Beginning tomorrow, Tuesday Aug 9, the estate of reggae artist Peter Tosh is joining with Amnesty International in a campaign to draw attention to the plight of Mexican human rights defender Lydia Cacho.  Amnesty is offering a free download of Tosh’s anthem, “Get Up Stand Up,” to people taking action in her case at http://bit.ly/standupforlydia. Cacho, a Cancún-based journalist and human rights defender, has received numerous death threats by phone and email, and there are serious fears for her safety.

Tosh–the most outspoken of Jamaica’s reggae pioneers – helped popularize  “Get Up, Stand Up” (co-written with Bob Marley) which has become a standard at Amnesty International rallies and at civil and human rights fundraisers, large and small, around the world. 2011 marks the human rights organization’s 50th anniversary

In the weeks to come, Tosh’s music will also be used in campaigns from Greenpeace International, (now in its 40th year), Students for a Sensible Drug Policy and the Marijuana Policy Project.

Students for a Sensible Drug Policy will use Tosh’s “Legalize It” in efforts to support new federal legalization legislation introduced in Congress in July.

The union of Tosh’s music and  activist campaigns follows the release of the expanded Legacy Edition reissues of Tosh’s seminal solo albums Legalize It (1976) and Equal Rights (1977), both available online.

Willie Nelson’s Teapot Party was formed last November after the singer was arrested for pot possession. The goal of the party is support candidates who think the way the Teappotters to do. Which pretty much means legalizing marijuana.

Just three days ago Willie Nelson endorsed former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson as the GOP nominee; Johnson admits to smoking pot and is pro-legalization. Heck Johnson even attended a bunch of pro- hemp and pot rallies across the country! Non of this “I never inhaled,” namby-pambyism from him.

Nelson now says

I think I will wait and see where he [Johnson] stands on other things. My bad. Sorry. I still think he is a good guy but so is Dennis and if he decided to run I would personally vote for him. If it came down to either him or Gary I’m already committed to Dennis. They both have said they support legal pot…This will blow over and the world moves on. No harm done. We sound like a bunch of pot smokers, that’s all…The more I get into politics the more I realize that I am a guitar player.

The presidential election is more than just a one-issue race. And while the Teapot Party might want to take a page from corporations by backing a candidate form each party, in the end endorsing a candidate is a serious business which requires more than just a a bong’s worth of thought.

[HT: Celeb Stoner]

Border Patrol agents stopped a tour bus carrying Willie Nelson and band members at a checkpoint in Sierra Blanca, Texas, 100 miles from the Mexico border, smelled weed, called the K-9s and found six ounces of wackybaccy on the bus. Nelson posted a $2,500 bond and was released four hours later.

The singer now faces 180 days in jail and $10,00 fine. Local county sheriff says he’d like to have Nelson cook and clean and maybe wear one of theose stripey outfits.

Rolling Stone reports

The arrest doesn’t sit well with Texas attorney Dick DeGuerin, a criminal defense lawyer who recently represented Tom Delay and country singer Billy Joe Shaver, and was lawyer to David Koresh during the 1993 FBI siege of the Branch Davidian ranch outside Waco, Texas. DeGuerin questions the lawfulness of the search, which he says occurred 100 miles from the Mexican border. “It needs to be contested,” he says.

“It’s supposed to be a checkpoint only for aliens, and [agents] overstep their authority all the time,” he says. “I’ve had several cases from that checkpoint and they just use the opportunity to check out anybody they want to. If you have long hair, if you’re driving a van or it looks like you’re from California or you look like a hippie, they do profiling.”

Nelson said in an email to CelebStoner.com:

There’s the Tea Party. How about the Teapot Party? Our motto: We lean a little to the left. Tax it, regulate it and legalize it. And stop the border wars over drugs. Why should the drug lords make all the money? Thousands of lives will be saved.

This is Nelson’s third arrest for pot. I hope he doesn’t pull a celebrity rehab redemption…Nah. Check out the stoners in this video.

With Halloween just around the corner, eldritch tales of bone chilling terror abound. Oh noes! Razors in apples, Liquid-Plumr-laced chocolate, and the worst of all: DRUGS!

Within these stories lies a warning, an ancient morality fable: Nothing is free, and with greed comes a risk. There have only been two cases nationwide from 1958 to 1988 of children dying from eating tainted trick or treats, including one kid who was murdered by his own father with a strychnine-flavored Pixie Stix. Yet the stories continue because they prey upon our fears: Our spawn will be destroyed by (choose one or more):

Well, just in time to scare people about Prop 19, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s office issued a warning about medibles, medical marijuana in candy form. The Los Angeles Times reports:

Investigators have confiscated candies and snacks containing pot from marijuana dispensaries, and they are concerned such items could wind up in children’s trick-or-treat bags, they said Friday in a statement.

Local Los Angeles TV station KTLA–owned by the LA Times parent company Tribune–showed medibles which were clearly decorated with pot leaves and had names like “Kush Candy.”

WTF!? At $10 to $20 a medible snack, who the heck is gonna be giving out those candies?

Officials say pot treats, such as candy bars and lollipops are sold in marijuana dispensaries and could be circulating around. “These lollipops, candy bars, they look pretty legitimate. The problem is if it gets in the wrong hands and a kid licks a lollipop, they get ill or intoxicated,” said Cpt. Ralph Ornelas of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. Some treats look like regular cookies or candy, but they don’t smell normal. Another clue, many of the products are not clearly labeled (my note: they aren’t very commercial looking compared to say Tootsie Pops or Snickers bars).

Both stories did add that the Sheriff’s Department

says it has never received a report of candy or snacks containing pot being distributed to Halloween trick-or-treaters.

This is fear mongering at its finest. Oh how I wish Lee Baca was up for re-election. I would be leading the move to get him out of office!

The warning comes days before Californians vote on Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization measure. Sheriff Lee Baca opposes the proposition and has said he will continue to arrest marijuana growers even if it is approved.

Props to KTLA’s reporter who asked if opposition to Prop 19 had anything to do with the news alert. The on-camera deputy said the sheriff’s department was just concerned about public safety. Note that in this photo, courtesy of the LASD, along wth pot leaf logos, you can clearly see the word

WARNING

on the candy. I’d file this under pot-hating propaganda.

Self-defeating propaganda photo courtesy of LASD

Okay, Snow White’s stepmom handed her a poisoned apple, giving second marriages and witches a bad name, and there was one time on record that pot was passed out to trick or treaters. But that was an accident. Snopes.com reports:

An odd act of randomness occurred in the town of Hercules, California (near San Francisco) in 2000. Some trick-or-treaters came home with little packets of marijuana done up to look like miniature Snickers bars…Police investigated and were satisfied the homeowner had no knowledge of the special contents of certain bars that were handed out that night.

The marijuana packets dressed up to look like Snickers bars had landed in the Hercules dead letter office because whoever had tried to mail a package containing them either didn’t use enough postage or had listed an incorrect address…A postal employee (the mystified homeowner) brought the “candy” home to give out on Halloween, thinking the Snickers bars were, well, Snickers bars.

Had pot been legal, this would never had happened. Maybe some news stories about the high rate of childhood diabetes and obesity would be more on the mark, or a feel good story about alternatives to candy, like pencils, disposable tattoos or maybe even used kids books bought in bulk from thrift shops?

Side note: Since 1983 I have been doing an annual experiment. On the day before Halloween, I go to the market, sometimes with a friend, sometimes alone. The set up varies, but the goal is the same, to see how awake people are. I always make sure to dress as square as possible and cover my tattoos. Glasses add an air of respectability and further the “normal” vibe. Thus costumed as a typical suburban mom and carrying a couple sacks of candy or a bag of apples, I’ll ask a clerk and/or a fellow shopper if they know what aisle the Drano is on. Then I’ll ask where the sewing needles can be found. If I’m with a friend, while standing near some people, I’ll matter of factly ask:

I’ve got the candy, could you snag the Raid and some razor blades?

Or I’ll buy a a couple of the above items along with bags of fun-sized chocolate bars–I mean you can always use single edge blades to cut out decoupage designs, and gods know buttons come loose and hems fall out…

Granted, I’m not expecting the store manager to give me the third degree or be swarmed in the parking lot by the LAPD, but maybe a raised eyebrow, a gasp…Today I was at the airport purposefully holding my arriving guest’s name card inverted, and four people stopped to tell me it was upside down. You’d think–

I may be a bit of a prankster, but what Lee Baca and the LAPD sheriff’s office did with that warning–which only served the sheriff’s own antediluvian agenda–was ridiculous and only furthers a myth which has been repeatedly debunked.

So now everyone who wishes to vote in California has registered, the legislative analyses have been mailed out and it’s time to get down to srs bsns.

Californians, it is really important to vote in this election. So fill out your mail-in ballot and leave it for the postperson if you think you can’t manage to get to the polls (gods know I am fairly langurous and prefer the simple stamp to actually leaving the house.)  There are some important races on the ballot, and if you don’t vote, you really need need to STFU about how things are being run.

Okay, along with the gubernatorial and senate races, there’s Prop 19 which should be enough to get you to the polls, ye slackers, stoners, and sybarites!  Politics make strange and sometimes hot bedfellows: There are non-smokers who are yes supporters;  wake’n'bakers who are no;  medical/215 clients and casual users who have divergent views yea vs nay; and people who are still trying to figure out what “space” with regards to a minor means–and if  passing out pot brownies at a party constitutes “personal use.”

Whether or not you are voting for legalizing pot because you are appalled at the way the war on drugs is being run and want the state to have some cash; or against it because of the patchwork of jurisdictional laws and  potential environment impact of acres of indoor growing  on non-renewable resources, figure out what works for you and go vote.

If Prop 19, which is ahead in the polls passes, United States Attorney General Eric Holder is gonna crack down in Cali. Hopefully medical won’t be impacted. I hear the cry across the land

Oh noes I’m a on list!

Prop 19 will feel the effect of whoever is elected as State Attorney General, a post now held by gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown.

Well,  Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley who is running as the Republican candidate is really opposed to CA’s 215 medical marijuana business, and even more so to Prop 19. Earlier this month, he told an audience at a UC Davis debate:

Untrimmed sun bud and other Humboldt bounties

I was up in Humboldt County again last week and met with county supervisor Mark Lovelace–who led opposition to an industrial logging plan and helped establish the Sunny Brae Community Forest–to talk about Prop 19. Humboldt County has led the way in environmental protection for the redwoods, in senior care and of course in cultivation of their renown outdoor sun-bud varietals and other strains of cannabis grown with less environmental care and concern.

As well explaining to me that the very nature of pot’s illegality serves as a protection for those who large scale grow on public lands in the parks and forests because of the lack of regulation, Lovelace told me that standards need to be set for commercial marijuana production, a statewide baseline

I know what my own standards would be (outdoor-organically grown only; indoor commercial grows like those in houses across the state and even larger ones proposed in Oakland are environmentally destructive, using non-renewable resources and causing irreparable damage) and now the Humboldt Growers Association in anticipation of legalization  are trying to develop a proposal for medical marijuana cultivation that I hope would become the guideline for commercial pot.

HGA board member Joey Burger told the Times-Standard that if the law changes, the board’s proposed ordinance would be easily convertible to a larger marijuana industry.

Of course with those standards comes regulation, permits and fees. Regulations fees and permits are inevitable if Prop 19 passes, but there’s no need to rape the environment for profit. Kinda runs contra to perceived ganja/weed/pot culture values, though it seems the newer generation of growers could give a flying hang. I was told by one official that the the growing kids today have a sense of entitlement bought by underground economy’s income and an overall lack of respect for the land.  What I saw in grow-jerks was the bro-tardness inherent in today’s callow youth, part of the Federlining of America, with more dollars than sense.

Outdoor-organic sun bud, mold resistant cultivar; pesticide free.

The proposed HGA ordinance would

regulate outdoor marijuana grows with canopy areas larger than 100 square feet through a permitting process that lays out requirements for both applicants and farms. According to the proposed ordinance, applicants would have to be at least 21 years old, a resident of the county for at least two years and not have any violent crime convictions on their record.

In order to get a permit under the proposed ordinance, applicants would have to submit to site inspections, estimate water usage and a water source for the garden and provide proof of land ownership. The permits would be up for renewal every year and would allow the cultivation of not more than 40,000 square feet of canopy space

.

The sum total of garden space could not exceed 40,000 square feet (an acre is 43,560 square feet). Permit holders would also be required to provide access to their cultivation sites and water resources to inspectors at all times. While a permit for a 1/4 acre would cost about $20,000, gardens under 100 square feet would not require a permit.

I am curious if the HGA’s proposed ordinance will allow 99 square feet per person per residence, as on farms there may be several people living communally, each growing their own 215 (medical) pot.

The HGA guidelines as reported in the Times-Standard do not go into regulating the organic aspect, and does not address current commercial indoor growing which hopefully can be dealt with through other means. The Humboldt Medical Marijuana Advisory Panel (HuMMAP) has also  presented its draft policy to the county supervisors — which includes graduated licensing fees for cultivation starting at $200 a year for 100 square feet of mature plant canopy, and allows for immediate outside interests to begin large scale growing, if they can afford the $300,000 for 40,00 square feet.

With regard to the HuMMAP proposal, Lovelace told the Times-Standard that the guidelines addressed the issue of growing statewide and reiterated what he had told me:

We’d all like to have some authority at the local level.  But I think we’d like to have a baseline which we can work with.

The County Supervisors who, by the very nature of the jobs seem determined to regulate, tax and control marijuana growing, will no about come up with a plan, hopefully a workable and affordable solution that will benefit farmers, the environment, consumers and California–and possibly by extension the country as more and more states open their minds to medical marijuana and eventual legalization.

Humboldt County, synonymous with high-end marijuana, is at the epicenter of the “sun bud” outdoor-organic grow movement. Recently the attention on  pot and Prop 19 have overshadowed a huge Humboldt County legal battle, a landmark case, the outcome of which has far reaching implications in the healthcare field and for senior citizens.

In 2004 the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office, under Paul Gallegos, filed a complaint against Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc., related corporations and five of the defendants’ skilled nursing facilities in Humboldt County. The complaint alleged that the defendants had intentionally failed to provide sufficient direct nursing care staffing for elderly residents at their skilled nursing facilities.   The Times-Standard reports:

Patients, who [plantiffs' attorneys] contend did not receive showers on a regular basis, walked around with catheters leaking and dragging on the ground, had wounds left untreated and were forced to sit in soiled bed sheets for hours or, in some cases, even days.

Additionally, the suit alleged that Skilled Healthcare Group, which was rather profitably run, with 79 facilities in  seven states, misrepresented to the consuming public–in particular, the elderly residents and their family members — that they were operating the nursing facilities in compliance with applicable laws. California state law mandates that each resident receive 3.2 hours of care daily (the federal minimum is 4.1 hours).

The suit expanded to include over 32,000 patients who lived at various Skilled Healthcare facilities statewide. In July the jury awarded members of the class action suit over $667 million. Skilled Healthcare stock plummeted and the promptly indicated it would file for bankruptcy.

Had the bankruptcy filing happened, there would have been no financial award, so Humboldt County District Attorney Gallegos stepped in and negotiated a settlement for $62.8 million, the largest settlement in the US this year. The settlement also provides for an injunction that ensures that nursing staff levels at the defendants’ facilities will meet or exceed the minimum staffing levels required by California law. When word of the settlement hit, Skilled Healthcare’s stock shares rose from a hideous low.

In addition to providing financial relief for the defendants, and insuring that care will meet state standards, the settlement which Gallegos negotiated may also provide up to  $2 million in funding the Humboldt County District Attorney’s office.

This is a case in which justice was served by both the jury which awarded a substantial verdict and by the District Attorney who negotiated an outcome for the greater good of all concerned.  There was no reason to drive Skilled Healthcare into bankruptcy, which would have served no benefit for their clients, their employees, their stockholders, and the communities they serve. Gallegos’ injunction insures that the clients and communities will now be served to the letter of the law; no jobs are lost–in fact, the settlement will increase nursing staff hours; and district attorneys’ offices are funded to protect their seniors from other predatory abuses. This is how justice should be done.

Some folks in the town Santa Cruz, California have a new product at their medical marijuana collective: Pot ice cream, a pint of which is the equivalent of 2 to 4 doses of weed and costs $15. But then what do you eat when you get the munchies?

Based on the number of 420 doctors at HempCon, and the collectives trying to sign me up, it seems like MMJ is here to stay.

My weekend got kind of hijacked by HempCon at Los Angeles Convention Center. Wow. It was all there: paraphernalia; collectives offering sign-up bonuses; vendors displaying pot edibles, marijuana smoothies and “Pineapple Express” sodas; medical marijuana doctors giving exams next to psychics, lawyers and accountants; security companies and cannabis merchandising schools with their brochures.

And then there was the publicly traded Medical Marijuana, Inc which just launched its multilevel marketing company that sells hemp health care products. And has penny stocks for sale. The twenty-year old kid at the booth, purple bandana around his blond hair, energetically told me how he had bought a lot stock for his IRA and said that once upon a time Microsoft was at 12 cents a share. Really? Wow.

I checked the Medical Marijuana Inc.’s ticker later and the pink sheet/penny stock has fluctuated between 42 cents and 5 cents since its initial offering in April 2009. Bandana guy tried to get me to sign up for the multi-level marketing company and get in on the ground floor. I declined. Same with buying the stock. Any stock that shows that much fluctuation in short period of time, even it’s cents and not dollars kinda makes me nervous.

Medical Marijuana, Inc, which used to be called Club Vivanet, was one of several companies offering business solutions for medical marijuana collectives, like point-of-sales records, tax software, ID verification, etc. The company’s founder, Bruce Perlowin is a big Yes on 19 backer.

It was really trippy was running into a friend of mine, a long time AARP member who I hadn’t seen in years. Not only is he married now, but he has two hydroponic medical grow rooms which supply a couple local dispensaries and private delivery clients. It’s his retirement. He is pro-Prop 19 because a bust for pot four decades ago really altered his life’s path. Everyone I spoke to at HempCon is pro-legalization, but the majority were against 19, fearing corporations would overtake the growing and distribution and thus create trust and monopolies. Other people were worried about a patchwork of local regulations.

The nice sales engineer from AgraTech, the  company that builds and designs greenhouses for major seed companies and colleges, explained about his product. They can build greenhouses any size, and he told me Ball Seed Company, which operates facilities in 20 countries is readying greenhouses t0 sell pot seedlings. Wow.  But I guess, being a multi-million dollar company, they aren’t too worried about having to pay a local city regulatory fee for growing, like the proposed ones in Oakland which would cost $211,000.

Sadly though with all the fans, swamp coolers, timers and stuff you can’t use solar energy to run a very big greenhouse at all. There are at least  four planned for Oakland if Prop 19 passes on a :

7.4-acre warehouse complex near the Oakland Coliseum, covering 172,000 square feet over four buildings.

Wow. Such a facility would run fans 24-hours a day, using indoor grow lights on timers, and produce three crops a year. Weedguru.com says:

To produce killer bud you will need about 7,000 lumens per sq ft in your grow room. So, in a 5sq ft grow room you would need 35,000 total lumens (7,000 * 5 = 35,000) to reach the optimum 7,000 lumens per sq ft.

To get 35,000 lumens you would need:

# Of lights needed /Type of light/ Total watts /Equals
13.7/ 150w/ incandescent/ 2,058 watts/ 35,000 lumens
11.6/ 150w/ Halogens/ 1750 watts/ 35,000 lumens
3.8/150w Fluorescents 583 watts /35,000 lumens
3.3/ 150w/ Compact Fluorescents/ 500watts/ 35,000 lumens
2.5/ 150w/ Metal Halide/ 389 watts/ 35,000 lumens
2.1/150w/HPS/ 327/ 35,000 lumens

One growhouse in Humboldt was busted when its electrical bill showed 10,000 kilowatt hours per month usage. Yikes! That’s a lot of electricity!

But heck if you use the Freak-1-C NRG Growth Enhancer, maybe you won’t need all those lights. According to brochure, frequencies programmed into the Freak-1-C-NRG products, which look like holograms but they call “frequency fertilizers”:

emit a quantum alchemical force field radiating life-giving elixirs beneficial for plants, humans and animals.

It’s suggest that you

place these energy stations under your plants for optimal yields in half the time.

Oh and salesman Thunder told me that

they capture fourth dimensional energy in the three-dimensional form of a hologram.

Willie Nelson recites hemp facts and advocates for legalization.