NUG Magazine Issue 19 by Ian Ruz

PUBLISHER’SLETTER STAGE AT INDIEFEST SD 2011

APRIL 2011 VOL. 3 ISSUE #4 NUG Magazine Staff: Publisher: Ben G. Rowin Associate Publisher: M.J. Smith Editor: Dion Markgraaff Associate Editor: George Alberts Administrative Assistant: Gio Blitz Copy Editor: Hashley Music Editor: Ras Mike Photographers: Gio Blitz, Eric Fowler, Courtney Pakalolo, Jennifer Martinez, Chris Konecki, SCR Photos Calendar Editor: Courtney Pakalolo Videographer: Chris Gabriel, NS Entertainment Contributors: “SD OG Grower”, Dion Markgraaff, Canna Chef Kim, Eugene Davidovich, Marc Emmelmann, Pamela Jayne, Lance Rogers, Zodiac Mama, Tiffany Janay, Leo E. Laurence, J.D., Jed Sanders, George Alberts, Robert Stinson, Tiffani Kjeldergaard, R.J. Villa, Ryan Whitaker, Sandieganliz, Eric Fowler, Bahareh, Mel The Bumbling Gardener, Dannabis Ruderalis, Simon Eddisbury, Nicole Scott, Peter Amirato Green Reefer Comic by. Joshua Boulet Sales Director: Ben G. Rowin Advertising Sales Reps: Dion Markgraaff, Eugene Davidovich, Brom Richey, Kirk L., Jordan D., Hashley, Gio Blitz

Spring has sprung and April is officially here! Changes are inevitable with the rapid growth of our magazine and we wanted to take a little space to let the readers know about some of the changes that are going on…First off, we want to wish “KRON” good luck; he’s leaving NUG and taking a position at GODER magazine, a new San Diego urban music publication. “KRON” has been with us since 2009 and we wish him the best with his new endeavors! We also wanted to welcome Marc Emmelmann as our new Marketing Manager! Marc has been writing for NUG for months now and we just brought him in to assist us in building relationships and sponsorship opportunities, like the one we just did with San Diego IndieFest where NUG had its own stage! If you missed this amazing event, make sure to check out our coverage online! NUG Radio and NUG Records are both going through their own growth as well. Make sure to log on to nugradio.com and listen to the live shows! NUG LIFE is on Sundays from 2pm to 4pm and is becoming one of our most popular programs, but keep an ear to the speakers to hear other new live shows as well! NUG Records is going through submissions from bands that are looking to join the new label and are excited about the opportunities! The successful launch party for NUG Records and the new album “Be Set Free” by Subliminal Trip at Soundwave in Mission Beach was crazy! We brought in nearly 700 people to the event and will be posting some videos and pictures of it on our Facebook page and other social networking sites, which brings me to another growth point: NUG will be partnering with Never Satisfied Entertainment to launch NUG TV! We will begin with online videos and possibly a weekly show. We will also be offering video services to the cannabis community nationwide! Keep a look out for more information coming soon! Now onto the issue you hold in your hands; as always, we’ve packed as much as we could into this April issue, including a Q&A with the Kottonmouth Kings and an interview with the Blue Riddim Band. We couldn’t leave out the local talent though, so we’re also spotlighting local Willie Psycho. The Patient Profile is amazing as always and we have some super dope food coverage in this issue as well, Hash House A Go Go! April is Earth Day month, so we have an article about the history of Earth Day as well as a business profile on the boys from IGS Hydro, who have been helping San Diegans grow their own food and become more self-sustainable since their inception. Leo Laurence brings us another Law Enforcement Against Prohibition article and we interviewed Dru West of West Coast Masters about their new book. Roll one up and settle into another issue of NUG! San Diego’s Original Cannabis Publication!

-Ben G. Rowin

Art Director: Ian Rie Finance Manager: M.J. Smith Marketing Manager: Marc Emmelmann

Distribution/Subscriptions: Beau’s Distribution Service info@beausdistribution.com NUG Magazine Staff Contact Information: 9880 N. Magnolia Ave #168 Santee, Ca 92071 (619) 616-4961 For general information or to reach our Publisher: info@nugmag.com For all art/design information: art@nugmag.com For all editorial related information: info@nugmag.com For submissions: submit@nugmag.com NUG Magazine is published and distributed by NUG Magazine LLC. All contents are for entertainment and educational purposes only and are intended for mature audiences. We are not responsible for any actions taken by our readers nor do we condone any illegal activity. Advertisers are responsible for their own ads and content. All opinions expressed are those of the writers and not necessarily of the magazine. All submissions become our property and may be used for publication. At times we may use materials placed in the public domain. If you own it let us know and we will acknowledge you. Reproduction of any content is encouraged if you get permission from our Publisher. All contents copyright. 2011

CONTENTS

\\:NUG TIMES

\\:L.E.A.P

\\:MOMS UNITED

\\:LEGAL

\\:PATIENT PROFILE

\\:MIND-BODY WELLNESS

\\:THE POWER OF GREEN

\\:HEMP PLASTIC II

\\:EARTH DAY

\\:HASH HOUSE

\\:LOVE OF CHOCOLATE

\\:COOKING W/ KIM

\\:GROW

\\:CHRONISSEUR

\\:DRU WEST

\\:KOTTONMOUTH KINGS

\\:EVENTS

102

\\:BUD REVIEWS

Pushing the Envelope By: Robert Stinson

On March 2nd, NUG was given the green light to start promotions at Grossmont College. It came as a pleasant surprise to many of the students who were impressed that the administration would allow our presence on campus. The experience gave us the opportunity to meet some of the matriculating undergrads, many of whom were avid readers of NUG. A collage of magazines and pamphlets were made available to those who filed past our table that was set up in front of the tech mall. One of the students even took the time to chat and have her picture taken with us. From day one, our mission at the magazine has been to promote the validity of medical marijuana while creating an atmosphere free of negative stigmas where patients can safely access their medication. We thank Grossmont College for welcoming us to their campus and we look forward to working in collaboration with other higher learning institutions in the future.

California Cannabis Hemp and Health Initiative 2012 (Jack Herer Initiative), Open letter to the Initiative Supporters and the Community at Large By: Dannabis Ruderalis

I have been working directly with Michael Jolson for over a month and I am amazed to see how much buzz is being created about the California Cannabis Hemp and Health Initiative 2012. People are coming out of the woodwork from all over to find out what CCHHI is and how they can help! Some people are surprised that the signatures are not to be gathered till November 2011, but are happy, nay, excited we’re getting the message out so early! CCHHI 2012 is an all encompassing initiative and not just a recreational legalization initiative. This means industrial, spiritual, nutritional, and recreational. In my opinion, the most important part is the industrial hemp legalization. These industries are essential to revitalizing the California economy. We need another 4% to make CCHHI 2012 a winner (vs. Prop. 19 results of 2010). The inclusion of industrial hemp is only one way we can easily attain that goal, but to do it, we need signatures – a million of them, starting November 2011. This is going to require a lot of organized and trained volunteers, so please, come out and help the cause by joining the list of volunteers or by throw-

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Photo: Courtney Pakalolo ing a buck on the PayPal button at www.youthfederation.com. Whatever you do, do it for the cause: Legalization! Be sure to look for CCHHI events at OG Dankster Ware in Oceanside on April 16th and May 7th. –A big shout out to San Diego IndieFest for supporting CCHHI 2012! National Hemp History Week is May 2nd–8th, 2011. Sunday, May 8th, from 3 to 6 pm, there will be an “Edible and Wearable Fashion Show” at Queen Bee’s Cultural Center; 3925 Ohio Street, San Diego. Admission is free and open to the public. There will also be giveaways, so come out and support National Hemp History Week and CCHHI 2012!

Local LGBT Nonprofit Sued by Target Corporation for Exercising Free Speech Rights http://www.canvassforacause.org

San Diego, CA – Canvass for a Cause, a San Diego based grassroots organization run by local marriage equality advocate Tres Watson, successfully defended a temporary restraining order filed by the Target Corporation. “The restraining order was an attempt to limit our political free speech in advocating for the issue of marriage equality,” said Canvass for a Cause Executive Director Tres Watson. The organization just celebrated its first anniversary and was hit with a notice to appear before a judge this week to defend itself from Target’s lawsuit and application for a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) against its volunteers. Rachel Scoma, the attorney for the organization, defended Canvass for a Cause against the TRO, which, if granted, would have restricted the organization’s ability to engage in any expressive activity outside of any Target store across California.

In their Order to Show Cause (OSC), Target specifically mentions Canvass for a Cause’s promotion of gay marriage and their customers’ concern over the “sensitive” nature of the matter the group was gathering signatures for. “Actions like this by an organization that has a history of funding groups opposed to LGBT equality are unacceptable,” said Tres Watson. “The desire to protect our families should not be offensive to Target or its patrons. Our families deserve the same dignity and respect as that of any parent who loves their children and Target Corporation needs to understand that gay and lesbian folks have the same hopes and dreams as anyone else.” Judge Jeffrey B. Barton rejected Target’s attempt to restrict Canvass for a Cause’s outreach efforts. Supporters and friends are encouraged to contact Target directly at 1-800-440-0680 or go on to their website’s customer service/corporate information page to file a complaint.

Representing the collective in court was Attorney John Murphy, who argued against the restraining order and cited that the city’s ordinance did not provide the ability for anyone to obtain a business license to operate a dispensary, making it an outright ban. Murphy who works closely with Anthony Curiale, the lead attorney in the highly publicized Anaheim case, was accompanied in court by Melissa Bobrow, who represented the landlord of the property where the dispensary is located. During the hearing, the city attorney argued that the dispensary was operating illegally because it failed to obtain a business license; Judge Nugent disagreed. He explained that he saw absolutely no emergency in this matter and denied the TRO as well as pointed out that even if the dispensary had applied for a business license, they would not have received one.

Superior Court Judge Allows Dispensary to Remain Open; Denies City of San Marcos Emergency Injunction By Eugene Davidovich, San Diego ASA

After the hearing, Attorney John Murphy said, “The ordinance in the City of San Marcos is fatal and violates the very terms of the Compassionate Use Act and the associated Health and Safety Codes by banning a patient’s right to collectively cultivate anywhere in San Marcos.”

SAN MARCOS – In a major victory for medical marijuana advocates across the state, San Diego Superior Court Judge Thomas Nugent denied the City of San Marcos a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against Wellness Tree Collective, allowing the medical marijuana dispensary to remain open.

While the City of San Marcos claims the ban is simply their way of “regulating” dispensaries; advocates, patients, and concerned citizens alike have called it unconstitutional and a slap in the face of California voters who overwhelmingly passed Proposition 215 in 1996.

In 2006, when the city adopted an ordinance prohibiting medical marijuana dispensaries from operating in all zones, they specifically instructed the business tax office not to issue permits for such use and have denied all applications since.

The Wellness Tree case is the first time a San Diego Superior Court Judge ruled against the City of San Marcos on this issue, and it also appears to be the first time the legality of the San Marcos Ban will be challenged in court.

The TRO filed by the city attorney’s office not only named the Wellness Tree Collective, but also individual directors and the landlord, demanding emergency relief through a restraining order, a preliminary and permanent injunction, declaratory relief, and damages.

On June 3rd, instead of revising their unconstitutional ordinance, the San Marcos City Attorney’s Office will resume their eradication effort in court yet again, trying to convince Judge Nugent that regulation really does mean eradication.

This blatant attempt to shut down the remaining access in that city is very much in line with their bias driven agenda to undermine state law on this issue and is clearly against the desire and will of the residents who overwhelmingly oppose the city’s ordinance and these actions against the dispensaries.

The next hearing will be held at the Vista Courthouse at 1:30pm in Department M30 on June 3, 2011.

MARIJUANA COMMUNITY MOBILIZES FOR MARCH 28TH VOTE BY SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL, AND MAJOR LAWSUIT AGAINST CITY POSSIBLE By: Leo E. Laurence, J.D., Law Enforcement Against Prohibition | leopowerhere@msn.com

This article was submitted before the March 28th vote. Go to www.safeaccesssd.org for updates. Mobilization of the Southern California marijuana community is underway to oppose an unreasonable and arguably unconstitutional ordinance to be considered by the city council on March 28th. It’s a de facto ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in San Diego. Meanwhile, a major injunctive civil lawsuit is being considered, prohibiting the City of San Diego from adopting and/or enforcing that ordinance if it passes. L.E.A.P. is adding the prestige and influence of law enforcement to the growing grassroots “Stop-the-Ban” Campaign spearheaded by Eugene Davidovich, the San Diego liaison for Americans for Safe Access (www.SafeAccessSD.org). We in L.E.A.P. are current and former law enforcement officers who support medical marijuana as a way of helping patients and reducing crime. We’re headquartered in Massachusetts with media representation in Washington, D.C. Though some law enforcement officers oppose medical marijuana, we support it solidly! I’ve discovered that lots of people are actually reading these specially written articles in NUG and are adding their time to help in our cannabis community. In the last issue, I mistakenly used my personal cell phone number for the number of the county office that processes the state issued (and preferred) medical marijuana cards. The correct number for making an appointment with the county office providing the MMJ cards is (619)692-5723.

Injunctive Lawsuit Considered

As a matter of constitutional law, a state legislature cannot pass laws that block or impede the enforcement of federal laws. Similarly, a city council lacks jurisdiction to pass local ordinances that block or impede state laws. Yet, some politically arrogant and factually ignorant members of the San Diego City Council are doing just that, proposing a municipal ordinance that puts a long list of unreasonable and arguably unconstitutional restrictions on the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries. The proposed ordinance is a de facto ban on dispensaries and could cause the closure of many of our existing facilities. L.E.A.P. is offering to provide the Stop-the-Ban Campaign with the comprehensive legal research necessary to file a civil lawsuit, seeking injunctive relief from the courts to prevent the enforcement of

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that city ordinance if it passes. Injunctive court orders begin with filing a civil complaint that first seeks a temporary restraining order (TRO) from a judge, which is generally issued when the plaintiff can show that irreparable damage will result if the TRO isn’t issued. Next, the court sets a hearing when both the plaintiff and city attorneys argue the merits of the injunction. If it finds the city’s new medical marijuana ordinance to be unconstitutional, it could prohibit the city from enforcing it; however, injunctive lawsuits cost big money. Tax-paying citizens in San Diego are really angry that uptight, uninformed city council members are proposing a city ordinance that will be a de facto ban on medical marijuana dispensaries. “I believe it’s not a good idea simply because it (the new city ordinance) is going to create a lot of difficulties for patients who need to get their legal, marijuana medication,” explained Alan Cruz (21) of San Ysidro. “They prohibited alcohol during prohibition and it didn’t work. Now they want to prohibit medical marijuana in the city. It would be just as bad. It is the same thing as what they did with gay marriages,” Cruz added. “They allowed us to get married and then took away that right. Now we’re trying to get it back (in the federal, appellate court). They’re just fighting back and forth (on both medical marijuana and gay marriages). This struggle (at city hall) is bringing more drama to the scene,” Cruz believes.

Stop-the-Ban Campaign

While L.E.A.P. will work behind-the-scenes on legal research to prepare a civil lawsuit against the City of San Diego, prohibiting the enforcement of any new ordinance that is a de facto ban on dispensaries, a strong grassroots campaign called Stop-the-Ban is rapidly growing in Southern California. Leading the mobilization are many leaders in the Southern California cannabis community, including Canvass for a Cause and Eugene Davidovich, San Diego liaison for Americans for Safe Access. “Life will be much more challenging for medical cannabis patients” if this restrictive, unreasonable and unconstitutional ordinance is passed, wrote Davidovich in NUG Magazine. Detailed, comprehensive recommendations by the city’s Medical Marijuana Task Force were ignored in the proposed ordinance. The city’s planning commission favored factually inaccurate opponents of dispensaries and ignored evidence that local crime is reduced in neighborhoods with dispensaries.

The city is ignoring overwhelming evidence that: • Medical marijuana does not cause consumers to become violent, as does alcohol. • Cannabis doesn’t have long-term, toxic effects on the body, as do cigarettes. • Unlike cigarettes or alcohol, cannabis is NOT physically addictive. • Marijuana is NOT a “gateway drug” that leads inevitably to hard drugs like heroin. • According to police reports, neighborhood crime is actually reduced where dispensaries are located.

Mobilizing for March 28th

Over 20 local, state and national medical marijuana organizations (including L.E.A.P.) are mobilizing to oppose the highly restrictive ordinance being considered by the city council. It will be an unconstitutional de facto ban on legal dispensaries. On March 25th, the campaign will hold a news conference and candlelight vigil at 6:30 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Garden at 2115 Park Blvd. near Balboa Park. On March 28th, the Stop-the-Ban Campaign is organizing a rally at the Federal Courthouse at 940 Front St. at noon. At 1:30 p.m., those at the rally will march over to city hall for the city council’s meeting at 2 p.m. Organizers are using the internet and social networks to mobilize the troops in the cannabis community, and it’s working, especially among young people. Roughly 100 million Americans – ordinary Americans – or about one third of the population acknowledge that they have consumed marijuana in the past month. Despite having some of the strictest laws against marijuana in the world, the U.S. has the largest number of marijuana users. Each year, about 750,000 Americans are arrested for simple possession of a small amount of marijuana. Many are in state prisons, including Donovan State Prison in San Diego County, for only one joint. The U.S. has about 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of its prisoners. Law enforcement officers currently arrest an American on marijuanarelated charges every 38 seconds. California now spends more money on prisoners ($216,013) than it does on educating our kids ($7,905). Regulating, controlling and taxing marijuana nationally would save the government about $41.3 billion in law enforcement costs.

Alan Cruz, 25, opposes efforts by San Diego’s city council to adopt a de facto ban on medical marijuana dispensaries. Photo by Leo E. Laurence

Local Service Providers

A New PATH-Parents for Addiction, Treatment and Healing By: Simon Eddisbury Drug users represent the overwhelming majority of the U.S. prison population. According to a recent report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 85% of the country’s inmates have a serious history of drug abuse. But, is incarceration the key to reducing the number of offenses that these individuals commit? A group of mothers from San Diego believe that America’s so-called “War on Drugs” is doing far more harm than good. I caught up with Gretchen Bergman, co-founder of A New PATH (Parents for Addiction Treatment and Healing), to find out the motivation behind her call for drug users to be treated as if they are suffering from an illness rather than punished for their mistakes.

You advocate treatment as opposed to punishment for non-violent drug offenders. How would you respond to those that say people who break the law should be punished for doing so, regardless of how illogical that law might be? I served as a state chairperson for Proposition 36 in California, an initiative that was passed by 61% of the voters in 2000, mandating treatment instead of incarceration for non-violent drug offenders. Since that time, approximately 36,000 people have received treatment annually, whereas the majority of them had never accessed treatment before. My son was in prison at that time for non-violent drug-related charges. Instead of receiving treatment behind bars, he learned how to walk the walk and talk the convict talk. This turned into a decade of recycling through the prison system at a tremendous cost to taxpayers, which was a waste of human potential and an excruciatingly painful journey for our family. People who break the law need to be held accountable, but punitive incarceration for drug abuse merely exacerbates the problem. Our money and resources are much better spent on treatment and rehabilitation services. If a person is able to find and sustain recovery, they have no need to break a drug law and they are in a position to give back to society. This is the philosophy of restorative justice.

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Can you explain the thinking behind your “Moms United to End the War on Drugs” Campaign?

Moms United is a growing movement of mothers and others who are speaking out to stop the violence, mass incarceration, and overdose deaths that are the result of current discriminatory drug policies. Most of us involved in the campaign have experienced the devastation of these pointless punitive policies in our own families. We are fed up with the loss of lives and liberties caused by the failed war on drugs and we are demanding a therapeutic and public health orientated approach to dealing with drug problems. Because it is estimated that one in four families is dealing directly with an addictive illness, more and more parents are realizing that our children are at the forefront of the war on drugs and that prohibitionist drug policies can be more damaging than the drugs themselves. Therefore, we believe that decriminalization and regulation is a more sensible strategy.

Do you think the American Government has repeated the mistakes that it made during the prohibition era?

This is what is so poignant about our Moms United movement. It has been almost four decades since the war on drugs was declared and we seem to have learned nothing from the failed prohibitionist policies of the past. The number of people incarcerated has increased tenfold, and drugs are cheaper, more potent and easier to get than ever. We are losing a whole population of young people to incarceration, overdose, and drug war violence, and yet the madness continues. Mothers played a big part in ending alcohol prohibition in the 1930s and we are leading the charge to end prohibition now, not because we like alcohol or drugs, but because we love our children. Prohibition has fuelled the illegal drug trade with drug cartels making 60% of their profits from marijuana alone. Doesn’t this sound familiar when you look back at the organized crime and gangland violence of alcohol prohibition?

Do you think the legal status of cannabis has any effect upon its levels of usage? There doesn’t seem to be any relationship between the harshness of drug laws and drug use. If cannabis is legalized, there may be an increase in usage; however, marijuana use is already so widespread that at least we would be able to regulate it and affect some control, especially with teen use.

Do you think the law enforcement agencies’ tendency to lump everything from marijuana to heroin together under the label of “drugs” could cause soft drug users to jump to harder substances? No, but I believe that this tendency is very dangerous to society. To my knowledge, the gateway theory about marijuana has not been scientifically proven any more than alcohol or tobacco. I believe that the hypocrisy of a society that uses marijuana and arrests those who are from communities of color and poverty for using marijuana at phenomenally higher rates than whites, while at the same time using “reefer madness” reasoning with youth, complicates an already disastrously problematic situation.

What do you think the benefits of legalizing cannabis would be?

The biggest benefit would be for youth. If you ask any American teenager, they will tell you that the easiest drug for them to get is marijuana – easier than alcohol or tobacco, which are controlled and regulated. Legalizing and regulating cannabis will make it harder for youth to obtain it. Currently, regulation is in the hands of drug dealers and drug cartels. It will also stop the criminalization of adults who use marijuana responsibly or people who are addicted and need help. It will begin to take some of the power and profit away from violent drug cartels. It will change the dynamics of the drug war to public health rather than criminal justice driven strategies.

You have also spoken out against prison expansion. Can you explain your reasons for this? My journey as an advocate for therapeutic drug policies comes from my experience as a mother. Both of my sons have addictive illnesses. My older son spent a decade of his life in the criminal justice system for non-violent drug offenses and relapsed. I know first hand the devastation caused by both the disease and the mistreatment of it as a criminal issue. My son was arrested for marijuana possession in 1990, and since that time, marijuana arrests are up by 127% in California. One in 100 American adults is incarcerated. Prison expansion is fueled by drug arrests. This is big business and we are warehousing a generation of young adults behind bars. These are people who, with proper treatment, can achieve recovery and be contributing members of society. However, in these economic times and because of stigma, downright discrimination, and greed, treatment dollars are dwindling and disappearing altogether while prisons continue to expand and prison guards with moderate education and skills are earning better salaries than teachers. America has 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s prison population. Are Americans really that much more evil than people in other countries? My motivation comes from personal experience and some level of outrage.

So, what you are saying is that the option of sending drug users to prison is being used as an alternative to trying to figure out how to actually cure them? Yes. It has become all too easy to banish drug users to prison, as there is such confusion about the true nature of the disease and because there is such a profit motive on the part of the prison industrial complex.

So, what you are saying is that the prison system is a multi-million dollar industry that encourages the use of incarceration over rehabilitation?

Absolutely! Look at the power of the prison guards union in California. Big money equals political power. Unfortunately, we spend more money on prison than we do on education. Treatment has been proven to save money while the results of incarceration are increasing recidivism rates, mass incarceration and wasted dollars. Sadly, prison spending rises while addiction treatment is gutted.

You describe addiction as an illness; do you think it should be viewed this way rather than being seen as a deliberate act of lawbreaking, which is how the authorities appear to treat it? Addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder in the same scientific category as diabetes and hypertension, and it should be handled as a health problem. People with addictive illnesses should not be stigmatized as bad people doing bad things, but as ill people who need treatment services in order to manage their disease. We simply cannot punish our way out of what is essentially a public health problem.

What has the reaction to your campaign been like so far?

It has been very positive. A New PATH (Parents for Addiction Treatment & Healing) began almost 12 years ago and, since that time, we have seen a major change in the way people perceive drug addiction. Mothers, family members and individuals in recovery are tearing off the shackles of shame and speaking out. In doing so, we are reducing the barriers to recovery. The healthcare community is supportive and we have created partnerships with student groups, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, clergy and unions. Of course, there is still much resistance within the criminal justice system, as punitive strategies justify their existence, magnify their authority, and benefit them financially.

The word “courageous” has been used to describe A New PATH in several of the news articles that I have read; do you think the stigma placed upon criticizing the U.S. drug policies is preventing other likeminded individuals from registering their support for your cause? I believe that people can be confused and dissuaded from actively supporting our mission through the use of fear tactics from federal and local governments, legislators and law enforcement. But, more and more people believe in our cause because they are experiencing drug policy harms personally, so they are having the courage to reject the stigma and work to change policies that must be changed for the sake of our children and a healthier society.

What would you say is the most effective technique for aiding a drug addict towards recovery?

I believe that it takes a community to help a person struggling with an addictive illness to find their way out of the nightmare. Addiction is a baffling disease of the mind, body and spirit, and it affects the entire family and society in general. Harm reduction techniques can engage the individual in treatment and keep them alive until the process of recovery happens. In a perfect world, parents, teachers, law enforcement and healthcare professionals would work together to engage an individual in treatment. PATH believes that treatment for addictive illnesses should be a basic human right.

Finally, how can people get involved with A New PATH, and what can be done to support your cause? Please join PATH’s Moms United to End the War on Drugs Campaign by contacting us at anewpath@cox.net. Learn more about our mission at www.anewpathsite.org. Join the Moms United campaign on Facebook and, most importantly, speak out for therapeutic and health orientated strategies whenever and wherever you can. There is power in numbers, so add your story and your voice to ours in order to create a massive collaborative effort for positive change.

Today I keep thinking about why I do what I do... By: Nicole Scott

Today I keep thinking about why I do what I do…. Why start a cannabis institute devoted to teaching the laws that protect us? Why be active in the cannabis community? Why try to change the face of marijuana? Why join all the activist groups and try to invoke change?

I think I do know why.

In the last year, I have met so many people who are touched by cannabis both positively and negatively. The stories roll around in my brain, like Trish, whose mom died of cancer – she says she wants others to know about the miraculous medicine they could use instead of pharmaceuticals; Jason who has a green thumb and now is trying to defend himself in San Diego County Court for growing in excess of the county limits; and people from every conceivable mindset who agree that cannabis in an amazing plant. We share this common idea that marijuana is a great thing for too many reasons to mention here. We are united in our struggle with society’s limited views of marijuana smokers. I can see the image it congers up now: the dirty old hippie with a Willie Nelson ponytail in a tie-dyed t-shirt, standing around with a joint looking very stoned and confused. I don’t know about you, but I’m not talking about this guy. I don’t know him, just the “image” of him. I go to many of the collectives, storefronts, co-ops and doctors offices in San Diego, so I get to see it all. I really want the masses to see cannabis people the way I view them. In my mission to educate others, I try to obtain as much press attention as possible and then show normal nice people who are interested in and active with marijuana – I’m just getting started.

Some Days are better than others.

I am thankful to be me. With that said, yesterday was a toughie. Being in the marijuana business is challenging for most. The Legal Cannabis Institute phone is forever ringing with questions about wanting clarity on the law, fear, and wanting to get in the industry. All are good questions, but there’s just so much confusion and so many rumors. My friend Smitty told me that it is legal to smoke at the beach. Well, NO, there is no smoking on the beach. You will be ticketed if sighted. This one is an everyday call. If I get a doctor’s recommendation, then “they” will know and I will

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be put on a list of people who are using drugs. Wow, have I been fooled by this whole freedom of the people thing? Seriously people, if there is a “list,” you’re probably already on it, which is my guess. Everyone wants to own a marijuana dispensary. I get several calls daily about this idea. You would be surprised by the number of people who think they are going to start a mail order online marijuana pharmacy. After people take the class on starting a cannabusiness, most decide it is too difficult for them. Yep, it probably is.

More County/City crazy making. This is the reason why I stay active in the marijuana community. I have come to believe there are roughly 20 people in San Diego that show up for any or all of the meetings that are going on right now to decide the fate of patient’s access in our local cities and county. I find it bizarre that more people are not active in this volatile and still unset process. This is an amazing time for marijuana and the local laws for zoning, health and safety and most importantly, access to medicine. If you’re interested in getting more involved, join one of the fine marijuana legalization groups and start getting involved.

The Image of a “Pothead” to the outside World.

Sometimes, when I’m out and about, I will not tell the whole truth about what I do for a living. Mostly because people have so many questions about marijuana and I just want to eat lunch. Everyone deserves a day off, now and again. When I do share this informational gem, the average Joe will say, “Hey, you don’t even look like a pothead,” to which I reply, “Well, thank you, I guess.” What does a pothead look like? Evidentially, these pothead people are the scourge of society. They are dirty, unkept, from the 70s, dregs of society, and on and on. Wow, so glad I’m NOT representing them! I try to laugh it off, but can’t. If that is what society believes about cannabis, then we have a lot of work to do. They have clearly not met Cindy; a student of LCI’s whose mother is dealing with pain management without using pharmaceutical drugs. Cindy grows cannabis for her mom to help her live a life worth living without the pain. Neither Cindy or her mother share with anyone what they are doing to avoid the condemnation of using a plant.

The Answer is association with other likeminded Folks.

This is the easiest and fastest way to invoke change. Start or join a movement already in progress. We are in the middle of making history. On the good side, marijuana is more readily available in California than ever before. On the not so good side, many different fractions are jockeying for their own agendas. Look at each group’s missions and goals, and then decide if that is what you want to happen. And, always remember to keep going and help others on the way. In my lifetime, I have seen change that was incomprehensible based on those who just don’t give up. Be that change PEOPLE, be that change!

Patient Profile: DAVE

Story by: Pamela Jayne

It’s not only Dave’s knowledge of medical cannabis or his outgoing personality that makes him such a valuable staff member at The Green Door Collective in North Park; it is the fact that he is first and foremost a medical cannabis patient. He knows from personal experience what it is like to be given a frightening diagnosis and seek out anything that could help to restore his health as quickly and comfortably as possible, especially since he received a clean bill of health. Dave’s passion has been sharing what he has learned with other patients and spreading the knowledge he gained while fighting cancer. Those who know Dave as he is now would never guess that not so long ago he weighed almost 350 lbs. Nor would they recognize him from his roles in Malcolm in the Middle, ER, Grounded for Life, and the movie Gigli. Before his diagnosis, Dave knew that for the sake of his health he “had to make a lifestyle change.” So in 2005, he went on the Weight Watchers program and, by 2007, lost 130 pounds. He should have felt better than ever, but something just wasn’t right. Even though he had gone back to eating unhealthy food in quantities much larger than he was used to, he continued to lose at least three pounds per week. He describes his appearance as “going from looking like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man to looking like Skeletor.” Along with the quickened weight loss, he was also having severe night sweats. “I would wake up completely drenched, like someone had thrown a

but Dave says the top three worst things about it were the irritability, constant nausea, and not being able to go outside in the sun. “As bad as the rest of it was, I think that was the worst,” he said. He never allowed himself to wallow in self-pity or let his physical state determine his emotional well-being. In fact, he “never even called it ‘my cancer’ or ‘my disease.’ I just called it my situation.” (Keep in mind that this was before the word “situation” became synonymous with a certain self-absorbed reality show star from Jersey.) Dave knew he had no choice but to deal with his situation, so he decided to make the best of it.

full bucket of water on the bed.” He was also experiencing extreme fatigue. Unlike simply being tired, real fatigue drains all your energy and prevents you from being able to function normally. “I would wake up and my mind was ready to go, but my body just would not move. And this was after sleeping for 16 hours.” Clearly, something was wrong. So on his 27th birthday in 2008, Dave went to his doctor for a physical. The doctor noticed abnormalities in his blood and raised lymph nodes in the groin area. He was referred to a specialist who diagnosed him with nodular lymphoma and spherocytosis. The course of treatment prescribed was brutal,

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After having to quit work and go on disability, he spent as much time as his health would allow volunteering at the YMCA. Staying busy when he felt well enough helped him to see the light at the end of the tunnel. He also acknowledges how lucky he was compared to others in similar circumstances. Although he did have to be hospitalized many times for a variety of different reasons, he never had to stay for an extended period of time. One thing he did find himself spending a lot of time doing was filling prescriptions and taking pills. Some of the medications were necessary to fight his illness, but many of them were prescribed for pain and anxiety. “My doctors gave me Vicodin and Xanax like it was candy,” he said. When he grew weak from the treatments and tired of taking so many pills, Dave began using medical cannabis. He told his doctors and they were on board with it, especially when they saw how it helped him to gain and maintain weight.

At one point during treatment, he had to go five days without using cannabis. In that short time, he lost 10 lbs. Dave described one of the worst days of his ordeal: “It was around Christmas time in 2009. I had recently been put on two new pharmaceutical medications and they were wreaking havoc on my body; however, I had no choice but to keep taking them. I was having really, really bad tremors and the nausea was way worse than usual. I had an obligation that evening and I knew there was no way I would be able to make it. I felt so bad. On top of being so physically sick, I was bummed out. I headed to the shop (The Green Door Collective) to pick up my meds. Even though cannabis had been working so well for me, I had doubts that it would work that day. Thank God I was wrong! It only took two small capfuls of medicated olive oil. That tiny amount made all the difference in the world. For almost nine hours, I felt normal. I felt great. Actually, people commented on how much better my color was and how the dark circles were gone from under my eyes. I was even able to eat without throwing up.” Before becoming ill, Dave was not what you would call a recreational smoker. Yes, he had smoked marijuana on a few occasions, but that was the extent of it. Once he became a cardholding patient, he was able to figure out a schedule of medicating with cannabis that improved his quality of life tenfold. “I started smoking a very good quality sativa between 6:30 and 11:30 in the morning. I began to feel upbeat and my body felt stronger. When I was able to replace the Vicodin with

cannabis, I realized that I may be onto something. I started smoking a heavy, high quality indica between 5:30 and 9:30 in the evening. It worked wonders for me.” He went on to say, “There has never been a time when I am unable to function because of medicating with cannabis. Actually, it was because of cannabis that I was able to function.” As far as his advice to other patients, Dave says, “Find a strain(s) that works for what you need and then find a reputable collective that keeps them in stock on a consistent basis. And make sure that it is high quality because a fancy label or a name on a jar is meaningless if it doesn’t help you.” Dave is adamant about spreading his story and what he has learned because he believes that “we patients should use our experiences to help and educate others. Those who have been recently diagnosed need guidance from those of us who have already been there.” Dave doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk. As much fun as he has budtending at The Green Door Collective, he also takes it very seriously. It is not about a paycheck either; he volunteers his time in exchange for medicine. For him, each patient is a new opportunity to share his knowledge. “We are all about educating our patients, not just handing out meds to whoever happens to have a recommendation. We get to know them, so we can advise them on how to properly medicate. It is also important for us to listen to them because we can learn from their experiences as well.”

When I asked Dave if he considered himself an activist for medical cannabis rights, he paused for a moment and said, “Everyone has their place and purpose in this movement. I feel that my role is to educate and serve patients. Others have a different role. We need the people who organize and attend protests to make our voices heard. It’s just that I believe my time is best spent doing what I do.” Patients of The Green Door Collective may have noticed they see Dave much less lately. That is because he is strong enough to return to work full-time, so he only has limited time to budtend. The rest of the staff misses his positive energy and constant smile, but they are relieved to know that he is once again in good health. Patients often ask where he is and remark on how helpful and informative he is. For example, Dave used to always introduce himself as “a Scorpio with cancer.” I guess now he will have to say he is a Scorpio who used to have cancer. When I asked Dave why he continues to make time in his now busy schedule to volunteer, he said, “I want to give back as much as I can because The Green Door has helped me so much. Everything they stand for is also what I stand for.”

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Mind-Body, Health & Wellness

Top Picks from Natural Products Expo West

This March, nearly 56,000 people attended the Natural Products Expo West at the Anaheim Convention Center. This wellness event featured over 3,000 exhibits, including health foods, supplements, supplies, drinks, body care, pet care, and everything health and wellness related that you could imagine. Exhibitors ranged from international corporations to small businesses and first timers. My goal was to bring you the best and most exciting products. While I focused on new offerings, some existing players were just too good to pass up! After a day of tasting, smelling, and trying some amazing and inspiring products, here are my top picks just for you!

Natural Food

Company: Living Intentions; San Francisco, CA Recommended Products: •Salad Booster, The Original - $5.29. This is a great way to add super foods like chlorella, sea veggies, chia seeds, and Himalayan pink crystal salt to your diet. You can sprinkle it on salads, popcorn, or soups for a nutrient boost. I’m hooked! •Gone Nuts! Raw Cacao Almonds & Raisins - $5.69. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Raw cacao, mildly sweetened, organic sprouted almonds, and California grown organic raisins. This is a rich, chocolaty treat and a great way to satisfy your sweet cravings. Why these guys are awesome: Their food is delicious and friendly for any diet and lifestyle. Their ingredients lists are short, pure, and pronounceable; and they promote raw, sprouted, gluten-free super foods. I look forward to seeing their products available at local stores very soon. Where to Shop: www.livingintentions.com

Natural Beauty

Company: HUGO Naturals; Chatsworth, CA Recommended Products: •Essential Mist, Vanilla & Sweet Orange - $12.99. If you don’t like alcohol based scents and heavy perfumes, this spray is for you. Use it as a body mist to feel refreshed or spray it in your hair for a light scent. It can also be used on linens or as an air freshener. •Massage & Body Oil, Eucalyptus - $12.99. Body oils are a great replacement for lotions as a more natural way to moisturize the skin. This scent is invigorating and uplifting, and the oil is a blend of almond, jojoba, vitamin E, and eucalyptus. Why these guys awesome: HUGO Naturals are made in the U.S. with recyclable packaging and are free of petrochemicals, parabens, phthalates, phenoxyethanol, artificial colors, and synthetic fragrances. They do not test their products on animals and strive to make them so good and pure that you could eat them (I don’t recommend it, but there were a few people who taste tested them at the expo!). I even had the great fortune of meeting Hugo himself. Hugo is a charming and passionate man originally from Argentina. As a former chef and farmer, he describes his products as “food for your body, food for your skin, and food for your senses.” Where to Shop: www.hugonaturals.com, Whole Foods Market, Henry’s, and Sprouts. See website for a full listing in your area.

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Natural Health

Company: Clean George; Los Angeles, CA

Recommended Products: •Hand Purifier, Lovin’ Lavender - $9.99. Rubbing harsh sanitizers on your skin is not a good long term solution for keeping germs at bay. While washing with soap and water is best, it’s not always accessible. This product uses tea tree and manuka oils to get rid of the bad germs without stripping the skin. Alcohol and witch hazel free, it’s safe for the whole family. Why these guys awesome: Mother created, mother tested, and mother approved. Tracy, the founder, was actually not an exhibitor, but an attendee I met with an inspiring story and a fantastic product. She created the first batch of Clean George because she wanted a natural, beneficial, and earth neutral cleaner derived from plants. Clean George uses responsible sources, recyclable packaging, and even ships in recycled boxes. Where to Shop: www.cleangeorge.com

Natural Family

Company: Back to the Roots; Emeryville, CA Recommended Product: Easy-to-Grow Mushroom Garden - $19.95. This 10-day mushroom kit is a perfect way to get the family interested in nutrition and sustainable living. In 3 steps (step 1 is opening the package), you can grow pearl oyster mushrooms right in your kitchen. The soil is made from 100% recycled coffee grounds, and they even provide recipes for when you’re ready to harvest your “sustainable urban mushroom farm.” Why these guys awesome: Two college friends, Alex and Nikhil, with a lot of enthusiasm and passion to create change started Back to the Roots. They educate kids on what sustainability means through their products, school sustainability workshops, and tours of their urban mushroom farm. Kids are encouraged to send in a picture of themselves and their mushroom garden. They even offered my readers a discount! *Enter coupon code EXPO20 when you order online. Where to Shop: www.themushroomkit.com and Whole Foods Market.

Natural Pets

Company: Eco-Me; Pasadena, CA Recommended Product: •Cat Litter Fresh, Grapefruit Sage - $9.99. This is great for freshening up your kitty’s litter without harmful chemicals. Free of parabens, chemical preservatives, and synthetic fragrances, this product’s main ingredient is sodium bicarbonate (a.k.a. baking soda). It also contains essential oils with antibacterial properties. Since animals are sensitive to smell, it will probably be worthwhile to keep an eye on them at first – to make sure they don’t disapprove of the scent. They also have solutions for your dog like Dry Dog Shampoo and Dog Clean Spray.

Natural Cleaning

Company: Rebel Green; Milwaukee, WI Recommended Product: •Yoga Mat Spray, Bliss - $5.00. Do you hold your breath each time your nose nears your mat in class? Rebel Green has great smelling sprays that can help! The Yoga Mat Sprays clean and freshen your mat and other equipment. This Bliss blend is a mixture of pink grapefruit, bergamot, and lavender scents that will leave your fellow yogis wondering why your mat smells so divine. Why these guys awesome: The ladies that launched Rebel Green are chic, edgy, and eco-conscious. Their products reflect the same commitment to design and eco-friendliness. Their product line includes apparel, reusable bags, and yoga accessories; all made in the U.S. Where to Shop: www.rebelgreen.com; also, see store locator listed on their website.

Natural Baby

Company: Healthy Child Healthy World; Los Angeles, CA Recommended Products: •Healthy Child Healthy World - $10.98. Are you a parent or grandparent? This book is your guide to creating a safe and toxin free home for your little loved ones. It’s a comprehensive step by step guide available in hardcover and paperback. Why these guys awesome: Healthy Child Healthy World is a non-profit organization that strives to help parents protect their kids from harmful chemicals. Founded by parents who tragically lost their young daughter to cancer, Healthy Child seeks to inform and empower parents, promote policy change, and bring positive change to the marketplace. Where to Shop: www.healthychild.org, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com

Why these guys awesome: If you’ve always wanted to create natural cleaning products yourself (based on vinegar, baking soda, oils), but just haven’t gotten around to it, Eco-Me is for you. Their products are cruelty free and aim to replace household products that contain harmful chemicals and toxins. They even have DIY kits, so you can make your own products at home! Where to Shop: www.eco-me.com, www.target.com, and www.amazon.com

Natural Wellness

Company: Natural Health International; San Francisco, CA Recommended Product: •Salt Air Inhaler - $44.50. This is a new take on the old Neti Pot (A neti pot is a small tea pot shaped device used to flush the sinus cavity with salt water. The flush helps with allergies, sinus issues, respiratory problems, and even snoring). This Salt Air Inhaler has the same benefits and allows you to breathe through the pipe instead of dripping salt water through your nasal cavity. Just breathe in through your mouth and exhale through your nose. The salt draws out moisture from the back of the throat and contains potassium. Regular use of 10-15 minutes a day is recommended for best results. Why these guys awesome: Check out their website for videos of Dr. Oz’s review on his Alternative Health Secrets show. This product uses Himalayan pink salt, which is pure and free from pollutants. Where to Shop: www.himalayancrystalsalt.com Natural foods and products have become big business. Consumers have rallied behind organics and other naturally labeled goods, creating tremendous industry growth and opportunity. As products enter the market, many show promise of going above and beyond labeling standards, being meticulous about sustainability, and delivering the best ingredients to consumers. Others have hijacked the natural labels and use them to promote products that harm the environment and do little to promote health. It’s up to us as consumers to read labels and be conscious of how we vote with our dollars!

In health, Bahareh www.mindbodyalliance.com Bahareh is a certified Health Coach based in Encinitas, serving all of San Diego. She empowers others to live healthier and happier lives by eating well, increasing energy, reducing stress, and finding balance.

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The Power of By: Tiffany Janay The color green rules the world! I’ve heard some say that green must be God’s favorite color because it’s the most dominating color that is seen everywhere, and it seems to be associated with all things of power. Of course, we all know how powerful green money is, and our favorite herb is green with its powerful, beneficial effects. Nature is also dominated by the color green – green leaves and green grass. There are known people that have healed themselves from serious illness all with the power of green. There are a plethora of scientists, doctors, and regular people that swear by using the green from nature to maintain good health daily, and in time of serious illness, saturating themselves with it to restore wellness. There’s documented testimonies of people who have turned to a green juice fast to utilize the healing properties that green leafy vegetables are known to contain – people have cured themselves from such things as cancer, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease to name a few. What is in them that is so potent and powerful? What can we do to tap into this goodness? Let’s explore how we can use green food as our medicine.

Kale

Kale is very high in fiber, which helps with our digestion, passing waste out of our systems. In addition, it’s a great source of vitamin A, calcium, and beta carotene. Because of its healing properties, it is ideal for battling heart disease, cancer, and protecting our eyes from UV rays that can cause cataracts. My favorite way to eat kale is kale chips. They are raw, so all of their healing enzymes are intact. The kale is usually coated with a nut mixture (macadamia or cashew), seasonings and herbs, and then left to dry out in a low heat dehydrator. It’s an excellent way to replace the desire for unhealthy, fried potatoes chips. 40 | NUGMAG.COM

Green

Matcha

Matcha could very well be considered a fountain of youth due to its high amount of EGCG antioxidants, which protect us from free radicals that cause premature aging. DoMatcha is a manufacturer of matcha tea and they claim that their tea delivers the antioxidant equivalent of 8-10 cups of regular steeped green tea, which has 100 times greater antioxidant power than vitamin C and is 70 times greater than orange juice. Matcha tea is a very deep, light green tea that is made from using green matcha leaves. The leaves are handpicked, lightly steamed to prevent oxidation, and then air dried. Eventually, the leaves are stone-ground into a very fine powder. This tea was traditionally reserved for the rich and high class. Zen monks are known to drink it before long hours of meditation because it helps with focus and calming the mind. It is known to help with preventing infections and cardiovascular disease, increase the production levels of the happy brain chemical serotonin, lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, speed up metabolism, which helps with weight loss, and it increases energy in a nice consistent way without the peak and crash feeling. The green that is most powerful in the matcha is chlorophyll.

Chlorophyll

Chlorophyll is what makes green plant life green, and it is said to be identical to human blood except that the center element in chlorophyll is magnesium, whereas the center element in blood is iron. Researchers have said that chlorophyll has the ability to release magnesium from its center and absorb iron, and therefore, becoming hemoglobin or, in other words, human blood. More blood means more ability to disburse oxygen to the cells. Chlorophyll increases oxygen, which can be used to cleanse our bodies of carbon dioxide, help prevent diseases, and aid in recovery. Author of The Remedy, Supa Nova Slom, the son of healer Queen Afua, coined the term Chlorophyllian. He was raised holistically and on a vegetarian diet, but as he got older, he found himself addicted to white sugar. Returning to his roots, he would drink at least a gallon of greens everyday and noticed that his addiction to the sugar was lost and he felt incredibly better. He uses the greens everyday as regular maintenance or when he notices his skin is breaking out, his energy is low, or any other imbalances. He’s also a vegan bodybuilder who is building mass weight and strength by following a diet that consists of plant life, grains, and healthy proteins such as hemp.

Dandelion

Ask any farmer and they will tell you their #1 nemesis is quite possibly a weed. I’ve always been told that weeds are bad and useless until I started hanging out with people who had a very strong love for them and give thanks for their existences. Remember the weed that grew with the white looking fairy dust all around it? I used to pick

them up and blow the dust off and make a wish. Well, that weed is known as the dandelion or tarazacum officinale, which means “the official remedy for disorders.” –The name says it all. Dandelions are known for being a cleanser, purifying our blood and system. It has also been known to help people with dissolving kidney stones, cleanse skin and eliminate acne, improve bowel function by relieving constipation and diarrhea, prevent or lower high blood pressure and cholesterol, prevent or cure anemia, diabetes, certain forms of cancer, and cure liver diseases such as hepatitis or jaundice. They grow in your yard, so get to pickin’; but first, make sure they haven’t been sprayed with any toxic chemicals or bothered by pets. Or, to be on the safe side, visit a health food store and pick some up that have been organically grown and juice them, blend them for a green smoothie, or eat them in a salad. If you still find it hard to pile your plate with green vegetables after reading this article, then try a green powder substance such as Supa Nova’s Mega Greens, which is a blend of all the beneficial greens dried and grounded up into a powder that you can add to water or a smoothie and get what you need. You can find this mix at www.supanovaslom.com. For more recipes or holistic lifestyle advice, visit my blog at www.OrganicBlood. com.

Today - Cannabis Composites are Cars, Cases, and more (like plastic), Made All Around the World

Part

c i t s a l P p I I - Hem

By Dion Markgraaff One of the biggest problems the world is facing is the making of plastic out of planetary poisons like petroleum. This catastrophic crisis can be changed by the cannabis plant. As stated in part one, “Cannabis composite made products are starting to take over many industries because of the low impact cost economically and environmentally of growing the plant and the superior results in the finished products.” This is also true when it comes to the exciting possibilities of making plastic out of hemp. In part two of “Today – cannabis composites are cars, cases and more (like plastic), made all around the world,” NUG will examine the why and how hemp cellulose and fiber is taking over the plastic industry. Most things around us today are plastic. Eco-friendly hemp can replace most toxic and costly petrochemical products. Cannabis is being manufactured to make biodegradable plastic products: plant based cellophane, recycled plastic mixed with hemp for injection molded products, and resins made from the oil, just to name a few.

Big Problem for People and our Planet

Petrochemical plastic is a big problem, not just in how it is manufactured, but even more that it’s not biodegradable. The United States alone throws away more than 60 billion pounds of plastic every year that ends up filling landfills and/or are swept away in bodies of water. This number has grown from 4 billion pounds in less than 30 years. The world’s annual consumption of plastic materials has increased from around 5 million tons in the 1950s to over 100 million tons today. One ton of plastics are equivalent to 20,000 two liter drink bottles or 120,000 bags. Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour. Over 90% of plastic is not recycled, and besides the fact, recycling plastic has a low energy efficiency rate. The problem is so enormous that there are huge plastic islands in the middle of all the major oceans all around the world, which are expanding constantly. The closest one to San Diego is a trash vortex that is an area the size of Texas in the North Pacific Ocean. In this island, there is an estimated six kilos of plastic for every kilo of natural plankton along with other slow degrading garbage. It swirls

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slowly around like a clock with currents of choked dead fish, marine mammals, and birds that get snared. The problem gets worse over time as these chemical plastics break into smaller and smaller poison pills for animals. Greenpeace says, “The plastics can act as a sort of ‘chemical sponge’. They can concentrate many of the most damaging of the pollutants found in the world’s oceans: the persistent organic pollutants (POPs). So any animal eating these pieces of plastic debris will also be taking in highly toxic pollutants.” This poison soup – a sea full of poison pills – will continue to damage the whole food chain. Scarier, even still, is the fact that most of the plastic garbage does not float and is not considered in these expanding islands. According to Greenpeace, “Around 70% of discarded plastic sinks to the bottom. In the North Sea, Dutch scientists have counted around 110 pieces of litter for every square kilometer of the seabed, a staggering 600,000 tons in the North Sea alone. These plastics can smother the sea bottom and kill the marine life that is found there.” A great resource to quickly understanding the enormous problem we’re all facing is the documentary “Addicted to Plastic”. One of the many facts this film presented was that plastic bags in Kenya are so prevalent that they are called the national flower.

Cannabis Plastic

What is cannabis plastic? According to Wikipedia, “A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce costs. Monomers of plastic are either natural or synthetic organic compounds. The word ‘plastic’ is derived from the Greek (plastikos) meaning ‘capable of being shaped or molded,’ from plastos meaning ‘molded’. It refers to their malleability or plasticity during manufacture that allows them to be cast, pressed, or extruded into a variety of shapes, such as films, fibers, plates, tubes, bottles, boxes, and much more.” Hemp plastic is not a new development in industrial hemp applications. The earliest plastics relied on hemp as a component due to its high level of cellulose – the substance that makes the walls of plant cells. These types of plastics are now known as “bioplastics” to distinguish them from petrochemical based materials.

Today, at least 25,000 tons of hemp plastic is being used ever year. The market is growing around 10-20% per year and we expect that political support for the natural fiber based plastics industry will assist this industry in growing larger and faster than it has to date. Hemp plastic is cheaper to produce and presents fewer health risks for workers. Hemp plastic is tough, durable and can be made without harmful chemicals. Hemp plastics are made from the combination of hemp and polypropylene, which are five times stiffer and 2.5 times stronger than its raw material polypropylene, thus reducing the use of petroleum products.

Photo courtesy of votehemp.com

What’s most important is the fact that hemp plastic can be biodegradable, making products that are safe and eco-friendly throughout its lifecycle. The whole product can be collected and reused. Lab figures show that hemp plastic reinforced polymer products can be reused as many as seven times. Even when the product has reached the end of its lifecycle, it can be collected and made into energy pellets for electricity generation, during which only water and carbon dioxide will be released when combusted. Cannabis is the most efficient crop for bioplastics. Once the fibres have been removed from the hemp stalks, the hurds that are left over are 77% cellulose, making hemp the most efficient crop for plant based biodegradable plastics. Wood yields only 40% to 50% cellulose; cotton yields up to 90%, but cannot compete with industrial hemp in terms of harvest per square meter, speed of growth and environmental friendliness. Celluloid, one of the first plastics, was made from cellulose (hence the name). It was developed in 1869 as an alternative to ivory, supplies of which were becoming limited and initially used for billiard balls. Next time you have a big stem in your bag of medical cannabis, try to break it in half and you’ll see the woody inner core (hurds), in addition to the strong fiber that is the industrial solution to our plastic problem.

Hempplastic.com

A major pioneer in using the cannabis plant for plastic is Paul Benhaim, who is behind the companies Hempplastic.com and Hempowered.com. As an advocate for hemp’s many uses for two decades, Benhaim has spent over 15 years developing mixtures of cannabis and other materials for various products. From his original hemp plastic product in 1999, the “High Fly” Frisbee, his company now sells CD music holders, bowls, eyeglass cases, handles for doors, toys, and a 100% hemp plastic didgeridoo’s – no other ingredient or binders are used in this very special musician quality instrument (they even sell a music CD, “Fields of Green,” using these hemp made instruments). Hempplastic.com also sells the raw materials in different mixes in the form of pellets (granules) that can be used to make almost anything. The Hempplastic.com websites states, “We specialize in two grades of bulk raw material suitable for injection molding. We also offer services to create specialist materials such as required by the electronics industry to be scratch resistant, fireproof, UV proof, biodegradable, compostable and more. PLA, PP, ABS and other starch blends for films are also available from our factory in China. We export globally and have a facility in Europe.” Hempplastic.com has been growing. In 2011, a new and larger production facility has allowed for more cost effective production of Hemp reinforced PP, Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and Polylactic Acid (PLA). The hemp content in these new materials is usually 50%, though up to 80% is possible. The blend of hemp and PLA means the material is 100% biodegradable. Being the consummate cannabis fighter, Mr. Benhaim offers many educational materials for people to learn the incredible possibilities of using this eco-friendly alternative. He publishes a 52 page, “Introduction to the Hemp Plastic Industry.”

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Mr. Benhaim lists the many advantages of natural fiber reinforced polymers: good insulation, dimensional stability at high temperatures, high thermal deformation temperatures, flame retardants, impermeability, possessing a stiffness and strength similar to tradition GFRP, can withstand long machine resistance time, low water absorption rate, high resistance to ultraviolet radiation, and demonstrates normal flow behavior – making it the best substitute for glass reinforced plastic.

Cool and useful Products

One product our readers can get today is RAW Hemp Plastic Rollers. That’s right; the company that has brought the new brown, nonchlorinated rolling papers has expanded their consumer and ecoconsciousness to a line of plastic rolling machines. The company website states, “RAW has been trying for a few years to produce an environmentally friendly plastic to use for their rolling machines. After failed experiments with flax, canvas, and soy, a formula of hemp and recycled plastics proved to work. Made in a special factory in Germany, this ‘eco-plastic’ is used to create these amazing RAW rollers.” An amazing use of hemp plastic has been successful in holding back the tides in countries like Holland (which is below sea level). Hemp plastic rods (35,000) have been put inside dams and have proven to be the best solution for preventing soil erosion. These devices have been constructed with a prescribed degradable rate and, by the time the area has been restored, the material has dissolved and become a part of the environment.

Consume Cannabis

Cannabis is yet again another solution to our world crisis (and time bomb) of crap. There’s no denying that the petrochemicals being used to create plastic today are toxic to the environment and to the people who use them. They are also based on a limited resource that will not be available to future generations, and will be more costly even in the short term. It is clear that we must act in a global effort to support the development of biodegradable products for the sake of our planet and ourselves. The mind boggles at the thought of the thousands of different products that will be made from cannabis when one considers the possibilities of composites and hemp plastic. We are on the dawn of a new era with the cannabis plant at the core of this global revolution. The transition in our society is based on what we are voting for with our consumption. Therefore, you and everyone you know are responsible for consuming more cannabis based products for a better future.

100% hemp plastic didgeridoos

By: George Alberts Other than gold, the one thing that we believe will help our country get back on its feet is agriculture. One of the only things our nation has going for itself and could produce for the world is agricultural resources and farm goods. These are the strong roots of our country that at one point helped make us the strongest nation in the world. -National Inflation Association; Agriculture – Getting back to our “Roots” The founder’s behind Innovative Growing Solutions, Inc. are REAL homegrown San Diegans with a mission that promotes the importance of healthy localized food. Local food is a very important economic and political movement. It’s one of the greatest protests against the crumbling economy. At a time when people want higher quality food, our elected representatives in Washington continue to accept money from the bigger agricultural corporations that are putting the smaller farms out of business, which affects the quality of food and our health. IGS is a firm, innovative business that takes a stand against commercially grown food through educating people on better ways of growing, being more sustainable, knowing what’s in your food, and the nutritional value of it as well. Mike Dial was exposed to his first hydroponic system at a young age. During World War 2, his father was enlisted in the Navy. While in the Pacific Islands, the U.S. Government had to find a way to feed the troops because food was scarce. They introduced some very basic hydroponic systems to produce food and it was very successful. When Mike’s father returned home, he decided to buy some blueprints for a basic hydroponic system and built it successfully.

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As a kid, Mike didn’t realize that this new system of agriculture would stick with him and become his calling later in life. As a teenager, he went to work on his uncle’s farm; first part-time, then full-time. He learned many things like how to live off the land by growing all your own produce, and the value of healthy nutritional food. Mike was also very mechanically skilled and could build almost anything with his hands. When he was 23-years-old, he left his uncle’s farm and got his contractor’s license (the youngest person at the time to obtain a contractor’s license) and ended up in the San Diego and Palm Springs area contracting and building houses. He was very successful until the housing and real estate market plummeted to an all time low. Mike decided to pack up and move to Oregon, where he started growing his own food, growing vast varieties of fruits and berries, and living off the fat of the land. He also liked the small communities in Oregon and how everyone helped each other, trading their different goods and produce for other items others produced on their land. As the economy began to heal, Mike decided to move back to San Diego and back to building houses, but realized it was not his passion; and in 2003, Mike started Innovative Growing Solutions, Inc. with his friend and partner Scott. They started a small retail garden shop with the hopes of teaching people the benefits of hydroponics, and how the nutritional benefits and water saving make it the future of farming. The more Mike dealt with hydroponics, the more intrigued and innovative he got. Through much research and testing, Mike learned a lot about the microbiology of plants and the way hydroponics affected the tissue and nutrition of the plants. And with California having a water shortage crisis, along with most of the world, hydroponics was sure to be the answer to producing food now and into the future. When looking back at his childhood, he remembers the hydroponics kit he built and how his dad told him about the hydroponic systems that fed the troops during WW2. Through researching and testing new technology, and trying new ideas, Mike was able to develop better and more efficient ways of growing through hydroponics. Mike has shared his findings and taught it to all his customers at IGS over the years.

Currently, nutritional value and water resources are becoming important topics of concern on a global scale, and worldwide people are looking for new ways to feed the masses. Mike is constantly working with individuals, introducing his ideas and theories for producing more nutritional food more efficiently while conserving water at the same time. “This is a true sustainable movement that could benefit the people and the earth tremendously. With water becoming scarcer every day and food becoming less and less nutritional, it seemed like the perfect thing for Mike and IGS to do – create a better way of life for our children after we’re gone.” – Scott Since they’ve been in business, IGS has been committed to giving back to the community. “There is such a lack of knowledge when it comes to this industry, and one of our main goals is to educate our customers and work together as a community to pass on this knowledge to our youth,” said Mike in our interview. “What we’re trying to do is inspire growing – locally. When I go to other cities or other communities, I want to hear them talk about my community and how it’s a leader of the best food, and has the best of everything. It’s about building a positive image for San Diego and bringing back local businesses and food. I would like to see San Diego become a self-sustaining community. Scott and I have a passion for what we do and we plan on doing everything we can to achieve this goal because for us, it’s about our community and that will ALWAYS be more important than any amount of money for us! Whether we donate equipment

to schools, veterans, or someone with a passion to grow, but can’t afford the equipment, it’s all about working together and helping out. People have forgotten about fundamental, humanitarian acts and that’s another thing we’re trying to change.”

was a kid and, unfortunately, you just don’t see that anymore. We’ll build green houses and make donations of anything we can, so we can make a difference and sustain a better agricultural market.”

For Earth Day, on April 17th at Balboa Park, IGS will be in attendance, as they are every year, to educate, inform, and share their knowledge of agriculture with the public. They’ll be giving out hundreds of starter plants to kids that visit their booth, while supplies last of course. Also, IGS recently sent out a letter to a few schools in San Diego, offering a small 3’ wide x 4’ long hydroponic system and kit with nutrients, seed starting kit, and everything for the kids to get started and learn about growing plants. After they sent the letter out, it got passed around by teachers from school to school, and there are now 15 requests for their donations from multiple schools so far. IGS will be evaluating each request and pick about 12 or so schools to be a part of this innovative experience. Mike also wants to do a science fair they were invited to next month, but we’ll see if they’ll have enough time to prepare for the event. They’re also big supporters of veterans with a lot of programs that benefit them, and they have the awards to prove it.

Their contributions are incredible gifts that enrich our children’s learning environment as well as our communities. In my opinion, I think we need to support more businesses like IGS because they promote the kind of products we need to live happy, healthier lives. I want to end with a quote that sums up this article, any arguments about this form of growing, and the importance of high quality food:

“We’re always looking for ways to give back to our community,” Scott said. “We feel it’s very important that we give back to our veterans and especially to schools because they educate our generations to come. It’s important to educate students about growing healthy food. Sadly, kids these days know very little or nothing at all about where vegetables and fruit come from or how they are grown. I can remember growing my first tomato plant when I

“Before I’m gone, I want to make a difference and inspire people through teaching and demonstrating how hydroponics is a sustainable method of localized food. What people don’t understand is that it’s a science that teaches honest knowledge through research and application. It’s a source of education that focuses on environment, sustainability, and nutrition. It’s a better option for a healthier way of life.” – Mike Dial For more information about IGS, their products, classes or events, check out their website at www.igshydro.com or visit their location: Innovative Growing Solutions, Inc. 5060 Santa Fe Street Suite D San Diego, CA 92109 858-578-4477

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Remembering the Father of Earth Day Article by R.J. Villa Photos by Slinky

The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970 by 20 million Americans from all walks of life. Each and every one should be credited with forcing our politicians to take a look at issues that concern not only our nation, but humanity’s long term sustainability on this planet. Across a couple thousand college and university campuses nationwide, the American people came together for protests and demonstrations. Even Congress got involved and only allowed so many members to address the crowds and speak directly to the people. Earth Day resolutions to commemorate the date were passed by 42 legislatures. The actions of these Americans finally brought into focus the growing environmental problems that we were creating in this world. None of this would have been possible if it had not been for the efforts and passion of the late Senator Gaylord Nelson. “As the father of Earth Day, he inspired us to remember that the stewardship of our natural resources is the stewardship of the American Dream,” said President William Jefferson Clinton, when he presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Senator Nelson in 1995. President Clinton referred to Senator Nelson as “the worthy heir of the tradition of Theodore Roosevelt.” Senator Nelson entered politics as a Wisconsin state senator in 1948, representing Dane County; he held that office for 10 years. Well before the first Earth Day, Senator Nelson was taking steps to protect the environment. In 1961, he used a penny-a-pack tax on cigarettes to pay for the Outdoor Recreation Acquisition Program, which allowed Wisconsin to buy hundreds of thousands of acres of open space, parkland and wetlands. He is also credited for being involved with the legislation that banned the insecticide DDT, doing damage control with strip mining, creating a national hiking system, establishing automobile fuel efficiency standards, and preserving the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail. “We need a comprehensive and nationwide program to save the national resources of America,” proclaimed Senator Nelson, when he delivered his first Senate speech on March 25, 1963. He drew focus to the declining condition of the nation’s air and water. “Our soil, our water, and our air are becoming more polluted every day. Our most priceless natural resources – trees, lakes, rivers, wildlife habitats, and scenic landscapes – are being destroyed.” The Wilderness Act of 1964, which permanently safeguarded millions of acres of federal land, can be credited to the involvement of Senator Nelson and surrounding lawmakers. The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1968 came through his work with President Lyndon Johnson’s administration. He was also responsible for the Department of Interior’s move to establish national scenic lakeshores and seashores.

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It was the summer of 1969, when Senator Nelson’s vision to bring the environment to the nation’s political agenda all came together. Having observed the energy and passion surrounding the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations that spread to college and university campuses nationwide, Senator Nelson had the idea of creating a grassroots movement to draw focus on the glaring environmental issues that the government had been ignoring. We could no longer turn a blind eye to all that has been happening to our planet and environment. “All across the country, evidence of environmental degradation was appearing everywhere, and everyone noticed except the political establishment,” recalled Senator Nelson. “I was satisfied that if we could tap into the environmental concerns of the general public and infuse the student anti-war energy into the environmental cause, we could generate a demonstration that would force this issue onto the political agenda. It was a big gamble, but worth a try. At a conference in Seattle in September of 1969, I announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment and invited everyone to participate. The wire services carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters. Telegrams, letters, and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country. The American people finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air, and they did so with spectacular exuberance.” As Earth Day events pushed the environmental agenda upon Washington, D.C., politicians finally started recognizing the importance of environmental sustainability. The actions of Senator Nelson and the voices of the American people led to the passing of a number of important pieces of environmental legislation. The Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Toxic Substances Control Act, and Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act were all passed in the 1970s. The creation of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Richard Milhouse Nixon in December of 1970 is another major achievement that sprung from the efforts of Senator Nelson and Earth Day. Prior to the EPA’s existence, the EPA website mentions that “the federal government was not structured to make a coordinated attack on the pollutants that harm human health and degrade the environment.” Today, the EPA stands as our watchdog, protecting human health and safeguarding the natural environment – air, water, and land. “Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level,” Senator Smith recalled. “We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day – it organized itself.”

Common Cause 1133 19th St., N.W., 9th Floor Washington, D.C. 20036 202-833-1200 www.commoncause.org Common Cause is a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 by John Gardner as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process, and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest. Common Cause serves as an independent voice for change and a watchdog against corruption and abuse of power. Today, Common Cause is one of the most active, effective, and respected nonprofit organizations working for political change in America by empowering members, supporters and the general public to take action on critical policy issues. Earth Day Network 1616 P St., N.W., Suite 340 Washington, D.C. 20036 202-518-0044 www.earthday.org Earth Day Network works with over 22,000 partners in 192 countries to broaden, diversify and mobilize the environmental movement. Earth Day Network’s activities inform and energize populations, so they will act to secure a healthy future for themselves and their children through actions such as greening deteriorated schools, creating green jobs and investments, and promoting activism to stop air and water pollution – ultimately promoting green economic policies at home and abroad. With its partner organizations, Earth Day Network provides civic engagement opportunities at the local, state, national and global levels. Wilderness Society 1615 M St., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 202-833-2300 www.wilderness.org The Wilderness Society is the leading American conservation organization working to protect our nation’s public lands – the 635 million acres collectively owned by the American people and managed by our government. Founded in 1935, The Wilderness Society has led the effort to permanently protect areas designated as wilderness, measuring nearly 110 million acres across 44 states. The Wilderness Society has more than 500,000 active members and supporters, and continues its vital mission to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for all of our wild environments. For questions about donations or membership, please call 800-THE-WILD (800-843-9453). Environmental Protection Agency Ariel Rios Building 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20460 202.272.0167 www.epa.gov The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was established on December 2, 1970, under President Richard Milhouse Nixon. EPA was established to consolidate in one agency a variety of federal research, monitoring, standard-setting and enforcement activities to ensure environmental protection. The EPA’s mission is to protect human health and safeguard the natural environment – air, water, and land. For more than 30 years, the EPA has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people. From regulating auto emissions to banning the use of DDT; from cleaning up toxic waste to protecting the ozone layer; from increasing recycling to revitalizing inner-city brown fields, EPA’s achievements have resulted in cleaner air, purer water, and better protected land.

After losing his senate seat in 1980, he continued to work with the Wilderness Society as a counselor until he passed away in the summer of 2005 from cardiovascular failure. He was 89 years young and died at his home in Kensington, Maryland with his wife Carrie Lee Nelson at his side. His final resting place is in Clear Lake, Wisconsin. Today, an excess of more than a billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance on the planet. Earth Day ultimately launched the modern environmental movement that continues in this country today through organizations such as Common Cause, Earth Day Network, and the Wilderness Society. These organizations continue to carry the torch for our environmental sustainability.

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Another Kind of Mind-blowing Hash by R.J. Villa

You wake up the morning after the evening; you and your friends decided to go big. Waking up with a monster appetite or varying levels of hangovers, none of you escape the craving for a solid and hearty meal. Perhaps a Bloody Mary or Mimosa to accompany the food will level you out. Maybe the O’Hare of the Dog is more your speed. Simplicity at its finest; a signature 24oz. Budweiser in a brown bag served with a side of bacon of course. If you are savvy enough to navigate the parking gauntlet that is Hillcrest on the weekend, paired with maintaining an everything Zen-like patience as you wait for the hostess to call your name on a waitlist; one of San Diego’s best meals serves as your reward. The world famous Hash House A Go Go should be your destination. “There are serious waits on the weekends,” said Adam Beardslee, Executive Chef. “But with all the bars and dispensaries within a couple blocks, I don’t think people mind so much!” Hash House A Go Go: San Diego, Las Vegas and Beyond The Hash House A Go Go will present you with some of the best eats you will ever come across. The patrons waiting patiently outside on crowded weekends are a testament to their ability to constantly meet their diners’ expectations. A personable staff, great music and stylish ambiance treat diners to an experience they will not soon forget. Their food is presented on massive oval plates and their hearty portions remain a challenge for even the heftiest of appetites. The descriptions of some of their dishes alone will trigger instant salivation. Just one look at their menu introduces you to their fresh take on wholesome farm food. The Hash House Original Benedict contains a split fresh buttermilk biscuit, market tomato, spinach, and roasted red pepper cream, all topped with two basted farm eggs. Andy’s Sage Fried Chicken comes with hardwood smoked bacon and waffles, crowned with fried leeks and a maple reduction. The Kokomo is their world famous meatloaf sandwich comprised of their signature griddled meatloaf with smoked mozzarella and roasted red peppers, all on fresh Amish style milk bread.

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Their burgers are definitely worth mentioning. They serve one pound stuffed burgers, which are two patties with stuffing in between, served on a fresh bun with lettuce, tomato and red onion. Some of their tastiest burgers are the hardwood smoked bacon, avocado & cheddar burger, and their apple smoked bacon & mashed potatoes burger. Each comes with criss-cross fries. They describe their unique style of cuisine as “Twisted Farm Food.” As your stomach can tell you from the menu items previously described in complete detail, the menu at the Hash House A Go Go is really unique. It has been over a decade now since their original location on 5th Avenue in Hillcrest began serving their twisted farm food. They first opened their doors on July 19, 2000. At the time of its founding, many believed it was a risky leap by the creators and founders President Johnny Rivera and his business partner and Executive Chef Craig “Andy” Beardslee. “We had worked together for five years at a previous restaurant; that was 17 years ago,” recalled Rivera. “I was the restaurant manager and Andy the executive chef. When I was leaving that business, we got together for cocktails. Six to eight cocktails later we both made a promise to open a place together. That was back in 1996. A few years later in 1999, I found the Hillcrest location. Everybody said that this would be a challenging area. Organic farm food, big oval plates…People kept asking me, ‘What are you doing?’ Within three weeks, we had to triple the workforce, and within four weeks we had a steady waitlist. It was received really well, very quickly. The organic ways and through metamorphosis with my partner, we realized that in six months we had written a hit single.” The single Rivera and Beardslee created was certainly a hit. In the following years, the Hash House A Go Go would continue to win award after award and be highlighted on national shows and publica-

tions. Rivera and Beardslee have seen their franchise expand to three locations in Las Vegas with another opening in Reno this April. The foundation of their success can be found in each of their own personal mission statements. Rivera describes his as a continued mission to maintain a level of excitement and entertainment within the dining experience while ensuring excellent service, each and every day. Beardslee’s mission is to keep the fun in food while pulling from the experiences of farm fresh agriculture, live stock, and old recipes with a twist. “Twisted Farm Food” became their creation. “It’s Southern California fused with the agriculture of the Midwest,” Rivera explained. “This was not contrived in a marketing department. Andy is from Milford, Indiana and I’m the Southern Californian. It was an organic idea. What we have done is morph these two entities in a Petri dish, and through natural osmosis, we created what we call twisted farm food. The idea all came from a natural source.” “The menus I write come a lot from growing up in the Midwest,” said Beardslee. “Gotta come hungry! You need big appetites for big food.” Together, their mission statements, creativity and restaurant concept has continued to win a wall of awards as well as the hearts of San Diegans and visiting tourists alike. Over the past decade, the Hash House A Go Go continues to persistently win accolades locally and nationally. Recently, San Diego Magazine awarded them as their Reader’s Choice Best Breakfast and the Reader’s Pick of Best Restaurants, and ABC 10 News had listed them as the A-List Winner for Best Brunch. Nationally, some of their awards include AOL City Guide’s Best Brunch, Nickelodeon’s Best Breakfast - Parent’s Pick, the New York Times listed them as a Must Have Dinner when given 36 Hours in San Diego, and Fodor’s Magazine has named them Fodor’s Choice Best Places in the World.

“Focusing on the customer’s experience is important to us,” adds Rivera. “We understand that some of our patrons might enjoy listening to Interpol while eating a scramble or having dinner.” The success of the Hash House A Go Go in San Diego had Rivera and Beardslee look to expand their reach across state lines. In July of 2005, they decided to take a gamble on a location in Las Vegas, Nevada, opening a restaurant west of the strip on West Sahara. Its instant success brought the Hash House even more national attention when Adam Richman highlighted Andy’s Sage Fried Chicken Hash House Farm Benedict on the popular television show Man vs. Food. Other national television entities became Hash House A Go Go fans. Dr. Phil, Martha Stewart, and Rachael Rae all called attention to the menu that was once one of Hillcrest’s best kept dining secrets. Then, Las Vegas quickly bore witness to a second Hash House location on the Las Vegas Strip at the Imperial Palace in December of 2009. With waiting lists at both locations still filling up like mad, they opened a third location at The M Resort Spa & Casino this past October 2010. “We have plans to expand outside the Las Vegas area. As I’m sure you know, when you’re in Las Vegas, it is kind of hard to get out of there,” joked Rivera. This spring, the Hash House A Go Go is testing the waters in another Nevada market as they look to expand into Reno. Rivera tentatively projects the opening date to be April 20th at the Harrah’s Reno location, formally occupied by Café Napa. Continued expansion of the Hash House A Go Go franchise seems likely as appetites for their twisted farm food may even reach the state of Arizona as Rivera and Beardslee look into the possibilities of expanding into the Phoenix area. “We are definitely living the American dream,” Rivera proclaimed. Rivera realizes the hit single that he and Beardslee had written over ten years ago is more than just a one hit wonder. It has become an American dining icon. Hash House A Go Go www.hashhouseagogo.com The Original Hash House A Go Go San Diego Location 3628 5th Avenue San Diego, CA 92103 619-298-4646 Hash House A Go Go Las Vegas Locations 6800 W Sahara Avenue Las Vegas, NV 89146 702-804-4646

Henderson, NV 89044 702-797-1500 Hash House A Go Go Reno Location Harrah’s Reno Hotel and Casino 219 North Center Street Reno, NV 89501 www.harrahsreno.com

Imperial Palace 3535 Las Vegas Blvd S Las Vegas, NV 89146 702-254-4646 The M Resort Spa Casino 12300 Las Vegas Blvd S

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By: Tiffany Janay I’m into the organic, natural way of living. I’m into simplicity and want life to be as simple as possible, so I can enjoy the beautiful things all around me. When I found out that there was an expo full of natural living products, it became the number one priority of things I must do. My husband and I traveled up to Anaheim where this massive Natural Products Expo would take place for 3 days. I heard about this expo from watching Food, Inc. It was recommended to attend because you get to meet everyone who is behind the estimated multi-billion dollar industry and trust me; all the bosses were in attendance. I went there to see which major corporations owned the brands that I’m typically a consumer of. While I did get to meet many of them, I also found something totally unexpected – I found chocolate. I don’t know about you, but I could have chocolate every single day of my life, and I quite possibly HAVE. I’m in love with everything about it, but not just any chocolate though, the best chocolate. Recently, I’ve been into raw organic chocolate. It’s simple and decadent. As soon as I navigated myself around the expo, I found the booth of my dreams – Pacari Chocolate. They claim that their chocolate is one of the best in the world. Really? I’ll be the judge of that.

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They had samples of all their different types of chocolates: lemongrass, salt & nib (favorite), Andean Blueberry, maca, spirulina, and chocolate covered banana bits. Heaven! Despite my binging, I managed to make a connection with one of the owners of the company, Santiago. What makes this chocolate unique is that it’s raw. Santiago says that they started the raw chocolate revolution years ago and people are now catching on. Currently, there are 30 companies in the world that are making raw chocolate. His business is family owned by him and his wife, and they control every part of the process from the seed to the packaging. Everything is done in Ecuador from tree to bar. There are about 2,500 families involved and around 30,000 people behind Pacari. The ingredients they work with are as raw as possible with minimal processing. They are setting trends by using different flavors and the world’s best cacao bean from Ecuador. Santiago explains the significance of the quality of his cacao, “Ecuador is the motherland of cacao, Mexico is the motherland of corn, and Ethiopia is the motherland of coffee.” In their country, they have an active volcano that is sending ash into the sky, which makes the flavor of Ecuador unique.

They produce 70% of the fine cacao beans on the planet. Fine cacao beans are created here with flavors that are caramel, fruity, nutty, and floral, all by nature. Also, the soil and the fresh water coming from the Andes and rainforest contribute to the unique quality of their chocolate. The country is smaller than Florida, but has all types of microclimates, including deserts, rainforests, and the Amazon. There’s a sacred part of land in Ecuador where the most species on the planet exist. Their government has decided to protect the oil underneath that forest to preserve and respect the massive amount of life that exists there. This is the first time in history a government has taken such a stance. The blueberries they use for their chocolate are from a tree that is 14,000 feet high. It’s the food with the highest amount of antioxidants because of the amount of sun they get. Their chocolate is award-winning, and they are listed in a book and cited as one of the best chocolates of all time; and more specifically, rated #2 in the world by a group of connoisseurs. Their chocolate is kosher, dairy free, nut free, organic, and rated as Biodynamic. Biodynamic is a method of organic farming with the use of the stars and cosmic forces, calculating the timing of nature’s elements and planetary cycles in order to have a better yield. The best organic food you can find is biodynamic and it’s currently the highest level you can go to determine food quality. They are very serious about their chocolate. The chocolate you can get for .99¢ or less isn’t real chocolate, despite what the fancy commercials tell us. Santiago says he doesn’t believe that in general; Americans know too much about chocolate partially because the big corporations had a tight reign on the industry. He says there’s lots of education to gain and much to learn when it comes to fine chocolates. Currently, their chocolate is sold in Europe, Belgian, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Finland, Denmark, Australia, and Dubai – all over. An essential ingredient in their products is being involved in the entire process from working directly with the farmers to designing the packaging, and every step in between. “The farmers have everything in their land and we want them to keep it, so they can provide for themselves and do what they do the best. They’re starting to realize they are really rich; if there were a global crisis, they would have food. They don’t need us, we need them. We depend on the supermarkets and they ARE the supermarkets, so they have everything.” They have contracts with the farmers and pay them more than what fair trade wages require. Next time you’re craving chocolate, seek out the real deal. Know that by supporting a company like Pacari, you are supporting nature and thousands of people that are giving their all to bring us the world’s best chocolate. You can visit them at www.pacarichocolate.com.

Written by Canna Chef Kim ~ Mother Earth Co-op ♥ Serving San Diego MMJ patients since 2005 April is “Young Patient Cancer & Esophageal Cancer” awareness month. As we all know, cancer can strike at any age and one in three people are affected by it. The key is awareness and early detection. Esophageal cancer is a tumor that starts growing in the lining of the esophagus, which can then grow through its wall. If the tumor grows through the esophageal wall, it can then spread to other parts of the body through the lymphatic system. Several studies have indicated a relationship between frequency of reflux symptoms and risk of adenocarcinoma. The areas at the bottom of the esophagus and where the esophagus joins the stomach are lined with columnar cells. If a malignant tumor grows here, it’s called adenocarcinomas. The constant acid reflux will irritate the lining of the esophagus and complications can occur, such as Barrett’s esophagus. Individuals who develop Barrett’s esophagus are about 40 times more likely to develop esophageal cancer than individuals in the general population. Symptoms of esophageal cancer are heartburn, difficulty swallowing, inability to swallow solid foods (eventually liquids also), pain with swallowing, food sticking in the esophagus, weight loss, regurgitation of undigested food, vomiting blood or passing old blood with bowel movements. Testing for cancer is easy and there are a few procedures used to diagnose esophageal cancer, such as endoscopy, barium x-rays, and computed tomography. Again, the earlier diagnosis exponentially increases the recovery and survival chances. Treatment of esophageal cancer will depend on the stage that the cancer is in at the time of diagnosis, the overall condition of the patient, and whether the cancer has spread to other organs. If cancer is diagnosed in its earliest stages, the patient’s chances of living and being cancer free five years after treatment are greatly improved. Unfortunately, most cases of esophageal cancer are only discovered when the patient comes to their doctor because of swallowing difficulty, which doesn’t happen until later stages of the cancer growth. At that point, the prognosis is very poor. So pay attention to your body, exercise, eat well and stay healthy!

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This month, we have a few new healing recipes for your favorite patient with of course, our medicinal twist! Some of the following recipes are taken from Mother Earth Co-op’s “Special Medicinal Recipes – A Medical Cannabis Cookbook.” Canna Chef Kim © 2008 Cookbook available at finer co-ops, collectives and physician offices or on line at www.motherearthcoop.com/products SOUTHERN FRIED FRUIT TEA (Beverages) 6 bags Black or Herbal Tea 1 1/2 qts. Boiling Water 1 cup Honey 4 tbsp. Cannabis (very finely ground)

1 (48-oz.) can Pineapple Juice 1 (12-oz.) can Orange Juice (frozen) 1 (12-oz.) can Lemonade (frozen)

Place tea bags in bowl or pitcher. Pour boiling water over tea bags and add cannabis. Add honey, stirring to dissolve. Let tea bags steep in honey canna water for several hours or overnight, and discard tea bags. Pour tea into a large bowl. Add juices, stirring well. Pour equal amounts into 2 (1 gallon/4 liter) jugs. Add water to each jug to fill, and then refrigerate. Shake well before serving. Makes 2 medicinal gallons or 8 liters. Note: One of the medicinal gallons (4 liters) can be frozen and thawed when needed. CINDERELA CELERY SOUP (Soups) 1 medium Leek (sliced) 6 cups Celery (sliced) 1 medium Onion (chopped) 1 tbsp. Canna Coconut Oil 1 small Potato (chopped)

2 cups Water 1/2 tsp. Salt 1/2 tsp. Kief * pinch Cayenne Pepper 1/8 tsp. White Pepper

Wash leek well and drain. Cook celery, onion, and leek in oil in a large heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until softened, about 10 minutes. Add potatoes, water, salt, kief *(see recipe), cayenne and white peppers. Simmer, covered, until celery and potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Purée in batches in a blender until smooth, and then force through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on solids and then discarding them. Set bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water. Let it stand, stirring occasionally until cold. Season with salt and serve chilled or at room temperature. This recipe makes 4 special servings. Note: Wonderful source of vitamins and helps reduce fever and nausea. ALWAYS remember to use caution when blending hot liquids.

DR. BEN CAYENNE SALAD (Salads) 3/4 cup Barley 3 cups Corn Kernels 1/2 cup Green Peas 4 small Plum Tomatoes (diced) 3 tbsp. Cannaoil * 1 stalk Celery (chopped)

THOSE LITTLE TARTS (Pastries) 2 small Scallions (chopped) 4 tbsp. Dill (fresh chopped) 1/8 tsp. Cayenne Pepper 2 tbsp. Lemon Juice (fresh) 1 head Lettuce 1/2 cup Feta Cheese

In a large mixing bowl, combine cooked barley, corn, peas, tomatoes, cannaoil *(see recipe), celery, scallions, dill, cayenne pepper and lemon juice. Cover, refrigerate for an hour or so before serving. Line each individual serving plate with a few lettuce leaves, and then distribute the salad over them. Garnish with a sprinkle of Feta cheese over the top; makes 6 to 8 healing servings. Note: Wonderful aid in appetite building, suppressing nausea and anxiety with a light taste. GREEN GODDESS SALAD DRESSING (Dressings) 1 Cucumber (finely chopped) 1 Onion (finely chopped) 1/2 cup Mayonnaise 4 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)

1/2 cup Sour Cream 1/4 cup Cannabis (finely chopped) 1/8 tsp. Sea Salt 1/8 tsp. Pepper

Combine all ingredients. Mix well in a blender or food processor at low speed. Refrigerate to chill for at least 30 minutes to one hour before using. Note: Goes great on most green salads or baked potatoes. PASTA SOPHIE & ARTSY PEPPER SAUCE (Pastas) 1 (12-oz.) pkg. Linguine 1 (12-oz.) jar Roasted Red Peppers 1 (6-oz.) jar Artichokes (w/ liquid) 1/4 cup Sun-dried Tomatoes (re hydrated) 1/2 cup Parsley Leaves (finely chopped) 1/4 tsp. Lemon Pepper

1/2 tsp. Kief * 2 small Carrots (thinly sliced) 2 small Tomatoes (diced) 2 tbsp. White Balsamic Vinegar 1/4 tsp. Garlic Salt 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add linguine, cook at a rapid boil until al dente, about 5 to 8 minutes. Drain linguine, rinse under cold water until cool. Combine red peppers (with liquid), artichokes (with liquid), sun-dried tomatoes, parsley and kief *(see recipe) in a food processor or blender. Pulse on and off until mixture is coarsely and evenly chopped. Combine red pepper and artichoke mixture with linguine in a large serving bowl and toss. Add carrots, tomatoes, and vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper, toss again; makes 6 to 8 curative servings.

1 cup Cannabutter * 3 large Eggs 3 cups Sultana Raisins 3 tbsp. Heavy Cream or Half & Half

1 cup Walnuts 3 tbsp. Maple Syrup 3 dozen Pie Tarts (muffin/cupcake size) 3 tsp. Vanilla

Preheat oven to 450° F (230° C). Cover bottom of muffin tin with pie dough. In a large bowl, beat eggs, cream, vanilla, cannabutter *(see recipe) and syrup together. Mix all ingredients well, add nuts and raisins. Pour mixture into the tarts, bake for 7 minutes, but lower to 350° F (180° C). Bake for another 10 to 13 minutes until pie dough looks cooked. This recipe makes 3 dozen electric little tarts. Note: These butter tarts were a top my very favorite growing up. We used to make them all summer long at the cottage...I just changed the recipe for the better! HERBAL RELIEF FOR ARTHRITIS & BACK PAIN (Remedies) 1 cup Boiling Water 2 grams Devil’s Claw

1 tsp. Honey 3 drops Cannabis Tincture*

Pour boiling water over the devil’s claw powdered root (also known as cat’s claw) and let steep for 5 minutes. Add honey and cannabis tincture*(see recipe). Drink a cup about 3 or 4 times a day. Devil’s claw extract is available in most health food stores as capsules and can be taken 3 times a day for the relief of minor arthritis pain instead of drinking the tea. The German Commission E has approved the use of devil’s claw extract for “degenerative disorders of the locomotors system,” where arthritis, tendonitis and back pain are common indications. Devil’s claw contains compounds known as iridoid glycosides, which influence inflammation mediators in the body (prostaglandins, eicosanoids, and leukotrienes). By reducing the production of these inflammatory compounds, both pain and inflammation are reduced. Joints receive additional protection with devil’s claw extract. It significantly decreases the production of joint destructive enzymes called matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). This helps reduce joint cartilage destruction, enabling your joints to rebuild faster. Note: Devil’s claw is widely studied and used by doctors in Europe. Devil’s claw extract relieves pain and inflammation (typically related to arthritis and back pain), acts as an anti-inflammatory, and has a mild analgesic effect on arthritic victims. “KIEF” is an age old way of extracting trichomes from plant material. Kief is the product derived from the kiefing process. Kiefing is a method in which you rub dry trim, buds and small leaves with crystals on them over a silk screen. The THC glands will form a powder that comes through the screen, then used in cooking or for smoking. It is usually a pale green to light brown dependant on the strain of cannabis. Kief powder that is pressed together is called hash.

Note: Garnish with parmesan cheese, green onions and red peppers.

Note: Kief boxes are sold at some smoke shops and are easier to work with than silk screens. In a kief box, the screen is above the collection drawer allowing the THC glands to pass through the screen into the collection drawer. This makes it easy and compact for the average user to collect the kief and use for smoking or cooking.

TOTALLY BAKED BROWN BREAD (Breads)

*Cannaoil is any high quality food grade oil such as coconut oil, hempseed oil, olive oil, or canola oil that has been infused with high grade medical cannabis.

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour 1 cup Rye Flour 1 cup Yellow Corn Meal 1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda 1/2 tsp. Sea Salt 1/3 cup Kal Nutritional Yeast 3/4 cup Molasses

1 1/2 cups Buttermilk 1/2 cup Cannabutter * 1/4 cup Apple Sauce 1/2 cup Raisins 1/2 cup Blueberries 1/2 cup Cranberries 1/2 cup Sunflower Seeds

Preheat oven to 350° F (180° C). Grease and flour a loaf pan. Place oven rack in bottom third of oven. Sift together flours, corn meal, baking soda and yeast in a large bowl, and mix well together. Add molasses and buttermilk, blending well together. Add cannabutter *(see recipe) and remaining ingredients, continue to stir well. Pour and spread in greased, floured loaf pan and smooth out the top. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Brush top of bread with melted butter, cover with foil to prevent over browning, bake for another 20 minutes. Makes 2 small loaves, about 13 slices. Warm bread with Electric Honey and cinnamon. *Served with hot cocoa is a great before bed treat that assists with sleeping and easing away pain.

*Cannabutter is dairy butter that has been infused with high grade medical cannabis. The recipes for cannaoil and cannabutter can be found in the first copy of Nug Magazine or online at www.MotherEarthCoop.com Wishing you a hempy journey to a healthier you! Please remember to continue the 2011 challenge of being kind to each other every day!!!

Peace, Love & Gratitude, Kim NUGMAG.COM | 61

Still Growing Part 2 By: Mel The Bumbling Gardener

For readers who missed out on last month’s issue…Now that we grow “tomatoes,” the need for 12 perfect clones come up every 70 days or so, and I’ve had problems finding enough healthy, root mature young ladies to fill my needs all at one time. I wanted all of my plants to start out even in life. In the past, because I couldn’t find what I needed in one trip, my grows were filled with newbies of different ages from different places with different growing techniques that made each group act and grow differently in my Spinner. I have never been able to bring all 12 young ones to fruit. Something either fails or wasn’t right from the very beginning. Rather than searching all over town for my next group of young friends, I decided to learn how to grow and clone my own. Just like I suggested to you, I went to my local hydro shop to ask the questions that would help me make the right decisions on what to do and when. The guys at Neighborhood Hydro in Escondido had all the right answers about cloning. Ryan was very easy to talk with and he made it seem like what I wanted to do was a good next step in my new hobby of hydroponic gardening. As it turns out, I didn’t need much at all to get started now that I had my new Phototron up and running. A few bottles of “Mother” food, cloning gel, little starting plugs, a 15 hole tray, and I was on my way to becoming a more complete provider for my future families. The only question my hydro buddy couldn’t answer for me was “how do I get the right mother plants?” My need for 3 mother plants took me back to the same collectives that provided me with clones in the past… “Mother plants, we got no stinking mother plants…We never sell our mothers, they are special to our shop. But we do have clones that you can grow and clones that will turn into mothers, and in a few months, they will be big enough to take all the cuttings you will need.” NO…I want mother plants. I don’t want to wait 3 or 4 months for the clones to grow up. I need to be able to cut at least 5 clones per plant in a month and a half or my next grow will have the same problem. My next stop was North County’s SoCal Wellness. As a patient and member, my buddies Dale and Junior hooked me up. They told me about this guy who supplies many San Diego collectives that don’t grow their own. They told me I might be able to get the 3 plants I was looking for from him. Junior told me he would call and see if he could score me 3 different strains that I could use to fill my new “Mothership.” A week goes by, no call. I call Junior and he gives me the “I’m close; give me a bit more time, Saturday will be the day.” On Thursday I get the call, “come on over and get your plants.” As I walked in, I was greeted with all smiles. As I turned the corner, I could see my new ladies

cont.

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Still growing Cont. sittin’ pretty under the T5 lights. Wow, better than what I had in mind. These soon to be mothers were even in tomato cages. The large fan leaves were as big as my hand; someone really knew what they were doing with these hydro beauties. It’s funny how a guy thinks; for a minute, just a minute, I thought about pulling the trigger and putting these new plants under the old 12 on 12 off light program. Oh well. By the time I got back to the Phototron, I was refocused with the task at hand. I had to get my new plants inside a warm and cozy place they could call home. I believe the transition from a very healthy, all hydro way of life to soil in a pot and water when it dries out kind of a life could have gone really wrong. I kept close watch for the next couple of days, but not much happened; the plants looked great. It must have been because of all the gentle bright cool light the Phototron has everywhere in its chamber – you just can’t find a dim corner. After reading the “Growing Plants Pyraponimetrically” handbook that came with my new mothership, I had plenty of work to do to each of my new girls. Even with the new plants looking as good as they did, trimming was necessary. You could tell they were grown under lots of very bright light, but just a bit out of reach for the light they needed. Most of the internodal lengths were a bit wider than I would have liked for the perfect distance between leaf sets, but great looking plants none the less. “Removing any leaves bigger than 3 inches” was my first task…you got to be kidding, one man’s treasure is another man’s trash, and I had tons of trash. Phototron Industries has been selling chambers and growing herbs this way for over 20 years. When they developed the Phototron, they had to develop the technology needed to grow plants, so I removed all the bigger fan leaves from the main stem and trimmed the leaves from the lateral shoots, just like the book said to do to get the best results out of the Phototron. The lights are now on 24/7, the internal fans are set at 80°F, and the extra light socket that came with the unit that hangs in the center of the chamber is now filled with a SL-18 Earth Lamp, just to give a bit more blue spectra light to help encourage the plant to grow short intermodal lengths. See how easy this is…it really is. I hope you will follow along in the next 2 issues of NUG. We will figure out how to grow, trim, and wind-up getting our very own healthy, well rooted home grown clones.

By: The SD OG Grower

GROW

LARGE SCALE GROW ROOMS FOR SERIOUS PRODUCTION

2011 is a great time in history and a great opportunity for those growers who are serious and want to take it to the next level! Commercial grow operations are popping up everywhere, and some are successful while others are not! I’ve been setting up commercial grow rooms for years now and there are a few tricks to make it consistently successful each time. You can not simply apply closet growing techniques and expect to get the best results. And it all starts with planning, design and having ALL the proper equipment; and of course, the knowledge and know-how to run a commercial operation.

Picking a location is the first objective. You should have some type of business plan or reason other than growing for leasing or renting the building. Don’t be that idiot that looks out of place with blacked out windows and no business name or information on the door or windows. And make sure to be friendly with your neighbors and HAVE A REASON FOR BEING THERE OTHER THAN GROWING! Check the power when you look at a place. Not all warehouses have enough power to do what you want, so make sure you know how many amps are available before signing a lease. A 15 light flower room, a veg room, and totally sealed loop rooms with proper air conditioners and everything can easily run at over 200 amps (@ 240v), so checking your power supply is essential. Once this is done and you have your new spot, start designing it and planning it out. One way to get more out of less amps is by using a ballast flip box, which runs a single ballast for 24 hrs, but flips the load from one room to another based off the time schedule you give it – normally 12 hours in one room, then flip to 12 hours off and 12 hours on in the second room. So in sense, a 200 amp panel could actually run 30 lights by having 2 rooms running 15 lights each, but at separate times so that only 15 lights would be running in only one room at a time. This can actually save a lot of power by running a lower load continuously and not all at the same time. And more importantly, it allows you to run double the amount of lights for flowering. By using a Power Box Lighting Timer and a Power Box Light Flipper, this can be accomplished very efficiently and save you a fair amount of power in the long run.

I always like to use a professional electrical contractor and a licensed air conditioner contractor to make sure things are set up properly, efficiently, and safely with no fire hazards! I’m not a builder or a contractor; I’m a grower, so I pay my contractor who has been building my rooms for years, and he builds them perfectly to my requirements, which he already knows from experience. Fully closed rooms, one Excel Stealth 5 Ton A/C Unit with a dehumidifier built in for each flowering room of 15-1000w lights to keep the temps at desired levels of 76-78°F year round! Also, I always run charcoal filters as scrubbers for scrubbing the room 24 hrs a day, and these scrubbers are hooked up to electric dampers on thermostat controls, so in case of an a/c failure, the room dampers will switch the airflow from recirculation in the room to exhausting the hot air out of the building through large duct vents in the roof. This is a security feature to prevent the plants from dying if the a/c fails – it may be hot, but at least I’ll have air flow and minimal damage until I can get there and fix the issue. Trust me, this safety feature is a must for all growers, especially commercial growers because when you least expect it, SHIT HAPPENS! And of course, I run CO2 propane generators. The electric ignition CO2 generators and the Fuzzy Logic CO2 Monitor from C.A.P. are my favorite; they perform the best with almost zero problems. They also have a 5 year warranty and their customer service is awesome. They always take care of anything right away for their customers. Getting your room’s environment under control is an absolute must for perfection and big sticky harvests! And don’t forget to control your humidity! Make sure you have a proper sized humidifier and dehumidifier in your rooms! Once you have the room built, the environment perfectly controlled and have tested it, you need to choose the right growing system. There are many different ways to grow and many different systems to choose from, but remember the K.I.S.S. theory (keep it simple stupid). More important than ever in a commercial operation is to keep things simple and efficient, as labor can be a big cost if not done resourcefully. I like to use a system that requires the least amount of maintenance, automated with minimum waste and definitely with the least moving parts as possible! A Top Fed Drip System run-to-waste is the most efficient in my opinion, and it’s also what professional nursery growers use on much larger operations. Before, I had mainly been using Ebb n Flow Trays as a base to collect the run off and hold the plants, but the tray always had some

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problems; it always stayed wet, creating algae and molds, which end up airborne and affect the plants. By having one flat basin under the plants with no air flow from underneath, which is where all the CO2 is, causing humidity from under the plant’s leaves is not a good thing. And most of the plastics and systems out there today are not built for commercial grows, but for hobbyist closet growers! I always have a project going somewhere and right now I’m building another 60 light grow facility in a commercial building. Not including rent or utilities, it’s easily costing over $250,000 for equipment and construction of the facility, just to get it up and running! But once it’s done, it will be a big producer and will definitely pay for itself in just a few harvests. So, I was going to set this one up with the same trays I normally use, but a commercial system I had seen a while back is just now becoming available. I was going over my project with long time friend Scott from IGS, as he designs most of my projects for me, and he showed me what they had just built. They sort of modified the commercial system from the greenhouse division for us warehouse growers indoors! They had a floor model and I thought it was awesome and had to try it! It’s one of the best systems I had ever seen, especially for larger grow areas. I called it the IGS Green Machine! It’s a custom 4’x8’ bench stand on wheels with supporting trellis and light rack. This system is built heavy duty with 1-1/2” galvanized square tubing so strong you can get up and walk on the bench or even do pull ups on the trellis and light rack! It’s a very versatile system meant to be run as a top-feed drip, but could be ran continuous drip, recirculation back to reservoir, or used with just about any medium of your choice! For me, it’s a perfect system for run to waste using coco coir with the top-feed drip system. For larger growers, they are modular, meaning they can be connected lengthways to create a longer 16’ or 24’ long table or system while using just one pump and reservoir to feed the entire table. The last thing you want in a large grow room is the hassle of having to fill and drain several small nutrient tanks, and clean them out and do the maintenance required all the time. By using one large tank and one large pump per table, we only have one tank to fill and clean, and can do it less often by having the larger volume tanks. As I mentioned above about having the Ebb n Flow Trays as my catch basin, the IGS Green Machine has channels with saucers that the

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plants sit on, draining waste out and into the channels. The setup gives you open space between, below, and above the channels, allowing the air flow to get kicked up and directed right up under the leaves where the stigmata uptake the CO2. If you could see CO2 gas, you would see that it falls like a feather and accumulates dangerous levels down close to the floor of your room. So by installing some fans or blowers below the table and using an air sock to distribute the air upwards, we can kick up or circulate the CO2 accumulating close to the ground, blowing it right up underneath the leaves to the stigmata where they can uptake higher levels of CO2, which makes a healthier plant and heavier harvest. The IGS Green Machine has many advantages and can be custom built however you want, regardless of your needs. A floor model I saw at IGS was going for around $1500, which is actually a better value for your money compared to any of these cheap non-structural systems coming out of China. It’s definitely the first real commercial system made to handle a commercial operation. I ordered 12 of these new systems for my new project and even had a few custom features added to them, including the trellis mounts, light rack bar, and having them modular (connect together lengthways), so I can run 5-1000w lights over a 16’x4’ table. The fact that the systems are on wheels and modular, and come complete (only taking a few minutes to put together), means this is going to be much more efficient and save me lots of money in the long run by not having to build as much, like the light racks and trellis. It’s basically the plug-n-play system that I’ve been looking for because of its heavy duty construction, efficiency, and the fact that it will last for years and is already set up for large grows. The cool thing is that IGS can custom build this system any way you want and make it any size, large or small. When growing in a commercial building or organizing a large operation, it is important to have all the right equipment and not cut costs by cutting corners, which makes for smaller harvests. Environment, water quality, nutrients, genetics, and the type of growing system you use all make a world of difference in a commercial grow operation. It’s very important to make sure you build everything correctly and use the right equipment, including your grow system! Don’t go into a commercial grow situation thinking your going to build it and run it like the garden in your closet, it needs to be built with commercial equipment and run like a machine to achieve optimal results! And if you don’t know how to build a commercial grow room, hire a professional contractor to build it right. If you’re doing a commercial grow operation, make sure you set it up and build it right the first time and you will be successful with bountiful harvests!

This month marks the 13th installment of The Chronisseur, but there is absolutely nothing unlucky about it. Just as Hopper was opening this month’s bag of goodies and noticed that there were only two strains to be reviewed, a buddy from the Slightly Stoopid crew stopped by and threw in a third flavor. Needless to say, Hopper was happy to review this strain called Wet Dream, which has been circulating among the higher circles of San Diego’s stoner society for a while now. He was even happier for the opportunity to tell NUG readers all about it. So along with the Wet Dream, we have G-8 OG Kush and The OG this month. Here we go… The OG: (Suburban Farms) “This nug has beautiful coloring. It is green with the perfect amount of red hairs. The one thing I notice when I pull it apart is that it seems to have what I call ‘Bud Sap’ – when there are so many trichomes that it literally looks like sap. Nice and sticky…So sticky, it literally stuck to the wall! The OG has a pungent OG aroma. My mouth is already watering; I can’t wait to try this one. Excellent flavor! It really sticks to the tongue; the flavor keeps lingering. I love that old school OG flavor. There was plenty of expansion in the hit. It choked me out a bit, but it was a smooth expansion. Gave me an almost instant head change. I would recommend The OG as a nighttime relaxant. Patients who cannot medicate during the day would greatly benefit from the good night of sleep that this particular strain provides. There are a lot of OG’s around these days. This one actually lives up to its name. To the grower I say, ‘nicely done!’ This bud is simply stellar.”

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G-8 OG Kush: (The American Treatment Advancement Cooperative) “This is a gnarly little spear of a nug! It is a very nice looking bud. It has darker coloring with a darker shade of red hairs. They almost look burgundy, very unique. The aroma is not quite that of a straight up OG. In my opinion, the G-8 OG is more like a Platinum OG. Even the way it looks reminds me of platinum. I taste a lot of sage in the hit, but the Kush also comes through. The hit was not all that strong, but it did pack a decent punch. It gave me a moderate head and body high. Best of both worlds!

Wet Dream by Closer to the Sun “Impressive coloring; it’s a nice lime green with thick orange hairs. It looks like a really beautiful Blue Dream, which makes sense because it is a Blue Dream/OB Haze cross. I love how its smell is classically piney with its own unique quality at the same time. It really tickles the nose. I have always loved the smell of the Blue Dream, but the unique aroma of this strain has to be due to the OB Haze. I can’t get enough of it! It tastes like a very piney version of Blue Dream. This strain offers an energetic, cerebral high, but also has a relaxing, soothing effect. It’s pretty much perfect. Whether you want to hit the surf or just couch surf, the Wet Dream will not fail you. Green thumbs up to the local growers! It is good to know high people in places.

Sweet home San Diego. From OB to Little Italy, North Park to Carmel Valley, San Diego has many things to boast about. Perfect weather, laidback lifestyle, and of course, the best medical cannabis the Golden State has to offer. As one patient recently said, “I came here for the weather. I stayed for the weed.” As we go to print, the First Annual San Diego Food Fight is still in full swing. Hopper wants to thank all of the collectives who participated, especially the patients who took money out of their own pockets to purchase and donate food to the San Diego Food Bank. “It’s amazing what we can do when we stick together,” Hopper said. “I am pleasantly surprised to see how generous people are. These are tough times for everyone and patients are still happy to give whatever they are able to. I’ll definitely be planning more events like this in the future.” Story By: Pamela Jayne Photo and Nug Shots: MK Jack

DRU WEST is a medical marijuana grower, caretaker and patient from Bend, Oregon who for the last 15 years has been designing, managing, and consulting numerous grow operations across the U.S. –Operating in different areas and climates has given Dru the opportunity to learn and develop a wide variety of techniques with some of the best growers in the world. On April 20, 2011, Dru releases his debut grow book titled The Secrets of the West Coast Masters: Uncover the Ultimate Techniques for Growing Medical Marijuana. We got in touch with Dru to see what the book is all about.

Who are the West Coast Masters?

Throughout the mountains and valleys of California, Oregon and Washington resides a secret society of master growers who are producing marijuana of unbelievable yields and potency. While most growers are content with a yield of 2 ounces per plant, these West Coast Masters consistently yield over a pound per plant and, in some cases, over 2lbs. while staying within the limits of their medical marijuana programs. The West Coast Masters come from all walks of life, of all ages, male and female. We are chefs, golfers, snowboarders, electricians, computer programmers, high school teachers, doctors and more.

What are the “Secrets” of the West Coast Masters?

What made you want to write this book?

Over the years, I have seen many sick people struggle to get the medicine they need to feel better. I wanted to share some of my secrets in order to teach them how they can cost effectively and easily produce their own medicine at home. Expert cannabis growers are among some of the most gifted and innovative botanists in the world. After revealing these techniques, I hope they, along with those of other experts, will be adapted to other fields of agriculture in an effort to end world hunger.

How is your book different from other grow books out there?

The Secrets of the West Coast Masters is not a bible or an encyclopedia covering every specific detail of cannabis botany, as there are already plenty of those. My book doesn’t have a 40 page section on light bulbs and probably won’t improve your academic vocabulary. What my book actually teaches you, step by step, is how to consistently yield over a pound of high-grade medicine from each of your plants. There is a large focus on training the plants through leading-edge techniques such as SCROGGING, and we also teach readers how to build their own grow room and equipment needed for growing these amazing plants.

The Secrets of the West Coast Masters are revolutionary new techniques of manipulating and training the marijuana plant to produce previously unfathomable yields and quality while enabling medical growers to stay within their legal limits.

The book is filled with incredible photos taken by infamous bud porn photographer J.P. Gnarbuckle. J.P. is the lead photographer for our new marijuana photography company Irie AesTHetiC.

Specifically, the secrets are a combination of topping, bending, tying, SCROGGING and pruning that the West Coast Masters use to guarantee a yield of at least a pound per plant.

Finally, the book is printed in the United States of America, not China; and, oh yeah, it’s a hard cover!

By utilizing the Secrets of the West Coast Masters, you can yield more with two plants than you normally would with 10. Working with fewer plants allows the grower to focus more time on each individual plant. This is the best way to learn the characteristics and tendencies of your chosen strain, to master it and achieve the best possible results.

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Tell us about some of the custom grow equipment you have developed.

I love building things. I have been taking things apart and putting them back together ever since I was little. This obsession has led to the development of several unique pieces of growing equipment. I build my own clone machines, hydro equipment, SCROG frames, and a number of other items for increasing the efficiency of the grow room. Many of my inventions have been designed to correct the flaws found in the mass produced growing equipment available on the market today. For example, the clone

machines that you can purchase in stores, anywhere from $250-$500, work really well the first couple of times you use them. Then, all of a sudden, they become as effective as sticking your clone in a glass of dirty water. This is because the part inside of the machine that sprays the clones is cast from a mold that is impossible to take apart for proper cleaning. All kinds of funk gathers up in it and eventually render it ineffective. Another problem is the heat generated from the huge pump that runs these clone machines. The solution was to build my own clone machine whose parts would be fully detachable and easy to clean. I also realized that I didn’t need a clone machine with 100 sites. A dozen would be okay. The final product ended up costing just under $55 and I’m still using the original one that I made in 2006.

The look and feel of your book is that of a secret society manual. Why is this? Well, first of all, I have to give it up to my design team. I told them I didn’t want the same old cover with the giant marijuana leaf on it. I wanted a different kind of book for the new generation of cannabis growers that is arising. With the rate at which the state laws are changing, allowing more and more people access to medical cannabis, the number of growers is increasing as well. However, there is still a bit of a grey area concerning the federal government’s stance on all of this. For this reason, growers that provide medicine to the sick are forced to live in the shadows, never communicating any details to the public. The West Coast Masters have been operating under this mentality for years, making it nearly impossible for outsiders to learn our secrets. The secret society idea was perfect!

You have a close association with NORML, why is this important? NORML is the most iconic organization in the marijuana world. The work that they do is vital for protecting the human rights of sick people who are being denied access to or persecuted for possessing this most natural medicine. They have been so great in helping to spread the word about the new book that we launched BONGSTRONG Wristbands a few months back to raise money for them. We are currently working closely with the Oregon NORML team for the book launch event that will be held at the World Famous Cannabis Café in Portland, Oregon on April 20th. It’s going to be huge, so start planning your road trips up north!

How long have you been growing?

It sounds crazy for me to say it, but I have been growing for 15 years now. Let me tell you, it has come a long way since the beginning days, but it has always felt like fate has driven me to this place in life. No matter where I go in this world, I always seem to gravitate immediately to the most amazing like-minded people who have taught me so much. –This book is also about honoring them. What are your favorite strains to grow and smoke? I have been growing the same five strains for several years now. 1. Williams Wonder 2. Cin-X (Cinderella 99 x O.G. Kush) 3. Maui Wowie 4. U-Dub (25-year-old strain from the University of Washington) 5. S.A.G.E. Although I do grow other strains from time to time, I could probably go the rest of my life only growing and smoking these strains because they are always worldclass FIRE!

Why are West Coast growers so advanced? There are talented growers all over the world, but I think there are factors other than the obvious climate and political advantages. This part of the country has an abundance of natural beauty, and the

people that live here seem to be very well in tune with it. There is just a great energy on the West Coast that lends itself to these kinds of things. This book is all about spreading the West Coast love around the world. To learn exactly what the West Coast Masters are growing, plants capable of yielding over 2 pounds, you need to get your hands on the hottest grow book of 2011: The Secrets of the West Coast Masters: Uncover the Ultimate Techniques for Growing Medical Marijuana, launching internationally on April 20th. Order your copy today at www.westcoastmasters.com or send us a brief email (less than 250 words) on why YOU MUST HAVE THIS BOOK to submit@nugmag.com for your chance to win one!

Discovering The Roots Factory Article By: sandieganliz Photos By: Gio Blitz

The Roots Factory is a screen-printing, graffiti art workshop where various artists can go and display their work among the walls, shirts, and canvasses available. Such artists include Ricardo Islas, Maxx Moses, and Pandemic. The Roots Factory also celebrated their one year anniversary in late January at Soundwave in Mission Beach. On display were Roots Factory shirts and artist paintings. NUG Magazine visited their shop in Barrio Logan to discover the roots of their inspiration. The Roots Factory started three years ago with Bob Green and Ana Brown. They were known as Phat Roots and worked with Voz Alta, a grassroots organization dedicated to the same type of art display and community involvement. Then, a little over a year ago, they got a shop and named it The Roots Factory. From there, they concentrated on production and event participation. Since then, they have used their shop as an artist’s studio, working with all kinds of local street artists. They produce their own events, shirts, and posters as well as screen-printing classes.

One of the main goals of The Roots Factory is to showcase conscientious art on events happening in the political field or that which displays true culture, which also includes graffiti and freedom art. One important issue to them is the U.S. – Mexico border. This includes immigration and border policies. Upon entry to the shop, there are two murals – one is located to the side and the other is right next to the entrance. This time, the one by the entrance was sprayed by Enue, an artist from New York. He sprayed his name and backed it with a good use of color. However, art is seen everywhere: on the walls, on canvasses, on wood panels, and even lying around on the floor. In fact, when you make your way to The Roots Factory office area and plop down on their couch, you are surrounded by pure art. Murals of graffiti work, paint, and stencil work are on display. It’s like an Alice in Wonderland feel, but you’re chillin’ on a couch. Local artists who have worked with The Roots Factory include Brandon Roth, Mike Maxwell, and Pandemic. Roth was there during NUG Magazine’s visit and told us

how he did some freehand art by the San Diego harbor on a tree. He mentioned a visitor from Colorado saw his work and hired him to do more of it out-of-state, expenses paid and all. Roth has designed material for The Roots Factory, including a design for their clothing line and a tin rooster piece used for an IFC Channel event. Other artists like Mike Maxwell and an artist from Philly named Maxx Moses display work at The Roots Factory – both have sprayed their walls. In fact, according to The Roots Factory, there are plans to throw an event showcasing a “Max’ vs. Maxx” display. Pandemic is a favorite artist who is known for his murals among San Diego. Besides contributing to the clothing line as well, he hand draws artistic face imagery. The Roots Factory is also involved in a lot of events. The biggest event is their screen-printing workshops where they offer three courses for members and non-members to learn a quick how-to on screen-printing. These courses include intro. & design, screen-printing a 1-color design, and screen-printing a 2-color design. The Roots Factory goes through a step-by-step process on how to get a design from idea to computer to shirt or poster. And, of course, with their screen-printing workshop is the production of their own line of shirts, which features designs from about 16 artists, including those just mentioned. They also hold live screen-printing at music showcases. This is where they attend events, work with artists in attendance, and make shirts before a crowd. Some notable past events include “TNT” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Restitution Tour of 2011 Arts Show at the Bluefoot Bar, and the School of Guerrilla Arts, a self-produced event. If they’re not making shirts at the event, they are showcasing street art, including paintings, posters, and their shirts with mixing via DJ Ana Brown.

As mentioned, The Roots Factory just celebrated their one year anniversary, which also launched the showcase of Roots Factory shirts at their event at Soundwave. Back in February, they had a clothing release party that took place at the Tribal Store on Fifth Avenue. It included artist appearances from Isaias Crow, Ricardo Islas, and “Ronie”. There was also live music from Cumbia Machin and live art made by Crow. Another recent event was the Dia de La Mujer celebration held in San Ysidro at The Front. This art exhibit displayed the celebration of women. It included a poetry reading and live music. The Roots Factory displayed their line of shirts while DJ Ana Brown entertained the crowd with some mixes of sultry old-school music, such as that from Portishead. The Roots Factory operates to produce art, events, and convey political messages. Their goal is to showcase street art, especially that which delivers a message. Whether it has to deal with border issues, graffiti, or any kind of freedom of expression, it is a way to convey that the streets are alive with thought and culture. Thus, artists can take to The Roots Factory and inspire change. Thank you Roots Factory for allowing NUG Magazine to discover the roots of your inspiration!

By R.J. Villa For close to four decades now, the Blue Riddim Band’s music has been rooted in the beloved traditions of Jamaica and the 1960s and 1970s. Their latest release “Tribute” has been a long time in the making. It stands a true homage to their origins, fallen friends and band mates. Playing music out of Kansas City, Missouri, the founding members of the Blue Riddim Band were accomplished musicians with jazz and rhythm & blues backgrounds. First and foremost, they were enthusiastic students of the broad and deep history of reggae. The music that brought all these musicians’ paths together has gone by a few names over the years. It started as Rhythm Funkshun in the 70s and continued on as the Strategic Dance Initiative in the 80s. Today, they are reunited under the band’s true name as the Blue Riddim Band. The Jamaican musicians who originated and developed the music in the 60s and 70s have always considered themselves among the Blue Riddim Band’s biggest fans. Their primary influences were built on the foundations of Coxson Dodd’s ‘Studio One’ label and Duke Reid’s ‘Treasure Isle’ label, the rocksteady compositions that became the basis for all subsequent Jamaican music. While other non-Jamaican reggae bands in America were falling in line to mimic the popular styles of Bob Marley or Peter Tosh, the Blue Riddim Band took their understanding of the jazz and R&B roots of Jamaican music to create their own polished sound. This was a key to unlocking a much diversified sound rooted in ska, rocksteady, and rockers reggae with regional switches to the latest soukous or highlife from Africa, or soca and Zouk from the Caribbean.

maican community in New York and their regular trips to Jamaica in the early 1970s. The Blue Riddim Band was born as the horn players Scott Korchak and Bob Blackett joined in 1977. As the band’s star rose, they found themselves touring and headlining their own shows with openings for major touring acts, including Dennis Brown, Big Youth, Culture, Burning Spear, Peter Tosh and Bob Marley.

In the mid 1970s, the band began as Rhythm Funkshun in South Florida under the lead of multi-instrumentalist and composer Bob Zohn and percussionist Steve “Duck” McLane. McLane and Zohn’s early passion for Jamaican music was fueled by the Ja-

Tragedy and the brutal meat grinder that is the music industry put a quick halt to the acclaims the Blue Riddim Band was receiving. Bob Zohn passed away in the mid 1980s, robbing us of the

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ska vocal styling he had mastered and taking what unwritten music he had left burning inside with him. A “farcical managerial arrangement” in the 1980s robbed the band of their name, so they moved forward as the band Strategic Dance Initiative. In 2008, singer and horn player Scott Korchak passed away, but their music continued on. The group’s determination to redefine itself had been encouraged by a younger generation of Kansas City musicians who were well aware of the Blue Riddim Band legend, taking the group’s accomplishments as a point of pride for the city’s scene and rich history. Today, the Blue Riddim Band is comprised of charter members Steve “Duck” McLane on drums, Jack “Blackie” Blackett on tenor saxophone, Todd “Bebop” Bird on bass, Jack Lightfoot on trumpet, Jimmy Becker on harmonica, and Joe Miquelon on keyboards. New blood in the lineup includes Chris Bartak on trombone, Dan Bergner on keyboards, Jimmy Dykes on guitar/vocals, and Edward Turner on vocals. It had been 14 years since they last hit the studio to record an album. That hiatus ended when the group pulled together in the studio in 2009 to record “Tribute.” It is homage to their fallen friends and the roots rocksteady music that created the Blue Riddim Band. Tribute is an album rooted in the beloved traditions of Jamaica in the 60s and 70s, yet adding a more contemporary production context to their recording. It was released in 2010 through the label Rougher Records. From their humble origins as pioneers of Jamaican music in America to the new blood that continues to fly its flag today, finally the Blue Riddim Band was back as true ambassadors of roots ska, rocksteady, and rockers reggae. Q and A with Steve “Duck” McLane - Blue Riddim Band drummer: The album “Tribute” stands as a true memorial to your fallen brethren, band mates and their influences. How does it feel to once again bring people rocksteady roots music under the name Blue Riddim Band for the first time in 25 years? I guess I’d say it feels as natural as getting up in the morning or riding a bike. The timing feels right. For a while, we needed to give it a rest. But now, it is time to “make movements” as they say. With “Tribute” being homage to the timeless past influences of the band, do you have any memories of the band’s history you would like to share? There are a lot of good memories, but probably the three that stand out the most are when the band opened for Bob Marley and the Wailers on their Survival Tour on Dec 6, 1979 in Lawrence, Kansas at the University of Kansas Hoch Auditorium; playing Sunsplash in 1982 in Jamaica and getting a Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Album in 1986. Even though we haven’t taken to the road yet, we have nothing but fond memories of playing for people, especially away from home because it is just a great way to meet people. When the band was on the road before, it was of course a very different time.

When Bob Zohn and I were living in Long Island in 1972, we were playing in what was mostly an R&B band. We had already been hearing reggae music for 2 or 3 years and, back then, the people we were playing with wanted to have bands that people would dance to, but we kept trying to tell them that we needed to incorporate some reggae into the lineup. The very first time we worked up a couple of reggae tunes, we were in Stoney Brook, NY playing a club. It was like a bet with the guys in the band to see what would happen. We pulled the two reggae tunes out, back to back, and instantly the dance floor was crammed, which ultimately gave us the motivation we needed to start a band that just played reggae. Shortly after that, we went to Jamaica for the first time in 1973.

Bud and Colombian bring back the fondest memories. Modern day…Typically, we see the better Mexican, Blueberry Kush, White Rhino, Silver Haze…There’s so many of these names, but who is to say what someone is bringing to you. What methods do you guys prefer to consume your cannabis? For us, spliffs have always been standard fair. We also love to smoke from the Chalice of course.

There is a lot of talk about old timers comparing the potency of weed from back in the day to what is around now. Care to comment on that, being as you You have close to 40 years of music under have toured the reggae scene for deyour belt, what was one of your favorite cades now? moments on tour? Not only do the Thai, Jamaican, and African hold Short of performing at SunSplash and opening for a place in our heart, it holds the number one spot Bob Marley, our manager at the time, Neil Leff, had in our brains. We’ve heard and understand there gone to his father who owned a band in Topeka, KS are strains that compete with and surpass these; and said, “Dad, let me borrow $10,000, so I can bring we don’t have the personal experience to verify this guy (Bob Marley) to Lawrence.” They’d already that. sent their opening act home and needed an opener. Neil sent him the 10k deposit and a copy of the Do you guys have any favorite strains advertisement. Upon receiving the ad, Don Taylor you prefer to consume? (the Wailers Manager) said, “There must be some Hands down our favorite herb that any of us have mistake; we don’t have local bands open for us. If ever had are the different African strains. The anyone opens for us, we select them. They’d better Durban Poison, Kenyan, and a Yoruba Nigerian be good.” strain – the ones that are more mental…as much mental if not more than anything else. What we Neil confidently replied, “You’ll be surprised.” So the prefer is the more sativa side of things. show went on. When it was time to do the show, Neil was worried that “Simmer Down” was on our song Any upcoming shows, highlights or tour list and said, “We better ask permission.” I said, “Nah dates in the future you want us to call man, they haven’t played that for years.” Neil insist- attention to? ed, “Well, I’m gonna ask them anyway.” They said, We are hopefully going to be working on some “Go ahead, fine.” dates with Bob Andy and Big Youth. We will also be playing the Prairie Vibrations Festival in LinWhen we were on stage, about half of The Wailers coln, Nebraska in May and the Midwest Reggae were in the wing. As soon as we kicked up “Simmer Fest in Cleveland, Ohio in August. Down,” they started dancing to it and the show went on without a hitch. They stayed a few extra days and What are the Blue Riddim Band’s plans came to our show at The Uptown Theatre in Kansas for moving forward? More recording City. They sat in with us and played current top 40 sessions, albums, tours, etc? hits from Jamaica. There’s actually footage of this. We’re working on something with Bob Andy and also with Big Youth. We’ve got the Nancy ReaHow did you get the nickname “Duck?” gan remix with Big Youth on limited release vinyl I’m flat footed, and when I came out of the swim- on Rougher Records coming out soon. We’ll be ming pool as a kid, the footprints looked like duck touring with both of them. footprints. Animal nicknames seem to stick with musicians; I’ve known a dog, mouse, bird, and all kinds For more information on the Blue Ridof things. dim Band: www.blueriddim.com For more information on Rougher ReWhat is the marijuana culture like where cords: www.rougherrecords.com you are based out of in Kansas City, MO? Unfortunately for us, with the possible exception of Mississippi and Louisiana, we are in the most backward part of the United States. At this point, because law enforcement is so aggressive, what goes on here is pretty much behind closed doors and under the table. This isn’t California. What strains of cannabis do you usually come across out there? This is where the “Old Days” really shine because back in the day, it was the Thai Weed and good Jamaican. In the early, early days, Red, Gold, Black

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Q&A With by Peter Amirato, SRH Productions We hear Hopper used to be your road manager; he now writes a monthly column as the Chronisseur for NUG, any interesting stories you care to share about our boy Hopper being on the road with you guys? Brad X: Hopper was the tour manager, so that meant he was in charge. He was the guy that was supposed to keep us in line. He partied harder than anybody I had ever met. He could get weed in any city or country we were in. The party never stopped and he always got our money, unless we were in Vegas or Reno where we would gamble our guarantees. We love Hopper, he has a heart of gold; but if we kept going at the pace we were going, someone would have died. Dirtball: I wasn’t in the group at the time, but I’ve always had a great time with Hopper! Super good dude, suuuuper good weed!! What were some of your favorite festivals over the summer and were any of them cannabis friendly? Brad X: I always love the outdoor hippie weed festivals. We kind of stick out like a sore thumb; sometimes we are tripping as hard on the audience as they are on us. The gathering of the Juggalos is a fucking free-for-all and amazing, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. There was a wild festival up in Humboldt County deep in the mountains that was memorable. 80 | NUGMAG.COM

Dirtball: I’d have to say the Hookah Fest we played in Ohio! It was on some old Indian burial grounds in this dope valley! The Grateful Dead played there a few times and, by the killer layout, I see why! Tons of bud, mushrooms, and whatever earthbound hallucinogens you could find! I would go back anytime! But, the dopest festival every year is the Gathering of the Juggalos. I can’t explain it, just Google it and watch! True dedication to the underground! A filthy blast! Indica, sativa, or hybrid? Any favorite strains? Brad X: Kush, Blackberry Dream, Kings Blend…We have a grower in Cali that grew a strain named after each member of the Kings. That was pretty special. Dirtball: I’m a sativa fan. I like a nice mellow buzz in the morning and a solid comatose in the evening. I like all varieties that are super chronic! I’m a big fan of purple crack or the Jack – anything crip. Do you guys read NUG often? Brad X: READ & SMOKE ‘EM EVERY CHANCE WE GET! Dirtball: I’ve read it a few times, which says a lot coming from a small town in Oregon. Pakileka was at the SD Medical Cup a few months ago, is this something you guys are interested in being a part of, especially with the cannabis movement in California? Brad X: Lou Dog is the Assistant Director of NORML. We have made different contributions to the movement, but I would like to think the biggest is our music and message: “legalize freedom!” What are your thoughts on Prop. 19 failing? Brad X: We came close. It’s just a matter of time before the walls come

crashing down. It’s time to end prohibition. I’m proud of how far the movement has come in the last ten years. Dirtball: Again, being from Oregon, it doesn’t surprise me. If it didn’t pass in California, then it won’t be passing in Oregon anytime soon. I’m a supporter of it and down for the cause, but I manage to get by just fine with the way things are right now. Personally, I think I will always love the illegal part of smoking anyway, so it won’t affect me either way. Where do you see the cannabis movement in 4 years? Brad X: We can only push things forward…I thought the world was ending in 2012? Dirtball: I see it about the same way it is now, just on the cusp of becoming legal, but the government stopping the process. I hope things will progress. I will continue to do my part in pushing for it, but it seems the reality is a tough road ahead. Up here in the Northwest, marijuana has always been a very laidback thing. So, sometimes the fight for legalization seems like a smaller effort than that of California. But, I think it’s just not hard to get, and police are so used to it being around that it makes it unimportant to a lot of us smokers to have it be legal. Of course we want it that way, but again, I’m just fine sketchin’ out a little. Good for the soul. Stay on your toes. How have your lifestyle and your fans evolved from the start to now? Brad X: People are people; the more things change, the more they stay the same. Life is a cycle of experiences. I want to musically expand and get better with time. It has been a long strange trip the last 15 years; it feels like revolution is in the air. It’s time for some radical changes. People are not always comfortable with change. We thrive in uncomfortable environments.

Dirtball: I have always maintained the same lifestyle and the same mindset. The more fans you gain, the more capability you have for delivering a message and being heard! That is what is so cool about a lot of the social networks now-a-days. You can track the number of followers or friends and really pinpoint what info you want to deliver and to whom. This takes the word ‘fans’ to a whole new evolution. Basically, technology has enhanced my lifestyle and the evolution of fandom, which is a positive! What does SRH mean to you? Brad X: Hard work, years of dedication…Still wreaking havoc. Dirtball: SRH has been a big part of my life since around 1996. It has represented a way of living and a way of being to me. I’m an outdoorsman, sport enthusiast, and a hardcore stoner. Been that way my whole life, so SRH and the ideas behind it fit me. It is the same way I feel about Suburban Noize Records. It is a mindset, a culture, and an independent model of success!

Interview with Willie Psycho Article by: Robert Stinson Photo by: Gio Blitz

I couldn’t help but notice the smell of premium bud emanating from a hotboxed van as we walked into the parking lot of Riley’s Sports Bar in Point Loma. The doors flew open and the band immerged freshly baked with Willie Carter (lead vocalist, bass guitarist) taking the helm with sound equipment in hand, sporting his signature dreadlocks. He was joined by Fernando Ramirez (guitarist, backup vocals) who could have been mistaken as the love child of Eddie Munster and Alice Cooper; and Moose (drummer) rounded out the team with a dirty bag over his head, looking like a reject prisoner of Al Qaeda. In the lobby of the adjacent hotel, the band reminisced about their whirlwind cross-country tours that saw them play with the likes of Warrant, The Misfits, Ice–T, Problem from Snoop Dogg’s Pound, The Exploited, Greg Ginn from Black Flag, and local artist Mr. Dubie. Their singles “Said N’ Done” and “My Black Wings” have garnered them air play on satellite radio while their first release PSYCHO 4 LIFE sold close to 40,000 copies. Always controversial, the band has been gleaned from the gutter punk scene and fused with rap, funk, and reggae, creating a barrier breaking sound that will blow your eardrums out. With their much anticipated album The Predator, slated to be released in the near future, Willie Psycho is sure to become a force to be reckoned with.

What was it like growing up a misfit hard rock fan in New Orleans?

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Willie Carter: It was difficult because most of my friends were into rap and hip-hop, but

that’s not to say that I don’t like that style of music; my tastes just varied. I just felt out of place being the only black kid in a bad neighborhood who was listening to and playing rock n’ roll. I got beat up a few times on the way to school because of it.

What major challenges have you guys faced when dealing with individuals within the music industry? Fernando Ramirez: Oh man, you know everybody has their expectations about what they’re going to get out of the show. Everyone from the promoter all the way down to the soundman expects to get their pay. If the crowd isn’t there, the pay isn’t there; it’s very simple and sometimes it can suck, especially when tempers flare. I got into music to have fun and that’s what I intend to do. I just like to show up and play.

I bet you have some wild road stories; what was it like thrashing your way across the country? WC: Well, on our last tour, we had Moose with us while we toured with Mr. Dubie, who I have to

give a shout out to because he’s crazy big. We wound up traveling to Fresno, Sacramento, and then to Las Vegas in the back of a U-Haul van because our vehicle got messed up. There were eight guys, one chick, a dog, and a keg of beer. It was 124 degrees outside and the other guitar player, who is no longer in the band, finally had enough – he couldn’t do it anymore. By the time we were finished with our gig in Vegas, all of us were tapped out of cash, so our last resort was to try our luck at one of the casinos where we played the penny slots. One of the band members won $100 and that was enough gas money to get us home.

There’s a strong emotional core at the center of your music. Can you talk about some personal experiences that influence your songwriting process? WC: The songs that I write and sing about all have a personal meaning to me. Some of the

emotional content stems from my dysfunctional childhood, which is something that a lot of people can relate to. So, pretty much, I write songs about what I’m feeling and that raw aggression is what comes out.

What is it about the nature of politics, police brutality and anarchy that make them topics of influence for lyrics? FR: For the most part, the cops have outlived their purpose. This includes the courts who seem preoccupied with racking up convictions and looking good at their job. In reality, they’re causing more harm than good. I think our music reflects the attitude that you need to stand up when you see injustices happening to your friends and family.

Do you feel that over time as more success comes to you and your perspectives have changed that it will affect the dynamics of your sound? WC: For 10-12 years, we strictly played underground punk and I

was pretty close-minded when it came to adapting to different styles. Now, we’re incorporating rap and funk, and mixing everything else into our music, trying not to fit into any specific genre and actually playing music that we like to play; it has made all the difference. I mean, how does a former punk band have more hip-hop fans than punk fans?

Indicas? Sativas? Hybrids? What strains do you guys usually stick to when you want to burn one down? Moose: All of the above! It’s ridiculous that politicians waste their time at-

tacking dispensaries; do they not have better things to do with their time? Legalizing it would be a way to clean up some of the damage that was caused when Bush was in office. It’s about time that this country wakes up and sees the light. That’s just my opinion.

Who are some of your major influences? FR: I think we all come from different backgrounds. For myself, I love 80s

Your band has been very vocal in their glam rock, Wasp, Mötley Crüe – you know, all the dark metal bands. I also like support of cannabis usage with singles some of the thrash bands from that time period, like Megadeath, Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Judas Priest; it’s all great stuff. like “Legalize It.” What is your opinion WP: I grew up on Slayer, Morbid Angel, DJ Quick, Ice-T and Public Enemy. about medicinal marijuana? Should it just be legalized for recreational use or What projects are you guys currently working should things be left as they are now? on? WC: Personally, I think it should be legalized just like alcohol. I mean, we all like to blaze a big fat one now and again, some more WC: The next album we’re working on is called The Predator. It’s currently in than others.

FR:

You talkin’ about me? I’ve had family members go to jail over totally bogus minor possession charges. When they put away people for marijuana, they’re messing up someone’s life for nothing.

preproduction. It’s kind of like our last album Psycho 4 Life, but a lot grittier with more guitar solos in it. We’re adding more songs that are in the rap/rock genre because we’re all about mixing it up. Be sure to check out www.myspace.com/williepsychomusic for up to date concert info.

How’d The Show Go? Article By: sandieganliz Photos By: Courtney Pakalolo

Subliminal Trip Album Release Party

March 5th marked the Subliminal Trip Album Release Party, which also launched the new record label – NUG Records. As the sista’-partner of NUG Magazine, NUG Records is an indie label looking to sign upcoming local musicians. Their first signed artists are a progressive rock band called Subliminal Trip, hence the green carpet event. Doors opened at 8pm at Soundwave in Mission Beach. Upon entry, Subliminal Trip had a booth where you could purchase the brand new, full-length album “Be Set Free”. Next, there was the green carpet where one can have his or her picture taken by a NUG photographer. Following the green carpet, there was the NUG Radio booth, and then the Dime Bag booth, which was hosted by NUG Magazine contributor Tiffany Janay. NUG friends and family were there in full force, as well as Subliminal Trip sponsors Cabo Wabo Tequila, 4130, and The Kind Cookery. Reason to Rebel started the night around 9:30p.m. with some hardcore, rage-type rock. They weren’t hard to miss because they were loud and sang proud. Their music definitely has political messages and, that night, the band raged! The music sounded like grunge/rock with fast beating drums and an electric guitar that gave a garage-type feel. Vocals suited the music well with a rock n’ roll vibe that screamed the name Reason to Rebel. Next up was Mean Dinosaur. This band was mellower, representing a reggae style mixed with progressive rock. The leading guitar definitely had reggae riffs while also going into a melodic, bluesy sound. The drums kept a steady beat and the bass guitar was mellow. The vocals, like the first band, rocked out and gave the music an overall edge. When Subliminal Trip was up to perform, the lights dimmed and their first music video hit the screen wall that was located right above the stage. The Soundwave crowd watched as Subliminal Trip debuted 84 | NUGMAG.COM

their song “Be Set Free”. – The video starts out with the band approaching a storage unit filled with a bunch of people ready to rock out; and they do, once the band starts playing their song. The song is about being tipsy and the police getting ya’, but f’ that, you’re gonna “Be Set Free”. And, as the band reveals how you’re going to be set free, they skank out their music. All the bands are based out of San Diego, just how NUG Records prefers it. Thus, Subliminal Trip’s music is obviously influenced by our beach culture. They have this surf meets ska meets progressive rock sound. The vocals seem designed to take one on a trip, a mind-trip…a subliminal one. It’s impressive how Jason Becker sings because he turns his voice into an instrument with the vocals being melodic throughout each song. If you enjoy progressive/rock music, check them out; after all, they just released their first full-length album! Now, a little history about NUG Records first signed band – Subliminal Trip. The band was formed in 2008, and according to their bio on www. subliminaltrip.com, the band started out with just two members playing acoustic guitar, but happened to develop a nice following. So, they grabbed two more members and pushed their band further. With help from Dustin Becker, Subliminal Trip’s manager and brother to vocalist Jason Becker, the band has achieved such accomplishments like winning KROQ’s “Your Shot to Rock” contest, which was sponsored by Cabo Wabo Tequila. They have played at the Sunset Strip Musical Festival in Los Angeles alongside the Smashing Pumpkins. And, according to the Hollywood Music in Media website, they received an award for “Best Reggae”. NUG Records was also celebrating their launch, which took place in February. According to NUG Magazine publisher Ben G. Rowin, he and Dustin Becker decided to partner up and start a record label after covering many local bands

that were having trouble finding one. NUG Records helped Subliminal Trip get their CD out, did a grip of promotion, and helped create the successful album release party. According to the guys, the final crowd count was well over 600 people. Musicians and supporters alike are encouraged to check out the NUG Records website www.NUGrecords.com, which recently launched on March 3rd. Local bands interested in getting signed can contact NUG Records at getsigned@NUGrecords.com. Others interested in more information about the brand spanking new label can email info@NUGrecords.com. And, to those who continue to show love to the NUG family, thank you for your continued support! You can find more great stuff at www.NUGmag.com and www.NUGradio.com. Until then, get lifted!

Local Artist Spotlight: Bobby Lane By Jed Sanders

Bobby Lane is a down to earth kind of character with a lot of creative soul. His work stretches back four decades with rock n’ roll graphics and band gig flyers from the San Diego underground music scene of the 1980s to the insanely beautiful tattoo work he does today. If San Diego were to build some kind of underground Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, without a doubt, Bobby Lane would be in there with the many contributions he has made in the early DIY scene. We stopped by HD Tattoo and Trading Company in North Park where Bobby works and he was kind enough to answer a few questions. Where are you from? I was born on October 2, 1964 and raised in San Diego. My mother and father met at Hoover High School and I was the result of their teenage romance. I sometimes wonder or speculate as to the circumstances of my conception. I like to think it was in a 1952 or ‘54 Chevy Bel-Air, but I have a feeling it was a Ford Business Coupe... I’m a working man at heart. Do you have any fond memories of San Diego years back? I’ve lived most of the last 30 years or so in and around the North Park area. North Park and San Diego had a pretty rich unwritten history during those years. Many artists and musicians lived here as the rent was much cheaper and

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a person could afford to devote their time to other things besides chasing the dollar. It’s a much more attractive place at first glance – today of course – with nightclubs and restaurants that would have never survived here before, in a neighborhood that was the domain of dive bars, thrift stores, 99¢ stores, slice joints, doughnut shops, liquor stores, and the Paras Newsstand where Tom Waits had his photo taken for the back cover of his first record. Paras is still there…God bless ‘em! I remember the drive-in movie theaters and going to Belmont Park when it was a real old-time amusement park like Coney Island with a funhouse and a haunted house. There was that scary fucking rollercoaster and you could ride all of the rides all day for 5 bucks, which seemed like a fortune in those days. I remember when the hookers used to walk up and down Broadway in downtown instead of El Cajon Blvd. There were burlesque joints, strip bars, peepshows, and arcades. You could play pinball or skeeball, shoot at a shooting gallery, and buy a fake switchblade or bowie knife all within walking distance of city hall and the county courthouse. Funland, Roaring Twenties, and Ship’s Services – 10 cent cups of coffee, all night diners, and movie theaters! The tattoo shops started at the foot of Broadway and went up to Horton Plaza and down Fourth. There was old Doc Webb’s where I walked in at the age of 12 and asked, “So how old do you gotta be?” and Doc replied, “Older than you, son.” What made you first interested in becoming a tattoo artist? My early work in pen and ink, and flyer art was influenced to some extent by tattoo art. Growing up in the punk scene, a lot of the older guys I looked up to had some pretty extensive tattoo work for the time. One of those was Mad Marc Rude, who was a big influence on me in those years and still is. He too became a tattoo artist and always lived the life of an artist. I was also influenced quite a bit by seeing the early work of Filip Leu. It let me see that there were possibilities beyond what I was aware of in tattooing.

I didn’t get tattooed until somewhat later, but when I did, it was an epiphany that I could do this. How long have you been tattooing? I started tattooing on my own in 1993, working mostly on friends, independently. I began tattooing in tattoo shops in 1995. What was the first tattoo that you gave? I tattooed a small drawing of my own design just above my left knee. It was not as easy as I thought it might be. –Skin does not behave like paper or canvas. What’s the best thing about being a tattoo artist? Tattooing! I love it; making people happy. Being able to see your customer’s reaction to the art that he or she is taking with them everywhere they go from that point on. Any advice for upcoming tattoo artists? Work hard. Don’t try to re-invent the wheel. Some shit just won’t work as a tattoo, so don’t try and make it. If you are not possessed by the desire to do this, don’t bother. Is there anything from your childhood that you find comes up in your work frequently? In painting perhaps, but since I’m still working that out, I wouldn’t be able to tell you what that is. I think we all have things coming up from our childhood throughout our so-called adult lives; in tattooing, certainly not. I wouldn’t want to burden my clients with the detritus of my personal life. I’m there to help them work their shit out. What do you want people to walk away with when they see your art? With tattoos, whether simple or elaborate, I would like them to leave with a smile and a sense of satisfaction. If they see a painting or a drawing, I hope it does the creepy-crawl on them. By that, I mean I hope it moves them outside of the established realm of both their personal and collective dominant paradigm. Forget about authority, question reality. That is the ultimate authority and a truly insidious form of fascism. What do you find is the most troubling when it comes to the business side of art? I suppose it would be that there is a business side to art. What do you do for fun? Lately, I like spending time outside for a hike or a long walk in nature. I love music and I always have. I enjoy going out to see some live music when someone I really like is playing, as well as watching my friends play. I also like to go bike riding and skating, and enjoy doing all of these things with my son and my girlfriend whenever possible.

Best show you ever attended? Favorite bands? Man...I saw so many good shows. Iggy was probably one of the best shows I ever saw. Also, Black Flag in 1980 and The Cramps in ‘82. Funeral was a really good band I saw. Bad Brains in about ‘84, a lot of the Morlocks and Telltale Hearts shows, and I was at all of the Crash Worship shows. Zeni Geva, hall shows in the 80s, all the Che shows from the mid 80s thru the early 90s, and Generator shows at the Nude Bowl – there are so many! Bands I like a lot these days are The Soundtracks of Our Lives from Sweden, Boris from Japan, Ufomammut from Italy, and Queen Elephantine from Hong Kong and New York. Some local bands I like include Death Crisis (who I saw for the first time recently), the Tori Cobras, and The Sess (who are now defunct). How did you get started doing gig posters/flyers? I started going to punk rock shows at the age of 15. In those days, the punk scene was a very DIY place to be. It still is where it exists today, in its true form. I needed to contribute and I liked to draw, so that’s what I did. I approached the promoter, Big Mick of Dead or Alive productions, and asked if he could use a design that I had come up with for an upcoming Circle Jerks show at the Adams Avenue Theater. It was a rudimentary effort at best, but my friend Marc, who I mentioned before, suggested better quality pens and paper. Things got better from there. I continued doing flyers for the next three years on a regular basis and, for some years, sporadically after that. What would you say is one of the biggest differences between the gig posters of today and those in the 80s? Well, in those days, we mostly did flyers and not too many posters. They almost always were standard size 8½ x 11 Xeroxed or sometimes offset printed. Most of all, my flyers were limited to runs of a thousand at the most, and everything was handmade and hand drawn. There wasn’t a computer that was capable of helping you do art at that time. How would you define “success” with your art? What are you working towards and where do you hope to see yourself in 10 years? As far as my tattooing goes, success for me is making each person happy one at a time. I’d like to concentrate on doing the work that I like to do, which is mostly larger pieces in a Japanese style or traditional western style with some inventive twists to it. Perhaps at some point, I would like to have my own studio. What current art projects are you working on right now? I have a few sleeves in progress in the Japanese style. I’m working on a back piece of the Dragon Gate where a koi is swimming up a waterfall and is in the process of turning into a dragon. I’m working on a really cool skull sleeve in the Japanese style that has red rays shooting out of the eyes. I’m also working on a very nice piece that features a bear in a more traditional style, but with Japanese peonies and a golden scrollwork frame. One of my favorites is a half sleeve Ganesh design that I’m doing on a good friend of mine. I’m also working on a couple of biomechanical projects, which are a lot of fun. Hey! Thanks so much for the interview and your time. Thank you! If you like what you see, come get tattooed! You can check out more of Bobby’s artwork and tattoos at www.bobbylanetattoo.com. To set up an appointment to get tattooed, contact Bobby@bobbylanetattoo.com or give him a call and pay him a visit at HD Tattoo and Trading Company, 3066 University Ave. (North Park neighborhood.) (619) 246-2416.

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Popped Culture Article By: Robert Stinson Photo by: Jennifer Martinez

It’s irritating when people say that the gay rights movement is a fringe issue that is instigated by the media to further divide opposite ends of the political spectrum. This was the same kind of rhetoric that was thrown around during the civil rights movement when African-Americans and other minorities stood up for their God given rights as American citizens. Thankfully, since that time, legislation has been drafted in order to protect people against those kinds of social injustices, yet today, homosexuals are still denied their basic rights that are granted to their straight counterparts. The LGBT community owes so much to people like Nicole Murray Ramirez, who some describe as being boisterous, loud, obnoxious and opinionated. Despite the arrows in his back, Nicole has been elected four times as a chairman of the city’s human relations committee and has been the driving force behind The Imperial Court de San Diego’s status as one of the most influential and effective charity organizations in the city. He has received numerous awards, including the Caesar Chavez Humanitarian Award for his tireless efforts to ensure that all minorities have a voice and seat at city hall. 90 | NUGMAG.COM

It was truly an honor for us at NUG to be granted the opportunity to pick the brain of one of the founding fathers of San Diego’s bustling gay community.

What set of circumstances made you want to dedicate your life to public service? Well, I come from a very patriotic family. My father was a World War II veteran and Latino activist, and my mother was very religious and heavily involved in the church. The first Latino national organization founded in the United States was called the National GI Form, which was comprised of American veterans of Latino descent who came together to form the organization. Of course, they were smart enough to say that they were proud American veterans while at the same time empowering and giving visibility to the Latino community. My dad had a leadership role in that organization, so he really encouraged me to take an active role in society by reading the newspapers and getting involved in student government. I always say that my father pushed me to be a congressman and how my mother said she wanted me to be a bishop, so one day, I called them from Hollywood and told them that I wasn’t going to be a congressman or a bishop, but that I was a queen.

How has The Imperial Court de San Diego grown since you were indoctrinated into the organization?

The best way to describe The Imperial Court: it’s the gay Shiners. The Imperial Court, if you think about it, was founded in 1965, which was before Stonewall. It’s

interesting to note that the founder, José Julio Sarriar, was a WWII veteran and, in 1961, became the first openly gay candidate to run for public office. I got involved in The Imperial Court because it was the only game in town. So if you wanted to get involved in the gay community in San Diego, it was either the Tavern Guild, which was comprised of bar owners, or The Imperial Court. At that time, there was no HRC (Human Rights Campaign) and The Centers were not even established yet. The Imperial Court is where I met Harvey Milk and we got involved in the campaign against Anita Bryant.

How has the political landscape changed for LGBT activism in San Diego since you first started getting involved in the process? I think I’ve been blessed to witness the growth of the gay community as well as the Latino community. If you think about it, the two civil rights struggles mirror each other and it has been an honor to bring visibility to both communities. I have tried to follow in my father’s footsteps by fighting for social equality for all peoples. In all fairness, we owe a debt of gratitude to the African-American Civil Rights Movement because they were the pioneers who laid down how to do it.

On that note, were you ever involved in the Caesar Chavez Labor Movement? The two people who’ve inspired me the most have been Caesar Chavez and Coretta Scott King. I had the honor of meeting and working alongside both of them, especially Chavez. When I was around Caesar, I always knew I was in the presence of greatness, yet he was such a humble man. I talked him into coming to a gay march on Washington in the 80s and he came, despite getting a lot of gruff from the other Mexican American leaders for doing it. He simply didn’t care what other people thought of him. He was the first civil rights leader to come out in support of homosexual civil rights.

Your opposition to the renaming of the Coronado Bridge is completely understandable. Can you talk about what it was like being there when the Reagan administration refused to lift a finger for the thousands afflicted with the AIDS virus? This whole thing has opened up a wound for me. I lived through that time, which I call the early dark ages of AIDS. Going to funerals and memorials became a way of life for many of us. Going to those weekly burials and then having the President of the United States not even mention the word AIDS was just too much. Even though he was effective at foreign policy, it doesn’t change the fact that he had the blood of thousands of individuals on his hands.

What was the biggest challenge you had to face during your tenure as chairman of the city’s human relations commission? I was honored to be the only one elected to four terms as a chair; I had no problems. It was the most remarkable experience because that commission is made up of Republicans, Democrats and minority leaders all working together. I had the chance to learn about all different kinds of people. What the commission respected about me is that I’m not a one issue person; in fact, the city council and previous mayors have said that under my direction, the commission became more involved with social justice issues.

What is your official opinion about the city’s medical marijuana zoning ordinance, which would in fact be a defacto ban, forcing collectives to close their doors?

I have mixed concerns about this issue. I’m a staunch supporter of compassionate marijuana use. In my opinion, we should legalize marijuana because there wouldn’t be all this drama. Let’s be honest, there are a lot of games being played and people taking advantage of the system. I come from the 60s where there was sex, drugs and rock n’ roll and, unlike Clinton, I more than inhaled. Living through the AIDS epidemic and seeing my friends benefit from it made me come out in support of medical marijuana. I’m appalled that someone in this country can have a little bit of weed and go to prison for it. We’re going through the same thing that happened during the alcohol prohibition of the 1920s. This being said, I do feel that California will lead the way when it comes to the decimalization of marijuana.

What needs to happen in order to win the hearts and minds of individuals in the country who are steadfast in their opposition to civil liberties for individuals within the LGBT community? When people know that you’re gay, whether it is your coworkers or neighbors, it makes it more personal and harder to judge. Harvey Milk said, “Come out of your Closets.” Why is that? The more people that come out, the more people will realize that they are in fact surrounded by gay people on a day-to-day basis, and those personal relationships can be built, which will change people’s minds. I say in many of my speeches that I give across the country that the struggle for gay and lesbian equality is the civil rights movement of the 21st century. Just wait, we’ll see the day when we’re finally free; however, it may not be in my lifetime.

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Performing Arts Portal By: Marc Emmelmann

SEXY TIME Natalia: “I’m sorry to bother you, but I couldn’t tell anyone else. I don’t know another woman who gives her body so frequently...Oh! I’m sorry, my English. Have I offended you?” Sally: “Oh, no, not at all.” - From Cabaret When I say “Cabaret,” what comes to mind? Maybe scantily clad sexy time dancers at a dive bar? Perhaps downtown San Diego’s controversial history of brothelization? Maybe women of great seductive charm who lead others into compromising or dangerous situations? Perhaps the 1972 film Cabaret with Liza Minnelli comes to mind (which was a huge success and currently has an astounding 97% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website)? Or maybe the classic Broadway musical Cabaret, which won 8 Tony Awards, comes to mind! Regardless, on stage or on film, Cabaret has a track record of WINNING! And this spring, you can witness Cabaret live on stage in San Diego at Cygnet Theatre. As a general rule of thumb, the film industry is much more alluring and lucrative than the theatre industry these days. However, let’s not forget whose shoulders the film industry stands on – and this is why we still go to theatre. Our modern tech, savvy generation has a choice – to shun live theatre and only feed on TV, film, and the internet or get into it via observation or active participation. Live theatre is an experience you cannot insert into your iPod, iPad, or put on pause. It’s a great reminder of how to live in the now and not get stuck inside houses made of ticky tacky while glued to computers and television. San Diego is truly amazing with its vast spectrum of styles and theatres, and I’m hopeful they will not dwindle away like book and music stores. Cygnet Theatre in Old Town is presenting the classic Broadway show Cabaret, running March 26th through May 15th. Not every production at Cygnet is geared towards the modern audience, but with last year’s Sweeney Todd production and this year’s Cabaret show, they are building their reputation for presenting art that grips people of all ages. Cygnet has told me that they’re pushing the envelope of provocative with nontraditional casting and it’s one of the most technically advanced productions they have ever done. Five words to describe Cabaret – dark, daring, provocative, entertaining and stylish. Cabaret depicts the dreadlocked stories and relations of a cabaret singer, an American writer, and the people of Berlin all caught up in the swirling whirlpool of a changing society. In the disreputable Kit Kat Klub, on the eve of Hitler’s rise to power, almost anything – including love – is possible; so NUG Mag readers, “Life is a cabaret ol’ chum, so come to the Cabaret!” Cygnet’s next show in the pike is the American classic “Our Town,” running June 18th through July 10th. Our Town follows the courtship and marriage of George and Emily, and in following the two, it reveals the hidden mystery behind “the everyday,” which is set in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire – a fictional New England town at the start of the 20th century. As every production tells a story, I find that I’m often trying to determine what the writers and producers had in mind for me to “get,” but I also try to balance that with just letting the experience happen on a more subjective personal level. The next show I’m writing about is perfect for this kind of juxtaposition, especially if you have BAD GIRL written all over the tablet of your heart.

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If you missed “Toughest Girl Alive” at Moxie Theatre last month, you still have time for another sizzling and sexified stage play already underway – “Or,” which is running through April 23rd. Moxie Theatre is in their 6th season and has a very catchy maxim this year, “In Celebration of Bad Girls!” What does this mean? Simply put, it’s about BAD GIRLS – bad girls in bonnets, bodices or boots, in spelling bees or singing the blues, bad girls with one thing in common – being moxie! The definition of moxie means: “backbone: fortitude and determination.” As for some frame of reference, Moxie Theatre is a professional social profit theatre whose mission is “to expand the idea of what is feminine by using the intimate art of theatre to create more honest and diverse female images for our culture.” “Or” (by Liz Duffy Adams, Directed by Shana Wride) is a witty and sexy restoration romp where the 1660s start to feel like the 1960s with free love and free thinking abound. Aphra Behn is considered to be the first female playwright, but before she was a playwright, she was a poet and a spy. It’s also true that Nell Gwynne was the hottest actress in town when Aphra was writing, but whether or not Aphra hid Nell in her bedroom just before the two “got it on,” so she could entertain her other lover King Charles II, is more than up for debate. There are lots of quick costume changes, lightning fast exits and entrances in Or, so this fast paced show should be quite tantalizing! Coming soon to Moxie Theatre is Ten Cent Night (By Marisa Wegrzyn Directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg), which is running May 27th through June 26th – their final production of season 6! Ten Cent Night is a dark, quirky family comedy from a time when a dime could buy you a phone call home. In a nutshell, Dad has shot himself in the head and failed musician Roby Finley is on her way home to Texas with a suitcase full of stolen cash to save her heartsick sister. Feel free to save some money by getting ½ price tickets for both these performances through Arts Tix at www.sdArtsTix.com!

Mean Dinosaur

Reason to Rebel

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Subliminal Trip Album Release Party Photos By SCR Photos

Monette Marino Keita

Rhythm & The Method NUG Booth

Poster List

SAN DIEGO INDIEFEST 2011

Martian Horses

Jason Action

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Sean Dietrich

Photos By Chris Konecki

CCHHI

Dave Sass

Christopher Kim

Alex Minch

Citabria

Sour Soul

Shaimus

Vokab Kompany

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April Calendar of Events Sundays Uptown Ranking at U31 @ 9 Reggae at RT’s Longboard Grill @ 9 Reggae Sundays at Sin @ 9 Mondays Dub Dynamite at The Office @ 9 Industry Night at U31 @ 9 Reggae at Stage Bar and Grill @ 8 The Styletones at Bar Pink @ 9 Tuesdays Reggae Saloon at The Saloon @ 9 Stress Free Tuesdays Comedy Show at U31 @ 7 Hip-Hop/Reggae/Soul at Bar Dynamite @ 9 Wednesdays Royal Wednesdays at Diamond Jim’s (every 1st & 3rd Wednesday) @ 9 Dub Dorado at El Dorado (the 2nd & 4th Wednesday) @ 9 DJ Reggae at Fannie’s Nightclub @ 9 Club Kingston at Winston’s @ 9 Reggae meets Hip-Hop at Ruby Room (every last Wednesday) @ 9 Thursdays Riddim Roll Reggae at Harney Sushi @ 9 Generations Hip Hop at U31 @ 9 Shamrocks and Dreadlocks with TRC Sound System at Gallagher’s @ 9 Friday TRC Dub in Da Skybox at Skybox Bar and Grill (every 2nd & 4th Friday) @ 9 Hip-Hop/Reggae at Bar Dynamite @ 9 Saturdays Rasta Nation Vibrations at Sapphire Lounge @ 9

1. Ani DiFranco At House of Blues @ 7:30

Saul Q At The Office @ 9

Stepping Feet At Whiskey Girl @ 8:30

The Maui Wowees At The Stage Bar and Grill @ 6:30

Talib Kweli At House of Blues @ 7

BetatraXx At U31 @ 9

7. Seismic At Stage Saloon @ 10

Polynesian Underground Presents: Natural Vibrations w/ Tribal Theory At Sound Wave @ 8

Lurkville At Tower Bar @ 9

KEM At 4th & B @ 8:30

She Wants Revenge At Belly Up @ 9:30

Dangerous Curves Ahead: Burlesque on the Go Go! At Brick by Brick @ 7

Coolio At The Ramona Mainstage @ 7

Reggae Party SD At Hooters (Gaslamp) @ 9

May Star’s Fashion Whore At Ruby Room @8

Munson Keef At Leucadian @ 9

3. Jelly Bread At Winston’s @ 9

Feel The Noise At U31 @ 9

Thread Show At Horton Plaza @ 12pm

David Bandrowski & Zapf Dingbats At El Dorado @ 8

4. The Sounds At Belly Up @ 9

Will Calhoun Quartet At Anthology @ 7:30 2. Vaude Villain At Pure Platinum @ 8 Skid Row At 4th & B @ 8 Mike Pinto, Shoreline Roots, Tribal Theory & Megan Combs At Belly Up @ 8

Lady Dottie & The Diamonds At Tower Bar @ 8 5. Melali-The Drifter Sessions featuring Rob Machado At Belly Up @ 7 6. Knight Vision At The Kadan @ 9

Jet West At SDSU @ 12pm Subliminal Trip At Ocean House Carlsbad @ 9 The Unforgotten & Maitland Roots Melapelus CD release party At Club L in Imperial Beach @ 8:30 Mean Dinosaur, Ease Up & Fiery I At Boar Cross’n @ 9 8. Rise Against, Bad Religion & Four Year Strong At Rimac Arena @ 7 British Sea Power At The Casbah @ 8:30 G. Love & Special Sauce At House of Blues @ 8 Smoothini the Ghetto Houdini At On Broadway 7-9 Stone Senses At Leucadian @ 8 Scream At The World Beat Center @ 6 9. Pete Yorn & Ben Kweller At House of Blues @ 7

Mr. P Chill,The Beatjackers & Max Bundles At Winston’s @ 6 Dust N’ Bones (Guns N Roses Tribute) At Belly Up @ 8 Polynesian Underground Presents: The B Foundation, Katastro & Southtown Generals At Sound Wave @ 9 The Green Jacket At The Blarney Stone @ 9 10. Volbeat At House of Blues @ 6 Megan Combs At Winston’s @ 7 Ambrosia At AMSD Concerts @ 8 12. Mad Traffic At The Loft UCSD @ 7

Lenka & Greg Laswell At Anthology @ 7:30

Stone Senses At Balboa All Day Festival @ 12pm

South Bay ASA Meeting At 1233 Palm Ave, IB @ 6

21. Mike Pinto & Iration At Belly Up @ 8

15. The Kills & Foals At House of Blues @ 7 Yuck At Casbah @ 8:30 Liquid Blue At Belly Up @ 5:30 Lil’ Flip At 4th and B @ 7 16. Peepshow At The Kadan @ 9 The Knocks At Casbah @ 8 Tribal Seeds At Sound Wave @ 8

SD ASA Meeting At 7536 Fay Ave 92037 @ 7

The Diplomats At 4th and B @ 8

13. Theo Von At Belly Up @ 8

CCHHI Meeting At 1922B South Coast Hwy, 92054

14. Biffy Clyro At Belly Up @ 9

20. Rock Hill, Armory & Seedless Present: Snoop Dogg’s Sticky Icky 4/20 Party At 4th and B @ 8

Brandon Flowers At House of Blues @ 7

4/20 Event All Day At Cheba Hut I Love Poke Festival At Bali Hai Restaurant @ 6

It’s Mental At Second Wind Bar @ 9 22. Pato Banton & The Now Generation At Brick by Brick @ 8 Vokab Kompany, Solorox & DJ ManCat At Belly Up @ 9 Kottonmouth Kings, Krizz Kaliko & Kutt Calhoun At House of Blues @ 8

26. The North County ASA Meeting At 514 South Coast Hwy 92054 @ 7 27. The Psychedelic Furs At Belly Up @ 8 Zion I & The Grouch At House of Blues @ 8 28. Mighty Crown & David Rodigan At Sound Wave @ 8 Joe Purdy At Belly Up @ 7 Fobia At 4th and B @ 7

23. Big Bang Theory At The Kadan @ 9

29. Endoxi At Leucadian @ 9

Anuhea At Del Mar Marriott @ 8

Subliminal Trip At Rosie O’ Gradys @ 9

South Psychozidel, Deep Rooted & Stranger At Brick by Brick @ 7

Synrgy At Portugalia @ 9

Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers At Belly Up @ 8

DJ Quik At 4th and B @ 9

The Growlers At Casbah @ 8:30

30. Accept At House of Blues @ 6:30

The East County ASA Meeting At 2990 Jamacha Road 92021 @ 2 24. Middle Earth Ensemble & Belly Dance Show At The Turquoise @ 8

Nipsey Hussle At 4th and B @ 8

Product Reviews

By: Ben G. Rowin

Bootube

We met Beau, the owner of The Maui Wowie Bootube, at the CHAMPS show. He was showing off the durability of the product by asking reps at the booths with glass “can your pipes do this?” and dropping the Bootube on the hard floor! I thought it was great and decided to spend some time with Beau and ask him about his product. The Bootubes are handcrafted out of beautiful Maui grown black bamboo, a completely sustainable resource that makes them 100% organic. The rare black bamboo is naturally resistant to mold, mildew, cracking and water damage. Each tube is a work of art and no two are exactly the same! They use Maui harvested, organic beeswax to seal the bottoms of the tubes and will never use any toxic or GMO materials in their production. Even the glass they use for downstems and bowls are all Maui based companies that use local, organic, sustainable materials whenever possible. The company motto “Burn Green” is not just the business motto, but a way of life for Beau and the Bootube family! Working with Organic Wick, an all natural beeswax hemp wick, and Solar Bowl, a leather bound magnifying glass, you can fix your head without ANY negative impact on the earth! Everyone has a desire to make choices that have a positive effect on the environment, and Bootube allows us the opportunity to choose a smoking device made with much respect for our Mother Earth! Mahalo Nui Loa Beau! For more information or to order, go to:

themauiwowie.com

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Stones Diffusion

Lighter Mate Billed as the Most Functional Lighter in the World, Lighter Mate was also at CHAMPS. The thing I liked most about this company besides the product is the history. Invented by a couple college guys that are taking the product to the next level, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a simple magnetic lighter that comes with a pack plate that slips into the

cellophane on your cigarette pack; the lighter then magnetizes to the plate and stays put! They have ANY color combo you can imagine and a whole line of products to accompany the Lighter Mate, including a strap for your waterpipe, grinders, keychain attachments and more! Mine is on my fridge, so any time I need my Lighter Mate, I know exactly where it is! Check them out at:

lightermate.com

Diffusion has become quite popular over the last few years. It basically breaks down the large bubbles of your bong into scores of smaller ones, which allows the smoke to cool even further. Stones Diffusion is a company making recycled glass stones that work with any waterpipe! Available in different colors and package sizes, these stones work great! Most of my pipes have a glass diffuser at the bottom, but for the one that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, I threw in some of these stones and was surprised at how well they worked! Check them out online at:

stonesdiffusion.com

ASTROLIGICAL PERSONALITY OF ARIES – THE RAM RULING PLANET – MARS We lost an hour, but gained our planting season. Spring has sprung! Everywhere you look, the little flowers of change show themselves as the days get longer, the soil gets warmer, and we get ready to move our grows outside. If you’ve been reading this column, you know that the signs of the zodiac and the changing of seasons come hand in hand. The zodiac signs begin with Aries, just as the seasons begin with spring. As long as man can remember, the Earth begins to give back in so many wonderful ways, like fruits and vegetables for a healthier body and, of course, our favorite little green herbs and edibles that heal while they stimulate our mind, body and soul.

By. Zodiac Mama

March 21 - April 19 Lucky Numbers 8, 19, 28, 38, 45, 56

NUG Astrology The Aries Female

The high energy Aries female is like a firecracker on the Fourth of July. Highly enthusiastic and extroverted, the Aries female is the kind of person that others gravitate towards. She is passionate and honest with a do-it-yourself attitude. Success is extremely important to the Aries female. She is the most natural of super achievers. The Aries female is uncomplicated and works very hard for what she values, whether it’s a job, success or a relationship. She likes people who are direct and get to the point quickly. She is attracted to those who are successful and have the same drive as her, someone who will go along with her assertiveness. It’s time to worry when an Aries woman is too quiet. She is naturally competitive and enjoys the spark in a relationship. She likes her meds strong, dank and sticky. After a few bowls to calm her down, she likes to kick off her shoes and really get into it; the Aries woman likes to party.

The Aries Male

If you want to get something done, you ask an Aries male to do it. This fire sign will do it with precision and lightning speed. There is no end to his tireless energy. He is always thinking and moving. Give him a new project, something he has never tried, and he will figure it out. His ability to know so much about so many subjects is amazing. His mind never stops; therefore, keeping him from getting a good night’s rest. The Aries characteristics are spontaneous action and courage. He is a true warrior, self-propelled and ready to go at any time. The Aries’ charismatic personality attracts many lovers and is attracted to those that are spirited and dynamic. He is protective and generous to those he loves. Money is very important to an Aries male, it enables him to feel more in control of his life; basically, money provides the freedom to do what he wants and to know he can pick up and go when the mood strikes. The Aries man likes to grow his own. With his attention to detail, you know his garden will have its very own, very unique combination of strains that will surprise and delight even the best of connoisseurs.

Compatible Signs: Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, and Aquarius