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30
Lady Laughter
Lily Tomlin’s decades-long career never goes out of style On the cover: Photo by Jenny Risher
features
departments
16 TOP CROP The latest harvest forecast is simply golden.
10 letter from the editor It’s a very green time of the year.
18 PERFECT FIT How to find the right strain for the right symptoms.
12 NEWS NUGGETS Cannabis makes headlines here, there, everywhere—and we give you the scoop—PLUS our latest By the Numbers
22 AB-NORML? Something is very, very wrong with the leadership of America’s oldest legalization group, critics say. 24 OPERA MEN Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey dust off Quadrophenia!
28 Strain & Edible Reviews Our ever-popular sampling of amazing strains and edibles currently provided by your friendly neighborhood dispensary. 34 DESTINATION UNKNOWN From sandless beaches to Russian tourists— Mũi Né is one quirky destination. 36 PROFILES IN COURAGE Our latest feature provides insight into the life—and struggle—of a medical marijuana patient near you.
49
Our wrap-up of some of the Bay Area’s hellishly cool events for the spookiest night of the year.
38 COOL STUFF From the Bootube to Dab Essentials’ Domeless Titanium Nails, if it’s a cutting-edge product or cool lifestyle gear, we’re all over it. 40 RECIPES Leave the candy for the kids— this Halloween-themed menu is a real treat! 44 SHOOTING GALLERY Here are the green-friendly things we saw you doing around town.
46 | Entertainment Reviews 51 | Guide to Advertisers 52 | News of the Weird 6 CULTURE • OCTOBER 2012
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Letter from the Editor iREADCULTURE.com
Roberto C. Hernandez Editor-In-Chief
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Year of the Green Harvest is upon us. More states are preparing to join our compassionate family. And it’s an election year. Is it me or is this shaping up to be a year full of potential? Take a look around: our medical marijuana lifestyle and community is thriving. All across this great nation there is movement forward, progress being made and political advancement. Let’s start with harvest. With a fresh batch of crops flooding your local access points and collectives, there are a whole host of new strains available to patients and their needs. Check out David Down’s story in this month’s issue about the latest discoveries being made about what specific strains can be used to treat a specific medical condition. For patients, this type of information is important—if not critical. On the legislative front, the situation is no less different. Voters in Massachusetts will be asked to approve the legalization of cannabis for medical use. The situation’s the same in Arkansas. Kentucky is thinking about becoming an MMJ state. Like I said, our lifestyle is thriving. This November voters will be asked to choose their political leaders. Sure, Obama and Romney
are keeping tight-lipped about MMJ—and Paul Ryan has mastered the art of flip-flopping on this issue—but its refreshing to see the candidates from two other major parties (Jill Stein of the Green Party of the United States and Gary Johnson with the Libertarian Party) speaking candidly and earnestly about the importance of medical marijuana rights. In the halls of Congress, no less than four bills designed to protect patients as well as our compassionate industry are being considered Two states—Colorado and Washington—will have legalization measures on the November ballot. Our lifestyle continues to be embraced by the mainstream. Case in point: Lily Tomlin—the subject of this issue’s cover story—is starring in a new Reba McEntire show for ABC, playing a mother who uses medical cannabis. Yes, it’s a challenge—our community continues to be afflicted with cease-and-desist letters and pigheaded law enforcement action. But if you read the signs like I do, it’s clear that while we might lose a battle here and there . . . we are most assuredly winning the war. Medical marijuana is here to stay. The rest of the country is just catching up. c
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OCTOBER 2012 • CULTURE 11
News Nuggets THE STATE
agents forced the outlet’s landlord to evict it from its San Pueblo Avenue location in May. The dispensary now plans to reopen at a larger facility just three blocks away on the same street. BPG employees say the new venue is located more than 1,000 feet away from the nearest school.
Property owner wants feds to shut down Harborside Eradication program mostly leaves Triangle alone
Mendocino and Humboldt counties’ outdoor cannabis growers may have gotten a bit of a break this year: the federal government’s annual marijuana-eradication campaign so far has largely left the Emerald Triangle alone. Every summer, hundreds of law-enforcement officers from multiple federal agencies fan through the public forests of California and elsewhere, seizing and destroying hundreds of thousands of cannabis plants. This year’s campaign, called Operation Mountain Sweep, began July 1, and according to the SF Weekly, has swept up about 23,000 plants in the Triangle—less than 5 percent of the entire 2012 catch. The Weekly speculates that major wildfires in the Mendocino National Forest may have helped dissuade eradication crews from focusing too much on the region this year.
Celebrated dispensary to get new lease on life
Just months after being forced to shut down under pressure from the federal government, one of the Bay Area’s largest medical cannabis dispensaries is set to reopen just down the street from its former Berkeley location. Berkeley Patients Group was one of only three medical cannabis shops permitted to operate in the city when federal 12 CULTURE • OCTOBER 2012
Claiming they had no idea pot dispensaries were a legal gray area when they rented space to the largest dispensary in the state, the property owners of Harborside Health Center’s San Jose location have asked a federal judge to stop the outlet from operating on the premises. Concourse Business Center’s ignorance of the legitimacy of dispensaries was so complete, the commercial property owner claimed in lawsuits filed in a federal court last month, it wasn’t until it learned the federal government could seize its property that it gave Harborside 30 days to stop operating at the location. Now, the property owner is seeking a federal court order preventing Harborside from engaging in any illegal activities there. For its part, Harborside states on its website that it “has nothing to be ashamed of” and will fight the eviction using available resources.
THE NATION VP candidate Ryan’s big pot day
Both presidential candidates have carefully avoided the subject of marijuana legalization this election season, but for one glorious day in September, we at least got to hear where one vice-presidential challenger stood on the issue—in fact, we heard all three of his stances.
Republican VP candidate Paul Ryan announced his first stance when he told Colorado radio station KRDO that he believed medical marijuana legalization was a matter for the states to decide. The statement represented not only a break with Ryan’s boss, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who doesn’t believe in medical marijuana, but also a 180-degree flip by Ryan himself. Just a few months ago, he voted against giving states the right to decide on medical cannabis legalization. Or at least the statement would have represented all that, had Ryan’s staffers not
retracted the statement just a few hours later, saying the candidate had misspoken, and provided Ryan’s third policy position of the month on the subject: Apparently, the congressman does not believe marijuana should be legal under any circumstances.
Statewide legalization measures leading in polls
November is set to go down as one of the greenest months in U.S. history, as several major statewide cannabis measures facing American voters enjoy big leads going into the elections. In Washington, 57 percent of registered voters surveyed said they plan to vote yes on Initiative-502,
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which would regulate the production and use of small amounts of cannabis for recreational purposes. Some 47 percent of likely voters in Colorado say they’ll support the legalization bill Amendment 64, compared to 38 percent opposed. Finally, Question 3, which would bring medical marijuana to Massachusetts, has gathered the support of 58 percent of likely voters, with just 27 percent opposed. In Montana, a referendum on a 2011 law many see as a de facto repeal of the state’s medical marijuana program appears headed to go down on the side of pro-compassionate use forces. The law registered only 46-percent support among Montana voters in the latest poll.
THE WORLD Major cannabis rally squashed in Germany
What could have been the largest pro-cannabis public demonstration in Germany’s long history was shut down
last month by a local government agency claiming the event would have been “of a commercial nature.” The Cologne demonstration and parade had been planned for weeks and involved multiple cannabis advocacy groups, including the procompassionate-use organization Cannabis Als Medizin. But a local permitting council squashed the plan, saying that by listing major business sponsors on their websites, organizers had turned the event from political to commercial in nature. Several organizers told reporters they believe the council’s decision was made purely to silence unpopular speech.
By the Numbers
1
Amount of money (in dollars) Harborside Health Center Executive Director Steve DeAngelo says the Oakland dispensary makes every year: 22 million (Source: The Huffington Post).
2
Percentage of Harborside Health Center’s annual earnings that DeAngelo says goes directly back into the community: 100 (Source: The Huffington Post).
3
Estimated number of regular patients of San Francisco’s Divinity Tree Patients Wellness Cooperative before it was shut down by the feds: 7,000 (Source: CNNMoney.com).
4
Estimated number of cannabis plants seized in Mendocino County during this
summer’s federal eradication campaign: 23,000 (Source: U.S. Justice Department).
caregiver can have under state law passed last year: 3 (Source: Montana Department of Public Health).
5
Percentage of plants seized in the U.S. during this summer’s federal eradication campaign that were from Mendocino County: 4.7 (Source: SF Weekly).
10
Ratio of Americans older than 11 who admit to having used cannabis in the previous year: 1 in 10 (Source: Christian Science Monitor).
6
Number of dispensaries that would be allowed in Massachusetts should voters there approve Question 3 in November: 35 (Source: Telegram.com).
11
Number of Americans who admit to having used cannabis at least once in their lifetimes: 100 million (Source: Christian Science Monitor).
7
12
Number of Montana residents registered with the state as medical cannabis patients as of spring 2011: 30,000 (Source: New England Cable News).
Number of U.S. citizens who have been cited or arrested since 1970 for violating marijuana law: 21 million (Source: Christian Science Monitor).
13
Number of hours in September that GOP vicepresidential candidate Paul Ryan was on record as supporting cannabis legalization before he reversed his position: 18 (Source: Westword.com).
8
Number of Montana residents registered with the state as medical cannabis providers as of spring 2011: 4,800 (Source: New England Cable News).
9
Maximum number of patients a Montana medical cannabis
Home Grown Author Night #2 If you’re into meetings of the minds, then mark down Oct. 13 on your calendars for that’s when the brains of three noted authors will be made available for the public’s picking as part of Oaksterdam University’s Home Grown Author Night series. Interested in putting an end to the War on Drugs? Listen to what Too High to Fail writer Doug Fine has to say—his book was reviewed by prominent pro-pot political yuckster Bill Maher. If you want to get all scientific on everything (it is medical marijuana after all . . .), Clint Werner, the cerebellum behind Marijuana Gateway to Health, will also be on hand to share his meticulous research and carefully distilled information about how cannabis can stave off cancer and Alzheimer’s. Still not enough reason to lure you to a gathering of mere-mortal writers? Martin Lee—author of Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana—Medical, Recreational and Scientific— will offer perspective and context to the current landscape we all must navigate. Hear what these scribes have to say. Open up your head. Use the knowledge.
IF YOU GO
What: Home Grown Author Night #2. When/Where: Oct. 13 at Oaksterdam University, 1600 Broadway Ave., Oakland. Info: Doors open at 5pm. Free.
OCTOBER 2012 • CULTURE 15
FLASH
Bumper
Crop The 2012 Outdoor Medical Cannabis Forecast: Golden {By David Downs}
We found one good thing about the end of summer: A bumper crop of exquisite, outdoor medical cannabis comes to market this month in California, offering a cornucopia of new, highly therapeutic hybrid strains, as well as decades-old classics. The year-old federal on crackdown marijuana businesses hasn’t dissuaded farmers, so much as financed them, sources say. In a perverse form of Farm Aid, federal enforcement is creating a “risk premium” that is stalling the once-free-falling price of outdoor. “People are planting more (lots more) but presumably the closure of hundreds of dispensaries has dried up pot elsewhere because prices are higher than anyone has seen in a while,” says Humboldt resident Kym Kemp, a marijuana expert and author of blog Redheaded Blackbelt. “I’m hearing $2,200 to $2,400 [per pound] for outdoor.” “Bidding wars for pot make the growers happy,” she wrote us. “Everyone is beaming about how prices were up.” “[Outdoor farming is] increasing every year, substantially,” says Charley Custer, operator of Tea House Collective, a Humboldt collective of expert, organic medical marijuana gardeners. Yet prices aren’t collapsing, and “lots of small producers are being forced to compete like never before,” he says. The upside, of course: discerning California patients with access to quality dispensaries can get a crack at literally the best sun-kissed cannabis on the planet, ever.
PERFECT WEATHER
In stark contrast to a soggy, moldy 2011, the weather this growing season has been hot, dry, and divine, NorCal growers report. “The weather is lovely,” Kemp says. “Nothing but sunshine predicted through the next 10 days and hopefully that lasts through the first weeks of October.” Planted in the spring and harvested before the first fall rains, the all-female bushes can grow to 15 feet tall before workers chop ’em down mid-September through
16 CULTURE • OCTOBER 2012
early October. Americans consume anywhere from 2,500 to 5,000 metric tons of the plant each year, and California leads in domestic production of indoor and outdoor. Custer said harvest time is a “a big economic event,” in the Emerald Triangle. As the feds sweep public lands for commercial pot plantations, the triangle also nurtures a legal, high-grade medical garden scene that ships to dispensaries statewide. Clubs down south used to sell only indoor, but the best outdoor
growers have succeeded at pushing organic “sungrown” cannabis as a more wholesome and Earthfriendly alternative to indoor. For one, indoor grows consume an estimated $500 million in electricity each year, researchers estimate. And lamps can’t replace the sun, many say. “There’s absolutely no question that cannabis grown in full sun in good organic soil is better-tasting, lasts longer, smells better, has a more full effect than lamp-grown cannabis. I don’t know anybody who has really been a long-term cannabis
user who thinks otherwise,” says Steve DeAngelo, operator of Harborside Health Center in Oakland.
HIGHLY THERAPEUTIC
Name brands like Sour Diesel, OG Kush and Grand Daddy Purple, as well as new, highly therapeutic strains rich in cannabidiol (CBD)— the second-most common cannabinoid in the plant—will dominate this year’s crop, DeAngelo says. “High CBDs are becoming more sought after, but the regular strains—Super Silver Haze, OG Kush, White Widow, Blue Dream, Trainwreck are still standards,” Kemp writes. “TKO and Bright lights are a local favorite . . . I did just see an absolutely beautiful Coconut Kush that had sativa leaves but matured early.” Harvest season is also great chance for patients to sample exotic sativas that too long to flower and grow too big for a closet operation. “They don’t make any financial sense to grow indoors, but they come to us during harvest,” Harborside’s Steve DeAngelo says. NorCal and SoCal will experience harvest a bit differently it seems. Harvest is traditionally a downtime for dispensaries in NorCal, as cheap, homegrown dampens demand for premium club strains. c
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Just
What the
Doctor {By David Downs}
Ordered
FLASH
What Specific Strains of Marijuana are Right for my Symptoms?
What’s in a strain name?
Would Blue Dream by any other name smell just as sweet? More and more people are turning to medical marijuana for a natural alternative to pain medications, insomnia pills and other mainstream drugs with dangerous side-effects. While there is bulletproof scientific literature on the safety and efficacy of the active molecules in cannabis, little is known about which specific strains of cannabis might be right for what ailment. For the first time, patient surveys of all sorts have begun putting together the pieces. Whether dispensary questionnaires, cannabis competition surveys or consumer data left on sites like Leafly.com—some broad trends in strain indications are starting to emerge and complement what has been mostly anecdotal information.
CANNABINOIDS
According to licensed Berkeley physician Frank Lucido, two molecules—THC and CBD—have been proven to relieve a number of broad symptoms. According to a 2005 research review by Dr Ethan Russo, THC is a pain reliever, muscle relaxant and anti-inflammatory, while CBD has anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic effects as well as anti-inflammatory and immuno-modulatory properties. “Everything else is anecdotal,” Lucido says. That’s partially true because the federal government blocks any research into the medical effects of smoked cannabis on humans. Even if the feds did allow it, marijuana has 70 different cannabinoids in it, plus varying levels of cannabinoid acids and terpenes (aromatic oils).
18 CULTURE • OCTOBER 2012
Also, every cannabis plant contains varying levels of cannabinoids. According to lab tests, the amount and ratio of cannabinoids in any given plant depends on its genetics (or strain) as well as how it was grown, processed and stored. THC levels can be anywhere from seven to 21 percent of the dry weight of medical grade cannabis, while CBD levels amount to anywhere from 0.1 percent to up to 16 percent of dry weight. It’s cannabis’ intense variability that is responsible for its massive list of indications, but also responsible for how little we know about what strains are good for what. Everything might be anecdotal, but the anecdotes are strong.
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SATIVA VS. INDICA
According to Rick Pfrommer, manager at Harborside Health Center in Oakland, medical marijuana strains can be divided into two loose categories, indicas and sativas. Sativas generally have a more energetic, cerebral effect, while indicas tend to create more lethargy and pain relief in the body. According to Dr. Kymron deCesare, laboratory manager for the UC Davis Department of Chemistry and laboratory manager at Halent Laboratories, calling something “sativa” vs. “indica” or even using its strain name is an “unreliable indicator” of its effectiveness on a certain ailment. There’s no clear line dividing sativa from indica— most plants are hybrids now— and strain names can be changed or misrepresented. Each person’s body may be different, too, Pfrommer says. “Some people get the complete opposite effects,” he says. That said, strong, solid indicas like Pure Afghan, Afgooey and Grape Ape are often recommended for neuropathic pain and insomnia. Also some sativas in the Jack Herer line have also been reported to treat back pain. “[Generally], many people find sativas to help with depression,” Pfrommer says. They are good for a mood lift before creative work.
DRILLING DOWN
Pain, insomnia and tension are the top three reasons why patients seek medical cannabis, according to a 2006 RAND survey. Let’s take a look at strains right for each one: • Halent is really bullish on strains high in CBD to treat neuropathic pain, and that includes Harlequin, Sour Tsunami, and Cannatonic. For musculo-skeletal pain, arthritis pain and age-related pain, Halent recommends juicing those same raw plants for their acids, as well as finding strains that test high in the terpene myrcene, b-caryophyllene and linalool. • For insomnia, patients want to stay away from pure sativas like Green Crack and Trainwreck, which can be racy and cause an elevated pulse. Stick with indicas, and indicadominant hybrids like Blackberry Kush, Blueberry, and King Louis Kush.
• For tension, stress and anxiety: hybrids tend to be the way people are going. Try blockbusters like OG Kush, Blue Dream and Jack Herer for starters. • Halent reports that patients suffering from ADD and ADHD are using high doses of THC to get a clear-headed, project-oriented mindset. Strains like Super Silver Haze can be just what the doctor ordered. Conversely, some patients can be made too anxious by ingesting high levels of THC, which can cause rapid heart rate, emotional hyper anxiety, dizziness and sometimes severe vomiting. Strains high in CBD like Harlequin can actually
bring down a patient who has consumed too much THC, by reducing the psychoactivity of THC in the body and increasing its duration. Halent also recommends strains high in THC-V, which is found mainly in South African sativas like Pineapple Purps and Durban Poison, because THC-V “effectively switches off the panic/ fight-flight effect in the brain . . . [making it] highly effective in the treatment of PTSD.” Scientists have also learned that myrcene—a terpene found in mango, Thai basil, lemongrass and beer hops—“speeds absorption of cannabinoids across the blood brain barrier, and increases the maximum concentration at receptors,” deCesare writes. You can get more medicated, quicker, by eating a whole ripe mango while eating cannabis or 45 minutes prior to inhaling it. c
WARNING People with a family or personal history of schizophrenia should stay away from cannabinoids, as they can precipitate a psychotic break in vulnerable individuals. Women trying to conceive, as well as juveniles should also avoid the plant, as it can affect conception and the developing brain. 20 CULTURE • OCTOBER 2012
OCTOBER 2012 • CULTURE 21
BUZZ
Say what you want about the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, it’s the first—and, for most of its existence, the only— name in cannabis legalization advocacy. Founded in 1970 by attorney Keith Stroup, the organization has over the years become synonymous with pot policy reform, so much so that Americans who know next to nothing about cannabis or cannabis politics know about NORML and its mission. But much has changed in the nearly 43 years since NORML came into being, starting with NORML itself. The little nonprofit has grown into a massive network of 135 chapters, an army of committed volunteers and more than 450 lawyers—all theoretically working toward the Holy Grail of full marijuana legalization. Stroup remains on board, ostensibly as legal counsel but really as the voice behind the group’s executive director, Allen St. Pierre. NORML has a 16-member governing board with a new chairman, Tennessee native Paul Kuhn. But when people talk of the organization’s leadership, they’re talking about Stroup and St. Pierre. So it’s no coincidence that now, with states like Colorado poised to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for the first time since 1937, serious marijuana advocates are asking serious questions about the leadership, effectiveness and even the relevancy of NORML in the 21st century. These questions aren’t exactly new—NORML has always had its critics. But what’s different is who’s asking them—highly respected civil rights activists, lawyers on NORML’s Legal Committee and even members of NORML’s own board—and the way they’re being asked: publicly. 22 CULTURE • OCTOBER 2012
Changing Landscape
Other changes have taken place since NORML set up shop, not the least of which being the rise of medical marijuana. The advent of medical cannabis coincided with the appearance of other big players on the legalization stage. Some—like the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) and Americans for Safe Access (ASA)—are focused exclusively on cannabis reform, and others—like the Drug Policy Alliance and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition—are committed to lifting prohibitions against all drugs. Suddenly, NORML and its companion nonprofit, the NORML Foundation, were no longer the only game in town. And as the landscape changed, questions arose about NORML—including criticisms aimed squarely at Stroup and St. Pierre, who’s served as NORML’s executive director for the past seven years. Fed up with what they perceive as damaging blunders on St. Pierre’s part and infuriated by what they describe as an arrogant leadership style intolerant of dissent, critics are now openly criticizing the leaders’ performance. Some are flat-out asking for St. Pierre to step down or be removed. “NORML is an organization that needs reform . . . It’s not functioning as it should, and hasn’t for a long time,” says Douglas Hiatt, a longtime cannabis legalization activist, criminal defense attorney and, for nearly a decade, a member of NORML’s Legal Committee. Hiatt’s falling out with NORML’s leadership is intimately tied to the NORML board’s endorsement of Initiative-502, a Washington state cannabis legalization measure that goes before voters in No-
vember and that Hiatt and many other activists vehemently oppose. If it passes, Washington cannabis users will finally be able to legally consume small quantities of the drug, sales of which would be taxed by the state. Critics of the initiative describe it as a colossal sellout on the part of NORML, a “Machiavellian masterpiece” designed to appeal to pot-averse soccer moms but which leaves hemp supporters and marijuana growers out to dry and could expose thousands of users to felony DUID (Driving Under the Influence of Drugs) arrest through a provision allowing drivers to be blood-tested for THC. Jeffrey Steinborn, a NORML board member and criminal defense attorney based in Seattle, describes I-502 as “a tragedy.” But if I-502 was such a bad initiative, then why did the NORML board vote to endorse it?
Reform Fatigue
“My position is not popular among all the board members at NORML,” Steinborn says. “Along with our endorsement, we all agreed we would publish a statement listing our concerns over the law. Unfortunately, that statement of our concerns never got out. I have no idea why not. “I think there is something going on in the movement that I would call ‘reform fatigue’ . . . I think our reformers have been working so long, they’ve just kind of given up and were ready to get on the first train they thought would take them to their destination, regardless of how many people are ground up under the wheels of that train.” There’s theory for why NORML en-
dorsed I-502. In 2010, Sensible Washington was poised to place its own legalization measure—Initiative 1068—on the ballot. Co-written by Hiatt, Steinborn and others, the measure would have removed state criminal penalties on marijuana possession, use and cultivation, and contained none of the DUID provisions. According to Hiatt, NORML switched support from I-1068 to I-502 after that measure got strong financial backing from the initiative’s strongest backer—travel writer and TV personality Rick Steves. This behind-the-scenes hardball wasn’t just a low act on the part of the I-502 campaign, he says. It was NORML selling out the marijuana community—literally selling out, he says, because NORML switched its support after receiving Steves’ donation. That donation, Hiatt and others say, represented a bribe in all but name.
The Last Straw
But while critics of NORML were angered by the board’s endorsement of I-502 and other internal matters, it was St. Pierre’s statements earlier this year regarding marijuana that sent them howling for his head. To insiders, St. Pierre’s disdain for what he sees as the excesses of the compassionateuse industry was no secret. But to the average marijuana user, the column that ran Jan. 20 in Celebstoner.com under St. Pierre’s name was a stunning revelation. “Defending the ‘medical’ cannabis industry is so yesterday,” the column began. “Why not acknowledge the political and legal farce it is and focus on the real problem at hand: ending cannabis prohibition?” St. Pierre went on to claim the medical marijuana industry opposes cannabis legalization and was a sham, and accused the MMJ community of being “intellectually dishonest.” For medical cannabis patients, caregivers and providers, the Celebstoner column was a kick in the gut—considering the federal government essentially makes the same accusations against the
MMJ industry. For those whose dissatisfaction with St. Pierre was already at the breaking point, it was the final straw. “What concerns me more than anything is the idiotic remarks by Allen St. Pierre, in which he says [that] medical pot was a sham,” says Dennis Roberts, a highly respected criminal and civil-rights attorney and a longtime NORML Legal Committee (NLC) member most famous for having helped defend the Chicago 7 and Angela Davis. “It was really so stupid, so shortsighted and offensive. A lot of people [have said] to me, ‘What’s the matter with NORML? I won’t give them a penny of my money now.’” None of this surprises Don E. Wirtshafter, a former NORML board member and Ohio legalization advocate who moderated the I-502 debate at Hempfest in which Stroup participated. “NORML, as an organization, has created 10 times more refugees than it has numbers . . . Some of the NORML refugees started the Marijuana Policy Project,” he says. “Rob Kampia and Chuck Thomas walked out of NORML and started the MPP because they couldn’t stand the lack of organization.” In fact, Kampia and Thomas were fired from NORML in 1995 by director Richard Cowan after calling for institutional changes.
“Being Dishonest”
St. Pierre responded to criticisms against him and NORML by suggesting they were isolated complaints from troublemakers. Even the Celebstoner column was the work of troublemakers, he says. “I didn’t speak to the media,” he says. “What you’re quoting from was from the list-serve, which was sent to Celebstoner by a dissident Legal Committee member who’s since resigned . . . I didn’t write it for Celebstoner. I didn’t edit it. I had nothing to do with it.” Warren Edson, a board member of Colorado NORML—the Legal Committee St. Pierre refered
to—and a guiding force behind that state’s medical marijuana law, resigned—along with his wife, Georgia and Mile High NORML director Scott Greene—from the organization in protest of St. Pierre’s missive. But St. Pierre did write it, and when asked about the views stated in it on the medical marijuana industry, the director was no shrinking violet. Simply put, the executive director of NORML and the NORML Foundation fundamentally agrees with the federal government’s position on medical marijuana: Compassionateuse laws are being subverted by pot profiteers for their personal enrichment, the very notion of dispensaries as medicinal outlets is a joke, selling cannabis for medical or any other purposes is illegal and anyone who gets busted for trafficking in medical marijuana has only themselves to blame. “For anyone to go and say, ‘I have the ability to sell marijuana to anyone for money,’ and to
at the Medical Cannabis Cup was called ‘God’s Pussy,’ that’s when I stopped believing in the honesty of medical cannabis.” NORML founder Stroup, while more guarded in his remarks, fundamentally agreed with St. Pierre. “Again, I’m glad we continue to support medical-marijuana use all across the country, but I think it’s important that we not try to game the system and act like healthy people are sick in order to get pot.” Nonetheless, Stroup and St. Pierre’s views on medical cannabis didn’t stop NORML from entering into a trade agreement last year with WeedMaps, a company and website that primarily connects medical marijuana patients with medical marijuana providers. In return for WeedMaps’ updating NORML’s website, the nonprofit runs a banner ad of the for-profit company’s various online entities at the bottom of NORML’s home page. Asked about the incongruity of NORML financially benefiting
Defending the ‘medical’ cannabis industry is so yesterday
from the very industry its founder and executive director find so troubling, Paul Kuhn, the nonprofit’s new board chairman, says he sees no conflict. “[St. Pierre’s] statement was not against profiteers, or, if it was, it was about profiteers that game the system,” Kuhn says. Our agreement with WeedMaps was reached a long time ago, well before this year. It really consisted of needing our website updated, and the folks at WeedMaps were offering the work. We could not afford it. “I would hope marijuana smokers want NORML and any other organization to take the money that’s available to help advance the cause,” he adds. “The sources of those funds are just logically going to be from the businesses in the same movement.” c
—NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre
extend that to say what they did was a compassionate act, that they were a caregiver, just stretches the definition of the word to the limits of credulity,” St. Pierre says, “It’s the difference between intellectual honesty and being dishonest,” he adds. “When the name of the winning medicine
For the full story, go to www.ireadculture.com.
OCTOBER 2012 • CULTURE 23
TUNES
Fantastic Four
Regarding the Mod scene, Townshend reflects on The Who’s connection to the British youth subculture it was so strongly attached to in the early days: “Mod was over in the South of England by the spring of 1965, and in a sense the band had changed, too. We were less pure, less an R&B band and becoming more of a singles-oriented pop band. So there is an irony in the fact that, when I decided we needed to reconnect with that vitally important and colorful period of our career, and our lives as young men trying to pursue a dream of becoming famous and respected, I realized I would need a double album [Quadrophenia]. I’m pleased to hear about artists who uphold the album as an art-form.”
The Grand Ole
Rock Opera Classic rock forefathers The Who revisit the album that made music history {By David Jenison} The Who’s members are widely considered the Fathers of the Rock Opera, so with artists now performing classic albums in their entirety, it is time to bring back one of the greatest concept albums of all time. This fall, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers will bring Quadrophenia back to the stage with a full North American tour. “I always feel proud of my achievement as the writer, that I put it all together and gave the band a third wind,” says The Who guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend. “The real high point for me is always the final song ‘Love Reign O’er Me.’ Roger and I now stand almost alone together, representing not only the original band, but also its Mod audience, and of course all our other early fans. We are connected by it, in what is the most clear-cut prayer for redemption, and it feels like an acknowledgment that rock music has managed to deal with the highest emotional challenge: spiritual desperation.” Last year, vocalist Roger Daltrey toured the group’s first rock opera, 1969’s Tommy, while Townshend dealt with various hearing ailments. The Quadrophenia tour is that much more special since it features both founding members. The Quadrophenia storyline resolves around the fictional character Jimmy the Mod, a mentally unstable schizophrenic. “In 1972, I was 28 writing about London and Brighton in 1963 and 1964 when the band was just starting,” Townshend says of the album, which celebrates its 40th anniversary next year. “I was still young enough to remember how it felt to be 16 or 17 and at war with my parents, bosses and authority. I could still remember that feeling of struggling to fit in, something that happened to me when I was even younger, around 14, and everyone around me seemed to have got their lives on track. This is such a universal experience for young people that
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it has echoed.” When the album was released in 1973, The Who was arguably at its peak. “We had a really fantastic period of success, and what we needed in a sense was to find our reflection in our fans,” says Townshend. “That is kind of what that album became about. We just went into the studio, recorded the songs, the band was in peak condition I have to say, the songs were good, everything fell into place [and] the mix worked out very well. Looking back at it now . . . we weren’t trying to be Mods, we never felt like we were Mods in the first place, but we reconnected with our audience. I think we really did.” The technology at the time limited The Who’s ability to perform the rock opera as it would have liked, but the group got the chance 26 years later when it staged a Quadrophenia concert at Hyde Park in London. Soon after, the band performed the album for six-straight nights at Madison Square Garden and followed with a full tour. After that, the rock opera was put to bed until 2010, when The Who brought back Quadrophenia for a special Teenage Cancer Trust benefit concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Townshend recalls listening to the music at rehearsals and still feeling the connection.
“Just as a piece of music, it does stand up, but it offers a journey,” he explains. “There is a poignancy in the way that it connects me to my younger days. It is certainly not nostalgia. I don’t have any nostalgia for the Mod days, but there is a poignancy to being awakened to all those feelings. The Who were very young when we started, in 1963 and ’64, playing to those audiences. We were just kids, and some our audience was even younger. For me, at the Albert Hall, it was like, wow, this is a real connection with having [done] exactly what I wanted to do in the ’70s and we did it again reconnecting with the crowd.” As far as performing full albums, Townshend wonders if modern technology actually contributed to the current trend. He concludes, “Maybe the preponderance of singles on the Internet has made the album feel special again? Maybe the old way of listening to music—in longer sittings—is finding its way back into vogue? A journey, for example, is an opportunity to listen to something longer, and easy-to-carry mobile music has made that possible.” c
IN CONCERT
Appearing Feb. 1, 2013, at the Oracle Arena in Oakland.
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Strain & Edible Reviews
iREADCULTURE.com GET YOUR HITS HERE
Girl Scout Cookies
Stress is the mother of maladies, banish her with sure-fire stress reliever Girl Scout Cookies. Created by The Hemp Center in San Francisco, made famous by rapper Berner, Cookies has won over California with its hybrid mix of OG Kush, Durban Poison and Cherry Kush, back-crossed with OG Kush. In San Jose, Yerba Buena Collective’s cuts of “the cooks” are flawless: huge, dense, kaleidoscopically colored nugs with a fragrance of a minty, baked good. It’s the club’s top-shelf, marquee strain, reportedly testing very high in THC (~25 percent), with a large amount of CBD (6-7 percent) as well. Euphoric and uplifting at first, patients report using this hybrid for stress, anxiety, pain relief and depression. The effects are very long-lasting, so large doses can cause couchlock. Fully baked, indeed.
OG Kush - Private Reserve
There are more than 500 cannabis strains on the identification site Leafly.com, with hundreds more out there. While we like to taste the rainbow, we keep top specimens of the classics on-hand for when you need something familiar, something you can count on, something like San Jose’s Buddy’s Cannabis Collective’s OG Kush - Private Reserve. The strain has gone from a special Lake Tahoe offshoot of Colorado’s Chemdawg to a billion-dollar global powerhouse—and it’s worth hoarding. The heavenly, sharp lemon-pine smell evokes countless good times. These tightly-manicured, resinous, colorful and dense nugs crumble when ground and release even more limonene terpenes. Patients report OG Kush eases stress and tension, then gently sedates and relaxes. Variety might be the spice of life, but we’re always gonna be OG.
Kieffy Coffee Cake
Have your cake and weed it, too. Since 2009, Auntie’s Edibles have offered the state-of-the-art in medicated edibles, with a delectable roster of cookies, cakes and specialty items like vegan coconut lime cookies and truffles. Available at Blue Sky Care Center in San Jose, these Kieffy Coffee Cakes uphold Auntie’s tradition. It’s a fist-sized foothill of powdered sugar that smells rich, sweet, moist and inviting; like cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. Auntie bakes sour cream coffee cake batter, tops it with spiced cocoa streusel crumb topping and adds a surprise dollop of homemade raspberry jam in the middle. Tested by CW Analytical, each cake has at least 80 milligrams of sativa cannabinoids, making it notso-great for sleeping. Patients recommend you start with a bite to treat pain, inflammation and stimulate appetite. Kieffy Coffee Cake barely tastes of herb, so take the cake, but do it slowly.
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CGC XJ-13
Prepare for lift-off. Santa Cruz’s California Growers Collective carries a masterful cut of the immensely popular XJ-13—a potent, inviting, sativadominant hybrid that sounds like a secret government jet. It’s actually a secret government indica, G-13, crossed with Cannabis Cup-crusher Jack Herer—(itself a mix of Northern Lights #5, Haze and Shiva Skunk and named for the author and hemp activist). CGC has a laser-guided lock on the XJ— these dark, green, medium-density, Christmas tree-shaped nugs look the part, sporting short orange hairs. The smell is on-point, too: sugar-sweet and floral like baby powder. Magnification reveals exemplary trichome formation, with thick, clear stalks and heads. Those with a doctor’s note for cannabis report XJ-13 can relieve back pain. This anti-inflammatory sativa is energetic—yet it also exhibits anti-anxiety effects—and stimulates appetite. Throttle up.
Stoney Carrot Cake
What’s up, doc? Need a recommendation for this Stoney Carrot Cake from Ganja Goodies kitchen? Available at Harborside Health Center in San Jose, Ganja Goodies has a moist, dense slab of carrot cake slathered in a thick layer of sweet, tangy cream cheese frosting that patients love. The spiced sweet smell is amazing, and the soft moist cream cheese is very sweet and delicious. The cake is well-baked, with flecks of sweet, grated carrots. Tested by Pure Analytics, each cake contains four grams of high grade cannabis flowers, making it as an strong as an eight-dose edible. With nary a hint of cannabis taste, this baked good packs a punch. Did you know the cannabinoids found in such cakes can interrupt the development of Alzheimer’s disease as well as certain types of brain tumors? Just what the doc ordered.
White Queen
Prepare for a royal introduction. Nirvana Wellness Center in San Jose presents White Queen—both top-shelf and without a peer in the land. This rare, mango-sweet, fruity orange hybrid allegedly crosses White Widow and Afghan Kush and these flowers look like it. We see the white trichome mats and dark leaves of White Widow, and its surprisingly bright, inviting aroma, which is more like a tropical sativa than one would think. Under the scope, the external glands of cannabinoids look much like the Afghan Kush hash plant, with lots of resin in tightly spaced, milky, thin stalks. Grinding releases notes of mint, and the smoke is thin, light with an aftertaste of fruit. White Queen works magic on stress migraines, patients report. It’s been known to cause euphoria, relaxation and stimulate appetite as well. Hail to the queen.
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“I don’t know how we can have one law and the feds can have another, and can come in and do whatever they want to do.” —On the federal crackdown
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9 to 5, the hugely-successful ’80s comedy starring Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton was on television the night before I interviewed Lily Tomlin. I’d forgotten what a zany flick it was—particularly the scene where the trio share a joint and fantasize about offing their boss. In the blockbuster hit, Tomlin is—as usual—hilarious as the talented but underpaid, underappreciated and, when it comes time to get a long-awaited promotion, overlooked head secretary Violet Newstead. In real life Tomlin may have been underpaid on a few occasions, but she’s gotten lots of appreciation and enjoyed success on the stage and on screens both small and silver over the decades. And the smoky session in 9 to 5 isn’t the only time the comedian/actress—who was named by TIME Magazine as the “New Queen of Comedy” in 1977—has played a marijuana-using character. Just this past year, she played a pot-smoking mother on HBO’s hit Eastbound & Down and Web Therapy with Lisa Kudrow. This fall, Tomlin will play a mother who uses medical marijuana on a new ABC comedy Malibu Country starring Reba McEntire. She is truly a one-of-a-kind talent who has created dozens of memorable characters over her epic career . . . and she’s not done yet. I heard you’re from Detroit originally. Well I was in New York at the time. I would have gone from Detroit to anyplace. So when was this? I guess it was 1962. I got my Equity [theatrical actors’ union] card [by getting into a mime show. Of course I was never trained as a mime . . . you better ask me direct questions or I’ll just meander. Sure, but I want to hear more about this. The whole mime thing fascinates me. (Laughs) Yeah, okay! I’d had success in college in Detroit at Wayne State University where I was in pre-med—which was a total joke. So I got into a college play where I had a walk-on, and I had to improve it every night and it was like a sensation. I was just fooling around, you know. Because I put on shows
all my life since I was a little kid in my apartment house. I didn’t know that people did that for a living. So when I got the opportunity to fool around on the stage, it was just normal to me; it just felt right. Seems like it’s worked out. You’ve won just about every award they made. You’ve got Grammys, Tonys, BAFTAs, Emmys and you’ve been nominated for an Oscar. Did I forget any? Yeah, you are. You’re just missing a load of them. Heh-heh. Well it’s a very impressive list of awards, and I don’t think there are that many comedians who have been recognized for their work in so many mediums. Would you say you’re a restless person creatively? Somewhat. (Laughs). Less so than I was when I was 30. I would like to be more creative in my own life. OCTOBER 2012 • CULTURE 31
How do you choose what you’re going to do next? It’s kind of broken field stride. Some stuff comes to you happily. You want something more offthe-wall or something you haven’t done. The only current things at the moment are I’ve been playing Lisa Kudrow’s mother on Web Therapy [on Showtime], which I really get a kick out of because it’s improv’d and it’s so off-thewall. It’s very over-the-top. I play a very upper-class Bostonian who’s out of her mind. And then I’m also—I don’t know if you know this show—Eastbound & Down on HBO. Kenny f*#king Powers? Brilliant show. Oh, God. I didn’t even know it was on the air. I got this bid to do [Season 3]. Anyway, so I watched the whole first two seasons and loved Kenny Powers. I just fell in love with him. The first episode is such a classic, when his major-league career is over and they show him in a classroom being trained to be a substitute teacher. The guy behind him is on the phone talking about him and he says, “You’ll never guess who’s sitting in front of me. Kenny f*#king Powers! Yeah, he looks like shit. He looks like a big bag of mashed-up assholes.” I use that one as much as possible. He’s just outrageously great. So I did a couple of those. I see you’re doing your famous one-woman shows around the country this year and into 2013. What do you have planned? It’s kind of my version of stand-up, but I always do characters. So I do 10 or 12 characters. And I use some multimedia in the show where I put pieces together sort of satirizing being a celebrity or a person who doesn’t know who she is because she does so many people. And I have clips where characters interrelate . . . I just try to make it fun. I wouldn’t mess with Ernestine myself. Your kooky characters are kind of your trademark. Where do you get the inspiration for these crazy creatures? 32 CULTURE • OCTOBER 2012
“I don’t use everyday. I’m not that fresh and hip.” —On marijuana
I don’t know. Sometimes they’re just wonderful serendipitous surprises. You get a notion for something and it just sort of springs to life. And other times you work like hell to make something make sense. And then of course I’ve done a lot of specials—in the old days with the television specials— and I would get a concept for a special and then I would try to people it. I did one special back in the ’80s, Lily For President?, when Reagan was in the White House. You know—an actor playing the president. I did everything. I was the filmmaker, I was the President, I was the secretary.
page, and I say I have to face the full one! Yeah, of course. You think you’ll never think of anything again as long as you live, and you feel totally out of it. But then you get an idea, you get so inspired. I mean every time I decided to try a different culture type I’d be so excited—just on fire. I found an old box of tapes from when I was working on Edith Ann [Editor’s note: one of Tomlin’s characters, a precocious 5-year-old girl]—years and years ago—you know, cassettes. And I thought, “What are these?” And they were nothing but me talking into a tape recorder as Edith Ann. Just improv’ing; trying to create a life for her. And I’m like obsessive [going into character] for hours! Let me ask your opinions about some issues. I know you’re an advocate for marijuana legalization. Yes, yes. Of course.
Not many people can pull off a one-man or one-woman show. Just getting up on stage and letting it rip. The gun goes off and you just start.
What do you think about the federal crackdown going on right now? I just don’t get it. I don’t know how we can have one law and the feds can have another, and can come in and do whatever they want to do.
How do you go about creating one of those? Do you ever get blank page syndrome? No, but I always say that to Jane [Wagner] my partner. She always says she has to face the empty
I wonder why the feds making such a big deal about it. Why do they care? I don’t either. Why do they care about half what they care about?
dialed In
One of Lily Tomlin’s memorable characters— which appeared on ’70s sketch comedy show Laugh-In—was Ernestine, an obnoxious and arrogant telephone operator who delivered very questionable customer service while manning a switchboard. With a severe hairdo and her “one ringdingy” one-liner, Ernestine was the last person you wanted to pick up the line when you dialed 0.
Any favorite kinds of cannabis? Strains? I wish I was that sophisticated. Do you have a doctor’s recommendation? No, I don’t! Can you get me one? I don’t have anything like that. I have to rely on the kindness of strangers. I don’t use everyday. I’m not that fresh and hip. Are you still an Obama fan? Well, I’m more realistic about it because I don’t know how anybody could have done much more. He comes in with a liability, too, because he’s the first black president, and I think he actually thought that what worked as an organizer in Chicago in the neighborhoods would somehow work with Congress. That he could negotiate in good faith? And come to some kind of compromise; some kind of nice understanding. Well, they’re just lethal. You were talking about your partner Jane before. You’ve been together for a while now. Have you ever thought about getting married? No. Not necessary? Well, we’ve been together so long and people tell me it’s wonderful to have these public commitment ceremonies and have your friends over and all that. But we would never even get there on time. And I don’t even want to start. Where do you go with the wardrobe? How long have you been together now? 40 years. So, I guess marriage seems kind of redundant at this point? (Laughs) It does. I think we might like it . . . but it takes so much planning. c www.lilytomlin.com
ON STAGE
Appearing Jan. 19, 2013, at the Sunset Cultural Center in Carmel.
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Destination Unknown
Story and photos by Dennis Aregenzia and Grace Cayosa
If the exhilaration/terror of being dragged by a kite over deep water and swimming tourists doesn’t appeal, then there are Mũi Né’s red sand and white sand dunes just outside of town. In an ironic twist, the sandiest dunes don’t actually touch water, as Mũi Né beaches are subject to persistent heavy erosion that results in large stretches of concrete-tiled “beach,” thin swaths of real beach, and luxuriously maintained but exclusive resort beach. The red dunes rise up quite suddenly from the roadside and are, not surprisingly, reddish, pounded by wind and manned by cute Vietnamese kids offering plastic sheets for “sand surfing” (at
with particulate matter that you will continue to discover for several days afterwards, and 2) taking photos of atmospheric sand dunes in a windstorm is guaranteed to sand-blast your camera. The white dunes were more forgiving, if not a little harder to find. For those of us whose sand dune experience is limited to beach berms and movies, the white dunes are pretty amazing. Imagine taking thousands of tons of white sand, dropping them on a giant patch of flat scrub brush, and letting the results ripple beautifully. Granted, it’s not vast like the Sahara or the Gobi, but if you sit strategically between dunes—perhaps resting
bursting culinary experience. As previously mentioned, there’s just one main road going through Mũi Né, and as evening falls, you will find several open air seafood “restaurants” setting up on the beach side of the road. Owing much to its original identity as a fishing village, these dining establishments feature an impressive array of the day’s catch, including giant tiger prawns, shark, eel, periwinkle snails, conch, scallops and, of course, fish. It’s a simple affair: select your [still moving] dishes and then turn away as the barbeque man delivers the death blow via a quick THWAP! on the ground. Drinks are cold, condiments simple, tissues plenty and the seafood, ridiculously cheap and flavorful. When it’s time to medicate, the green is easy enough to find via xe om (motorcycle taxi) drivers—who also gladly offer prostitutes as well—and the cannot-be-specifically-named shishka clubs. However, local quality is generally mediocre, sporting more than the occasional seed, twig and whatnot, and the bribe price can be disproportionately high if the taxi driver you bought your stash from decides to turn around and report you to the police. Thus, many travelers pack their own. The quirks of Mũi Né—wind surfing near sandless beaches; sand surfing on inland dunes; gorging on affordable bounty from the sea;
a small fee, of course). We learned two very important lessons at the red dunes, both of which are blindingly obvious in hindsight, but hey, we were caught up in the joy of travel: 1) sand surfing is a sure-fire way to fill your netherbits
from the arduous climb—you could easily convince yourself that a nomad camel caravan is about to crest the hill. Once you’ve worked up a massive appetite cavorting in the sand, head back to town for a gut-
watching leggy Russian beauties catwalk between their 5-star resort and the Russian-owned trinket store in dental floss bikinis and stilettos—combine for a unique Vietnamese-cum-Little Moscow experience. Have at it. c
Double Impact
Vietnam’s MÙi Né mashes up tropical beauty with touches of Little Moscow The storefront sign reads: ТУРФИРМА. Now, one of us is monolingual, the other has a touch of dyslexia, and we’re both standing on the same southern Vietnamese coast, but we’re 100 percent certain that the sign is neither bizarro English nor bad Vietnamese, and that’s because we are in Mũi Né, a one-road resort town defined by gusting sea winds, sand dunes and Russian snowbirds. Located almost exactly between party beach Nha Trang and party city HCMC (aka Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon), Mũi Né has become increasingly popular as a Russian winter getaway (thanks to ТУРФИРМА or “tourist agencies”) and as the wind sport destination in Southeast Asia due to consistently strong sea breezes for more than half the year. Experienced kiteboarders and windsurfers flock to this town between October and May for a chance to launch off Mũi Né’s ever-shrinking beaches and make serious hang time, while beginners simply want to survive the first wipeout with dignity. The surge of the curious has given rise to several kitesurfing schools and shops, all easily identified by the presence of tan, toned instructors effortlessly assisting the floundering.
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Profiles in Courage Patient: Jocelyn Smith AGE: 32 Condition/ Illness: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia and ADHD Using medical cannabis since: October 2011
Are you an MMJ patient from NorCal with a compelling story to tell? If so, we want to hear from you. Email your name, contact information and details about your experiences with medical cannabis to courage@ireadculture.com.
WHY DID YOU START USING MEDICAL MARIJUANA?
I have been on a lot of medication for my conditions and related complications since I was 15. After taking them for so long, you get familiar with how they affect your body and how harsh they can be. I did some research and sought advice from a friend in the profession of wellness. I decided to try [cannabis] for the first time in over a decade and the results were successful! The main symptoms of both of these conditions are sleep deprivation and pain . . . I have tried both indicas and sativas and found sativa to be more effective. This stimulates me much like Adderall, an ADHD medication, in the evening. It calms down my [hyperactivity] and allows me to focus better. I am also able to get a full night’s sleep.
DID YOU TRY OTHER METHODS OR TREATMENTS BEFORE MARIJUANA? After trying several psychiatric sleep aids, I found myself groggy, depressed and moody in the mornings. I am also steroid dependent due to my adrenal (disorder). If you have ever researched corticosteroids, you will find there are as many side effects as good ones.
WHAT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE OR PROBLEM FACING MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS?
Photo by Kristopher Christensen
Currently, the government is taking action against dispensaries and related providers to shut them down. Many patients are terminally ill and depend on the current process . . . There is much judgment and criticism against patients and I feel it’s important to educate the population, give demonstrations, show statistics and keep writing films and documentaries wherever permitted.
WHAT DO YOU SAY TO FOLKS WHO ARE SKEPTICAL ABOUT MARIJUANA AS MEDICINE? Do your research. Analyze the data. You will be surprised at the results! c
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Cool Stuff Dragon Fire Touch
When it comes to portable vaporizers (a.k.a. “vape pens”), ease-of-use are key. Thankfully, the Dragon Fire Touch—available at Yerba Buena Collective in San Jose—keeps it simple: it turns on and off automatically, it warns you when the battery is running low—and this vape pen doubles as a stylus for your smartphone or tablet’s touch screen! (MSRP $39.95) www.ybcollective.com
ShaveTech
Shaving’s a time-grubbing chore . . . but ShaveTech wants to make it a joy. This sleek, portable shaver’s got a feature no other grooming accessing comes with: you can charge it using a USB port! No more hunting for electrical outlets (a single charge lasts about 30 minutes) the next time you need a baby-face for that Monday morning presentation. ($39.99) www.shavetech.com
Dab Essentials Domeless Titanium Nails
Don’t waste your time with inferior titanium when it comes to your precious medicine. Dab Essentials’ Domeless Titanium Nails are the company’s first patented product that deliver enhanced flavor, unbeatable smoothness (we can definitely attest to reduced coughing) and minimal heat transfer to glass courtesy of a new diffusion system. Truly essential. (14mm $159.97, 18mm $179.97) www.dabessentials.com/vortex/
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CULTURE Recipes By Aunt Sandy
Why should kids have all the fun? Forget about the costumes and candy— this Halloween-themed menu is bloody delicious all on its own.
Sandy Moriarty is the author of Aunt’ Sandy’s Medical Marijuana Cookbook: Comfort Food for Body & Mind and a Professor of Culinary Arts at Oaksterdam University. She is also the co-founder of Oaksterdam’s Bakery.
Menu:
Bloody Cocktail Bloody Mary Spider Cheese Ball Paella Pumpkin Bread Honey Canna Butter
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Paella
Makes six servings. 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 1 pound), cut into medium pieces Salt and pepper 1/2 cup Cannabis Infused Olive Oil** 2 chorizo sausages, sliced 1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips 1 yellow onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, diced 1/2 teaspoon of saffron threads 1 1/2 cup parboiled short grain rice 3 cups chicken stock (more if needed) 12-16 extra large shrimp, peeled and de-veined 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme 1 teaspoon minced fresh oregano 1 teaspoon minced fresh chives 3 teaspoon thinly sliced scallions
Season the chicken with salt and pepper. In a paella pan or large sauté pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat and brown the chicken and chorizo on both sides. Reduce heat to medium. Add bell pepper strips and onion and cook until softened. Stir in the garlic, saffron, rice and stock. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until the rice is al dente. Add the shrimp, herbs and scallions. Cook until the shrimp are pink and opaque and liquid is absorbed. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
Spider Cheese Ball Makes 16 servings.
Bloody Mary Ice 1 shot of Cannabis Infused Vodka 3 shakes of Worcestershire sauce 2 dashes of celery salt 1 dash Tabasco sauce (or horseradish) Tomato juice Stalk of celery Fill glass with ice. Add the vodka, Worcestershire sauce, celery salt and Tabasco sauce. Fill the rest of the glass with tomato juice. Garnish with the celery stalk. (Note: to make Cannabis Infused Vodka, add about 1/2 ounce of marijuana buds to a quart of vodka, store in a cool dry place, shake daily, let it soak for about two weeks and strain.)
Bloody Cocktail Sugar (dyed black with food coloring) Ice 1 shot of Cannabis Infused Vodka 1 shot of grenadine syrup 7 Up soft drink Rim glass with sugar, add ice, vodka and syrup. Fill glass with 7 Up.
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese 8 ounces white cheddar cheese, shredded 1/2 cup Canna Butter* 3 tablespoons apple cider 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper 1/2 cup poppy seeds 1 10-ounce package of refrigerated breadsticks 1 egg white, lightly beaten 6 ripe olives, sliced Assorted crackers
In a large bowl let the cream cheese, cheddar cheese and Canna Butter stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Add apple cider and nutmeg. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well mixed. Stir in red onion and red pepper. Cover and chill for 4 hours. Place poppy seeds on a sheet of waxed paper. Shape cheese mixture into a ball and roll in the seeds to coat. Let stand 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. For spider legs unroll the breadstick dough and cut each piece in half. Arrange each piece on the baking sheet bending each piece into a “z” shape. Brush breadsticks with beaten egg whites and sprinkle generously with remaining poppy seeds. Bake for about 10 minutes until browned. Place cheese ball on a large serving plate. Arrange six breadsticks around the cheese ball for spider legs, gently pushing breadsticks into the ball to secure. Use the olive slices as eyes (two or six). Secure the “eyes” with broken pretzel sticks. Serve with crackers OCTOBER 2012 • CULTURE 41
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Honey Canna Butter
Pumpkin Bread
1 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 1 1/3 cup sugar 1/3 cup soft Canna Butter* 2 eggs 1 cup cooked or canned pumpkin 1/3 cup water or milk 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1/4 cup coarsely chopped nuts 1/3 cup raisins Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ground cloves. In a large bowl beat the sugar, Canna Butter and two eggs until light and fluffy. Add and beat in the pumpkin. Divide the sifted dry ingredients into three separate batches and add each batch to the egg-sugar-butter mixture, alternating with the addition of the water (or milk) and vanilla. Do not over beat. Fold in the XXXX and raisins. Pour batter into a greased pan and bake for about 1 hour or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Enjoy with your Pumpkin Bread 1 cup Canna Butter* 1/4 cup honey Soften the Canna Butter. Add the honey and whip. Serve with bread.
CANNA Butter* 1 cup unsalted butter 1 ounce low to average quality dried leaf marijuana or 1/2 ounce average dried bud 4 cups water Bring water and butter to boil in a small pot, lower heat to simmer. Simmer gently for about 1 1/2 hours. Mash and stir frequently to extract all THC from the plant material. After cooking, use cheesecloth to strain the butter/water mixture. Pour about 2 cups clean boiling water over the leaves in the strainer to extract every last drop of butter. Squeeze plant material well to remove as much liquid as possible. Chill the butter/water mixture in the refrigerator until the butter has solidified (1 to 2 hours). Separate butter from water and keep butter in the refrigerator (or freezer for longer storage) until needed.
Cannabis-Infused Olive Oil** 1 cup olive oil 1 1/4 ounces low to average quality dried leaf marijuana or 3/4 ounce average dried bud
Place cannabis in a slow cooker. Add oil. If necessary, add a little extra oil in order to just cover the cannabis. Cook on low for six to eight hours, stirring often. Strain through cheesecloth to remove plant material. For further purity, strain through a coffee filter. Store in the refrigerator for up to three months.
Legal Disclaimer
Publishers of this publication are not making any representations with respect to the safety or legality of the use of medical marijuana. The recipes listed here are for general entertainment purposes only, and are intended for use only where medical marijuana is not a violation of state law. Edibles can vary in potency while a consumers’ weight, metabolism and eating habits may affect effectiveness and safety. Ingredient management is important when cooking with cannabis for proper dosage. Please consume responsibly and check with your doctor before consumption to make sure that it is safe to do so.
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Shooting Gallery iREADCULTURE.com GET YOUR HITS HERE
Obama MMJ Protest (Photos by David Elliot Lewis)
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Entertainment Reviews 10.6.3 OGX Montage One Stimulus One Music If boring, sold-out rap is an enemy that must be destroyed, Montage One has declared war with 10.6.3 OGX, an album straight from the hip-hop underground that is not the same ol‘ banal dross you’ve heard on the radio too many times before. Produced by MasterKraftsmen, Alchemist and others, Montage One’s latest full-length (release date: Sept. 25) features more than two dozen high-caliber artists including Phil The Agony, Planet Asia, Krondon and Madlib, making the work an instant collector’s item for the fan who wants it all. Montage One’s talent as a decorated lyrical veteran of the Likwit Crew and Gold Chain Military is on full display here, with songs like “Beat2Def,” a roaring blitzkrieg of a single full of groovy ’70s funk organ tones and wicked scratches that knock you down with the rhymes and out with the beats. Track “Return of the Assassin” also delivers with ominous opening acoustics, thunderous bass and that violent gangster-style you know you love. (Jasen T. Davis)
Henry Hemp #1 “Attack of the Spider-Mite Men” Story and art by Mike Tucker Revolutuck Comics Marijuana prohibition is serious business . . . but don’t they say humor is the best medicine (after cannabis)? With a gee-whiz approach to superhero storytelling, splashes of saturated colors and a wry sense of humor, Henry Hemp #1 comic book gleefully mixes Illuminati conspiracies, Jack Herer’s platform, gray aliens—heck, there’s even a black helicopter—into a tongue-in-cheek meta-fable promoting the salvation of the world through hemp and cannabis. The plot: an evil scientist (“Doctor Man-Spider-Mite . . . Head . . . Guy . . .”) attempts to take over the mystical land of Weedom with an invasion of hybrid spider-mites, prompting activist Henry Hemp to transform into Super Hemp to fend off the attack. Blending pulp-era dialogue (“Let me assure you that evil is very real.”), square-jawed optimism (“There will always be dark forces trying to put out the light of love, happiness and joy.”) and the ethos of underground comix, Attack offers comic relief and sobering facts: a story of a world under siege by anti-marijuana forces is all too real. (Matt Tapia)
Jimi Hendrix Jimi Plays Berkeley: Berkeley Community Theatre, Saturday May 20, 1970 Legacy Some people are meant to sing. Some people are meant to create. Jimi Hendrix was unquestionably a man born to play guitar. Old fans and new recruits alike will have something to gain from watching this pseudo-documentary on the artist. Presented with footage of the man performing live alongside reactions from audience members, this film encapsulates what Hendrix meant to people and how he affected them. The audience experiences this as well: watching Hendrix perform his classics (“Purple Haze,”“Voodoo Child,” etc.) alongside improvised riffs and the most mind blowing rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” proves that Hendrix was one of the most talented men to walk the planet—he was his music. The special features are scarce here, with only an interview with live-sound engineer Abe Jacobs and the uninterrupted concert performance serving as extras. This DVD has healthy nostalgia for long-term fans, and powerful material for new converts. You owe it to yourself, as a listener of music, to pick this up. (Joe Martone) 46 CULTURE • OCTOBER 2012
Flying Lotus in concert If you wanted top-notch, progressive instrumental hip-hop during the ’90s you could turn to good ol‘ reliables like DJ Shadow . . . or maybe the meta cut-and-paste jobs of DJ Spooky would suit your needs. Flash forward to the ’00s and the guy who’s producing the most cosmically-induced, no-rules beatscapes this side of, well DJ Shadow, is the guy warping samplers and drum machines under the alias Flying Lotus—whose new album, Until the Quiet Comes, is slated to come out later this month. Late-night TV viewers are likely familiar with Lotus since he’s responsible for composing Adult Swim’s “bumper music.” But music fans who can appreciate FL’s cerebral loops and squelchy sci-fi noises know him for his groundbreaking IDMinspired debut, 1983. Subsequent releases have dabbled into free jazz and space funk (Cosmogramma, Patter+Grid World), but Flying Lotus’ strengths have always been grounded in the limitless—and organic—possibilities between his laptop and his sampledelic musings. (Matt Tapia)
IF YOU GO
What: Flying Lotus in concert. When/Where: Oct. 25 at The Fox Theater, 1807 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Info: Tickets $25. Go to www. thefoxoakland.com or call (510) 302-2277.
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Dead Time Dreams Two new houses with ridiculously freaky new concepts, Dead Time Dreams will not be one to miss. One house will take your through a Meat Factory overrun by things that are no longer human, and the other puts you dead center in a Zombie Apocalypse with only one salvation— The Church. Time to see if your zombie preparedness plans are worthwhile. Thru Oct. 31. www.deadtimedreams. com Wicked West Ghost Town of Santa Rosa The Witch is back, and there’s hell to pay! Sonoma County gets a little bit spookier this year when an old legend comes back to life to spread some terror. Also, it’s free. The Witch is very frugal. Thru Oct. 31. www.srhalloween.com Pirates of Emerson What would Halloween be like without a few pirates? Worry not, for not only are there haunted pirates docking in your area, they’ve come well Compiled by Joe Martone
equipped with booty. Six mazes and houses to terrify and tantalize, and you’re mature enough to attend if you didn’t just laugh at the word “booty.” You just did it again, didn’t you? Thru Oct. 31. www.piratesofemerson. com Cursi House of Screams The attraction is headed by a man named Dr. Satan. What’s not to love? If that alone doesn’t sell the House of Screams to you, I don’t know what will. Thru Oct. 31. www.cursihouseofscreams.com San Francisco Ghost Hunt Okay, not into the mazes or haunted houses thing? Then you must hate Halloween! In all seriousness though, there is an alternative. Paranormal researcher Jim Fassbinder will take you on a tour of the city where spooks and spirits are supposed to haunt. If anything else, it sounds a like a stirring way to kill three hours. Thru Oct. 31. www.sfghosthunt.com
ATF Party Wanna see something really scary? The Young Republicans of San Francisco are holding an Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Party. You know how you can close you eyes and make the monsters go away? These ones are REAL. Oct. 13. www.sfyr.org Fear Overload: Asylum and Insomnia Two haunted houses for the price of one? Not a bad deal, especially from a company that had one of the scariest houses last year. True, mental wards are a little cliché, but you can’t beat the classics. Especially when the Insomnia attraction looks unlike anything that’s ever scared you before . . . Thru Nov. 1. www.fearoverload.com Winchester Mystery House’s Fright Nights We all grew up near a house that was rumored to be haunted . . . but screw urban legends—the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose is the real deal.
Enjoy a “multi-sensory gateway between Heaven and Hell,” an interactive maze and a flashlight tour that’ll make Paranormal Activity look like a re-run of America’s Funniest Home Videos. Thru Nov. 3. www.winchestermysteryhouse.com Pardee Home Museum 4th Public Ghost Investigation A professional ghost hunter + $50? Yup, see how the pros do it when Karen Zimmerman leads her team (that means you) through the Pardee Home Museum to find a ghost. A psychic will be there to help you spruce up your Ouija board technique. I did not make any of this up. Thru Nov. 3. www.pardeehome.org Alcatraz Night Tour The scariest parts of the ride are the tourists—the tourists who actually get scared at what goes on here. That’s worth the price of admission alone. Thu Nov. 4. www.alcatrazcruises. com OCTOBER 2012 • CULTURE 49
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2- A2C2 1082 Stockton Ave San Jose, CA 95110 3- Canna Culture 3591 Charter Park Drive San Jose, CA 95136 4- Delta Health Center 3114 Story Road San Jose, CA 95127 5- Elemental Wellness 711 Charcot Ave San Jose, CA 95131 6- Harborside Health Center 2106 Ringwood Ave San Jose, CA 95131 7- Holistic Health Care Co-Operative 88 W Tully Rd #107 San Jose, CA 95111 8- La Vie MMX 945 S. Bascom Ave Unit B San Jose, CA 95128 9- Magic Health 1999 Monterey Highway, Suite #100 San Jose, CA 10- Natural Herbal Pain Relief 519 Parrott St San Jose, CA 95112 11- Nirvana Wellness Center 1926 O’Toole Ave San Jose, CA 95131 12- Platinum Clouds Collective 1425 W San Carlos St San Jose, CA 95126 13- Revolution Health Center 1621 Almaden Rd San Jose, CA 95125 14- SJ Patients Group 824 The Alameda San Jose, CA 15- South Bay CRC 90 Great Oaks Blvd Suite 202 San Jose, CA 95119 16- Theraleaf 606 Saratoga Ave San Jose, CA 95129 17- Yerba Buena Amber Pearl 2129 S. 10th Street
San Jose, CA 95112 18- Yerba Buena Bascom 2630 Union Ave San Jose, CA 95124 19- Buddy’s Cannabis 4140 Stevens Creek Blvd San Jose, CA 20- Palliative Health Center 1670 Zanker Road, Suite A San Jose, CA 95112 21- Yerba Buena Blossom Hills 4464 Pearl Avenue San Jose, CA 95136 22- Yerba Buena Monterey 3894 Monterey Road San Jose, CA 95111 23- Yerba Buena Saratoga 4211 Barrymore Drive San Jose, CA 95117 24- Yerba Buena Valley Fair 325 S. Monroe Street San Jose, CA 95128
SOQUEL
25- California Growers Collective 3711-A Soquel Drive Soquel, CA 95073
EVALUATION CENTER 1- 420 Evaluations 115 N 4th St #106 San Jose, CA 95112 2- Stephanie Higgins, MD 858 N. First Street San Jose, CA 95112
SMOKE SHOPS 1- Bulldog Lifestyles 285 S. Capitol Ave San Jose, CA 2- Bulldog Lifestyles 1166 Tully Road San Jose, CA 3- Paramount Imports 455 Meridian Ave San Jose, CA 95126 4- City Rock Smoke Shop 3078 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95051.
OCTOBER 2012 • CULTURE 51
Chuck Shepherd
News of the
Weird LEAD STORY—INTRUDER (NOT) ALERT
; Are We Safe? In August, Daniel Castillo’s Jet Ski broke down in New York City’s Jamaica Bay, forcing him to swim to the nearest shore—at JFK International Airport. As Castillo roamed the grounds, he somehow failed to disturb the airport’s $100 million, state-of-the-art Perimeter Intrusion Detection System of cameras and motion sensors, stumbling into the Delta terminal before an employee noticed him. This happened two weeks after the now-notorious “peace” pro-
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test of nun Megan Rice, 82, and two colleagues, who cut through fences at the Oak Ridge (Tenn.) nuclear reservation’s Y-12 facility that houses more than 100 tons of highly enriched uranium. They braved numerous (though apparently unmonitored or malfunctioning) alarms and sensors for up to two hours before a lone guard stopped them.
THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT
; Challenging Business Models: (1) In June, owners of the legal brothel Stiletto in Sydney, Australia, revealed their multimil-
lion-dollar expansion to create the country’s (and perhaps the world’s) first “mega-brothel.” (2) Short-stay “love hotels” proliferate in Brazil, but in July in the city of Belo Horizonte, Fabiano Lourdes and his sister Daniela were about to open Animalle Mundo Pet, which they described as a love hotel for dogs. Owners would bring their mating-ready canines to rooms that feature the dim lighting and heart-shaped ceiling mirrors traditional in love hotels (to appeal to the party paying the bill, of course).
CAN’T POSSIBLY BE TRUE
; The Treasury Department’s inspector general reported in August that the IRS doled out more than $5 billion in fraudulent income tax returns in 2011 (owing to its mission to provide refunds promptly without first vetting the claims). The agency “refunded” $3.3 million to a single address in Lansing, Mich. (supposedly the home of 2,137
different tax filers) and nearly $4 million to three Florida addresses (518 to one in Tampa, 741 to one in Belle Glade, and 703 to a post office box in Orlando). In all, refunds were claimed by, among others, 105,000 dead people.
SCIENCE ON THE CUTTING EDGE
; In a study published in August, women with the felineoriented Toxoplasma gondii parasite in their systems showed an elevated risk of depression and suicide perhaps caused by the brain’s being deprived of serotonin. Since toxoplasmosis is most often passed via handling of cat feces, women’s fondness for and time spent with cats might thus put them at greater risk than previously believed. (T.gondii is believed capable of reproducing only inside cats’ intestines, and might, hypothesizes prominent Czech scientist Jaroslav Flegr, have learned that the surest route to the intestines is by hacking into the brains of delicious rats and mice.)
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