2010 will prove to be a year of utmost importance to our cannabis community, both for the incredible achievements of the cannabis industry as well as the formidable challenges we as a united force have increasingly come close to overcoming. Prop 19 was not a failure for the patients of California. We patients have lost nothing specific while having gained the lasting support of our fellow Californians in general. More entrepreneurs have become savvy with the limitless potential of legalization and have infused our industry with fresh passion, insight and precision intuition. As we spliff the new year into a new era of cannabis consciousness and cooperation, let us budhoppers be ever mindful, ever inspired, by the galliant fight that we have all participated in, willingly or otherwise. So Cin-Cin to 2010! Talk about the Dog Years of Cannabis... 1996... 2003... 2010...
The Year That Was Cannabis.
JANUARY 2010
Apple launches the iPad in January 2010, setting the stage for the first ever 420 iPad App -- Leafly.
Leafly was designed to be completely anonymous. Setting up an account and journal doesn't even require an email address. By default all user information is private and hidden from view. For the power users, Leafly provides the expected hooks such as public profiles, auto-tweeting, and soon facebook integration. One major goal is to keep the site "Safe For Work." This is done in obvious ways such as the site design and the lack of cannabis photos, but also less obvious things like the domain name in case the company IT guy is snooping around in log files. During my first visit to a dispensary, I was overwhelmed by the selection of strains. On my second visit I couldn't remember which strain I liked the best and why. I pitched the idea to a couple friends of having an online journal to keep track of your usage history. From there it grew to aggregating everybody's reviews and ratings so we could start identifying the most common properties of strains.
FEBRUARY 2010
The 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Canada -- c'mon, how beautiful! The IOC accepts Vancouver's cosmopolitan regard to cannabis use, and so did all us viewers! Here is a light-hearted recap of the goofiness of BC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdiifwMJTvQ
February was an olympic year for The Center for Medicinal Cannabis Reasearch, University of California. Prior to February 2010, the center's research was limited to say it nicely. Since the center opened in 2010, medical marijuana use has spread rapidly in California, driven largely by doctors' willingness to recommend it to patients exhibiting a wide range of ailments. Prior to 2010, little research has been done on the medical benefits of cannabis, in part because researchers must win approval from federal agencies, including the DEA. The Feds have never been and are not in a rush to research the benefits of medical marijuana. The research typically approved prior to 2010 include:
Researchers Find Study of Medical Marijuana Discouraged, by Gardiner Harris, New York Times; and
Is Marijuana a Medicine? by Anne Wilde Matthews, Wall Street Journal.
Dr. Igor Grant, a neuropsychiatrist at UC San Diego who is the center's director, said federal officials did not try to thwart the research, but noted that approval typically took 18 months. "We basically did a lot of the work for investigators in terms of jumping through the hoops," he said.
The unusual scientific program, approved by the Legislature in 1999, was the result of negotiations between former state Sen. John Vasconcellos and former Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren. The two were vigorous adversaries in the contentious debate over the 1996 initiative that approved the use of medical marijuana.
Lungren, now a Republican congressman from Gold River, argued that Californians were moving ahead without the research needed to show whether marijuana was useful as a medicine. "I said at that time, if we had scientific evidence, we ought to be guided by scientific evidence," he said.
"I was shrewd enough to pick up on Lungren's 'Let's do research,' " said Vasconcellos, who led the effort to create the 10-year-old Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research. Lungren said he was shrewd enough to accept.
Lungren said the results are helpful, but underscore that medical marijuana should be more tightly controlled and used only where it has been proven effective.
The center funded a range of research, including six studies of whether marijuana reduces neuropathic pain, which is caused by a damaged or abnormally functioning nervous system. A UC San Francisco study of patients with HIV-related pain found that 52% of those who smoked marijuana experienced significant relief. Grant called the pain studies "pretty convincing" and urged the federal government to pay for additional clinical studies.
"I think that clearly cannabis has benefits," said Dr. Donald I. Abrams, a San Francisco oncologist who led that study. "This substance has been a medicine for 2,700 years; it only hasn't been a medicine for 70."
MARCH 2010
420Medicare.com East Bay Patient Cooperative launches web brand -- budhopper.com -- in March, 2010.
March 25, 2010, The New York Times reports:
On Wednesday, the California secretary of state certified a November vote on a ballot measure that would legalize, tax and regulate marijuana, a plan that advocates say could raise $1.4 billion and save precious law enforcement and prison resources.
“We need the tax money,” said Richard Lee, founder of Oaksterdam University, a trade school for marijuana growers, in Oakland, who backed the ballot measure’s successful petition drive. “Second, we need the tax savings on police and law enforcement, and have that law enforcement directed towards real crime.”
The aforementioned ballot measure is, was, Prop. 19. Much more news in No-vember.
Click here to read the full NYTimes article, written by Jesse McKinley.
APRIL 2010
The World Bids Adieu to a Patriarch -- Jack Herer (June 18, 1939 - April 15, 2010)
(SALEM, Ore.) - The sad news has been confirmed. Jack Herer, 70-year old author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes and renowned around the world for hemp activism, has died at 11:17 a.m. today, in Eugene, Oregon.
Jack Herer suffered a heart attack last September just after speaking on stage at the Portland HempStalk festival. The last seven months have proven to be a huge challenge to the man, with several health issues making his recovery complicated.
Jack Herer's health has been poor lately, this last week there have been reports of the severity, and an outpouring of prayers on his behalf.
"It's shocking news, even after these last seven, trying months," said Paul Stanford, THCF Executive Director.
"Jack Herer has been a good friend and associate of mine for over 30 years. I was there when he had the heart attack at our Hempstalk festival and I know he wouldn’t appreciate the quality of life he's endured these last months. Still he will be greatly missed. I honor his memory."
"No other single person has done more to educate people all across the world about industrial hemp and marijuana as Jack Herer. His book is translated into a dozen different languages, it's a bestseller in Germany," added Stanford.
"The Hempstalk stage will forever be the Jack Herer Memorial stage. And, a Memorial is planned to be built where he fell that day," Stanford said.
"His legacy will continue to inspire and encourage for generations to come."
MAY 2010
Nevermind the court of public opinion, 2010 saw canna-businesses filing law suits against California cities in a back-and-forth ferver of punitive actions. See the news video:
http://www.youtube.com/v/Et1cPNqphSg.
Besides dispensaries, the plaintiffs include medical marijuana users and organizations that promote the use of medical marijuana. Vincent Howard, founding partner of Howard | Nassiri, based in Anaheim, Calif., who represents at least 10 dispensaries in Los Angeles, expects more suits to be filed.
"As long as cities want to turn a blind eye and pretend like this isn't coming, there's going to be a lot of lawsuits and a proliferation of dispensaries," he said.
"We continue to see in California dispensaries trying all sorts of creative ways to try to establish their legality under cities' municipal codes," said Jeffrey Dunn, a partner in the Irvine, Calif., office of Best Best & Krieger. He is defending Lake Forest, Calif., in several suits. "To date, none of them has been successful."
On March 18, the nation's largest medical marijuana organization,
Americans for Safe Access, sued the city of Los Angeles over an ordinance that requires that dispensaries be located at least 1,000 feet from schools, parks, libraries, churches and other "sensitive uses."
City prosecutors sent letters to 439 medical marijuana dispensaries, demanding they be shut down by June 7. Violators face six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, which increases to $2,500 per day after the deadline.
JUNE 2010
Following a weekend rolled tight with speakers, expos, parties, seminars and an amazing array of California’s most wonderfully medicinal cannabis, HIGH TIMES awarded the first ever Medical Cannabis Cup trophies in four categories, honoring top indicas, sativas, concentrates and edibles. With head judge Jorge Cervantes presiding, an all-star panel of HIGH TIMES cultivation writers and California based medical marijuana experts put their heads together and tested literally dozens of entries before making their final selections.
The following week, Rolling Stones Magazine's July Edition included an
article by Michael Hastings that changed history. The profile of Stanley McChrystal was an unflinching perspective of a "Runaway General" and was so successful at connecting with the nation's nerves, that our President responded immediately. Honest and accurate writing doing what honest and accurate people will to do.
We at budhopper.com are committed to expressing our honest voice in the tones of our talented contributors, and not washing down the language, rhetoric or creativity. There are other sites that provide articles that are safe for work and read more general use; budhopper.com provides another platform all together. We deliberately seek the talents of writers who are controversial, provocative, satirical and on the fringe. So major kudos to Rolling Stones Magazine, Michael Hastings, and the American people for demonstrating democratic media at it's best. We at budhopper.com aren't saying we are changing the world, but we strive to be among those which inspire the ones who do change the world for cannabis.
JULY 2010
Oakland, Seeking Financial Lift, Approves Giant Marijuana Farms
At an Oakland City Council hearing, most audience members spoke in favor of a proposal to allow medical marijuana farms. Among the audience members was Steve DeAngelo, left, owner of a marijuana dispensary, and Keith Stephenson, right, who runs the Purple Heart Patient Center.
While the city has been one of the most welcoming in the state to medical marijuana purveyors, how the drug is grown has been largely unregulated. Oakland’s new law, which requires a final vote from the City Council next week, would bring large-scale marijuana cultivators above ground, mandating that they pay a $211,000 annual fee, provide security, conduct criminal background checks on employees, install camera surveillance and fire-safe electrical systems, and buy insurance.
If the plan receives final approval, the city would begin issuing large-scale production permits in January.
UPDATE: http://www.baycitizen.org/marijuana/story/oakland-suspends-pot-farm-plans/
Under fire from the U.S. Department of Justice over its marijuana cultivation plans, the Oakland City Council voted just a moment ago to suspend the process for permitting four enormous marijuana-growing operations.
It seemed clear that the city was worried about moving forward when it was revealed Monday in response to a public records request by The Bay Citizen that no applications had been submitted by Oakland’s many pot entrepreneurs just two days before they were supposed to be due on Dec. 22.
The City Council will come back to the issue on Feb. 1, 2011, after changes have been made. More details later.
Hmmmm. Feeling dizzy? Maybe the fact that Prop 19 was unsuccessful at the ballots is why growers were unconvinced a 6-figure license would keep them out of federal courts.
AUGUST 2010
What's Happening with New East Bay Pot Laws
This article offers a series of analytic maps of the emerging and proposed legislative landscape and its various interpretations.
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2010-08-03/article/35979?headline=Using-Our-Heads-What-s-Happening-with-New-East-Bay-Pot-Laws-
SEPTEMBER 2010
Marc Emery, Canada's "Prince of Pot" and a powerful voice in the debate over the decriminalization of marijuana, was sent to federal prison for five years on Friday for selling millions of cannabis seeds by mail and phone order, the culmination of a five-year prosecution and plea agreement that saw Emery extradited from Vancouver.
In a statement to U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez and in a letter to the court, Emery admitted his attempt to force a change in U.S. and Canadian drug laws through "civil disobedience" and flouting the laws was "overzealous and reckless." ??"I acted arrogantly in violation of U.S. federal law," he wrote. "I regret not choosing other methods — legal ones — to achieve my goals of peaceful political reform.
"In my zeal, I had believed that my actions were wholesome, but my behavior was in fact illegal and set a bad example for others," he said.
The five-year prison sentence was no surprise. Emery and the government had agreed to it as part of a deal that saw Emery surrender to U.S. authorities in May after fighting extradition from Canada for four years.
OCTOBER 2010
Marijuana Halloween Costumes 2010
In 2010 with the California elections still upcoming and increased awareness across the country there was even more of a reason to dress up in your favorite Rasta gear or twist yourself into a giant joint. So here, according to Papa Kief, are the best and the worst Marijuana Costumes of 2010.
Top 5 Marijuana costumes of 2010
1. I think we can all agree that the Pasties are by far the most appealing marijuana costume with an underlying idea of minimalism.
2. Cheech's pink tutu is one of the most iconic stoner costumes on the market!
3. Undoubtedly you will be invited to all of the parties if you are a giant sack of pot! Cant go wrong with this one even with the Mouse
4. Rasta Legendary big head!
5. These suits very fun and a great way to meet people around you as you stumble and bump.
Worst 5 Marijuana costumes of 2010
1. This costume looks like a KKK member who likes marijuana and the grim reaper with a zombie face.
2. Marijuana baked potato?
3. This is about as cheesy as marijuana gets unless its in a Bacon Cheese Spread!
4. Something about this suit is just wrong....
5. Pot head...
Anyways, I hope everyone dresses up and supports legalization of cannabis over the upcoming holiday weekend.
NOVEMBER 2010
Rest In Peace, Prop 19
2010 was retro-chic in many ways. From Skinny-Jeans (ugh!) to political cartoons, there was no shortage of cartoon characters making a point everywhere you looked. Click to enlarge for a glance back at some of our favorite political cartoons from 2010:
Who will ever forget South Park's Medicinal Fried Chicken episode? Uh, patients. J/K, OMG! WtF? SRSLY?
Watch Now at:
http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s14e03-medicinal-fried-chicken
Also super-cool on November 1, 2010 - Wow.
The San Francisco Giants won the World Series tonight in a 3-1 win over the Rangers in Game 5. Tim Lincecum shined brighter than Cliff Lee. Edgar Renteria shot a three-run hit that helped San Francisco beat Texas.
AT&T Park is nuts right now. Market Street is chaos. Chestnut Street went berserk. The Castro is elated. North Beach has been rendered astounded. The Richmond is thrilled. And on and on and on. We haven't felt this close to the city and its denizens since... since never, really. Tonight more than makes up for 2002.
Congratulations, Giants, Congratulations, San Francisco.
So we are willing to generate more accurate images of cannabis patients, both for medicinal therapy as well as athletic and artistic conditioning and rehab. The next challenge for our community perhaps may lie in our willingness or not to generate broader views about growing and the artistry of curing cannabis. It is no secret that when our community went to the polls the day after the GIANTS blew us away with their commitment to our dream, many of us blew off our dream for marijuana legalization because we were unprepared for the changes that would have come. Let us never be unprepared again. The cannabis community of voters can no longer afford to have Off Days the first week of November.
DECEMBER 2010
December 13, 2010: WeedMaps Goes Public!
WeedMaps Media, Inc. is now a wholly owned subsidiary of General Cannabis, Inc. General Cannabis, Inc. is a publicly traded company listed on the Pink Sheets and its ticker symbol is CANA.That means anybody that believes in our business and the future of medical marijuana can invest directly into WeedMaps and other canna-businesses growing interest in the stock markets. It's a fascinating symptom of the trend that is the industry of cannabis.
DECEMBER 22, 2010: The Huffington Post, Top 8 Cannabis Stories of 2010
Ending the Drug War: 8 Top Stories of 2010 by Tony Newman, The Huffington Post
It's been a difficult year for progressives, and most other Americans as well. While I feel discouraged about many things happening in our country and around the world, and have lost lots of my "Yes We Can" glow from only two years ago, the issue that is closest to my heart -- ending the war on people who use drugs -- continues to bring me hope and cautious optimism.
The debate around failed marijuana prohibition and the larger drug war arrived in a big way in 2010. Below are some of the most significant stories from 2010 and the reasons why I'm encouraged that we can start finding an exit strategy from America's longest running war.
1) California's Vote on Legalizing Marijuana Inspires Worldwide Debate: Proposition 19, the initiative to control and tax marijuana in California, was arguably the highest profile voter initiative in the nation. It generated thousands of stories in the United States and around the world about the pros and cons of marijuana prohibition. Millions of people for the first time had serious conversations about whether we should continue to arrest and incarcerate people for marijuana or if we should take it out of the illicit market and regulate it. In the end, Prop. 19 received more than 46% of the vote, more votes that GOP Governor Candidate Meg Whitman. The take-away from California is not will marijuana ever be legal, but when.
2) President Obama Signed Historic Legislation Reducing Crack/Powder Cocaine Sentencing Disparity: In August, President Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act, reforming the draconian disparity between crack and powder cocaine prison sentences. Before the change, a person with just five grams of crack received a mandatory sentence of five years in prison. That same person would have to possess 500 grams of powder cocaine to earn the same punishment. This discrepancy, known as the 100-to-1 ratio, was enacted in the late 1980s and was based on myths about crack cocaine being more dangerous than powder cocaine. Unfortunately, the Democrats made serious comprises to get Republicans to support the Fair Sentencing Act. The original bill that would have completely eliminated the 100-to-1 disparity, but instead the compromise reduced the disparity to 18:1. Most troubling was that that the reform was not applied retroactively - which means that none of the tens of thousand of people unfairly languishing in cages will find any relief from the new law. That said, the reform of these laws is the first repeal of a mandatory minimum drug sentence since the 1970s.
3) Media Coverage is Fair, Balanced and Thoughtful: For the first time, the media consistently covered the marijuana debate seriously and without the jokes and giggle factor that accompanied stories in the past. For the first time they started including anti-prohibition voices that pointed out that much of the violence in the drug trade is due to prohibition and not the drug itself. There were cover stories in a range of outlets and magazines, including Time Magazine, the Washington Post Magazine, and the Nation. The Associated Press deserves a Pulitzer Prize for its "Impact Series" on the Drug War. Back in May, AP dropped a bombshell on America's longest war and the headline said it all: The US Drug War Has Met None of its Goals. The extensive piece reviewed the last 40 years, starting with President Nixon's official launch of the War on Drugs all the way to President Obama's annual strategy released this year. The piece packed a punch from the start: "After 40 years, the United States' War on Drugs has cost $1 trillion dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives, and for what? Drug use is rampant and violence more brutal and widespread."
4) Portugal Shows Us Decriminalization of Drugs Works: A new study, published in November in the British Journal of Criminology, shows that Portugal's decriminalization of drugs in 2001 has led to reductions in student drug use, prison overcrowding, drug related deaths and HIV/ AIDS. In July 2001, Portugal decriminalized the possession of up to ten days' supply of all types of illicit drugs. Before the law went into effect the pro-drug war zealots predicted that the sky would fall and chaos would reign if drug were decriminilazed. Nine years later, the sky hasn't fallen and having drug use addressed as a heath issue instead of a criminal issue has been proven to saves lives and money. Portugal shows us that drugs can be decriminalized in the real world, not only in theory.
5) Facebook Founders Fund Drug Policy Reform: While the Social Network movie about Facebook was the number one movie in the country, two former top Facebook executives featured in the film, Dustin Moskovitz and Sean Parker, both became major funders of drug policy reform by donating $50,000 and $100,000 to the California marijuana ballot iniative. The drug policy reform movement has greatly benefitted from the generous support of funders like George Soros, Peter Lewis and John Sperling. Mr. Moskovitz and Mr. Parker can also play a crucial role in supporting the reform movement.
6) California Makes Possession of Under One Ounce of Marijuana an Infraction--Similar to a Speeding Ticket: In addition to the debate, coalition building, and public education that Prop. 19 generated, it also led to concrete victories: Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill that will reduce the penalty for marijuana possession from a misdemeanor to a non-arrestable infraction, like a traffic ticket. That's no small matter in a state where arrests for marijuana possession totaled 61,000 last year -- roughly triple the number in 1990. It's widely assumed that the principal reason the governor signed the bill, which had been introduced by a liberal state senator, Mark Leno, was to undermine one of the key arguments in favor of Prop 19.
7) Leaders from Around the World Call for Legalization Debate: Although President Obama and his Drug Czar have repeated said that legalization is not in their vocabulary, the L-word is being talked about like never before among leaders around the world. This year Mexico President Calderon called for a debate on drug legalisation to help reduce the bloody war in Mexico. Former Mexico President Vicente Fox has since gone further and called for an end to prohibition. Just last week, United Kingdom's Bob Ainsworth, the former drugs and defense minister, called for the legalisation and regulation of drugs. All of this follows a 2009 report by three former Latin American Presidents, Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, Cesar Gaviria of Colombia and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, where they called the drug war a failure and emphasized the need to "break the taboo" on an open and honest discussion on international drug policy.
8) New and Powerful Voices Join Movement to End Failed Drug War: Prop. 19 inspired an unprecedented coalition in support of reforming our futile and wasteful marijuana laws. A diverse coalition from across the political spectrum came together to "Just Say No" to failed marijuana prohibition. Law enforcement, including the National Black Police Association and National Latino Officers Association, spoke out in support of Prop. 19. Moms spoke out powerfully for tax and regulate because if is safer for their children than prohibition. The California NAACP and the Latino Voters League endorsed Prop. 19, specifically citing the chilling racial disparities in the enforcement of marijuana laws. Students for Sensible Drug Policy organized on campuses around the state. Finally, organized labor - from the Service Employees International Union to the longshoremen to food to communications workers -- for the first time offered endorsements because controlling and regulating marijuana will mean jobs and revenue that the state currently cedes to criminal cartels and the black market.
There's More Opportunities for Reform than Ever, But the War on Drugs Grinds On: For all the recent progress, drug policy reformers are under no illusion that the drug war will end any time soon. With the Democrats' "shellacking" in November, it is even more unclear how much change will be coming out of Washington in 2011 and beyond. We know that drug prohibition and our harsh drug laws - fueled by a prison-industrial complex that locks up 500,000 of our fellow Americans on drug-related offenses - are poised to continue for some time, wasting tens of billions of dollars and leading to thousands of deaths each year. But we are clearly moving in the right direction, toward a more rational drug policy based on compassion, health, science and human rights. We need people to continue to join the movement to end this unwinnable war. If the people lead, the leaders will follow.
Read the complete article at The Huffington Post here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tony-newman/momentum-builds-to-end-dr_b_800005.html. Tony Newman is the director of media relations at the Drug Policy Alliance (www.drugpolicy.org)
Follow Tony Newman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TonyNewmanDPA December 31, 2010: Medical Marijuana Collectives Plan New Year's Event
More than a dozen medical marijuana collectives in Shasta County will host Northern California’s first-ever Medicine Ball on New Year’s Eve at Gover Ranch in Anderson.
“I’ve been trying to get all of the collectives working together in Redding and Anderson,” said Joe Munday. owner of The Green Heart, a collective with operations in Anderson, Shasta Lake and Mount Shasta. “This event is mainly an opportunity to get everybody together who is using medical marijuana and offer an alternative event to the casinos on New Year’s Eve.”
Tickets in advance will be $55 for singles and $100 per couple, Munday said, with tickets bought at the gate costing $65 for singles and $120 for couples.
For $350, medical marijuana card-carrying patrons can buy a “Judges Package” to sample several strains of medicine submitted for the “Masters Cup” competition.
“A lot of growers will be there showing their wares,” Munday said. “We have 12,000 square feet of tent space rented from Tents and Events. There will be overnight camping allowed. We have two bands signed up, The FOG and the Army Band, a reggae group that was the No. 1 downloaded band on iTunes in 2009.”
Munday said there will also be caricature painters, palm readers and a tri-tip and chicken barbecue.
“For everyone’s safety, we have full-blown security on board. We are hoping to have 1,500 people there at least,” said Munday.
Munday said he has arranged for discounted motel rooms and shuttle bus service between Gover Ranch and at least two motels in Anderson.
To reach the Gover Ranch, head toward Coleman National Fish Hatchery and continue south on Gover Road just beyond the hatchery turnoff.
“There are 10,000 to 15,000 scripted patients in Shasta County. We have nearly 4,000 registered at our three locations alone,” Munday said. “If just 10 percent show up, it will be a great event.”
Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said Friday his department was aware that a New Year’s Eve event was planned.
“But since my officers are not the type of people who they are likely to invite, we were not made aware of either the types of activities planned nor the size of the event,” Bosenko said.
A representative for the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control confirmed Friday that someone representing the event had applied for a liquor license, but the permit had been denied because the application claimed it was for a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, and marijuana collectives do not fall under that nonprofit classification.
Tickets to the event are available at most medical marijuana collectives in Shasta County, Munday said. For more information, call The Green Heart at 365-8500 or Family Tree Cooperative at 605-3636.
Happy 2011 budhoppers! As families and friends settle back into routines and our busy lives go back into overdrive for the new year, please take a moment to ensure your rights as a medical marijuana patient are protected.