Southern California Kush Magazine May '11 by Randy MALINOFF

kush

southern california’s premier cannabis lifestyle magazine

66 78 features

20 IZip: The Electric Bike Apple’s newest product…not! But it is cool and revolutionary… the laziest bike in existence!

66 Patients Out of Time They gave up guns, booze, and nightmares, due in no small part to marijuana.

78 Ask Ed Kush welcomes Master Marijuana Maestro Ed Rosenthal…ask him anything!

88 Surfliner to San Diego Mike The Poet rediscovers the rails as he Amtraks down to San Diego for a gig.

92 Ziggy Marley A talk with Ziggy and the superstar crew behind his graphic novel, Marijuanaman. 6

inside

12 | The Vegan Cleanse by Healthy Eater 26 | Steep Hill by AnnaRae Grabstein, Eric Rosete and Wilson Linker 34 | Connoisseurs of Consciousness Part I by Austin Hill Shaw

from the editors

ay - the transitional month between spring and summer, the month of Cinco de Mayo, college graduations and Mother’s Day. The month of Memorial Day, a salute to our soldiers who have fought, and continue to fight, for our FREEDOM – yes, I did emphasize FREEDOM – something that cities and States nationwide seem to ignore when it comes to the patient’s FREEDOM to have safe access to Medical Marijuana. In 1996, California became the first state to pass a medical marijuana ordinance. Fifteen years later, cities like San Diego, which just last month passed two city ordinances that amount to an effective ban on cannabis collectives, are trying to refute that medical marijuana is a necessary medication that approximately 70,000 of its own citizens depend on to cure their ailments or get through their battles with cancer, PTSD, AIDS, fibromyalgia, migraines, insomnia, chronic pain and a myriad of other illnesses. In 2004, the voters of the State of Montana passed a medical marijuana ballot measure and a few weeks ago Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer let a repeal of that law voted on by the Montana State politicians pass without his signature. The Wall Street Journal referred to this as the “Wild Wild West” getting “tamer.” By July 1, 2011, about 28,000 Montanans will effectively become criminals, and the businesses that used to serve them in an open and regulated manner will now return to illegal clandestine operations that receive no control and return no benefit to the state. Montanans are fighting back by forming the Montana Cannabis Industry Association (MCIA) which has announced that it is moving forward on two fronts: It has hired an attorney to seek a temporary injunction blocking the law from going into effect, and it has begun a signature-gathering campaign to put the issue directly to the voters on the November 2012 ballot. “It’s about more than marijuana now, it’s about democracy, the Constitution, health care and the fulfillment of compassionate voter intent,” MCIA expresses. The state’s economy could suffer if the new law takes hold, advocates said. The state Labor Department has estimated that dispensaries and growers have created between 1,000 and 2,000 jobs, a significant number in a state whose population is under a million. I could go on, but essentially, voters by a majority vote in almost a 1/3 of our states have

Many patients, including members of our armed forces who have fought for our FREEDOM, need us to fight for the right of patients to have safe access to get their medicine. voted for the right to have medical cannabis, yet politicians continue to find ways to refute the will of the people. There are a few exceptions to the rule. In Colorado for example, the state is working as an entity to regulate Medical Cannabis as a complete industry. While many might object to some of the parts of the Colorado Medical Marijuana law, at least Colorado is taking the bull by the horns, so to speak, and creating a regulated, profitable industry that creates new businesses and employment opportunities for the state and provides patients with safe access to medication. Just like our cities in California, medical marijuana has created opportunities in states where people are having a hard time finding work. If you talk to people in the industry everywhere, they are people who had jobs before the bottom fell out and now, they’re cannabis entrepreneurs. Besides the direct jobs that are created, the impact spreads through the economy - commercial spaces get rented, and ancillary businesses benefit as well. As an industry, we should band together to accomplish one goal – that is to allow medical cannabis to be readily available to all patients who have received a medical recommendation to get cannabis. Many patients, including members of our armed forces who have fought for our FREEDOM, need us to fight for the right of patients to have safe access to get their medicine. In many cases, their lives depend on it. Kush believes this is a battle worth fighting. Please be sure to read the article about one patient’s use of medical marijuana and how it saved him from a life of addiction to hard drugs and alcohol (p 66). On a lighter note, with spring in the air, and gasoline prices rising, be sure to check out the new electric hybrid bike manufactured by izipusa.com (p 20), and if you plan on celebrating Cinco de Mayo all month long, our own Chef Herb has created some delicious Mexican food recipes for the occasion (p 98). Kush is also fortunate to be adding a new column this month from renowned “Guru of Ganja” Ed Rosenthal. Be sure to read his Ask Ed ™ questions and answers on growing cannabis beginning on page 78. From the staff and Editors at Kush Magazine, stay informed, stay involved and medicate responsibly.

Kush Editorial Board, www.dailybuds.com

kush

southern california’s premier cannabis lifestyle magazine

A Division of Dbdotcom LLC Publishers | Dbdotcom LLC Founder | Michael Lerner Editor in Chief | Lisa Selan Assistant Editor | Wasim Muklashy Chief Executive Officer | Bob Selan Business Development | JT Wiegman Art Directors | Robb Friedman, Joe Redmond Director of International Marketing & Public Relations | Cheryl Shuman Director of So Cal Sales | Cheryl Shuman Advertising Sales Reps | Amanda Allen, Ed Docter, Christianna Lewis, Denise Mickelson, Charlene Moran, Jason Moran Designers | Avel Cupla, Marvi Khero Traffic Managers | Kevin Johnson , Alex Lamitie, Ryan Renkema, Jordan Selan, Rachel Selan Distribution Manager | Alex Lamitie Contributing Writers | Al Byrne, Chef Herb, Julie Cole, Charlotte Cruz, Tyler C. Davidson, James Dohnert, Jay Evans, AnnaRae Grabstein, John Green, Carlos Herrera, Ben Holmes, Josh Kaplan, Jade Kine, Bud Lee, David Leggett, Wilson Linker, Mike Marino, Christine Metsger, Wasim Muklashy, Ed Rosenthal, Eric Rosete, Austin Hill Shaw, Mike Sonksen, Dillon Zachara Accounting | Dianna Bayhylle Internet Manager Dailybuds.com | Rachel Selan Dailybuds.com Team | JT Kilfoil & Houston SUBSCRIPTIONS KUSH Magazine is also available by individual subscription at the following rates: in the United States, one year 12 issues $89.00 surface mail (US Dollars only). To Subscribe mail a check for $89.00 (include your mailing address) to : DB DOT COM 24011 Ventura Blvd. Suite 200 Calabasas, CA 91302 877-623-KUSH (5874) Fax 818-223-8088 KUSH Magazine and www.dailybuds.com are Tradenames of Dbdotcom LLC. Dbbotcom LLC 24011 Ventura Blvd. Suite 200 Calabasas, CA 91302 877-623-KUSH (5874) Fax 818-223-8088 To advertise or for more information Please contact info@dailybuds.com or call 877-623-5874 Printed in the United States of America. Copyright ©2011. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without the written written permission of Dbdotcom LLC.

round

month

ago I began to feel increasingly

sluggish

and cloudy headed. My body was a bit achy and honestly I felt like something was wrong. I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I went to my doctor, he ran some tests and the diagnosis came up negative – nothing diagnosable could indicate why I am feeling this way. So I did what anyone would do…I got online. That’s where I came across Oprah’s challenge to do a vegan cleanse…I mean, you have to admit…she’s doing something right.

most packaged and prepared foods. I found myself focusing on single ingredients such as loads of veggies and fruits, rice, nut butters, whole grain cereals such as oats and barley, beans such as chick peas and kidney beans, nuts and soy products including milk and tofu. I found

Oprah and other celebrities jumped on the vegan cleanse

delicious gluten free bread products, quinoa pasta, and sweet potatoes

bandwagon back in 2009 when Kathy Freston wrote the book, Quantum

to give natural sweetness to veggie dishes. I was even discovered the

Wellness: A Practical Guide To Health and Happiness. I ended up

idea of adding nutritional yeast for extra flavor.

purchasing the followup, Quantum Wellness Cleanse: The 21-Day Essential Guide to Healing Your Mind, Body and Spirit, which is more about “conscious eating,” basically, eliminating foods with all sugar, alcohol, caffeine, gluten, and animal products from your diet in order to detox your system and rebalance your body. The premise is to replace these foods with foods that contain more nutritional value with the hopes it will enhance physical, emotional and spiritual health. First of all, I eat all types of protein, dairy and gluten. I drink caffeinated drinks and occasionally drink alcohol. So this was a radical choice for someone who has never had dietary restrictions. The only conscious eating I have done until now, is to look at fat content, carb content, sugar content, sodium content and then gauge portions based on caloric content. Sure, that might seem like a lot for most, but it was still a far cry from what this cleanse was asking me to do. In any case, I figured I’d give it a shot. The first thing I did was create a shopping list. The website makes it extremely easy by including a great straightforward list to follow: www. kathyfreston.com/kathy_freston_shopping_lists.html. I also read labels on foods in my pantry to see which ones contain hidden wheat (soy sauce!) and sugar. At the local Whole Foods I also found myself reading every label since many foods that are labeled Vegan also contain gluten! I instantly gained a new consciousness about what ingredients were in

While I truly missed my morning coffee and felt more than slightly deprived when I went to a club with friends and ordered a sparkling water with lime, I found my will power to avoid these items remarkable and it got easier as each day passed (not to mention, I was the one that had all the energy and was all smiles the next morning). However, one of the hardest foods for me to give up was cheese - a bit of parmesan on my pasta or a slice of cheese on the portabella mushroom burger sure would have been nice! Despite all this, at the end of the three weeks I found I had so much energy, I was never hungry, I enjoyed working out and doing yoga more than ever and decided that I was going to try to use this lifestyle as a part of my regimen going forward (as a special treat, I wouldn’t feel bad about occasionally adding the foods I cut out and thought I couldn’t live without). My head is now clear and I actually enjoy food much more – especially since I now know what I am eating! So for a healthy jump start try a vegan cleanse! It may seem hard at first, but you’ll see, it’s worth it!

The market for electric bicycles has been rapidly increasing over the last few years and is expected to continue growing for the next decade across the globe. With millions of e-bikes already being sold in China and Europe, the US can look for a surge of e-bikes as consumers begin to see them as a cheap, reliable, eco-friendly and efficient means of transportation. From socially conscious techies in San Francisco’s Silicon Valley and progressive epicenters of the Northwest business, to pleasure beach riders of Southern California’s coast, hipster desert dwellers in Phoenix and other Green-friendly cities and college towns across the country, throngs of environmentally-minded folks have already jumped on the bandwagon. Currie Technologies is eagerly eyeing this market for their IZip line of electric bikes. The IZip Zuma is their excellent mid-level e-bike built with the purpose of capturing this wide demographic that includes young professionals, baby boomers with active lifestyles, students, the weekend bike rider on an outdoor daytrip or the daily commuter. Heavy on design and boasting a grip of useful features, the Zuma handles all the cruiser’s bike riding needs. The frame is built in the shape of a standard retro-style beach cruiser you see a countless number of zipping around college campuses or the boardwalk at Venice Beach. However, a quick glance at the bike reveals the

added components, which makes it leaps and bounds beyond a normal bike riding experience. While each IZip e-bike model varies to some degree on the design and placement of the battery, on the Zuma, the battery is mounted on a rack over the rear wheel and yields enough juice for a range of 16 to 22 miles. For riders who wish to move completely by the exertion of their own force, the bike can be used with the electric motor turned off and still provides a greater deal of enjoyment over a regular cruiser with its beefed-up aluminum frame, 7-speed gear shifter, front and rear suspension system, and alloy disc breaks. However, the true benefit of the Zuma, as with any IZip e-bike, is when the rider pushes the little red power button conveniently located within thumb’s reach on the handlebars. After a few pedals to build moment there is a sudden but subtle jolt as the 500watt motor kicks in and takes over the work of the geared hub. Hills with a decent incline are handled as if riding on flat ground. A pull of the throttle located on the handlebars quickly gets the bike zooming up to its 20 mph top speed. Overall the Zuma is an awesome bike and a bunch of fun to ride. It’s well made from tires to wires to seat cushion, and whether going to class, commuting for work, or just trekking around on an afternoon jaunt, the Zuma provides an eco-friendly and energy efficient transportation solution. Check out www.izipusa.com for more info!

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by AnnaRae Grabstein, Eric Rosete and Wilson Linker

Steep Hill Lab Cannabidiol: The Non-Psychoactive Cannabinoid Medical cannabis is now widely recognized as an effective alternative treatment to a number of conditions, but its reputation of causing adverse, mood altering and psychoactive effects make many potential medical cannabis patients skeptical as to whether the benefits outweigh the side effects. What many people do not know is that cannabis is made up of many different compounds called cannabinoids, and they are not all created equal. Cannabidiol, often referred to as CBD, is a compound prevalent in some strains of cannabis that is not psychoactive and provides many medicinal benefits. The intoxicating effects of cannabis are most closely connected to tetrahydrocannabinol, most commonly known as the cannabinoid THC. CBD is thought to counter the intoxicating and sometimes sedating properties THC. The realization that CBD-rich cannabis products provide relief to patients without experiencing the effects of “being high” is a tremendously important development. CBD has been a hot topic within the industry for a while but there are still a great number of people who are unfamiliar with the benefits of CBD-rich cannabis. ProjectCBD, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the medical utility of CBD, expresses that “the reduced psychoactivity of CBD-rich Cannabis may make it an appealing treatment option for patients seeking anti-inflammatory, anti-pain, anti-anxiety and/or anti-spasm effects without disconcerting euphoria or lethargy.” Recently at the national NORML Conference in Denver, Doctor David Bearman of the American Academy of Cannabinoid Medicine suggested that CBD is an antidepressant that

26 26

(continued on page 28)

Steep Hill Lab can have fewer side effects than pharmaceutical depression medications. He also claims that CBD can reduce the invasiveness of cancer cells and credits it as a therapy for epilepsy, inflammation, pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosis. Most strains of cannabis currently available to patients are high in THC as opposed to CBD, but due to increased cannabinoid analysis by laboratories, CBD-rich cannabis is being more frequently identified. As a result, breeders and growers are seeking out CBD and breeding strains specifically for this compound. Also, through their potency-testing programs,

28 28

dispensaries are helping to discover new CBD-rich strains every day. The fact remains that CBD-rich strains are rare, but are becoming more available as word travels about the benefits of this unique cannabinoid. If you are interested in the benefits of medical cannabis but are not seeking the psychoactive effects associated with â&#x20AC;&#x153;being high,â&#x20AC;? it may be time to search out some CBD-rich cannabis. We would like to offer some interesting data from Steep Hill Lab about the CBD they have seen in some 10,000 samples of cannabis tested at their lab.

in a wide, stepped river valley several hundred thousand years ago. Before nightfall, someone or something wedged its way into a crevasse in a rock outcropping near the summit, instinctively settling there for a bit of warmth and protection, sleeping fitfully during the long, cold night. It’s unclear whether this creature is a man or woman, or perhaps a newborn birthed during the night. It’s unclear whether or not the creature ate something unusual before going to bed or was injured by one of the many predators that roam these lands. It’s unclear if the creature dreamt of something significant during the night, or if the creature even possessed the capacity to dream in the first place. It’s also unclear whether the creature is of sound health - a model example of their own species - or some sort of strange mutation rejected by their own brethren but destined to change the world. What is for certain is that the outlook of one who bears witness to the dawn on this particular morning is remarkably different than the outlook of the one who went to sleep in the evening. Not only is the creature aware of its surroundings, but it is also aware of being aware of its surroundings. This creature awakes not only to the feel of the cold morning air and the visual contrasts of light and darkness, but to an new umbrella awareness that includes an abstract sense of time, the desire

to be warmer and the capacity to do something about it, and a profound recognition of staggering beauty of the coming of day. For the first time on the history of the planet, not only is it the dawn of the day, it’s the dawn of consciousness itself, a newly emergent awareness with incredible capacities and awesome potentials, an awareness that you and I have inherited from our ancestors, an awareness we continue to utilize and wrestle with today. Consciousness is perhaps the single most exciting aspect of our capacities as human beings. More than any of our other qualities, our consciousness - our awareness of being aware - adds an entire universe to our experience, granting us a cognitive freedom that was unheard of anywhere in the pre-human world. Unlike two chemicals that are condemned to interact in a certain way by the natural laws, or a rooted plant at the mercy of the elements, or an animal whose predictable behavior is governed by instincts, consciousness grants us the ability to assess a situation, recognize patterns, think abstractly, remember ourselves in the past, project ourselves into the future, ask others what they think and ultimately, make real choices. No other living organism, no plant, no reptile, no dinosaur, or mammal ever possessed such a capacity. In our daily life, consciousness acts as a sort airport control tower, noticing the myriad of stimuli that enter into our fly space, skillfully monitoring them to see how they might affect us, choosing which sensations, thoughts, and emotions we want to land on our runway and which ones we choose to let fly right on by. In this way, consciousness allows us to fully enter into an experience, or to keep our distance, the former allowing us to feel the world deeply, which fosters creative insight, rapture, and joy, the later allowing us to plan for the future and to carry out those plans without being constantly distracted, ultimately allowing us to make our insights realities. It’s clear that consciousness is incredibly important and something that we use all the time. But what might it mean to be a connoisseur of consciousness? What might it look like to cultivate not just our awareness - our thoughts, emotions, and sensations - but our awareness of our awareness, an intimate understanding of the ways we are processing all those experiences? In other words, instead of fixating on the various objects and events we see unfolding through the window of consciousness, how might it serve us to shift our attention to the window itself? And where might we even begin? Since consciousness is so all encompassing, it is challenging to see. Like the water surrounding a fish deep in the open ocean, it is hard to gain perspective on its vastness and all pervasive nature. As a starting point, however, we can begin to get a sense of it by watching how it changes.

It is readily apparent that the objects of our experience - thoughts, emotions, sensations - are constantly changing. We are hungry one moment, goal oriented in the next, then distracted by a memory of our childhood home or the attractiveness of a coworker. What is less apparent, however, is that our awareness of being aware, the ways in which we are processing information, is also changing. We can see this by looking at the remarkable changes in consciousness we go through in just one 24 hour period, changes occurring as we cycle through the various states of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. Our waking consciousness, which is presided over by a distinct sense of self sometimes known as the ego, allows us to tend to our basic needs, communicate with others, and to actively engage the world around us. Dreaming cuts us off from the physical world but brings important awareness to all the unprocessed stimuli that ends up in that vast repository known as the subconscious, stimuli that we had neither the time nor the capacity to process fully during the day. Deep dreamless sleep is like

consciousness’s daily reset button. During this time all input from both the outside world and from the inner psyche cease, allowing, in a sense, awareness itself to rest, replenish, and wipe the slate clean. Revisiting our airport analogy, waking consciousness describe those times we choose what planes to take off and land, dreaming consciousness addresses other planes we avoided looking at or failed to notice at all, and in deep sleep we allow the control tower, the runways, and all the planes to fall away into oblivion, only to rebuild itself entirely anew when we start dreaming again or wake up in the morning. Taking a closer look at our waking consciousness, we notice that whether we are aware of it or not, we are constantly tweaking it to meet our various needs. When we drag ourselves out of bed, for example, many of us hop in the shower, not because we are particularly unclean, but because the water running over our skin enlivens us, allowing us to feel more present, helping consciousness itself to transition from one state to another. Once in the kitchen we continue the process, eating something to fuel our metabolic functions and, for many of us, choosing a hot, caffienated drink furthers our process of waking up. Then and only then are we willing and able to charge into the tasks of the day. Our behaviors on the other end of the time card are similar. As the work day draws to a close, we grow weary of being productive and begin craving other experiences, either to relax, wind down, or to open up other, more playful parts of our consciousness that aren’t always appropriate in our work environments. Some of us go to the gym, thereby cutting through our headiness and accumulated stress by vigorously activating the body. Some of us go the bar for a beer or a glass of wine, the alcohol loosening the reigns of our task oriented minds. Some of us eat

our biggest meal of the day at that time, the flood of carbohydrates and proteins also altering our mood. And some of us dive into the television or the internet, our awareness drawn into and delighted by the convolutions of scripted dialogues and virtual worlds. In other words, we reverse the process we started in the morning, using a variety of methods to let our waking consciousness unwind and move in the direction of a more dreamlike conscious reality, or to check out all together. These examples bring up another aspect of consciousness: it is linked to all aspects of our being - our physical bodies, our five senses, our emotions, and to our minds - but cannot be fully reduced to any one of these things. Still, we can use any one of these alone or in combination to begin exploring consciousness directly. We can, and do, manipulate the shape of our window of consciousness by using the molecules found in food and other substances, by using sensations, by using the movement of our bodies, and by using thinking itself to alter our conscious states. If you have any doubts, watch carefully what happens when you eat a piece of chocolate, or receive a massage, or walk outside after sitting at a desk all day, or read a poem that moves you. The way in which each of these experiences enters your field of awareness is very different, but all of them alter your consciousness in one way or another. Even more dramatically, notice how your consciousness shifts during trauma, orgasm, the birth of a child, or the death of a loved one. These later experiences pry at the very foundations of our sense of existence, and like the sky, and the space, and the entire cosmos dwarfing our egoic control tower, reveals the vastness of consciousness that is always available, if only we are able to let go. As the salmon was meant to swim and the meadowlark was meant to sing, our consciousness is our most defining feature, a feature worthy of celebration. By deepening our own experiential understanding of the awareness consciousness affords us, we begin to fully claim the rarity and preciousness of our human lives. By better understanding the vehicle through which we experience the world, we better understand the world itself. Cultivating a relationship with consciousness allows for greater perspective and depth of experience. In effect, we lessen the influences of our own hidden fears, idiosyncrasies, and habitual patterns, and begin to engage the world more directly, more intimately, more compassionately, and more creatively. Next month, I’ll begin outlining more specific steps you can take to become your own connoisseur of consciousness. In the meantime, ask yourself how you experience 1) your awareness, 2) your awareness of your awareness, and 3) your awareness of your awareness of being aware. Go deep and we’ll check in next month! Austin Hill Shaw is a writer, architectural designer, and mapmaker of creativity across art, science, and religion. He specializes in helping others tap into and utilize the creative life force in everything they do. He can be reached at austin@austinhillshaw.com

ven before Jack, Crissy and Janet were inviting you to “come and knock on their door,” Santa Monica has always been a popular spot for filming in movies and television…for good reason. Not only is the iconic Santa Monica Pier home to the National Landmark carousel, the Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome. Santa Monica is a very symbol of California beach life and a fantastic place to spend a day in the surf and sand. Santa Monica beach is one of the most well kept in Southern California. Santa Monica has 3.5 miles of pristine beach that is a paradise for people watching. If there’s not a movie shoot happening in front of you, there are hordes of beach bodies showing off their months of hard work. Santa Monica is a great place to learn to surf if you are new to the sport. Generally the break here is small with good caps to help propel you to your feet for the first time. Surf camps and surf schools, as well as gear rental shops, are in abundance . If you’re serious about learning to hang ten, this is an excellent time of year to get going since the tourists and school kids have yet to invade. Other than surfing, Santa Monica beach is a playground for volleyball, roller skating/blading, Frisbee, walking and biking. The long well maintained path is a great place to stroll and watch the pretty beach people. Main St. in Santa Monica is a perfect compliment to your day at the perfect beach. The quaint neighborhood street has everything you need or want to make a perfect afternoon or evening. There are restaurants offering great pub-style atmosphere and food, like Finn McCool’s, piz-

zerias, fine dining options, ice cream, and vegetarian - a veritable Mecca of food choices. Parking is pretty well organized in the area but be aware that you will likely need to pay to park. If you get there early enough, there is street parking on the residential streets just behind Main St, but they do fill up quickly and be mindful of street sweeping days! Main St. is also a haven for shoppers. Sure there are the typical Banana Republic type stores that you can find in any shopping mall, but Main St fancies itself a bit different and offers unique boutique shopping and store options. Clothes and jewelry here are often handcrafted and can be pricey, but there are good deals to be had if you spend a little time. Check out the antique stores to find some real treasures. Finally, make sure you see and do everything on the pier. The pier is one of the best and will take you right back to the days of Gidget and long boards. Besides the carousel, try your luck at the chance games, ride the bumper cars and win your sweetie some stuffed prizes. Santa Monica is a slice of beach heaven and if you don’t spend much time there as it is, try to make it a habit. The beach is easily one of the most beautiful on our coastline and the people are friendly, laid back and helpful if you’re new to the scene. Santa Monica remains a gem. So get down here. “We’ll be waiting for youuuuu…”

On my recent travels through Europe, I found my iPod stuck on Rancid and their jackhammer gutter-punk riffs and beats, which led me back through The Clash’s catalog and the analysis of their shared influences of Ska, Dub, Reggae, Rock, and Punk, as well as their general stiff-upper-lipped viewpoint on the world. It seemed like a strange jump at the time, but I started “Jones”-ing for some Bob Dylan, and consequently, my entire trip was spent listening to these three artists. The more I listened, the more similarities I found: rebellious ideas through stories of protest and strife, with interesting combinations of strangely accented vocals and unconventional sounds. This really came full circle, and is an homage to one of the greatest singer-songwriters in American pop history: This Month In Weed History’s birthday boy, Bob Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 21, 1941. Dylan always wrote as a regular man with common everyday concerns. Rancid’s approach displays this same gritty work ethic, and also speaks to the common man. Their songs of left-wing political and social stances are sung with a whole lot of street cred and the mish-moshed drawl of a lower east-sider who’s lived in London too long - with a very wet bottom lip. This unabated notion of not giving a fuck, combined with really great songwriting has earned Rancid their stripes. And I’m pretty sure they are aware of how much they owe to The Clash, and Bob Dylan. While Dylan may have never thrown a Molotov cocktail, or smashed his equipment in a musical rage, his going “electric” at the worlds biggest Folk Festival (Newport 1965) can now be considered as “punk-rock” a move as any - a whole decade before anyone knew who The Clash were. Bob Dylan may just be the most punk of them all. With the moniker of the “best” or “most famous” American singer-songwriter of our time, Dylan could have hung his flat-brimmed cowboy hat up long ago, but turning seventy this year, he remains a slave to the road, touring the world like some mystical Hobo, ever in pursuit of a fresh sound (having re-worked all of his old favorites countless times over). What’s more “punk” than never going home? Dylan’s vagrant ways have become his norm. His Never Ending Tour (as it’s known) has been traipsing around the world playing nearly everywhere since 1980. Dylan’s song list is a cornerstone to Folk music, and he has fearlessly stepped into multiple other genres such as Blues, Country, Gospel, Rockabilly, Rock and Roll, Jazz, Swing, and even English, Scottish, and Irish Folk Music. Popularizing the acoustic guitar, as well as the keyboards and harmonica, Dylan has forged his sound far ahead of most of his contemporaries. His recognizable, and often mimicked nasal vocal quality is also a drawl of unique world travels - somewhere between Cowboy, Gypsy, and Creole medicine man, with the syllabic rhythms of someone new to the language, talking with marbles in his mouth. This undeniable sound created by his voice, guitar, and harmonica is not for everyone, and some find it un-listenable. I, on the other hand have learned to really embrace his quirky styles. As Dylan gets older, and continues to tour, his live shows remain very interesting, and his counter-culture influences ever so evident. You want to see, and hear what he’s going to do next, vocally or through a new arrangement. This keeps his fans, and his band, on the edge of their seats. His vast set-lists leave the reigns in his hands, and all in the venue chomping at the bit to see which direction the stone will choose to roll next…

44 44

Hempful Hints

by Bud Lee

Nothin’ But The

It’s a ruff world out there…the other day I’m chillin’ by this tree, and Charlie comes over and just starts barking up a storm about Big Moe and that crazy redhead he’s been chasin’. Apparently, they were seen around the backside of the park rollin’ around - who knows what they were up to: probably burying some bones or something - no really, she’s one scary bitch. So anyway, then Princess herself prances over like her shit don’t stink, and starts barking at me just for sniffin’ the hydrant on the way in – I didn’t even claim it with a shpritz…I tell ya, these high maintenance bitches are the worst. So she’s mad-doggin’ me at this point and I’m just staring back at her, like a standoff. And she starts kinda perking her lip up in what’s trying to be like a sexy come hither way, and the sunlight was hitting her just right. I was really taken aback, and I’m thinking the only way to really warm up to this bitch is to just be the Alpha-male, you know? Just then, she let’s out this huge fart, and it stunk up the entire place! She cleared the whole area around the tree. It was a disaster… even the humans were running…it was hilarious! We were rolling around for a while. That’s when she prances off denying it was her. Can you believe that dogshit? So, hey we’re getting together later for poker…you in? If you, or anyone in your dog walking group has ever seen, heard, or experienced this scenario, or one close to it, then, well…get some help (or you really need to share your medicine with the rest of the group). But all joking aside, as animal owners, we must take care or our furry friends and remember how much joy they bring to our lives. In doing so (as humans), we are lucky enough to have the resources to share such info with other animal lovers: the ability to spread the news about medical advances, breeding techniques, feeding and domesticating tips, training of animals, and, of course, general habits within each breed. These are the types of things that our animals depend on us for, and in return they look at us funny, like they understand us. And they do. They know when we need to cuddle with them, or when to run around and wrestle, or when we might just need that unconditional love they offer. These are the reasons that dogs in particular have become human’s domesticated animal of choice. Yes, there are cat people, and all the great farm animals that are somewhat domestic, but this is not about them. This one’s for the dogs… KUSH magazine continues to find new and exciting hemp products for you to use, and now your dogs can benefit from your eco-friendly ways, and support of hemp. With three new product lines and respective websites, we’ll let you and your pooch decide. EarthDog.com www.EarthDog.com, you will find an array of cool animal products, including solid hemp line leashes, beds & blankets, hemp chew toys, and designer Pewter medallions and key chains. There are also great items for us humans, like funny t-shirts, holiday ornaments, charity bracelets, posters and stickers. These make really unique gifts for the animal lovers in your life, and gift certificates are available. Maybe Fido’s birthday is coming up? HempBasics.com www.HempBasics.com have always had a huge line of hemp products for us humans like clothing, rope, oils, etc. Now they also offer a line specifically for dogs, with their Tug-AHemp rope chew and pull toys, made from dry-spun Hemp yarn, which is grown without any harmful pesticides, bleaches, chemicals or toxins. In fact they are 100% biodegradable. Fairly priced between $4.50 -$13.50, these eco-friendly items will bring you and Fido joy for numerous hours. Look into using their Hemp Seed Oil for your dogs too. It’s great for their coats, joint health, and also prevents chaffing of their paws. NaturalWoof.com Last but not least, check out www.NaturalWoof.com, where you’ll find an eco-friendly array of different leashes, muzzles, and harnesses, all made from strong hemp fibers and designed with earthy, vibrant colors. Along with eye and ear care products, dental products, balms, salves and sprays, Natural Woof offers a variety of dog shampoos for all types of skins and coats. Whether Fido runs a little itchy at times, has odor problems, or just has a mangy coat that’s hard to manage, there’s a solution here for you. With all organic ingredients, both you and Fido will find a spring in your step. Check out their toys, beds, bowls and treats too. So remember…who’s there for you day after day, week after week, month after month, through thick and thin, offering unconditional devotion to you, at all times? KUSH magazine! Just kidding (sorta). It’s your beloved dog! He or she deserves a little love this Spring, so check out these sites, and then you can tell all your dog park friends about them too (or, depending on your medication, perhaps your dog will take care of that for you…)

Dawg In Me….

We all know what humidity is - it’s water vapor carried in the air. We all know what relative humidity is, too - at least, we think we do! Trouble is, humidity may be affecting your plants in ways you may not be aware of, and worse, might well be stunting the growth of your little green friends. This is an important consideration anywhere, especially so in the dry, arid western part of the country. So, grateful growers, when you implement these humidity-building tips you’ll see noticeable acceleration in the growth of your crops! First, a few definitions: Relative humidity (RH) has nothing to do with uncle Ernie’s damp armpits- rather it’s a measure of the percentage of moisture currently in the air relative to its maximum carrying capacity at the current temperature. That last bit is the part that trips people up, since air’s carrying capacity for water changes drastically with temperature- 80% RH at 60 degrees might be only 25% RH at 80 degrees! Since your skin isn’t as sensitive to humidity as it is to temperature, it’s essential to put a thermometer/ hygrometer in your growroom to keep tabs on it. Spend a little money to get a good one with a memory function since you don’t want to be working with inaccurate information. Even better, get one with a remote sensor so you can check your growroom’s conditions even when you’re not in there- maybe not required but darn convenient, let me tell you! Unless your address is in the middle of the lake, chances are you will have a nasty shock when your new unit tells you that your RH is 12%. Yep, that’s Colorado, all right- small wonder then, that you can get zapped with static electricity just walking across the carpet. Now, for the science; Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD) is the mechanism by which all land based plants transpire and breathe. If RH is too high, they won’t be able to transpire and won’t be able to move nutrients up the stem to your precious growth tips where the action is. If humidity is too low, then the plant becomes stressed because it must spend too much energy just trying to move enough water to keep from wilting! Suffice to say that if your humidity is much below 45%, your plants are spending too much energy moving water and not enough actually growing. Now, how to get it up there? The answer, my friends, is blowin’ in the wind - from a swamp cooler. Of course you have a ventilation fan pulling warm, stale air out of your growroom, but unless you have a swamp cooler chances are it’s pulling all the humidity out, too. Go out and get one, and not the kind that hooks up to your furnace - they just don’t put enough moisture in the air. Also, don’t get a ‘hot air’ type as that will overheat things, and don’t use a spray mister type because that will atomize the dissolved minerals in the water. When they dry they’ll precipitate out of the air and stick to everything! The type that pulls air through damp matting is what you’re looking for. When you get it going, you will discover that it will cool off your growroom substantially, since evaporating water cools the air. Good news, since now you can reduce the amount of air being pulled through your growroom without worrying about

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overheating! Playing with your swamp cooler and exhaust fan settings will enable you to balance temperature and humidity. I can already hear you guys from Humboldt County saying, “Low humidity is NOT our problem around here!” Of course you’re right - different parts of the country have different issues, and getting your relative humidity down in damper areas is just as essential as raising it in drier parts. Dehumidifiers work by chilling air and thereby causing water to condense out, and thus ‘wring’ the excess moisture from your growroom’s air. You may also have noticed that your air conditioning unit does this pretty well, too. Either way, the ideal relative humidity is somewhere in the neighborhood of 55% RH if you like to keep your temps in the 70s and if you want to run in the low to mid 80s for best CO2 absorption, go for RH settings in the 65-75% range, and about 10 points lower than these when in bloom stage. Now if anyone tells you that blooming plants need less humidity than that, don’t believe them! The best way I know to reduce essential oils in the end product is to let the humidity fall too much during mid and late blooming phase. We live in a time of increasing automation and this can be a very good thing, especially when it comes to keeping temps and such in your growing area stable. An environmental controller is like having someone who does nothing else all day and all night but manage the temperature, humidity - and for the better units, CO2 - keeping them all as close to optimal as possible. Using one of these in your setup will greatly reduce your workload and stress level and lead to better, more consistent results. Best of all, it works 24/7 without breaks and doesn’t even ask for pizza! My advice? Don’t skimp on quality gear here, get a good one and don’t skip the CO2 function. Even if you don’t use it now, you may in the future and the difference in price isn’t worth the brain damage to try and add it back in later. Lastly, with higher RH comes the possibility of fungal problems like powdery mildew, but don’t be concerned - use a natural antifungal such as neem oil, and be sure the air doesn’t stagnate around your plants by keeping the lower parts of them trimmed up and by circulating air through the understory of your grow. And since most coins have two sides, you will enjoy the benefits of higher humidity on discouraging spidermites and aphids as well! Other benefits include better temperature stability, thus making for smaller swings in temps when conditions change. You may also notice your plants will be asking for a lot less water, which helps reduce the danger of nutrient burn. Well, that’s it for this month, so keep up the good work and happy growing. I love hearing from everyone out there, so keep those emails coming! Feel free to send any comments or questions to me at indoorcultivationconsulting@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to answer them! Feel free to send any comments or questions to me at indoorcultivationconsulting@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to answer them!

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The Southland’s

by Julie Cole

If you have ever had an early flight or been up late enough from the night before to stumble into a 24-hour donut shop during baking hours, you know that the smell of freshly baked donuts or pastries is enough to make you salivate, cry and want to curl up in a blanket of warm croissants. Ok, maybe that’s just me but there really is nothing quite like warm, fresh baked goods from the oven, no matter where that oven may be. My mom’s chocolate chip cookies in the oven still makes me dance around the kitchen like I’m in first grade and the wait for them to finish are the longest 10-12 minutes in the history of time. So without further ado, here are the best bakeries in the southland. Just in time for picnic and wedding season!

Sweet Lady Jane Bakery 8360 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90069 323.653.7145 SweetLadyJane.com For more than 20 years, Sweet Lady Jane has been tempting the taste buds of locals with their incredible tarts, cakes and pies. The shop is something out of a Harry Potter movie and the desserts look so pretty they hardly seem real. They make an almond chocolate crunch tart that is absolutely the best thing that has ever been done to nuts and chocolate. All of their ingredients are of the highest quality and Sweet Lady Jane’s designers and decorators are truly incomparable artists. Try the brownie sundae cheesecake if you want to send your taste buds into overdrive.

Miss Priss Cupcakes and Such 4131 Norse Way Long Beach, CA 90808 (562) 377-6385 MissPrissCupcakes.com I have a thing for cupcakes and when the cupcake revolution hit, I couldn’t have been happier. What’s not to love about a mini cake that you can eat in a single serving? The danger with a whole cake is that I will eat the whole cake in time. But cupcakes are easier to manage and since I have zero control when there is warm German chocolate in my vicinity, the cupcake is a waist-saver. The good people at Miss Priss have done magical things with the cupcake and their menu offers an entire section called “Chocolate Cupcakes” which offers choices like Heath bar, cookies & cream, and peanut butter cup. The decorator is a genius and if you’re looking to be unique and stray from the common birthday or celebration cake, try a few dozen of these gorgeous minis.

Porto’s Bakery 315 North Brand Boulevard Glendale, CA 91203-2303 818.956.5996 PortosBakery.com

If there was an Olympic medal for bakeries, Porto’s would get the gold every time. This place is bakery heaven. The immigrant Porto family opened the business in the 1960s with not much other than Rosa Porto’s exceptional talent for cake making and an American dream. Starting the business from home outgrew itself in a very short time and Rosa’s husband was able to quit his two jobs to help Rosa full time. The little cake business evolved to include mousses, pastries and other delectables. Today Porto’s has three locations and an extensive menu that includes savory items like ham and cheese croquettes and tuna puffs. If you’re looking for sweet, the mango mousse is to die for and if there is an occasion in your life that calls for cake, the best one you’ll ever have is right here at Porto’s. Try the chocolate grand marnier mousse cake.

platinum

Sno cap

A Strain Review by Dillon Zachara

For me, a good strain of cannabis is one that has the right balance between mellowness and increased brain activity - the type of strain that will make you get up off your ass to get work done, but at the same time approach tasks with a calmness that allows for wise decisions. With qualities that are valuable, enjoyable, and useful for many, Sno-Cap fits this description. Coming from the sativa family of cannabis, Sno-Cap is a versatile strain of medical marijuana that lifts your spirits and sets you free, but doesn’t debilitate you. Common sativa smokers can find satisfvaction in this strain, but people who typically lean toward indica like myself can also find comfort in the high. Sno-Cap buds are dense, with a pungent odor that matches its sweet, strong taste. Chances are you won’t just smell this stuff once. It’s pretty darn delicious. It carries a light green color, from what can be seen under the thick layer of crystal coating (likely where the name is derived from) on the outer regions, that’s as inviting as the smell. Peachy hairs are intertwined within the bulky nugs, offering a bit more THC as well as eye candy. Regarding the buds, I must admit, I was a little concerned that I had been ripped off when I first got my container of Sno-Cap. An entire eighth looked like about a gram, and it wasn’t until I got my hands on it that I realized just how incredibly dense the buds are. This is absolutely a strain meant for use with a grinder...makes the whole experience a hell of a lot easier. As you can probably guess from its sativa dominated genetics, Sno-Cap is primarily effective for alleviating stress and anxiety, as opposed to pain, nausea, or insomnia. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever really had the “munchies” after smoking Sno-Cap. It’s hard to pin down the exact genetics of Sno-Cap, but there’s good reason to believe its roots lie in the California growing scene. Often homegrown, this is a strain you could raise yourself if you have the motivation to take on that sort of project. I’d definitely recommend planning some sort of outdoor activity to pair up with the Sno-Cap buzz. Being that it’s summer time, it’s a good strain to have on hand for getting together an outdoor game with friends, taking a trip to the beach, or maybe just going for a long walk in your neighborhood. You shouldn’t, and likely won’t want to, just sit around your house and kill time. Think of something fun and adventurous to do - a hike in Griffith Park or a trip up to Topanga Canyon. Your sunny summer day will be enhanced in a splendid way with Sno-Cap along for the ride. Enjoy the fresh air, roll down the windows, and get lost in the Sno-Caps.

GRAFFITI: Vandalism Or Art Form? You Decide…

Art In The Streets @ MOCA By Jay Evans photography by: Faizal D. Alim Say what you will about graffiti: vandalism, art, delinquency. Regardless, it’s a multifaceted sub-culture with almost fifty years of history and it takes a huge step forward in legitimizing itself as a true art form in the Art In The Streets show at the Los Angeles MOCA, showing through August 8th. The acknowledgement by this major museum may defy some previous arguments, and the continuing costs by major cities worldwide being plagued with the cleanup, as this particular show chronicles the deep history of this art form. The word graffiti is plural for the Italian word “graffito,” a scratch, drawing or painting on prehistoric walls. This leads back to the cave dwellers, where handprints were left with pigment, identifying a particular individual’s existence. These early tracings of identification, and the innate human desire to be recognized, follows us to New York City where, in the late 60s and early 70s, graffiti as we know it today was born. Where the same natural yearnings for attention began to scrawl its way across the globe. Every act of graffiti is uniquely different, given all the variables, and this is why it has become a universal phenomenon. It is urban marketing that has captured the peripheral vision of the art world, and has re-energized the infinite discussion of: what is art? Graffiti was a way for underground urban artists to communicate, or “battle,” by leaving markings on subway cars. This mobile canvas became the fastest way for an artist to disperse his name, or “tag” around the city. Recognition amongst other artists, or “graffitists,” is the real goal within this above ground and oftensubterranean movement. Risking getting caught by authorities is inherent in this art form, which often leads artists below ground (as shown in the sewers of Sao Paulo) or along the washes and street tunnels of East Los Angeles. Beyond the threat of get-

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ting caught, there are some artists risking life and limb to tag their names on freeway signs, train cars, and other dangerous places. Art In The Streets is a complete historic walk through everything stemming to, or from, graffiti, including art from the worlds of punk rock, skateboarding, rap, hip-hop, fashion, politics, and film. Styles from New York called “throw ups,” or fully animated tags consisting of two colors and an outline, are highlighted through photos and sketch pads. What’s known as a “burner” is a complete piece with multiple colors, and full artistic expression, sometimes including animated characters. These are some of the styles that make graffiti an arguable art form. There are all the components: style, form, innovation, techniques, fundamentals, and most importantly, visual attraction. MOCA has recreated a complete street scene to outline graffiti’s early East Coast roots. This chronology leads eventually to the West Coast, through Compton and the Crips through the evolution of gang style and low-rider style graffiti. It continues through San Francisco, then all the way down into Brazil, and eventually across the Atlantic to Europe. It also spotlights some of the more famous, or recognized artists by the art world mainstream, such as Shepard Fairey (OBEY), and Banksy from London, whose works have been architecturally removed from the sides of buildings, at the cost of millions, to preserve the stenciled markings. Graffiti has truly come full circle: from the judicial gavel still dropping on the artists, to the auction hammer dropping at Sotheby’s. MOCA’s recognition of this burgeoning art form is worth seeing, even with its inherent conflicts. After all, often times, controversy is what nurtures innovation.

: s e i m m u D r o Sex f z

but how , s ll a b e v a h the boys t a h t w o n k lady?â&#x20AC;? ll e u r t a â&#x20AC;&#x153;We a g in k ic youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re p e r u s e b u o y can by Ben Holmes for Centennial Seeds

Female

Most flowering and fruiting plants are monoecious, meaning that both male and female flowers occur on the same plant. Cannabis Sativa is different in that there may exist plants with only male flowers or plants with only female flowers (diecious plants). Alternatively, there may exist plants with both male and female flowers (monoecious). Monoecious plants are commonly referred to as hermaphrodites. It is important to understand the differences in male and female cannabis plants. Male plants are best used for producing fiber or pollen to make seed. There is very little cannabinoid content in male plants. Males in the garden will pollinate the female plants, and produce seeds. This will in turn lower the yield of smokable product and reduce the value of the crop. Female plants, however, are rich in cannabinoids which are expressed in tiny glandular trichomes on the surfaces of the female flowers and associated leaves. It is these cannabinoids that deliver the desired effects of cannabis to the user. For these reasons it is desirable to produce an all female garden of cannabis plants. The importance of identifying male plants so they can be removed is critical to this goal. Learning to visually recognize both male and female plants in the early stages of development is an essential basic skill for the cannabis gardener.

Sexing Cannabis Plants Using Preflowers Most cannabis plants if grown under 18 hours of light will express sex in the form of premordia (preflowers) along the main stem at the nodes. These preflowers begin to develop at about the 5th or 6th node, usually by the 4th or 5th week of growth. A node holds a bud that turns into another stem, leaf, or flower(see photo). Nodes are counted starting from the bottom-up.

Identifying Female Cannabis Plants Female plants can be identified by flowers that appear as two fuzzy white hairs of roughly equal length protruding from tiny, green, figshaped organs called calyxes.

Identifying Male Cannabis Plants Male plants can be identified by the appearance of small, round ballshaped clusters that develop at the nodes. The first appearance of male flowers should not alarm you. There is typically a 2-3 week interval between the first sign of male flowers and the first release of pollen. This gives you plenty of time to allow the earliest flowers to develop so that a more certain identification can be made.

Male

Centennial Seeds is 100% locally owned and operated cannabis seed company. Our goal is to make high-quality, viable seed stock for the registered medical gardener. You can find more useful information on cultivating cannabis on our blog. Get growing, Colorado! centennialseeds.com

Patients Out of Time:

y n n Joh

Between 1987 and 1992, I became involved with a Veterans Health Administration and Agent Orange Class Assistance Program that funded Vets, acting as peer counselors, to search out and offer aid to fellow Veterans. All the counselors who did the fieldwork fought in Vietnam, as did almost all of the clients or patients. There were a small number of women in the group, all nurses of the Army and Navy. The majority of the guys were Army or Marine enlisted, a smaller number of Navy “brown water” sailors and a few from the Air Force. The closer you came to death every day, and there were many ways to observe that act, the likelier a Vet was to be diagnosed with post traumatic stress (PTS).

I was the only counselor to have served as a Commissioned Officer and I doubled as the Contract Administrator for the multi thousand dollar grants we used to help Vets in the Appalachian region of Virginia and West Virginia. I had about 200 guys I worked with over those years. Johnny was one of those guys. Johnny worked at a wood yard, as did his son. His boss had called us one day looking for someone to talk to Johnny…get him some help. I showed up late one afternoon and met the boss, who was younger than Johnny and I by a dozen years. Johnny was his friend as well as an employee and he was drinking himself to death. Johnny’s boss was sure it had something to do with Vietnam.

Johnny and I saw each other every week for months. He was on parole for pistol-whipping a bar patron who thought the little guy in the corner of the room could be bullied. Johnny took that bar patron for a ride of terror before knocking him in the head and dumping him and his car in a big ditch. I took Johnny for rides through the tree-lined roads of the county, away from the saws, the noise. He was angry and drinking incessantly, doing lines of coke whenever he could get his hands on it. My job was to find a way to get him to talk out his pain, the emotional scars he carried along with their live-in demons. Talk we did - about his homecoming, a day late he said to me, because if he had been there when the flood came, he could have saved his family; father, mother, two sisters and younger brother. He was convinced that he could have saved them (or at least died with them), but the Marines had him in a stockade for acting up when he came to the states, for refusing to get a “getting out” haircut, for telling a sergeant to go to hell. Guilt is a primary factor in PTS and Johnny had more than enough because he had not been at home when he could have been. This was on top of a tour of duty that young 19-year old Marines like him endured in the endless jungles of danger. He was a gunner on an armored vehicle. Four fifty-caliber machine guns fired at his command with the power to blow an engine block to pieces. One night he and his friends found themselves under attack. The next morning, in front of his guns, he found over 400 dead men…but he was untouched. It was 20 months of talk before he remembered that morning, that night, and when he did… he cried for a long, long time. It had not taken the counselors long to determine a trend among the Vets. Some drank to excess and, like Johnny, took any other intoxicating drug they could find. Then there were those who did not drink or do coke or take pills. They used cannabis instead. Johnny told me he could not sleep more than a couple of hours at a time - an exhausted rest at best. He told me he could not relax, his appetite was reserved strictly for alcohol and being unconscious. I urged him to use cannabis and he did. He stopped the coke cold. His alcohol intake decreased to only a few beers a day. And he slept. He slept. A cannabis researcher in Italy has coined a phrase about the endocannabinoid system. It helps us eat, sleep, relax, protect, and forget. Cannabis is the only plant that has phyto-cannabinoids (made within the plant) that are similar to the endogenous cannabinoids (made within the body) recently discovered in the human body. When I use cannabis I do not dream and I told Johnny that and I told him that he could sleep again too if he used cannabis. It

would help him eat again…real food. It would help him relax for a while, and concentrate on good thoughts and forget the painful images he carried in his head and while these positives were replacing the negatives, his body would enjoy a return to homeostasis from feeding his system with cannabis compounds. Johnny called me a couple of years later, after I no longer worked as a counselor. He wanted me to know that he was fine now. “You helped me man,” he said. Straight up. He then proceeded to tell me that he stopped drinking, was married now, his son was with him, and he still used cannabis every day. Surprisingly, especially after hearing a story like this, it may be hard to believe that in the US, military Veterans like Johnny are denied the use of cannabis for any purpose in 34 states. Furthermore, in the 15 states with medical marijuana laws, an illogical and ignorant law-enforcement–and-lawyer-generated medical protocol for medical cannabis use is in place. These “medical marijuana” programs are morally unjustified, medically unsound and designed by men and women with no medical training at all. Johnny and I use cannabis illegally in Virginia to help us cope with the trauma we endured, for what we did for our country…things that these politicans and lawyers could never imagine in the worst of their worst nightmares.

That is not right. So I’ve got a suggestion for the citizens of the US. A suggestion that I feel is fairly decent and not out of line. Please support your troops by allowing doctors and nurses, rather than lawyers and politicians, to take care of Johnny and me and the other Vets. He and I and they have had enough of what this country has not done for us, especially after what we have done for this country, and allowing Veterans the use of clinical cannabis would be a great start on remedying that situation. Is that really too much to ask? Take care, Al Byrne for Patients Out Of Time Patients Out of Time is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to educating health care professionals and the public about the therapeutic use of cannabis. I choose to drop the “D” for disorder, making it PTS rather than PTSD. The symptoms of post traumatic stress are a NORMAL response to an ABNORMAL stress. It is an insult or added stress to diagnose someone who has undergone severe trauma with a disorder. Some choose to call it post traumatic stress syndrome.

by Mike Marino

Killer Weed on Broadway:

Fishnets and High Kicks!

Sex...Drugs...and Show Tunes? The left over baggy of the generation of seeds and stems of Haight Ashbury’s purple hazed daze and the tie-dyed Summer of Love have long since gone up in smoke. It was a dimebag time of rolling papers, roach clips, and badda-bing, baddabong pipes. Tim Leary, the High Priest of The United Psychedelic States of America, told us it was high-time to turn on, tune in and drop out. If you had some spare time, along with your spare change, you could also Kick Out The Jams, Brothers and Sisters! Pot, protest and politics combined to create a strange violently sexy menage a’ trois, and the cast of cannabis characters is the stuff of killer weed legend.

Hemp, Hemp, Hooray!

Our story begins in a grassy bowl galaxy, far, far away in time.. to a place inhabited by the evil troll Harry Anslinger who lived under the bridge with his head up his ass, and was the trail blazing pathfinder of getting marijuana declared “illegal” and out of bounds, warning America of the deranged conditions it produced, turning clean cut collegians into hairy hungry werewolves in disguise, and defiling the virginal vaginal purity of the youth of America. Gasp!! Negros for Christ sake smoke this jazzed up shit in Harlem, and those strange brown migrants from some alien planet south of the border are bringing their filthy weed onto American soil. It wouldn’t be long before the cream of our youth would be turned into turned on voodoo zombies ready to mass murder mom and dad in the beds where they slept. Anslinger had an idea...let’s teach the children about the evils of the green leafy substance through moving pictures, graphic photographs that move in a thin strip and fill a movie palace theater’s big screen with enough mayhem and screams. Referred to and referenced to as Reefer Madness, a film was produced in 1936 called Teach Your Children, sort of a high school hygiene class film documentary that showed American youth engaged in wild abandon and debauchery (nothing like a little debauchery to set the hipsters apart from the oldsters).

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Of course, it was all anti-pot political bullshit, as is most information that spills out of the government cavity. It backfired however, as Anslinger’s slingshot did not dissuade “youth” from the evil weed, in fact, the film became an iconic cult classic in the altered state Sixties as the doobie darling of the midnight marijuana madness movies. Of course, one had to be stoned to truly appreciate the childlike presentation of the film. It packed the houses like a well rolled joint and laughter filled the theater thicker than all the weed that was going up in smoke.

It opened on the Left Coast at the Hudson Theater, then this off beat beast headed east for the off Broadway production that high kicked in campy fish nets in September of 2001. It was the roar of the roar of the crowd and the smell of the green leafy greasepaint on the move. The curtain went up and the crowd was wowed. It was a “hit” so to speak, no pun intended. It has now taken its pot pedestal stance on the shelf along with other camp favorites such as Rocky Horror Picture Show, Young Frankenstein and San Francisco’s outrageous Beach Blanket Babylon. Crank up the camp!

The Wasp-like youth of American, pure and virginal in the dirty Thirties, unlike those of color, black, brown, red, are the target of the corrupt dope dealers who want to strip them of their virginity, their respect for the red, white and blue and mom and apple pie. (The pie would be replaced with brownies from the kitchen of Alice B. Toklas in short order!) The storyline involves innocent Bill and Mary, high schoolers played by actors in their late 20s or early 30s, so much for credibility Harry! Bill and Mary for the most part don’t smoke tea, they drink it after a few rounds on the tennis courts, but then again, every clean cut person has a looming Eddie Haskell in their lives - just ask Wally and Beaver, yes, Beaver and don’t get me going in that direction! This Eddie is named Jack, and he invites the wholesome delicious looking couple up to this apartment where dopers and stoners while away the hours in oblivious abandon. They have fiendish laughs and dance wildly to the crazed piano player who does more than tickle his ivories...he fucks them with pounding motion until they orgasm.

The stage play was not My Fair Lady, or West Side Story but a faithful, lyrical representation of the original black and white celluloid incarnation on the silver screen. Unlike the filmatic by the fanatic Anslinger, this one has a voice, or many voices, and tunes, show tunes, toke tunes, reefer references, and cannibus camp with such songs as Jimmy Takes a Hit, The Dead Old Man, Jimmy on the Lam, the Brownie Song, Little Mary Sunshine and the Finale: Reefer Madness.

Bill becomes hooked on the evil weed after one joint. If only he knew he could say “I never inhaled” and the story would have gone down a different road. Mary also tries one and after it begins to giggle as Ralph the Addict cops feel after feel of fresh flesh like a garden of Hedon at his fingertips. Bill, hearing and not believing his eyes, bursts out of the bedroom to mix it up with Ralph, and in the fray, Mary is accidentally shot...followed more shootings, courtroom drama and the inevitable sentencing to a mental institution...the film ends with a voice from on Hollywood high, godlike, says “The dread marijuana may be reaching forth next for your son...or daughter...or yours...or YOURS!!”

Everybody now..sing along! A film version was made for Showtime on TV in 2005. Since then local theater groups have undertaken to daunting task of producing this little gem in theaters from London to Sydney to Seattle. When Showtime aired the premier of the film, someone at programming was actually paying attention and played it back to back with the original film that was the inspiration for the musical interpretation. It became available on DVD just before Christmas in 2005. Mary-wanna Emmy? No problemo, it won in 2005 for music and lyrics, and garnered Emmy nominations for choreography and make-up. So there is our tale as it was told to us by the Wise Ones who were there. Anslinger, fortunately, is deader than a doornail, Medical Marijuana is making “headway,” and decriminalization is looming somewhere near the horizon. So no matter what they say about the green leafy matter...There’s no business like dope business..sing it loud...sing it proud!

It was a black and white propaganda extravaganza that morphed into a marijuana-meets-Ethel-Merman-show-tunefilled-lollapalooza in 1998 in the City of Angels. Satire? Reefer Madness...the musical? You bet your ass!

It’s showtime girls...get ready to high kick in those fishnets!

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.. . 72

Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have passed laws in support of medical marijuana and the subject of legalization is manna for reality-makers. Compassionate, rational, sexy or sinister —the spin is in the eye of the talking head. What’s surprising about the conversation is that both sides seem to agree. “I think it’s about time we legalized marijuana,” Glenn Beck said during a broadcast of his recently defunct Fox network show. “We have to make a choice in this country. We either put people who are smoking marijuana behind bars, or we legalize it. But this little game we’re playing in the middle is not helping us...” The self-professed libertarian may have given some viewers whiplash with his declaration, but this is hardly the first time reefer has been rolled out for debate. The difference now is that whatever path they follow, the purveyors of opinion have converged at the same thumbs-up destination. The consensus is…Legalize it. With indisputable verification regarding the benefits of medical marijuana, it may be that the argument against legalization has become untenable. So much so that in October, on ABC’s “This Week,” conservative Washington Post columnist George Will conceded: “We have legalized gambling, which used to be considered a sin and a crime, with no national debate – No decision moment —We just did it,” he said. “We’ve legalized prostitution, as anyone who opens a telephone book and looks under ‘escort’ can tell you, and… We’re probably in the process now of legalizing marijuana.” Not exactly a rousing endorsement, but coming from Will - a man so buttoned-down, he has been known to rail against blue jeans – it is significant. After a decade of belt-tightening, is the sturm und drang over cannabis waning? Escalating percentages favor decriminalization, and considering the projected revenue from regulation and taxation, legalization is just good business. The cavalry loping over the hill to rescue the economy is flying the freak flag. Wait. Lick your finger and hold it in the air. You know which way the wind is blowing. Occasionally, a half-hearted skirmish is waged to make a case for the insupportable. Bill O’Reilly parried his pointed shtick and thrust forth the supposition that hardcore drug addicts will procure prescriptions for medical marijuana, only to finance heroin habits by selling the buds to children. The problems with his premise are

multitudinous and even he can’t say it without blinking. Arguably the meanest girl on the block, Ann Coulter, is not swayed by anything so spurious as human suffering. Puh-lease. When Barbie’s evil twin pops a press-on nail, she sucks it up. A nasty piece of work disguised as an Amazon goddess, Coulter takes a position that could be summed up as “Let them eat FDA approved morphine. But not on my dime.” As a matter of fact, in an essay published in the September 2000 edition of Jewish World Review, Coulter wrote: “Like everyone else in America, I had never really listened to the arguments of the drug legalization crowd because...it’s not going to happen. These people are like scholars whose area of expertise is an obscure bug in a Third World country. Their theories could be completely insane, but no one cares enough to bother listening to them.” Eleven years later, Coulter is still flipping her mane dismissively — albeit with less conviction - but no one really cares enough to listen. Another politico with pulchritude, Sarah Palin has weighed in on the subject. “I think we need to prioritize our law-enforcement efforts,” Palin said. “And if somebody’s gonna smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody else harm, then perhaps there are other things our cops should be looking at to engage in and try to clean up some of the other problems that we have in society.” Publically distinguishing marijuana from addictive and destructive substances (including alcohol and many prescription drugs) has been arduous. But as anyone in know-biz will attest, it’s beginning to smell like team spirit. Because in America it really is about whether you win or lose. And everyone wants to be on the side that’s winning.

ASK ED

In Kush Magazine’s newest column, Marijuana’s Undisputed Grow Champ Ed Rosenthal answers all your questions.

by Ed Rosenthal TOO HOT OUTDOORS Kevin (Internet): MY G13 and Bubba Kush were really fattening up last week when the temperature reached daily highs in the 88-91° F range. Now the temperature is sitting at 95-100° F and the plants are just sitting there. What’s going on? Will the extreme heat destroy any of the THC or stunt them? How should I handle the situation? Should I pump them with more water and nutrients or should I shade them during the extreme mid-day heat?

Ed: Given ample amounts of light, carbon dioxide (CO2), water and nutrients, temperature can be a limiting factor. Much like cold-blooded animals, plants’ metabolism and photosynthesis is affected by temperature. When the temperature dips below 59° F, metabolism, the life processes that include cell maintenance and growth slows to a crawl. Photosynthesis, the process in which plants use light energy to convert CO2 and water to sugar using the energy from light, also slows to a crawl. Both metabolism and photosynthesis rates increase as the temperature rises. It reaches its zenith at around 32-90° F at the leaf surface. At just a slightly higher temperature the photosynthesis rate drops precipitously as the plant goes in to protective mode. It uses transpiration, releasing water from the stomata in order to cool the leaves. There are several things you can do to keep the plants cool. Your idea of using a shade cloth that only allows 60-70% of the light through can keep the plants cool enough to continue photosynthesizing. Another idea is to use cooling misters. These units break water up into a 5-micron spray that quickly evaporates, cooling the air by as much as 11° F. Fans that drop water onto fan blades and special sprayers that use a high power pump are used to produce these tiny water bits. During times of extreme heat plants use a lot of water. Be careful that the water is not too nutrient rich. They are sipping a lot of water that they are releasing rather than using for metabolism or photosynthesis. If the water has high nutrient levels they will accumulate in the plant, so that it becomes over-fertilized. Instead, dilute the water’s nutrient level.

FOOLING THE DOGS Swan (Internet): Is there a legal chemical that will cause a marijuana sniffing drug dog to alert on a target other than weed?

Ed: Yes. Most of the time, dogs are taught to sniff not marijuana, but one of the terpenes it contains, B-Caryophyllene. It is also found in cloves, black pepper, and hops. B-Caryophyllene has garnered a lot of interest recently because of its anti-inflammatory properties. It is commonly used in the food processing industry and is not on a restricted list.

An hermaphroditic plant was primarily female but male flowers were induced using sodium thiosulfate.

(continued on page 80)

NCIAkushad3_v.4 3/18/11 4:30 PM Page 1

Cannabis industry leaders from across the country have recently come together to form the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), the first cannabis trade association in the U.S. NCIA is already working in Congress to address problems facing the cannabis businesses community â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from banking to reforming unfair tax laws to eliminating unreasonable Drug Paraphernalia statutes. NCIA is the only organization representing the cannabis industry on the national stage and we need your help. For as little as $100 a month or $1,000 a year, your business can be part of the growing list of industry leaders that make up the National Cannabis Industry Association. Membership also includes member discounts, access to exclusive industry events, and a listing in our industry directory. Contact us to join or receive more information today. National Cannabis Industry Association Phone: (202) 379-4861 E-mail: info@TheCannabisIndustry.org P.O. Box 78062 Washington, DC 20013

NCIA Board of Directors: Tristan Blackett

Wanda James

420 Science, HI

Simply Pure Medicinal Edibles, CO

Cheryl Brown

Dale Sky Jones

MMBA, CO

Oaksterdam University, CA

Brian Cook

Rob Kampia

Altitude Organics Corporation, CO

Marijuana Policy Project, DC

Troy Dayton

Ken Kulow

The ArcView Group, CA

Chameleon Glass, AZ

Steve DeAngelo

Jill Lamoureux

Harborside Health Center, CA

Colorado Dispensary Services, CO

Becky DeKeuster

Michael McAuliffe

Northeast Patients Group, ME

Sensible Nevada, NV

Adam Eidinger

Erich Pearson

Capitol Hemp, DC

SPARC, CA

Etienne Fontan

Bob Selan

Berkeley Patients Group, CA

Kush Magazine, CA

Jim Gingery

Brian Vicente

Montana Medical Growers Assoc., MT

Sensible Colorado, CO

Len Goodman

Bob Winnicki

New MexiCann Natural Medicine, NM

Full Spectrum Labs

Justin Hartfield

Joe Yuhas

Weedmaps.com, CA

Arizona Medical Marijuana Assoc., AZ

79 79

WORMS IN THE BUD Hodgesme (Internet): I have some good bud but as it ripens little worms attack it, leaving webs. Then it rots really quickly. I think the worms are infecting the bud with a disease that kills them and turns brown almost overnight. What can I do to stop this?

Ed: The “worms” are really caterpillars of moths or butterflies. There

are several ways to prevent them and to stop their damage.

COUNTING FORWARD Bud Kush (Internet): How long do I count my flowering days? Is it from the first day I turn the cycle to 12 hours or from the day I start to see flower formation?

Ed: When seed companies list the number of days until ripening, they are starting the count when the lights are turned to short day cycle, 11 or 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness each day.

Placing nylon net around the developing buds or even the entire plant prevents the moths or butterflies from landing and laying eggs on the leaves or stem. No eggs- no caterpillars. Pyrethrum is a natural insecticide produced by flowers in the chrysanthemum family. It is safe to use around edible plants and is quite effective. It breaks down soon after use, but is harmful to fish and other cold-blooded animals, so you should be careful in its use. There are many brands of pyrethrum available in garden shops. BT- Bacillus thuringensis, is a bacteria that infects insects, but not you or your pets. It is very safe to use. Soon after a caterpillar comes in contact with the bacteria it stops eating and then dies within a day or two. The bacteria release new spores to infect other insects coming in contact with it. BT is extremely effective and renews itself so reapplications are usually not necessary. Several brands of BT sprays are available.

FEMINIZED SEEDS

The mites are on the underside of the leaf but they create small, brown necrotic spots on the leaf upper surface. .

Keith (Internet): What problems are associated with feminized seeds? What is the best way to deal with them? Ed: Feminized seeds have many advantages over normal seeds, which produce either male or female plants. Gardeners can start fewer plants because there are no males to remove. Feminized seeds are especially helpful to outdoor growers with larger plants. The plants thrive more than a clone because unlike a clone, they grow long taproots that provide an unbroken highway to the canopy for water and nutrients going up and sugars and enzymes going down the stem. Before these seeds were used, the gardeners had a choice of using clones or growing twice as many plants, and then discarding the males; twice the work per harvested plant.

The second problem is, should you wish to breed you don’t have a male of that variety, only the females.

The mites weave webs that they use as super highways to get to their plant-sucking parties.

Normally feminized seeds should only be used for grow-outs, not for breeding. The exception is to preserve a particular genetic rarity by crossing a plant to itself to preserve a particular genetic rarity. Feminized seeds can be produced in several ways (there is a good article about it in Big Book of Buds 3, page 148), but most breeders use a chemical, sodium thiosulfate, to induce male flowers on female plants. Since the pollen is produced by a female plant it has no male genes so all the seeds are female. The problem with any breeding program that relies on pollen from females is that the process may be inadvertently selecting for hermaphroditsm. Most likely, the plants that produce the most pollen have more of a tendency towards hermaphroditism. Since they produce the most pollen they will have the most offspring. Over several generations this tendency becomes more pronounced. So, after the plants are bred conventionally, the grow-out seeds can be produced using pollen from induced male flowers.

A mite attacking a leaf. Mite infections are always serious and to should be dealt with properly.

Photo: courtesy of Nature’s Control

There are two problems with feminized seed. The first is that some varieties and crosses result in a small percentage of hermaphroditic plants. So the plants have to be watched and any hermaphrodites removed.

SEED FROM HERMAPHRODITES Rusty (Illinois): I have a hermaphrodite plant that is pollinating itself. Will the plants grown from this seed be feminized?

Ed: Maybe. It depends whether or not the plant is a natural hermaphrodite or has expressed male flowers as a result of stress. Some varieties regularly produce hermaphrodites. Remove these plants as soon as they indicate for fear of accidental pollinations. Seeds resulting from self-pollination or pollination with other hermaphrodites will produce a high percentage of hermaphrodites. When crossed with a non-hermaphrodite plant, a smaller percentage of the progeny will be hermaphroditic. Sometimes plants that are usually all female produce male flowers as a result of stress from irregular light period, dry mediums, or other neglect of needs. Seeds resulting from these crosses are usually mostly female with a few hermaphrodites sprinkled through. Although the plants have to be watched for male flowers your work and effort will be rewarded with a group of mostly female plants.

CLONE GENERATIONS Friend Dan (Internet): How many times can I clone a clone from a clone without changing the genetics? People have told me they have made clones from clones more than twenty times and have not seen any difference in bud weight or any other differences in the plants. I have also heard that every time you make a clone from a clone you lose weight and potency. What are the facts?

Ed: Bedrocan, which produces marijuana for Dutch pharmacies, uses

cuttings that it removes from plants going into flowering as clone stock. They regularly test the cannabis for cannabinoids and keep detailed records of yield. The results have remained stable for years. It is fine to use generations of clones because the genetics and the plant’s characteristics will remain the same.

SPIDER MITE DAMAGE Meheidi (Internet): How much damage do spider mites do to the buds? I will be harvesting in a month. Do I need to worry? Ed: Spider mites can ruin your crop and you should take action immediately. They are related to spiders rather than to insects. Spider mites feed on plants by sucking their juices through their “proboscis”, strawlike mouths they use to puncture leaves and suck their vital juices. Mites’ fast lifecycle and the large number of eggs they produce lead to logarithmic increases in population over a very short period of time. Expect time to sexual maturity of less than a week and a high tilt in favor of females so a small infection can become a serious problem very quickly. While some growers aim simply to control mites and other pests they will never be rid of them. You can use biological controls to keep their population extremely low or totally eliminate them from your garden. Some methods include sulfur bombs, high carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration (above 5000 PPM) and herbal oil sprays that include cinnamon or clove oil. You can find more information on eliminating these pests in the book, “Marijuana Garden Saver”.

VENTILATION RATE David B. (Internet): How often should air in my grow room be exchanged? At what time is it most beneficial, when the lights are on or off, during vegetative growth or during flowering?

Ed: Ventilation is used for two purposes: to cool the room and to provide the plants with carbon dioxide (CO2) laden air. If you use air-cooled lights, very little heat from the lamps will get into the room and it is relatively easy to cool the room when the outside is cooler than the room air. On the other hand un-insulated spaces are sometimes greatly affected by the climate. In cold areas heat must be supplied to the garden room to keep it warm. Conversely in warm climates outside air may be too hot to cool a garden. With these factors in mind, as well as the number of lights and the size of the space, you can figure the parameters for airflow. If you are not using CO2 enrichment the ideal temperature is 70-72° F during the lit hours and no more than 5° F lower in the dark period. With CO2 enrichment the space can be kept at about 86-90° F, which encourages fast growth. During the dark period the plants don’t photosynthesize so they don’t use CO2 but they do transpire so the moisture must be removed using a steady breeze. As you might have noticed CO2 is part of the ventilation equation. C02 is one of the two ingredients plants use to produce sugar, using light to power the process. Air contains about 380 PPM of CO2. Under high light conditions such as a sunny summer day outside or under a 1000 watt lamp covering 1.5 meters inside, plants can use up to 1200-1300 PPM. The combination of high light, CO2 enriched air and warm temperatures creates conditions for plants to grow faster, larger and mature earlier. When you ventilate your room you bring in air with CO2 levels of the ambient air. No matter how good the ventilation system it cannot match the growth of systems that use CO2 enrichment. Plants use up the CO2 in an enclosed room very quickly so it must constantly be replenished or the plants will stop growing. You can check out how much CO2 is available to the plants by placing a CO2 PPM meter in the canopy. As the amount in the air declines, the plants’ photosynthesis rate drops. To stop this from happening use a fan to create a steady breeze, which will bring fresh air to the canopy and keep the plants photosynthesizing. Both ventilation, bringing fresh air into the room, and circulation moving fresh air into the canopy, removes the old used air and is required for the plants to benefit. For these two reasons I recommend a closed system using air-cooled lights that draw air from outside the garden space and then exits the hot air outside as well. Ideally, the space will be cooled using air conditioning and it will be heated using a CO2 generator, which burns natural gas or propane and emits CO2 heat and moisture. The air will be enriched using the CO2 generator when the room needs heat and using CO2 tanks during warm periods. The tanks are connected to a PPM meter and emission controls. The generator is connected to a thermostat and goes on whenever heat is needed.

Readers can submit questions to: Ask Ed 4096 Piedmont Ave, Suite 268 Piedmont, CA 94611, USA.

You can also Email Ed: asked420@gmail.com All questions featured in the Ask Ed column will be rewarded with a copy of Ed’s book, Best of Ask Ed: Your Marijuana Questions Answered. Sorry, Ed cannot send personal replies to your questions.

GROWERS GROVE

The Green Rush Bubble Most people without previous experience don’t dive into a new business in a new industry just because they heard the industry was doing well. If graphic design or welding suddenly became the rage, people who had never used a computer or an arc welder probably wouldn’t think of starting a business in those trades even if the price of the commodity was rising (which it’s not in this industry). But for some reason, the medical Cannabis industry is viewed differently. I don’t know why, but right now everyone is riding high on the idea that even if they have no previous experience or background in Cannabis whatsoever, it’s a perfect time to open up a Cannabis business. Don’t worry if you have no knowledge of the skilled trade itself, if you’ve never grown a plant or if you’ve never even worked as a budtender in a dispensary, “The Green Rush” is on and everyone in the Cannabis industry is wealthy, so go for it and assume it’ll all work out. Yeah, here’s a history lesson for the business majors. Most people who flocked to California for the Gold Rush didn’t actually make any money. In fact, most of them sank everything they had into land that never produced any gold. Far more people found bankruptcy than wealth. The only people that had financial security were the ones selling shovels. So, for all the Cannabis industry professionals that are encouraging people with no experience to invest whatever they have into an industry based on a skilled trade that they have no previous knowledge of, you should really think about the ramifications of inexperienced individuals getting in over their head in an industry that still has many risks associated with it. As someone who spends a great deal of time educating struggling growers and cleaning up the potential disasters created by people getting in over their heads, I can tell you that selling the idea of starting a Cannabusiness is a very dangerous thing to do. I’ve seen several examples of dispensaries that opened after taking a weekend class on the Cannabis industry. Completely naïve but very eager, these businesses crumbled shortly after opening simply from lack of experience in the industry. In one very sad case, a poorly secured dispensary (that literally opened because they took a weekend class hyping the Green Rush) was robbed and the overnight security guard was beaten severely. Not only did the owner lose everything and all the employees were suddenly out of work 82

(one in the hospital), but all the product in the store was on consignment and now the growers operating on less and less of a margin all found themselves out of much needed income. In another case, a couple invested their retirement money in a dispensary only to lose everything in less than a year. Sometimes I think the only people making money in the Green Rush are the people selling the idea of the Green Rush to people who are just seeking financial security in a bad economy. There are occasionally finances in the Cannabis industry, but there is very little security in them even when you do find them. The idea of the Green Rush is by far the single biggest factor influencing the market now. It’s responsible for the massive outbreak of both ignorant consumers and inexperienced growers. The amount of superlative Cannabis is roughly the same now as it was 10 years ago, but it’s been diluted in an ocean of ho-hum buds. To find real chronic, discerning consumers have to wade through lots of “pretendicas” - pot that passes inspection at a glance but is terrible once smoked. In the exceedingly flooded market, some Cannabis Stores that are unable to compete by turning over lots of high quality Cannabis, try to survive by focusing on increasing their margin. Many consumers assume that Cannabis Stores always carry the best, but in the current market many of them just stock whatever they paid the least for. There are so many new patients every day who have no memory of better Cannabis days that the shift in market quality is overlooked by many patients. Cannabis Stores that focus on quality and turnover and who pay their growers top dollar for premium Cannabis, always have better medicine than stores that do not. Many dispensaries are so focused on asking the question of “How little can I pay for this product?” that they forget to ask the more important question of “Will my competition pay the grower’s asking price to have this product?” If it is an outstanding product, consumers will travel to stores outside their usual shopping area in order to get it, so dispensaries that hold a hard line on a high quality standard will draw in more customers even if they have to pay a little more for the product. Instead of advertising how cheap their eighths are, they should advertise that they pay their growers top dollar. I bet the quality of herb in their store goes through the roof as growers with outstanding products start showing up again (along with the customers that follow outstanding products). (continued on page 84)

Another Lawyer Joke Recently, I was speaking with a few folks that represent the current cutting edge of medical marijuana policy for their local area (ironically, none of them were growers). During a discussion of local rules and regulations, one cooperative operator told me that his lawyer calculated the expenses of growing Cannabis and told him that he shouldn’t pay more than $3000 per pound of Cannabis because the expense “couldn’t be justified”. I told the cooperative operator that I’ve spent many years analyzing the economics of how much lawyers make versus how often their clients get screwed and I can’t find any justification to pay lawyers more than minimum wage. Besides clearly highlighting himself as an individual who has never grown a single Cannabis plant, this lawyer expressed a belief that many people who have never grown Cannabis believe – it’s soooooooo easy to grow. I mean, seriously, “it’s a weed”, right? Well, that might be so in some areas and you might enjoy smoking your moldy, untended, ditch weed; but fine medical Cannabis is something different altogether, or at least it certainly should be. I’ve never been out hiking and stumbled across a bunch of super chronic buds completely free of pests or diseases just sitting there by the side of the trail growing without care. Outstanding medical Cannabis doesn’t just happen – it’s a labor of love. (Emphasis on the labor.) It almost always comes from controlled environments that require some expensive hardware. Maybe I should find this lawyer and ask him where he goes hiking. Or maybe it’s slightly more complicated than simply adding up a spreadsheet of items you imagine constitute a complete Cannabis garden (“Let’s see. Pots, dirt, lights – what else could there be?). Maybe fine medical Cannabis is a skilled trade with many facets, just like carpentry or welding or graphic design and requires a period of dedicated apprenticeship along with the financial resources to build an excellent environment for cultivating fine Cannabis. Maybe the people who have spent many years dedicating themselves to the craft of Cannabis production are typically better at it, producing a higher quality standard that should be met with a market price that reflects an appreciation of everything that goes into producing fine medical Cannabis. Only those who’ve actually grown Cannabis know what it really costs to produce it. So what all goes into this “Premium Medical Cannabis”, anyway? Oh, nothing really. Except for the countless hours of labor, a controlled environment, tons of expensive electricity (or an expensive greenhouse), water, rent, nutrients, additives, pumps, fans, filters, meters, trays, pots, medium, inoculants, irrigation equipment, more labor, security, constant monitoring for pests and diseases, 50 trips to the hydro store, 100 trips to Home Depot, lots of sleepless nights and frayed nerves, more labor, blood, sweat, tears, dedication, experience, diligence, trial, error, waking up early, going to sleep late, air conditioning, dehumidification, climate management, cloning, re-potting, pruning, staking, trimming, trimming, trimming, trimming..... hopefully it’s an easy variety to trim or else that part of the list would continue. Plus, you have to say goodbye to having a normal life. Suddenly unknown guests aren’t welcome, it influences whom you date, vacations become impossible because 84

the plants can’t take a vacation, etc. Now that’s a tough thing to put a price on and probably wasn’t on the lawyer’s itemized list of garden necessities. Even though the odds of getting arrested are somewhat lower now, you still have to cope with risks like armed robbery and burglary. Even without that, it takes a lot of labor and resources to produce. At any rate, it’s a lot more than most people give growers credit for. The idea that Cannabis is “free” for growers is an illusion, like the idea that the drinks in Vegas are free. If you lose $100 at roulette over the course of 2 “free” beers, weren’t those actually the most expensive beers of your life? Similarly, the growers that still hang on to excellent, harder to grow, lower yielding strains only grow them only for their own head stash – they’re too expensive to grow if you’re not getting wholesale prices that justify it. They know all too well the high cost of producing fine Cannabis. The bottom line is this. We’re currently in an era that is defined by a huge surplus of mediocre pot. As strains slowly disappear, and our genetic diversity dwindles in the wake of whatever is left getting crossed with the same few dozen common strains, we risk losing a lot of good medicine in the process. There’s a lot of herb out there and while competition in the market is fierce, new gardens that lack both the experience and the hardware to produce truly fine Cannabis need to be differentiated from older, established gardens with extensive climate controls that have been finetuned for success over many years. If you look closely at the products out there, you’ll find that they speak for themselves when sampled with a careful eye and an experienced palette. Growers that have rare, outstanding products will eventually find it a good home – either at fine cooperatives that pay for quality or elsewhere with a little extra hustle. It’s simple economics. - Jade Kine (Growers Grove writer Jade Kine is a former greenhouse manager for the medical Cannabis industry with over a million plants worth of experience. He is also the founder of CannAcademy, a trade school dedicated solely to horticultural training for growers. Got a grow question for Jade? Drop him a line at JadeKine@gmail.com Complete bio at JadeKine.com)

Here’s one for the trophy case…Pure Glass brand spankin’ new premier piece, the aptly titled Zero˚X4, is like nothing we’ve ever seen before. As part of the company’s second high end line, Zero Degree, all we could think when we saw this arrive at the office was ‘what in the hell are we supposed to do with this!!??’ It was overwhelming at best to piece together 6 heavy glass masterpieces into one spectacularly succinct smoking machine. The weight alone of the freezable quad coils plays testament to the quality of this monstrously magnificent device, and tracing the path of how the smoke would make its way through the various chambers and compartments already made us feel medicated…but we didn’t want to take any chances, so we placed the frozen quad coil in place, packed a sweet nug of Platinum Snowcap, and fired this puppy up! The first thing you notice is how smooth this hit is…which is quite surprising coming from a piece that’s just about 2 feet high and made out of enough glass to cover a skyscraper. But it really is…it’s remarkably smooth…almost like vapor. The frozen glycerin coils serve to filter resin out of the smoke, and it works really really well. No joke, it’s as close to a vaporizer hit we’ve had without using a vaporizer...and the cool drift down the esophagus and into the lungs was quite…invigoratingly refreshing! The 6 piece device comes in black, green, blue, pink, purple, and amber and, in addition to the weighty freezable glycerin quad coil section, the Zero˚X4 includes a thick and sturdy 14mm glass bowl, removable shower head ash-catcher, diffused downstem and beaker system. And if the quad coil Zero˚X4 is too much to handle, there’s also the single coil Zero˚Rev, an almost identical piece save for 3 of the elaborate glycerin coils. All of the Zero Degree products feature high end frosted glass that serve as the connector points between the thick double-beaker bottom and the coil sections above it. As a matter of fact, this frosted glass method provides non-sticky connection points between all the removable sections as well, including the bowl and the downstem, making the Zero˚X4 made completely of glass…and, depending on what strain you use, full of class.

11.10 AM on Cinco de Mayo I board the Surfliner, Amtrak’s

Center, formerly known as the Pond, and Anaheim Stadium where the Angels

southbound train to San Diego. Leaving Union Station in

play ball. I watched many games there in the 80s and 90s with my family and

downtown Los Angeles we pass junkyards, small housing

little league teams. Sometime in the 90s they installed red rock waterfalls with a

projects, warehouses and the Concrete River. A hill of busted gravel at least

fountain beyond Center Field. Disney briefly owned the team after former owner,

five stories tall, power lines, flood control bridges, parking lots filled with bus-

“the Singing Cowboy” Gene Autry’s estate sold them.

es. The view continues, homeless encampments next to the river, the poured

The 5 intersects with the 57 Freeway here. The train crosses the freeways

concrete Sears Tower, dump trucks, smokestacks entering the city of Vernon

and the Santa Ana River. In spite of its reputation as a playground of money and

- LA’s industrial heartland. Welcome to the blood and bones of the city, the city

luxury, Orange County has its share of factories and industry. Much of it is vis-

of Commerce - wood pallets, 710 freeway, Santa Fe trains, the paved banks of

ible along the rails. Industrial Orange County isn’t as gritty as Commerce or Ver-

the Rio Hondo River, Pico Rivera. The Surfliner’s path essentially follows Inter-

non, but it’s still business after business of long steel pipes, roofing supplies,

state 5 the entire trip to San Diego. Industry hugs the rails all the way to and

yellow ladders, mid-size metal cranes - equipment for days. Old Town Orange is

through Orange County, Santa Fe Springs, Norwalk, La Mirada and Buena Park.

wooded and rustic for a bit. The next stop is Santa Ana and then Irvine.

Slowly but suddenly tract houses emerge in the visual field. North Orange

Zooming past cul-de-sacs with discarded couches, Public Storage bun-

County, red tile roofs, stucco facades almost into Fullerton. The Surfliner zips

kers, RV Parks, cell phone towers sprinkled throughout. Eucalyptus trees, base-

past the smooth adobe walls of the Fullerton station. We make a two-minute

ball fields, an adjacent golf course. Sand Canyon - a hot air balloon overhead,

stop, loading and unloading. The whistle blows! Southbound we go below

tree nurseries next to the tracks. El Toro Marine base, parking garages off to the

pedestrian platforms, moving past industrial parks and Fullerton craftsmen

side, “Please stand behind the blue line!”

cottages. Mt. Saddleback and the Cleveland National forest rests in the background - south beyond the Anaheim Hills. I love riding the rails!

A few cacti begin to appear amidst palm trees and ice plants. Strawberry fields, rolling hills, horse trails, and orange groves were once here. Now big box

Next stop Anaheim.

super shops sit next to the wide superhighway - McMansions on a hill above

I see townhomes, mobile homes and craftsmen houses in Historic Ana-

the Pacific Coast Highway.

heim.The vista from the train can hardly be explained, a thousand words an im-

Power lines overhead, manicured gardens. J Serra High School. San Juan

age and the images are nonstop. Stopping in Anaheim across from the Honda

Capistrano! The swallows return to the Mission here every year close to March

19th. The Mission looms with a heavy vibe dripping in history. Beautiful and

canyons, Sorrento Valley Road, San Diego chaparral, scattered industrial parks,

haunting, any of the 21 Missions built along the coast from San Diego to San

low-rise skyscrapers, Qualcomm corporate offices near Mira Mesa. A city of

Francisco emit a powerful energy from both the history and sacred architecture.

mesas. Hillier than Los Angeles, there are many foothills and canyons in San

San Juan Capistrano has a great village around the Mission. A sign reads “The

Diego where the natural landscape of the hill and its vegetation remain un-

Capistrano Depot.” On the left side of the train I see “The Vintage Steakhouse.”

developed. The wooded canyons act as a buffer between neighborhoods. San

The more south we go and closer to the ocean we get, the more the architec-

Diego, like most big cities, is a city of villages.

ture gets decadent. Some craftsman beach cottages and a whole lot of Spanish

Two woman a few seats away have been chatting the entire two hours

Colonial Revival ranch homes.There’s dry grass on the foothills and helicopters

about their grandchildren, family vacations and shopping ideas. The train is

over the ocean. Tractors on the hillside, campers on the beach, South Orange

moving fairly slow winding through a dry green canyon. We pass what looks

County, the train rides along the water. “White Water Realty,” boat repair yards,

to be a graveyard of old boats. The clock reads 1.38pm, 17 minutes before our

three sail boats on the western horizon. Surfers near San Onofre, mustard pop-

arrival in downtown San Diego. Another train passes us in the other direction,

pies, the two nuclear reactors with their pointed cones have inspired a plethora

off in the distance is Sea World. On the side of a building I see a mural with a

of jokes. After San Onofre the train hugs the coast for several miles. San Juan

large swordfish, there’s a rock climbing gym and gradually I begin to see the

Capistrano is the last city of Orange County before San Diego County begins.

skyscrapers of downtown San Diego off in the distance. We pass through the

Glassy waves are breaking at the Capistrano Surf Center. I see cliffs over

Old Town San Diego area and the airport is coming up soon.

the ocean in the city of San Clemente. The population density begins to dimin-

Downtown San Diego’s skyline is a patchwork of Art Deco, Beaux Arts,

ish as we enter into military land.The almost 20 mile stretch of Camp Pendleton

Modernism, Postmodernism and 21st Century futuristic luxury condo sky-

begins south of San Clemente and it is the only space between north San Diego

scrapers. Some of the high-rise condos have a glass curtain window wall ex-

County and south Orange County. 20 million people live between San Diego

terior that lets in maximum natural light. The archetype of this design became

and Santa Barbara, 200 miles of coastline. I see a long line of cars waiting in a

popular in Vancouver. Some architectural critics have called this design “the

construction zone, but the train keeps going! I usually drive this trip but after

blade tower.” Real estate developers that build blade tower condos market

this experience I’m going to take the train every chance I can. The air condi-

them for their energy efficiency. Besides blade tower condos, I see the Padres

tioner is perfect and I’m enjoying the view.

baseball stadium; scattered jacaranda trees and the energetic buzz of San

Camouflage tents in the adjacent grasslands - must be some type of military training. It’s about 1pm as we enter Oceanside. Coastal communities of

Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter near the station. There are even a few cranes building more skyscrapers.

Northern San Diego County still hold some rustic beach hideaway feel but they

I arrive at San Diego’s Union Station, also known as the Santa Fe Depot, at

are far more developed now than they were even a decade ago. Oceanside,

1.55 PM, exactly on time. Though not as large as LA’s Union Station, the Santa

Carlsbad, Cardiff by the Sea, Encinitas, Solana Beach. Once a landscape of

Fe Depot is equally impressive architecturally. Furthermore, Downtown San

wooden beach shacks, small roadside hotels and seafood restaurants - now

Diego also impresses me with its bustling cityscape of lofts, luxury condos,

transitioning into the corporate stucco McMansion McModels. The change isn’t

hotels, restaurants, retail shops and art galleries in its eight neighborhoods:

complete, but the real estate is so valuable that the market makes it happen.

Columbia, the Core, Cortez Hill, East Village, Gaslamp Quarter, Horton Plaza,

White sand beaches, wetlands, small hills showing erosion, bougainvillea grow-

Little Italy and the Marina. Downtown San Diego has something for everybody.

ing and lots of signs showing “Now Leasing.” Solana Beach station is the last stop before downtown San Diego. Next we pass through the tony area of La Jolla. The Del Mar Horse Racing Track has been here for years. Many of San Diego’s largest coastal houses are here. The train mostly passes by cliffs,

As medical marijuana dispensaries continue to pop up all over the country, from California to Michigan, a new profession has emerged that is taking the medical marijuana community by storm - “Bud Tending”. Paraphrased from the age old Bartending moniker, Bud Tenders act very much in the same way, but instead of serving alcohol they serve you up with a fat bud of your choice. Not only is this literally a dream job for many medical marijuana advocates looking to meet and interact with many like-minded people in the community, but also an excellent way to make an living in this struggling economy. Bud Tenders are required to have a good knowledge of different strains and types of medical marijuana as well as being able to effectively communicate with their patients and help them find the best type of marijuana to suit their specific needs. Bud Tenders also need to understand the correct weights and measurements of cannabis, how it is priced and how to effectively display the inventory to ensure maximum customer interest. But most of all, one of the most important qualities a Bud Tender needs to have are excellent customer service skills. But to really understand what Bud Tending is all about, as well as what it takes to become a Bud Tender, is to actually interview one. And when it

comes to Bud Tending, there are few in the industry more knowledgeable and experienced than Bud Tender Dan from G3 Holistic Inc. in Moreno Valley, California. Here is my interview with Bud Tender Dan Dave: Without feeling you have to go too in depth, what is your take on the sweet leaf? What do you feel it does for you personally? Bud Tender Dan: I have been using medical marijuana for years for a range of issues including bleeding ulcers (can’t take pain meds), insomnia (can’t take pills), and relief from skeletal/muscular pain (again, no pills!). The Marijuana Plant has enormous medical value (aspirin comes from tree bark!) and potential but the federal government must remove cannabis from the schedule 1 drug list to allow for proper research and clinical trials. There is new Cannabinoid (THC, CBD, etc.) research with a host of implications including the destruction of cancer cells without harming the healthy tissue (not only symptom treatment but an anti-tumor effect, according to a report by the National Cancer Institute, cancer.gov). Dave: How long have you been a Bud Tender, what establishment do you work at, and what made you decide to get into this profession? Bud Tender Dan: I have been the Senior Patient

Consultant/Bud Tender at G3 Holistic, Inc. since it’s inception in 2009. A few patient friends and I exceeded our med needs with our gardens and decided to form a collective, ‘by the patients, for the patients…’ I have 30 years of restaurant/bar management experience, 30 years of product knowledge, a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a Pre-Med/Science curriculum from The Ohio State University, and a father who is an oncologist specializing in geriatrics and hospice/ palliative care. The combination of these factors created a kind of perfect storm career for me as a patient consultant in the Medical Marijuana field. Dave: What kind of training does a Bud Tender need? Do you need to go to school to be a Bud Tender? Bud Tender Dan: More training than there is currently available, but new schools and classes are constantly sprouting up! I attended The Oaksterdam University, (www.oaksterdamuniversity. com), completing as Valedictorian a 13-week semester course covering a wide range of topics including civics, law, patient consulting, methods of ingestion, and, of course, cultivation. Continuing education is a must as medical marijuana laws are constantly changing. Classes and workshops are available, the best being provided by Americans for Safe Access, or ASA (www.safeaccessnow.com). I just completed their Marijuana Activist Bootcamp last month. Dave: What are a few crazy, inspirational, funny, etc stories you have during your time as being a Bud Tender? Bud Tender Dan: Regarding crazy and funny, there is never a dull moment. We had a night janitor stuck in our magnetic doors and the police

thought he was breaking in. Our landlord assumed our grow (house) was illegal and SWAT showed up at the house and ended up threatening the landlord. A patient with a glass eye took it out, polished it up, and played marbles on the bar with it - pretty disgusting! As far as inspirational? That’s easy. Our collective is located minutes from a major hospital and every time a patient stops by after chemo/radiation treatment it’s extremely rewarding to make them smile by providing safe effective meds for their pain and suffering. Product knowledge is key and essential when recommending a strain for a specific condition/ailment. Dave: What is your advice for someone who is thinking about becoming a Bud Tender? Bud Tender Dan: Bud tending is an experience that requires a combination of knowledge, skill, care, compassion, and customer service that is unlike any other career position. Part bartender, part patient consultant, caregiver, friend, and risktaker/target, the Bud Tender has an enormous responsibility to his/her patients, coworkers, and collective. Get active in the medical marijuana community! Attend a marijuana school; there are a few of them now. The State of Colorado even accredited a cannabis college! Join Americans For Safe Access, NORML, and any other local ‘grassroots’ campaign that will keep you informed and involved in this rapidly growing industry. It is definitely a budding industry! Remember that not all share your views, so the best defense is information. Almost every marijuana myth has been discredited over the last 20 years; we just need to reeducate ourselves with some actual facts.

“Ziggy Marley’s Marijuanaman ” is the new 48-page oversized full-color hardcover graphic novel conceived by Ziggy Marley, illustrated by Jim Mahfood (Clerks, Spiderman) and written by Joe Casey (G.I.Joe, Superman, Iron Man). Published in conjunction by Tuff Gong Worldwide and Image Comics, the work goes beyond the obvious title and is loaded with political and financial implications. “We knew that the initial reaction to a book named Marijuanaman would be this: people would perceive it as a silly stoner comic, a Cheech & Chong, ‘Half-Baked’ kind of thing; those type of weed and stoner stereotypes,” says Jim Mahfood. “So we went out of our way to make it a more weird and mystical thing. It has a bit of a dark edge to it.” “The book represents a conflict, a spiritual war of sorts, between the crusaders of Exodus representing the natural world, the plant and the positive,” explains Mahfood, “versus the artificial, synthetic world represented by the evil and sinister Pharma-Con.” “The main character doesn’t even smoke,” Mahfood continues. “He is THC. He is the living embodiment of the plant and represents the positive sides of its healing and spiritual properties.” Ziggy Marley, a committed environmental and social activist, sees Marijuanaman as “a metaphor for what marijuana can be. This is a new perspective,” he tells us. “You know, they’ve villianized and demonized and criminalized this plant so much throughout history that we wanted to bring to people a new perspective.

“A superhero character is a great metaphor for what the plant can do for the planet.” On the flip-side of the superhero coin, we have Cash Money, Pharma-Con’s Terminator-like Weapon of War and the antagonistic villain battling Marijuanaman . The juxtaposition of organic vs. synthetic, man vs. machine, peace vs. violence, defines this project. One of Cash Money’s angry rampages in the book is noted by a caption, “The synthetic cocktail pumping through its pipes urges more violence.” As can be expected, the dialogue and storyline are pregnant with multiple meanings. “We didn’t want to be overly preachy to the reader, this is a comic book and we still wanted it to be fun and entertaining,” explains Mahfood. “But, at the same time, if you read between the lines, there is a message in there.” Take this sentence for example: 92 92

“Meanwhile Pharma-Con continues to traffic in all things that involve the unnatural world.” “It’s a money game,” elaborates Ziggy. “It’s a big hypocrisy because there’s alcohol, there’s tobacco, there’s pharmaceutical drugs that hurt people every day. If this plant is to fulfill it’s potential, it will compete with a pretty established and powerful institution in society, the pharmaceutical industry. It’s not easy for some guy who is making billions of dollars to give way to something that will make him make less.”

“They’d rather people get drunk I guess.”

“This book was a complete and equal collaboration between Ziggy Marley, Joe Casey, and I,” says Mahfood. “We all got along extremely well, there were no egos involved here. I was really proud to work with these guys and I think our different sensibilities came together quite nicely to make something new and offbeat.” No undertaking like this can be carried out without an Executive Producer, and just like most things in Marley’s life, finding the right EP for “MarijuanaMan” was a deliberately organic process. Tom Martin, best known for his work on hundreds of film posters through the 70s and 80s, happened to be a neighbor of Ziggy’s, and it was they who created the original idea together. Once they brought Joe Casey on and, being that he had already written several comics with Mahfood, all it took was a quick glance at Mahfood’s work online for the team to agree he was the right man to illustrate the project.

Mahfood’s signature style has made him a fixture in the LA Art scene. Many know him by his moniker “Food One,” and for his collaborations with DJ Z-Trip. He has worked for every major comic book company and his illustrations have appeared in Playboy, Spin, URB, Heavy Metal, among countless others. He illustrated director Kevin Smith’s “Clerks” comics, several Spiderman projects for Marvel Comics and has performed live art at countless underground hip-hop events (as a matter of fact, it was through the late great DJ Dusk that I first met Mahfood over seven years ago). ”MarijuanaMan” represents the culmination of his many years of illustrating. “My approach to the art was to do it my way, to do it like I normally would if this was my own creation and my own book,” says Mahfood. “Luckily, Ziggy was cool with that and understood my direction. He gets the vibe of what I am going after with my visuals. And Joe and I have been friends for a really long time and he definitely knows how to cater his writing towards my drawing and art style, so I really feel like I got away with a lot here. I was able to do my thing and not be restricted, and in the end, as a creative person, that’s all you can really ask for.” The public confirmed Mahfood’s excitement at the book release party on Four Twenty. A constant stream of more than a few hundred people zig zagged through Golden Apple Comics in Hollywood for the book release party. Ziggy Marley, Mahfood and Joe Casey sat at a table together signing books and answering questions. The back patio served fish tacos,

rice & beans, chile relleno, micro brews, exquisite medicated smoothies and other assorted edibles. L.A. musical legend Lonnie Marshall and Leimert Park Muralist Michael Massenburg were also in the mix while up-and-coming mixmaster, DJ Expo, rocked the turntables with a steady stream of reggae, hip-hop, funk & soul. Ziggy Marley’s electric smile lit up the room up, for celebrations like this are what keep him going. And with that, “Ziggy Marley’s Marijuanaman,” accomplishes it’s objective. It resists the urge to simply glorify marijuana while finding an inventively appropriate way of properly celebrating its advantages. Mahfood’s playful illustration style is matched by a storyline that addresses several current issues of these times. The entertaining narrative and embedded symbolism within makes “Marijuanaman” a graphic novel especially relevant to our era.

Pithy statements are found sprinkled throughout. Statements like, “Humanity is a curious mix, equal parts beauty and violence, love and hate. And the cures your planet provides naturally are not taken advantage of.” “When it’s coming from the people, the common people, they have a problem with that because it’s a control issue… they want to control everything you know? It’s a big hypocrisy because there’s alcohol, there’s tobacco, there’s pharmaceutical drugs that hurt people every day,” Marley tells Kush. “But once a big corporation finds out how to make money, then the politicians will get some bravery inside them and get on board,” he hypothesizes. “Once the FDA and these guys get together and say ‘how can we control this and make sure the right people make money from it?’ then that’s when you’ll kind of see them ease up the pressure.” A means to an end? You decide. In the meantime, pick up your copy of Ziggy Marley’s Marijuanaman and stick it to Big-Pharma while you still have the chance. -Mike the PoeT aka Mike Sonksen is a Spoken Word Artist, Tourguide, Educator, Journalist, & Historian based in The City of Angels. mikethepoetla.tumblr.com/ youtube.com/user/MikeThePoet1 Photography by William Thoren 93 93

Kush Concert Calendar

Southern California’s Live Music Preview:

May/June

Yelle + French Horn Rebellion 5.21.11 @ The Music Box

French, electro-pop darling Yelle is a sweet little singer, with a band by the same name. They’ve put together a really nice live set for songs that many would expect to just exist electronically, not in a live performance. So far, she’s become pretty huge in France, and is finally seeing some significant recognition in the states with her recently released album Safari Disco Club and a sizzling performance at this year’s Coachella. Joining them is the dance friendly French Horn Rebellion, who have been putting out quality tunes over the past year or so, with a slew of fun remixes that keeps their name popping up on Hype Machine. FHR also has a really great live set that often calls for crowd surfing and yes, a horn. This ought to be a really fun night of dancing and music at the Music Box in Hollywood. yelle.fr; frenchhornrebellion.com

Noah and the Whale + Bahamas 5.25.11 @ El Rey Theatre

Noah and the Whale, a somewhat mysterious English folk/ indie band from London, formed back in 2006 and have been pleasing ears ever since. Charlie, Doug, Urby, Fred, and Tom form the bands core, and they have a tremendous live set. Most recently releasing their album Last Night On Earth in March on Vertigo records, they are touring support of that and come to the El Rey. Joining the English folks is Toronto’s fun folk project Bahamas, led by Alfie Jurvanen. A Bahamas live show is likely to be a solo affair, although lately, a host of Toronto friends have been sitting behind the drum kit to accompany the Finnish-Canadian through a set of his so called “love songs.” This will be a simply great night of music on Wilshire. noahandthewhale.com; bahamasmusic.net

LexiconDon + Young Digerati 5.26.11 @ On The Rox

LA’s own LexiconDon, signed to Binary Records, are joined by San Francisco’s fresh new act Young Digerati. Both bands border on that dream-wave style of crisp electro sounds. LexiconDon released their debut album, Pink + Blue, last summer, and will be going on a North American tour throughout the summer of 2011. Young Digerati have really only released one song to date, ‘The Dauphin’, which was accompanied by a slew of nice remixes from producers across the globe. Taking place at On The Rox (above/behind The Roxy on Sunset), this will be a great show with a pair of exciting up and comers. Get there! wearebinary.com/lexicondon; youngdigerati. bandcamp.com

Arctic Monkeys

6.02.11 @ Fox Theater (Pomona) 6.03.11 @ Hollywood Palladium

Arctic Monkeys are another wonderful indie rock band from the UK, coming together in 2002. Their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, was released in 2006, and became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history, surpassing Oasis’ Definitely Maybe. Pretty impressive company to be in! Since then the band has released two more albums: Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007) and Humbug (2009). They are currently touring in support of their fourth album, Suck It and See, which will be released on June 6th. They have a really fun, complete live performance, and with two shows in SoCal, you have no excuse to miss out on this concert! arcticmonkeys.com

Adele

6.06.11 @ Greek Theatre 6.09.11 @ Hollywood Palladium

Coming from a traditionally un-musical family, Adele broke the mold and is now breaking into the mainstream charts. So where did her aural spirit come from? “It all comes from impersonating The Spice Girls and Gabrielle,” she explains cheerfully. “I did little concerts in my room for my mum and her friends. My mum’s quite arty; she’d get all these lamps and shine them up to make one big spotlight. They’d all sit on the bed.” Later on in childhood, her dad’s best friend, a dance producer, declared Adele’s voice ‘wicked’, and invited her to record a cover of ‘Heart Of Glass.’ It was the first time she really got a microphone in her hand, and she quickly realized it was her calling. She comes rolling in to Los Angeles for two nights in June, and this will be a fantastic concert from a voice that will undoubtedly give you chills all night long. adele.tv

Death Cab for Cutie

6.07.11 @ El Rey Theatre

Hailing from the Great Pacific Northwest, Death Cab for Cutie is led by the musical mastermind and lyrical genius, Ben Gibbard. His first album, You Can Play These Songs with Chords,

This Page: U2 Right From Top: Adele, LexiconDon, Noah and the Whale, Yelle, Death Cab for Cutie.

was released as a demo, and led to a record deal with Barsuk Records. After that, Gibbard decided to expand the project into a complete band, and recruited band members to join. Death Cab for Cutie was born, and Ben has never looked back. They’ve released six studio albums, five EPs, and one demo to date. Their last album, Narrow Stairs, was released in May 2008 and produced several commercially successful singles. They are now set to release Codes and Keys on May 31st, with the single ‘You Are a Tourist’ already flooding the radio airwaves. deathcabforcutie.com

Florence and the Machine

6.13.11; 6.14.11 @ Greek Theatre

London’s soulful baroque pop-rockers, Florence and the Machine come to LA for a two consecutive shows in June, and the Greek will certainly be packed, with tickets hard to come by. Lead singer Florence Welch and company have been active since 2007, but are only recently seeing mainstream success in the US... and it’s about damn time! They performed on MTV’s VMA award show in September, and are surely going to follow up 2009’s debut album Lungs with something delicious. Keep an eye on this group, and go see them at the Greek Theatre on the 13th or 14th of June! florenceandthemachine.net

6.17.11; 6.18.11 @ Angels Stadium (Anaheim)

Ireland’s rock phenoms, U2 come to Denver for an event that could border on epic proportions. Formed in 1976, the group still consists of original members Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen, Jr. They have always maintained that recognizable sound built upon melodic instrumentals, and highlighted by Edge’s textural guitar with Bono’s expressive vocals. Hearing songs like “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, “Beautiful Day”, “I Will Follow”, “New Year’s Day”, “One”, “With Or Without You”, and countless others is a priceless experience that will be sure spring a bit of extra inspiration into your attitude. They’ve won 22 Grammy Awards, and in 2005 were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Aside from being tremendous musicians, the men of U2 are good people, giving so much back through world humanitarian causes. Get to Angels Stadium in late June for a classic concert to remember.u2.com

More Great Shows! Echo and the Bunnymen : 5.21.11 @ Club Nokia; 5.22.11 @ House of Blues (Anaheim) Yeasayer : 5.23.11; 5.24.11 @ The Music Box Mobb Deep : 5.28.11 @ House of Blues (Sunset) Lykke Li + Grimes : 5.31.11 @ The Wiltern Architecture in Helsinki : 6.01.11 @ The Music Box Usher + Akon : 6.01.11 @ Staples Center Peter Bjorn and John : 6.04.11 @ Detroit Bar (Costa Mesa) Friendly Fires : 6.10.11 @ The Music Box Bruno Mars + Janelle Monae : 6.12.11; 6.14.11 @ Gibson Amphitheatre Kid Cudi : 6.20.11 @ Nokia Theatre Britney Spears + Nicki Minaj : 6.20.11 @ Staples Center

by James Dohnert

What California’s Medical Marijuana Industry Can Learn

From Other Legal States California may have been the first state to legalize medical marijuana but that doesn’t mean it can’t learn from other states that followed suit. As the industry grows and attempts to build more legitimacy nationwide it will be up to each state to learn what works from each other. Here are just a few state laws that California can learn from.

Making the Case for Profits

Last year saw a string of raids on medical marijuana dispensaries in San Jose. The Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement in the South Bay began focusing on shutting down clubs that were operating under the banner of a for-profit company in late 2010 and by the end of the year had taken down many stores they felt weren’t abiding the rules. You see, in California medical marijuana dispensaries are required to operate as non-profit “collectives” run by medical marijuana patients who simply cover the costs of distributing the products they make. But some dispensaries, like the ones raided, went against the grain and decided to blaze their own path in spite of California codes. Citing vague laws that do not clearly define proper procedures for dispensaries these businesses decided to sell medicinal marijuana without the proper moniker. And if only these clubs were based in Colorado they wouldn’t have been raided. Colorado is the only state to allow dispensaries to run as for-profit companies. Because of this the state has seen one of the largest MMJ booms in the country. By allowing dispensaries to run as something other than a non-profit, Colorado has begun to take the appropriate steps towards a sustainable future for the industry. Their current model prevents raids for anything other than the unlawful selling of their products to unlicensed individuals. It lets companies flourish while allowing more strict guidelines for the selling of medical marijuana. And justifies, what for many are, preexisting business practices. Go into any medical marijuana dispensary without the word “cooperative” in the title and you’re bound to see a type of foot traffic rarely seen at a non-profit. The industry has become big business in California and just as a pharmaceutical company is able to rake in profits for their services so too should MMJ clubs in California. The creation of a for-profit model is the first step towards legitimizing an industry that needs legitimization.

Arizona allow for reciprocity as long as the card-holder stays within the law of the state they are visiting. This allowance gives patients the opportunity to receive their medication in a state which is not their own without having to go outside of the law. It’s a regulation that makes sense and allows for growth of the medical marijuana industry nationwide. For example, a dispensary in California could open up a sister store in Maine, then, keep records of patients so they can frequent both locations without a redundant registration process. There by, allowing national brand awareness for companies. It would be a step towards a client-customer relationship that would put people on the fence about medical marijuana at ease.

Sharing Across Boarders

Evolution through Cooperation

A Californian on vacation in Arizona can buy their medication in Arizona but an Arizonian on vacation in California can’t get anything in California. Make sense? As it currently stands Montana, Rhode Island, Michigan, Maine, and

More is Better

Today in California the max a number of plants an individual can have is twelve. The law currently stands in the middle in comparison with other states. Oregon, on one hand allows for the growth of up to 24 plants while New Jersey has made it unlawful for individuals to grow their own supply. The case for the allowance of the cultivation of more planets in California is simple…more medication means happier patients. The ability to grow your own personal cannabis plants has always been a great option for those suffering from debilitating aliments. For those unable to go to a dispensary every month it offered an affordable and time saving opportunity. So while the fear of individuals illegally selling private supplies is certainly relatable, it isn’t without faults. As a measure that was passed to help the ill it only makes sense that California follows the precedent created by Oregon and increases the amount one is allowed to grow. By doing so you can begin to create a standard for the industry and allow it to do what it was made for, help those who need it.

The medical marijuana industry has no template or national precursor. Our currents times require the sort of trailblazing rarely found in new industries. But by learning from each other, states can create the kind of sustainable environment that medical marijuana can thrive in.

Celebrate Cinco De Mayo

All Month with Great Mexican Treats A true sign that summer is almost here.

To learn more about

Asparagus Salsa

cook with herb

Ingredients • 1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces • 1 cup chopped seeded tomatoes • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion • 1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped • 1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro • 1 garlic clove, minced • ¼ cup THC olive oil • 1 teaspoon cider vinegar • 1/4 teaspoon salt • Tortilla chips

Chef Herb &

go to www.cookwithherb.com

Avocado Fruit Salad Ingredients • 3 medium ripe avocados, pitted and peeled • 2 tablespoons lemon juice • 1/2 cup plain yogurt • 2 tablespoons honey • 1/8 cup THC olive oil • 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel • 1 medium apple, chopped • 1 medium firm banana, cut into 1/4-inch slices • 1 cup halved seedless grapes • 1 can (11 ounces) mandarin oranges, drained

Directions Place asparagus in a large saucepan; add 1/2 in. of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 2 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water. In a large bowl, combine the asparagus, tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, cilantro, garlic, THC olive oil, vinegar and salt. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, stirring several times. Serve with tortilla chips.

Calico cheese dip

Ingredients Directions • 4 cups (16 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese Cut avocados into chunks; Place in a large bowl; drizzle with lemon juice • 1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies and toss to coat. Drain, reserving the lemon juice; set avocados aside. • 1 can (2-1/4 ounces) sliced ripe olives, drained • 4 green onions, sliced For dressing, in a small bowl, combine the yogurt, honey, THC olive oil, lemon peel and reserved lemon juice. In another large bowl, toss the • 3 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced • 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley apple, banana, grapes, oranges and avocados. Serve with dressing. • ¼ cup THC olive oil • ¼ cup white vinegar • Tortilla chips Directions

In a large bowl, beat together the cheese, chilies, olives, onions, tomatoes and parsley until blended. Prepare salad dressing mix THC olive oil and white vinegar; pour over cheese mixture and mix well. Serve immediately with tortilla chips.

Corn bread Ingredients • 1 cup THC butter, melted • 1 cup white sugar • 4 eggs • 1 (15 ounce) can cream-style corn • 1/2 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers, drained • 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese • 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese • 1 cup all-purpose flour • 1 cup yellow cornmeal • 4 teaspoons baking powder • ¼ teaspoon salt Directions Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. In a large bowl, beat together THC butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in cream corn, chiles, Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to corn mixture; stir until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.

lime juice. Chill the lime juice and scallops all day or overnight until scallops are opaque (you cannot see through them). Empty 1/2 of the lime juice from the bowl. Add tomatoes, green onions, celery, green bell pepper, parsley, black pepper, THC olive oil, and cilantro to the scallop mixture. Stir gently. Serve this dish in fancy glasses with a slice of lime hanging over the rim for effect.

Elote

(Mexican Corn-on-the-Cob) Ingredients • 4 ears corn, shucked • ¼ cup melted THC butter • ¼ cup mayonnaise • 1/2 cup grated cotija cheese • 4 wedges lime (optional) Directions Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat. Grill corn until hot and lightly charred all over, 7 to 10 minutes, depending on the temperature of the grill. Roll the ears in melted THC butter, then spread evenly with mayonnaise. Sprinkle with cotija cheese and serve with a lime wedge.

Mexican rice

Ingredients • 1 pound bay scallops • 8 limes, juiced • 2 tomatoes, diced • 5 green onions, minced • 2 stalks celery, sliced • 1/2 green bell pepper, minced • 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley • freshly ground black pepper • 1/8 cup THC olive oil • 1/8 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Ingredients • 5 tablespoon THC olive oil • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric • 1 teaspoon garlic powder • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed • 2 teaspoons paprika • 1 pinch red pepper flakes • 1 pinch cayenne pepper • 3 green onions • 1 green bell pepper, chopped • 1 cup pre-cooked corn kernels • 2 small tomatoes, diced • ¼ cup ketchup • 2 cups cooked rice • salt to taste

Directions Rinse scallops and place in a medium sized bowl. Pour lime juice over the scallops. The scallops should be completely immersed in the

Directions Heat THC olive oil in a wok-style pan with turmeric, garlic powder, cumin, coriander, paprika, chili flakes, and cayenne pepper. Add

Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into center of the pan comes out clean.

Scallop Ceviche

the green onions and the green peppers; saute 1 to 2 minutes over medium-high heat.

• 1 cup chopped almonds • 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

Add corn and tomatoes and saute until tomatoes release their juices. Add ketchup and stir until mixed.

Directions In a medium bowl, cream the THC butter and sugar. Stir in vanilla and water. Add the flour and almonds, mix until blended. Cover and chill for 3 hours.

Add rice and stir until heated thoroughly. Salt to taste.

Baja Couscous Ingredients • 1 cup couscous • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin • 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste • 1 ¼ cups boiling water • 1 clove unpeeled garlic • 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained • 1 cup canned whole kernel corn, drained • 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion • ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro • 1 jalapeno pepper, minced • 1/3 cup THC olive oil • 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or to taste Directions Combine the couscous, cumin, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the boiling water and seal with plastic wrap. Set aside for 10 minutes. While waiting for the couscous, cook the unpeeled garlic clove in a small skillet over medium-high heat until toasted and the skin has turned golden-brown. Peel the garlic and mince. Stir the garlic into the couscous along with the black beans, corn, onion, cilantro, jalapeno pepper, THC olive oil, and lime juice. Serve warm or allow to cool.

Simple South-of-the-Border Cookies Ingredients • 1 cup THC butter • 1/2 cup white sugar • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract • 2 teaspoons water • 2 cups all-purpose flour

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Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Shape dough into balls or crescents. Place on an unprepared cookie sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from pan to cool on wire racks. When cookies are cool, roll in confectioners’ sugar. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

Cinnamon cookies Ingredients • 1 cup THC butter • 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon • ¼ teaspoon salt • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. In a medium bowl, cream together 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar and THC butter until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Combine flour, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture to form a stiff dough. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Mix together 1 cup confectioners’ sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon; roll balls in cinnamon mixture. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in preheated oven, or until nicely browned. Cool cookies on wire racks.

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Dispensary Listing List of Advertisers 20 Min Evaluation p 33

Irie Collective p 38

Adams and Hill p 41

Kelly’s Collective p 46

Affordable Evaluations p 71

KushCon p 83

All Greens p 63

Kush Korner p 22

American’s for Safe Access p 97

LA Wonderland p 10 & 11

Amsterdam Mart p 18 & 19

Long Beach 420 Medical Marijuana Evaluations p 23

Anaheim Herbal Healing Center p 61 Belmont Shore p 22 Best Price Evaluations (Inland Empire) p 16 Best Price Evaluations p 59 Bhang Chocolates p 43 Bud Mart p 30 California Compassionate Care Network p 55

Marina Caregivers p 29 Medea Labs p 109 Nature’s Holistic Alternative p 4 NCIA p 79 OC Medical Center p 77 Patients and Caregivers p 9 PR Collective p 17

California Herbal Healing Center p 102

Pure Glass p 87

Canna Care p 36 & 73

Rampart Discount Center p 56 & 57

Chronic Pain Releaf p 101

Redmoon p 75

City Compassionate Caregivers p 53

Reseda Discount Caregivers p 115

COI Evaluations p 15

Santa Ana Patients Group p 110 & 111

DAVC p 31

Shaman Therapeutics p 68

Divine Wellness Center p 65

Southgate Herbal Healing p 39

Downtown Collective (backcover)

Sunset Herbal Corner p 32

Eden Therapy p 22

Sunset Junction Organic p 37

Ed Rosenthal p 74

SWHC p 27

Evergreen p 47

The Bluegate Collective p 50

Green City Collective INC p 49

The Doctor p 45

Green Collective p 46

The Mad Farmer p 49

Green Horizon p 21

The Olive Tree p 2

Green Miracle Healing p 13

The Springs p 14

Green Rush Delivery p 22

The Treehouse p 75

Green Victory p 24 & 25

Total Herbal Consultations p 75

Happy Medical p 15

True Healing Collective p 5

HHC p 51

Valley Holistic p 7

Harbor Area Caregivers Club HACC p 38

Victory 215 Collectiv p 31

Hollywood Compassionate Caregivers p 42

Western Discount p 112 & 113

Hollywood THC p 69

Wonderland p 10 & 11

Hot Spot p 3 & 114

Westside Discount Center (centerfold)

Hydroponic Creations p 49

Woodvic p 79

Inglewood Health Services Center p 38

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