Culture Magazine Colorado May 2016 by Culture Magazine

MAY 2016 iReadCULTURE.com

iReadCULTURE.com MAY 2016

MAY 2016 iReadCULTURE.com

iReadCULTURE.com MAY 2016

contents 05.16 Vol 7 IssUE 11

Fluffy and Fantastic Gabriel Iglesias’ impressions, jokes and friendly demeanor make this comedian one-of-a-kind in CULTURE’s exclusive interview! ON THE COVER: photo by JUSTIN STEPHENS

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inside

contents 05.2016

features

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Cannabis On Campus CO bill to allow schools the choice to let student patients medicate.

Motherly Support Mothers who use cannabis often face terrible repercussions, but there are some who are fighting for moms’ rights.

The Faces Of Success The high percentage of women in executive positions of the cannabis industry shows equality at its best.

Cannabis Survival With only an estimated one month left to live, 17-yearold AJ Kephart miraculously beat cancer with cannabis.

Industry Insider Dr. Ethan Russo has held many prestigious titles in his career of researching cannabis as medicine.

Hilarity On The Mic David Ross dishes on his busy career, how he became a great comedian and his love of cannabis.

Painting Emotion Local artist Rashelle Stetman’s style is unique, delicate and inspiring.

Intense And Inspiring Siren is captivating the Denver music scene with her dubstep and electronic tunes.

Passion and Persistence Denver rapper Turner Jackson’s music has evolved with the local scene.

departments news 12 News Nuggets 18 By the Numbers 20 Local News 24 Legal Corner 26 Healthy Living reviews 28 Dispensary Highlight 32 Advocate Highlight 36 Strain, Edible & Concentrate Reviews 42 Cool Stuff 44 Entertainment Reviews in every issue 92 Shooting Gallery 94 Growing Culture 96 Destination Unknown 98 Profile in Courage 100 Recipes 104 Colorado Now! 106 News of the Weird

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online Exclusive! d Cannabis as Birth

Control? d Cannabis Chapel in

Las Vegas Offers CannaWeddings

Vol 7 IssUE 11

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CULTURE M

Publisher Jeremy Zachary Editor-In-Chief Evan Senn associate Editor Ashley Bennett managing Editor Addison Herron-Wheeler Editorial coordinator Victoria Banegas Editorial Contributors Benjamin Adams, Sheryll Alexander, Marguerite Arnold, Jake Browne, Cole Garrison, Jasen T. Davis, Alex Distefano, David Downs, Natasha Guimond, Anthony Herrold, Pamela Jayne, Heather Johnson, Joe Jatcko, David Jenison, Kevin Longrie, Emily Manke, Tyler Markwart, Meital Manzuri, Sandy Moriarty, Madison Ortiz, Denise Pollicella, R. Scott Rappold, Paul Rogers, Joy Shannon, Lanny Swerdlow, Simon Weedn, Zara Zhi Photographers Steve Baker, Kristopher Christensen, John Gilhooley, Joel Meaders, Duncan Rolfson Art Director Steven Myrdahl production manager Tommy LaFleur Graphic Designers Tanya Delgadillo Regional Manager Kim Cook Account Executives Jon Bookatz, Eric Bulls, Cole Garrison, Gene Gorelik, Emily Musser, Beau Odom, Justin Olson, Jim Saunders, Chris Thatcher, April Tygart general Manager Iris Norsworthy Office Assistant Angelina Thompson director of digital media Brian Gingrich digital media Editor David Edmundson Ctv Contributors Quinn Marie Distribution Manager Cruz Bobadilla

Culture速 Magazine is published every month and distributes magazines at over 1,400 locations throughout Colorado. No articles, illustrations, photographs, or other matter within may be reproduced without written permission. Culture速 Magazine is a registered trademark. All rights reserved. 8156 S. Wadsworth Blvd., #E239 Littleton | CO Phone/Fax 888.694.2046 www.iReadCulture.com

CULTURE速 Magazine is printed using post-recycled paper.

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NEWS

nuggets Recreational Cannabis in Canada Proposed for 2017

Cannabis progress in Canada has been a constant topic in the industry, with a demand that could support a healthy and well-balanced market offering plenty of business opportunities. Now, Canada is finally making the jump towards decriminalizing and legalizing cannabis, according to Canadian Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott, who announced on April 20 that legislation for allowing the widespread use of recreational cannabis in Canada is in the works and will be introduced in Spring 2017. The rules will pay special attention to keeping cannabis out of the hands of children as well as public safety, according to Philpott. “I am proud to stand up for our drug policy that is informed by solid scientific evidence and uses a lens of public healthy to maximize education and minimize harm,” Philpott stated in her announcement to the United Nations General Assembly special session on drugs. If, or when, Canada legalizes cannabis next year, it will be the first G7 country—made up of the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.K.—to have made such a decision.

Outdoor Grow Site Approved for Operation in Aspen Pitkin County commissioners voted in March to allow an already established indoor cannabis grow to take its cultivation outdoors. This is part of a oneyear agreement between the growers, a cannabis dispensary called Stash, and commissioners that will allow Stash to grow as many as 250 outdoor cannabis plants starting this summer, according to The Aspen Times. Garette and Shawna Patrick are the owners of Stash and have been legally cultivating cannabis indoors since 2011 without complaint. Conditions placed on the growers by county commissioners include installing a security camera that oversees the establishment’s driveway, building a fence around the grow site and allowing commissioners to shut down production immediately if complaints arise from surrounding residents. To keep the facility safe, Shawna Patrick stated that an outdoor grow site needs to be as guarded as an indoor facility, and will require a barbed wire fence and infrared cameras that trigger alarms when interrupted.

New Zealand Health Board Official Approves Cannabis Spray for Tourette’s Syndrome Patient In 2015, Dixie Brands released a line of health products under the name Aceso, and one of its cannabis sprays called Calm has been approved for use by a single patient in New Zealand. Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne approved the spray for an unidentified patient with Tourette’s syndrome hours after receiving an application from the patient’s doctor. This is only the second time that a patient has been approved by Dunne to medicate with a cannabis based-product. The first patient to receive Dunne’s approval was teenager, Alex Renton who was given a hemp-based oil called Elixinol. Currently, the only cannabis based product in New Zealand that does not need Dunne’s approval to be used is Sativex. Although Dunne did not want to share the recently approved patient’s name, he commented on why he approved the Aceso product, “While Sativex has previously been shown to be efficient in treating, the Aceso product has been chosen due to its reduced psychoactive effects,” Dunne stated. Though small, this is one more step toward full medical access in New Zealand.

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Federal and Local Agents Raid Illegal Home Cultivation Sites Throughout Colorado Federal Drug Enforcement worked with local and state authorities to conduct a raid on cannabis grows from the south of Colorado Springs to the north Denver Metro, according to The Denver Post. During these raids, roughly 30 grows were targeted, all linked to one another. The North Metro Task Force was the lead agency in this operation and stated that it is being prosecuted by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. These raids are a part of federal and state efforts to reduce cannabis grows in Colorado, preventing illegal sale to other states. According to CBS Denver, many linked to the grow operation came from Texas to grow cannabis and ship it out of state. Currently Colorado residents are allowed to grow a limited number of plants within their homes, Denver allows a maximum of 12.

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NEWS

The amount of money, in billions of dollars, that Colorado is expected to make during 2016 from both medical and recreational cannabis: (Source: KOAA)

1.5

The percentage of THC that one ballot proposal, if passed, might require, to limit the potency of all cannabis products in Colorado: (Source: The Denver Post)

The number of scholarships that have been funded by medical cannabis tax in Colorado: (Source: KOAA)

The average percentage of potency in cannabis flowers sold in Colorado: (Source: The Denver Post)

17.1

The amount of money, in millions of dollars, that Colorado cannabis shops sold worth of recreational cannabis products in February of this year: (Source: Fox Business)

The length of a cannabis joint, in feet, that cannabis activists brought to protest outside of the White House in Washington D.C. in April: (Source: WTOP)

The estimated amount of money, in billions of dollars, that Americans will spend on legal cannabis by 2020: (Source: The Week)

EXPOCÁÑAMO

The estimated amount of money, in millions of dollars, which will be earned in revenue in Washington D.C. if it implements laws allowing recreational cannabis sales: (Source: The GW Hatchet)

WHAT: Expocáñamo. WHEN/WHERE: Fri, May 13-Sun, May 15. Pavilion of the Future, Sevilla, Spain. INFO: Visit www.expocanamo.com for details.

In 2015, Expocáñamo was visited by over 4,000 visitors, 70 exhibitors, 25 speakers and 10 unique musical bands. Now that the convention is entering its second year, and it’s about to get much better. As one of Spain’s largest hemp and cannabis culture festivals, Expocáñamo aims to spread awareness of cannabis as a material that’s beneficial in both industrial and therapeutic ways. Countless exhibitors from the local area will show off their wares. A handful of famous speakers representing different aspects of 18

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the cannabis industry will also be present and ready to spread knowledge to the event’s many attendees. Of course, a cannabis festival isn’t really complete without a few outstanding musical performances. Expocáñamo will have multiple bands performing, such as La Selva Sur, Scurro & Papa Wilson and more. With a wealth of information and entertainment, Expocáñamo is bound to be one of the world’s most interesting and influential cannabis festivals around. Make sure you don’t miss it!

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NEWS

LOCAL

THE NOSE KNOWS

Colorado passes ordinance to implement a cannabis smell regulation Medical Cannabis Bike Tour

by Addison Herron-Wheeler

t first glance, odor regulations seem like something out of a cartoon or children’s book, but here in Denver it is very real. According to The Denver Post, Denver City Council is concerned about the offensive to some, pleasant to others, aroma that is omitted from dispensaries and other cannabis operations, and recently passed an ordinance to crack down on such smells. While the city has been debating back and forth about how they should treat the expiring moratorium on cannabis businesses, they quickly decided in favor of the smell ordinance. If this passes this month, then this new rule will be officially approved and enforceable by the local Health Department. This new regulation would mean that businesses can file smell complaints, not just private citizens. Then, if a dispensary receives five complaints, they would have 30 days to clean up their act and fix the smell issue before they receive an inspection. Cannabis businesses and advocates are not happy about this new complication, and are speaking out against the arbitrary nature of regulating smells. “The only thing that can be done is air filtration to ensure that smells are mitigated through carbon scrubbers,” explained Mark Slaugh, Executive Director of the Cannabis Business Alliance, in an exclusive interview with CULTURE. “The ‘problem’ is not the smell per se, since obnoxious odors aren’t outright prohibited or regulated for other businesses with strong scents. The problem is the prejudice giving rise to complaints in the first place and over-reactionary ordinances that unfairly target cannabis businesses and don’t apply equally to other Denver businesses with obnoxious odors.” Slaugh further argues that the cannabis industry is bringing needed change to the city,

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and should not be slighted for something as minor as strong smells. “The cannabis industry is primarily responsible for producing economic benefits for once poor and decaying neighborhoods which the industry improved,” he added. “These areas were once stagnant, filled with commercially abandoned warehouses that eventually became cannabis cultivation and manufacturing facilities. The city of Denver has required the industry to improve the landscape around those buildings and they have truly begun transforming these neighborhoods.” “Now, the industry is being targeted under this odor ordinance and under the moratorium as the ‘problem’ of these areas when, in fact, they are the pioneers of neighborhood renovation and a major factor in the rise of tourism and people moving to Denver post-legalization,” he continued. “It would seem that the city council wants to kick out and limit the very pioneers who created a settlement in the first place, all in the name of continued development and gentrification of the neighborhoods cannabis businesses have increased their value in and call home.” Even some of the city council members are skeptical that this new ordinance will be a good way to fix the problem. “When you begin to saturate and when you begin to concentrate (businesses), there’s no smell ordinance that can identify where this is coming from,” Albus Brooks, a local Councilman, told The Denver Post. “And I’ve never seen a council so sure of a bill that hasn’t even come through committee yet.” While there is no doubt that some measures should be taken to ensure dispensaries and grows contain there smells, many seem opposed to this new, somewhat draconian, smell ordinance proposal. A final decision will be reached this month. c

Backpacking through Europe is overrated, but biking in support of cannabis research definitely isn’t. Every year the Medical Cannabis Bike Tour asks cyclists to bike 420km in the course of three days, ending on May 19 at the Indica Sativa Trade Fair in Bologna. Since starting in 2012, with only two riders, the race has expanded and raised €250,000. This year, 100 cyclists will tour through Slovenia and Italy, and proceeds will go to Complutense University in Madrid who will be working with the Spanish Group of Neurological Investigation (GEINO). With funding provided by the bike tour, these institutions will conduct clinical trials of cannabinoid effects on glioma (brain tumor) cancer patients. As there is limited research providing solid evidence on the effects of cannabinoids on cancer cells, this research is very important and all contributions make a difference! WHAT: Medical Cannabis Bike Tour. WHEN/WHERE: Tues, May 17-Thurs, May 19. Tour begins in Ljubjana, Slovenia and ends in Bologna, Italy. INFO: For more details visit www. medicalcannabisbiketour.com.

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NEWS

legal corner

Probation Nation The problem with medical cannabis patients on probation by Ann Toney

y the time you read this column, the 2016 Colorado Legislature will have adjourned “sine die” and any new proposed cannabis statutes will have been passed; or passed over. A very important proposed bill, House Bill 16-1359, is sponsored by Representative Joseph Salazar and Senator Lucia Guzman. The bill on its face appears to eliminate one of two reasons a court can use to prohibit a medical cannabis patient from using medical cannabis while on probation. Under current law, a court may not prohibit the authorized possession or use of medical cannabis as a condition of probation unless (1) the defendant was convicted of a medical cannabis related crime; or (2) the court determines, based on a “substance abuse assessment” (conducted by the State of Colorado Probation Department), “it is necessary and appropriate to prohibit the use in order to accomplish sentencing goals.” What has been happening in many courts since the passage of the current law, medical cannabis patients who have been put on probation have summarily been banned from using medical cannabis. Period. What has been happening is the judge would refer the client to probation for a “substance abuse assessment” and then it was determined that the person could not use his or her medical cannabis while on probation. So, they took a progressive law protecting people using medical cannabis while on probation, and gutted it by turning around and granting the government the right to also prohibit medical cannabis usage. They granted the protection and turned around and effectively took it away with a slight of hand. They did that in the original law while now with this amendment they are moving to make it even easier to keep probationers from their medicine. This new proposed wording in the law alleviates the burden on probation of even going through the motions of conducting a “substance abuse assessment” before the court prohibits the use of medical cannabis by the probationer. By removing this “assessment” step, courts can simply summarily order the probationer not use his or her medical cannabis

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“What has been happening in many courts since the passage of the current law, medical cannabis patients who have been put on probation have summarily been banned from using medical cannabis.” while on probation without even the pseudo assessment. The new wording, allows the judge to prohibit medical cannabis if the court finds “any material evidence” that the prohibition of medical cannabis is “necessary and appropriate to accomplish the goals of sentencing.” So, with this change the legislature has removed any pretense of investigating whether the person should be able to use his or her medical cannabis while on probation. Do not let anyone tout this law which on its face says a court may not prohibit the use of medical cannabis while on probation and then turns around and gives the court carte blanche to forbid its use. It makes me wonder who our legislators are looking out for or are they just trying to “look good”? Medical cannabis is important for some medical reasons, unless you are on probation; then you simply cannot use it and your medical conditions do not count until you are off probation. Got it. c

IMPACT: Autoimmune Disorders and Cannabis With over 80 types of autoimmune disorders currently known, it’s apparent that the category of conditions is complex and difficult to understand. Thankfully, IMPACT has you covered with its monthly conference that covers a variety of conditions and how cannabis can affect them through therapy and healing. At this month’s event, a variety of autoimmune disorders will be covered including lupus, arthritis, diabetes and Lyme disease to name a few. During this event, you will receive insight from professionals in the cannabis industry and in health care, government and most importantly autoimmune diseases. Don’t worry, if a question or concern you have not covered throughout the course of the conference, experts will be readily available to answer any and all questions. This is your chance to see how cannabis can positively impact and change you or a loved one’s life through its natural healing benefits. WHAT: IMPACT: Autoimmune Disorders and Cannabis. WHEN/WHERE: Sat, May 14. 12:30 pm4:00 pm. Crossroads Theater, 2950 Washington St., Denver. INFO: Visit eventbrite.com for tickets and event updates.

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NEWS

healthy living

Cannabis as a Treatment for Opioid and Heroin Abuse by Lanny Swerdlow, RN LNC On May 14, 2014 Nora Volkow, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, testified before the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control stating that there are “ . . . growing and intertwined problems of prescription pain relievers and heroin abuse in this country.” She also reported there is “an estimated 2.1 million people in the United States suffering from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers in 2012 and an estimated 467,000 addicted to heroin.” On February 2, 2016 President Obama approved a $1.1 billion program to stem the prescription opioid abuse and heroin use. The severity of this issue is seen in statistics from the Center for Disease Control, which reported that of the 47,055 drug overdose deaths in 2014, two-thirds were linked to opioid and heroin use and that “opioid overdose deaths, including both opioid pain relievers and heroin, hit record levels in 2014, with an alarming 14 percent increase in just one year.” Speaking at the National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit on March 29, President Obama noted that more people die of narcotic drug overdoses than die in car accidents each year, stating “When you look at the staggering statistics in terms of lives lost, productivity impacted,

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cost to communities, costs to families, it has to be something that has to be right up there at the top of our radar screen.” Amplifying the President’s remarks at the Summit, Michael Botticelli, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, announced a new program to encourage the use of drugs like methadone and buprenorphine to treat the opioid/heroin epidemic explaining, “Expanding access to medication-assisted treatment for opioid-use disorders has been a top priority for this administration.”

cardiac arrest. In a July 2015 study conducted at Columbia University and published in the international Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, researchers concluded that the synthetic THC “Dronabinol reduced

“Participants who smoked marijuana had less difficulty with sleep and anxiety and were more likely to remain in treatment as compared to those who were not using marijuana, regardless of whether they were taking dronabinol or placebo.” Using drugs like methadone or buprenorphine is not without controversy, as critics are apprehensive that they could be diverted and lead to further addiction. They also note the serious negative side effects including anxiety, insomnia, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, impotence, seizures, coma and

the severity of opiate withdrawal during acute detoxification.” Most significantly, the study’s author recognized the effectiveness of real cannabis, noting that “Participants who smoked marijuana had less difficulty with sleep and anxiety and were more likely to remain in treatment as

compared to those who were not using marijuana, regardless of whether they were taking dronabinol or placebo.” A recent study by researchers at the University of Michigan reported similar findings, that “among study participants, medical cannabis use was associated with a 64 percent decrease in opioid use, decreased number and side effects of medications, and an improved quality of life.” Other studies have come to the same conclusion, including a study jointly conducted by the RAND Corporation and the University of California, Irvine which suggests that cannabis is a good substitute for opioid pain medication as a whole. There are over 19,000 deaths every year in the U.S. from opioid overdoses and zero deaths have been recorded from cannabis use. There are more and more studies and sources being published every day that conclude cannabis is a safer—and could be a more effective—method of treatment for opioid and heroin abuse. c

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REVIEWs

dispensary highlight

Life Flower Dispensary Interviewed: Neal Bigelow (Store Manager) 4966 Leetsdale Dr., Glendale, 80246 www.lifeflowerdispensary.com (720) 389-7442

How and when did your dispensary start up? Life Flower Dispensary (formerly Medicine Man Medical Market) started in August 2010 as a medical only dispensary. In September 2015 we opened our doors as a dual facility serving both medical and recreational marijuana.

What’s the story behind your name of your shop? We consider marijuana a flower for life. It promotes a healthier lifestyle; it has many beneficial qualities medicinally, and we want to spread the word of this amazing flower and its healing properties. It’s these reasons that we named our store Life Flower Dispensary.

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What does your dispensary offer clients that they can’t find anywhere else? What do you specialize in, if anything? The amazing thing about us is that we are a one stop shop; and our doors are open until midnight, seven days a week for medical and recreational patients. We are proud to have a wide range of products (concentrates, edibles

and flower) to meet all of our patient and guest needs. Our main focus is providing all of our guests with exceptional customer service and making sure everyone leaves happy. What are the biggest challenges you face in this industry as a dispensary? Biggest joys? Our biggest challenge is keeping up with the constant changes in regulations within the marijuana industry. Our biggest joy is creating relationships with our patients and guests and being here for them when they need us the most. What is the one thing you want patients to know about your dispensary? We are proud to be the only dispensary in the Denver metro area who serves BOTH Medical 18+ and recreational 21+ until midnight, Monday through Sunday!

If someone wanted to open a dispensary and get their feet wet in the industry, what advice or counsel would you give them? Our advice would be to treat this industry SERIOUSLY. This industry is still very young and many regulations change constantly. Always make sure to continue your education on the laws and regulations so that you are always compliant. What is the most important thing you hope to accomplish while in the MJ/MMJ community? We want to continue to educate and bring awareness to this amazing flower and the health benefits it has. As always we will continue providing our patients and guests with exceptional customer service and a variety of genuine quality products. After all it’s your life, our flower—Life Flower. c

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REVIEWs

advocate highlight

John “Chandler” Occupation: Vice President of Cultivation Technologies, urban-gro

When and how did you become an advocate for cannabis? I first started growing cannabis for a dispensary when the industry was strictly a medical market. During that time, I had several powerful interactions with patients suffering from Multiple Sclerosis and other serious afflictions who emphatically told me how much cannabis helped improve their quality of life by reducing pain, increasing appetite, allowing them to sleep, etc. The stories I heard over the years of how beneficial cannabis can be to people suffering has given me the passion for assisting growers in efficiently producing high quality cannabis. Now when I visit other states and see people who are suffering from serious ailments, my heart goes out to them because they live in a place with no safe and legal option for utilizing cannabis in their treatment. I hope to see this change in the future.

How has cannabis benefited your life? Cannabis has given me the opportunity to find incredible passion in what I do. Being able to take my large-scale horticultural knowledge and provide safe, effective pest management plans for cultivation facilities from coast to coast has been endlessly satisfying. What’s your greatest achievement for the cannabis cause? Reducing pesticide use in the commercial production of cannabis. Pesticides have been a hot topic in the industry lately. In the past, many growers relied on several harsh chemicals to treat infestations of pests. These products have been shown to concentrate to very high levels in cannabis extracts, and there is no data to show what happens when you smoke these products. Through the use of soft-chemistry and biological controls, we are able to grow pesticide-

4th Annual Hempy Mother’s Day Brunch While there are plenty of mothers in the cannabis community who imbibe in the plant for therapeutic purposes, the antiquated justice system isn’t always understanding of this need. With this in mind, cannabis activist Little Tree has put together a Mother’s Day brunch to honor mothers who, like herself, have lost their children to the government because they are cannabis users.

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free cannabis, that we can be sure is safe for the growers and end-users. How did that manifest? Every crop has pests, but because traditional pesticides are a hot button issue in the cannabis industry, I saw a need for finding a solution to using pesticides. My knowledge of integrated pest management in large-scale organic vegetable farms and greenhouses translated to cannabis giving me the opportunity to explore pesticide-free cannabis. Who do you look up to or admire? When I first graduated from Texas A&M, I interned with the pioneers of research in organic farming systems, Rodale Institute. In 1954, J.I.

Rodale wrote, “Organics is not a fad. It has been a longestablished practice—much more firmly grounded than the current chemical flair. Present agricultural practices are leading us downhill.” I try to follow in his footsteps, not letting the status-quo interfere with real progress. If you could change one thing about the way cannabis is viewed and/ or treated right now, what would it be? I would love to see medical cannabis available to everyone who needs it. I have seen how cannabis benefits people who are suffering from ailments, and it is shameful that many people in this country do not have access to legal medical cannabis. c

WHAT: 4th Annual Hempy Mother’s Day Brunch. WHEN/WHERE: Thurs, May 12. iBake Denver, 6125 Washington St., Denver. INFO: For tickets visit ibakedenver.com.

Seeing that this can be a hard time for these mothers LittleTree hopes this Mother’s Day Brunch can help cannabis loving moms (ages 21 and up) come together and celebrate their inherent gift of being a mother and our gift from mother nature, cannabis. Guests who attend this event will be able to enjoy sandwiches and snacks available from iBake Denver, so come prepared to imbibe in a delicious cannabis friendly brunch.

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REVIEWs

strain, edible & concentrate Tangerine Stealth Stick Unlike the rush to develop radar-defying plane technology, the Infusiasm Hybrid Stealth Stick won’t wind up costing you millions of dollars. Take that, Russia! Acquired without secret clearance from LivWell Enlightened Health in Denver, the proprietary blend mixes hybrid BHO with actual fruit terpenes, providing a flavor experience that boosts the high instead of additives in traditional e-cigs. Slightly smaller than many pens we’ve seen, the Stealth Stick is truly meant for those on-the-go, with a sharp black exterior perfect for hiding in the shadows. Ideal for those interested in a functioning buzz, several hits provided a balanced mind and body effect that didn’t leave us awake all night on a stakeout, but also didn’t knock us out like a double agent from behind. Try the Stealth Stick if you suffer from migraines or have trouble with nausea and need relief when you least expect it.

Available at: LivWell Enlightened Health.

LA OG Kush

Available at: CannaBotica in Denver.

Classics are begging to be elevated instead of providing the same experience as before. When was the last time a slice of cheese pizza rocked your face? Well, in the case of LA OG Kush by CannaBotica in Denver, we fell in love all over again. With one giant basil green and light orange hair covered nug in our eighth, we appreciated that we weren’t getting the typically popcorn-sized buds one expects. The smell filled the room with notes of rubber and geranium before we even had a chance to break it up. Burning clean to a white ash, the effect was focused initially behind the eyes and temples, giving one reviewer relief from a lingering headache along with much needed mood elevation. Soon, the effect moved south and took over our bodies, alleviating deep muscle and joint pains and bringing on a drowsiness that not even grandma’s lasagna could match.

Midnite In the old saying “Nothing good happens after midnight,” we’d like to think that this tremendous strain from Kaya Cannabis at Southwest Alternative Care is definitely the exception to the rule. It even has a much cooler spelling for its name. Midnite, a cross of Bubba Kush and Chem #4, piqued our interest as we’ve never seen it anywhere outside of their Denver location. Light green and denser than a dogwood tree; the ample nugs were so frosty they’d probably glow even in the darkest of hours. Initially, we didn’t pick up much nose, but breaking up a bud released chemmy aromas that made us salivate. It definitely followed through on the first few hits, tasting robust without being harsh while leading to a full body relaxation that didn’t feel lethargic. That didn’t stop us from getting a full night’s sleep when ready to crash, however, and the rest we did catch up on was deep and relaxing.

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GET YOUR CLICKS

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Available at: Kaya/Southwest Alternative Care in Denver.

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REVIEWs

Active CBD Oil Gold Syringe It’s about time that we’re doing something cool with hemp other than making those sweet macramé necklaces we all rocked in the ‘90s. Leave it to Active CBD Oil to bring one of the strongest medical products to market in their Gold syringe and put our ‘90s fashion to shame. Derived from non-GMO hemp oil and decarboxylated, the oil works whether you’d prefer to dab it or add it to a cup of coffee. We loved that they didn’t feel the need to chock it full of additives and artificial flavors, instead letting the oil speak for itself. Sampling their suggested dose of .05g, the hits from our rig were smoother than expected with little reaction in our lungs. Medical testers noted that muscle spasms and neuropathic pain subsided, particularly in one reviewer with fibromyalgia. For recreational users, feelings of calm and euphoria washed over testers for a relaxing effect they weren’t expecting. Available at The Healing Canna and DiscoverCBD.com.

Available at: The Healing Canna in Colorado Springs.

Neos Pineapple Skunk Cartridge + Variable Voltage Battery

Available wherever: Neos products are carried.

For those doomed to live in a pineapple under the sea, there’s no lighter strong enough to fire one up. Sad, right? Maybe a vape would cheer them up. Neos, now with a new premium variable voltage battery, is an inspired choice for those looking to kick it up from 2.4v to 4.0v in mere seconds. We tried it out with a Pineapple Skunk cartridge to give our day a nice sativa bounce and we were not disappointed. With excellent terpene preservation, we could taste big notes of citrus and tropical fruits along with more pungent funk. Reviewers with higher tolerances liked being able to get huge rips on the 4.0v setting, giving a huge mood boost along with surprising pain relief considering the sativa nature of the cartridge. The initial effect was so playful it stimulated a discussion on if we were actually inside of a cartoon at the moment. Thankfully, no anvils were involved.

K-Puff CBD Disposable Around the office, we’ve got junk drawers full of old pens and gadgets that have run their course, which is part of the reason we loved tossing out our K-Puff CBD Disposable pen. That is, after we had puffed every last drop out of it. Brand new from K-Puff comes a vape you don’t have to hold onto after it has run its course, and it comes in indica, sativa and CBD varieties. Highly durable and made for any altitude, we recommend packing one on your upcoming spring hikes. GH Labs has also given the option for smoke at the correct temperature and voltage, making every inhale your perfect hit. Silky on the inhale, we noted a mild pine taste on exhale. Because of the high levels of cannabidiol, one tester prone to epileptic seizures found it ideal to carry around in her purse as a discreet lifesaver.

Available at: Mile High Dispensary in Denver.

Available at: Generation Health in Denver.

Walter White Shatter Arguably one of the greatest TV shows of all times, Breaking Bad featured quite a bit of science from protagonist Walter White. We’d wager he’d be pretty impressed with the team at Craft’s latest extraction project available at Mile High Dispensary in Denver. Dubbed Walter White Shatter, the translucent amber sheets were impressive for holding their consistency so well as we broke off hit after hit. Don’t forget to stop and smell your dabs, however, as this is master-level work in terms of keeping it terpy, with more pine than a trip to a New Hampshire cabin. Taking some small chunks and letting loose, we couldn’t stop laughing for several minutes as a case of the sillies had taken over. Good thing we weren’t sitting in chemistry class, as it was unfocused at times and all over the place in the best ways.

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3. Uma Sound Lantern If you’re not much into traditional design, Carmine Deganello and Pablo Pardo, have created something that is both, modern and practical, the Uma Sound Lantern. Fusing sound and light together the pair of designers have created the oil lamp of the 21st century. What makes the Uma Sound Lantern unique and practical is that it serves as a portable light source that can be used indoors and outdoors as well as a 12W speaker with a frequency range of up to 20,000Hz. Even more convenient is that the Uma Sound Lantern allows you to easily stream music via Bluetooth while it offers 360-degrees of sound. PRICE: $479 MORE INFORMATION: pablodesigns.com

1. Mass Roots’ Strain Scented Candles Mass Roots Strain Scented Candles are truly ideal for cannabis lovers from all walks of life. Equipped with sleek packaging, these candles are all natural, hand-poured in America and burn 50+ hours. Omitting a strong and delightful scent that will eliminate unpleasant odors, Mass Root’s Strain Scented Candles come in six different scents: Green Crack, Blueberry Yum Yum, Maui Wowie, Purple Haze, Peppermint OG and Strawberry Cough. The perfect gift for any cannasseur, these candles will compliment any living space or office, with a pleasant smell and attractive pop of color. PRICE: $15 MORE INFORMATION: shop.massroots.com

4. Cannabis Rose Eau De Parfum Fresh® is a beauty brand dedicated to creating the best, most alluring products with only natural ingredients. To complement its popular Cannabis Santal collection, Fresh® has created a feminine perfume, Cannabis Rose Eau De Parfum. This fragrance is elegant with top notes of Bulgarian Rose, pomegranate and bergamot and intended to “capture the essence of an intimate moment between lovers.” Perfect for a night out or everyday wear, Cannabis Rose Eau De Parfum is the perfect fragrance for those who want to make an impression. PRICE: $90 MORE INFORMATION: www.fresh.com

2. Smokies Toke Couture Cannabis Hair Comb Cannabis weddings are all the rage right now, and everything from hemp dresses to cannabis inspired fashion accessories are being created. Smokies Toke Couture offers a special vintage hair comb that features two silver cannabis leaves set around an ivory pearl and clear rhinestones. Its unique design is subtle and beautiful, but still allows the wearer, whether they’re a bride or just a fashionista, to look amazing while showing off their love for cannabis. This particular comb is also offered in gold, but the store seller has a handful of unique handmade hair combs, as well as necklaces and earrings. PRICE: $30 MORE INFORMATION: www.etsy.com/SmokiesTokeCouture

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5. Podo Selfie sticks and tripods can come in handy for any group photo or selfie, but if you want to get a creative angle it’s not always easy to do so. Offering a new alternative to photo taking is Podo an 8 megapixel camera that you can stick anywhere, freeing up your hands and opening a world of creative possibility. How Podo works is it has an adhesive backing that can stick to most surfaces that is easily reusable, all you have to do is clean the adhesive backing after each use and let dry. Easy to use, Podo is a must have gadget for your next vacation or day out with friends! PRICE: $99 MORE INFORMATION: www.podolabs.com

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entertainment

REVIEWs

BOOK

Forty Years Stoned: A Journalist’s Romance

Release Date: May 24 Available on: PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One

Tom Huth Heliotrope Books A touching and humorous memoir, Forty Years Stoned takes readers on a journey of care and love. The book follows Tom as he grows into a caregiver for his beloved wife Holly, who struggles with Parkinson’s disease. The story is more about the experience of cannabis as a bonding agent between this loving couple, and the personal exploration of using cannabis as a very successful medicine for Holly. This book serves as a small window into the very normal lives of millions of Americans who use cannabis for care and health. A poignant story to say the least. (Alex Bradley)

Weightless Release Party

Overwatch

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MOVIE

Dev. Blizzard Entertainment Pub. Blizzard Entertainment

The Revenant

Coming from the developers of World of Warcraft, Diablo and StarCraft games is the highly anticipated new competitive multiplayer first person shooter, Overwatch. There are over 20 unique characters to choose from, each with his or her own set of combat abilities and backstories, and many more are expected to be added in the future. The premise is simple: Two teams of six players are set against each other in maps with one of three objectives. Choose your strategy and work with friends to overcome the enemy team while you gush about immersive graphics and enjoyable backstory cinematics. (Nicole Potter)

Based loosely on the experiences of American frontiersman and explorer, Hugh Glass, The Revenant brings the early 1800s to life in the setting of roughly mapped Native American territory. The Revenant tells the story of Hugh Glass’s treacherous betrayal by his fellow fur-trappers, and his subsequent harrowing quest for survival and vengeance. With a cast of Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy (Mad Max Fury Road), Domhnall Gleeson (About Time) and Will Poulter (The Maze Runner) and excellent direction from Alejandro G. Iñárritu (21 Grams), The Revenant is certainly one not to be missed. (Simon Weedn)

20th Century Fox Dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu

This Path Tonight Graham Nash Blue Castle Records For nearly six decades, Graham Nash has been an integral part of the international music community and, more specifically, a guiding voice in rock and roll and folk music both in Europe and the United States. This Path Tonight is a record which seems to find Nash contemplating both his slightly tumultuous present and his eventual end. Not dwelling on his past or resting on his laurels, Nash continues to push himself and his music forward with This Path Tonight, and easily demonstrates that he is just as capable as he ever was of holding his ground amongst veteran peers and modern contemporaries alike. (Simon Weedn)

WHAT: Weightless Release Party. WHEN/WHERE: Thurs, May 19. Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox, 1212 20th St., Denver. INFO: Visit www.opheliasdenver.com for details.

The music industry today is oversaturated by alreadyfamous musicians, leaving little room for the advancement of up-and-coming artists. Fortunately, the Denver music scene is a breeding ground for talented individuals who want to spread their creative and innovative music. Callie Belo is one such artist who strives to entertain music lovers with her electronic dance tunes. Belo began singing when she was five years old, but it wasn’t until 2011 when she joined the AXS

MUSIC

GAME

Group and the band Syndicate, which eventually helped her find her voice as well as the confidence to begin writing songs and recording music for herself. Recently last year, Belo released her first song, “September Sun,” which mixes the electronic dance and pop-y sound with her own captivating voice. Now this month, she’s playing a release party for her debut album, Weightless—and there’s no time like the present to support Denver’s next big star.

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and

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p h o t o b y M aarten d e Boer

Comedian, actor, writer, producer and all-out amazing human being, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias is on a roll, and he ain’t slowin’ down by Paul Rogers

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erhaps today’s ultimate everyman comedian, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias’ animated yet unpretentious stage persona is almost indistinguishable from his real-life self. Iglesias’ observational material, enhanced with uncanny impressions of everything from police sirens to GPS voices, revolves around his adventures as a touring comic and at home with his girlfriend and stepson. For all of his growing fame and critical acclaim (the San Antonio Express-News declared him a “comedy genius”), he’s still that great storyteller in your workplace or the sassy uncle who turns family dinners into laugh-fests. Though he’s yet to hit 40, Iglesias’ approachable, slightly self-deprecating personality (catchphrases include “I’m not fat, I’m fluffy”), and hilariously relatable tales have already made him a household name. His Fluffy Breaks Even reality television show was recently picked up for a second season by Fuse, he hosts a new weekly show on SiriusXM called Gabriel Iglesias’ Stand-Up Revolution Radio and fills theaters nationwide. The youngest of six children to a single mother, Iglesias spent his early years bouncing around numerous Los Angeles neighborhoods before settling in Section 8 housing in Long Beach, California, for the majority of his youth. Still an L.A. resident, he was working for a cell phone company before first trying his hand at comedy in the mid 1990s. Initially, littering his act with references to weight (Iglesias peaked at 437 pounds), including detailing different “levels of fatness” (including “Daaaaamn!!!” and “Oh, Hell No!”), Iglesias moved away from this theme after losing over 100 pounds while battling diabetes. Fluffy Breaks Even follows Iglesias and his entourage of fellow comedians as they travel the country, asking fans where they should eat in each city and how to best work off the resulting calories. His off-the-road antics may soon grace the small screen too, as Iglesias recently inked a pilot deal with ABC Television for a series based on his home life (provisionally titled The Fluffy Shop). A loveable and flawlessly polite man, Iglesias also comes across as a keenly focused self-promoter and brand-aware businessman. CULTURE grabbed a chat with Iglesias about his past, present, future—and this “Fluffy” thing.

Growing up, did people around you tell you that you should be a comedian, or was it more of a “hidden talent?” It was more of a hidden talent, just because around school I wasn’t trying to be funny. I was actually not the popular kid—I wasn’t the athlete; I wasn’t the loud jokester. I was actually very, very quiet. It wasn’t until I got on the speech team— for some reason that just brought it out of me . . . I would just get 50

“I think eventually it’ll get to the point where it’s legal everywhere; it’s just going to take a little bit more time.”

up in front of the class and just tell a random story about my day and incorporate some characters into it. And they started laughing.

fun and if I happen to crack something funny or silly, then cool, but if not, I don’t feel like I’m hurting myself by it. I’m just a regular dude.

So are you funny to be around in day-to-day life or is your comedic persona something you turn on for the stage and cameras? I’m a pretty witty guy, but I wouldn’t say that I’m going out of my way to entertain. There are some comics that never turn it off . . . [But] I just hang out and have

Is there a history of show business in your family? Actually there is . . . My whole family is mariachis, from Mexico, [and] also a couple of actors in Mexico. One of them was actually a comedian by the name of Pompin Iglesias . . . [in] the ‘70s and early ‘80s. >>

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photo by JUSTIN STEPHENS

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So did that help you break into the business? No, because I had no idea about [Pompin] until maybe a couple of years ago. I just thought it was kind of interesting . . . When they say it’s in the blood, in my case it really was! How did you break into professional comedy? Who and what were central to getting you to where you are today? It took a long time . . . From the time I was out of high school to the time I went up on an actual stage where it was called stand-up comedy; there were a few years in between. A buddy of mine actually pushed me up on stage and after that it was kind of like a slow [process of] meeting people and then finding out where I could go to perform and then, of course, television breaks. My first TV break happened in December of ’97—I went on a TV show called Make Me Laugh on Comedy Central, and that show right there, they booked me three times. Next thing you know, you wind up on The Tonight Show or you wind up getting a halfhour special, and it just kind of snowballed. Social media played a huge part of that, because I jumped on the whole MySpace deal when it first came out, after Dane Cook started popping up. And as soon as Facebook came around, I jumped on that right away—then Twitter, then Instagram . . . I just ran with it. I call it grassroots marketing. You stay in touch with the fans by being the actual person who sends out all the messages and interacts. I have people who help me with social media in the sense that they’ll help me structure the account, but they don’t put out the content for me. Who and what has influenced your style of comedy? In the beginning, only in the beginning, it was probably 54

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Eddie Murphy and Robin Williams. Eddie Murphy for the characters and Robin Williams for . . . the craziness and for making it look like it was all spontaneous. I think over the years, I’ve just started trying to incorporate my real life into my act . . . [and] instead of saying something, painting a picture incorporating sound effects and characters. I never write anything down. Everything that I put out on stage is either on video or audio recordings. I cannot fit structure, myself—I have to go out there and just kind of free-flow it . . . and if it’s funny then I’ll say it again the same way the next time—and if it’s not then I’ll change it until I find a way to make it funny. I try to tell stories that are relatable. I try to avoid things that make people uncomfortable. For example, I don’t get political; I try not to get religious . . . I avoid things that get people riled up. Some people say, well, I’m not taking chances. But I’m also not offending people, which opens the doors to more people coming in to see my show. For the uninitiated, can you introduce “Fluffy?” Is Fluffy just a nickname; an alter-ego; or is it gradually replacing “Gabriel Iglesias” as your brand? Fluffy’s always been the brand. Originally, I tried my [real] name . . . [but] for some reason “Fluffy” just stuck more than Gabriel Iglesias did. I’ll [nowadays] incorporate Fluffy into my name, so it’ll be Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias. So now the name is in there and the branding is in there. I caught onto a word and it was catchy in the beginning. I used to get upset because people would call me Fluffy, and then I learned to embrace it. Why would it upset you? I didn’t want people to think I was a character—I wanted them to know that, hey, I’m a real person . . . The last

“I think I’m funny regardless of whether people are smoking or drinking or using anything else. I don’t rely on them doing that in order to have a successful career. But I don’t hate on ‘em for it—if that’s what they wanna do before the show, hey, have fun!” thing I wanted was to not have people know who I really was. Fluffy Breaks Even was recently picked up by FUSETV for a second season. What do you think lies behind the success of the show? I think it’s a combination of branding and incorporating fans into the show. I incorporate the fans in the sense that we ask fans what’s a good restaurant to go eat at when we’re in that area . . . [and] what’s a good way to work off this [meal]—what’s a good workout; what’s something different than just hitting the gym. So the success of the show is because the fans want it to go this way. By letting them pick, it’s a recipe for success. You’re currently crisscrossing the country on the Fluffy Breaks Even tour. How does the Fluffy Breaks Even concept translate to the stage? I think it went from the stage

to the [TV] show; I don’t think it went the other way around. It was something that we always do on the road—that’s why it felt so organic to do this type of show. We’re always going out to restaurant and, because I’ve recently lost 100 pounds, I’m trying not to gain that weight back, so we’re always trying to find a way of working off the meals. So we said, you know what, all we gotta do is incorporate cameras and let the fans have fun with us and it should be a good show. You recently signed a pilot deal with ABC Television to write and star in a multicamera series with the working title The Fluffy Shop. Is that something you can talk about in more detail? Absolutely! The Fluffy Shop concept comes from the three or four days that I’m home from the road. So I would be playing myself [and] how I come up with the show that people see on stage. >>

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“If [cannabis] is going to keep somebody from getting upset to the point where they do something stupid and it’s going to keep them at home for that night, then I’m all for it.”

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p h o t o b y R an d y M iramontez

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“. . . people are sure that [cannabis] does help out people with certain issues." Not just at home, but I also have a merchandising/ clothing business called The Fluffy Shop . . . I’m going on auditions; I’m doing other projects; I’m interacting with my son, with my girlfriend. There’s all kinds of things that are happening . . . and so that’s going to basically be the premise of the TV show.

wanted to look better, but because I wanted to be around; I wanted to be alive. My stand-up has very little to do with my weight. I mean, yeah, the title Fluffy’s in there, and maybe I might make a comment or two, but in the course of 90 minutes, you’re not going to hear any fat jokes anymore.

Your weight, weight-loss and eating are central to your comedy. So if you got, like, really skinny, how would you revamp your comic persona? I think that’s already happened in the sense that I’ve already let the fans know that I got to a certain weight [and] it was unhealthy. I had to lose—not because I

What is your personal history with cannabis? Has it played any role in your life or your comedy? Between the ages of 23 and maybe 27, I was quite the recreational user . . . It was relaxing. I’d come home from the road and I had a couple of buddies who’d hang out and we’d smoke and watch

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cartoons. We’d sit around and watch Family Guy . . . they were really good times.

the point where it’s legal everywhere; it’s just going to take a little bit more time.

In your experience with audiences, can using cannabis make things seem funnier? I think I’m funny regardless of whether people are smoking or drinking or using anything else. I don’t rely on them doing that in order to have a successful career. But I don’t hate on ‘em for it—if that’s what they wanna do before the show, hey, have fun!

And is that something you would support? I would . . . I mean, people are sure that [cannabis] does help out people with certain issues. If it’s going to keep somebody from getting upset to the point where they do something stupid and it’s going to keep them at home for that night, then I’m all for it. Obviously, with kids, I think people should wait ‘til a certain time before they allow their children [to be] doing it, even if it is legal—just like with alcohol . . . [There’s] a time and a place for everything. c

What are your thoughts about the current state of cannabis legislation in the U.S.? I think eventually it’ll get to

www.fluffyguy.com

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Cannabis on Campus CO Bill to Allow Schools the Choice to Let Student Patients Medicate by Addison Herron-Wheeler

Colorado has been struggling with the issue of medical cannabis in schools ever since cannabis was first legalized in the state for medical use. Schools fear a loss of federal funding if they allow cannabis treatment for sick students, since the plant is still federally illegal, while parents, advocates and patients fight for patient access so that students can get relief. This month, cannabis patients won a major victory, as medicating with cannabis will now be allowed in Colorado public schools under a newly passed bill. According to The Denver Post, House Bill 1373 requires treatment rights for patients, but allows schools to be able to choose where the patients

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can medicate, and what forms of cannabis they can use. Representative Jonathan Singer, the Democrat from Longmont who supported the bill, claims that schools who do not put such a policy into action are leaving it up to parents and students to choose how and where medication can take place. The recent bill passed 10-3 in the House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee, showing an overwhelming support for children being able to medicate on school property. “It forces a conversation,” Singer told The Denver Post regarding the bill, “that we were hoping would be a voluntary conversation.” This bill works to help patients gain access, since

the currently existing bill, allowing medication only if schools create a program, has not been successful. So far, no schools have implemented such a program, so until now,

“Schools fear a loss of federal funding if they allow cannabis treatment for sick students, since the plant is still federally illegal, while parents, advocates and patients fight for patient access so that students can get relief.”

no medical cannabis users have been able to medicate on school property. “It’s kind of exciting that they are finally going to let it in after fighting this for five years trying to get children their meds in schools,” explained Shan Moore, the father of Chaz Moore, who fought and struggled while in school to be able to use medical cannabis. “I do think it’s great—it’s just a little late for my kid,” he added. “Chaz stopped going to school before graduating. He would get sick, not be able to take his meds in school, and got tired of playing that game, and when he went to try and get his GED the same thing happened, since those classes take place in schools as well. So maybe now, he’ll be able to get his GED and make something happen. He tried the online schools, but he doesn’t learn well online— he really needs to be there in person.” Moore hopes that maybe with this new bill in place, his son will be able to medicate in schools, and therefore take the GED and continue his education. Like Chaz Moore, many Colorado children desire an education, but struggle to work and focus because they can’t get the medicine they need. Hopefully with this new bill in place, students who need medicine will be able to receive relief so they can focus on learning. c

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Outdated Stigmas for Canna-Moms The slow-tochange double standard of wanting to wind down your day with a vape pen instead of a glass of wine

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by Addison Herron-Wheeler

It’s such a common scenario in TV and movies that viewers hardly bat an eye. A mother or father comes home after a long day of working full time, taking the kids to soccer practice and grabbing groceries, and sits down on the couch with a glass of wine in hand to talk to a significant other or older family member. Gone are the Reagan Era days where a mother who imbibed a glass of wine or beer every once in a while was considered a lush—feminism has won a few battles, and moms are some of the most stressed people out there, so it makes total sense that they’d want to imbibe. However, replace that glass of wine with a joint or even a vape pen full of cannabis, and Americans everywhere drop what they’re doing and stare in shock. Perhaps if the mom has cancer or is clearly medicating, this scene would be accepted, but if the mother is simply

“I think that our community is going to be stuck with the current stigma for a while longer.” recreating, it would have to be a movie about an unfit mother, a drug addict or an example of bad parenting behavior. Not only is this outlook outdated and wrong, it’s out of step with how much of America is starting to live. With more and more states legalizing every election year, and lots of cities decriminalizing, it doesn’t make sense to have such a stigma against parents, in particular mothers, using cannabis to relax. After all, over 50 percent of people now support cannabis legalization, according to a recent Pew Research poll, so a great number of those supporters are mothers and fathers. “I think that our community is going to be stuck with the current stigma for a while longer,” explained Jena, mother of one biological child and two stepchildren, from Denver. “I think that in order for it to disappear completely, the laws and regulations will need to change at a national level. Right now people associate >>

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“Mothers care about their children, and will go to great lengths to keep them away from cannabis at a young age, while also educating them about cannabis in a way that is fair and unbiased.”

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Colorado with cannabis use. The truth is that most of the people who are using cannabis now are the same people who were using it before it was legal. I still get a variety of responses from people when I tell them that I use cannabis. A lot of people are surprised, and I don’t know why that is. I think the only thing we can do is to be responsible about how we use cannabis. This is important, because I’ve heard a lot of stories about parents misusing cannabis. Don’t smoke while you’re pregnant or nursing. Don’t smoke around your child. Don’t smoke and drive. Don’t get stoned at work. It’s simple.” “I have a locking box where the majority of items are kept, in my bedroom high enough only an adult could reach, even with a chair or other item,” added Diane Evans of Fremont County Cannabis in Colorado, mother of two, when asked about how she makes sure that her cannabis never comes in contact with her children “I also have a dorm refrigerator in our bedroom that has child-proof mechanisms on it. In addition, my children are also being taught about some of these items, why some people need them, why Mommy and Daddy need them. They have been taught these items are a form medicine and they know not to eat anything without showing us first. I really feel like educating our children is the best way to keep them safe. We don’t smoke cannabis in front of our children, ever. We pop out to the garage or wait until they are sleeping and partake in our bedroom with our door locked, just in case. We have an outside door, as well, in our bedroom which we open to vent smoke out. Mostly during the daytime, we use other discreet forms, such as an edible, tincture or patch. Rather than lie to our children, we want to be honest with them.” “I have had a few talks with my stepchildren about marijuana,” explained Jena when asked if she has spoken with her children about cannabis. “My husband and I

took them to a concert at Red Rocksa few years ago, and my stepson was visibly bothered by people who were smoking a joint a few rows in front of us. We explained to the kids that what those people were doing was no different than the people beside us who were drinking beers. We emphasized that it was legal, and that if treated responsibly that it was not hurting anybody. I think that it was just so surprising to my stepson, who was 11 at the time, because it’s made out to be something that is dangerous. In my experience, drinking alcohol proved more dangerous than using cannabis. Alcohol is just more socially accepted.” “About a year ago, I did tell my stepchildren that I smoked marijuana on occasion,” she added. “Before that talk, I had been doing it in secret. I was sneaking out onto our patio, or using a vape pen in my bathroom. My husband was the one who encouraged me to ‘come clean’ about it. He said that it was important for us as parents to be honest with our children and to set an example of how to live a responsible life as an adult. I told them that I smoked marijuana, and that just like using alcohol, there are responsible ways to use it and irresponsible ways to use it. Just like alcohol, it is not acceptable or safe to use it when I have to drive. I also don’t use it when I’m at work. I think that comparing it to alcohol helped them realize that it isn’t a scary, dangerous drug.” While the way each mother deals with her cannabis use can differ, one overall theme is clear. Mothers care about their children, and will go to great lengths to keep them away from cannabis at a young age, while also educating them about cannabis in a way that is fair and unbiased. While the acceptance of mothers who use cannabis recreationally, or regularly to treat chronic conditions, won’t happen overnight, the bravery of these moms and the constantly shifting climate will definitely help things along. c

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Big Business Women who are making their mark in the cannabis sector

Jessica Billingsley Image courtesy of MJ Freeway Software Solutions

by Jamie Solis

Although the cannabis business sector is largely male-dominated, female entrepreneurs and activists are known as significant influencers in the booming industry. According to a recent survey, 36 percent of the executives in the cannabis market are women. This is an increase from the percentage of women who hold executive roles in all markets, which was found as 22 percent of women by Pew Research Center. With so many prominent women moving the cannabis industry forward, it is only appropriate to once again shout out some of the top female entrepreneurs in the cannabis sector. Influencing public policy, educating the market, setting operational standards and making millions, find out how the following 12 cannabis businesswomen are

taking the industry by storm. Dale Sky Jones is the Executive Chancellor at Oaksterdam University as well as the Chairwoman at The Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform. A prominent activist in the cannabis industry, Sky Jones was considered to be one of the leading media spokespersons for Yes on Proposition 19 in California. Sky Jones and Oaksterdam University are hugely successful in establishing top quality education, skills and support on the control, regulation and taxation for the cannabis industry. Amy Poinsett and Jessica Billingsley are Co-Founders of MJ Freeway Business Solutions, and they both are considered national industry experts in their field. Amy Poinsett is the Chief Executive Officer of MJ Freeway

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Business Solutions, and Jessica Billingsley is the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chief Operating Officer. These two women created software solutions made solely for the sale of cannabis at the onset of Coloradoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cannabis legalization. With top quality software and impeccable timing, MJ Freeway Business Solutions has been recognized on the Inc.5000 fastestgrowing companies list. Two more powerful women in the cannabis sector are Jazmin Hupp and Jane West. Jazmin Hupp is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Women Grow, which is an organization that brings together various types of leaders in the cannabis industry through networking, education and support. Forbes and Fortune Magazine recognized Hupp for her expert entrepreneurial skills within the cannabis industry. >>

Jane West Image courtesy of Jane West

Amy Poinsett Image courtesy of MJ Freeway Software Solutions

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“36 percent of the executives in the cannabis market are women. This is an increase from the percentage of women who hold executive roles in all markets, which was found as 22 percent . . .”

Dale Sky Jones Image courtesy of Dale Sky Jones

Jazmin Hupp Image courtesy of jazminhupp.com

Jane West is the Founder & National Events Director of Women Grow. She is also the CEO of Jane West Enterprises, which features her collection of cannabis accessories that are geared toward the female consumer. West is also the owner of Edible Events—a mainstream events company that is cannabis friendly. Another powerful businesswoman is AC Braddock. Braddock is the Chief Executive Officer at the extremely successful multi-million dollar technology company, Eden Labs. She also remains active in the industry by serving on two boards, The National Cannabis Industry Association and Council of Responsible Cannabis Regulation. In addition to these two boards, Braddock is also a member of The Marijuana Business Association’s Women’s Alliance and as well as another Washington-based cannabis business group, Women of Weed.

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Anne Holland and Cassandra Farrington are Co-Founders of Marijuana Business Media. Anne Holland’s success in the cannabis industry is due to her role in electronic publishing as the founder of Anne Holland Ventures, which is dedicated to publishing and professional education. Cassandra Farrington is the President at Anne Holland Ventures Inc., and it’s safe to say this two-woman powerhouse is connecting cannabis industry professionals in a big way. You don’t have to be from Maine to know about the thriving Chief Operating Officer of Wellness Connection of Maine, Patricia Rosi. She runs four statelicensed medical cannabis dispensaries in Maine. Since 2011 her multi-million dollar company has grown to over 200 employees and counting. This wealthy businesswoman is providing her community with top quality medical cannabis and turning a huge profit.

A.C. Braddock Image courtesy of Cashinbis

Ophelia Chong Image courtesy of stockpotimages.com

Last but undoubtedly not least, established photographer and creative director, Ophelia Chong, has gained notoriety in the cannabis industry since her launch of StockPotImages.com. This company was the first of its kind, because it hosts cannabis specific stock photography, videos and illustrations that are rights-free and rights-managed. Chong’s attention to professional photos along with a persistent will to bring this much-needed resource into existence is worth noting. The progress of the medical and recreational cannabis industries is largely in part due to strong and successful women entrepreneurs. This is only scratching the surface of powerful, strong women who rock the cannabis sector day in and out, as they are many other women who dedicate their lives to making a difference in our community every day. c

iReadCULTURE.com MAY 2016

Boy on His Deathbed is Cured with Cannabis

AJ’s parents were told their son had one month to live, but today he is cancer free after putting him on high dosages of cannabis oil by Pamela Jayne

In a last ditch effort to save his life, 17-year-old Alexander “AJ” Kephart’s dedicated parents, Sheila and Chris, decided to try out cannabis oil on their dying son with miraculous results. Here’s one American family’s painful, inspirational, devastating and heroic medical cannabis-cures-cancer story. AJ’s super supportive father, Chris, admits his son’s story is complicated– even doctors have a hard time understanding everything he is now “missing” and how he’s been put back together (with titanium, prosthetics and even a “cage” around his back after having three vertebrae removed). It all started in August 2012, when AJ noticed a persistent pain in his knee. In January 2013, he was diagnosed as having bone cancer. Later it was found that he also had stage four lung carcinoma as well. That’s when AJ started

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chemotherapy. In May of the same year, his entire knee was removed along with some bone in his thigh and calf. At this point, doctors also found six tumors on all four of his lung chambers. To keep his lungs from collapsing, AJ was kept in the hospital for months hooked up to a breathing apparatus. AJ was healing up when the cancer came returned in 2014. He had his first three vertebrae removed, his top two ribs and sections of his back removed. The surgery itself even had to be stopped halfway as AJ was losing the use of his nerves. He ended up having to wear a cage around his body until the surgery could be completed a week or so later. Just a few months after the spine surgery, AJ’s oncologist, Dr. Susan Storch, informed Sheila and Chris that his left lung lobe was covered with 20 plus cancerous tumors. They started chemo. Again.

That’s when they got the news: It’s time to “get your son’s things in order,” said the doctors. They gave AJ only a month more to live. In complete desperation, Sheila and Chris asked their doctor about medical cannabis and its cancer-fighting effects. Dr. Storch agreed cannabis oil would be a good “alternative” medicine to pursue along with another series of chemotherapy sessions. She recommended cannabis pioneer Dr. Bonni Goldstein. In her Lawndale, California office, Dr. Goldstein explained how cannabinoids– especially CBD–work by telling cancer cells to commit suicide, plus it stops the formation of new capillaries, which cancer cells need to grow and spread. But even Dr. Goldstein had to admit AJ’s case was going to be experimental as she has never before treated a child with this particular cancer. >>

iReadCULTURE.com MAY 2016

On the way home to Simi Valley, the Kepharts made a stop in Beverly Hills to Tracy Ryan’s then new cannabis clinical built specifically for children, CannaKids. “When we met AJ, he was super frail and was wearing a neck brace. He was taking handfuls of pain medications daily. His Mother Sheila was terrified and she looked like her soul had been ripped out,” remembers Ryan, whose daughter Sophie was healed of a brain tumor via cannabis oil. In fact, AJ was in excruciating pain. His father Chris says AJ was taking two of the following each day for pain: OxyContin, Norco, Tylenol and Motrin. Without the pain killers, AJ would scream and cry in horrendous pain whenever he was awake. After five days on CBD and THC oils by CannaKids,

Chris says AJ’s pain has decreased so much that he was down to taking only one OxyContin daily. “Wow,” he exclaimed when remembering this stressrelieving moment for the whole family. Because AJ had nothing to lose, his loving parents decided to speed up the dosage process. Dr. Goldstein had recommended a threemonth process to increase the dosage, but Chris decided to fly at warp speed. In two weeks, AJ was up to the highest dosage, but he was also tired all the time and felt loopy. “No, son,” father Chris said to AJ, “you are just stoned out of your mind.” Chris admits that this was a sad, but comical moment for father and son. Two months later, the Kepharts visited their

oncologist who was shocked that AJ looked much better and stronger. She also discovered his white blood cell counts showed lots of improvement. Four months later, a scan showed the

“Dr. Goldstein explained how cannabinoids–especially CBD–work by telling cancer cells to commit suicide, plus it stops the formation of new capillaries, which cancer cells need to grow and spread.” multiple tumors on AJ’s lungs were completely gone. Chris says Dr. Storch told them something like: “I can’t explain it. There’s no reason for it. But your scan came back totally clear. There’s no cancer. There’s no tumors in his lungs. It’s all gone.” Since then, every scan has shown there’s no longer any cancer. “I believe cannabis is keeping him alive,” says Chris.

Very unfortunately, high dosage medical grade cannabis oil is expensive and costs the Kepharts almost $2,000 a month to keep AJ cancer and pain free. The stress this financial burden has put on the family has even affected AJ’s mental health. “He was freaking out about everything,” says Chris, who made sure to provide AJ with a psychotherapist and as relaxing an environment as he can provide given the extreme circumstances. Today, AJ is still cancer free. He has completely stopped chemotherapy after having more complications. He and his family are seeking less expensive ways to get high-grade cannabis oils, but they have yet to find a more affordable answer before this health crisis literally puts the family in bankruptcy. AJ’s very brave cancer survival story truly is a medical miracle and another reason cannabis needs to be legalized and affordable for everyone who needs it. c

www.gofundme.com/ajkephart 74

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“Doctors get little or no training about cannabis in medical school and almost none about the endocannabinoid system. The system predates cannabis. It’s been present in us and animals for millions and millions of years, before there even was cannabis.”

I ndustry I nsider Board-certified neurologist, psychopharmacology researcher, innovator, author, editor and former Senior Medical Advisor to GW Pharmaceuticals’

Dr. Ethan Russo by R. Scott Rappold

The first time Dr. Ethan Russo talked with a patient about medical cannabis, the canna-landscape was a very different place than today. The year was 1980. The Reagan Era would soon

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begin a backlash to the excesses of the 1970s that would evolve into a wide-spread war on cannabis and Americans who enjoyed it. A physician advocating for cannabis faced no small amount of personal, professional and even legal peril. Yet when Russo, then a young neurologist working at a Veterans Administration clinic, met a patient whose muscle deterioration had slowed since self-medicating with cannabis, he could not ignore it. In fact, it sparked a revolution in his thinking about medicine and natural treatments. “It occurred to me that I was giving increasingly toxic drugs to my patients with less and less return, whether it be treating epilepsy or migraines,” he said. Russo would go on to become one of the foremost advocates of the medical benefits of cannabis, writing several books and pioneering numerous pharmaceutical cannabis medicines. He had to battle the federal government and the mainstream medical establishment along the way. But with medical cannabis now legal in two dozen states and more countries each year, it sure looks like he won. Or at least he’s no longer a voice out of left field, but a founding member of a global movement. >>

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Opening Minds Like many who came of age in the ‘60s and ‘70s, he was already acquainted with cannabis. “Unlike some people, I inhaled frequently, deeply and with forethought, but that was a long time ago,” he told us in a recent phone interview. After completing his residency at the Seattle VA hospital, he opened a practice in Missoula, Montana, a liberal bastion in cowboy country. If a patient asked—or if he thought it could help their condition—he freely espoused the benefits of cannabis. Multiple sclerosis, muscle tightness, mood problems, depression; cannabis seemed to have benefits for these and more. A patient with ALS, a degenerative condition, taking only cannabis lived for a decade with no deterioration. “We didn’t cure anyone, however, the people that did use it tended to be better clinically and certainly had a better adjustment to their illness,” he said. And he was open about it, telling the state’s medical board that he was advising, but not prescribing, patients on cannabis. Soon other doctors were sending patients to him. Russo also began to wonder about what other plants out there could benefit human health. So in 1995, he took a sabbatical to live with an indigenous tribe in the jungles of Peru, studying the many plants and herbs used medicinally. The experience further shaped his curiosity of herbal benefits and helped inspire his first book, Handbook of Psychotropic Herbs. But one herb in particular was still his main focus.

Battling the Feds There was a twisted irony to anyone wanting to legally study cannabis in the 1990s. In 1997, the Food and Drug Administration denied his research request to study its effect on migraines. The FDA denied it again the next year. The study was approved in 1999, but cannabis for scientific research was required to come from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. That agency refused to provide it. Russo said, “I realized I was never going to be able to do the kind of cannabis therapeutic research I wanted in this country.” So in 2003, he quit his practice and began working for British company GW Pharmaceuticals. He didn’t have to move

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“I realized I was never going to be able to do the kind of cannabis therapeutic research I wanted in this country.” to Europe, but spent quite a bit of time there. He helped develop groundbreaking products like a liquid extract spray for MS patients, currently approved in 27 countries, but not the U.S. He remains frustrated by federal roadblocks to cannabis research, even as people in places like Washington and Colorado can simply walk into a store and buy the plant for recreational purposes. “Essentially what the government has set up is a situation in which American companies who might have a great deal of experience in this area cannot compete with companies from abroad,” he said. “What they’re doing is inhibiting commerce and proper research that could lead to better advancements and not only improved therapeutic applications but better safety as well.” Last year, he became medical director of startup company PHYTECS, where he is conducting research on the human endocannabinoid system, a network of receptors in the brain and nervous system that he believes holds the key for many more breakthroughs in cannabis medicine. Russo envisions a time when patients

will be able to go into a pharmacy to get their cannabis medicine instead of a tie-dye-draped dispensary. And of a time when mainstream doctors will be comfortable prescribing it. “Doctors get little or no training about cannabis in medical school and almost none about the endocannabinoid system. The system predates cannabis. It’s been present in us and animals for millions and millions of years, before there even was cannabis,” he said. “Why isn’t this important system that regulates how our bodies operate being taught in medical school?” Still, he has reason to be optimistic. “I do think when a cannabis-based medicine like (anti-seizure medicine) Epidiolex is approved in the US, physicians will take notice. If it’s been through the FDA process, they’re much more likely to accept it, be interested in it and be comfortable prescribing it so patients can get a script, go to a pharmacy and it will be like any other medicine at that point. The comfort level will increase and the intellectual curiosity will kick in and we’ll begin to make progress.” c

iReadCULTURE.com MAY 2016

Rising Ross

Hilarity and hijinks with comedian Dave Ross

by Jasen T. Davis

After many hard-working years of toil, sweat and tears, comedian Dave Ross is experiencing cinematic success. Thanks in part to the lucrative popularity of the production Women, an original sketch-comedy show cowritten by Ross and presented by the Independent Film Channel (IFC), he’s learning

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how to enjoy financial comfort in between touring the United States, selling sitcoms around Hollywood and starring in Comedy Central’s epic hit, Drunk History. “Right now I’m chilling, which is nice,” says Ross. “I’ve been doing stand-up full speed without any breaks since I started seven years ago. In the past year, I made a little bit of money. Now that I have

money in the bank, I’m not worried so much.” But for Ross, relaxed doesn’t mean lazy. “I’m still doing stand-up and writing comedy,” he says. “I’m also trying to sell a sitcom, so there’s been a lot of meetings.” While the blockbuster appeal of Women, Drunk History and his own touring has rewarded him financially, Ross fully appreciates it since the talented performer almost

ended up homeless. “Last year I hit rock bottom. Totally broke. I was touring heavily and collecting unemployment, but I wasn’t on the road, and that was where my money was coming from. My sketch group and I sold a show to IFC, but it took a while for them to pay us. I was so sad. If you can’t buy food or pay your rent, you feel like garbage.” >>

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There is an ancient entertainment adage: “Pain plus time equals comedy.” Ross has a style that embodies this with observations like, “I love being in my 30s, because being in my 20s sucked. You can sum up my 20s in one phrase, Amanda,” he says, whining sarcastically to dramatic applause as, with one word, the audience feels the hurt. “When you turn 30, a man in a trench coat knocks on your door. If you let him in, he puts all of your movie posters in frames.” “When I started doing comedy I was just scared that I would be bad,” says Ross. “At some point, I stopped being afraid because I just wanted to be good. Now I’m much more relaxed. Last year I did a really big tour that ended with me headlining at The Los Angeles Improv. I performed later at Meltdown Comics. At the Improv, I just did jokes, but at Meltdown I went off book and talked about what was on my mind.” Ross killed that night, entertaining the crowd with personal stories about growing up. “I just talked confidently about things

“I like [cannabis]. I think it’s great. I don’t really have complex thoughts about it. I’ve been smoking weed for 20 years. I smoke weed every day.”

and had fun. I went on a first date with a girl I met there that night. It was great showing her who I was with my act.” Drunk History was a very original experience for Ross. “They tell you to drink beforehand and be at least two beers in. I was nervous.” The production crew ended up in his apartment for more than 12 hours. “They gave me a location fee. We all got drunk together. I ended up drinking six dark beers and blacking out. The nurse had to give me oxygen. I told my story before I blacked out and afterwards, I remember at one point I just started singing a Bright Eyes song to the director.” For Ross, cannabis is just a fact of life. “I like it. I think it’s great. I don’t really have complex thoughts about it. I’ve been smoking weed for 20 years. I smoke weed every day. I have a prescription for it because it helps me sleep. Smoking in public or at parties feels weird to me, so it’s nice to have a power chill out when I get home at the end of the day.” c www.davetotheross.com

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“Cannabis helps me balance work with sleep, and then I come into the studio the next day and feel totally rested. For me it’s been nothing but good.”

SOULFUL AND SOOTHING Rashelle Stetman’s portraits help people see a different side of themselves by Addison Herron-Wheeler

When one pictures an artist, they might think of a creative, free-spirited person—but in the cutthroat and competitive climate of 2016, it is not enough just to have skill and a unique style. Business sense is also essential— something that local portraitist Rashelle

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Stetman has in no short supply. “It’s funny because people say artists can’t make a living making art, but I love my clients,” she told us. “I meet the greatest people in the world. And a huge part of what I do is hearing about different artists, bands, anybody that’s an entrepreneur trying to make something of themselves, which is such an inspiration

to me because every morning you realize you aren’t getting a check at the end of the week or month, but you still have the momentum to get up and do it. I realize when I get up I feel that much more empowered because I know it’s not for the goal that I want to get paid; it’s because I’m going to get out there and be successful someday.” >>

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“The most important thing for me is creating images that heal and sooth people and make them feel less alone,” she explained. “I really try and cover a lot of different emotions with my portraits that we go through as people that we can see and connect with for different reasons. Then I do some cool sacred geometry stuff, and the reason I do that is because I think some people enjoy just some simplistic, nice imagery, so I try to create some varieties of styles. However, I seem to be more comfortable with pen or graphite.” “I think my style kind of ranges based on subject matter, so with my portraits I have a very smooth, gradient, more feminine style, and then I do these micron pen works that are more highly detailed that have sharp shapes, so my style I think ranges for the audience,” she stated. “For galleries my style tends to lean towards angelic portraiture. I want it to feel smooth, beautiful and calm, but at the same time it can be sad, it can be traumatic, but the way I shade is very smooth and delicate. The way it changes is based on demographics. My style varies based on who is buying, but my fine art style that I’m trying to have people recognize my business by is a more soulful, conceptually driven look at the human experience.” Stetman is also an advocate, and uses cannabis to balance out her erratic schedule and rest after a long day of creating art. “I smoke weed every single day,” she told us. “It helps me stay calm; it helps me focus for hours and hours and hours. If I’m sitting there smoking a bowl it helps me stay in that zone, in that realm of creating, and it makes me block everything else out, so for me it helps with anxiety when I know I have a deadline coming up and won’t be able to sleep. If I just sit back and smoke a bowl while I’m working on the piece, I calm down. I always make sure when I go to the dispensary to get a great indica and then I’m able to fall asleep, which is great because I’ve struggled with insomnia for so long, and took so many prescriptions that just made it harder to fall asleep once I got used to them. Cannabis helps me balance work with sleep, and then I come into the studio the next day and feel totally rested. For me it’s been nothing but good.” c

“I realize when I get up I feel that much more empowered because I know it’s not for the goal that I want to get paid; it’s because I’m going to get out there and be successful someday.”

Catch Stetman’s art at several different shows in Denver this summer, and follow her career, and constantly growing body of work, online.

Upcoming Shows: “Edge of Realism” at Abend Gallery June 24 – July 23 Point Gallery solo show opens August 5

Instagram: @rashelle_stetman | www.facebook.co/rashellestetmanart | www.rashellestetman.com 86

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MUSIC ON THE MOVE p h o t o b y E mma C ea g lske ( E y e d iola )

Siren is an aspiring DJ, producer and gift to the Denver music scene by Addison Herron-Wheeler

“I do from time to time enjoy a CBD/ THC patch to help calm my anxieties and ease me into my creative zone so I can get some solid work done.”

The ever-growing and shifting music scene in Denver thrives on creativity and versatility, and that is exactly what Siren, AKA Ashley Roth, brings to local dubstep and electronic music. A selfproclaimed selectress, co-founder of a clothing company, and music enthusiast, Siren regularly infuses Denver music with mixes and performances. “I’ve always been a huge lover of music and when I was about 16 or 17 I had a few friends who produced as well as DJ’d, so I thought I’d give it a go and ending up loving it more than I could imagine,” she told us regarding her background in music. “From time to time I do mess around with tunes, but I definitely wouldn’t label myself as a producer, although that is something I would love to dive more into in the future.” “The tunes I listen to and play do vary in intensity and sometimes style, but what they all have in common is bass weight,” she continued. “My favorite genre would definitely have to be Grime. There is something so special to me about how raw and high energy the Grime scene is. Some artists (this includes MCs) I’m really digging right now would have to be Introspekt, Gundam, AJ Tracey, Gowsk, Creep N00m, Capo Lee, Skelecta, Glume, Samba and Trisicloplox, to name a few.” Siren regularly plays local dubstep nights in Denver, and also stays busy making mixes and hosting a radio show. “I frequent Sub.Mission events, specifically Electronic Tuesdays, which is actually where I played my first show in front of people,” she told CULTURE. “Currently I don’t

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have any events in the works, but starting on May 19 I will be hosting a monthly radio show that myself and co-founder of Confidential Collective, Synstance, will be doing with our good friends over at Fly Hi Society. When my best friend and I started Confidential. Collective, we knew from the beginning that music was going to be the main focus, whether that be through our clothing or our newly curated mix series, ‘Confidential. Sound,’ mainly because we are both avid lovers of music as well as DJs. I think that co-running this collective and interacting with so many different artists has broadened my horizons and therefore contributed to making me a better artist.” In addition to making time for music and sharing tunes she loves, Siren is also an occasional cannabis user and full-on advocate. “I do from time to time enjoy a CBD/THC patch to help calm my anxieties and ease me into my creative zone so I can get some solid work done,” she explained. “I have yet to work cannabis into my music or art, but it’s definitely something that I would love to do in the future!” “In my opinion, as of today we have made huge steps for legalization, especially compared to, say, five years ago, but what I feel could be done differently is more outlets for people to become informed about the immense benefits of cannabis,” she added. “I think that the more accessible information is to all of the public, the more people will begin to open their minds beyond the rhetoric that has been falsely spread about cannabis over decades.” c

Look for Siren playing shows around town, and follow her online for updates on appearances, mixes, her clothing company, and more.

www.whoisconfidential.info

iReadCULTURE.com MAY 2016

A CREATIVE PROCESS Rapper Turner Jackson’s music has evolved with the Denver community

by Addison Herron-Wheeler

Making art is all about sharing a personal journey, and no one has captured this better than local Denver rapper Turner Jackson. His latest record, Red Plastic Cup, is all about growing up, and the changes that come with maturity. “My music has definitely grown over the years, and has kind of formed an identity of its own, as has the Denver rap scene” he told CULTURE. “When I started rapping in Denver it didn’t really have an identity and was only backpack rap west of Colorado Boulevard and gangster rap east of Colorado Boulevard. I love the hip-hop community and supporting it, but I don’t know that its necessarily the style I am trying to take on. Red Plastic Cup is not so much a hip-hop album; I’m rapping and 90

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stuff, but it’s a pop record, and has more mass appeal rather than specific genre appeal. I do more work with people who aren’t hip-hop artists than anything else.” “To me this record, the theme of it in my brain, is like a coming-of-age movie,” he continued. “So like any song that could be in Superbad or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, anything like that, that’s the sound of Red Plastic Cup. Different albums I’ve made have different sounds, but this is more along the lines of what I’m trying to get into—you can place where each song is supposed to be in your life.” Turner is all for legalization, and attributes cannabis’ creativity enhancement as one of the reasons freestyling comes so easily. “I love to freestyle—that’s one of my favorite things—and

p h o t o b y E mma Dar y l L o v e

after I smoke it has my brain working a little bit better,” he laughs. “The reds are more red and the blues are more blue—I’m able to make better freestyles and rap songs. It enhances the creative process.” “I’m the kind of person that if I’m gonna smoke weed I’m gonna smoke,” he added. “But it’s good that the taxes from it now go to funding schools and positive things. I can see where it has definitely had an effect on different socioeconomic groups as far as legalization goes. But I’m

all for people having access to it, especially little kids who have cancer and things like that, and that’s amazing.” However, Turner differs in one key way from other cannabis smoking rappers— you won’t catch him writing lyrics focused around cannabis use. “I don’t rap about sex and I don’t rap about weed— only because its cliché,” he explained. “I rap about maybe smoking, but not like a weed song. It may just be part of the scenery of the situation.” c

Check out Turner Jackson’s most recent record Red Plastic Cup, out now, and look out for his appearance at local shows during the upcoming months.

“ . . . I’m all for people having access to [cannabis], especially little kids who have cancer and things like that, and that’s amazing.”

IN CONCERT May 20 @ Cervantes with Lil B and Joey Purp

www.turnerjackson.com

iReadCULTURE.com MAY 2016

SHOOTING GALLERY

MY 420 Tours

photos by Joel Meaders 92

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iReadCULTURE.com MAY 2016

culture growing RECIPES

Testing The Varieties: Part 4 The winter garden was started in January in a 4’ x 4’ tent. The 35 plants were in 6” containers that were lit by a 1000-watt HPS lamp and were irrigated using a wick system. They were kept in vegetative growth for about two weeks. Then the light regimen was switched to flowering; 12 on and 12 off, and the fertilizer was changed from a vegetative to flowering formula. The plants were getting crowded, so in late February they were placed in a 4’ x 8’ greenhouse that received a limited amount of natural light but which was also given supplemental light using two 1000watt lamps that were on during the early part of each day for five hours. This was a winter garden and it was before the Spring Equinox (March 22) so the plants received fewer than 12 hours of light. The garden

TIP OF THE MONTH FROM ASK ED® Get Ready For Growing Outdoors Are you planning to grow outdoors or in a greenhouse this summer? There’s still time to give your plants a headstart indoors. Whether you are starting from seed or clone, by starting indoors under lights the plants get more total growing time. This is important because cannabis plants of the same variety, whether big or small, will flower at the same time based on hours of uninterrupted dark time each day. With a headstart, the plants grow bigger before they transition to flowering which results in a much larger yield.

Copyright by Ed Rosenthal. All rights are reserved. First North American Magazine rights only are assigned to culture Magazine. No other reproduction of this material is permitted without the specific written permission of the author/ copyright holder.

PROFILE

COURAGE

DESTINATION

UNKNOWN

by Ed Rosenthal

harvest began on March 25, just six weeks after the plants were placed into flowering. All of them ripened within a two-week period. Once they were cut, some of the fan leaves were removed and the plants were hung to dry in a cool room. Usually the room stays between 65-70 degrees, but it has been cool recently and the room temperature has stayed in the low 60s, which slows drying. It’s also been cloudy and rainy, keeping the average relative humidity around 65 percent, but 50 percent is ideal for drying and curing. So after two weeks, the plants are still a little moist, very pliable and not ready to take the next step in their journey, manicuring. To speed things up, I have plugged in a dehumidifier that will heat the room a little bit as it removes moisture. The plants had a number of different shapes in life, and as they are hanging without their fan leaves it is easy to see the different shapes that the plants have developed. The buds will be manicured and then weighed and tested for cannabinoid content. Then we will have a profile of what they look like their relative yield and their shape. Having this information will help farmers to plan their gardens or fields, and help answer questions such as how far apart to space the plants and how to prune them for bigger yields. When this experiment was first started, we ended up with some extra clones that we eventually planted in threegallon containers. We placed the plants outside and let them go. Five of the six plants ripened about a week after the last greenhouse plants were harvested. So those plants were cut leaving only small immature buds and leaves from the lower part of the plant. Hopefully, the plants will regenerate and be ready to harvest later in the season. c

The 35 plants in the greenhouse are ready to harvest.

A typical greenhouse plant.

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Six of the plants spent most of their flowering time outdoors.

Bud of one of the outdoor plants.

Harvesting one of the outdoor plants.

The fresh cut outdoor plants hanging next to the greenhouse plants.

The indoor plants were still too moist after two weeks.

iReadCULTURE.com MAY 2016

culture

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HERE

if you go:

May in Madrid Spain

Remember, cannabis is and isn’t legal in Spain. While most cannabis enthusiasts grow their own plants hydroponically or on a balcony or in a backyard, it is still illegal to grow big crops or to sell cannabis for public (or black market) consumption. A legal provision, however, allows for private use inside a residence. (Smoking cannabis outside or in public places is not a crime, but can end up in a hefty fine of 600 euros.) Spain’s now hundreds of non-profit cannabis clubs run with very little government intervention or police busts. Locals (and travelers) must become a “member” of the club, which usually means dropping a small cash donation and signing the community ground rules paper work. Some clubs focus more on medical cannabis applications because CBD oil is legal here. At “smoking” clubs, expect to hit your flower bud purchase immediately from a community bong or buy a few papers for rolling in a living room-like setting complete with strong Spanish espresso and a THC-laced chocolate treat.

by Sheryll Alexander

May is one of the best times to visit cannabis-friendly Madrid, Spain. While Barcelona may be known as Spain’s most groovy (and most cannabis friendly) Spanish beachside destination, Madrid is more metropolitan in a good way. As the capital of Spain and located smack dab in the middle of this charming Mediterranean country, Madrid is on the rise. Everything from Spain just seems a little better these days, including the cannabis culture. Plus, the people in this pulsating metropolis are known for their warmth and generosity. But cannabis in Spain isn’t yet fully legal. A loophole in Spanish law has, however, allowed

for not-for-profit private “cannabis clubs” to flourish. Most are set up like any dispensary in California, Colorado or Washington, but also have an available smoke room as toking indoors amongst friends is perfectly fine. Flower strains, edibles and paraphernalia can also abound at a Madrid-style cannabis club, but they are not for “sale.” The price is labeled a “cash donation” and this donation system seems to work rather well in a country that’s way into sharing homegrown plant strains. There’s no shortage of things to do, eat, drink and smoke in Madrid. Countless tourist attractions await as well as neighborhoods bursting with Old World charm, New

World music, taste bud titillating tapas and everflowing cava (a light, sparkling, champagnelike alcoholic beverage). The art of performance is also unleashed in this creative city too. Dance (ballet, flamenco and modern), Broadwaystyle musical theatre and live theatre abound, especially in spring and through summer. It’s no wonder Madrid—and all of Spain for that matter—should be number one on any cannabis enthusiast’s travel bucket list with a veritable feast of cultural assets along with some of the warmest people on the planet, easy-toget smoke and some of the world’s best hotels, attractions, food, drink and weather. c

Fun-Filled Facts Madrid has accommodations for every budget from funky apartment rentals to artsy boutique hotels to palatial resorts. But did you know this third largest city in Europe is also one of the most diverse with accommodations for romantics? Some springtime and summer visitors choose a hotel with a rooftop pool for some of the best views and vibes in the city. 1

COURAGE

DESTINATION

UNKNOWN

RECIPES

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Time to Go: Spring Weather: Mild temperatures (average low is 52°F and average high is around 72°F) with sparse showers. Budget: $$$$$

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GET YOUR CLICKS

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Currently, Madrid’s elegant Teatro Lope de Vega is hosting a longstanding run of El Rey Leon, which is the Spanish version of Disney’s The Lion King. Other big box musicals in town through May are the Tony-award winning Priscilla Queen of the Desert (Nuevo Teatro Alcala) and what has been called an “ambitious” Cabaret (Teatro Rialto). 2

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culture RECIPES

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Garth Wilson

Age: 55

PROFILE

COURAGE

DESTINATION

UNKNOWN

Condition/Illness: Severe Chronic Pain, PTSD

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Using Medical Cannabis since: 2012

Why did you start using cannabis? Mental health medication all had unpleasant side effects. The pain medications impaired me; I was vomiting, constipated and I had little to no focus. I was unable to drive because of my feeling uncomfortable behind the wheel. Did you try other methods or treatments before cannabis? Yes. Opiates, as well as mental health pills for depression, anxiety and bi-polar disorder (which I later learned were not needed or beneficial for me at the time). What’s the most important issue or problem facing medical cannabis patients?

There are unnecessary delays in issuing patient cards with a broken system that relies on the Department of Health. I feel like there are unnecessary and arbitrary rules, regulations and legislation, where numbers are simply pulled out of the hat. What do you say to folks that are skeptical about cannabis as medicine? The risk of death and the potential side effects from taking opiate-derived analgesics (pain pills)— these were the things that made my life nightmarish. When I use cannabis to control my pain, I do not consider death. However, before I started using cannabis, I would take a pain pill and I would worry about losing my life. Now, that worry has disappeared, thanks to cannabis. c

Are you an MMJ patient 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.

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Light and Lean

Perfectly prepared dishes for the month of May

Menu: Sesame Canna-Chicken Salad with Strawberry Canna-Sesame Dressing Mini Ricotta Pineapple-Crepe Soufflés

by JeffThe420Chef

Spring is in full swing all over the country this month. May is also the month to celebrate Mom! So, this issue, renowned Canna-Chef JeffThe420Chef has prepared some lovely dishes in perfect harmony with moms across the board, and Spring taste buds too! Relying on fresh produce and the subtle sweetness of a mother’s love, he’s picked two of his favorite light dishes just in time for Mother’s Day or any special occasion, made even more special with some precise cannabis dosing. Dig in and enjoy the season! Dedicated to improving the lives of other people, JeffThe420Chef is the only cannabis chef in the world who specializes in cooking and baking with specially crafted canna-butters and canna-oils, created specifically

to achieve the health and wellness goals of those who choose to medicate with cannabis. Jeff also specializes in teaching how to properly prepare and dose cannabis edibles. Dubbed “The Julia Child of Weed” by The Daily Beast, “The Ganja Gourmet” by Newsweek and “The King of Edibles” by Elite Daily, JeffThe420Chef works with a myriad of both THC and CBD rich strains of cannabis known for their unique attributes. He then removes the majority of the cannabis odor and taste from the flower or “bud” and infuses the cannabinoid compounds from the cannabis into grass fed butter and healthy oils, creating “pedigree” canna-butters and canna-oils that he uses to create tasty, properly dosed cannabis infused gourmet meals and treats.

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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p h o t o s b y L E E L A C YD

10%: 2.5 milligrams / 5 milligrams 15%: 3.8 milligrams / 7.6 milligrams 20%: 5 milligrams / 10 milligrams

growing

This colorful grilled chicken salad is a fan favorite. It’s the perfect balance of sweet and savory. The salad is not only light, simple to make and chock-full of flavor, but it also kicks in pretty quickly since the cannabinoids are in the dressing and are therefore easily metabolized.

Approximate THC per Serving*

culture

Sesame Canna-Chicken Salad with Strawberry Canna-Sesame Dressing

Number of servings: 12 side salads / 6 entrée salads Preparation time: 40 minutes Cooking time: 8 to 10 minutes

Ingredients For the chicken and marinade:

¼ cup hoisin sauce ¼ cup barbecue sauce

½ teaspoon kosher salt

RECIPES

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 tablespoons sesame oil (plain) ½ cup of water

For the dressing: ½ cup strawberries, muddled

¼ teaspoon dry mustard

2 tablespoons canna–sesame oil, plus 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil t

1 teaspoon minced garlic

¼ cup sesame oil (plain)

Pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper

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½ tablespoon strawberry jam

3 tablespoons rice vinegar For the salad:

1 cup green cabbage, shredded 1 cup red cabbage, shredded 1 cup brussel sprouts, shredded 2 blood oranges, divided into supremes (remove the membrane), or 1 small can mandarin oranges

DESTINATION

3 cups baby greens

1 cup broccoli florets ¾ cup strawberries, sliced 1 mango, diced 1 cup snow peas 1 Italian cucumber, sliced thin ½ package dry instant ramen noodles, crumbled 3 teaspoons sesame seeds

COURAGE

3 cups kale, torn or as chiffonade

Directions

Make the dressing: Make the dressing by mixing all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Set it aside to let the flavors develop. To finish the salad: Toss the kale, baby greens, green cabbage, red

cabbage, brussel sprouts and broccoli. Top with the marinated chicken, orange supremes, strawberries, mango, snow peas and cucumber. Drizzle with the salad dressing and sprinkle with crushed ramen noodles and sesame seeds before serving. *Approximate dose per serving is based on infusing 5 grams of cured/dried/ de-carbed cannabis into 5 ounces of oil.

t Additional recipe can be found at iReadCulture.com

halfway through cooking time. Remove from the grill and let cool 5 minutes. Cut chicken breasts into bitesized pieces.

PROFILE

Marinate the chicken: Pound the chicken breasts until the sides are even. Separately, mix the hoisin sauce, barbecue sauce, kosher salt, and plain sesame oil into ½ cup of water and stir well. Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc bag along with the chicken and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Grill for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, rotating each side 45°

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culture growing

Mini Ricotta Pineapple-Crepe Soufflés

One of my all-time favorite dishes! I make 6 minis to snack on during the week. You can also make one large soufflé by placing all the blintzes on top of the melted butter in a large baking dish. Then just pour the soufflé mixture over the crepes and bake for 1 hour.

For the crepes: 1 cup milk ¼ cup cold water 1 cup all-purpose flour

Number of servings: 6 2-ounce ramekins Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour

1 tablespoon sugar 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Local eateries with similar dishes:

1 stick grass-fed butter, cold (you won’t use the whole stick—it’s just to grease the pan)

10%: 7.6 milligrams

For the cheese filling:

15%: 11.4 milligrams

1 cup ricotta cheese

¼ cup crushed

½ cup mascarpone

pineapple, drained

cheese

1 egg

20%: 15.2 milligrams

3 tablespoons The Bent Fork Grill 12191 E LLiff Ave., Aurora (303) 337-6600 www.bentforkgrill.com

confectioners’ sugar For the soufflé:

Modern Market 1600 28th St., Boulder (303) 440-0476 www.modmarket.com

1 stick grass-fed butter, melted 1 cup sugar

UNKNOWN

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla Pinch of cinnamon ½ cup crushed pineapple ½ teaspoon salt

1½ cups sour cream 2 teaspoons pineapple juice

DESTINATION

Directions

COURAGE

Blend together the crepe ingredients: Milk, cold water, flour, sugar, eggs and canna-butter. Heat a small nonstick pan on medium. Rub the stick of grass-fed butter around bottom and sides of the pan. Pour enough batter into the pan to coat the bottom. Cook for 30 to 40 seconds until the batter sets. Shake gently to loosen. Flip, using a small silicon spatula and cook another 30 to 40 seconds. Transfer to a plate and repeat until all the batter is used. In a medium mixing bowl, combine cheese-filling ingredients: Ricotta cheese, mascarpone cheese, confectioners’ sugar, crushed

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¼ cup creamy cannabutter, melted and cooled t

Approximate THC per Serving*

Potager 1109 Ogden St., Denver (303) 932-5788 www.potagerrestaurant.com

RECIPES

Ingredients

pineapple and egg. Mix well. Place 1 tablespoon of the cheese filling in each crepe and fold them opposite edge to opposite edge, then roll open sides over folded edges to create a closed little blintz. Set aside and repeat. Preheat oven to 340°F. Pour 1 to 2 tablespoons of melted butter to cover the bottom of each ramekin. Place 1 crepe in each ramekin. Blend the soufflé ingredients: Sugar, eggs, sour cream, pineapple juice, vanilla, cinnamon, crushed pineapple and salt. Pour the mixture over the crepes, filling each ramekin threequarters full. Bake for 1 hour until golden brown and then serve.

*Approximate dose per serving is based on infusing 5 grams of cured/dried/decarbed cannabis into 1 1/3 sticks of butter.

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colorado NOW! event listings

The Burlypicks Burlesque and Variety Competition, May 15

Boulder First Friday Art Walk, May 6

Get to know local artists, vendors and galleries every first Friday at the Boulder art walk. Every month there is a variety of art, food and entertainment for all to enjoy. NOBO Art District, Boulder noboartdistirct.org

Golden Beer Talks, May 10

Every second Tuesday of the month the Windy Saddle Café hosts “Golden Beer Talks, an informative event that allows locals to socialize, drink and learn something new.” Learn to acquire your taste buds to delicious blends of beer so you can confidently order that craft brew you’ve been eyeing at your favorite bar. Windy Saddle Café, Golden windysaddle.com

“Gary Emrich: Promise,” Ends May 15

Gary Emrich is a Colorado artist whose work is often presented in form of photography and film. This exhibition focuses on his film Contact, where the artist filmed honey bees and layered the footage with audio from early U.S. space excursions. Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs csfineartscenter.org

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featured event

The Burlypicks is dedicated to re-defining burlesque by acknowledges the many aspects of the art form that made it a world-wide phenomenon. At this event Burlypicks invites the best burlesque and variety show performers in the world to come and compete at the Colorado Regionals. The Oriental Theater, Denver theorientaltheater.com

Koo Qua, May 21

Koo Qua is a well-rounded artist, musician and student as well as one of Denver’s leading female hip-hop artists. The Denver Post says “Koo Qua is at her best when unleashing a barrage of rhymes over a traditional hip-hop beat.” The Bakery, Denver thebakerydenver.com

Sex Pot Comedy, MAY 24 The Altius Quartet, May 25

Formed in 2011 at Southern Methodist University Meadows School of the Arts, Altius holds the position as Fellowship String Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Colorado-Boulder, where it is mentored by the Takács Quartet. The quartet has an active performance schedule including engagements at music festivals, series and universities throughout the United States. The Dairy Center for the Arts, Boulder thedairy.org

Sex Pot Comedy was created in 2012 by Denverites Andy Juette and Kayvan Khalatbari (who also happens to be a nationally recognized cannabis advocate) and provides a platform for local comedians to present their uncensored work. This performance will feature comedians Dave Ross, Louis Katz and many more. The Bug Theater, Denver bugtheatre.info

Air Dubai, May 27

Air Dubai is a six-piece hip-hop group from Denver and is making a comeback after a one-year hiatus. Come see what the group has in store at this exciting performance. Summit Music Hall, Denver thesummitmusichall.com

Crème de Luxe Burlesque, May 28

Enjoy a classy, sexy night out with Crème de Luxe Burlesque. This is Denver’s premier burlesque show where lovely performers are accompanied by a live jazz band. The Oriental Theater, Denver theorientaltheater.com

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Chuck Shepherd's

News of the

Weird

LEAD STORY—TAKE THAT, PORTLAND! u Seattle’s ambitious Office of Arts & Culture has allocated $10,000 this year to pay a poet or writer to create a work while present on the city’s Fremont Bridge drawbridge. The office’s deputy director told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in January that the city wants to encourage “public art” and that the grant will oblige the recipient to create a work of prose or poetry from the bridge’s northwest tower, to help the people of Seattle understand the function of art in the city. (The artist will not be “in residence,” for the tower has no running water). THE CONTINUING CRISIS u The dominant-submissive lifestyle soared to higherbrow status in February when The New York Times reported on the recent marriage of the celebrated composer of “moody, queasy” works (and compulsive dominant) Georg Friedrich Haas to Mollena Williams, who blogs introspectively about her own kinky bondage as “The Perverted Negress.” Friedrich had introduced himself to her on a dating site with the note, “I would like to tame you,” and credits her acceptance for his improved productivity— because, he said, “I am not (any longer) disturbed by unfulfilled thoughts.” Although Williams-Haas is a black woman submitting to a white man, she explained that, “To say I can’t play my personal psychodrama out just because I’m black, that’s racist.” 106

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NEW WORLD ORDER u Exasperated, Columbia County (Pennsylvania) District Judge Craig Long felt the need to post a sign outside his courtroom in January informing visitors that they should not wear pajamas to court. However, even Judge Long acknowledged that his admonition was not enforceable and that he was merely trying to encourage minimal standards. BRIGHT IDEAS u The roadside billboard giant Clear Channel Outdoor Americas announced in February that it would soon be recording the cellphone locations of drivers who pass the company’s signs in 11 cities in order to give advertisers more information on how to pitch products to people with those particular travel patterns and behaviors. Clear Channel asserts that no individual identifications would be sought, but privacy advocates fret about potential abuses, and even a Clear Channel executive acknowledged that the program “does sound a bit creepy.” (On the other hand, as Clear Channel pointed out to The New York Times, cellphone users’ locations and characteristics are already being extensively monitored by advertisers). NOT THE USUAL SUSPECTS u A then-married couple, both graduates of elite California law schools, were convicted of felonies and went to jail briefly two years ago for a criminal scheme inexplicably tawdry—and in February 2016 lost a resultant civil lawsuit for $5.7 million to the scheme’s victim. A woman at their child’s school had referred to the lawyers’ son as “slow,” enraging Kent Easter (University of California at Berkeley) and then-wife, Jill (UCLA), who retaliated by planting drugs and paraphernalia in Kelli Peters’ car and then, a man

identified via circumstantial evidence as Kent (with an accent as if from India), called in a DUI tip to police, resulting in Peters’ arrest. According to Peters, neither perpetrator has ever expressed remorse, and although Kent admitted to “stupidity,” he now complains that Peters does not deserve her windfall (like a “Powerball winner,” he said). CAN’T POSSIBLY BE TRUE u Vicky Leyton, 72, announced her retirement recently in Benidorm, Spain, over health concerns, but the lady’s 30-year run in her one-of-a-kind, “Sticky Vicky” magic show can hardly be forgotten by the 6 million fans who have witnessed it. Trained as a ballerina but emulating magicians who pull rabbits out of top hats, Vicky extracted an impressive array of items, also—from the body cavity that is occasionally the subject of News of the Weird stories. One review in Spain’s El Pais newspaper described a typical inventory: fluffy flags, flowers, ping-pong balls, sausages, eggs, a string of razor blades, a bottle and a light bulb (that was aglow!). NOTHING MORE TO SEE HERE? u Additional Details Needed: (1) Andrew McNeil, 34, was arrested in Lincoln, Nebraska, in January and charged with disturbing the peace. According to the police report (and lacking follow-up reporting by local news outlets), McNeil was found around 11 p.m. naked and “covered in sawdust.” (2) Rob Moore, 32, was arrested for misdemeanor drug possession in Marathon, Florida, in February, but he had only come to police attention when an officer heard him banging on the trunk of his car from the inside. Without follow-up reporting, Moore’s story was that he was looking for something in the trunk, fell in, and couldn’t get out.

A NEWS OF THE WEIRD CLASSIC (AUGUST 2011) u Unclear on the Concept: A Singaporean army draftee caused a public stir in March (2011) when he was photographed by a visitor as he underwent physical training in army fatigues but with his maid following behind him carrying his backpack on her shoulders. (Army officials told reporters the draftee had since been “counsel(ed).”) HARDLY A “DO-NOTHING” CONGRESS u In March, U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, chairman of the House Rules Committee, introduced a resolution to recognize “magic” as one of America’s “national treasure(s),” backed by a 711-word paean urging all to “support and protect” the storied craft—which needs to be “understood and promulgated,” especially given that, according to Sessions, it “requires only the capacity to dream.” Sessions made no link of magic to resolving other congressional business (such as, for instance, ending the string of 64 consecutive failed votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act). LEADING ECONOMIC INDICATORS u People With Too Much Money: Residents on London’s swankiest street (Kensington Palace Gardens), stymied in efforts to build upward on their relatively small lots, instead plan elaborate “basements”— extending as far as five stories down, with elevators, swimming pools, gyms, climbing walls, and one even with a “Ferris wheel” for dialing up the resident’s daily choice among his several cars. However, embassies are located on the street and have challenged the construction chaos as offending their sovereignty under international law. Recent restrictions limit iReadCULTURE.com MAY 2016

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the basements to one story down, but billionaire entrepreneur Jon Hunt’s five stories are grandfathered in (though his “Ferris wheel” appears to have been shelved). NEW WORLD ORDER u Mystery fiction has always been a popular genre, but now, readers who prefer that their crimes be solved by cats have several series of brilliant felines to choose from. As The Wall Street Journal reported in February, the major controversy swirling at “cat fiction” conventions is whether the clever kitties should advance the plot by speaking. “We all talk to our pets,” noted one best- selling author, “and most of us imagine the other side of the dialogue.” (Among the sets boasting more than a million copies are the “Joe Greys,” the “Klepto Cats,” the “Cat Shout for Joy” suite, and the recently concluded, 29-volume run of “Cat Who” books, e.g., “The Cat Who Could Read Backwards.”) u A Perfect Storm of Vacuousness: In February, British marketing company Havas Helia tapped the “millennial” generation’s obsessions with craft beer and data-driven knowledge, announcing the development of 0101—a brew created, it said, by social media messages. The company, “finding” that the generation appeared “optimistic,” analyzed “thousands” of the generation’s messages against 24 human emotions, which it translated to 38 particular emotional states, which were fed into the IBM Watson computer, which selected 10 existing beers, whose recipes were then cribbed to create 0101 (a “cream ale” with honey and two specific kinds of hops, tasting of “optimism, love, imagination, and gentle overtones of excitement”). 108

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LEAST COMPETENT GOVERNMENT u Following a simplistic hack at the Internal Revenue Service that permitted several thousand tax returns to be illegally accessed and refunds commandeered, the agency created an equally porous “fix” merely copied from failed security elsewhere on the IRS website. According to a March Washington Post report, the fix admirably added one level of security (a personal PIN), but nonetheless allowed anyone to change another’s PIN using publicly available information. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told the Post that “only a handful” of taxpayers were victimized by the faulty fix (but later defined “handful” as “fewer than 200”). THINGS PEOPLE BELIEVE u Murders are being committed over hair weaves, reported WMC-TV (Memphis, Tennessee) in March, with one likely explanation being a belief that a person who acquires tufts of human hair surely acquires the fortunes— good or bad—of the person who grew the hair. That is especially true of “virgin” hair from India, shorn for religious sacrifices (“tonsuring”) before falling into the hands of agents who sell to Western women. Said a Memphis pastor, “A generation back or so,” people were being killed over tennis shoes. “Now (it’s) hair.” WAIT, WHAT? u Infrastructure Blues: (1) A 5-year-old, slow-moving underground fire (beneath a Superfund cleanup site) is within 1,200 feet of a waste site for nuclear weapons near St. Louis, according to a December Associated Press report. The Environmental Protection Agency, of course, said not to worry, that the heat from the fire was not enough to ignite chemicals or trigger an explosion. (2) While America was outraged

about the water in Flint, Michigan, the tap water in Crystal City, Texas (100 miles southwest of San Antonio) was suddenly as black and thick “as oil” and “stank,” according to a resident. The city’s water superintendent said the town had decided to clean residue from the system for the first time in “20 to 30 years.” PEOPLE WITH ISSUES u (1) Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., disclosed in March that in 2015 it received 8,670 noise complaints—but that 6,500 came from the same person (thus averaging 18 per day, every day). (2) Buddhist monk Julian Glew, 45, was arrested in September in Humberside, England, and later sentenced to 11 weeks in prison after he slashed (by his count) 162 tires in his neighborhood because, he said, he was angry that he had stepped on an insect and needed to be jailed. LEAST COMPETENT CRIMINALS u Needed Training Wheels: Timothy Broad, 30, was convicted in February of a November Clacton, England, convenience store robbery and jailed for more than three years. The balaclava-wearing Broad had pedaled away from the store with the money but managed to fall off his bicycle three separate times, in short order, in the process losing both the balaclava (from which his DNA was recovered) and all the cash. RECURRING THEMES u Once again, public service personnel were disciplined for violating rules even though perhaps saving a life. In March, a captain and a sergeant in the Falmouth Volunteer Fire Department near Fredericksburg, Virginia, were suspended for rushing an infant girl (who was having a seizure) to the hospital in their fire engine despite rules requiring that they wait for an ambulance (which they

ascertained was still 10 to 15 minutes away). The firefighters administered oxygen and delivered the girl safely to the ER 13 minutes after the 911 call, though she had suffered another seizure in the hospital’s parking lot. Said the grateful father, “My wife and I feel terrible for the fallout . . . to these two gentlemen.” u India (especially in Bihar state) has been plagued by legendary school-cheating scandals—with parents last year even seemingly recreating the scene of the siege of the Alamo by using tall ladders en masse to climb the walls of a testing center to pass cheat sheets to students. In February, on recruiting day for prestigious army jobs in Bihar, wary officials administered written tests in a field with all aspirants sitting cross-legged and clad only in underpants, balancing exam papers on their thighs. Officials thus avoided needing to frisk the large number of applicants. A NEWS OF THE WEIRD CLASSIC (OCTOBER 2011) u In October (2011), a court in Ottawa, Ontario, sentenced pornography collector Richard Osborn, 46, to a year in jail on several charges but dismissed the more serious child porn counts. Judge Robert Fournier ruled that Osborn’s hard-core images of Bart and Lisa Simpson and Milhouse were not illegal, on the ground that he could not be certain of the characters’ ages. (Baby Maggie Simpson was not involved in sex). Judge Fournier was clearly exasperated at Osborn’s perversions, among them his homemade video of swimsuitclad youngsters, interspersed with shots of Osborn himself masturbating, aided by a Cabbage Patch doll with cut-open mouth. Finally, a disgusted Judge Fournier halted the presentation of evidence. “Enough,” he said. “We are not paid to sit here and torture ourselves.” iReadCULTURE.com MAY 2016

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