Month: November 2019

Pot smokers have endured their fair share of negative publicity. The 1930’s movie Reefer Madness highlighted pot smokers who simply went bonkers from smoking a joint; jumping out of windows, beating each other to death and laughing maniacally (the last part may still hold some truth).

Decades later, pot smoking became personified by Sean Penn’s “Spicoli” in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Damn, that one hurt. For a number of reasons:

1.   The public at large began to think of all pot smokers as Spicoli: brain-fried, dopey and irresponsible.

2.   Sean Penn morphed into a pompous jerk after this role, as if the funny were just smoked right out of him. (Give that man some Spicoli back, damnit!)

But times have changed. Over 40% of the U.S. population has admitted to smoking marijuana. Pot smokers aren’t falling out of vans in a cloud of smoke; they’re running multi-million dollar companies, winning Olympic medals, making movies and writing best-selling novels.

Here are just a few successful and motivated stoners:

• Stephen King, best-selling author
• Anita Roddick, British businesswoman, human rights activist and environmental campaigner
• Michael Phelps, Olympic Gold-medalist
• Rick Steves, Author and historian
• Richard Branson, British entrepreneur
• Montel Williams, television host, MS spokesperson
• Jodie Emery, executive director of Cannabis Culture
• Carl Sagan, astronomer and author
• Anita Thompson, best-selling author
• Ayn Rand, Novelist, philosopher and playwright
• Oliver Sachs, British neurologist and author
• Ted Turner, American media mogul
• Missy Suicide, founder of Suicide Girls, alternative pin-up site.

So how can you be a more motivated stoner?

Here are a few pointers:

1.   Smoke and Do. Initiate a project after a smoke session. It’s surprising how much you can accomplish. Whether it’s a spring-cleaning or a car repair or a complex splinter removal, smoking pot can free up your mind and help you focus.

2.   Smoke and Move. Physical exercise after getting high is naturally pleasurable. Get outside, breathe in the air, don’t be afraid to care. Fire up the iPod. Go for a bike ride. Run. Dance. Stretch. Have a real-life, aerobic surround-a-sound experience.

3.   Smoke and Sit. Meditating and marijuana smoking go together like peanut butter and that weird marshmallow shit they used to put on our sandwiches way back when.

4.   Smoke and Storm. Feeling at crossroads? Smoke a little weed and brainstorm. Grab a big pad of paper and a black Sharpie. Allow your mind to wander and then write drawn or draw out possible solutions. Weed allows for more fantastical ideas to arise; ones that can easily translate into “real life” if necessary.

5. Smoke and Stay. To be truly motivated, one must be relaxed and ready. For some, smoking weed allows them mental downtime and deep relaxation, which ultimately translates into a well-rested individual, capable of executing the tasks at hand.

6. Smoke and Smile. Nothing can get in the way of a motivated life like anger. Or grief. Or guilt. Marijuana can offer the perspective needed to look at your psychological well-being and make improvements, without being so emotionally enmeshed. Simply the act of laughing is therapeutic, which weed more than happily supplies.

We’ve entered a new era; one in which pot smoking is becoming increasingly accepted, and occasionally extolled for its virtues. And while weed is not going to find you a new job or get you out of your deadbeat relationship, it can be used as a tool for change. Why not?

Or…you could embrace your inner Spicoli and enjoy the blissful state of doing nothing. After all, doing stuff is a little overrated anyway.

All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I’m fine. – Jeff Spicoli

If that dull Hallmark card with the trite and dusty expressions of motherly love is just not cutting it this year (did it ever?), consider sending this e-card, created by The Women’s Marijuana Movement.

After making the final four in the Miss USA competition, Alyssa Campanella answered a question about legalizing marijuana by saying she didn’t think it should be fully legalized as a solution to help ailing economies. No, wait…that’s not exactly what she said.

Let’s look at her actual answer:

“Well, I understand why that question would be asked, especially with today’s economy, but I also understand that medical marijuana is very important to help those who need it medically,” she said. “I’m not sure if it should be legalized, if it would really affect, with the drug war. I mean, it’s abused today, unfortunately, so that’s the only reason why I would kind of be a little bit against it, but medically it’s OK.”

I knew this competition was about beauty and brains. I don’t care what those feminists say. That answer was the best mushy non-answer ever! I hope she runs for office soon. Maybe then she’ll find out that medical marijuana has actually been legal in California for quite some time. But I’m glad she’s okay with it.

Beth Mann is a popular blogger and writer for Open Salon and Salon. She is also an accomplished actor and director with over 15 years of experience, as well as the president of Hot Buttered Media. She currently resides at the Jersey shore where she can often be seen surfing or singing karaoke at the local dive bar. Contact: maryjane {at } freedomisgreen.com

Okay, so like Miley had a birthday party last week and Kelly Osbourne (a BFF) gives her a cake with a picture of Bob Marley on it, whose like some dead Jamaican rapper or something. Which was really funny and sooo Kelly. So then like, Miley makes a joke to her friends:

“You know you’re a stoner when your friends make you a Bob Marley cake.”

And like now, everyone thinks she’s a stoner! What? Come on – that’s just SO silly.

Here’s why:

A. She worked for Disney. D-I-S-N-E-Y. They’re all about family values and friendly mouses and stuff. Next thing you’ll be telling me, Tinkerbell is a crackhead. (Which she can’t be, because they don’t make pipes that small…hello!)

B. She’s a tween role model. SO many young girls look up to her. (Not like Jamie Lynn Spears who is totally slutty with a capital S.) Do you really think Miley would ruin her image by being a stoner? Celebrities have to be smart and do the right thing or helllllooo, they’d be out of a job, people!

C. Miley smokes salvia, which is much classier than pot. It even sounds classier.

D. Miley is like an uber-brainiac and only dopes smoke weed.

Let Miley tell you in her own words:

“I almost feel like people think of me as dumb…I’m like, I’m smarter than you think. You know, I understand what you’re trying to do. It’s all a mind game and what not.”

See? What did I tell you? Right from the horse’s mouth! Hardly the words of a stoner.

Well, Kelly Osbourne (BFF) sure came to her defense on Twitter:

“U guys if @MileyCyrus is not recording/filming/touring she is works everyday how could she possible do all that if she was a stoner! #think.’ (sic).”

Hello, right? OMG, I couldn’t have said it better myself, typos and all.

So y’all, give Miley a break. Cuz like she’d SO give you a break if you said something stupid.

Beth Mann is a popular blogger and writer for Open Salon and Salon. She is also an accomplished actor and director with over 15 years of experience, as well as the president of Hot Buttered Media. She currently resides at the Jersey shore where she can often be seen surfing or singing karaoke at the local dive bar.

Contact: maryjane {at } freedomisgreen.com

Other blogs:

on Opensalon.com

Hot Buttered Media

On April 15th the District of Columbia will move ahead with their medical cannabis system by publishing regulations in the DC Register.  But the nation’s capital is following a similar path as New Jersey: Both are attempting to provide just a handful of centralized cultivation and dispensing centers without any provisions for patients to cultivate at home. DC and NJ have also delayed the implementation of their medical marijuana laws for over a year, the extra time has seen what should be simple regulations have evolve into complex even draconian rules.

The DCist reported today:

The medical marijuana program sketched out by District officials will be more restrictive than similar programs in other states. Only five dispensaries and 10 cultivation centers will be allowed, and each will pay significant fees for licenses and registration. Only patients suffering from HIV/AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and multiple sclerosis will qualify, and will be limited to two ounces a month. Home cultivation will not be permitted, which has rankled advocates and raised a tough question — where exactly will cultivation centers get seeds to grow the marijuana they will then provide to dispensaries? No clear answers have yet emerged, but at a February townhall on the program, one advocate hinted that plants seized by the Metropolitan Police Department may well be a source. (There’s still the unsettled issue of how the feds will respond to the program; a recent raid in Montana and an IRS investigation into the taxes of the country’s largest dispensary in California have some local advocates worried. read more

Still, Washington DC is planning for five dispensaries in a city of approximately 600,000 residents. New Jersey is putting in just six Alternative Treatment Center (ATC) sites to serve a state with nearly 10 million people.

Applications to run the DC dispensaries are set for publication on April 17th, unless there is a federal government shutdown. The District of Columbia relies on federal funding for its municipal operations.

Read more Canna-Business news at Freedomisgreen.com

No Permit for Low Cost Marijuana Supplier in NJ

4/29/2011 – The medical cannabis program enacted by the Garden State in January 2010 has not yet gone into practice. Now things have become even more complex. The first six permits for non-profit Alternative Treatments Centers were granted to groups with deep pockets and strong political influence. But that did not stop NJ Attorney General Paula Dow from sending a letter to the US Department of Justice asking for clarification.

The move last week put the nascent cannabis program in the federal government’s harsh spotlight. The April 22, 2011 letter states, in part:

As the state’s chief legal adviser to all of the departments in the Executive Branch, many of which are participating in carrying out the medical marijuana legislation, it is critical that I properly advise them as to the potential criminal and civil ramifications of their actions in carrying out their duties.

Accordingly, I ask that you provide me with clear guidance as to the enforcement position of the Department of Justice relative to New Jersey’s medical marijuana legislation and the scope of the entities and individuals who may be subject to civil suit or criminal prosecution. Read more

Medical cannabis advocates in New Jersey see the DOJ query as another hurdle thrown up by Governor Chris Christie.

“A more appropriate approach would be for the state Attorney General to insist that the federal government reschedule marijuana from its absurd Schedule I status, “ said Ken Wolski the executive director of The Coalition for Medical Marijuana NJ (CMMNJ).

”Schedule I drugs have no accepted medical uses in the U.S.  Yet New Jersey—along with 14 other states and the District of Columbia—acknowledged medical uses for marijuana through legislation.  Another dozen states are considering similar legislation, “ said Wolski, a registered nurse.

“State officials should not look to the federal government for guidance on medical marijuana,” Wolski added. “The feds are clearly locked into a position that denies current advances in science and denies the reality of an ever-growing national awareness about the medical uses of cannabis.”

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has been conducting raids of medical marijuana dispensaries in Washington, Colorado, Montana and California. Twenty-eight raids happened in the month of March, over a dozen now in April.

No one has been arrested in any of the DEA actions that feature federal agents in paramilitary teams training automatic weapons on seriously ill patients and dispensary employees. Federal agents remove marijuana and money on the premises and then clear out the bank accounts of the businesses. New raids happened just yesterday in Spokane, WA.

The federal tactic of targeting financial assets may be particularly concerning to the medical cannabis operators in New Jersey. The six facilities are set to supply marijuana in one of the nation’s most populous states. Even with the restrictions on medical qualifications and limits of just two ounces per month for patients, the corporate-styled NJ ATCs may prove to be more expansive than the small-business models employed elsewhere.

Several of the NJ ATC groups are planning to capitalize with tens of millions of dollars.  Because these are non-profits there are no business loans, only cash. That could make them attractive targets.

New Jersey was also the first state to pass a medical marijuana law that did not allow for home cultivation. Patients must rely on the ATCs for all access to legal cannabis. When raids happen in other states they do not shut down the entire marijuana system. If similar DEA actions happened to the six NJ facilities then every single registered patient in the state would be without their medicine.

US Attorneys recently made thinly veiled threats against state employees who are tasked with the oversight of medical marijuana programs. After receiving such a letter Washington’s Governor Chris Gregoire is saying she will veto a new law authorizing medical cannabis dispensaries.

Experts urged state officials not to fold in the face of the Fed’s aggressive bluff. Hugh Spitzer, a University of Washington law professor and top constitutional scholar, sent a letter to Gregoire reported in the Spokesman-Review:

“Washington’s governor should not stand in for the federal government to frustrate the will of Washington’s voters and a legislative policy decision favoring the type of regulatory control encompassed by (the bill),” Spitzer said. Read more

Nicholas Scutari, the state Senator form New Jersey who sponsored the medical marijuana law, cut though the spin when he told the Newark Star-Ledger : “Asking the U.S. Attorney General to confirm their position appears to be merely another stall tactic by this administration,” Scutari said.

There are thousands of seriously ill New Jersey residents accessing the underground marijuana market today. After the successive delays many have already given up on the state system. They have resolved to continue risking arrest for their medication.

An AIDS patient in Burlington County, who asked not to be named, said today, “Even if they do get this thing running I’ll still go get it [marijuana] on the street. Two ounces? Right! That was never going to be enough anyway.”

The US Department of Justice has confirmed receiving the inquiry letter from New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dow, but DOJ offered no time line on a response.

Questions?       [email protected]     267 702 3731

Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. He volunteers with local groups to change prohibition laws including PhillyNORML and The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey.

from maine.gov's medical cannabis section

1/11/2012 – Wellness Connection of Maine opened their facility in Hallowell this week and has permits to open two more facilities this year. When fully operational the group will be the largest medical marijuana provider in the state.

WGME reported yesterday:

Mayor Charlotte Warren says she’s heard no complaints about this dispensary locating in Hallowell.  The mayor says “They’ve met with our Chief of Police, they’ve met with the city manager.  I feel very confident that they run a tight ship.  They know what they’re doing.  And I don’t have concerns about that.” read more

There are only eight permits for medical marijuana dispensaries in Maine. The limits created fierce competition. Berkeley Patients Group of California spun off an arm called Northeast Patients Group to get a piece of the new market but eventually internal relationships went sour. Controversy over start-up funding and business interests became public after a lawsuit last year.

Former NBA player Cutino Mobley tried for a marijuana dispensary license in Rhode Island. Then he turned up some funding for the Northeast operation in Maine. With the new money and name Wellness Connection weathered the lawsuit by the former backers in California and moved ahead.

Still their plans are to operate the first year at a significant financial loss.

In July estimates filed with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, the group said it expected to serve 540 patients and lose $1.75 million. read more

From a patient perspective Maine has one of the most robust medical cannabis programs in the country. Home cultivation is allowed and so are caregivers, who maintain a solid network. Last year the Medical Marijuana Patient Privacy Protection Act passed making registration with the state voluntary and preventing municipalities from over-regulating medical cannabis.

The dispensaries in Maine are seen as a compliment to overall patient access and not as the sole-source for medical marijuana.

Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. Questions?  [email protected]

It’s hard to watch the twisted medical marijuana power play in California and not cringe a little. What happened to that rogue hippie state, living by its own wacky free-minded rules and dancing around buck naked through fields of daisies? The federal and state government have combined efforts to rule the state with an iron fist, needlessly and clearly for its own benefit. Now California seems to be falling, like a New Age long-haired giant, to its aging knees.

But signs of hope arise in it’s kinky, smoggy epicenter, Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles City Council’s effort to close down the city’s medical marijuana dispensaries next week could face a serious challenge Wednesday, when activists say they will submit a petition with 50,000 signatures to overturn a recently approved ban.

The petition that will be turned over to the L.A. City Clerk’s Office calls for a referendum next March on the new ordinance banning storefront dispensaries effective Sept. 6. But the petition’s immediate effect will be to prevent the ordinance from even going into effect.

The City Council voted last month to ban the dispensaries, citing conflicting court opinions about whether the city can legally regulate cannabis collectives. While banning storefront dispensaries, the city will allow licensed patients or caregivers to grow and transport their own medical marijuana under the ordinance.

After the vote, the City Attorney’s Office sent letters to 1,046 suspected dispensary locations, warning them to shut down by Sept. 6 — or face court action and a $2,500 fine for every day they remain open past the deadline.

Medical marijuana supporters quickly mounted a signature-gathering effort in hopes of forcing a referendum on the issue. A minimum of 27,425 signatures is required to get the issue on the ballot, according to petition- drive organizers, who say they’ve collected around twice that many.

Read more…and check out the comments, a decent barometer of public opinion.

Here are some old school Cali images by photographer Hugh Holland (first image) and Jeff Divine. And as always, turn on, tune in and drop out, man.

Opening image: photographer unknown.

California in the good old days

My Cali Hippie Shot:

Beth Mann is a popular blogger and writer for Open Salon and Salon. She is also an accomplished actor and director with over 15 years of experience, as well as the president of Hot Buttered Media. She currently resides at the Jersey shore where she can often be seen surfing or singing karaoke at the local dive bar.

Contact: maryjane {at } freedomisgreen.com

Other blogs:

on Opensalon.com

Hot Buttered Media

A San Francisco clinic states what many women already know: pot is quite effective in treating cramps, PMS and other menstrual issues as well as helping women with eating disorders:

Many women come to Greenway Medical Marijuana Physician Evaluations seeking help with ailments that only or primarily affect women, such as eating disorders, menstrual cramps, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), mood swings and menopause. The San Francisco medical marijuana doctors at Greenway Medical Marijuana Physicians Evaluations know that properly administered medical marijuana can provide relief, and they are seeing an increase in female patients.

Women who have developed eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa may find relief in the use of certain medicinal cannabis strains that aid relaxation, alleviate anxiety and stimulate the appetite. The naturally occurring marijuana compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is known for improving desire for food and thereby helping patients gain weight. Strains high in THC are more likely to stimulate the appetite.

For many women, monthly menstrual cycles include cramping, and they can also include nausea and backaches. Cannabis is prescribed for cancer patients specifically because it helps target pain and nausea, so it follows that it would also be a good herbal remedy for cramps. Medicinal marijuana also has many secondary, non-psychological effects on the body, including the relaxation of smooth muscles that may be causing the cramps. Indica strains would be beneficial both prior and during the cycle.

Read more at SF Gate.

Medical marijuana press conference in Trenton

Delaware and Maryland recently introduced medical cannabis bills that follow some of limitations in New Jersey’s compassionate use law. The DE/MD bills offer potential medical marijuana patients low amounts of cannabis per month, restricted strains and no provisions for home cultivation. Still, in a refreshing move, the DE bill outlines some of it’s own shortcomings right in the synopsis:

Patients would be allowed to possess up to 6 ounces for their medical use. Six ounces is less than the federal government has determined is a one-month supply for patients in the Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program. READ FULL

New Jersey’s law offers minimal access to cannabis. A short list of very serious medical conditions qualifies like MS, AIDS and Crohn’s Disease. NJ Patients are allowed just two (2) ounces of marijuana each month.Governor Chris Christie has delayed the implementation of the law several times. Christie’s administration has offered regulations that would limit cultivation to three strains of marijuana all less than 10% THC.This has caused a fight with the NJ Legislature who passed resolutions last month to invalidate the proposed regulations. So far no medical marijuana has been grown (legally) for any New Jersey residents.The efforts in Delaware and Maryland recently got a big boost with the support of the Marijuana Policy Project and celebrity Montel Williams. A multiple sclerosis patient, Montel traveled to both states to share his personal story of using therapeutic marijuana at the bill’s introductions.