The Scoop on “four twenty” 420 – 4:20 – 4/20

Here’ the real scoop on the origin of the pot culture terms 420…

420 - as defined by wikipedia entry on cannabis culture

Origins of term 420 - The term was allegedly coined by a group of teenagers in San Rafael, California in 1971. Calling themselves the Waldos, because “their chosen hang-out spot was a wall outside the school,” the group first used the term in connection to a fall 1971 plan to search for an abandoned cannabis crop that they had learned about.The Waldos designated the Louis Pasteur statue on the grounds of San Rafael High School as their meeting place, and 4:20 p.m. as their meeting time.The Waldos referred to this plan with the phrase “4:20 Louis”. Multiple failed attempts to find the crop eventually shortened their phrase to simply “4:20″, which ultimately evolved into a codeword the teens used to mean pot-smoking in general. High Times Creative Director Steven Hager was the first person to track down the Waldos and publish their account of the origins of the term. Hager wrote “Are You Stoner Smart or Stoner Stupid?” (October 1998) in which he called for 4:20 p.m. to be the socially accepted hour of the day to consume cannabis. “I believe 420 is a ritualization of cannabis use that holds deep meaning for our subculture,” wrote Hager. “It also points us in a direction for the responsible use of cannabis.”

 

420 facts: the date 4/20 & the time of 4:20pm

Whatever the real story is, 420 has been an important part of the marijuana culture since the 1970′s. The significance of 420 has been kept underground and is mostly known only among marijuana smokers. Many non-smokers aren’t aware of the symbolism when they see someone wearing a T-shirt or baseball cap that says 420 across the front. While some marijuana smokers are using 420 as a code that enables them to openly speak about marijuana in front of parents or teachers. 420 has been to some, a sacred symbol for nearly 30 years.

When the 420 icon is somehow discreetly worked into a mainstream product like a film, marijuana users take notice. The film Pulp Fiction is rumored to have had all clocks throughout the movie set to 4:20pm (not true BTW, though all the clocks on the wall in the pawn shop are set to 4:20, there are 2 scenes with differing times). Marijuana smokers familiar with the symbol picked up on it—most people, however, did not.

Simply put, 420 is a symbol of cannabis and its culture. Today, April 20th events are international, and 4:20 pm has become sort of a world wide “burn time”.

Man Bids “420″ on Price is Right Video – Every Time!

 This is an absolutely classic video clip, featuring Evan Goding  as a contestant on The Price Is Right doing what he’s waited for his whole life. He makes it up to contestants row and bids 420. Not just once. A bunch of times. The crowd loves him and at one point he even makes Barker blush. One for the ages Evan, well done!

Known 420 Myths | Cannabis Culture

- Police dispatch code for smoking pot is 420. -> The number 420 is not police radio code for anything, anywhere. Checks of criminal codes suggest that the origin is neither Californian nor federal. For instance, California Penal Code 420 defines as a misdemeanor the hindrance of use of public lands.

- There are approximately 420 active chemicals in marijuana. -> Actually, there are approximately 315 active chemicals in marijuana. This number goes up and down depending on which plant is used.

- April 20th is National Pot Smokers Day. -> Well, it is now, but that wasn’t the origin.

- April 20th is Hitler’s birthday. -> Yes, it is his birthday. But, as 420 started out as a time, not a date, his birthday had nothing to do with it.

- The date of the Columbine school shootings. -> This happened after the term was already in use.

- 4:20 is tea time for pot-smokers in Holland. -> Tea time in Holland is at 5:30 pm, or is it 2:30 pm? Seems no one is quite sure when the wonderful people of Holland drink their tea.

- Google “420″ and you get 839,000,000 results. -> true, and almost all link to Cannabis references.

 

April 20th (4/20) in the United States and the World

 420 observances in the United States -

4/20 in San Francisco, California – Every year thousands of people flock from all over California to San Francisco’s Hippie Hill, in Golden Gate Park near the famous Haight-Ashbury district.

4/20 at Tallahassee, Florida - Named the #2 most pot smoking city in the United States, thousands observe 4/20 in Tallahassee. Some major places are the Florida State University and Florida A & M University campuses, numerous Tallahassee greenways, and industrial district (All Saints/Railroad Square).

4/20 at University of California, Santa Cruz – Students and others gather to smoke cannabis at a meadow near Porter College on April 20, 2007—”420 Day”.A celebration on April 20 takes place every year in the Porter College meadow at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The event has grown during recent years after the city of Santa Cruz passed Measure K in 2006, making marijuana a low-priority crime. Participants in the event are often confronted by religious anti-drug activists, yet these protesters are largely ignored.

4/20 at University of Colorado, Boulder – A large celebration is held every year on the University of Colorado’s Boulder campus, with attendance reaching more than 11,000 in 2008, and over 25,000 attendees in 2011. This would make CU Boulder’s celebration of the hopeful legalization of marijuana one of the largest such celebrations in the United States. University police have tried various methods to prevent the gathering, including photographing students participating in the event, but the crowd has grown every year.[9] The university and police have taken a more hands-off approach since 2006, emphasizing event safety over possession citations. Recent growth of the medical marijuana industry in Colorado is expected to add momentum to future events. On April 15, 2009, the Office of the Chancellor sent an e-mail to all CU students regarding the 2009 celebration of 4/20 stating that the event would debase “the reputation of your university and degree.” The CU student newspaper disagreed with the Chancellor’s analysis. No possession tickets were issued at the 2009 event.

  

420 Canadian observances -

4/20 in Ottawa, Ontario – Annually, on April 20, thousands of activists gather on Parliament Hill and Major’s Hill to look toward the peace tower as they join each other in smoking marijuana when the clock strikes 4:20. Police keep an eye on protesters to make sure the peace is kept within correlation to law.

4/20 in London, Ontario - Each year on 4/20 thousands gather at Victoria Park downtown to celebrate. Over 2,000 people joined the festivities in 2010 that included live music. London police made a presence but announced they were not going to lay any marijuana related charges. London is also the hometown of Canadian cannabis policy reform advocate Marc Emery.

4/20 in Toronto, Ontario - Every year on the first Saturday in May (in observance of 4/20), a march takes through the city streets in advocacy of legalizing marijuana. The march ends up at Queen’s Park Circle just north of the Ontario Provincial Parliament to celebrate 4/20 where there are both vendors and entertainers. Though the event is police-patrolled, no tickets were issued in 2010 while over 30,000 people participated in the revelry.

4/20 in Vancouver, British Columbia- On April 20, 2009, an estimated nearly 10,000 people gathered around the Vancouver Art Gallery to celebrate “420″. The police did not attempt to make arrests. This event has taken place in Vancouver annually for many years, and the police are generally tolerant of all marijuana use on April 20, and most other days.[15]

 

420 United Kingdom observances -

4/20 in London, England – In London, 420 protests are held every year; with the 2011 4/20 having the highest turnout for a number of years. On April 20, 2011 around 2,000 people attended 420London, situated in Hyde Park Speakers Corner. The event was marked by several speeches, notably from Peter Reynolds of the newly formed CLEAR (Cannabis law reform) political party. Despite police presence throughout the event, which lasted around 5 hours, there was no police enforcement of cannabis prohibition laws and no arrests. During the peaceful gathering, a smoke cloud hung over Speakers Corner.

 

420 New Zealand observances -

4/20 in Auckland, New Zealand -  in Auckland, New Zealand a 420 group meets regularly at the Daktory.

4/20 in Dunedin, New Zealand - members of Otago NORML and some students at University of Otago meet every Wednesday and Friday at 4:20 p.m. under a Walnut tree on the University’s Union Lawn to smoke cannabis in defiance of New Zealand’s cannabis law. There was considerable media and police interest in the ’420′ group in 2008, resulting in the arrest of a student and the issuance of trespass notices to members of the public at one of the 4:20 pm meetings.[ The group leader was arrested for cannabis possession at a university Market Day unrelated to the 4:20 meetings,but was later discharged without conviction on all charges. The group celebrated their 5th anniversary on 11 September 2009.

-

“What does 420 friendly mean?”

 ”420 friendly” is a way to express the acceptance of smoking pot or accepting somone who does so, without overtly mentioning pot or marijuana.

-

“What is the 420 Campaign?”

 The widespread popularity of 4/20 celebrations in the U.S. has brought about calls advocating for the reform of American marijuana laws. The 420 Campaign urges individuals to become involved in the political process and the drug policy reform movement. Specifically, the Campaign calls for leveraging “April 20th as a focal point every year to concentrate pressure on Congress to legalize marijuana.” In addition to contacting state and national legislators, people can take action by supporting organizations—such as NORML and MPP—that represent the interests of marijuana users and other concerned citizens.

 

-

The headline read… “Cuddling key to happy relationships for men – says Kinsey Institute study.“ While a CBS News Health article proclaiming  happy men cuddle is not surprising per se, their “related articles” section features another piece entitled “420 day- What’s the 411 on medical marijuana?.” Connecting the dots to what most pot smoking men already know, you roast a bowl and your more apt to want to cuddle. Cuddling makes men happy. So learning that “happy men smoke pot & cuddle,” will not come as a shock to those gentlemen who have already switched their nightcap of choice from a fine bourbon to a smooth Jack Herrer sativa.

On a related note to male happiness, cuddling, and marijuana: most males who smoke pot don’t get into fights, and are more apt to reach peaceful solutions to conflict.

Researchers from the Kinsey Institute (founded by famed Sex Expert Alfred C. Kinsey) at Indiana University in Bloomington,  claims the secret to long healthy relationships is in the cuddling – at least for men, anyway.

Men who Cuddle and cuddlers everywhere take notice:

Happy Men Smoke Pot & Cuddle

 

More from the Kinsey Institute – research for Sex, Gender, Reproduction

Another noted study finding was that frequent kissing or cuddling predicted relationship happiness for men – but not for women.

Researchers studied over a thousand heterosexual couples from the United States, Brazil, Germany, Japan, and Spain in relationships averaging 25 years. Study subjects were between 40 and 70, and answered a gender-specific questionnaire on sex and relationships. This data was not shared with the study subjects partners.

click 4 full size cuddle Notable findings from the Kinsey Institute:- - – Men are more likely to say they are happy in their relationship than women -  – Men say it is important that their partners experience an orgasm during sex - – Japanese men were 2.61 times more sexually satisfied than their American counterparts - – While men were more likely to report their happiness, women were more apt to report their sexual satisfaction

Marijuana, Cuddling, and Male Happiness: Connecting the Dots

How did we connect the dots between the CBS News Health article on medical marijuana with their “happy men cuddle” study, and further into our own extrapolation that states “men who smoke pot cuddle, and are happy.” Well with 2 things actually, common logic which links pot smokers – well known to cuddle more than non smokers (certainly more than the average “drinker” for instance), with the findings that men who cuddle are happier. The other link was this lower part of their screen (screenshot from CBS News Health – Marijuana below) showing CBS choices of  “related” articles to  their marijuana and 420 definition page…

So in no particular order we have tangentially related items such as killer hogweed, the link between finger & penis size, sodas make you fat,  men in happy relationships are cuddlers, can wine allow you to sit on your ass and still be healthy, and things you didn’t know about your penis. So it’s an acknowledged bit of a stretch to link the seemingly disparate events of pot smoking, cuddling, and male happiness.  That is, right until you find yourself yet again baked, happy, and cuddling with your significant other. It’s obvious to you, is it not, my smoking compatriots? …so carry on smoking and cuddling to your hearts content my wayward smoking sons & daughters.

As “sparkysixx” so eloquently commented on another California Pot Blog post- “any pot smoking dude who has cuddled baked with his chick will tell you just how wonderful the world is at that moment. “

Sounds like something that would make Louis Armstrong proud Sparky…

Delaware is the 16th medical marijuana state!

Delaware joins Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, New Jersey, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington – all states that have approved and regulate medical marijuana use. The District of Columbia (DC) has also passed medical marijuana legislation. For details on marijuana law in all 16 states with medical marijuana policies, please check our 2011 state marijuana laws post, with updated 2011 state pot policies. For California specific marijuana law, please check our updated 2011 California marijuana law guide.

Delaware Governor Jack Markell signed SB 17 into law on May 13, making Delaware the 16th medical marijuana state. Gov. Markell’s compassionate signature follows the House’s 27-14 vote to approve the bill on May 5, and the Senate’s 17-4 vote on May 11, approving the House’s amended version of SB 17.

SB 17 is a carefully crafted bill that will protect seriously ill Delawareans from arrest and jail for using doctor-recommended medical marijuana. It includes tightly regulated, limited distribution of medical marijuana by licensing three not-for-profit compassion centers, one in each county, by the first day of 2013. Patients can receive up to three ounces of marijuana every 14 days.

Guide to Delaware Marijuana Law | Delaware Cannabis Policy

What Does the Delaware Medical Marijuana Act Do?

 SB 17, the Delaware Medical Marijuana Act, which is largely based on the Marijuana Policy Project’s model bill, will remove criminal sanctions and provide protection from arrest for the compassionate, doctor-recommended use of medical marijuana by Delaware patients with serious medical conditions. When the law goes into effect on July 1, it will immediately include a limited affirmative defense for seriously ill patients to assert in court until ID card applications are available. Patients will not be able to grow their own medicine, and will be allowed to possess up to six ounces of marijuana. The program will also include tightly regulated, limited distribution of medical marijuana by licensing three not-for-profit compassion centers, one in each of Delaware’s counties. More centers can be licensed at a later date.

Decriminalizing Patient Use | Delaware Marijuana law: A patient will be granted protection from arrest only if his or her physician certifies, in writing, that the patient has a specified debilitating medical condition and that the patient would receive therapeutic benefit from medical marijuana. The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) will finalize regulations and registry ID card applications by July 1, 2012. After that, a patient will send DHSS a completed application, including a copy of the written certification, and DHSS will issue an ID card after verifying the information. As long as the patient is in compliance with the law and in possession of an ID card, there will be no arrest.

Qualifying Medical Conditions | Delaware Marijuana law: The qualifying conditions are: cancer; HIV/AIDS; decompensated cirrhosis; multiple sclerosis; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); agitation of Alzheimer’s disease; PTSD; or a medical condition that produces wasting syndrome, intractable nausea, seizures, severe and persistent muscle spasms, or severe debilitating pain that has not responded to other treatments for more than three months or for which other treatments produced serious side effects.

Compassion Centers (Delaware Dispensaries) | Delaware Marijuana law: Delaware’s law does not allow patients or caregivers to grow marijuana at home. Instead, it provides patients with access to their medicine at state-regulated, not-for-profit compassion centers, which will also cultivate the medical marijuana. DHSS will issue a call for compassion center applications by July 1, 2012 and will use a competitive process that scores the applicants’ plans for location, safety, security, and recordkeeping. DHSS should issue registration certificates to the highest scoring applicants in each of the three counties by January 1, 2013, and then issue three additional certificates to the highest scoring applicants by
January 1, 2014. All compassion centers will be subject to inspection and all of their staff will have to undergo background checks. Compassion centers may not advertise medical marijuana sales in print or broadcast and may not share office space with physicians. The bill will also create an additional felony with a possible two-year prison term and $2,000 fine to punish anyone who sells medical marijuana to someone unauthorized to possess it.

Patient Age and Possession Limits | Delaware Marijuana law: Patients, who must be at least 18 years of age, will be allowed to possess up to six ounces for their medical use. Caregivers, who may serve up to five patients, can pick up medicine for very ill, homebound patients and possess it on their behalf. Compassion centers may only dispense three ounces to a patient every 14 days, and a patient may only register with one compassion center.

Patient Medical Necessity Affirmative Defense | Delaware Marijuana law: Upon its effective date of July 1, 2011, Delaware’s bill will provide a medical necessity affirmative defense that can be raised in limited circumstances by patients who do not possess registry cards and possessed six ounces or less or marijuana. The defense will be available only from the day of the law’s enactment until 75 days after ID card applications become available, as well as during the time between a patient’s submission of a valid application and receipt of the registry card.

*Delaware marijuana policy details courtesy of the Marijuana Policy Project, well done MPP!!!

—

Gout and Marijuana | My Pot Story |Using Pot to treat Gout

How I used Medical Marijuana to help eliminate gout.

Sent by RLM,

Last year I used Medical Marijuana as an integral part of a radical lifestyle-change program that has helped me eliminate my gout, cut my alcohol consumption by 95%, lose thirty pounds and eat more healthy, unprocessed foods.

 Gout: formerly just a hereditary curse of overindulged European kings, it has now spread to the mainstream and is afflicting Joe six-packs from here to China in record numbers. I blame end-stage capitalism and its tempting cornucopia of high-fat, high-protein processed foods. As the world develops, more people hanker after things that are bad for them. More oil, more precious metals, more junk food, more junk media promoting the junk food. Gout. It’s not just for Francophile brandy-swiggers like Ben Franklin anymore.

In Washington State, “intractable pain” is a legitimate, if somewhat broad, qualifier for Medical Marijuana status. Gout is not a condition that is generally recognized to get you in the pot doctor’s office, although the agony this condition inflicts upon your big toe (and elsewhere) is beyond intractable. Luckily, I was already a Medical Marijuana patient for a different (and less painful) malady, and had a few grams in my safe for a rainy day.

My gout attack came as a surprise, having been misdiagnosed and ignored ten years earlier. The pain in my big toe was Cheneyesque: like a million nano-Hitlers stabbing me with poison needles. And then it spread to my ankle, which soon swelled plump with toxic fluid. It felt as if my body had been shredded with salty white-hot razors in preparation for the nematocysts of a deadly box jellyfish to be placed directly on the open wound, on a hot day at Guantanamo.

“Gout is like Like a million nano-Hitlers stabbing me with poison needles.”

In laymen’s terms, a lifetime of booze and red meat causes those with a genetic predisposition to gout to accumulate uric acid in their extremities, and when this acid crystalizes, a painful, arthritic inflammation can occur. And the only solution is to more or less quit drinking or more or less stop eating red meat and other nasties like snails and fish eggs.

Pain attacks the mind, and the corporate doctors had a quick cure for my suffering that, in my addled state, I readily accepted: the arthritis drug indomethacin chased with 400 mg pops of ibuprofen. And corporate America has yet another product for you to take once you recover: allopurinol. Every day for the rest of your life. Keeps the uric acid levels low, Big Pharma profits high, and allows you to continue indulging, which keeps Mickey D’s in the black.

None of those drugs worked for me, so two days later I was back for some Colchicine. “Take two tablets now, then one every two hours until gout resolved or GI side effects occur.” I overlooked the subtle warning on the label suggesting that colchicine strips your insides bare and will have you vomiting and diarrheal for two days (especially if you wash it down with lots of that cherry juice everyone suggests for gout).

The poison known as colchicine stripped the gout from my body, and almost everything else, too. I hadn’t eaten in days. I was left with nausea – the plague of the sick and dying – the worst feeling in the world. So I broke out some newly acquired high-end indica/sativa blend and had a smoke.

After the first exhale I felt a profound sense of calm, followed by a complete disappearance of my nausea, and a subsequent mild euphoria. Very few doctors out there would recommend pot therapy for gout, and that’s sad. Maybe because there’s no money to be made from marijuana products by Big Pharma yet.

Pain and panic go together, but thanks to a couple tokes of marijuana I was in a new space, and was hungry and needed a beer. But I knew my beer days were over.

Gout sufferers should not drink beer, wine or liquor, but I’ve found that an occasional top-shelf vodka works okay. Keeps me from being too much of a dud at parties. My access to Medical Marijuana has allowed me, for the first time in my life, to kick the booze to the curb. No hangover, and cheaper, too: one could, theoretically, make $40 worth of pot last a week or more, even while smoking it several times a day. Try going out on the town on a Friday night to catch an alcohol buzz with only $40 in your pocket. By Saturday morning you’re gonna be buying a classy 24oz can of fortified beer at the 7-11 with your remaining spare change and calling it a weekend.

Quitting beer was only half the battle. Cutting out rich, delicious foods was next. Gout sufferers must never eat organ meats (pate, liverwurst, blood sausage), wild game (skunk, raccoon, squirrel, deer, muskrat, etc.), shellfish (see below*) or caviar. All the indulgences enjoyed by legendary gout superstars Karl Marx, Thomas Jefferson, Leonardo Da Vinci and John Milton are strictly forbidden.

*(Hot gout tip! Those with gout must avoid two of the eleven branches of the animal kingdom at all costs: Mollusks and Arthropods. Mollusk lovers can kiss their days of scarfing down oysters, mussels, clams and octopi goodbye, a quadruply painful punishment for residents of the Pacific Northwest, where these treats are large and plentiful. And Arthropods like crabs, shrimp, lobster … swimming in melted butter with a slice of lemon on the side … mmm. No more. Not five years from now. Not ever.)

Remember, the first mistake of the gout sufferer is to think he has been “cured,” only to fall back into old bad eating and drinking habits.

Also avoid sulfites, MSG, refined sugar, chick peas, mushrooms, red meat (use in moderation), and eat more vegetables.

To sum up, if you have suffered from gout, follow these four rules and it will leave your body forever.

1. Cut your alcohol consumption by 90%. Warning: if you have a pressing medical or legal need to quit drinking entirely, the pot gout cure is not for you. Allow yourself the rare vodka and soda. If you have the urge for a drink, smoke pot instead. We’ll save the “how to quit booze by switching to pot” story for another time.

2. Drink lots of water and other low-sugar beverages.

3. Avoid eating any Arthropods, Mollusks, Fish Eggs and Organ Meats.

4. Start smoking more marijuana. It will make you hungry for more unprocessed whole foods and fewer nuggets of deep-fried corporate crap. Brighter, crisper days, expansion of the conscious mind, and deeper sleeps await you.

My Pot Story, Medical Marijuana for Gout

by, RLM

by Charles Kwiatkowski:

Marijuana and Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis

My name is Charles Kwiatkowski, I am 36 years old,with Multiple Sclerosis and disabled for the past 7+ years from work. I have lived in New Jersey all my life and I need help. After having many problems from using my doctors Rx’s of Oxycontin, Vicodin, Oxycodone, or Roxxicette. etc.etc, I must now only use Marijuana for MS Pain, Spasms, etc just to stay actively alive. I have had more then my share of problems with Pharmaceutical Drugs (narcotics) and refuse to use any in the future. So I must bite my lip each and everyday when pain or spasms begin. I am tired of risking my life to purchase Marijuana on the streets of NJ or NY. And besides, I have 3 daughters 7, 5, and 2 yrs old and they really need for me to make it home, safe and alive. Can you please direct me to any possible way I can use marijuana without risking my life with street drug dealers, that I am not even sure the quality of marijuana is even authentic or safe to use.

 I have been through many, many doctors in NJ, this is my fourth neurologist along with a list of other types, they all say the exact same crap. Currently, my doctor (neurologist) expects me to use Oxycodone (Gov’t Heroin) for pain which is very addicting, prevents me from having any normal erections, and prevents any sleep at all, so then he then offers Viagra for ED and Ambien for sleep, “MORE DRUGS.” For spasms, I must also take Baclofen (muscle relaxer) which does not work orally after 10 years of use but I could then get it in a stronger Baclofen version “The Baclofen Pump IV” form (sound’s fun, it is a hockey puck they sew underneath a persons skin–more drugs). After taking so many of these over time, I still want my liver/kidneys to function normal, which this will only damage my organs far more then marijuana ever would have. All of this is very expensive with my current insurance and I sometimes have to not buy food which is a requirement for my wife and 3 children’s lives. I am lucky enough to catch a lot of fish and my family loves to eat it, thank God for that.

 If I just smoke 1 or 2 joints of marijuana each day, I am totally able, and sane enough to live somewhat of a normal life (maybe even get a job again? I do have a college degree with honors). I don’t have any pain, spasms, my appetite is normal, and I also have normal erections when using marijuana. Comparing this cost to the above Rx way, 2 joints of marijuana costs me $10-$15 per day on the streets and the Rx way is $75 per day at the Pharmacy. I only use marijuana 100% responsibly, far away from any children, and I would never even think of trying to operate any machine while using it.

 After living this way for nearly 10 years, I can understand why so many innocent patients wind up taking their own life. Which is not what I want to happen to me. Simply because I live in The Divided States of America (every state is different). Why is there no Federal laws to justify the same policies in each and every state? Making marijuana legal in all 52 states. Currently I can obtain/use marijuana in 14 states but not in NJ. But if I were an dope addict in NJ, I could easily go to a methadone clinic in South Plainfield and obtain free heroin to ease my pocket expense. Also not what I, or my kids want me to be, or become.

 Marijuana really does work well for Multiple Sclerosis and after using it for the past 5 years I would recommend it be used for any nerve damaging or painful diseases or disabilities. I do use it safely, responsibly and far away from my children and totally out of reach of anyone other then myself.

 I am begging you for help, please let me have even the slightest positive outcome from this Gov’t Nightmare. In my state of New Jersey, the Gov’t currently allows real heroin addicts to attend methadone clinics to obtain Gov’t Heroin (aka methadone kool-aide drinks or biscuits), and I cant even smoke a joint of marijuana privately alone. Where is the democracy of this United States? I am a 6th generation American Citizen and I deserve better. Many of my forefathers and relatives have died for this great nation. Or not so great, if you are ill? …

Charles

Cannabis sativa is an annual plant in the Cannabaceae family. Humans have cultivated this herb throughout recorded history as a source of industrial fibre, seed oil, and food. Humans have long used the plant as a drug, as medicine, and as a spiritual tool. Each part of the plant is harvested differently, depending on the purpose of its use.

Everything you wanted to know about the Cannabis Sativa plant…

Cannabis Sativa 411 | Cannabis Sativa Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division	Magnoliophyta
Class	Magnoliopsida
Order	Rosales
Family	Cannabaceae
Genus	Cannabis
Species	C. Sativa
Binomial	Cannabis sativa
Subspecies	Sativa, Indica

Cannabis Sativa Uses

Courtesy of : Purdue University Horticulture department – Cannabis Sativa page… A multiple-use plant, furnishing fiber, oil, medicine, and narcotics. Fibers are best produced from male plants. In the temperate zone, oil is produced from females which have been left to stand after the fiber-producing males have been harvested. Leaves are added to soups in southeast Asia. Varnish is made from the pressed seeds. Three types of narcotics are produced: hashish (bhang), the dried leaves and flowers of male and female shoots; ganja, dried unfertilized inflorescences of special female plants; and charas, the crude resin, which is probably the strongest. Modern medicine uses cannabis in glaucoma and alleviating the pains of cancer and chemotherapy. More resin is produced in tropical than in temperate climates. Lewis lung adenocarcinonoma growth has been retarded by oral administration of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabinol, but not by cannabidiol. (J.N.C.I. 55: 597-602. 1975). The delta-9 also inhibits the replication of Herpes simplex virus.

Cannabis Sativa Folk Medicine

Medicinally, plants are tonic, intoxicant, stomachic, antispasmodic, analgesic, narcotic, sedative and anodyne. Seeds and leaves are used to treat old cancer and scirrhous tumors. The seed, either as a paste or as an unguent, is said to be a folk remedy for tumors and cancerous ulcers. The decoction of the root is said help remedy hard tumors and knots in the joints. The leaf, prepared in various manners, is said to alleviate cancerous sores, scirrhous tumors, cold tumors, and white tumors. The plant is also used for mammary tumors and corns (C.S.I.R., 1948-1976). Europeans are said to use the dregs from Cannabis pipes in “cancer cures” (Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962). Few plants have a greater array of folk medicine uses: alcohol withdrawal, anthrax, asthma, blood poisoning, bronchitis, burns, catarrh, childbirth, convulsions, coughs, cystitis, delirium, depression, diarrhea, dysentery, dysmenorrhea, epilepsy, fever, gonorrhea, gout, inflammation, insomnia, jaundice, lockjaw, malaria, mania, mennorhagia, migraine, morphine withdrawal, neuralgia, palsy, rheumatism, scalds, snakebite, swellings, tetany, toothache, uteral prolapse, and whooping cough. Seeds ground and mixed with porridge given to weaning children.

Cannabis Sativa Chemistry

Most varieties contain cannabinol and cannabinin; Egyptian variety contains cannabidine, cannabol and cannabinol, their biological activity being due to the alcohols and phenolic compounds. Resin contains crystalline compound cannin. Alcoholic extracts of American variety vary considerably in physiological activity. Per 100 g, the seed is reported to contain 8.8 g H2O, 21.5 g protein, 30.4 g fat, 34.7 g total carbohydrate, 18.8 g fiber, and 4.6 g ash. In Asia, per 100 g, the seed is reported to contain 421 calories, 13.6 g H2O, 27.1 g protein, 25.6 g fat, 27.6 g total carbohydrate, 20.3 g fiber, 6.1 g ash, 120 mg Ca, 970 mg P, 12.0 mg Fe, 5 mg beta-carotene equivalent, 0.32 mg thiamine, 0.17 mg riboflavin, and 2.1 mg niacin. A crystalline globulin has been isolated from defatted meal. It contains 3.8% glycocol, 3.6 alanine, 20.9 valine and leucine, 2.4 phenylalanine, 2.1 tyrosine, 0.3 serine, 0.2 cystine, 4.1 proline, 2.0 oxyproline, 4.5 aspartic acid, 18.7 glutamic acid, 14.4 tryptophane and arginine, 1.7 lysine, and 2.4% histidine. Oil from the seeds contains 15% oleic, 70% linoleic, and 15% linolenic and isolinolenic acids. The seed cake contains 10.8% water, 10.2% fat, 30.8% protein, 40.6% N-free extract, and 7.7% ash (20.3% K2O; 0.8% Na2O; 23.6% CaO, 5.7% MgO, 1.0% Fe2O3, 36.5% P2O5, 0.2% SO3; 11.9% SiO2, 0.1% Cl and a trace of Mn2O3). Trigonelline occurs in the seed. Cannabis also contains choline, eugenol, guaiacol, nicotine, and piperidine (C.S.I.R., 1948-1976), all listed as toxins by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. A beta-resercyclic acid derivative has antibiotic and sedative properties; with a murine LD56 of 500 mg/kg, it has some aritiviral effect and inhibits the growth of mouse mammary tumor in egg embryo (Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962).

Cannabis Sativa Toxicity

Non-users may suffer muscular incoordination (9 of 22 persons), dizziness (8), difficulty concentrating (8), confusion (7), difficulty walking (7), dysarthria (7), dry mouth (7), dysphagia (5), blurred vision (5), and vomiting (1), following oral ingestion of THC disguised in cookies (MMWR, October 20, 1978). People working with the plant or the fiber may develop dermatitis. In larger doses, hemp drugs may induce catalepsy, followed by coma and DEATH from cardiac failure (C.S.I.R., 1948-1976).

Cannabis Sativa Description

Annual herb, usually erect; stems variable, up to 5 m tall, with resinous pubescence, angular, sometimes hollow, especially above the first pairs of true leaves; basal leaves opposite, the upper leaves alternate, stipulate, long petiolate, palmate, with 3-11, rarely single, lanceolate, serrate, acuminate leaflets up to 10 cm long, 1.5 cm broad; flowers monoecious or dioecious, the male in axillary and terminal panicles, apetalous, with 5 yellowish petals and 5 poricidal stamens; the female flowers germinate in the axils and terminally, with one 1-ovulate ovary; fruit a brown, shining achene, variously marked or plain, tightly embracing the seed with its fleshy endosperm and curved embryo. Fl. summer; fr. late summer to early fall; year round in tropics. Seeds weigh 1.5-2.5 gm/100 seeds.

Cannabis Sativa Germplasm

As Cannabis sativa has been cultivated for over 4,500 years for different purposes, many varieties and cultivars have been selected for specific purposes, as fiber, oil or narcotics. Drug-producing selections grow better and produce more drug in the tropics; oil and fiber producing plants thrive better in the temperate and subtropical areas. Many of the cultivars and varieties have been named as to the locality where it is grown mainly. However, all so called varieties freely interbreed and produce various combinations of the characters. The form of the plant and the yield of fiber from it vary according to climate and particular variety. Varieties cultivated particularly for their fibers have long stalks, branch very little, and yield only small quantities of seed. Varieties which are grown for the oil from their seed are short in height, mature early and produce large quantities of seed. Varieties grown for the drugs are short, much-branched with smaller dark-green leaves. Between these three main types of plants are numerous varieties which differ from the main one in height, extent of branching and other characteristics. Reported from the Central Asia, Hindustani, and Eurosiberian Centers of Diversity, marijuana or cvs thereof is reported to tolerate disease, drought, fungus, high pH, insects, laterite, low pH, mycobacteria, poor soil, slope, and weeds. (2n = 20, 10, 40.)

Cannabis Sativa Distribution

Native to Central Asia, and long cultivated in Asia, Europe, and China. Now a widespread tropical, temperate and subarctic cultivar and waif. The oldest use of hemp seems to be for fiber, and later the seeds began to be used for culinary purposes. Plants yielding the drug seem to have been discovered in India, cultivated for medicinal purposes as early as 900 BC. In medieval times it was brought to North Africa where today it is cultivated exclusively for hashish or kif.

Cannabis Sativa Ecology

Plants very adaptable to soil and climatic conditions. Hemp for fiber requires a mild temperate climate with at least 67 cm annual rainfall, with abundant rain while seeds are germinating and until young plants become established. Thrives on rich, fertile, neutral to slightly alkaline, well-drained silt or clay loams with moisture retentive subsoils; does not grow well on acid, sandy soils. Of the many types of hemp, some are adapted to most vegetated terrains and climates. Ranging from Cool Temperate Steppe to Wet through Tropical Very Dry to Wet Forest Life Zones, marijuana is reported to tolerate annual precipitation of 3 to 40 dm (mean of 44 cases = 9.9 dm), annual temperature of 6 to 27°C (mean of 44 cases = 14.4), and pH of 4.5 to 8.2 (mean of 38 cases 6.5) (Duke, 1978, 1979).

Cannabis Sativa Cultivation

Propagation mainly by seed. Experimentally, drug plants have been propagated from cuttings but such plants do not come true as to drug content of parent. Seeds stored in cool, dry place remain viable for up to two years. Hemp seed sown as early in spring as possible. Before sowing, land is plowed (in fall) several times to a depth of about 20-23 cm and repeatedly harrowed the land. In spring the land is harrowed again and rolled, making a firm tilth over the entire surface. In some areas a first plowing is done in the fall and red clover or lupin planted; in January or February a second plowing turns these under as a green-manure. Generally sown in March, seeds germinate at low temperature, but not below 1deg.C. Rate of seed sown varies with type of fiber desired; for coarse fiber for cordage and coarser textiles, 2.5 bu/ha is used; for finest fibers, 7.5-10 bu/ha used. Seed sown by machine in rows from 12 cm upwards, placing the seed at depth of 3.5 cm at rate of 40-60 kg/ha. In many countries seed sown broadcast. When grown for seed (oil), seed sown by drills; then such plants sometimes reach height of 5.3 m with thick stems up to 5 cm in diameter, much-branched. For fiber, stems up to 2 m tall and 0.5 cm in diameter are best; larger stems tend to get woody and have lower fiber content. Besides, they are more difficult to handle during harvesting, retting and scutching. Plants require little cultivation, except for weeding during early stages of growth. Hemp grows rapidly and soon crowds out weeds. After plants are 20 cm tall, weeding is abandoned. Hemp tends to exhaust the soil of nutrients. Some nutrients are returned to the soil after plants are harvested. On medium fertile soils a dressing of farm manure or a green-manure crop should be added and turned under. Chalk, potash, or gypsum may be applied to the soil to add the needed nutrition. Sodium nitrate and ammonium along with potassium sulfate have a beneficial effect on the fiber crop. Fiber-producing plants should always have plenty of proper nutrients, especially nitrogen, which is the most important element needed. Irrigation is seldom practiced.

Cannabis Sativa Harvesting

Hemp is ready for harvest four to five months after planting, rarely earlier for some varieties. Harvesting depends on the climatic conditions, the variety of hemp grown and whether the crop is being grown for hemp or seed. In temperate areas, hemp is usually harvested from mid July to mid August. Both male and female plants look alike until they flower; then the male plants turn yellow and die, whereas the female plants remain dark green for another month until the seed ripens. Male plants are ready to harvest for fiber when the leaves change from dark green to light brown. The best yield of fiber (and only male plants are used) is then obtained. Hemp is harvested when the staminate flowers are beginning to open and shed their pollen. Seed is harvested from the female plants when most of it falls off when the plant is shaken. Best time of day to harvest seed is in early morning when fruits are turgid and conditions damp. As fruits dry out by mid-day, seed loss increases due to shattering. Usually stems are cut and the seeds shaken out over canvas sheets or beaten with sticks to extract the seeds. For fiber, hemp plants are cut by hand with a hemp knife, similar to a long-handled sickle. Plants are cut 2-3 cm above the ground and spread on the ground to dry. In some areas, the entire plants are pulled up and laid out to dry. Hand cutting, one man can cut about one-fifth hectare per day. Sometimes specially designed harvesters with a tractor are able to harvest four hectares a day. In many areas several varieties of hemp are grown so as to spread out the harvest, one maturing in late July and used later for seed crop in September, a second crop maturing in mid August, and a third maturing near end of August. Fiber is extracted from the stems of hemp by retting by methods similar to those used for other fiber plants. Sometimes the stems are dried before they are retted. After plants have air-dried for 4-6 days, the root and flower ends are cut off and the remaining portions, with branches and leaves taken or beaten off, are made into small bundles. For retting, 15-20 of these smaller bundles are made into larger bundles. In other areas stalks are not dried before retting, green stems, after roots and flower ends have been cut off, are made into bundles, and retted immediately. Hemp can be water retted, dew retted, or snow retted, according to the climatic conditions. The retted hemp stalks consist of fiber in the outer rind and a woody interior portion. Fiber is separated from the stalk by a breaking process. Stalks are dried after retting and the woody shive is broken into short pieces called hurds. Eventually the fibers are separated from the interior woody pieces by scutching by passing the bundles through a number of fluted rollers and then past large revolving drums with projecting bars which remove any remaining pieces of wood. Machines are able to handle 3-3.5 MT dried straw every hour, producing 0.4-0.5 MT of cleaned fiber.

Cannabis Sativa Yields and Economics

Yields of hemp per hectare depend on climatic conditions, variety grown, soil and nutrition, and spacing of plants in the field. Weight of dried stems per hectare is usually between 4.5 to 7.5 T, with a yield of fiber about 25% of the dried stalks. Usually the taller the plant, the longer will be the fiber with a greater yield per plant. In some areas fiber yields of 850- 1,700 kg/ha compared to 1,300-1,700 kg/ha seed and 30 kg ganja. The U.S.S.R. is the largest producer of hemp in the world, producing about 33% of hemp fiber, annually 105,000 MT compared to the world production of 255,000 MT (excepting China). France and West Germany are the chief importers, Italy and Yugoslavia exporters. Chile, China, Japan and Peru also produce hemp. Narcotic production is usually clandestine, but there is legal marijuana production in India. India is the main producer and exporter of oil from the seed.

Cannabis Sativa Energy

In India, plants remaining in the field after harvesting for fiber are allowed to set seed. They are cut after the fruits are ripened and dried and threshed for seed collection. Grown solely for seeds, an average crop yields 1.3 to 1.6 MT/ha seed. The world low production yield was 288 kg/ha in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the international production yield was 613 kg/ha, and the world high production yield was 3,842 kg/ha in People’s Republic of China.

Cannabis Sativa Biotic Factors

Among diseases of Cannibis are: Botryosphaeria marconii (stem canker, wilt), Botrytis cinerea (gray mold), Cylindrosporium sp. (leaf spot), Fusarium sp. (canker, stem rot), Gibberella saubinetii (stem rot), Hypomyces cancri (?root rot), Macrophominia phaseoli, Phomopsis cannabina, Phymatotrichum omivorum (root rot), Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (stem rot, wilt), Sclerotium rolfsii (southern blight), Septoria cannabis (leaf spot). Nematodes include: Ditylenchus dipsaci, Heterodera humuli, Longidorus maximus, Meloidogyne hapla, M. incognita, M. incognita acrita, M. spp., and Pratylenchus coffeae (Golden, p.c., 1984). Occasionally Orobanche ramosa is paratitic on the roots.

Cannabis Sativa References

Duke, J.A. 1978. The quest for tolerant germplasm. p. 1-61. In: ASA Special Symposium 32, Crop tolerance to suboptimal land conditions. Am. Soc. Agron. Madison, WI.

Duke, J.A. 1979. Ecosystematic data on economic plants. Quart. J. Crude Drug Res. 17(3-4):91-110.

C.S.I.R. (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research). 1948-1976. The wealth of India. 11 vols. New Delhi.

Watt, J.M. and Breyer-Brandwijk, M.G. 1962. The medicinal and poisonous plants of southern and eastern Africa. 2nd ed. E.&S. Livingstone, Ltd., Edinburgh and London.

Regardless of your particular beliefs in Thomas Jeffersons use or non-use of marijuana (aka hemp), one thing is for certain in terms of the great Mr. Jefferson’s beliefs of particular relevance to the California marijuana legalization effort, his unwavering and steadfast belief in liberty.

——————————————–

*** Thomas Jefferson beliefs below chosen from a non-biased middle of the road source: socialstudieshelp.com - targeted at 11th and 12th graders.

What Would Thomas Jefferson do?
California Marijuana legalization & Growing Hemp Laws

California vs Feds: States Rights
   – Can California legalize marijuana for personal use, despite being illegal Federally?

• Thomas Jefferson: Unwavering support for States Rights, period. Jefferson specifically supported the idea that states could nullify federal laws (nullification). This would include the right for states such as California (medical marijuana has been legal in California since 1996) to nullify Federal marijuana law, which currently states that marijuana in any form is illegal.

  Despite progressive rhetoric from Barrack Obama on Federal marijuana policy,  and a direct comment from Attorney general Eric Holder that the Feds would not prosecute marijuana use that follows state law, recently there have been indications that politics as usual (..is there an election coming?) is returning. Washington has generally looked the other way as a growing medical marijuana industry has prospered here and in 14 other states and the District of Columbia, but Mr. Holder’s position — revealed in a letter this week to nine former chiefs of the Drug Enforcement Administration that was made public on Friday — made explicit that legalizing marijuana for recreational use would bring a whole new level of scrutiny from Washington.

  Yes, that is the sound of Thomas Jefferson rolling in his grave and shouting… “stay ye the fuck out!.”







• Farmers vs Feds: Citizens Rights
  - Can Farmers grow Hemp as a renewable source of food, building/housing material, clothing, and as an alternative to fossil fuels?
  
   Thomas Jefferson: saw the country as a “nation of farmers.” A simple land with simple, peaceful needs. Jefferson called for smaller government with very little intervention in daily life. Jefferson’s vision was that of an agricultural nation of yeoman farmers minding their own affairs. Jefferson believed that each man has “certain inalienable rights.”  He defines the right of “liberty” by saying, “Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others…” A proper government, for Jefferson, is one that not only prohibits individuals in society from infringing on the liberty of other individuals, but also restrains itself from diminishing individual liberty.

  Jefferson not only would have approved of marijuana farming, he particpated in it. Jefferson grew hemp at Monticello as a crop, as did George Washington.

RANDOM SCIENTIFIC FACTS ABOUT HEMP: *Industrial hemp and marijuana are both classified by taxonomists as Cannabis sativa, a species with hundreds of varieties. C. sativa is a member of the mulberry family. Industrial hemp is bred to maximize fiber, seed and/or oil, while marijuana varieties seek to maximize THC (delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana). *While industrial hemp and marijuana may look somewhat alike to an untrained eye, an easily trained eye can easily distinguish the difference. *Industrial hemp has a THC content of between 0.05 and 1%. Marijuana has a THC content of 3% to 20%. To receive a standard psychoactive dose would require a person to power-smoke 10-12 hemp cigarettes over an extremely short period of time. The large volume and high temperature of vapor, gas and smoke would be almost impossible for a person to withstand. *If hemp does pollinate any nearby marijuana, genetically, the result will always be lower-THC marijuana, not higher-THC hemp. If hemp is grown outdoors, marijuana will not be grown close by to avoid producing lower-grade marijuana. *Hemp fibers are longer, stronger, more absorbent and more mildew-resistant than cotton. *Many of the varieties of hemp that were grown in North America have been lost. Seed banks weren’t maintained. New genetic breeding will be necessary using both foreign and domestic “ditchweed,” strains of hemp that went feral after cultivation ended. *A 1938 Popular Mechanics described hemp as a “New Billion Dollar Crop.” …and that’s back when a billion dollar industry was really big money.

You decide, how does current American marijuana policy stack up to Thomas Jefferson?

Measure our current California state policy on marijuana, and contrast that even further with the current (as of April 3rd, 2011) United States Federal policy on marijuana, and judge for yourself how much we have learned (and so easily forgotten… sigh) from the brilliance of our forefathers. As history is bound to repeat itself, so must we wait for a smarter and more “America the free” policy towards the personal liberty to smoke marijuana without harm to another.

Thank you for the lesson mr. Jefferson, so sorry that we forgot it…. yet again.

California Pot Blog

Thomas Jefferson and Hemp:  It is frequently claimed that Jefferson was an advocate for growing and smoking hemp. Modern scholars indicate that hemp was in fact a secondary crop at Monticello, but that there exists no evidence of Jefferson using the plant for euphoriant purposes. What is certain is that both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington grew hemp, and were both passionate advocates for increasing hemp production in the United States.

Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States (1801–1809) and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. An influential Founding Father of America, Jefferson envisioned an America as a great “Empire of Liberty,” which included personal freedoms which do not harm another. The right for individuals in the United States to use the Cannabis Sativa plant (aka marijuana and aka hemp… yes Virginia, it is indeed the same Cannabis Sativa plant <–wikpedia Cannabis Sativa link), either as recreational pot smokers, or as a patient choosing the medicinal properties of marijuana, would certainly fall under Jefferson’s guidelines for liberty and personal freedoms.

Jefferson idealized the independent yeoman farmer as exemplar of republican virtues, distrusted cities and financiers, and favored states’ rights and a limited federal government. Jefferson supported the separation of church and state and was the author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1779, 1786). Jefferson’s revolutionary view on individual freedom and protection from government authority have generated much interest with modern scholars, many of whom cite marijuana prohibition as a shining example of government overstepping its authority, which certainly would have gotten Jefferson’s attention.

Thomas Jefferson’s Ideals and California Marijuana

California will likely become the first state in America to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

This bears repeating… California will likely become the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use. A reality that would have already occured had proposition 19 passed (it garnered 46% of the vote) last November. It is certain that there will be a similar inititaive in the 2012 California elections. Californians would then provide a real-life test of  theories marijuana legalization proponents have long pressed: that it would provide a new stream of revenues for government, cut down on drug-related violence, and end a modern-day prohibition that effectively turns many citizens into lawbreakers.

Californians deciding for themselves the rightful place marijuana has in our state, is exactly what Jefferson would have argued for. Had prop 19 passed, a 2010 version of Jefferson, a staunch states rights advocate, would have pushed for nullification of the governments ban on marijuana. Thomas Jefferson fought for the legal theory of “nullification,” which mandates that a U.S. State has the right to nullify, or invalidate, any federal law that a state has deemed unconstitutional.

California marijuana is mainstream… As it is, no matter what California voters or the US government says, marijuana use in California these days is for all practical purposes, already legal and mainstream. Before leaving office, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation that made possession of less than an ounce of marijuana an infraction,  previously a misdemeanor punishable by a $100 fine. This equates marijuana posession in California to a speeding ticket. I believe Jefferson would have pushed the “Governator” to go even farther, espousing a completely hands-off policy towards marijuana, as long as it did not interfere with the liberty of others.

Today, medical marijuana dispensaries are common in many parts of the state, and getting a prescription is hardly challenging. Baby boomers who had not smoked marijuana since college now speak openly at dinner parties of their “medical” experimentation with the drug. The smell of marijuana is common at  concert venues, sporting events, festivals, bars and nightclubs, and nearly every event attended by large amounts of Californians. Whether Jefferson smoked pot or not, he would have been very proud of California… for not being afraid to question the rights and reach of our federal government. 

Jefferson’s famous quote “In matters of style, swim with the current… In matters of principle, stand like a rock” would be fitting here. What WE decide to put into OUR bodies is our choice, lest we face this sorry and oppressed situation again…

“If it be restrained now, the present corruptions will be protected, and new ones encouraged. Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now.” - Thomas jefferson

Was the Declaration Of Independence Written on Hemp paper? -click here for the Thomas Jefferson Monticello.org Official Opinion ***Editors note: Though the link above refutes that the Declaration was “written” on hemp, it is widely held that Thomas Jefferson did indeed “draft” the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper. CPB Thomas Jefferson and Marijuana (Hemp) Official facts from the Monticello.org site

 

So once and for all… Did Thomas Jefferson Grow and smoke marijuana then known as hemp? 

While the fact that Jefferson and Washington grew hemp is known, there is also ample evidence of both Jefferson and Washington smoking hemp (and Abrahan Lincoln too!).  For one mans answer, we present the “Jefferson and Hemp” question courtesy of an article by StraightDope.com Cecil Adams: Did Thomas Jefferson and George Washington Grow Marijuana?…  

Did George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grow marijuana?
December 11, 2009
Dear Cecil:

I have heard Thomas Jefferson traded marijuana blends with George Washington and the other founding fathers. I find this hard to believe, but the rumor is ubiquitous. Can anyone verify if it is true or false? I e-mailed the famous Jefferson scholar Clay Jenkins but got no response. However, on his podcast, The Thomas Jefferson Hour, he did admit to donning his Thomas Jefferson impersonation gear and visiting Burning Man. Should I take this as a tacit admission of our third president’s smoking habits? — Piddyx

Cecil replies:

Two approaches we could take here. The first is we just stick to the facts. Lotta fun that is. The second is we wave gaily at the facts en route to a more entertaining sociopolitical perspective. This is the Fox News system, and you can see it works for them. Let’s see what we can come up with based on the following:

• Botanically, marijuana equals hemp. As we’ve established in the past, these are basically two names for the same plant.

• Useful for rope, paper, and clothing, hemp was long promoted in Virginia as an alternative cash crop to tobacco. Tobacco depleted the soil, and gluts sometimes drove prices down. Shifting economics led to a small “hemp boom” by 1765. In two Virginia counties, folks were allowed to pay their taxes in hemp.

•Both Washington and Jefferson tried growing hemp on their Virginia farms, with mixed success. Washington used some of what he grew to make hemp clothing worn by his slaves. However, U.S. hemp exported to Britain often was of such poor quality that it couldn’t be sold, and Washington was never able to turn a profit on the crop despite sustained effort. Jefferson also seems to have grown hemp strictly for local consumption, from which we deduce he couldn’t make money at it either. In short, not only were Washington and Jefferson marijuana farmers, they were unsuccessful marijuana farmers.

• Notwithstanding their failure to make a fortune from hemp, Jefferson and Washington kept at it. Washington continued to tout the crop after he became president. Jefferson invented a better “hemp brake” to separate the fibers from the stalks, something he thought was so important agriculturally that he refused to patent it. This tells us two things. First, Jefferson ran an advanced marijuana processing facility. Second, he was a socialist.

• Both Jefferson and Washington traded seeds and plants with other farmers on a regular basis. Jefferson wrote of receiving hemp seedlings from someone in Missouri, and it would have been only neighborly to send some Virginia seedlings back. Chances are Washington did the same. Couple this with the fact that the two men at least tried to sell their hemp crops and we’re obliged to conclude: Washington and Jefferson weren’t merely marijuana farmers, they were marijuana dealers.
Were Jefferson and Washington marijuana smokers, though? Let’s continue our review.

• No great social stigma was attached to smoking pot in the late 1700s and early 1800s — pot use wasn’t considered a problem until the early 1900s.

• Thomas Pynchon’s novel Mason & Dixon (1997) features a scene in which George Washington shares a blunt with the eponymous surveyors while Martha dutifully supplies them with doughnuts and other munchies. This doesn’t prove anything, of course, being fiction and all. But it’s reassuring to know that whenever an opportunity presents itself to combine historical revisionism and pot jokes, Pynchon is all over it like a wetsuit.

• Despite the above, I couldn’t find any contemporary accounts suggesting either Washington or Jefferson ever indulged in, advocated, or even mentioned smoking pot. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, an organization dedicated to being a voice for “responsible marijuana smokers,” simply notes that Washington and Jefferson grew hemp for economic reasons.

•But let’s not give up too quickly. In his diary for August 7, 1765, Washington writes, “Began to separate the Male from the Female hemp … rather too late.” Female marijuana plants are the ones that contain enough THC to be worth smoking. Some take this to mean Washington was cultivating the plant not just for fiber. Of course, two days later Washington says he put the hemp in the river to soak and separate out the fibers, and later in September that he started to harvest the seed. That suggests he divided the plants because the males made stronger fiber while the female plants produced the seed needed for the next year’s crop. Jefferson in his Farm Book wrote that a female plant would produce a quart of seed, and a bushel of seed was enough to plant an acre.

Do these guys sound like midnight tokers? No, they sound like farmers. Just shows how clever they were at covering their tracks. – Cecil

HEMP HISTORY and HEMP FACTS

Interesting Hemp facts: courtesy of the North American Industrial Hemp Council website *Hemp has been grown for at least the last 12,000 years for fiber (textiles and paper) and food. It has been effectively prohibited in the United States since the 1950s. *George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp. Ben Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper. Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper. *When US sources of “Manila hemp” (not true hemp) was cut off by the Japanese in WWII, the US Army and US Department of Agriculture promoted the “Hemp for Victory” campaign to grow hemp in the US. *Because of its importance for sails (the word “canvass” is rooted in “cannabis”) and rope for ships, hemp was a required crop in the American colonies.

The California Pot Blog

*Editors note: this is an update on medical marijuana law in California, and a previous California Pot Blog post on Sutter and Colusa counties refusing to provide access to medicinal marijuana.

Saturday March 5th, 2011

And then there were two… California state medical marijuana law (click here if interested in the 2011 California marijuana laws - 2011 CA state pot policy updates) is in effect in all but two holdout counties, Sutter and Colusa, both standing fast in their opposition to acknowledging proposition 215, which was enacted in 1996.

Though it has been 15 years since prop 215 legalized medical marijuana for all Californians, these two rural counties near Sacramento have, to their credit, stuck to their very conservative beliefs about marijuana. Though marijuana has been a medicine for over 3,000 years (and only not one for the last 70 or so!), both Sutter and Colusa remain entrenched in the discord between state and federal marijuana law.

The California County Medical Marijuana map below shows Sutter and Colusa counties, located approximately 60 miles north of the state capitol of Sacramento.

On October 1st 2010, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB 1449, a bill that essentially puts those caught possessing small amounts of marijuana in California on the same level as those caught speeding on California freeways. Below is a breakdown of updated 2011 California marijuana laws…  Included are the penalties for California pot offenses, and the miscellaneous CA pot laws (e.g. cited for possession of pot paraphernalia). Please click here for more on California medical marijuana laws, and California marijuana legalization efforts.

2011 California Marijuana Laws | CA Marijuana Rules

Possession of Marijuana in California
AMOUNT	TYPE	INCARCERATION	FINE
28.5 g or less	infraction	none	$100
More than 28.5 g	misdemeanor	6 months	$500
28.5 g or less on school grounds by a minor while school is in session	misdemeanor	10 days	$250
More than 28.5 g on school grounds while school open	misdemeanor	6 months	$500
Cultivation of Marijuana in California
Any amount (exception for patients or caregivers)	felony	16 – 36 months	none
Sale of Marijuana in California
Gift of less than 28.5 g	misdemeanor	none	$100
Any amount	felony	2 – 4 years	none
Any amount to a minor over 14 years old	felony	3 – 5 years	none
Any amount to a minor under 14 years old (offering, inducing, distributing)	felony	3 – 7 years	none
Miscellaneous Marijuana in California (paraphernalia, license suspensions, drug tax stamps, etc…)
Any conviction of minor under 21 causes driver’s license suspension for 1 year.

**California marijuana law regarding possession and cultivation of marijuana do not apply to patients or patients’ primary caregivers who possess or cultivate marijuana for the personal medical use of the patient, upon the recommendation or approval of a physician.

California Pot Laws | SB 1449 Decriminalizes Possession of Marijuana in California

Under new California marijuana law, SB 1449, possession of up to an ounce of marijuana is punishable by a $100 fine. But smoking pot in California would not be an arrestable offense, or garner a criminal record, something that drug legalization groups like NORML and ASA eagerly applauded.

Schwarzenegger, aka “the Governator” cast the new law’s effect as largely administrative, changing the crime of possession of marijuana in California from a misdemeanor to an infraction, the lowest level of offense under state law.

Possession of marijuana, cultivation of marijuana, and the sale of marijuana, all remain illegal on the federal level. For a state by state map of the 18 marijuana friendly states, and a guide to state marijuana law outside of California, please view our 2011 State Marijuana map and American pot policy post.

Marijuana Laws in California: Legal Details

**laws regarding possession and cultivation of marijuana in California do not apply to patients or patients’ primary caregivers who possess or cultivate marijuana for the personal medical use of the patient, upon the recommendation or approval of a physician.

> California marijuana possession: 28.5 grams or less of marijuana in CA is now a civil infraction; no longer an arrestable offense. The offender is subject to a civil fine of $100. Possession of greater than 28.5 grams in CA is punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $500.

> California marijuana possession in school: 28.5 grams or less of marijuana on California school grounds when the school is in session is punishable by up to 10 days in jail and a $250 fine. Possession of greater than 28.5 grams or more of marijuana in a California school zone is punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $500.

> California marijuana cultivation: cultivation or processing of any amount of marijuana in CA is punishable by up to sixteen months in state prison. There is an exception to the cultivation prohibition for patients or patients’ caregivers who possess or cultivate for personal use by the patient, upon approval of a physician.

> California marijuana sales: sale of marijuana in CA of any amount is a felony punishable by 2-4 years in prison. Sale of marijuana in CA to a minor is punishable by 3 – 5 years in prison. For anyone under the age of 21 convicted of any of the above offenses, the state may suspend the offender’s driver’s license for up to one year.

> California marijuana gifts: giving away less than 28.5 grams of marijuana in CA, is a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine of up to $100.

> California marijuana possession paraphernalia: possession of marijuana paraphernalia in CA is a civil fine of $200-$300 for the first offense,  and goes up to $5,000-$6,000 for a fifth or subsequent violation within a five-year period.

California Marijuana Law From the Source CA Attorney General Guidelines For the Security and Non-Diversion of Marijuana Grown for Medical Use   California Medical Marijuana Guidelines: PDF In August of 2008, California Attorney General Edmund G Brown issued the California medical marijuana guidelines PDF linked above. These are not binding law, but give an idea of how prosecutors will consider the circumstances of a California medical marijuana patients garden.

California Marijuana Guidelines by City| CA City Pot Policies

City of Arcata Marijuana Laws

Ordinance: ID card system maintained by Chief of Police. 10 plants + 2 # dried.

City of Berkeley Marijuana Laws

Ordinance: up to 10 plants and 2.5 lbs per patient; collectives up to 50 plants and 12.5 lbs total at any given time.Caregiver amounts calculated on the above numbers per patient served.

City of Oakland Marijuana Laws

Ordinance: Indoors — Up to 72 plants with up to 32 square feet of canopy and 3 # dried bud. Caregiver amounts calculated on the above numbers per patient served. Outdoors — 20 plants at any stage of developmen and 3 # dried bud. Effective June 1, 2004: Collectives not to exceed three patient members. Only four licensed dispensaries to be allowed by the City. Dispensaries limited to 8 ounces and 6 mature plus 12 immature plants per patient member at any given time. No on-site consumption allowed.

Original policy from 1998: Outdoors – 30 mature plants (60 if less than 30 are flowering); Indoors 144 — 48 mature plants + 96 immature vegetative and/or 1.5 # or 6 # (if patient grew).

City of San Diego Marijuana Laws

Still in development: Current version 9/17/03: Adult marijuana patients with the approval of a San Diego County doctor may keep up to 1 pound of marijuana and grow up to 24 plants. Under the measure, caregivers can keep up to 2 pounds of marijuana and grow up to 48 plants for as many as four patients. The ordinance must come back for a final vote, as a procedural matter, to be enacted.

City of San Jose Marijuana Laws

No quantity limits are established. Officers will not cite or arrest physicians, primary caregivers, or patients possessing or using marijuana for legitimate medicinal purposes in accordance with 11362.5 H&S. Standards of reasonableness in deciding enforcement issues are similar to those in needle or drug possession cases where a prescription is claimed or in a gun possession case where a permit is claimed. It should be kept in mind that mere oral approval by the physician is all that is necessary to comply with the law. Standards of probable cause for a vehicle search, person search, arrest, or a search warrant request should take into account known facts regarding the permitted uses of marijuana under Proposition 215.

City of Santa Cruz Marijuana Laws

No quantity guidelines; city ordinance regulates cannabis clubs, allows physician’s diagnosis for recommendation.

City of Santa Rosa Marijuana Laws

Ordinance: Safe Access Guidelines, same as the County of Sonoma. For more information, contact Sonoma Alliance for Medical Marijuana.

City of Sebastopol Marijuana Laws

Ordinance: Safe Access Guidelines, same as the County of Sonoma. For more information, contact Sonoma Alliance for Medical Marijuana; letter to DA asks to protect patients with 4.5# and 150 square feet of garden canopy. On 3/17/09, in an unanimous vote Sebastopol City Council approved the following four changes to the Medical Marijuana Dispensing Ordinance: 1. Extend hours of operation to 9 pm from 8 pm, Sunday through Thursday and 7 pm, Friday and Saturday; 2. Add the use of the California State Medical Marijuana Identification card and Patient ID Center Identification card as proof of patient status; 3. Remove the 30 immature plant limitation from retail sales; 4. Allow 150 sq. ft. for display and sale of medical use devices

 

California Marijuana Guidelines by County | CA Counties Pot Policy

 

Alameda County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Alpine County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Amador County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Butte County Marijuana Laws

Sheriff and DA jointly stipulate: 6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants and one pound of processed. (Formerly 6 plants at any stage). Butte County DA Policy

Calaveras Co. County Marijuana Laws

Board of Supervisors ordinance: 6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud. Two pound safe harbor dropped by Supervisors’ vote 3/27/06.

Colusa Co. County Marijuana Laws

 No firm policy; case by case review; 6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud OR 1.5 # processed. (Formerly 2 plants outdoors or 4 plants indoors)

Contra Costa County Marijuana Laws

 6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Del Norte Co. County Marijuana Laws

Current status remains unclear, so SAN is advising everyone to follow the state minimum guidelines for maximum safety. 6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud. After the local newspaper led a hysteria campaign, it appeared that the County Sups were going to throw out their guidelines (following); but when the “Kelly” ruling struck them down as unconstitutional and then the Supreme Court decided to hear the case, the plan was put into limbo. Originally: County Resolution 2002-029, adopted April 2002 allows up to 100 square feet with no more than 99 plants and up to 1# dried bud.

El Dorado County Marijuana Laws

 Outdoors: 20 plants March 1 through July 31; 10 plants through October (end of season) and 2 # bud from 9/1 to 2/28; 1 # from 3/1 to 8/31. Indoors: 10 vegetative plants, 1 mother plant, 10 flowering plants and1 # bud per patient. Formerly 6 plants and / or 2 pounds processed. Caregivers can take care of household plus three outside patients. Also see the DA policy here El Dorado County DA Policy

Fresno County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Glenn County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Humboldt County Marijuana Laws

Aapproved taskforce proposal of three pounds of bud or conversion plus 100 square feet of garden canopy, no limit on plant numbers or lamp wattage. Caregiver amounts calculated per patient served.

**Original DA policy: Up to 99 plants with up to 100 square feet of canopy and up to 3# of bud. Indoor gardens limited to 1500 watts total illumination.

Imperial County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Inyo County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Kern County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud.

King County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Lake County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Lassen County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Los AngelesCounty Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Madera County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Marin County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud, county ID cards honored by all law enforcement. 

Formerly: 6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud (lowest in the state and apparent basis for HS11362.77).

Mariposa County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Mendocino County Marijuana Laws

In 2008, County voters passed Measure ‘B’ to revert to the statewide minimum guidelines of 6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud. It was suspended for several months while the question was on appeal but has again been implemented pending the results of the Kelly case appeal, now before the State Supreme Court.

Previous policy: Sheriff and DA policy based on Voter Proposition G: 25 plants with up to 100 square feet of canopy and 2# bud. In August, 2004, the DA announced that the county will no longer enforce plant limits, only square footage.

Merced County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Modoc County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Mono County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Monterey County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Napa County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Nevada County Marijuana Laws:

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants any size, or in the alternative, 75 square feet of total canopy area AND up to 2# bud. Collectives to keep copies of all patient’s recommendations available for inspection.

Orange County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Placer County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Plumas County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Riverside County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Sacramento County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

San Benito County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

San Bernardino County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

San Diego County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

San Francisco County Marijuana Laws

Patient and caregiver ID cards issued by county Health Department; no patient guidelines. Case by case consideration, generally contingent on police claims of indicia of illegal sales or diversion to non-medical market. Patient guidelines adopted in 2005 set the immunity threshold at 24 plants/patient plus 8 oz, with a 25 sq. ft. canopy, and 99 plants per collective.

San Joaquin County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

San Luis Obispo County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

San Mateo County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Santa Barbara County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Santa Clara County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Santa Cruz County Marijuana Laws

Board of Supervisors approved physician’s taskforce proposal of three pounds of bud or conversion plus 100 square feet of garden canopy, no limit on plant numbers or lamp wattage.

Shasta County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud OR 1.33# processed. Formerly: Sheriff, DA and local police chiefs: 2 plants outdoors or 6 plants indoors (3 flowering/3 vegetative)

Sierra County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud OR quantity approved by physician Formerly: 3 plants outdoors OR 6 plants indoors .

Siskiyou County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Solano County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Sonoma County Marijuana Laws

Up to 30 (formerly 99) plants with up to 100 square feet of garden canopy and up to 3# of bud.

The guidelines were adopted by the Sonoma County Law Enforcement Chiefs Association, which includes the DA, Sheriff, and police chiefs from several towns and cities in the county. The guidelines were later ratified by the Santa Rosa and Sebastopol city councils. Protocol to review recommendations through Sonoma Medial Association. Caregiver amounts calculated per patient served. Physician’s approval if more is needed. For more information contact Sonoma Alliance for Medical Marijuana.

A. Possession. A qualified patient, or a person holding a valid identification card, or the designated primary caregiver of that qualified patient or person, may possess amounts of marijuana of up to three (3) pounds of dried cannabis or conversion per year.

B. Cultivation. A qualified patient or a person holding a valid identification card or a designated primary caregiver, or primary caregivers or qualified patients whom associate collectively or cooperatively, may also cultivate cannabis in an amount not to exceed more than one-hundred (100) square feet total garden canopy, per qualified patient, as measured by the combined vegetative growth area.

C. Plants. A qualified patient or a person holding a valid identification card or a designated primary caregiver, or primary caregivers or qualified patients whom associate collectively or cooperatively, may cultivate cannabis in an amount not to exceed more than thirty (30) plants per qualified patient. The authorized thirty (30) plants must be grown within the one-hundred (100) square foot total garden canopy per qualified patient.

Stanislaus County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Sutter County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Tehama County Marijuana Laws

On Sept. 27, 2005, the County Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution No. 98-2005 that establishes Outdoor Cultivation: 12 seedlings or 6 flowering or mature plants, and 8 ounces dried marijuana. Indoor Cultivation: 12 seedlings or 6 flowering or mature plants, and 8 ounces dried marijuana. If the above quantities are not exceeded, the documented medicinal marijuana cultivator and possessor is in compliance with the standards set forth by this (sheriff’s) agency and the investigation will not be submitted for prosecution.

Original Sheriff’s policy: 18 immature plants OR 6 mature plants, and up to 3# processed.

Trinity County Marijuana Laws

On 6/12/08 the board of Supervisors voted to step backward and revert to the state minimum threshold of 6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud. Previously, on 9/4/07 the Trinity County Board of Supervisors had adopted a more reasonable policy allowing for possession of 3 pounds of dried, processed marijuana at any one time and the cultivation of 12 mature plants and/or 24 immature plants. That policy is no longer in effect.

Tulare County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Tuolumne County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud AND 8 ounces of bud. Formerly Up to three plants and 8 ounces: these were the guidelines that were rejected by the California Supreme Court in the Mower decision.

Ventura County Marijuana Laws

Sheriff and DA policy: 6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud OR 1# dry bud or conversion. County Supervisors taking matter into review. Formerly 6 plants – 3 mature/ 3 immature

Yolo County Marijuana Laws

6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud

Yuba County Marijuana Laws

Informal policy: 6 mature plants OR 12 immature plants AND 8 ounces of bud OR 1.5# processed marijuana. Formerly 5 plants.

California Marijuana Laws | The Likely End of CA Marijuana Prohibition

Marijuana laws in California have been evolving rapidly since the landmark 1996 passage of prop 215. In 2010, and for but a few percentage points on a confusing prop 19 (as written, prop 19 would have placed a tax on medical marijuana as you would a vice like alcohol or tobacco, amongst other undesirable or unclear implications) the CA marijuana laws were almost completely rewritten. Prop 19 would have made American marijuana history, by making California the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use since the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, which made possession or transfer of cannabis illegal throughout the United States under federal law. Ironically, as many still argue against science whether marijuana is a medicine (medical marijuana has been in existence for almost 3,000 years),  the Marihuana Tax Act a full seven decades prior, provided an exclusion for the many medical and industrial uses of Cannabis.

Waiting in the wings for trendsetting California, is a sure bet for the 2012 elections, ”prop XXX - end marijuana prohibition in California.”  There is no doubt, that whatever language and ramifications is to be found in this upcoming “legalize marijuana in 2012″ initiative, California marijuana laws will soon again be radically altered.

*** please note the following: CA marijuana laws and policies courtesy of NORML, CA Attorney Generals office, Chris Conrad – Safe Access Now

Marijuana Laws | Medical Marijuana Laws Legal Disclaimer

All of the information contained in this web site, including this guide to California marijuana laws, is provided to you “AS IS” and for educational or entertainment purposes only, and does not constitute any legal advice.The California Pot Blog makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the legal information contained in or linked to this web site and its associated sites.

The laws of California marijuana policy change very rapidly, and accordingly, we do not guarantee that any information on this web site or our affiliated web sites are accurate and up to date. Additionally, pot law differs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and is subject to interpretation of courts located in each county. Legal advice must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case and the tools and information provided to you may not be an appropriate fit in your case. Nothing that you read or is provided on this web site should be used as a substitute for the advice of competent legal counsel.