Grow Love

Potsite hacker

2007-08-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

Our Websites Are Being Held Ransom With Network Attacks

Eric Leech, a teenage online extortionist in Chicago, Illinois has been launching Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) network attacks on our websites, demanding financial payment to end the attacks. We have compiled his personal information and links to his previous activities under various aliases. Email jodieemery@hushmail.com for the document. We are still working on stopping these attacks, and now have a plan in place to defend against future downtime.

latest from weedbay.net

2007-07-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

Posted by Peace&Pot on 30 Jul 2007 - 23:17 0 comments

Ironic hypocrisy bedevils Kearn County Sheriff

Assisting in raids that sent medical cannabis providers to federal court Kearn County sheriff calls his son’s marijuana arrest a ‘Bakersfield Police Department case’.

Weedbay.net staff
July 30, 3007

Bakersfield, CA – During the last year Kearn County sheriff deputies assisted the DEA in raiding medical cannabis providers in Bakersfield on three raids of medical cannabis dispensaries. Twice in May and in the latest raid on July 17 Kearn county sheriff officers working with the DEA served 3 search warrants and 5 arrest warrants on the owners of Nature’s Medicinal Coop in Bakersfield. This case is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of California in Fresno, CA.

With the passage of 215 some 11 years ago medical cannabis coops operate openly under the protection prop 215 affords them. California police officers take oaths and are sworn to uphold the laws of the state of California and to uphold the constitution of the state of California. The constitution of the state of California steadfastly states that in a conflict between state and federal law California peace officers must follow state law. Of course federal law still prohibits the sale of all marijuana.

Often there are cases where California peace officers are cross deputized to assist with the DEA in raids on dispensaries within California where voters mandated it’s legal to operate. Apparently taking an oath to uphold the constitution of California is not enough and our state legislature should mandate all peace officers to uphold state law and not assist the DEA in the war on drugs that makes medical cannabis provider takedowns like shooting fish in a barrel. After all, they operate openly.

Within a week of assisting the DEA in medical cannabis raids Kearn County sheriff Donny Youngblood suffered an ironic twist of fate. His son Aaron Youngblood was arrested and faces 3 felony charges: possession of marijuana for sale, transportation of a controlled substance and conspiracy to commit a crime. Of course he’s disappointed in his son’s arrest and his comments were "He's an adult male and this is a Bakersfield Police Department case," he said. "I wouldn't want to be seen as interfering."

So while the sheriff’s son Aaron Youngblood faces state courts for his felony marijuana charges the medical cannabis providers sheriff Youngblood arrested the week before face federal charges for providing cannabis to Cancer, epilepsy, aids and MS patients.

Aaron Youngblood is no stranger to the state court system however. Court records show Aaron Youngblood pleaded no contest to misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol in 2003 and Jan. 8 of this year was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct -- drunk. Sheriff Youngblood's other son Ruston Youngblood pleaded no contest to
misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol this Jan. 12, according to court records, and in a separate incident was charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol Jan. 17.

It’s time our state legislature answered the call and pass laws prohibiting the peace officers of California from assisting in the arrest of medical cannabis providers. Don’t assist them in raids, traffic control, perimeter defense and the like. And while their at it they should pass laws that make it illegal for medical cannabis providers to be tried in federal courts.

ASA LAWSUIT

2007-07-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

Suit Over Pot's 'Benefit' Stumbles

Matthew Hirsch
The Recorder
July 30, 2007

An Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit can't put the federal government on trial for saying that marijuana has no medical use -- but it might get to challenge the government for blowing deadlines, a federal judge in California ruled last week.

Americans for Safe Access sued in February after two federal agencies refused to alter government-published statements saying marijuana has "no currently accepted medical use in the United States."

In an eight-page ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup agreed with Justice Department lawyers that the federal Information Quality Act provides for only administrative, not judicial, review for people to challenge the "quality, objectivity, utility and integrity" of information disseminated by federal agencies.

Alsup's ruling didn't address the government's claim that ASA lacked standing because it failed to identify members who suffered harm from the disputed statements or to show how the issue was germane to ASA's organizational purpose.

Though Alsup rejected ASA's bid to revise those statements, he hinted the plaintiff might be able to at least force the government to address its assertion within a 60-day period provided by law.

"Conceivably," Alsup wrote, "a district court may order an agency to act on the merits of an information-correction petition within a specific time frame."

The Northern District judge dismissed the complaint in ASA v. Department of Health and Human Services, 07-01049, with leave to amend.

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?...13&rss=newswire

More from WEEDBAY.net S.F. Rally

2007-07-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

SF Rally to Protect Patient Rights Against the DEA

Rallies were planned today at federal court houses around the state to protest the DEA raids on LA Patient Collectives

I got to the San Francisco protest just a little late. There were about 15 people already holding signs and the normal milling around. I was a little disappointed from the turn out that at it's peak drew 25 to 30 protesters. But we did get people off the couch and we got some support from people walking and driving by. We didn't get the 2 million protesters I was hoping for, nor the 200 I thought we'd get in SF. But we got some.

We were getting a lot of people honking at us as they drove by. One fellow in a delivery truck that circled the block a couple times said he just got his rec, when he was at the light with his window down. SF police dropped by and admitted they were short handed and inquired how many people were going to show. Without the show of force we were hoping for he happily went on his way.

At least 3 of us were there from the Oaksterdam.com grow class so that's a decent showing for short notice. Alex Franco from the ASA organized the protesters and marched us around a bit. Thanks to her for being the guiding voice and providing extra signs. This is her little group across the way on the other corner.

Thanks to everyone that showed up and to surfer Steve for the donuts. We got some honkers from every group of cars that went by so we do get the word out this way. Speaking of getting the word out, we have to do better people. A pal that runs an LA dispensary said from the 60 patients he verbally questioned yesterday NONE knew of the raids Wednesday or the protest rallies scheduled for today. I don't care if you send your friends to canorml.org, weedbay.net, medicalmarijuanaofamerica.com or safeaccessnow.org start getting more active and the bad publicity we create for the DEA will slowly start making a difference.

Don Duncans message to the patients...

2007-07-26T18:49:00.001-07:00

from Don Duncan - ASA

Hello, LA-ASA members and allies. It has been a wonderful and terrible day for medical cannabis in Los Angles. Before this brief update, I want to say a special thank you to the hundreds of patients and advocates who turned out for meetings and protests today. I have attended countless political meetings about medical cannabis and protested outside dozens of DEA raids at medical cannabis facilities all over California. It meant the world to my colleagues and I at California Patients Group (CPG) to see the tremendous outpouring of support in our time of crisis today. More than a dozen protesters joined Dege Coutee in blockading the DEA at CPG today. Thanks to the protesters, including numerous CPG staff members, we were able to secure the release of all of the detained staff members, patients, and one arrested protester. Bravo! As of 11:30 PM, all but one of the five arrested protesters have been released. I am waiting patiently for the bail bondsman to secure the freedom of the last brave advocate.

There were between eight and ten DEA raids at medical cannabis facilities in Hollywood today. We have not yet determined how many arrests were made citywide. This is bad news for patients and providers, but let’s don’t forget how the day started. Today’s DEA sweep was timed to coincide with two landmark votes in Los Angeles and one in Washington, DC.

This morning, City Councilmember Dennis Zine, a former Los Angeles Police Officer, held an unprecedented press conference with Americans for Safe Access (ASA) to present a letter calling on the DEA to abandon its latest attack on landlords who rent to medical cannabis dispensaries and allow the City Council to move forward with regulations without further federal interference. City Council President Eric Garcetti joined patients and dispensary operators to support Zine’s courageous stance. Then, the City Council unanimously approved the first reading of a moratorium on new collectives that marks the first step towards sensible guidelines and greater legitimacy for collectives in the city. Those two things alone would have been a big step forward, but the City Council was not finished! One Councilmember after another stood up to join Councilmember Zine in signing the letter to the DEA and announcing their support for medical cannabis in Los Angeles. Finally, the Council unanimously approved a motion endorsing the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment in the US House, adding their considerable clout to the call to legalize medical cannabis at the federal level.

The LA City Council’s endorsement was not enough to secure a victory for patients in Congress, but it was a shot across the bow of the DEA and the Bush Administration. The outcome of today’s Los Angeles City Council meeting was abundantly clear for everyone to see – Los Angeles has turned a corner on medical cannabis and the endgame is now in sight! The DEA and their cohorts in the Los Angeles Police Department know the days of persecuting medical cannabis patients are almost gone. We are headed inexorably towards sensible guidelines and fully-sanctioned safe access in the state’s largest metropolis. Never doubt the significance of what has happened. As goes Los Angeles, so goes the county. We are making history and changing everything for patients all over the United States.

The DEA and the LAPD do not want us to succeed, so they have staged another sweep of local collectives in Los Angeles. At least eight locations were raided by the DEA and LAPD today. In an obscene and cynical twist, these raids were timed to coincide with the City Council vote to support legal medical cannabis in Congress! I spent all day protesting the raid at CPG and cleaning up the aftermath. I want to ensure you that CPG will continue to defend safe access and stop these unconscionable attacks on patients’ access. A handful of protesters at CPG decided to blockade the DEA and LAPD perpetrators and secure the freedom of staff, patients, and protesters. I can not express how impressed I was with the brave protestors who put their bodies ion the line. The demonstration was intense, and patients faced intimidation and violence at the hands of the LAPD. They behaved with bravery grace under pressure. I want to thank every one of them from the bottom of my heart.

On Friday, July 27, ASA is calling on medical cannabis supporters to protest the DEA raids at federal buildings nationwide. In Los Angeles, we will meet at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building at 255 E. Temple St. in downtown Los Angeles to tell the DEA to back off. Then, we will march to the City Council meeting to demand they add action to their pro-medical cannabis words. Please bring signs, banners, and friends to the federal building and make you voice heard. This is a crisis moment in our community, and we need to stand up in record numbers.

I will send more information about today’s events and how they came to pass tomorrow. For now, I must focus on getting my last colleagues out of jail and safely home. Thank you again for your support today. Do not be discouraged... We are winning and today’s trouble is the DEA and LAPD’s last desperate attempt to stop us. Let’s finish this work together and make safe access a reality in Los Angeles!

Thank you,

Don Duncan

__________________
Oaksterdam.com

Detailed Information on 1000 types of marijuana

From Weedbay, FAUX NUTWORK.

2007-07-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

O'Reilly & the grand FOX Nutwork tradition

O'Reilly & the grand FOX Nutwork tradition

by Kagro X

Tue Jul 24, 2007 at 06:07:51 PM PDT

FOX "News" Nutwork. Is it fair and balanced? Is it even a "news" outlet at all?
Well, what are the odds of all this happening by accident?

Republican incumbent losing to Democratic challenger? Switch the parties!

Republican pedophile gets busted? Call him a Democrat!

Republican operative gets busted? Say he didn't!

Republican Senator says your "administration" sucks eggs? Say he's a Democrat!

And that's not to mention that FOX Nutwork viewers still believe Saddam planned 9/11 and that we found the WMD in numbers far greater than the national average.
So, could it really be just dumb luck? Well, it ain't luck, that's for sure. And that leaves just plain dumb.
And of course now, JetBlue buys the nonsense that the Clown Prince of FOX "News," Bill "O'Really?" O'Reilly isn't "just following orders" in the FOX Nutwork smear game.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
The real "hate site" here? FOX Nutwork. Hating facts since 1996.

__________________
Oaksterdam.com
The home of Oaksterdam

2007-07-25T18:22:00.001-07:00

w All Bulletins This User Has Posted

From:	Americans For Safe Access
Date:	Jul 25, 2007 10:35 AM
Subject:	LA Councilmember Dennis Zine tells DEA to Go AWAY!
Body:	Hello, ASA Members and allies. I am happy to report that LA City Councilmember will be standing up for patients and providers in our community when he publishes a letter to DEA Administrator Karen Tandy Wednesday morning before the City Council’s vote on the moratorium. Councilmember Zine’s support is the first major opposition we have seen since the DEA escalated their attacks on patients’ access this month by threatening landlords and raiding two Southern California collectives. Zine’s letter to the DEA will be read into the Congressional record during the debate about the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment in the House of Representatives. A vote of that effort to prevent DEA raids is expected the same day. Congratulations and thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to start the regulatory process in LA and urge our elected representatives to stand up for patients’ access. We still have a lot of work to do in LA. We have to write sensible guidelines, defend the victims of the latest DEA tactics, and stay prepared for future attacks. Most importantly, we have to make our voices heard in Congress so we can change these laws once and for all! This is ASA press release for Wednesday's press conference and Council Meeting: Americans for Safe Access For Immediate Release: July 24, 2007 Contact: Don Duncan (323) 326-6347 or Kris Hermes (510) 681-6361 Los Angeles Moves Wednesday to Regulate Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Councilmember Zine Calls for an End to Federal DEA Interference Los Angeles -- City Councilmember Dennis Zine will hold a press conference prior to Wednesday’s Los Angeles City Council meeting to call on Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)Administrator Karen Tandy to abandon her agency’s tactic of threatening property owners who rent to medical cannabis (marijuana) dispensaries and to allow the City to proceed with regulations without federal interference. Councilmember Zine, a former police officer, voiced his concerns in a letter to be issued Wednesday to DEA Administrator Tandy, the same day a vote in Congress is expected to occur, which would strip the DEA of funds it relies on to carry out these types of tactics. Although federal law prohibits the use of medical cannabis, Zine requests in his letter that the DEA “abandon this tactic and allow this City Council to continue the important work of regulating these facilities without Federal interference.” Despite the apparent conflict between state and federal law, Zine affirms the need to “uphold the will of our voters and adopt sensible guidelines to regulate the provision of medical cannabis in our communities.” Zine’s letter is in response to a notice sent by the DEA to as many as 150 property owners in Los Angeles threatening criminal prosecution and asset forfeiture if owners knowingly rent to medical cannabis providers. The City Council is expected to approve Zine’s motion for a moratorium on new facilities at Wednesday’s meeting. The move to regulate medical cannabis dispensaries and the countervailing efforts by the DEA coincide with an anticipated vote Wednesday in the US House of Representatives. The Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment to the Commerce-Justice-State appropriations bill would bar the DEA from enforcing federal law against medical cannabis patients and providers in states where it is legal. The amendment’s co-author, Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) stated last week that the DEA actions were “an example of the insane use of scarce law enforcement resources. It is especially insulting the way in which these resources are being used to supersede the votes of local people to permit the legal use of medical marijuana.” “We need a federal solution to this problem,” said Don Duncan, a spokesperson for Americans for Safe Access, the nation’s largest medical cannabis advocacy organization. “Added pressure by Councilmember Zine will hopefully make that happen.” Councilmember Zine’s press conference will be held at 9:45am Wednesday in the Media Room behind City Council Chambers, Room 350, at Los Angeles City Hall, 200 N. Spring St., in downtown Los Angeles. The Zine letter will be made available at that time. For further information, refer to: The DEA letter to more than 100 landlords in the Los Angeles area: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/DEA_Landlord_Letter.pdf ASA's one-pager on the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/Hinchey_One_Pager.pdf # # # With over 30,000 active members in more than 40 states, Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is the largest national member-based organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. ASA works to overcome political and legal barriers by creating policies that improve access to medical cannabis for patients and researchers through legislation, education, litigation, grassroots actions, advocacy and services for patients and the caregivers. __________________ Don Duncan Southern California Coordinator Americans for Safe Access www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is the largest national member-based organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. Join us today….www.AmericansforSafeAccessNow.org Los Angeles Office 7211 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 800 West Hollywood, CA 90046 P: 323-464-7719 F: 323-464-7355

L.A. latest.

2007-07-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles City Council Votes to End Federal DEA Medical Marijuana Raids

Los Angeles, CA -- As the Los Angeles City Council voted today to move forward with the regulation of medical cannabis (marijuana) dispensaries, federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents were conducting raids on at least 6 dispensaries in the greater Los Angeles area. The Council approved the first reading today of a moratorium on new dispensaries in the city, with final approval expected within a week. The moratorium will give the city time to draft regulations that would establish a permit process and guidelines for providers of medical marijuana. The Council also passed a resolution in support of a vote in Congress scheduled to occur today that would deny funding to the U.S. Department of Justice, and the DEA, for enforcement against medical marijuana patients and providers.

Los Angeles City Councilmember, and former police officer, Dennis Zine, held a press conference this morning, prior to the vote, where he revealed a letter sent by three Councilmembers to DEA Administrator Karen Tandy. The letter from Los Angeles Councilmembers Dennis Zine, Janice Hahn and Bill Rosendahl was sent in response to increased federal activity, including numerous raids on medical cannabis dispensaries as well as letters sent by the DEA to at least 140 landlords of dispensing facilities. The letter requests that the DEA "abandon this tactic and allow this City Council to continue the important work of regulating these facilities without Federal interference." Despite the apparent conflict between state and federal law, Zine affirms the need to "uphold the will of our voters and adopt sensible guidelines to regulate the provision of medical cannabis in our communities."

A vote will also take place in Congress today that would prevent federal funds to be used to interfere in the twelve states that have adopted medical marijuana laws. The Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment to the House Commerce-Justice-State appropriations bill, named after its authors Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), would end the federal crackdown currently occurring in Los Angeles and other parts of California. The resolution adopted today by the Los Angeles City Council supports the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment and the prohibition of further raids on "[medical] marijuana dispensaries in states that have laws supporting their operation."

"These continued actions by the DEA, in spite of the strong endorsement of medical marijuana by the Los Angeles City Council, is reprehensible," said Chris Fusco, the Southern California Field Coordinator for Americans for Safe Access, the nation's largest medical marijuana advocacy organization. "It shows that the federal government will stop at nothing to undermine California's medical marijuana law, and that today's DEA actions are in retaliation for the successful work being done by advocates and city officials." Two hundred protesters gathered today at California Patients Group, one of the dispensaries raided by the DEA, and confronted federal agents. Instead of arresting a group of people being held inside the facility, federal agents were forced to release them or face continued civil disobedience, in the form of blockades, by protesters at the scene.

In another apparent rebuke locally to federal efforts against medical marijuana access, Los Angeles' neighbor to the east, the City of Claremont, voted Tuesday night to allow and regulate a dispensary within its city limits.

In order to bring attention to the increased federal activity by the DEA, Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is calling for statewide protests Friday. In Los Angeles, protests will occur at 9am at the federal building (255 East Temple) to be followed by a march to City Hall (200 N Spring St.) to request that the city do everything it can to ensure protection for its patients and providers from further federal interference.

For further information, refer to:
Letter from LA Councilmembers to DEA Administrator Karen Tandy: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/Zine_DEA_Letter.pdf
Resolution adopted by the Los Angeles City Council in support of Hinchey-Rohrabacher: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/LA_Resolution.pdf
The DEA letter to more than 140 landlords in the Los Angeles area: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/DEA_Landlord_Letter.pdf
ASA's one-pager on the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment: http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/Hinchey_One_Pager.pdf

LIVE NO MORE IN lIVERMORE, cA

2007-07-23T18:27:00.000-07:00

Livermore: Objective Data on MCD Regulation

City of Livermore hired this research group to get them some actual
defensibly objective data on MCD regulation. The result is not bad--
not quite ASA, but way better than the Rocklin memo or the Riverside
white paper or any of that.

Could be useful in a lobbying context--it is relatively accurate and
it is certainly unbiased or slightly prohibition biased, but it still
comes out with the clear message that regulated dispensaries can be
relatively nuisance free.

Livermore, I suspect, will nonetheless proceed to ban shortly. That
is the nature of the "rational basis." The Godbe paper is more than
enough for any locality to hang its hat on to go either way, ban or
regulate.

29 pages long, it starts on p. 7 of the attached pdf which is the
complete packet for the item on the Livermore city council agenda
tonight.

pdf link: http://www.weedbay.net/pdf/livermore07-07-23.pdf

Livermore bans clubs...

2007-07-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

Livermore makes nuclear bombs but no pot clubs allowed. We have priorities, you know....

http://www.trivalleycares.org/

Already a Superfund site, the Lab would have us believe that since the amounts of tritium involved with NIF are relatively small, it poses no risk. This is deceptive and untrue. The Livermore area is already saturated with elevated levels of tritium. Lab analyses have found that Livermore Valley wines purchased off the shelf have four times the tritium content of other California wines. And, rain water samples taken by the Lab have consistently shown high levels of tritium around the Lab's one and a half square mile site and in the surrounding community.

Posted on Apr 24, 2006 01:15:00 AM by Kevin Chan
[ filed under: history environment ]

On April 26, 1986, the crew at unit 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (located in Pripyat, Ukarine, part of the former Soviet Union) conducted an experiment on the turbine generator with the safety system switched off. A steam explosion caused a catastrophic accident that blew off the 1000-ton roof of the building and set off a series of additional explosions, leading to an eventual meltdown of the nuclear cores. The accident spewed massive quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, contaminating large areas of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Radioactive clouds drifted as far as Europe and the eastern United States. The Chernobyl nuclear fallout was ten times more powerful than the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and is the worst disaster in the history of nuclear power.

The 45,000 inhabitants of Pripyat, 4km away from the Chernobyl power plant, were not evacuated until 36 hours after the accident. For 9 days, fires at the Chernobyl plant continued to burn and emit radioactivity. 130,000 people from settlements within 30km of the reactor were eventually evacuated, but only after being exposed to highly dangerous levels of radiation.

Photographer Robert Knoth and reporter Antoinette de Jong traveled through the 4 regions of the Urals, Kazhakstan, Ukraine and Siberia to document the davastating medical, economic and social consequences of the nuclear industry in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Their work, published online in a photoessay in PixelPress, shows the horrific health issues faced by the regions’ inhabitants as a result of exposure to radiation in the environment.

Photos by Robert Knoth.

Photoessay: Nuclear Nightmares: Twenty Years Since Chernobyl »

Find out more about how survivors of Chernobyl have coped with the effects of the disaster:
Interviews on Chernobyl from Chernobyl.info
“Chernobyl Journey”—For the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, Belarusian journalist Vasily Semashko travels through the Chernobyl region and reports on his impressions about everyday life of the people living in the contaminated area
NPR: ‘Voices of Chernobyl’: Survivors’ Stories

More info about Chernobyl:
Chernobyl.info
wikipedia entry on “Chernobyl Disaster”
In Focus : Chernobyl (International Atomic Energy Agency)
Chernobyl Children’s Project

WEEDBAY.NET GROW CLASS REVIEW

2007-07-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

Dopey Taylor

Plain ol' Farmer

Packing on Buds

WEEDBAY.NET GROW CLASS REVIEW!

the recap

Grow class is divine:
We had a really good class today in Oaksterdam at Rico's Diner. About 30 patients showed up and that’s a mini-movement. The shows up for grow class and say goodbye to dispensary prices movement. Dispensaries are taking a beating for our brethren in LA from the DEA. There’s not much we as patients can do, but stick together and get back to caring for one another, and make the coop types prop 215 meant to make, where patients with excess take care of patients with none. Patients forced to pay dispensary prices for any length of time cop an attitude with dispensaries over the money they are spending there. There’s only one way to break the chains and be free, and that’s by growing your own medical marijuana. After you learn to grow your own dispensaries become fun again. You can enjoy the kid in a candy shop feeling again, knowing you’re there more by choice than necessity.

Fred Gardener
That nice man in charge of O’shaughnessy’s – The Journal of Cannabis in Clinical practice dropped in. His job is to make the journal 4 times a year with clinical medical marijuana information that’s equally fit reading for patients and doctors. I think that’s the hard part and the part that shines most brightly, it’s good info for both patients and doctors. William Brooke O’Shaughnessy is the Irish born and Scottish educated doctor whose paper introduced cannabis to Western medicine in 1839. He basically studied Indian Hemp and Gunjah, as they called it back then. This is the paper Dr. Tod Mikuriya saved from oblivion, and in that same spirit the O’Shaughnessy Journal was created, to keep that paper current. When finished reading your copy drop it off at your doctors office, more doctors need to see this, and need to know how their patients feel.

This brings us to one of the major points Fred brought up. When you see a doctor that specializes in cannabis you should feel free to discuss your cannabis usage and let your doctor know how it’s working for you. Talk freely with your cannabis practitioner and you’ll find an ally in the use of cannabis for medicine. Fred writes about half the real information about cannabis and you’ll see his name on stories all over the web, and it’s always nice to hear from someone like that.

Another major point is that the recreational smokers have bred marijuana for high THC content for the last 40 years. While this is great for euphoric effect it may not make the most effective medicine. Of course, with the DEA’s stranglehold on cannabis, the USA’s research is far behind the rest of the world on this issue. He mentioned a company in the UK is starting to explore the benefits of high CBD strains for use as medical marijuana. I’ve read a bit about them about a year ago, and I want to do another story on them, they are going to be using gene manipulation instead of selective breeding on all female crops, if I remember right.

Virginia Resner
A long time activist passed away last week. A real champion to the cause for people convicted for drug crimes and issues regarding their sentencing. Her driving cause was that a small amount of crack cocaine draws a bigger mandatory sentence than a comparable weight of powder cocaine. She worked with families against mandatory minimums and then when on to work on the book Shattered Lives: Portraits from America's Drug War, for which she won awards. We plan on reviewing this book here at weedbay, it’s such an important piece. Towards the end Virginia worked with Green Aide helping Ed Rosenthal with his trials. She was a fiery passionate activist, we’ll miss her deeply.

Growing tech
I swear the topic of this grow class was how to make your moms look like the moms you get at SR-71.

file photo: AK-47 mom

Well I’m not the only student at class impressed with them. They feed on Sensi A& B from Advance Nutrients and are in Coco. They sell the moms at 3 months, and they sell well. You’re lucky to get one.

Most of the discussion was about how to trim the tops to induce side branching. Then how to trim the bottom branches so you leave productive branches that produce and get light. It takes a good vegging light to get that best plants, most of us with flouros will not get those results in veg. But we keep trying don’t we?

We also got into the attack of the borg, aka mites, and powdery mildew. Ed Rosenthal’s Zero Tolerance is a sufficant that can help with both. With mites, the infestation can quickly come to the point where you must terminate the grow and start over, You might be able to finish the run, maybe not. Before the next run you must bleach everything, with a 10% bleach solution with hot water. Quarantine all new arrivals, and don’t let pets and other growers in the area. Clean, Clean, Clean.

Mites love it hot and dry, if the relative humidity is below 35% and the temps in the 80’s or higher your garden is a mite magnet. So cooling and more humidity will help. On the other hand, powdery mildew loves it cool and moist. If your night time temps are 20 degrees cooler than your day temps, and your humidity is 50% or higher, you can get powdery mildew. If there is condensation on leaves at first light, it’s a sure sign it’s getting too moist. Sometimes running the light at night can help a lot of these issues.

A sulfur burner for powdery mildew and starting over for mites. That’s the cure.

Digging for info
Sr-71’s clone guide catalog is due out Monday. This is a welcome addition for medical growers - finally some documentation for all these damn strains. SR-71 carries 5 strains, so it’s pretty easy for them to document their stuff. I’ve noticed everyone likes to play with all these different strains but then if they don’t get good results it’s always the club’s fault. The SR has the old faithful, from breeder’s packs or SR created.
The Oaksterdam gift shop got a fresh paint job shortly before class, it looked great. Weedbay.net and Oaksterdam.com are adding a new assistant admin. The general concensus on the LA landlords faced with property seizure situation is it’s an effective DEA strategy and dispensaries are being evicted. We hope we’re safe up north with bad publicity if the DEA tries this here and patients show up in force. We forgot to talk about Hillary, the Hinchey bill and the ONDCP John Walters. We should have covered some of these isssues, our bad.

Grow class does roll on, every third Saturday of the month, 2:30-4:30pm at Rico’s Diner in Oaksterdam. Cya next month heh?

__________________
Oaksterdam.com

ugly.

2007-07-20T22:40:00.001-07:00

LAUGHING BUDDHA NURSERY in METARIE, Louisiana is a DEA FRONT

The Laughing Buddha Nursery is a hydroponic supply and gardening store on the outskirts of New Orleans, in Metarie. The owner is Grant Estrada (in photograph). Grant Estrada is on the payroll of Drug Enforcement Administration as an informer. This Judas, for his $6,000, put first time pot gardener Juan Lopez in jail for many, many years. And he's setting up gardeners in Louisiana right now to be turned over to the DEA.

The Laughing Buddha Nursery owner Grant Estrada wasn't laughing when I called him up and said " Grant Estrada, I'm doing an article on how you are co-operating with DEA and informing on your clients and assisting in the prosecution of your clients. Are you co-operating with DEA, setting up your clients and accepting blood money to do this? "

Grant Estrada replied, " I can't talk about that now " and very nervously hung up the phone.

This is a photograph of Grant Estrada.

Grant Estrada is most definitely a narc of the worst sort and has set up one, and probably is in the process of setting up many more, growers of the herb.

Google The Laughing Buddha Nursery in Metarie, Louisiana, and you don't get any clue Estrada and his DEA-front store are in the day to day business of narking out customers to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Laughing Buddha Nursery
4516 Clearview Pkwy
Metarie, LA
Phone: (504) 887-4336 (ask for Grant)

You see he sells orchids, helped out after Hurricane Katrina, but mysteriously, there is no Google reference to the fact, established in a Baton Rouge, Louisiana court earlier this year, that GRANT ESTRADA accepted $6,000 from DEA in order to inform on his hydroponic store clients, specifically one JUAN LOPEZ, who bought thousands of dollars of equipment at Estrada's store, with Estrada's urging. In fact, Estrada told his customer Lopez at Laughing Buddha (whew, those DEA guys and their sense of humor) , that he would even sell the marijuana if Lopez would grow it.

After spending $15,000 on building a marijuana grow room with Estrada's enthusiastic encouragement and assistance, DEA raided Lopez in February of 2005. At his trial, DEA did not disclose that it was paying Estrada to do exactly what he did, encourage and entrap growers or would be growers.

Now, a new judge may order a new trial for Juan Lopez, who was sentenced to five to twenty years in jail and has been incarcerated since July 2005. The DEA-FRONT Laughing Buddha hydroponics store owner Grant Estrada actually convinced Lopez to get into the business, and provided the actual marijuana plant cuttings to Lopez, and promised to find a buyer for those plants.

While Lopez languishes in jail for being gullible, Estrada is doing fine selling out growers as of the time I called him for his comments on April 24, 2007.

Prosecutors fought to hide the blood money informant payments to Estrada. During the trial, Judge James Brady refused to let Lopez' attorney put Grant Estrada - informant - on the stand, claiming it would be "irrelevent."

To confirm this story, research articles by Penny Brown Roberts for the Metarie Advocate.

My advice is for Louisiana activists to put this store out of business immediately by picketing the LAUGHING BUDDHA NURSERY at 4516 Clearview Parkway in Metarie, just outside of New Orleans. Signs with " LAUGHING BUDDHA IS A DEA FRONT"
"GRANT ESTRADA - DEA SNITCH" .

Put this bastard out of business. Remember Juan Lopez could spend most of his life in jail. Make sure GRANT ESTRADA can never harm another gardener ever again.

If you want to help Juan Lopez win a retrial for entrapment, you can contact his lawyer, John Di Giulio, at 225-383-0078 or by email at john@johndiGiulio.com

SAME BULLSHIT DIFFERENT DAY

2007-07-20T17:08:00.000-07:00

DEA involved in small Santa Rosa med bust

this bust is totally ridiculous. automatic weapons? is that really necessary?? and why the hell are local cops calling in DEA for a tiny garden like this??

Quote:

Man denies his pot growing is illegal

Railroad Square resident says confiscated plants were permitted for medical use

By MARTIN ESPINOZA
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/artic...0421/-1/xmlnews

Evan Neumann swears he does not have a green thumb and
that the marijuana he's been growing since March
inside his home near Railroad Square is no big deal.

He says it tastes so bad that for flavoring he puts
lemon peel slices in the plastic bags used to store
the marijuana buds he smokes to treat his bipolar
condition.

Whatever the quality, Santa Rosa narcotics detectives
and agents with the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration targeted his home Friday. They busted
open his front door, ordered him and his roommate to
the ground and then broke up Neumann's
marijuana-growing operation.

Neumann, 35, was arrested on suspicion of possessing
marijuana for sale and cultivation of marijuana.

Neumann, who received his license to use medical
marijuana in February, said he was learning how to
grow marijuana with an eye on perhaps selling to local
cannabis clubs.

It is the latest venture for Neumann, the son of Claus
Neumann, former longtime owner of Los Robles Lodge.
The younger Neumann used to manage Hotel La Rose and
is a former president of the Historic Railroad Square
Association.

Depression set in after he broke up with his fiancee a
few years ago, he said, and he has been taking
prescription medicine ever since. Some of the
medications cause severe headaches and migraines and
marijuana helps him deal with the pain, he said.

"I never thought I would be targeted by law
enforcement," he said. "To be honest, my biggest fear
was a home invasion."

According to a police statement, officers served a
search warrant on Neumann's home Friday and found 179
marijuana plants and 1 pound of processed marijuana
packaged for sale. The statement said they also found
6 pounds of processed marijuana being dried, as well
as cultivation equipment, digital scales and packaging
material.

Police said the 7 pounds of marijuana had a potential
street value of $28,000, and the plants had the
potential to produce marijuana with a street value of
$358,000.

Police were not available Saturday for further comment
on the raid.

Neumann scoffs at the projections. He admitted that he
probably was growing more plants than he was allowed
by his medical marijuana license. But he swears he is
not a criminal.

"That's a joke. It's just absolutely a joke," he said.
"The marijuana that I had that was processed was about
10 to 14 ounces."

He said that about 90 of the plants were tiny "clones"
he was nurturing in plastic Dixie Cups on his roof and
that he was likely to kill half of them.

"I've killed every single plant that I've grown," he
said. "I'm just not very good. There's a lot of steps
you have to go through before you can sell to a club.
The first step obviously is growing something the
clubs will buy."

Neumann's roommate, Jenn Kernan, a friend who recently
moved back to Santa Rosa from New Orleans, said she
couldn't believe what happened Friday morning.

"I was about to open the door when they broke it
down," she said. "The entire hallway was filled by men
with big guns, scary, big guns, automatic weapons. I
sank down to my knees. I was holding my dog in my
hands."

Neumann swears that he's never sold marijuana to
anybody, and that he was only looking at the
possibility of becoming a cannabis club grower.

The whole ordeal has shaken him up. "I wouldn't want
true criminals to go through that," he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213
or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com.

__________________________
long live WWW.OAKSTERDAM.COM
Have a legal question or want to report a violation of the Compassionate Use Act? Call ASA's toll-free hotline at 1-888-929-4367

STONER VIKINGS

2007-07-19T23:54:00.001-07:00

look at the pipe to the right of the bowl.
I wonder what else they kept in that bowl...

Museum shows off treasure buried for 1,000 years

Maev Kennedy and Martin Wainwright
Thursday July 19, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Some of the found treasure on display at the British Museum. Photograph: AP/British Museum

A Viking treasure hoard of silver traded and looted from far across Europe and into Asia and north Africa, and lost for over 1,000 years, was revealed again today at the British Museum.

The find is unrivalled in Britain in over 150 years, and one of the most spectacular recent discoveries from anywhere in the Viking empire. The 600 coins, some unique, come from as far as Samarkand in central Asia, Afghanistan and Russia.

Article continues

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"This is the world in a vessel," said Jonathan Williams, a British Museum expert on the period.

The hoard was found in January by David and Andrew Whelan, father and son hobby metal detectorists, in a bare winter field near Harrogate soon due to be ploughed again for spring sowing.

They first found fragments of the lead sheeting that once protected it, then the pot itself. They could see coins and scraps of silver poking out of the mud, but restrained themselves and brought the whole thing intact to their local archaeological finds officer.

The site seems then as now to have been an empty field: archaeologists scoured it for evidence but found no trace of any settlement or structure.

The Whelans' patience, which preserved priceless clues as to how and when the pot was hidden, was rewarded when the British Museum invited them to watch while the conservator Hayley Bullock delicately tweezed the treasure out of the hard-packed mud.

The Whelans and the museum staff were astounded as her bench gradually filled with the contents of the bowl: a gold arm ring possibly made in Ireland, silver rings and brooches, dress ornaments, ingots, the chopped up scraps of silver which the Vikings used by weight as cash, and coins by the score, many in superb condition.

"If somebody asked me to fit it all back in now, I'm not sure I could," she said yesterday.

The treasure was crammed into an exquisite silver pot decorated with incised lions and deer and plated inside with pure gold, which may once have held the communion bread for some wealthy church in northern France.

The clue to why the Harrogate treasure had remained hidden lay in the bowl itself, archaeologists found. The latest coin was minted in 927 AD by the Anglo-Saxon king Athelstan, who was the first to proclaim himself "king of all Britain". The most serious challenge to the Viking power was marching north, and the archaeologists are not surprised that the owner was never able to go back to retrieve his hoard.

The find was formally declared treasure yesterday by the North Yorkshire coroner, Geoff Fell, who said it was one of the most exciting cases he had had to decide.

Its value has still to be determined by the treasure valuation committee, but the British Museum and the York Museum Trust, which already has a superb Viking collection, are ready to try to raise over £1m to acquire the hoard. Once a value has been established, the finders will split the amount with the landowner.

The field had yielded nothing much before to the Whelans apart from 20th-century junk including a dump of 90 metal buttons. David, a 51-year-old semi-retired businessman from Leeds, initially thought he had scanned a rusting bicycle or a bit of broken cattle trough when his detector started bleeping.

"We were sweeping and I got a signal, so I took a couple of shovels full of soil and there was a stronger one," he said outside the coroner's court in Harrogate after the hearing. "I just kept going and going. A ball of earth rolled out of the side of the hole and I could see a coin stuck in it. We dug the hole out. We crouched down on our hands and knees."

Andrew, a 35-year-old surveyor who took up the hobby with his father three years ago, said: "We were sat there shaking - it was unbelievable. We made sure we got everything out and then packed up for the day and went home to find out what to do with it.

"We told the antiquity authority and handed it over all intact. We were astonished when we finally discovered what it contained."

Neither of the men has great plans for the money they will receive. David Whelan said: "We don't need 'owt. We've got all we want. It's a thing of dreams to find something like this. If we had found one coin we would have been over the moon."

REST IN PEACE SISTER

2007-07-18T22:25:00.000-07:00

Virginia Resner: 1946-2007

It is with deep sorrow that I inform you that our dear friend and colleague, Virginia Resner, passed away this morning. We are calling it her "liberation" day as she is now released from her body and the suffering from her 5 1/2 year battle with breast cancer.

A great activist who worked to put a human face on the atrocities of the Drug War, Virginia worked tirelessly until it became too much for this strong woman. Virginia was a great advocate for the prisoners of the Drug War, first as the California FAMM (Families Against Mandatory Minimums) representative, and then as partners with Mikki Norris and Chris Conrad in their Human Rights and the Drug War exhibit project. Together, they co-authored the acclaimed book, Shattered Lives: Portraits from America's Drug War, for which she received a Robert C. Randall Award for Achievement in the Field of Citizen Action from the Lindesmith Center/Drug Policy Foundation in 2001. Most recently, Virginia was intricately involved with the Ed Rosenthal case as president of Green Aid: Medical Marijuana Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.

Her energy, her compassion, her efforts, and her selfless and loving friendship will be greatly missed by all who knew her. Please light a candle, burn some sage, and pray for peace (which is what she wanted above all) in her honor.

More details to come regarding Virgnia's life and plans for memorial services.

We are truly blessed to have known her and to have had her in our lives.

-- Mikki Norris

It's official, Hell freezes over!

2007-07-18T18:24:00.000-07:00

Hillary Clinton Pledges to End Medical Marijuana Raids Hillary Clinton Pledges to End Medical Marijuana Raids U.S.'s Second Largest Cancer Charity Calls for Legal Medical Marijuana Access as Candidates Weigh Support BBSNews 2007-07-17 -- MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE (GSMM) - Two prominent presidential contenders have moved in opposite directions on the issue of federal attacks on medical marijuana patients, as America's second largest cancer charity, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, came out strongly for protection of medical marijuana patients. Democratic frontrunner Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) called for an end to federal raids in states where medical use of marijuana is legal, while Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) backtracked on an earlier promise to end the raids. During a Manchester campaign on July 13, Len Epstein, a volunteer for Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana (GSMM), told Sen. Clinton, "Twelve states allow medical marijuana, but the Bush administration continues to raid patients," to which she responded, "Yes, I know. It's terrible." Epstein then asked, "Would you stop the federal raids?" Sen. Clinton responded firmly, "Yes, I will." http://drugsense.org/temp/13tmN616gWN0LE.html
__________________________ long live oaksterdam.com Have a legal question or want to report a violation of the Compassionate Use Act? Call ASA's toll-free hotline at 1-888-929-4367

more weedbay stuff.

2007-07-16T12:57:00.001-07:00

From weedbay.net (of course)

U.S.'s Second Largest Cancer Charity Calls for Legal Access as Vote Looms in Congress

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With a vote on medical marijuana looming in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has adopted a formal policy position calling for removal of criminal and civil penalties for seriously ill patients using marijuana with their doctor's recommendation. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is the second largest cancer charity in the U.S., and the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education and patient services.

As the House prepares to vote this month on an amendment to bar Justice Department interference with state medical marijuana laws, the society's resolution cites federal interference with medical marijuana research, the harm that can be done to seriously ill patients by poor quality prison health care, and the wide support for legal access to medical marijuana within the medical community. It states, "The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society supports legislation to remove criminal and civil sanctions for the doctor-advised, medical use of marijuana by patients with serious physical medical conditions." The statement also calls for an end to federal prosecutions of patients in states that permit medical use of marijuana.

"This should put to rest forever the lie that the medical and scientific communities don't support medical marijuana," said Aaron Houston, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "As the House of Representatives prepares to consider medical marijuana, members need to ask themselves a simple question: What is better for seriously ill patients, medical marijuana or jail? There is no medical organization anywhere that believes jailing the sick is good for them, and yet that is precisely what federal policy does."

Journalists can contact MPP director of communications Bruce Mirken at the numbers above for a complete copy of the LLS resolution.

With more than 23,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit www.MarijuanaPolicy.org.

BAKERSFIELD BUST

2007-07-16T12:57:00.000-07:00

From weedbay.net (of course)

Monday, July 16, 10:30am:
First hand accounts?: Add info to our forums

DEA and Kern County Sheriff's Department are raiding Nature's Medicinal right now!

***Location: 323 Roberts Lane, Bakersfield, CA

ASA has just received an eyewitness report that Bakersfield Collective, Nature's Medicinal is being raided by federal agents right now! Please, if you're in the area, go down and show your support!

According to an eyewitness at the scene, both the Kern County Sheriff's Department and DEA Agents are at the raid. The same eyewitness reported that both of the Nature's Medicinal owners have been arrested. We are still awaiting further information from the collective. If you have any details please contact ASA's Field Coordinator, Sonnet Seeborg Gabbard: sonnet@safeaccessnow.org
--

Sonnet Seeborg Gabbard
Field Coordinator
Americans for Safe Access
AmericansForSafeAccess.org

The ASA office has received a report the Nature's Medicinal in Bakersfield
is being raided. It is our understanding that local PD and DEA are on the
scene now. Is there anyone near Bakersfield who can act as a Legal Observer?

Please stand by for more information or post details if you have them.

Medicinal Marijuana Dispensary Raided By DEA

POSTED: 10:56 am PDT July 16, 2007
UPDATED: 12:12 pm PDT July 16, 2007
News source: KERO - Bakersfield

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- The Drug Enforcement Agency raided a Bakersfield marijuana dispensary Monday morning.

Members of the DEA along with the Kern County Sheriff’s Department raided Nature’s Medicinal Cooperative in north Bakersfield around 9 a.m.

The agencies have a search warrant for the pot dispensary along with arrest warrants for several people involved with the distribution.

Officials questioned several employees at the business and eventually let them go, but one person was arrested.

An undisclosed second location was also raided at the same time where several people had been arrested according to officials.

This is the second raid on this shop; the first was May 1 of this year.

A shop clerk said they don’t know if they will be able to recover from this latest raid since they took a hard hit the first time.

Related Weedbay Stories: First Bust - May 2, 2007

OAKSTERDAM.COM IS UP

2007-07-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Dopey from Weedbay.net for helping us launch Oaksterdam.com

The url was first obtained by Jim Mclelland one of the founders of the Oakland scene and the person who coined the term Oaksterdam. We remember Jim by trying to continue what was the original Oaksterdam vision. Like Amsterdam, it would be a haven for tolerance not just for medical Cannabis users but people of all kinds regardless of who they are.

Oaksterdamnews.com

2007-03-20T00:07:00.000-07:00

My kind of town; my kind bud

Written by Nature boy

LA Confidential:

Twenty years ago I was an art student in downtown Los Angeles. Like any aspiring artist, I enjoyed cannabis on those late nights when inspiration was lacking.

Typically I would trudge down to MacArthur Park, navigating the homeless panhandlers, and score a dime bag Wrapped in tinfoil I would buy some and using my limited Spanish, I would try to haggle. Some was downright awful, some was okay. Occasionally I would get some uncrushed sativa with a reasonably decent taste. If I wanted good green bud I had to travel to San Francisco. It was almost unheard of to get green bud consistently
back then.

Fast forward 20 years: I’m in the office of the Oaksterdam News and I’m being asked to sample ten varieties from LA clubs. We had a number of criteria to judge including look, smell, taste, and high.

Usually in a Cannabis cup one finds only the best and this case was no exception. First I must say Kush has a foothold and then some. There were some eight Kush varieties ranging from very good to superior. One Hawaiian strain had a beautiful smell and finally a Train Wreck which was very good. Purple Kush, won on nearly every criteria and it deserved it. Its presentation was breathtaking.

SATIVA SLEUTHS — Two intrepid Oaksterdam News investigators volunteered to take a close up look at the resin gland development and maturity of medical samples offered by Southern Cal dispensaries.
Oaksterdam News photos by Jaime Galindo.

While top-grade cannabis has been available for Hollywood connoiseurs for some time, only now is it becoming available to the average person.
Moreover, the advances in indoor cultivation and the medical club economy have provided the freeway for the genetics to travel south. Even if some of these strains were grown up North, it must be said, the demand for higher grades acts like a magnet for North Coast growers.

It must also be said that Southern California has plenty of indoor grows. I wonder where all the Mexican herb goes now? Do the rancheros south of the border, who cranked out the same product for years, notice a decline in sales? Are they nervous? Have they gotten their own Dutch seeds to compete with domestic growers? Time will tell.

However, in the meantime, the tectonic plates of social change have shifted quite a bit from a few decades ago.

As I first began to sample the entries I made a point of smoking a very tiny amount. Getting accurate results from so many samples becomes almost impossible. Differentiating between different highs in my one brain was not possible. Ultimately I would like to have sampled one a day for ten days, but deadlines were looming and we pressed on. After the third or fourth sample I realized that I’m no longer the heavy smoker I used to be.

I kept commenting how amazing each sample was. All were winners. There were no losers. Soon after I set down the pipe on the tenth hit, I found myself making my way to a Chinese restaurant to eat a large plate of chicken fried rice, an order of pot stickers, chow mien ... I ate every scrap.

The next day came word of federal raids. How sad a day. After sharing her bounty, LA took a huge hit. Amazingly, no one was arrested and some clubs had reopened the next day. The battle of LA

It’s safe to say that, in the years since I lived there, LA now has top-rate herb all year round.

was on! This community would not just be content with good medicine; they knew it was time sow their political oats too. Large protests were organized in the following days. The people were fighting back.

They had a taste of freedom and would accept no less than liberty. So this LA confidential is confidential no more.

The city has set a new standard and the whole world is watching.

This is awful. RIP Ken Gorman

2007-02-19T09:17:00.000-08:00

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=50801&page=1&pp=15

Marijuana Advocate Ken Gorman Dies In Shooting

Raj Chohan
Reporting

(CBS4) DENVER A Denver man well-known in Colorado's medical marijuana community was shot and killed Saturday night after his house was broken into.

Ken Gorman, an outspoken advocate for legalizing marijuana, grew pot in his home on the 1,000 block of South Decatur Street.

Denver police said they are investigating the shooting, but were releasing few details Sunday afternoon. Family members told CBS4 Gorman was the victim in the crime.

Last weekend, CBS4's Rick Sallinger did an investigation on Colorado's medical marijuana law that centered on Gorman. Gorman had recently been giving seminars on how to use the law to obtain the drug even if you aren't sick.

Gorman was on Colorado's medical marijuana registry. He said he had been suffering chronic pain from bursitis.

A CBS4 employee recently approached Gorman with a hidden camera and told him he only wanted marijuana to get high. Gorman then filled a form designating CBS4's employee as one of his caregivers.

"When we passed the law we passed a great, great law," Gorman said to the CBS4 employee. "There are so many holes in it that for us, the patient, police can't do anything."

Gorman was also the host of an annual large marijuana smoke-out at the state capitol. He once ran for the state's highest office, and earned the nickname, "the governor."

Colorado is one of 11 states that has legalized the use of marijuana for medical reasons.

Yet more weedbay.net stolen content. Thanks Dopey!

2007-02-19T09:11:00.000-08:00

End of the ride at the Harborside

Ah the Harborside grow class just ended. Another fine class to keep in our memories and the biggest at Harborside to date. The place was packed and most of the people there had screen names from around the forums, you all know who you are and it was nice meeting all of you.

Harborside is operated by a couple of principles who are responsive and share the burden of helping out the sick and suffering. Being the newest club they are still considered an upstart, but unlike the dot com companies from a few years ago these guys built their compassionate dream on a very firm foundation. Instead of merely making a dispensary for medical marijuana they instead built a shrine to worship this plant we love and just visiting seems to cleanse the soul. I think they spent appropriate time determining who their staff would be too. You always see the same friendly staff each visit and you begin to feel at bit more at ease dealing with them than other clubs where you might not recognize anyone from the previous visit. We thank Harborside for the best digs grow class ever had and for all they do providing us patients with safe access and a caring staff. Harborside is like my favorite restaurant, it’s consistently good and I always come back.

How soon can I flower clones, how long should I veg before flowering?
Scrappy sets up to do a whole class on how and when to take clones. But with people entering class for the first time today there were some questions. Today we found out that the clones you buy from clubs are sexually mature. Meaning you could commence flowering at 12/12 immediately after you get them home. In order to supply yourself with medicine under state guidelines more veg time is needed and 3 or 4 weeks is probably average indoors.

What about perpetual and rolling harvests, can I provide enough medicine that way? How about sea of green? Well in Santa cruz you are allowed a 10’ by 10’ flowering canopy making the sea of green a viable alternative. Under the normal 6 plant state guideline sea of green is out. It’s that simple, you need a lot of plants for SOG. But you can veg longer and stagger harvests weeks apart, but this is problematic. It requires nutrients for the separate phases and it doesn’t allow the garden to be cleaned while down, which over time is a factor. One solution is to flower 3 while 3 veg. You’ll flower larger plants that should provide enough, but it’s still tight coping with the six plant limit. Good luck and keep trying.

How important is length of the cure? Most of what the plant delivers you put into it while it’s budding. It’s easier to manipulate live plants than dead ones, and after a proper dry and a couple weeks of sweating you have what it is. We all want our pot to magically improve and sweat out all the chemy tastes simply by placing it in jars, but this is seldom the case. If a patient needs medicine he doesn’t wait 6 weeks for it to cure. We’ll never know the shelf life of pot because we’ll never leave it on the shelf long enough to see.

Are light movers a worthy investment? Yes, because cannabis only uses 10 seconds worth of light per minute of photosynthesis. So moving the light saves energy and allows your light a wider footprint. Another worthy technique is using 2 600’s instead of a single 1000. The overlapping you create that way penetrates deeper into the flowering canopy and you’ll get better bottom branch production. So get 2 600’s on rails. I have a friend with a 400 and 600 on rails, he loves it. If they stall they can burn your crop, so maintain them diligently.

Did I ever oil my inline fan? Nope, because you never looked in the instruction that shows you where the oil goes. Find the hole and use tri flow oil with Teflon every 6 months.

Hydro or soil? Growing in soil is like driving down a curvy mountain road at the speed limit. Hydro is like driving that road at full throttle. One mistake and you could be dead in hydro. See ya at the bottom.

There were other questions and the questions where coming fast enough they were stacking up. But everyone gets answered and everyone leaves happier. And scrappy looked like a confident happy pappy today. And he’s taking it all in stride and prioritizing properly and basically setting up his life he sets up his garden. He’s going to make a good dad and he has a bottle of whiskey that was a favorite of my dad. And that’s how I feel about that.

While on hiatus scrappy well still be answering questions from home at his med class 101 command center thread on ICMAG.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread....0184#post880184

And if anyone recognizes this lady, please step forward… (inside joke), pics to come..

Stay happy and keep growing

2007-02-18T01:18:00.000-08:00

Alice B Toklas lived in oakland nearly sixty years ago, her pot brownies were made famous when she lived here. We should celebrate it as part of Oaklands lesser known history..

. It has been fifty-two years since the first edition of Alice B. Toklas’ Cookbook was published after the American publisher Harper’s had censored one recipe. While the recipe is often said to be for brownies it was actually “Haschich Fudge” misspelled as it was. The British edition featured the recipe and made the book infamous overnight. Alice couldn’t have done more for the lovers of Cannabis. Ironically, the British edition spelled it "canibus sativa,".

Alice’s lifelong partner was Gertrude Stein. She grew up in Oakland and is responsible for the often misunderstood saying,” There’s no there there.”. when she couldn’t find her childhood home that had been torn down. It is often misunderstood that the saying is an attack on Oakland or somehow compares Oakland to Paris, which was the expatriate home for Alice and Gertrude. The whole saying goes like this: “What was the use of me having come from Oakland, it was not natural for me to have come from there yes write about it if I like or anything if I like but not there, there is no there there.”

Oakland admittedly has an image problem. I remember the old city signs that said,” You are now entering Oakland” as if it was a border with an unsafe territory. Thankfully, the city changed the signs to “Welcome to Oakland.” That was a smart move. When I tell people I live in Oakland, they often dredge up images of sideshows or shootings or whatever the news in their town manages to throw out for public consumption. I have to say,” Oakland is the best kept secret in the East bay.” There are plenty of wonderful neighborhoods with plenty of nice folks.

Another famous Gertrude Stein saying is, "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose." I’ll say this much, Oakland is hands down the best place in the bay area to grow roses. That might not sound like a big deal. It is. San Francisco roses look fine when the peak of summer hits but in the winter, they have black spots and rust on the leaves, powdery mildew too. In Marin County, they only thrive in the late spring and summer. In the east bay, Berkeley has a better climate but being at the foot of a hill makes it slightly colder. The south bay also has temperature issues. The part of Oakland where roses truly thrive is not the wealthier homes in the hills rather the great expanse of the blue-collar flatlands from San Leandro in the south to the north Oakland border. From pill hill to west Oakland, I’ve noticed roses blooming on Christmas day and even new years. All the geographical elements and endless cement retains warmth and keep the roses just warm enough to never enter a true dormancy. Cannabis too flourishes here too both indoor and out. It seems fate has bestowed Oakland with a quirky array of blessings. Oaklanders are fiercely proud of their city. During the L.A. riots, there was no violence in Oakland. Even if people agreed with the righteous indignation of the Angelinos they decided not to trash their city. Oakland is a great place to live.

My fellow activists hate when I ask why there are hundreds of liquor stores in Oakland and only four medical Cannabis facilities. They tell me their perspective is that liquor stores should be free to do what they want just as Medical Cannabis facilities should be left alone as well. Even as the city of Oakland shuts down a few problem stores here and there , there are hundreds left. I believe anything that becomes a magnet for crime must bow to some degree of regulation from the city it is in. At the peak for the Oakland Cannabis club scene there were eight or nine clubs operating with little or no trouble. Most clubs had security and tried to be good neighbors. All seemed well at that time. Even though there were grumblings from different factions in the medical scene, for the most part, all was well. The fact that patients were offered a choice brought the cost of medicine down. The city however focused on a now infamous Fox news channel two report regarding reselling in the so-called “Oaksterdam” triangle of Broadway, Telegraph Avenue and nineteenth street. Having owned a business there I never witnessed herb being sold rather vicodin, jewelry, car stereos, Raider tickets, sex, and anything else you can imagine. I wonder if the city ever called Al Davis, the owner of the Raiders and told him to have tighter control on those Raider tickets or heaven forbid a child might go to a Raider game.

The clubs then endured a process to “apply” for permits. Clubs renting buildings owned by absentee landlords in Hong Kong, had at their own expense, improved them, only to be shut down by the city. I personally witnessed rat infested structures, boarded up since the earthquake, cleaned, and then shut down by a city which was supposed to be bringing people downtown or as they call it,” Uptown” Ironically, tobacco companies tried unsuccessfully to market a cigarette called “Uptown” to African-Americans in the early 1990s. http://www.wclynx.com/burntofferings/packsuptown.html I wonder if the city knew this.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the clubs were only allowed to be in certain areas, away from schools. While this sounds OK on the surface, the city allowed schools to move literally next to existing, previously permitted clubs and then force the clubs to move at great expense. It seemed the charter schools were used as pawns in a real estate game. I am sure when the redevelopment kicks in to high gear, the schools will be moved out of the immediate downtown to make way for businesses. One unnamed club installed a very expensive air conditioning system to keep the mostly older crowd comfortable during the summer months only to be forced to another building with broken air conditioners and a building owner who lived in Hong Kong. The club was forced to buy yet another air conditioner. All clubs, which had passed the process, had to pay a permit fee, which was quite a few thousand dollars. Most clubs wouldn’t comment on the amount because they didn’t want to upset the city, which “allowed” them to operate. I wouldn’t have called myself a free market capitalist but after the city clamped down on the clubs, I noticed parking which had previously been very hard to come by was suddenly available. One fellow I knew who owned a small, beautifully remodeled club with a modest clientele called the area “Ghosterdam” after he was forced to shut down. The variety of choices at all the different clubs brought people in from all over the state. I met many medical patients who actually moved to Oakland so they could use their medicine in peace. I would witness people breathless from a long trek from some high sierra town, exit the car and ask where they could get their Cannabis card. They looked like runners getting ready to cross the finish line. They would exit the building, card in hand and go to a club. Afterwards, they would eat, shop and support local businesses. Much of that is gone now. Yes they still come for their Cannabis card but they don’t have as many choices and many of them leave. It’s ironic how a club can open in Santa Cruz or Los Angeles or San Diego using so called “Oakland guidelines” which were once viewed as cutting edge and now smack of a better time when the city of Oakland could do no wrong in the eyes of medical patients.

I wonder if Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas came to Oakland today what would they say? I’m sure Alice and Gertrude would like to visit the city center sculpture called “There” by Roslyn Mazzilli. I wonder though a half-century after her cookbook was published how Alice would view the city. Would she want to move back to Paris or would she see the flourishing art scene and all it’s ambitions? Would she see the gay and lesbian activists and their almost being able to marry? Would she cheer the Medical Cannabis activists? What would she make of a city, which made it so much harder for sick people to get their meds while truly bad businesses get a slap on the wrist? I wonder. Just like so many Oaklanders, I wonder.

Last grow class for awhile...

2007-02-18T01:02:00.000-08:00

Saturday Bulldog grow class blowout

Grow class in Oaksterdam has been a tradition and blessing for the last 4 years. During those 4 years there’s ‘regulars’ that attend 95% of the classes. There’s a pretty strong comradery with the quality of affording easy familiarity and sociability amongst the old timers. Today’s grow class was just that with the usual mixing of ‘someone’s grandma’ and ‘up North crop wizard’ that has to be seen to be believed. The diversity of the 20 or so attendees at today’s grow class was a macrocosm of the bay area. Some are good at rolling joints, others are good at smoking them, and so it goes and everyone more than tolerated everyone else. We’ll now observe a moment of silence for the clones grandma had that perished….. (sniff)

For the noobs, they are in for a real treat, and as one fellow expressed to Scrappy after class as he was leaving “Man, I’m new and you just blow me away with how much you know and how well you explain it.” I knew that made Scrappy’s day and some regular grow classer’s day too because we know we turned a light on in that guys head that’s going to be burning quite brightly for years to come.

The last grow class at the Bulldog Coffee Shop? You know that was the first question for professor Scrappy as class gathered. For those that don’t know Scrappy is riding off into the sunset with his soon to-be-bride. My crystal ball sees children, moving, marriage and the need for a Hiatus from the rigors of 4 years of grow class. Scrappy has expressed an interest at returning in a couple months and if it’s longer the fire will still be evident and grow class will continue. It’s possible the venue will change to a bigger Oaksterdam location, possibly the gift shop on 15th as it was mentioned. Richard Lee sure was a gracious host and the consumate humanitarian. He’s a fellow that always has concern for helping the welfare and happiness of people and grow class offers him our heartfelt thanks.

How do I grow thick dense buds? Ahhh… now there’s a question to ponder. The short answer is to show up at grow class. The real story is growing big buds involves optimized climate control, and the process got as technical as any question ever posed at class. And this particular class was as technical as I’ve ever seen it get. No wonder the noob left ‘blown away’.

What the hell is going on outside? Sounds goofy but good question! Just as grow class convened you could not help but notice police orbiting the area. “Oh No” thought I. The police have uncovered our sacred secret grow class and fire and damnation will wreak havoc in our world! Then the odd occurrences started to develop. Sirens would blast and then cars rigged with Hollywood action camera booms started driving down Broadway, right in front of our view as we were seated towards the white board and with the front picture window facing Broadway making an interesting backdrop.
Well the first couple times it appeared this boom was some sort of backhoe or something but after the third time it dawns on us they are filming a movie and it’s a camera at the end of the boom. From the looks of the beater car they were using this movie critic is thinking ‘low budget’. But it’s one of the cool mystique happenings of Oaksterdam much like Tommy Lee getting a new tattoo across the street from the SR-71. If anyone knows what they were filming inquiring minds want to know. Any gossip is good gossip. What an intro for the next question.

Where is Mars? Did Mars go to Mars to get the candy bars? I doubt it. But rumors and gossip ensued as the Oaksterdam medical marijuana community put their collective minds together to 'hash' out the possible scenarios. Some say she was asked to leave by the admins as her other responsibilities could create the old conflict of interests with Icmag. It’s possible that’s what happened, but my opinion is they still need a moderator and she was good at it and they’ve been tolerant to content like this I’ve developed for weedbay that gets cross posted over several sites. My gut tells me Mars is simply taming wilder frontiers than the civilized comforts of California perhaps due to her work with the ASA. Maybe she’s in Colorado amid huge egos and little experience in grassroots organization and is simply too busy to baby sit us any longer. Maybe she’ll be back, I sure hope so. Much respect in any case. Journalistic rumor mongering is just too tempting in this topic, excuse me.

Cannabis Cruise, wtf? Sounds sick, I didn’t know Oaksterdam had it’s own navy but…. YES! In case Oaksterdam succeeds from the union we do have a small navy based – where else? – at Lake Merrit. On loan from the city of Oakland one vessel and one vessel only is allowed to have a motor. That combined with the savy 21 year old sea dog of a captain your vessel is free to smoke out while blasting ‘smoke on the water’ by Deep Purple on your Ipod. But wait a sec, aren’t there navigational hazards like sunken battleships leftover from when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor and aren’t those waters haunted by the ghost of Long John Silver? Of course they are, that’s why a life preserver is required. Coming soon and priced ‘affordable’ I’ll see you cruising matey.

What about that story on weedbay? Yeah, this question was brought up and caught me a bit off guard but the stories I select for weedbay sometimes are not the run of the mill sources. My story content tends to ebb and flow much like the bay itself but I was asked by someone I admire to bring more light onto some of these stories where patients are in need of help. People like Richard and Vanessa and sites like Hempevolution.org and medicalmarijuanaofamerica.com are trusted news sources and I recommend them. Here’s some of the more current articles.
http://www.weedbay.net/comments.php...=1&shownews=176
about Nathanial Archer
and
http://www.weedbay.net/comments.php...=1&shownews=176
that is Stephanie Landa holding the sign, btw.
And the point is to keep blogging and posting in the forums. Small blog sites like Scrappy’s http://growlove.blogspot.com/ get picked up by Google and they attain a page rank which is a rating of how important Google views your site’s worth. His small site which he doesn’t spend much time creating has attained the same rank as much bigger sites, currently tied with weedtracker. So keep blogging and posting and do whatever you can do to spread the word and the love. Oaksterdamnews.com is another good site I should mention. They are doing Jury Education at the federal court house. Oddly I was summoned for Jury duty on the day jury selection was to take place for the Ed Rosenthal case. His jury selection was however postponed, and comes in March I think. I wasn’t required to show up that day, but think about it. You could be on a jury where a patient needs help and the jury system was designed with this check and balance for over aggressive laws. Sorry for rambling.

What’s the new strains I keep hearing about? I’ll spill the beans, errr, clones. SR-71 is going to start stocking:
AK-47 (nice plant)
Black Widow ( Shanti Strain?)
Strawberry Cough (amazing)
And some other stuff, hell I can’t remember. Now is a good time to buy clones at SR-71 and the other clubs as Spring is approaching and supply dwindles then. So buy them now, veg them indoors and they will be taller than your neighbors when you put them outside.

If I put 2 plants in the same pot everything is cool, right? Oh hell no, stand back, in fact. Cannabis will try to kill another plant on it’s turf and it’s quite the bitch fight. The larger plant can even employ chemical warfare to gas the weaker opponent. Who knew?

Grow class rolls on for one more episode. Meet us at Harborside and well send this off properly. Not that we didn’t try at the Bulldog. I’ll speak for everyone and let you know we all enjoyed it. This report didn't really even scratch the surface of what all was discussed and I for one will dearly miss grow class. But Oaksterdam is still a happening place and if it wasn't a secret I could tell you more, but that's for another article.

Spread the love and stay safe.

THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE!

2007-02-14T21:28:00.000-08:00

Unprecedented SF study finds pot helps ease pain

Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer

Monday, February 12, 2007

(02-12) 12:59 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Doctors at San Francisco General Hospital reported today that HIV-infected patients suffering from a painful nerve condition in their hands or feet obtained substantial relief by smoking small amounts of marijuana in a carefully constructed study funded by the State of California.

Although the study itself was small, it is the first of its kind to measure the therapeutic effects of marijuana smoking while meeting the most rigorous requirements for scientific proof -- a so-called randomized, double-blinded placebo-controlled trial.

As such, the results of the trial are being hailed by medical marijuana advocates as the most solid proof to date that smoking the herb can be beneficial to patients who might otherwise require opiates or other powerful painkillers to cope with a condition known as peripheral neuropathy.

Federal agencies oppose the use of marijuana for medical purposes on the grounds that it is harmful and that there is no scientific evidence to support medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States.

"It's time to wake up and smell the data,'' said Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, a group advocating legalization of medicinal use of the drug. "The claim that the government keeps making that marijuana is not a safe or effective medicine doesn't have a leg to stand on.''

The study found that most volunteers who were given three marijuana cigarettes a day experienced a significant drop in the searing pain of peripheral neuropathy, which patients liken to a stabbing or burning sensation, usually on the bottoms of their feet.

On average, the participants in the experiment reported at the start that their pain was roughly at midpoint on a 100 point scale, where zero was no pain at all and 100 was "the worst pain imaginable.''

At least half the volunteers who smoked the active marijuana experienced a 72 percent reduction in pain after smoking their first cigarette on the first day of the trial. Over the course of five days, the median reduction in pain reported by the marijuana smokers was 34 percent, compared to 17 percent reported by those who smoked placebo cigarettes that had the active ingredient THC removed in a process akin to decaffeinating coffee.

"This is evidence, using the gold standard for clinical research, that cannabis has some medicinal benefits for a condition that can be severely debilitating,'' said Dr. Donald Abrams, lead author of the study released today by the journal Neurology.

The trial was conducted over a two-year period during which 50 volunteers each spent a week at a secured laboratory at San Francisco General. After a two-day orientation period, during which they stopped smoking marijuana they may have been using, they were given one cigarette three times a day. Half of the volunteers received marijuana containing about 3.5 percent of THC, the active ingredient of the drug; the other half received the placebo.

Abrams said that the placebo cigarettes looked and smelled identical to the ones containing active ingredients

Because of the unusual nature of the experiment, Abrams first had to receive clearance from eight different government agencies, including the University of California, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The cigarettes were made from marijuana grown on a federal marijuana farm in Mississippi, and stored in a locked freezer at San Francisco General.

E-mail Sabin Russell at srussell@sfchronicle.com.

NORML

2007-01-14T22:22:00.000-08:00

Dear California friends & supporters of marijuana reform:

Gov. Schwarzenegger has just proposed spending more money on new prisons. The Gov. has also proposed cutting Prop. 36 drug treatment programs intended to keep offenders out of prison, California currently has over 1,400 marijuana prisoners, more than 14 times the number in 1980.

Tell the Governor it's time to stop wasting taxpayers' money imprisoning people for victimless marijuana crimes! Tell him that California should eliminate felony penalties for minor marijuana offenses, such as home cultivation, petty sales and possession of hashish. The following letter describes concrete legislative proposals that would help reduce marijuana prisoners and crime.

Let the Governor know what you think! Comments can be addressed to http://www.govmail.ca.gov/ or the Governor's mailing address below.

- Dale Gieringer, Cal NORML

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol
Sacramento CA 95814

In light of California's prison crowding crisis, we urge you to consider steps to reduce the number of non-violent marijuana prisoners. California currently has over 1,400 offenders in state prison for marijuana felonies - over 14 times as many as in 1980. African-Americans are over-represented among marijuana offenders by a factor of five. California currently spends over $160 million per year on arresting, prosecuting, and imprisoning marijuana offenders.
In the last election, voters overwhelmingly approved ballot measures to make marijuana "lowest enforcement priority" in three California cities: Santa Monica, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz. Similar measures have been approved in San Francisco, Oakland and West Hollywood. A recent poll by Evans-McDonough shows that 58% of California voters agree that reducing marijuana penalties is a good way to reduce prison crowding.
The costs of marijuana enforcement are unduly inflated by the fact that certain minor but common offenses remain felonies, in particular petty cultivation and distribution. Downgrading such offenses to misdemeanors, would save the state's taxpayers court and imprisonment costs. Similar laws have been adopted elsewhere, including Alaska, Maine, Colorado, Ohio, and Australia.

We recommend decriminalization legislation to address the following problems:

Problem (1): Under current law (H&SC 11358), cultivation of any amount of marijuana is a felony - even a single plant. This perversely encourages otherwise responsible, adult marijuana users to buy from criminal traffickers rather than grow their own at home, since the former is subject to at most misdemeanor possession charges, while the latter is punished as a felony. In theory, "personal use" cultivation defendants can apply for "deferred entry of judgment" under PC 1000; however this is subject to numerous restrictions and involves burdensome diversion and court costs. The present law is especially burdensome to medical marijuana patients, who, even though they are legally entitled to grow under Prop.215, are nonetheless often arrested and taken to court on felony charges, an expensive and harrowing ordeal.

Solution (1a) : Make small-scale personal use home cultivation a minor misdemeanor punishable by a fine below a certain threshold. This policy has been adopted in Ohio, Colorado and some Australian states. A more liberal approach was recommended by California's Research Advisory Panel in 1990, calling for complete elimination of criminal penalties for personal possession and cultivation of marijuana. This is currently the law in Alaska.

Solution (1b): Make other low-level cultivation offenses regular misdemeanors (punishable by possible jail time), provided they take place on property owned or controlled by the grower. This would create a useful distinction between small, private gardens and the large-scale plantations that are currently being grown by organized criminal gangs on public lands, which are more properly treated as felonies.

Problem (2) Under current law, (H&SC 11359 and 11360) sale, transportation, distribution and possession with intent to sell or distribute are felonies for ANY amount of marijuana - even a single joint. (Exceptions: giving away or transporting less than one ounce are minor misdemeanors). In contrast, assault and battery are misdemeanors, even though they cause direct violence to others. This sends an irresponsible message about the relative harm of marijuana crimes. Convictions for intent to sell account for the majority of the marijuana felonies that are currently crowding prisons. Many involve petty dealers, who are more commonly arrested than major traffickers. As a public nuisance, petty dealing is akin to prostitution, which is presently treated as a misdemeanor.

Solution (2): Downgrade minor sales to a misdemeanor or wobbler. This is presently done in the state of Maine, where sales of one pound or less, or cultivation of 100 plants or less, are punished as misdemeanors. One possible alternative: make first-time sale/intent to sell for one ounce or less a misdemeanor; other sales of less than 10 pounds a wobbler.

Problem (3) Under current law (H&SC 11357A), possession of hashish or concentrated cannabis is a wobbler punishable as an optional felony, and is not eligible for the standard $100 misdemeanor fine. The distinction between hashish and marijuana is obsolescent given recent increases in marijuana potency. Hashish is not distinguished from marijuana under California's medical marijuana law, H&SC 11362.5. In its 2002 budget cut proposals, the LAO estimated that treating hashish as a misdemeanor would save the state $4.8 million.

Solution (3): treat hashish like marijuana, at a ratio of 1 ounce marijuana = 1/4 ounce of concentrated cannabis. This would make possession of <1/4>1/4 oz. a regular misdemeanor, and in no case would it be a felony.

We hope you will consider supporting proposals along these lines. California is spending far too much of its resources imprisoning its citizens for victimless marijuana and drug crimes.

Sincerely,

Dale H. Gieringer,

Coordinator, California NORML
2215-R Market St. @278 San Francisco CA 94114
415-563-5858 ./ FAX 510-849-3974
canorml@igc.org / www.canorml.org

--

----
California NORML (415) 563-5858 // canorml@igc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114

Great Article!

2007-01-08T09:48:00.000-08:00

Keeping cannabis clubs closed

Tri-Valley cities have many patients — and bans

By Brian Foley, STAFF WRITER

Article Last Updated: 01/07/2007 02:49:48 AM PST

Five years ago, Michelle London would burn marijuana into a butter and spread it on toast for her mother, who was dying of lung cancer.

She couldnt smoke it anymore, she recalled. We put it on wheat toast. It worked. It was really a shock. It prolonged my moms life.

Today, London, 34, of Livermore deals with diabetes, which has extended into gastroparesis, or nerve damage in her stomach.

My food stays in there for days and it ferments, she said. I vomit a lot and get sick. ... People think Im healthy or they think Im a drug addict or a prankster or something.

London is one of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Tri-Valley residents who rely on cannabis to relieve their physical and psychological ailments. Their backgrounds are diverse, they suffer for a variety of reasons and many are reluctant to take addictive prescription drugs.

And while they take to the freeways to obtain their medicine, they acknowledge a sharp contrast between the Tri-Valley and the larger cities: the conundrum of providing an illegal drug through dispensaries.

For me, Im younger, so the only burden is the additional wear and tear on the car and the time involved while driving, lifelong Livermore resident George Wilson said. Ive been fighting like hell for something (to open here). Theres got to be a system where everyone is happy.

In the Valley, the latest battle is in Tracy, where the citys lone dispensary, the Valley Wellness Center, is fighting to stay open. City officials insist it doesnt comply with business code standards. An arbitration hearing took place Thursday and a decision is expected in the coming weeks.

The nearest place you have to go is Oakland, possibly Hayward, said attorney James Anthony, the dispensarys defender. Going south, youre talking about Bakersfield. Going north, Sacramento.

Tracy resident Carl Hassell, who was at Thursdays hearing, listed about a half-dozen physical ailments he endures, including chronic arthritis.

I used to drive to Hayward in excruciating pain, he said. The day I found out there was a dispensary in Tracy was the same day they were ordered to close, and I cried. I dont wish anyone in the world the type of pain I live with. And Im 49 years old.

Tracy is only the latest to just say no. Dublin has banned dispensaries. Last year, Pleasanton and Livermore extended moratoriums. And Manteca has indicated they are working on an ordinance to ban pot dispensaries. City officials in the Tri-Valley cite two main concerns they associate with dispensaries: They draw crime and they violate federal law.

However, advocates point to Oaklands four dispensaries as a successful system, born out of Proposition 215, which legalized medicinal marijuana in 1996. Oakland passed regulations in 2004, which structured strict operation guidelines.

I meet with them about once a quarter to talk about any problems, said Barbara Killey, a city administra-tive hearing officer. "In reality, I don't really hear of any problems. There are never any complaints. I think police departments that cite negative activity in Oakland are responding to incidents that happened prior to the 2004 ordinance."

However, dispensary opponents don't have to look that far. Last month in Hayward, the DEA raided a dispensary and discovered about 30 pounds of pot and $200,000 in cash.

"That was one touted as being a successful operation," Livermore Mayor Marhsall Kamena said. "And yet when the DEA raided them, the quantity of money they found made it clear that they weren't working within the boundaries the city established."

Scott Smith, a patient from Manteca, said the raid in Hayward demonstrated that regulations work.

"That's why you need a certain kind of accountability," he said. "If you break the rules, you are not a viable part of the community."

Dispensaries also require a considerable amount of city resources, something the suburbs would rather not undertake.

"They were the first in making medical marijuana dispensaries available to the public," Pleasanton Mayor Jennifer Hosterman said. "Because of that, we've had an opportunity to watch their programs, watch their successes and failures. While everyone recognizes that we need to make it available to those who are sick, the reality is that dispensaries have had problems."

Some of those problems include teenagers acquiring it, Hosterman said.

"For us, it's a balancing act of the needs of the community with the safety of the community," she said. "Besides, the police did identify (the) rather easy availability of medical marijuana in the Tri-Valley. Your caregiver can get it for you. All you need is a letter from your doctor."

Tri-Valley residents can find it difficult to locate a suitable dispensary, London said. Her friend, Andrew Glazier of Livermore, maintains a blog called "Grow Love," featuring dispensary information.

"In the city, people are forced into negotiating with a different political landscape," Glazier said. "Those hills are not just a geographical divide, they are a psychological divide. So there's no real urge to create a club here. For me, it's the traffic backup. I'm sick of sitting on (Interstate) 580."

Last month, advocates celebrated a small victory when Livermore balked at adopting a permanent ordinance. With its moratorium still intact, the City Council instead requested more information on successful operations in Oakland and other cities.

"All of the information that was presented to us by the staff was negative," Councilwoman Marj Leider said. "I hope they investigate whether there is anything positive."

Leider and Councilman Tom Reitter have indicated they would support a dispensary if they had no doubts about their safety.

"There are people who need medical marijuana, especially those who are on chemotherapy," Leider said. "I know people who have used it while on chemotherapy and don't use it anymore. They did not become addicted."

Kamena opposes a dispensary in Livermore, saying he has to consider "the community standards."

"If Livermore continues with its ban, it's continuing the status quo," Kamena said. "We aren't taking medicine away from anybody."

Meanwhile, local patients describe themselves as regular people, concerned about the future of access. Glazier lives with a severe back injury he sustained while working in construction.

"My back is stiff. I go to bed. If I roll over in the middle of the night, which every human being does, I wake up and I can't go back to sleep," he said. "It'll drive you crazy. If I go to a doctor, they might prescribe Vicodin or some heavy drug like that. In other words, they'll give me opiates. Anything that is an analog of an opiate is addictive."

William Dolphin, spokesman for Americans for Safe Access in Oakland, offered a different take on why big cities are more receptive to dispensaries than the Tri-Valley.

"Places like San Francisco, Santa Cruz, even Santa Rosa and Oakland, have had more direct experience — put it more simply, because of AIDS," he said. "There was no question that that was a serious medical emergency that needed to be dealt with. With the suburbs, it's a slightly different situation with different people. However, cancer is something that affects most families across the country. As more people become aware of who medical marijuana patients are, attitudes within communities will change."

Staff writer Brian Foley can be reached at (925) 416-4818

Tri Valley herald article.

2007-01-08T09:47:00.000-08:00

http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_4966787

Keeping cannabis clubs closed

Tri-Valley cities have many patients — and bans

By Brian Foley, STAFF WRITER

Article Last Updated: 01/07/2007 02:49:48 AM PST

Five years ago, Michelle London would burn marijuana into a butter and spread it on toast for her mother, who was dying of lung cancer.

She couldnt smoke it anymore, she recalled. We put it on wheat toast. It worked. It was really a shock. It prolonged my moms life.

Today, London, 34, of Livermore deals with diabetes, which has extended into gastroparesis, or nerve damage in her stomach.

My food stays in there for days and it ferments, she said. I vomit a lot and get sick. ... People think Im healthy or they think Im a drug addict or a prankster or something.

In the Valley, the latest battle is in Tracy, where the citys lone dispensary, the Valley Wellness Center, is fighting to stay open. City officials insist it

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doesnt comply with business code standards. An arbitration hearing took place Thursday and a decision is expected in the coming weeks.