” Russ Belville and this is your NORML Daily Audio Stash.

Today we have an extra-special Stash for you. On Wednesday the warehouse of Spectrum Labs in Cincinnati, Ohio, was raided by federal agents – it’s our top story in our upcoming Hemp Headlines. We’ve got an interview with the owner of Spectrum Labs, Matt Stevens, who’s here to tell us about the harrowing SWAT-style raid on this purveyor of drug testing and detoxification equipment.

What’s driving the raids seems to be a personal vendetta against Tommy Chong by the US Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Mary Beth Buchanan. I’m thrilled to tell you that Tommy Chong will be joining us to tell how the Spectrum bust is all about sending a message to him regarding the DVD the Spectrum had stored in its warehouse, a/k/a Tommy Chong, the documentary about Mary Beth Buchanan’s crusade to bust and incarcerate Tommy for internet bong sales back in 2003.

For our musical break we’re pleased to bring you music from my new friend in Tennessee, Chief Greenbud. We played a live acoustic version of this song, The Legalization Song, earlier this week. Now the Chief is back with the full studio version for your enjoyment today.

Then we wrap things up with Josh Gilbert, the director/producer/writer of the a/k/a Tommy Chong DVD, telling his side of the story about the Spectrum raids and his documentary, followed by the conclusion of our two-part interview with Tommy Chong.

Finally, don’t forget that every Saturday we’re now posting the NORML Weekend Music Stash, where you can get all of the last ten songs from our daily musical breaks in one podcast, suitable for your weekend party pleasure. If you have a band that would like to be featured on our podcast, please send us an email at stash ‘at’ norml.org.

So sit back and relax with some Labrador and enjoy your NORML Daily Audio Stash…

[Update: Whoops! The three interviews today put me under the gun and I made a couple of mistakes! Small editing gaffe in one of the stories, no big deal, but I programmed the wrong song by Chief Greenbud. You heard “Without Weed”, which is a good song, too. My apologies.]

“Minister Of Marijuana” Says It’s His Religion To Use Pot - News Story - WFTV Orlando
PALM BAY, Fla. — A self-proclaimed “minister of marijuana” says pot is his religion and he has every right to use it. Cops disagree and busted him while pulling 100 plants out of his house.

Steven Swalick doesn’t use terms like “pot” or even “marijuana.” Those terms appeared to upset him during a jailhouse interview. He admitted to using cannabis and even growing it but says it was for his religion. And he wanted only to be addressed as the “Reverend.”

The 56-year-old Swalick claims he has practiced a religious belief that requires the use of cannabis since he was 15-years-old. He claims to be an ordained minister. He calls his home a sanctuary of sorts for a religion called the “Hawaiian Cannabis Ministries.”

The Palm Bay police department’s SWAT team raided Swallick’s home, Wednesday afternoon, seizing 107 plants, along with all sorts of equipment used to grow and harvest them. Police say it would be worth $100,000 on the streets.

Swalick said it wasn’t being sold, but rather grown for religious ceremonies.

Steven Swalick - Florida cannabis minister

When the word “marijuana” was used, he became upset.

“We do not use that word,” he said. “Please forgive me and I’ll apologize for you. The word is cannabis. It’s the holy sacrament recognized by the Bible.”

Swalick now faces felony drug charges, which he believes will eventually be cleared under constitutional religious protections.

“I can not be convicted by man. I answer to the Lord,” he said.

Bond was set at $20,000.

Gee, doesn’t the very first page of the Christian Bible say, “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”  There are many references to cannabis — or “kaneh bosm” in the original Hebrew — as the main ingredient in the anointing oil used by Jesus Christ.

I’m not a religious person myself (I think you don’t need God’s permission to smoke herb, I believe it is a secular Constitutional privacy issue), but I’m a huge supporter of First Amendment rights to practice the religion of your choosing.

Swalick notes the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed into law by President Clinton in 1993.  It has been used to protect the rights of sincere religious practitioners to use ayahusca tea and peyote, both strong hallucinogens that are considered illegal drugs.

That same Act that should protect religious use of cannabis, yet the courts will not let such a case go to trial and set that precedent.  Eddy Lepp was set free after feds raided his gardens and confiscated over 32,000 plants.  They were very intent on locking him up and throwing away the key.  But once he raised a defense using the RFRA, they suddenly backed down and dropped the charges based on technicalities with the search warrant.

(MPP) A little-known federal government program that supplies medical marijuana to a handful of patients [marks] its 30th anniversary [tomorrow].

The federal medical marijuana program — referred to as a Compassionate Investigational New Drug (IND) program — resulted from a lawsuit filed by glaucoma patient Robert Randall, who successfully showed that his use of marijuana was a medical necessity.

The program slowly grew for over a dozen years. In the wake of a flood of new applications from patients battling AIDS — who found that marijuana boosted their appetites and relieved the nausea often caused by anti-HIV drugs — the George H.W. Bush administration closed it to new applicants in March 1992, but continued supplying federal marijuana to those already receiving it. Four of those patients survive today.

“Most Americans would be shocked to know that the federal government supplies medical marijuana to patients while claiming that marijuana is a harmful drug with no medical value,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. “If federal officials believe their own statements, they’re knowingly poisoning four innocent people, but in fact they know better. The four remaining patients in the federal program have benefited from their medical marijuana use, groups like the American College of Physicians and the American Public Health Association have said that marijuana is a safe and effective medicine and, as a result, we must change the federal laws that prohibit medical marijuana.”

Officially, the Compassionate IND is a research program. Participants were required to sign a consent document calling the program a “study.” Yet the federal government has never studied the patients in the “study.” In fact, the only study ever published of these patients was privately financed and conducted.

“May 10 marks the 30th anniversary of federal hypocrisy and dishonesty about medical marijuana,” Kampia said. “When future historians see how much effort our government made to avoid learning that marijuana is a safe and effective medicine, they’ll shake their heads in disbelief.”

I’ve had the privilege of meeting two of the remaining patients: Irv Rosenfeld of Florida and Elvy Musikka of Oregon. The marijuana grown for them is harvested at the one legal federal garden at the University of Mississippi. It is some very poor marijuana; the government harvests the whole plant, stems, seeds and all, grinding it up and using it in 300 marijuana joints sent in a big tin once per month. It is not in the government’s interest, after all, to provide well-groomed, well-bred, more potent forms of marijuana; those strains might show even more therapeutic value and thereby undercut the government’s arguments about marijuana’s danger.

Marijuana-Flavored Candy Sold In Tri-State Stores - :: Cincinnati news story :: LOCAL 12 WKRC-TV in Cincinnati
Marijuana-flavored candy is making its way into some [Cincinnati Area] stores and raising some eyebrows.

Chronic Candy has hemp oil in it, and you can find the novelty lollipops in some smoke shops.

Weed-flavored candy is popping up in some smoke shops in the Tri-State. But, good luck trying to find someone who has ever heard of lollipops that taste like marijuana.

“I was intrigued (when first hearing about marijuana flavored candy),” said Kathleen Szabo, never heard of Chronic Candy. “But it was the first I’d ever heard of it.”

“It kind of smelled like dirt,” said Michelle Taylor, never heard of Chronic Candy.

The lollipops are called Chronic Candy and have names such as OG and Train Wreck.

But, how high can you get off Chronic Candy? Turns out, you can’t.

They’re flavored with hemp oil from marijuana plants, but they don’t have any traces of THC, which causes the high people get from pot.

So, if you’re looking to get a buzz, you’ll have to get it somewhere else.

“If people want to eat candy that tastes like marijuana that’s cool, but if it doesn’t get you high, what’s the point?” asked Gene Fine, [who] never hear[d] of Chronic Candy.

The point for the makers of Chronic Candy is making cash.

On their website, they point out the candy is perfectly legal.

While some worry the candy sends the wrong message to kids, others say as long as it’s legal, they don’t see a problem.

“I guess it shouldn’t be marketed to children,” said Szabo. “But it should exist because people have the right to choose things like that if they want to.”

The company’s website says the lollipops are made for adults and sold only in age 18 and over stores.

What I don’t understand in all of this is why lollipops are a bad message specifically for kids, as if adults don’t eat candy.  The candy makers aren’t putting these on the low shelves in a 7-Eleven along with the Snickers and gummi bears - they’re selling it in over-18 smoke shops!

And again, we’re back to the idea of whether a taste should be permitted.  I don’t understand how the non-drug hemp-oil is an acceptable product when it is in a hand lotion or a vitamin capsule.  I’ve seen hemp products like those for sale at the local Target store and nobody was carding minors if they tried to purchase them.  Plus, it’s not as if there are a whole lot of kids eating marijuana; it is usually smoked and that taste is completely different than the taste of the eaten plant.

Finally, as a commenter on our earlier story about the ban on pot-flavored candy in Georgia said, “I remember buying tequila-flavored lollipops that even had the worm in them” as a kid.  How is it that didn’t turn him into a raging alcoholic?

Teen Marijuana Use Linked to Later Illness - washingtonpost.com
Teenagers who smoke marijuana put themselves at risk for future mental illness and higher rates of depression, according to a report to be released today by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Although fewer teens overall are smoking marijuana, the report said, there is growing concern that those who do, particularly those who view the drug as a way to cope with depression, do not understand its consequences. It also is not clear whether their parents, who might have indulged when they were younger, understand the risks, experts say.

The report, whose release coincides with the start of Mental Health Awareness Month, said studies show links between marijuana use and risk of mental illness later in life, and that use could increase the risk by as much as 40 percent.

Teenage girls who smoke marijuana are particularly at risk, the report said. It found that teen girls who smoke marijuana daily are more likely to develop depression than those who do not.

The report also found that teenagers who smoke marijuana at least once a month are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than non-users. It said that even though the percentage of teens who are depressed is equal to the percentage of adults who say they are depressed, teenagers are more likely to seek solace in marijuana or other illicit drugs.

“Significant numbers of teenagers are self-medicating,” said John P. Walters, director of the White House office. “They’re turning to marijuana to reduce [symptoms of depression], and [the depression] is getting worse.”

Walters said advances in technology allow researchers to better understand the effect drugs such as marijuana have on brain function. The research being done today “is breaking new ground in showing the role marijuana use is playing in depression,” he said.

[T]he report’s conclusions mirror many of the findings of a 2005 survey of Fairfax County youth. According to that study, Hispanic, Asian and African American teens reported higher percentages of depression than their white counterparts.

Contributing to the risk is the higher potency of marijuana being distributed today compared with what was available in the 1970s, when federal officials began analyzing the drug. A study done last year by researchers at the University of Mississippi found that, since the 1980s, the potency has doubled.

Walters said that despite a drop in usage among teenagers, those who are using are becoming more dependent on it. About 60 percent of first-time users are under the age of 18.

“We forget because we think of marijuana as something that’s the least dangerous of illicit drugs, but far more teens are in treatment for dependency on marijuana than alcohol,” Walters said.

If you smoke the reefers, it’ll make you insane!  Who would have thought we’d get a whole new round of marijuana scaremongering just in time for Mental Health Awareness Month?

I’ll let Dr. Earleywine tear into this new report next Wednesday, but initially, I would have to ask these few questions about the study:

This “report” ignores so many of the factors that lead to teen depression.  Suppose a kid is depressed and he smokes some pot.  Then he’s subject to the stigma of being a “pothead”.  Maybe he gets busted and loses college money, or a job, or gets grounded, or gets sent to jail or rehab - doesn’t that all sound pretty depressing to you?  In other words, did anyone think to control for the effects of the prohibition of pot on someone’s depression?

As for the “40% more likely to develop mental illness” point - could it be that people at higher risk for mental illness tend to use marijuana?  And could you show me, please, where rates of mental illness have risen and fallen along with the rates of marijuana use?  Clearly there should’ve been some massive spike in mental illness after the Summer of Love, right?  No, the rates of mental illness do not seem to fluctuate with the rates of marijuana use.

Minority kids are more depressed than white kids?  While I believe it, what does that have to do with marijuana?

At least they said that marijuana is only twice as potent, and not thirty times more potent like they say in the UK.  But again, they misunderstand the effect of potency on the experience.  More potent marijuana doesn’t cause a more harmful high, it just gets you to the same high by smoking less of it.

Finally, more kids are in treatment for marijuana than ever before because when we catch them with marijuana, we force them into treatment.  When you factor out the people forced by the criminal justice system to attend rehab for marijuana, the numbers of self-referred treatment-seeking marijuana abusers is quite small.