At the Marijuana Policy Project’s Fifteenth Anniversary Gala, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong picked Sarah Palin as the person in politics they would most like to smoke marijuana with.  They seem to believe that the former Republican Governor of Alaska is probably growing her own at home and they believe she sounds like and says things like a stoner.

Politics makes for strange bedfellows, but it is hard to imagine Sarah Palin having the giggles, or having plain old fun of any kind.  She is too obsessed with every move and action being a pose.  She is just too calculating and self centered to ever  just be Sarah.  In fact, I highly doubt she even knows who Sarah Palin is.

Watch the interview with Cheech and Chong to get a laugh.  Heaven knows we all need one after the last week.

Post by BobbiV

Nevada is joining the line up of states that are trying to legalize the sale and use of marijuana by adults twenty one and over.  It seems if lawmakers don’t act on the petition within forty days of its presentation to them,  then the proposition will appear on the ballot in 2012.

Could it be that my home state, which was formerly one of the reddest of the red, is finally coming into the twenty first century?  Living here, I know that the changes that are finally coming to this state have a lot to do with the sour California economy.  We are getting an influx of transplanted residents from the Golden State to the Silver State.  That is okay and will help our economy recover as our population grows and new businesses along with the jobs they bring come to our state.

I can tell you though, the older residents of Nevada resent the transplanted citizens from other states.  They complain loudly that everything is being ruined here by new people coming in. Personally, I think they are just showing their teabagger stripes and they want to keep their small towns very white, very insular, very Christian conservative and very, very Republican.  They feel new comers are threatening their strangle hold on their towns and thereby ruining the state.  In other words, the feel very afraid.  These people are our home grown teabagger and birther population and they are really serious about their fear. They listen to Beck, Rush and Fox.  They buy every bit of the right wingnut spiel.  If anything goes wrong they automatically blame the new people and the liberals not their legislators or conservatives.  It is like a programmed reaction and it is sad to see.

I am sure some Nevada heads will explode because of this petition and if marijuana is made legal in the state, it may be the ‘real Nevadans’ excuse to go to war against the inevitable changes.  But a new day is dawning here and things will change, if the ‘real Nevadans’ want the change or not.  Nevada is a state with lots of problems and an unbelievably high unemployment rate along with a bad economy.  Clinging with a death grip to the old ways that have not worked simply is not an option.  New things must be tried, new jobs created and new revenue sources found.

The legalization of marijuana offers this state a quick and reliable source of new business, jobs and revenue.  Most of the younger and lots of the middle aged and older people in this state already smoke marijuana.  Let’s make it a legal, safe and revenue producing product.

From The Nevada Appeal:

The proposed statute would create a system allowing the cities and counties to license up to 120 retail sales outlets for marijuana statewide. It would also allow the state to license and regulate up to 50 marijuana cultivators.

In addition to hefty licensing fees ranging from $2,500 for a retail license and $5,000 for a grower’s license, he said the wholesalers would pay a $50 per ounce excise tax to the state and retailers would charge sales taxes on the pot they sell.

Key features of the proposal, he said, include a system of packaging allowing law enforcement to track any bad products back to the grower.

Anyone 21 or over would be legally allowed to buy and use marijuana from one of the licensed retail outlets along with paraphernalia. Stores would be prohibited from keeping  records that could be used to identify customers and local governments would be barred from enacting laws to block the legal stores.

Stores and cultivators would be kept at least 500 feet from schools, child care establishments and religious centers. Gas stations, convenience stores, night clubs, casinos and dance halls would be prohibited from becoming pot sellers as would bars and liquor stores.

In addition, no advertising would be allowed.

Adults would be allowed legally to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.

Read the rest here http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20100106/NEWS/100109757/1070&ParentProfile=1058

Come on Nevada – the twenty first century awaits you.

By BobbiV

Sometimes you see something that gives you hope for logic and intelligence to win out over ignorance and fear.  When I watched this video I felt a little bit of that kind of hope.  The whole idea espoused here is almost elegant in its logic.  It was also nice to see a video with people actually considering what they were saying and giving a thoughtful opinion.  It sure beats the spittle throwing screaming of the teabagger and birther types with their knee jerk reactionary spiel.  It also far out classes the Christians and conservatives with their wailing about the end of the world as we know it.

I post this video here for all the readers of luna canus as an end of the year gift and to hopefully inspire some logical thought on the issue of marijuana and the so called drug war.

Let us hope for cooler heads on this subject in the decade to come.  Maybe, if we are lucky, solutions may be in the not too distant future.

In the meantime, I wish you all a very Happy New Year and a safe celebration.  Hello to the second decade of this young century and may it be more sane and prosperous than the first one.  Enjoy!

By a fifty three to forty three percent majority, Americans are willing to legalize marijuana.  However, by a wide margin, they do not favor the legalization of other drugs like cocaine and ecstacy.

This all brings us back to the fact that marijuana should not be considered in the same category as other drugs.  It falls closer to the category of alcohol, but even that is a stretch. In truth, marijuana should really be in the category with garlic, basil, flea bane, catmint and the rest of the herb family.

Yes, marijuana is medicinal.  Just look at the relief Cancer and AIDs patients get from the herb, plus the fact that many studies have proven the plants medicinal uses.

Hemp is an easy to grow replacement for cotton and makes sturdy cloth.  It could save hundreds of trees in our forests just by using  it to make paper.  This would be good for the environment.

The good things about the marijuana herb far outweigh any bad. ‘ Reefer Madness’ was and is just propaganda that mainstream America was suckered into believing.  The American government has known how to use fear for quite some time and ‘Reefer Madness’ proves it.

More and more Americans are backing away from the lies and old wives tales.  They are seeing marijuana for what it is.  An herb that has great medical and commercial value and is easy to grow.  A cash cow crop that small farmers could rely on to keep them in the black and a big tax revenue just waiting to happen.

So when will this herb be legalized?  That is up to the people of the United States.  Far more important things are on the plates of legislators right now.  But, if I had to bet, I’d say legalization is just around the corner and not in the distant future as it once seemed.

See the results of the poll here http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/34651/most_americans_support_legalizing_marijuana

It is time to change the laws regarding marijuana and its uses.

It seems as though the legalization of marijuana and hemp should be on the agenda to help bring our economy back and give relief to sick people who need it.

One of Michigan’s budding industries is truly a growth industry.  While famous for many things like its cars, lakes and militias there are new business opportunities for people in Michigan and other states that many are looking fill.  The risks involved are high as any business venture  but that is not stopping people from being on the cutting edge of new laws and seeking work that could bring financial growth not only for their families but their states as well.

This fast growing industry is just that, growing marijuana for medical use.  Currently a dozen states allow the legal, regulated and TAXED growth of medical marijuana in some form.  Make no mistake though, this is an industry where in many areas the law is still vague and many will seek a way to discourage those who wish to become growers.

Though legal in these states the federal law is still clear, the growth and distribution is against the law on the federal level.  That obstacle was recently removed by President Obama’s order to federal law enforcement agencies to honor state law on the matter.  This however is only a Presidential order and not a change in federal law.  The next President could just as quickly make those who legally grow marijuana in their states criminals once more.  So the warning is there no matter what, you enter this industry at your own risk.

That is not stopping  Americans who are out of work and beyond unemployment help from seeking a way to keep themselves from becoming homeless as well.  Given the small area needed for the growth of plants and the relative ease with which they grow,just about anyone can grow marijuana.  The way the state laws are written, there will not be one major “pot lord” popping up in these states.  The amount of plants you can grow is limited, inspections of your growing area are required and a tax stamp is placed on the product you sell.

So, do not go out and plow up your back yard just yet.  I strongly recommend that you check with your state and county law enforcement and D.A.’s office as to what exactly is required for you to become a grower.   Also, do not advertise what you are doing.  There are many out there who look at legal growers as not only competition but  potential targets.  Street dealers can swoop in and steal the fruits of your labor and gangs can get down right nasty if they think you are cutting in on their turf.  So keep it private and keep it safe.  Also remember that the D.E.A. is just a door knock away.

If you are determined to become a grower though, now would seem to be the time to get into the business.  It is still the ground floor of what may soon be a multi billion dollar industry in the United States.  As the people of our nation begin to realize what the ancient Egyptians and Romans knew, as we return to the preachings of our founding fathers who encouraged farmers to grow marijuana we are beginning to see this drug as a medicine.  From helping cancer and AIDS patients to those with eyesight issues this drug can be used for multiple medical uses.

The other benefit of this plant is the lack of waste product.  Yes the most valuable part of it is its buds but unlike other plants the remainder of the hemp plant can be used as well.  When our country was fighting for independence soldiers uniforms were made from ‘homespun’ cloth.  While all cotton grown in the colonies was sent back to England, we made cloth from the hemp plant.  When there was an excessive tax on paper by the English government, our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution were written on hemp paper.  Hemp was used to make everything from sails for fighting ships to musket wadding.  With the hemp plant there are numerous applications for the entire plant and not just the ‘fruit’.

For several decades 0ur country has spent hundreds of billions of dollars combating marijuana use.  The majority of criminals in our prisons are there for drug possession.  When you combine the revenue our nation could make off of legal growth and the money we could save in law enforcement and prisoner incarceration this issue seems like a no-brainier to me.

As many in Michigan have found out there is money to be made in growing hemp.  There are also risk involved so be forewarned.

To read more about Michigan’s hemp industry click here:

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091112/
NEWS06/911120424/&template=artiphone

Yes, you did read the headline correctly, the first marijuana cafe has opened in the United States.  You would think it would be in Los Angeles, Miami or New York.  But you would be wrong.  It is in Portland, Oregon.

Members pay $25.00 a month to belong to the cafe which only serves medical marijuana.  Members must be NORML members and have an official medical marijuana card.  They don’t pay for the marijuana at the 100 seat capacity cafe and they are served by ‘budtenders.’

From Yahoo News:

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) – The United States’ first marijuana cafe opened on Friday, posing an early test of the Obama administration’s move to relax policing of medical use of the drug.

The Cannabis Cafe in Portland, Oregon, is the first to give certified medical marijuana users a place to get hold of the drug and smoke it — as long as they are out of public view — despite a federal ban.

“This club represents personal freedom, finally, for our members,” said Madeline Martinez, Oregon’s executive director of NORML, a group pushing for marijuana legalization.

“Our plans go beyond serving food and marijuana,” said Martinez. “We hope to have classes, seminars, even a Cannabis Community College, based here to help people learn about growing and other uses for cannabis.”

The cafe — in a two-story building which formerly housed a speak-easy and adult erotic club Rumpspankers — is technically a private club, but is open to any Oregon residents who are NORML members and hold an official medical marijuana card.

Read the rest at the link.

I don’t know if the club will be a success, but it seems that it should be.  How long before you have your very own marijuana cafe in your neighborhood?  More than that how long before Conservative and Republican heads start to explode?

Any bets on just when marijuana and its sister plant agricultural hemp become legal?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091114/ts_nm/us_oregon_potcafe

We need to start to look at making marijuana and hemp legal for many reasons, not the least of which is medicinal.

The American Medical Association would like to have a review of the status of marijuana and its uses for medical purposes.  Hemp and marijuana are both very useful plants and it is beyond time that they each were lifted from restrictions.  Hemp could save thousands of acres of trees just by using it for paper production.  Marijuana has medicinal uses that need to be legalized, especially for cancer patients and those suffering from auto immune disorders.

Unfortunately, as strong and as large as the AMA lobby is, I think they will not get what they want for quite a while.  Eventually marijuana will be made legal at least for medicinal purposes.  Beyond that, I think that the day for legalized marijuana for personal and recreational use is coming.  But it will be quite a while before we see it.

Watch the video about what the AMA is trying to do.

I found this video and decided to post it here to give everyone a chuckle.  Family Guy can really hit the nail on the head and the show is usually very insightful.   This video song about marijuana is up to their usual standards. Sorry to all the Michael Jackson defenders out their.  Please bear in mind this video was done before he died.  Otherwise, it is great fun and you might even find yourself singing along.