Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 10:23 am | By: Radical Russ
Make it more potent for the taste of it! Yeah, that's it!
When it comes to the popular recreational relaxant that is non-toxic and cannot kill you, its increasing potency is a cause for alarm:
(TIME Magazine) 25% of BC Bud is made of the psychoactive drug tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). In contrast, the pot that the hippie generation smoked in the 1970s had only 2% THC content, and most pot consumed in the U.S. today averages about 7% THC.
(Chicago Tribune) One thing has changed: Pot packs a bigger wallop now than it did in the ’70s. Today’s leaves are up to five times as potent. So, says Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, still-developing brains, which are “more plastic, more sensitive to being modified,” are exposed to higher doses of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.
(ABC News) With stronger pot, emergency rooms have reported more associated accidents. Just this week, seven people were killed when the driver — drove the wrong way on a New York highway and collided head on with a pickup truck. Although the drivers family has disputed the results, toxicology tests showed high levels of alcohol and marijuana.
(New York Times) “It’s like drinking beer versus drinking whiskey,” said Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a government agency and a strong opponent of legalizing marijuana. “If you only have access to whiskey, your risk is going to be higher for addiction. Now that people have access to very high potency marijuana, the game is different.”
(Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics) The new marijuana in the market place is not the 1 percent to 2 percent THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), which is the psychoactive ingredient that produces the “high”. Today’s new cultivation methods are producing a drug with up to 30 percent THC, or 3,000 percent higher than the old 1960’s-1980’s available marijuana.
But if it is a popular recreational intoxicant that is toxic and can kill you, it’s increasing potency is a victory for connoisseurs and retailers:
(USA Today) A growing number of states are moving to allow higher alcohol content in beer, despite concerns from some substance-abuse experts.
Alabama and West Virginia have passed laws increasing the legal alcohol-by-volume cap for beer from 6% to as high as 13.9% this year. Similar efforts are underway in Iowa and Mississippi, two states with very restrictive limits on the sale of high-alcohol beer, said Sean Wilson, former president of Pop the Cap, North Carolina’s successful grass-roots effort that raised the state’s limit in 2005.
Vermont raised the cap to 16% and Montana to 14% last year.
The average alcohol content in beer is 4.65%, and in wine 11.45%, according to a 2002 study by the Alcohol Research Group in Emeryville, Calif.
Twenty states still place some kind of limit on the amount of alcohol in beer, Wilson said.
Paul Gatza, director of the national Brewers Association based in Boulder, Colo., said limiting alcohol content restricts flavors and styles because “you can’t put as much malt or other sugars in your beer as you may want to.”
Gatza said consumers of specialty or microbrewed beers, also known as craft beers, “don’t drink to get drunk. They drink to appreciate the flavors.”
Right… and I smoke pot because I appreciate the scents. This is a theme that goes back to the days of Nixon: the idea that people don’t drink to get drunk, they do it to socialize, but pot smokers are only smoking weed to get high. Tell you what, next time there’s a cocktail party, swap out all the beer for O’Doul’s, all the wine with grape juice, and all the cocktails with soft drinks, and let’s see how much the alcohol drinkers can socialize without getting a buzz on.
The reason alcohol drinkers can make this absurd statement is because they differentiate between the “socializing” (getting a buzz on) and the “getting drunk” (alcohol poisoning). They don’t conceive of a similar state for marijuana consumption. In their mind there’s “not smoking pot” and there’s “stoned out of your mind”, with no intermediate step. This is often because marijuana is illegal, so people who may have experimented a time or two did so under conditions that required smoking it all and smoking it quickly. They’ve never experienced an Amsterdam-like nice mellow joint followed by a productive day. So an increase in cannabis potency, to them, means the pot that used to get them “stoned out of your mind” will now get their kids “way stoned out of your mind”.
Meanwhile, having worked for fifteen years in bars every weekend, bars with parking lots full of cars that I can guarantee weren’t all driven by designated drivers, I can tell you that consumers of microbrews are doing it to get drunk. The guy who was pounding 4% beers at $2 a glass will be more than happy to pound 16% beers at $5 a glass, knowing that his $20 in beer money may only get him four microbrews compared to ten tap beers, but he can get drunker quicker and take fewer pee breaks for the effort, and the beer tastes better.
Isn’t it amazing? Here we have a drug we know kills 35,000 people a year directly from ingestion and another 40,000 due to its effects, a drug that is proven to cause serious harm to every organ in the body, a drug at the heart of a vast majority of domestic abuse cases, crimes, and assaults, and not only are states deciding to allow it to be up to four times more potent, but the marketers of the drug are boasting that it also tastes better and the increased potency doesn’t matter. But marijuana that kills no one, is non-toxic to cells and organs, and brings people together in peace and communion, when that becomes up to four times more potent it is serious cause for alarm.
I guess we better not tell them that the marijuana tastes better these days.
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 3:28 pm | By: Radical Russ
The New York Times has a nifty interactive map based on data from the 2006-2007 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (more data here). It provides a drop-down menu to choose which dataset you’d like, which I naturally used to choose “Percent of people 12+ who have used marijuana in the past year”. Based on that information, your Top Five Stoner States are:
Rhode Island (16.12%)
Vermont (15.75%)
Alaska (13.79%)
Oregon (13.12%)
Colorado (12.99%)
Surprised that California isn’t in that list? Me, too. I’m not at all surprised by Vermont, Alaska, Oregon, and Colorado, but stunned that Rhode Island came in at #1. I’d caution that this represents everyone from the once-a-year-at-a-concert toker all the way through the daily Stasher. If frequency and amount used were considered, I’d be willing to wager we here in Oregon are, uh, higher than #4. Curious about your Bottom Five?
Utah (7.17%)
Iowa (7.32%)
Mississippi (7.79%)
Texas (7.92%)
Alabama (7.96%)
That #1 result for Utah shouldn’t surprise anyone with its majority Mormon population that even rejects coffee drinking. Another category where Utah is number one is consumption of Jell-O, which was named the official state snack. Oddly enough, the one time Utah lost its Jell-O crown was when Iowa briefly overtook them. So I wonder, is there some sort of yin/yang thing going on between cannabis and gelatin snacks? If you’re too high does it make it tough to follow the Jell-O recipe, or is it that you get such munchies you don’t have time to wait for Jell-O to set? By the way, does anybody have a recipe for ganja Jell-O; maybe that’s the solution?
I also thought it would be interesting to look at the Top Five States for Binge Alcohol Drinking:
North Dakota (32.02%)
Wisconsin (28.84%)
Minnesota (28.75%)
South Dakota (28.34%)
Rhode Island (27.92%)
Apparently Rhode Island is the place to get your drink on and your smoke on. But for the other Top Five Stoner States, binge drinking rates fall somewhere in the middle of the country from Oregon (21.71%) and Alaska (22.74%) toward the lower range and Vermont (25.57%) and Colorado (26.15%) toward the upper range. Unsurprisingly, Utah (15.64%) is at the bottom of this list as well. I suppose if Jell-O vodka shots aren’t bumping that number up, ganja Jell-O won’t likely work, either.
Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 3:21 pm | By: Radical Russ
If your house is on fire, or a burglar is breaking in, or you’re being raped or mugged, you’d better not be depending on a marijuana smoker to call 911 to get you some help. Not that we’re insensitive or callous to your victimization, it’s just that we’ll be joining your arsonist / thief / rapist / mugger in the squad car if we call.
(WCAX Vermont) MARSHFIELD, Vt. (AP) – Police say a Marshfield man is facing marijuana charges after he unintentionally dialed 911.
State police say they received a 911 hang-up call last week from the home of 52-year-old Andrew Tibbittes but when the dispatcher called back, the phone was busy so police went to the home.
Police say no one answered the door, so the trooper walked around the house where he says he found four marijuana plants growing, according to the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus.
The trooper knocked on the door again and woke up Tibbittes who said there was no emergency.
Police searched the home and found two more marijuana plants.
Tibbittes is facing a felony charge of growing marijuana and a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession.
Marijuana prohibition not only makes criminals out of people that aren’t and crimes out of actions that aren’t, it also takes away law enforcement resources from actions that are crimes and discourages non-criminals from being good citizens and reporting those crimes. I have personally called 911 three times this year, once for gunshots I heard just down the block in my neighborhood. But if I weren’t a registered medical marijuana caregiver in Oregon, I would not have called and just crossed my fingers that someone else on the block would call. Even though we’re decrim here in Oregon, a $500-$1000 fine and loss of my drivers’ license for six months would be enough for me to think twice about calling 911.
I want a NORML chapter in all fifty states, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. I want double the number of chapters. So I really need your help.
Just this last two weeks, I have received emails from budding activists (pun intended) looking to start NORML Chapters in Colorado, North Carolina, Alaska, Alabama, Florida (Miami), Missouri, Virginia, Idaho, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Mississippi, Vermont, Texas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Kansas, as well as four new college chapter inquiries and inquiries from Australia, Japan, Guam, and Mexico (Cuidad Juarez).
I work to put the people in the same state in touch with each other because the hardest thing about forming a NORML Chapter isn’t finding the guy or gal to lead, it’s finding the other four people to form your board.
So Stashers, if you’re in one of the above-named states or countries and you’d like to get on board with a new local chapter, send me an email to stash@norml.org with the subject “Join a Chapter” and I’ll hook you up.
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 10:34 am | By: Radical Russ
MONTPELIER, Vt. — A bill to replace criminal penalties for personal possession of small amounts of marijuana with a simple fine was introduced in the statehouse today, coming on the heels of a recent poll showing overwhelming support among Vermonters for the reform.
H. 150, sponsored by Rep. David Zuckerman (P-Burlington) and 18 other representatives, would end the arrest of adults caught with an ounce or less of marijuana, instead treating the infraction as a civil violation punishable by a $100 fine. Zuckerman said that under the bill, marijuana possession would still be illegal, but the punishment would more reasonably match the violation. He said the reform would also save tax dollars and law enforcement resources that would otherwise be wasted arresting those with small amounts of marijuana.
According to a Mason-Dixon poll of 625 Vermont voters commissioned by the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C., and conducted by phone Jan. 9 and 10, 63 percent of respondents supported “a change in the law to provide for a $100 civil fine without jail time for those who possess an ounce or less of marijuana for personal use.” This past Election Day, Massachusetts voters passed a law similar to the one introduced in Vermont today with 65 percent of the vote.
The poll, which has a margin for error of plus or minus 4 percent, suggests that a plurality of Vermont voters would actually go much further in reforming the state’s marijuana laws. Forty-nine percent of the respondents said they would favor “making marijuana legal for adults over 21, and regulating it similarly to alcohol,” while only 37 percent said they would oppose the idea.
Financially strapped New Hampshire has become a poster child for the problem. Among other cost-cutting measures, state courts will halt for a month all civil and criminal jury trials early next year to save $73,000 in jurors’ per diems. Officials warn they may add another four-week suspension.
At least 19 other states, including California, have slashed court budgets and other government services as their economies have tanked, said Daniel Hall, vice president of the National Center for State Courts, a nonprofit in Williamsburg, Va.
California cut its judicial branch budget by more than $200 million, or about 10%, in the current fiscal year, and further reductions are almost certain as the state grapples with a projected $40-billion deficit. A Republican proposal unveiled last week, for example, would trim a further $205 million from the judiciary.
After two rounds of budget cuts in Florida, courts have laid off 280 clerks, lawyers and other staff members, and cut funding for a judges’ unit that helps resolve civil disputes. State legislators meeting next month are expected to demand more spending cuts.
An additional 10% reduction would mean “all civil cases in the state of Florida would virtually be suspended,” Belvin Perry Jr., chief judge of Florida’s 9th Judicial Circuit and chairman of a trial court budget commission, warned a legislative committee in Tallahassee this month.
In Vermont, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul L. Reiber recently proposed closing as many as seven county courts, as well as laying off employees, to help ease a budget deficit. The state already shuts district and family courts half a day each week to save money.
It’s bad enough that our schoolchildren have to depend on their teachers to buy paper and pencils and sometimes even toilet paper out of their own pockets because there’s just not enough money to throw at the Pentagon. But how is it that our states will shut down the very mechanism that ensures our social order – our courts – because enough money cannot be found, and yet when we propose ending adult prohibition of cannabis, they look at us as if we’re sprouting horns and eating babies?
New Hampshire is postponing jury trials to save $73,000 a month. I guess that would be roughly $876,000 a year. Currently, New Hampshire spends $20,000,000 per year enforcing adult cannabis prohibition (Miron) and could make $3,500,000 to $5,600,000 per year taxing cannabis sales to adults.
California, Florida, Vermont, and our entire country are desperate for revenue. Taxing and regulating cannabis similar to hard liquid drugs (alcohol) could generate $10-$14 billion per year in revenue and savings. A productive hemp industry could add even more revenue with the additional benefit of creating new green jobs. I’m even willing to bet that with legal cannabis, you’ll see less social harm from other drugs and alcohol.
Friday, May 30th, 2008 at 4:43 pm | By: Radical Russ
First, the good news.
Douglas won’t veto new hemp law: Times Argus Online
MONTPELIER – Gov. James Douglas will allow a bill legalizing hemp to become law despite concerns from the law enforcement community about its impact on marijuana eradication efforts in the state.
The legislation, which legalizes the cultivation of industrial hemp in Vermont, won nearly unanimous support in the both the House and Senate this session. Though Douglas doesn’t support the bill, and has refused to attach his signature to it, he will nonetheless forward the legislation to the Secretary of State, which will effectively enact the law.
But Tom Tremblay, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, said he worries about what the legislation means for law enforcement officers in Vermont if the federal law does change.
“The plants are really difficult to differentiate,” Tremblay said. “The legalization of industrial hemp could increase production of marijuana.”
Lawmakers this session heard testimony from authorities in Canada – where hemp cultivation is legal – who said they have no trouble distinguishing the plants. That testimony was compelling enough for Rep. Jim McNeil, a Rutland Town Republican on the House Agriculture Committee that drafted the original bill.
Hemp, grown legally in every industrialized country except the United States, reaps attractive profit margins for some farmers. Hemp oil, derived from seeds, is used in food and beauty products. Hemp’s long stalks contain fiber and cellulose that can be made into textiles, building materials and fuel.
This act shall take effect upon passage… at such time as the United States Congress amends the definition of “marihuana” for the purposes of the Controlled Substances Act….
The governor was ready to veto this bill, but realized that it would, in his words, “do nothing”, and decided it wasn’t even important enough to veto.
The public safety commissioner, by the way, should really take a look at hemp and marijuana plants someday. Hemp plants are tall and reedy, up to 16 feet and kind of dry, whereas consumer cannabis is grown short and bushy with big fat wet sticky buds. It’s like telling me you can’t tell the difference between a Clydesdale and a zebra because they are both horses.
Friday, March 28th, 2008 at 10:36 am | By: Radical Russ
Burlington Free Press.com
MONTPELIER — The Vermont Supreme Court today ruled that a helicopter surveillance of a man’s property during a marijuana investigation violated his constitutional right to privacy that includes the airspace above a person’s home and property.
The case involved a man who was convicted of felony possession and cultivation of marijuana.
In the 4-1 decision, the court concluded that the National Guard helicopter that flew over the man’s property in the Goshen area to detect marijuana cultivation flew too low — at 100 feet above the ground for up to 30 minutes — and was “an unreasonable intrusion of privacy that triggers constitutional protection.”
Gee, you think a half-hour of chopper hovering over your home might be a bit intrusive? Good work, Vermont Supreme Court! Now if you could apply the same logic of intrusion to forcing Vermonters to have to pee in front of a stranger to get a job…
What galls me about the story is the words “National Guard helicopter”. Up to 1,500 Vermonters of its 4,000-strong National Guard have served in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past five years. Regardless how you feel about those wars, I can’t imagine that those Vermonters in the Middle East dealing with day-to-day equipment shortages, low manpower and resources feel too proud of their equipment being used back home to bust pot gardeners. Just how many Vermont taxpayer dollars and National Guard manpower hours are being wasted to discover clandestine ganja growsites?
Remember, the government estimates that there are millions of Americans that have smoked marijuana in the past month. Congressmen are known to change their votes when they get a few hundred calls about an issue. If Congress had to hear a million phone calls asking for an end to adult marijuana prohibition, it would be a reality. Call your Congress at 202-225-3121 – they’ll ask your zip code and put you in touch with your elected officials. It still is a government of We the People, but you have to step up and do your part.
Tuesday is Government at Work day on the podcast, and coming up after the news, we take a look at marijuana related bills from around the country. Then we talk with NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano about the recent conference on drugged driving held in Washington DC by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.
Next we get our groove on with a British jam band called Giles and their song, “Freedom”. Then it’s on to my interview with Fort Lauderdale criminal defense attorney Norm Kent about his recent article, “Pushing 60 with Pot”, and his thoughts on growing older in the cannabis community.
So sit back and relax with your favorite strain – this is the Daily Audio Stash.
Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 11:05 pm | By: Radical Russ
The supporters of prohibition reform have marijuana-related legislation pending in Hawaii, Vermont, Hew Hampshire, California, New Jersey, Missouri, and Maryland. Here are the details:
Hawaii: The House Health Committee passed HB2675 HD1 Relating to Medical Marijuana with the following provisions:
Increase the adequate supply from 7 plants to 14 plants (deleting reference to mature and immature plants) and allowing one ounce of usable marijuana per plant.
Establishing a task force within the UH College of Tropical Agriculture to study safe growing facilities, seek possible solutions to inter-island transportation of medical marijuana. It also names who should be on the task force.
Vermont: The Senate gave final approval to Senate Bill 238. As amended, SB 238 would replace existing criminal sanctions outlawing the possession of up to one ounce of cannabis with civil sanctions punishable by a fine, but no criminal record.
The House Agriculture Committee recently passed legislation, House Bill 267, that seeks to define industrial hemp as an “agricultural product” and establish regulations for its production by state-licensed farmers.
SneakerPimp: im estatic and excited for NSL today.
SneakerPimp: mountain time wake n bake
SneakerPimp: oh yea also wake n bake
SneakerPimp: its central im high as a kite everybody
SneakerPimp: ill grab that WUD
WakeUpDead: @Russ, I dont think that wireless is going to work out for the show, it was choppy and studdered just like last week. Hardline may be the only way. Puff [...]
WakeUpDead: A MINI Spof, Lock up your Weed, in 18 years that is. Really Man congrats! Greatest days of my life when my kids were born, hell yeh, great news [...]
BenJaMin: Late night Stash!!!
SneakerPimp: heres a bong rip for spof
RevRayGreen: errr test over....
RevRayGreen: on hold..
RevRayGreen: @RR I'll try and lob a call to you.....
SneakerPimp: where is the first field of cannabis gonna be?
SneakerPimp: !
Radical Russ: Breaking News: MrSpof's wife's water just broke! A MiniSpof is imminent!
SneakerPimp: oh russ its not my fault that i dont understand choppy word:stoned:
SneakerPimp: @Mrspof congratulations tell us all about it tommrow
Radical Russ: OK, test over. Sorry. Only needed a half hour. Be back tomorrow afternoon.
slash5city: don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west
thaistik: Local Crime Stoppers notice.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Pot shop burglars sought
Crime Stoppers is looking for information on the suspects who police say burglarized a medical marijuana dispensary and stole cash, drugs [...]
Marijuana-Related Health Costs Minimal Compared To Those Of Alcohol, Tobacco; California Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is A "Failed Public Health Policy"; Oregon: State NORML Affiliate Opens First 'Cannabis Café'. […]
American Medical Association Calls For Scientific Review Of Marijuana's Prohibitive Status; Dutch Marijuana Use Lower Than European Average, Study Says […]
"Truth In Trials Act" Reintroduced In Congress; Maine: Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters Overwhelmingly Decide To End Pot Penalties. […]
Some of the nation’s top athletes discuss why today's pros are turning to cannabis — and away from alcohol and painkillers — off the field, and question why pro sports leagues are continuing to sanction those who do. Moderator: Steve Bloom, Author, Pot Culture; editor, celebstoner.com * Toby Grear, MMA fighter * Sean Neumann, Documentary Filmm […]
Cannabis Law Reform's Missing Link: Law Enforcement Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper; LEAP and NORML Advisory Board; Author of Breaking Rank Putting the Mexican Cartels Out of Business Mexican drug cartels now employ over 100,000 soldiers and are responsible for nearly ten thousand deaths per year. Their largest source of income is marijuana. […]
Not Your Father’s Woodstock Booze: States push for higher potency beer
mountain time wake n bake 
don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west 
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