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1. Update on Spokane Dispensary Owner Jerry Laberdee
2. Las Vegas judge tosses marijuana indictments, says medical marijuana law is incomprehensible
3. Rep. Cohen of Tennessee authors letter to Drug Czar calling for legalization
4. Pigskin Potheads, all-marijuana NFL fantasy team, beats defending Super Bowl champs

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by Cannabis Cure UK – the reform podcast for the United Kingdom

• Electric Tuesday: Groove Junkies – “Far Away (TC Moses Mix)”

Cannabis Community

• Subcool on Hempstalk grower’s panel; with Urb Thrasher discussing stoners in the South

Todd’s Toker Topics

• Hempfests

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Hemp Headlines

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1. 7th Annual Portland Hempstalk report
2. Chicago man dies when car crashes into his home, exposing his home marijuana grow, roommate survives but faces grow charges
3. Lansing medical marijuana provider who offered 0.5g of cannabis to register to vote faces misdemeanor voter influence charges
4. Vancouver, Washington, holding town hall meeting on the subject of dispensaries

Daily Toker Tunes

• Roots Monday: Ella Fitzgerald – When I Get Low, I Get High

Cannabis Community

• “Radical” Russ and Cannabis Karri live wrap-up of Saturday at Hempstalk 2011

Cannabis Conversations

• Jonah Raskin, author of “Marijuanaland: Dispatches from an American War”

The Inaugural HIGH TIMES American Medical Cannabis Cup in San Francisco - June 19-20, 2010 - San Francisco - Click here for more information

It’s not too early to be making your plans for the big cannabis events this spring and summer, which with all the reforms taking place in America should be the biggest cannabis protestival season to date (NORML SHOW LIVE will be streaming live from the events that are listed in boldface).  If you have an event you’d like to add to the list, please email me at stash@norml.org (I’m entering these from memory and I live on the West Coast, so please send me Midwest / Southern / Eastern events!)  Also check our NORML Cannabis Community Calendar for the smaller local events sponsored by NORML chapters around the country.

April 2010

• Michigan NORML helps present the Ann Arbor Hash Bash which kicks off the season on the first Saturday in April every year (April 3).  It’s just “one hour of power” around that famous 4:20pm time on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
• The International Hemp & Cannabis Expo takes place in San Francisco on the weekend preceding 4/20 (April 17 & 18). This debut event is happening at the Cow Palace.  “Radical” Russ will be a featured guest speaker.
• 

  CU Boulder's 4/20 Smoke Out draws an estimated 10,000 people

  The world’s largest 4/20 smokeout will likely occur at the campus of Colorado University – Boulder.  There are also big 4/20 celebrations held in many other cities in the US (send me info at stash@norml.org and I’ll post it), as well as Vancouver BC and Dunedin, New Zealand internationally (our NORML New Zealand chapters represent!)  4/20 is on a Tuesday this year and “Radical” Russ will be giving a 90-minute presentation on marijuana law reform at the University of Washington in Tacoma.

May 2010

• The Worldwide Marijuana March takes place in cities all around the world (logically enough) on the first Saturday in May (May 1 – May Day is Jay Day!)  Click the web link to find your city.  “Radical” Russ will appear at Portland, Oregon’s version of the march, the Global Cannabis March, all day at Pioneer Courthouse Square.

June 2010

• 

  This year marks a return to Hunter S. Thompson's famed "Owl Farm" on Woody Creek for a special afternoon cookout.

  NORML Aspen Legal Seminar takes place at the Gant Hotel in Aspen, Colorado, on June 10-12. This is NORML’s only event that is both accredited for cannabis law professionals’ continuing legal education and open to the general public.

• HIGH TIMES’ Medical Cannabis Cup debuts in San Francisco, California on June 19 and 20. This will be a daytime expo featuring medical marijuana experts and activists, leading dispensaries, medical cultivation seminars with Jorge Cervantes, Danny Danko, Nico Escondito and more!  Then on Saturday night the VIP party features performances by Eagles of Death Metal, Lyrics Born, and other top acts.

July 2010

• The Emerald Empire Hempfest takes place on July 16-18 in Eugene, Oregon. Willamette Valley NORML is a major organizer of the event and “Radical” Russ will be speaking at the event.

August 2010

• The second of two California HempCons promoted by Beverly Hills NORML takes place August 6-8 in San Francisco, California.
• 

  This is what Hempfest looked like BEFORE it became a three-day festival and BEFORE the City Attorney in Seattle said he would no longer prosecute personal possession of marijuana...

  The “mother of all hempfests”, the Seattle Hempfest, takes place on the third weekend of August (August 20-22) on Myrtle Edwards Park in Seattle, Washington. The Hempfest has expanded to three days for the first time this year and in a very promising development, the newly-elected city attorney in Seattle has said he will no longer prosecute personal marijuana possession offenses!  You thought Hempfest was smoky before…

September 2010

• 

  If you want to be truly effective as a reformer, you must network with your colleagues.

  NORML National Conference is scheduled for September 9-11, 2010 in Portland, Oregon. More details for hotel and conference registration will be announced soon.  NORML SHOW LIVE will carry most of the conference on pay-per-view internet streaming for the first time for activists on a budget or unable to make it to Portland.

• Portland Hempstalk takes place September 11 & 12 at Kelley Point Park in Portland, Oregon, making Sept. 9-12 the perfect four-day “two-fer” for cannabis activists to visit the Pacific Northwest.
• Boston Freedom Rally marks its 21st year on the Boston Common on September 18.

We’ll keep updating this page as more people send us their information.  You can easily find this page with the URL http://stash.norml.org/summer2010.

The MERP Troll is too dangerous to ignore!

In my job as NORML Outreach Coordinator, I get phone calls and emails all day from all over the country from eager citizens looking to organize to end adult marijuana prohibition.  But I also get to deal with the guanoloco few out there that are a few buds short of an ounce.  These are the people who think NORML is some giant conspiracy to NOT end marijuana prohibition because attorneys are getting rich off defending pot cases and that we’re shills for corporate behemoths that can’t wait to monopolize the marijuana industry once it is re-legalized.  Yes, I know that the former and the latter are mutually contradictory, but these are conspiracy theorists we’re talking about, so logic does not apply.

At first I thought I would ignore these people under the internet maxim of “Do Not Feed the Trolls”.  I changed my mind after some of these trolls have gone through the trouble of registering on this blog, the LIVE show’s chat, or by “friending” me on Facebook.  I’ve decided instead to expose the trolls to the harsh sunlight of public ridicule because (a) they deserve it and (b) it’s fun.

In honor of the trolliest troll of them all, I have christened this series “The MERP Files“.  (Not to imply that anyone named in The MERP Files has any connection to Bruce MERPcain’s MERP, but just because “MERP” sounds as ridiculous as the claims made by these trolls.)

"In 40 years of existence they only thing Norml has done is powder Keith Stroup's nose. Is he still a crack head?"

The recipient of today’s honor is Joseph R. Pietri.  Joe MERP appeared on my Facebook wall after I had accepted some 240+ friend requests that I had fallen behind on.  This morning as I checked my CrackBerry for the latest Facebook alert, I was greeted with:

Joseph R. Pietri Why is Norml not attacking scheduling, or sueing DEA to repeal prohibition, since the Government issued itself a patent on CBD, and it’s arguement that cannabis has no medical value out the window?

He’s referring to this patent the government holds on cannabinoids, which indeed raises the hypocrisy that the same government declares cannabis itself to hold no medicinal value.  So I answered, and he responded:

Radical Russ Belville Uh, it’s been done. “NORML v. DEA”. Look it up. Here are the problems with your expert legal reasoning: (A) Gov’t patented a cannabinoid, not cannabis. (B) Patents have nothing to do with the CSA. (C) Morphine (a Sched II drug) comes from heroin (a Sched I drug) but that don’t make heroin “medical”. (D) Many people at NORML and other orgs who have actual legal degrees have given this much thought and found it to be a lousy legal argument.

Joseph R. Pietri Norml legal degfrees to promote laws that keep people being busted so they continue to get legal fees. Your lost. Their patenting CBD best arguement we ever has. Norml and you are fulkl of your selves.

(Nobody claimed he was a scholar or a typist.)  So once again, we get the “NORML wants pot smokers busted so lawyers can get rich” conspiracy.  I called him on it:

Radical Russ Belville Yay! Another “NORML really wants pot smokers locked up while RJ Reynolds controls cannabis” conspiracy theory. That explains that big prominent section of our website called “The Importance of Home Grow“.

Joseph R. Pietri Norml a bunch of liars athat will say or do anything to get you suckers to pay your dues. In Oregon Norml has disrupted program and supported SB1085 which cut growers right. Martinez head of Norml Oregon thinks we should use prisoon labor since best growers are there anyway.

Liars?  Oh, how brave some people are on the internet.  “Screen Berets”, I call ‘em.  The SB1085 he’s speaking of is the bill that allowed patients to have 24 plants instead of just seven and 24 ounces instead of just three.  The “grower’s right” he claims does not exist; patients, not growers, have “rights” under OMMA and the medicine the growers produce is owned by the patients.  Pre-SB1085 there was an “affirmative defense” which said that if you were growing over 7 plants, but a doctor said you needed more than seven plants, when you were busted for your more than 7 plants you could hire an attorney at great expense to explain your defense to a judge (now there’s something that can enrich a few marijuana lawyers…).  Since SB 1085 has passed, arrests of patients and growers have dropped since the vast majority of patients are able to get by on a pound and a half of marijuana and more plants than any other medical marijuana state allows.  And the “prisoon labor” quote is taken way out of context; Madeline was speaking on an effort to create a state-run marijuana garden to supply medical patients and suggested that we ought to allow prisoners to grow the marijuana, since it would already have the security and expert growers necessary without requiring state employees to break federal law.

But Pietri is a man on a mission:

Joseph R. Pietri There is nothing radical about Russ Belville except every year Norml allowes his band to play loudly and badly at Hempstalk. This cat completely clueless in Portland.

Oregon NORML doesn’t run Hempstalk; the Hemp & Cannabis Foundation does.  But I’m glad to know I’m hep enough to be a cat, daddio; that’s the cat’s pajamas!

Joseph R. Pietri Dumb ass Russ Belville, due to Norml support for decriminalization instead of legalization has led to millions being arrested anyway insterad of getting a tix. Again Russ Belville the idiot herion has medical applications and the only country that does not prescribe it is US

The point wasn’t that heroin can’t be used medically; the point was that morphine being legal doesn’t make heroin legal (and I had meant to type “opium” – the analogy makes more sense that way – but it was 7am.)

But I’m most perplexed by Joe MERP’s problem with anyone’s support of decriminalization.  I guess his point is that if we cannot completely legalize marijuana with absolutely no taxation and regulation so that Joe MERP can grow fields of cannabis and sell them without any government interference whatsoever, then people in thirteen states should continue to be arrested and have their lives profoundly affected for the worse.

Joseph R. Pietri The cottage industry we enjoy will be killed by tax and regulate. In 40 years of existence they only thing Norml has done is powder Keith Stroup’s nose. Is he still a crack head?

And now we reach the crux of the matter: “The cottage industry we enjoy…”  That would be the black market sales of prohibited cannabis which generate huge profits because it is illegal.  The profits Joe MERP enjoys without having to pay any taxes and free from following any regulations, unlike every other small businessman in America.

It goes on and on; you can read it yourself if you like.  He seems to be popular with his 1,872 friends, who post things on his wall like “if cancer were cured, there would be no ‘society’ if cannabis were re-legalized,there would be no norml those in power will do anything in their power to stay in power” (because, you know, working for NORML means you wield incredible power.)  But this post just had to end with me taking one last look at Joe MERP’s wall to find:

Joseph R. Pietri Russ Belville states Norml has nothing to do with Hempstalk,? Mad Madeline runds the stage at Hemp Stalk, comntrols who speaks and who doesn’t. Martinez of Norml wants to use Oregon pirson labor to grow cannabis for the state since all the best growers are there anyway. Distribution via liquor stores and pharmacies and… I lose my grow rights and become marijuanashiner. Drug War goes on.

Bruce Cain If you have the related links please post them. This is some great stuff but it would be even better if the “smoking gun” links were available. Thanks. Bruce

MERPs of a feather…

Now that June has arrived it is time to start looking at the Summer Festival Schedule.  I’m going to open this up with a look at the summer festivals I’ll be attending in my neck of the woods in the Pacific Northwest.  I’m going to depend on you marvelous Stashers to keep me informed on what’s happening in your area.  Just send me an email at stash@norml.org and I’ll be glad to promote your area’s summer festival.  The Northwest schedule is listed in the Full Story below:

This weekend: June 6th, 7th, & 8th – The NORML Aspen Legal Seminar in Aspen, Colorado.  The finest legal minds in drug law reform gather to present on the state of cannabis and the law in our country.  I’ll be there podcasting for our NORML Special Events, as well as hosting my own XM Satellite political radio show live from Aspen.

July 11th, 12th, & 13th – The Oregon Country Fair in Veneta, Oregon.  This isn’t really so much a hempfest as it a celebration of the hippie lifestyle created by Ken Kesey and the Further folks who settled in the Eugene, Oregon area.  It’s unique in that the whole festival grounds are permanent in a very natural setting that makes you feel like you’ve landed in a small town in Middle Earth.

July 18th, 19th, & 20th – The Emerald Empire Hempfest in Eugene, Oregon.  This town, home of the University of Oregon, puts on a great hempfest.  I’ll be tabling with Oregon NORML there and may even get a chance to speak onstage.  Come on by and visit!

August 2nd & 3rd – The Spokane Hempfest in Eastern Washington state.  I’m looking for more details on this event, currently its website is down.

August 8th, 9th, & 10th – The Northwest World Reggae Festival, between Portland and Eugene, Oregon.  Last time I attended this one, they had very-unOregon-like temperatures in the triple digits.

August 16th & 17th – THE SEATTLE HEMPFEST, or as I like to call it, the big-’un!  If you are serious about your cannabis activism, you cannot miss the Seattle Hempfest.  Your chance to meet the movers and shakers in the community is unparalleled and just being in a crowd of tens-of-thousands of like-minded consumers is life-changing.  I’ll be there tabling with both NORML and Oregon NORML, and once again broadcasting my radio show live.

August 23rd & 24th – The Olympia Hempfest just south of Seattle in Olympia, Washington.  I won’t be able to make this one, as I will be on my way to Denver to cover the Democratic National Convention for NORML, Pam’s House Blend, and The Russ Belville Show.

September 6th & 7th – The Portland Hempstalk in my beautiful hometown.  We’re back on the river downtown on the Eastbank Esplanade.  We’ve got NORML Founder Keith Stroup as our special guest, and Jack Herer, and Seattle Hempfest favorites The Herbivores.  I’ll be there speaking and tabling as Oregon NORML is a major sponsor.