CBS Poll: Nationwide Support For Marijuana Legalization At All-Time High

Sixty-five percent of Americans believe that the use of marijuana by adults “should be legal,” according to national polling data compiled by CBS News. That figure is six percentage points above last year’s total, and is the highest percentage of support ever recorded in a CBS poll.

Majorities of Democrats and Republicans back legalization, and most respondents agree that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol or other drugs. Fifty-five percent of Americans also acknowledged having personally consumed cannabis, the highest total reported in the poll’s history.

Most Americans (62 percent), including a majority of Republicans and Democrats, also say that they oppose the federal government taking action to disrupt the production and sale of marijuana in states where it is currently legal.

The CBS poll results are consistent with those of other recent major surveys, such as those by Gallup (66 percent), Pew (62 percent), and Quinnipiac University (60 percent) — all of which similarly show support for legalization at record or near-record highs.

Source: https://blog.norml.org/2019/04/19/cbs-poll-nationwide-support-for-marijuana-legalization-at-all-time-high/

CBS Poll: Nationwide Support For Marijuana Legalization At All-Time High is courtesy of https://gigglesndimples.com/

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Book Review: Jorma Kaukonen’s ‘Been So Life: My Life in Music’

Jefferson Airplane, circa 1968, from left: Marty Balin, Grace Slick, Spencer Dryden, Paul Kantner, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady

With Woodstock 50 four months away, 1969 festival alum and former Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen is in the news with a his autobiography, Been So Long: My Life in Music.

Hardcore Airplane and Hot Tuna fans already know the basic outline of Kaukonen’s life: An authenticity-obsessed student of traditional, finger-picking country blues in the folk revival of the early ’60s (Harlem legend Blind Gary Davis was his special inspiration), Kaukonen catapulted to stardom when he went electric as the lead guitarist for Jefferson Airplane, the flagship band of the psychedelic San Francisco sound.

Together with Airplane bassist and childhood friend Jack Casady, they formed Hot Tuna as a side group in 1969 that returned to Kaukonen’s country-blues roots before again going electric, this time as a heavy blues-rock power trio in the style of Cream. After Tuna split up in the late ’70s, he briefly experimented with the punk-blues band Vital Parts, but this didn’t go over well with his fans. In the ’80s, Kaukonen spiraled downhill; by the time he was called back for an Airplane reunion album in 1989 his career was at a nadir.

It’s hardly surprising that tales of drug use devour many pages. Cannabis was a “sacrament” for these early San Francisco musical pioneers, a rite of cultural bonding as well as enhancement to creativity. LSD trips followed.

Kaukonen subsequently revived Tuna as a country-blues group. In the 21st century, he went back to the land on a farm in rural Ohio where he now teaches guitar to kids from across the country, passing that old-school blues method to a new generation.

In Been So Long, the real geeks get the details on every model of guitar Kaukonen ever played, as well as every make of car and motorcycle he ever rode. Fanatics get an inside look at his Finnish-Jewish ethnic roots, his boyhood as a globe-trotting Foreign Service brat, his early gigging on the Washington, DC bar scene and his recruitment into the Airplane.

It’s hardly surprising that tales of drug use devour many pages. Cannabis was a “sacrament” for these early San Francisco musical pioneers, a rite of cultural bonding as well as enhancement to creativity. LSD trips followed. Kaukonen seems a little self-conscious about this, even denying that the Airplane, quintessential icon of the countercultural explosion, was a “hippie band.” He claims to have never actually lived in Haight-Ashbury, but in fact the Airplane’s communal house at 2400 Fulton Street was just a few blocks north of the Haight.

Kaukonen’s reticence about identifying with the hippies may have to do with acute awareness of his own self-destructive streak. For him, speed was a “work drug” used habitually to keep going through shows. His decline in the ’80s was, in large part, due to alcoholism and heroin use. The psychological toll of the related nightmare—financial woes, deeply dysfunctional relationships, rusting musical chops—is depicted unsparingly.

But Kaukonen lands on his feet in the end, emerging from his trial by fire chastened but wiser. He establishes a new stable and happy family life and wins less glittery, but more meaningful acclaim as one of the nation’s foremost preservationists of intangible Americana. The embryonic journey he embarked on in the heady ’60s has brought him a hard-won fulfillment.

More Book Reviews

Let’s Go (So We Can Go Back) by Jeff Tweedy

Gold Dust Woman: A Biography of Stevie Nicks by Stephen Davis

Fare The Well: The Final Chapter of the Grateful Dead’s Long, Strange Trip by Joel Selvin

This article appears in Issue 35. Subscribe to the magazine here.

The post Book Review: Jorma Kaukonen’s ‘Been So Life: My Life in Music’ appeared first on Freedom Leaf.

Source: https://www.freedomleaf.com/jorma-kaukonen-autobiography-been-so-long/

The blog article Book Review: Jorma Kaukonen’s ‘Been So Life: My Life in Music’ is republished from The Giggles N Dimples Blog

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Getting High on Oversupply: What to Do About Surpluses and Shortages

The rollout of marijuana legalization has not been smooth. On one side, there’s a push for revenue; on the other, there’s a desire for tough regulations and enforcement. While businesses get caught in the middle, consumers go along for the ride and patients run the risk of being mowed over.

Greed Rules: The Case of Oregon

Legislators often see legal marijuana as a cash cow. If money is the motivation, authorities will push to issue as many licenses to as many businesses as possible, which can lead to overproduction and oversupply. Take the legal marijuana state of Oregon, for instance.

People in Oregon grow a lot of weed. The Beaver State has been a net marijuana exporter for decades. The state’s medical-marijuana program was approved by voter initiative in 1998, yet it wasn’t until 2013 that the legislature passed a bill to license and regulate dispensaries. Voters approved a legalization measure in 2014, and adult-use sales started in 2015. Then, in 2016, the state legislature repealed a residency requirement for marijuana businesses and opened up Oregon’s marijuana industry to out-of-state investment.

“We’ve created an oversupply problem,” says Anthony Taylor, co-founder and legislative liaison for the patient advocacy organization Compassionate Oregon. “Before we legalized cannabis for the adult-use population, we were already producing about five times what the state consumes, and when the Oregon Liquor Control Commission came in and threw all that infrastructure away in favor of their new infrastructure, it created this situation that’s virtually collapsing in on itself.”

Taylor’s not just blowing smoke about over-production. According to an August 2018 report by the Oregon-Idaho High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, “A surplus of 344,730 kg (760,000 pounds) unsold cannabis [was] logged during the recent audit of the recreational system.” Clearly, Oregon is growing more cannabis than can be consumed in the state, hence the proposal by State Sen. Floyd Prozanski to be able to ship the surplus to neighboring legal states.

On the bright side, not everyone is suffering. Oversupply, combined with intense competition, pushes retail prices down (as low as $40 per ounce) and non-medical consumers reap the benefits. Retailers benefit as well because oversupply gives them leverage to negotiate lower wholesale prices.

Gripping Too Tightly: The Case of Canada

While an over-abundance of cannabis is a huge problem for growers, at least in the short term, some people are happy. With undersupply, no one’s happy. That’s the problem Canada has been facing since legal, adult-use sales began last October 17.

Canada’s had legal medical marijuana since 2001, following a Supreme Court ruling in 2000, and a largely unregulated medical industry developed as a result. The Canadian government finally passed the Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations in 2013, which required patients to get their weed from licensed producers via mail order. (That requirement was overturned by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2016.)

In 2015, when Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party took a majority in the federal elections, he became prime minister. Trudeau had promised to “design a new system of strict marijuana sales and distribution,” but the program so far has been struggling.

“Stores have had to cut hours,” renowned Canadian researcher, writer and marijuana activist Chris Bennett tells Freedom Leaf. “They don’t have stock for meeting demands and it’s expected to be a year or more before this situation levels.”

Scarcity means higher prices. Weed in Canada costs “about $16 a gram for legal pot compared to the typical $8-$12 that you could find at most dispensaries,” he says. “Plus, there’s been numerous quality issues with the ‘legal’ cannabis being sold.”

It didn’t have to be this way. “The current legalization is largely seen by activists, dispensary owners and growers as an industry takeover,” Bennett adds. “If the Fed and Provinces had taken a more inclusive approach, existing dispensaries and growers could’ve been grandfathered in.” And, hence, prevented the shortages that are currently plaguing the program.

The Road Ahead

Here’s Anthony Taylor’s advice for states and countries that plan to create regulated cannabis markets in the near future:

• “Number one, don’t regulate it like alcohol. They’re two different creatures and they need two different sets of regulations.”
• “Two, create an independent, autonomous body to oversee all things cannabis, with the requisite rule-making authority, and allow the process to take several years, especially if you have an existing medical infrastructure in place.”

As far as Oregon’s oversupply problem is concerned, he suggests licensing “a very small population of growers and see what happens. Don’t open it up for anybody in the world to come in and buy an Oregon Liquor Control cannabis license. Use a progressive licensing structure so that the mom and pops only have to pay $1,000 for a license, but the Coors, Marlboros and RJ Reynolds come in and pay $5 million. That’s a very important distinction to make, because it allows the small farmer to continue to grow and become an important part of the overall picture.”

Related Articles

Pounds Selling for $500 in Oregon

Inside Canada’s Legalization Challenge

Social Consumption Taking Off in California and Colorado

This article appears in Issue 35. Subscribe to the magazine here.

The post Getting High on Oversupply: What to Do About Surpluses and Shortages appeared first on Freedom Leaf.

Source: https://www.freedomleaf.com/cannabis-oversupply-shortages-oregon-canada/

The post Getting High on Oversupply: What to Do About Surpluses and Shortages is republished from https://gigglesndimples.com

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Illinois: Cook County State’s Attorney To Expunge Thousands Of Low-Level Cannabis Convictions

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has pledged that her office will begin expunging thousands of low-level marijuana convictions in the coming months. Cook County, which includes Chicago, is the second-most populous county in the United States.

Foxx’s office is negotiating with the same non-profit group that assisted the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office in automatically reviewing and vacating over 8,000 past marijuana-related convictions earlier this year.

Foxx also indicated that her office is reviewing policies regarding whether to bring criminal prosecutions in cases involving marijuana sales. Under existing policy, the office typically does not prosecute low-level drug possession offenses.

Under state law, the possession of more than ten grams of cannabis but less than 30 grams is classified as a criminal misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail. Possessing more than 30 grams is classified as a felony offense, punishable by up to six years in jail.

In recent months, prosecutors in a number of major cities – including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and St. Louis – have moved to limit low-level marijuana prosecutions, while officials in a number of other cities and counties, like Brooklyn, Denver, San Diego, and Seattle have moved to vacate past cannabis-specific convictions. .

Source: https://blog.norml.org/2019/04/18/illinois-cook-county-states-attorney-to-expunge-thousands-of-low-level-cannabis-convictions/

The post Illinois: Cook County State’s Attorney To Expunge Thousands Of Low-Level Cannabis Convictions Find more on: Giggles N Dimples Blog

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Georgia: Governor Signs Law Licensing Low-THC Oil Production

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation into law today to facilitate regulations governing the licensed production and distribution of oils and other products containing limited amounts of plant-derived THC.

House Bill 324 (aka Georgia’s Hope Act) establishes a regulatory commission to oversee the eventual “production, manufacturing, and dispensing” of products possessing specified quantities of plant-derived THC to qualified patients. The law allows for the licensing of up to six cultivation operations, and seeks collaboration with the University of Georgia in the manufacturing of THC-infused extracts and oils.

Under a 2015 state law, qualified patients are exempt from criminal prosecution for the possession of oil extracts containing not more than 5 percent THC and an amount of CBD equal to or greater than the amount of THC. However, the law failed to provide any mechanism for patients to obtain low-THC products from a state-regulated producer or provider.

Approximately 9,500 patients are currently registered with the state to possess medical cannabis products.

For additional information on pending state legislation, visit NORML’s ‘Take Action’ Center here.

Source: https://blog.norml.org/2019/04/17/georgia-governor-signs-law-licensing-low-thc-oil-production/

Georgia: Governor Signs Law Licensing Low-THC Oil Production was initially published to GigglesNDimples.com

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Want a new sticker for your laptop?

As we approach April 20, we’d like to take a minute to thank you for being an active supporter of NORML’s efforts to end the failed policy of marijuana prohibition.

As we say, “when we’re talking, we’re winning.” So, as a token of our appreciation for your support, we want to send you our conversation-starting sticker!

When NORML was founded in 1970, only 12% of the country supported legalizing marijuana; 88% were opposed to our goals. After decades of hard work by thousands of committed advocates like you, we have gradually won the hearts and minds of a majority of the public. Today, over 60% of adults nationwide support ending marijuana prohibition and establishing a regulated market where consumers can obtain marijuana in a safe and secure setting.

NORML’s work is fueled by the power of grassroots supporters just like you – not big donors or the emerging cannabis industry. Because of that, we are the only organization that focuses on the issues facing consumers, ranging from criminalization, employment discrimination, child custody, expungement, and a litany of other issues that impact responsible marijuana consumers.

Make a contribution of $10 or more now to keep our momentum going and we’ll send you a sticker to show off your support!

We still have lots of work ahead of us, even in those states that have enacted some form of marijuana legalization. But, as we continue to educate our lawmakers and fellow citizens alike, we’ll get there together.

Thanks for all you do,

The NORML team

P.S. Don’t want a sticker but want to help offset the costs of us distributing them around the country? Click here to make a contribution to keep NORML going strong.

Source: https://blog.norml.org/2019/04/15/want-a-new-sticker-for-your-laptop/

Want a new sticker for your laptop? is courtesy of Giggles N Dimples

source https://gigglesndimples.com/2019/04/15/want-a-new-sticker-for-your-laptop/

The Original Flier That Sparked the 420 Phenomenon

Former Freedom Leaf senior editor Chris Goldstein interviewed editor-in-chief Steve Bloom about the origins of how the number 420 became synonymous with cannabis in 2016. Bloom was the first journalist to write about 420 when he worked at High Times in the 1990s.

You claim to have discovered 420. How did that happen?

The last week of 1990 I went to several Grateful Dead shows at the Oakland Coliseum. I was walking in the parking lot and someone handed me a half-page flier. It had this message that people should smoke together at 4:20 and on 4/20. I brought it back to High Times in New York. We passed it around the office and everyone got a kick out of it. I was news editor at the time, so I transcribed the flyer and published it in the May 1991 issue. My little write up in High Times was the first time “420” got any national publicity.

What did the flier say?

“Four-twenty started in San Rafael, CA in the late ’70s. It started as police code for Marijuana Smoking in Progress. After local heads heard of the police call they started using the expression ‘420’ when referring to the herb—‘Let’s go 420, dude!’

“There is something fantastic about getting ripped at 4:20, when you know your brothers and sisters all over the country and even the planet are lighting up and toking up right along with you.

The original 420 flyer

“Now, there’s something even more grand than getting baked at 4:20. We’re talking about the day of celebration, the real time to get high, the grandmaster of all holidays: 4/20, April 20th. This is when you must get the day off work or school. We are going to meet at 4:20 on 4/20 for 420-ing in Marin County at the Bolinas Ridge sunset spot on Mt. Tamalpais.

“Just go down Mill Valley, find a stoner and ask where Bolinas Ridge is. If you make it to Marin you will definitely find it.

“HELPFUL HINTS: Take extra care that nothing is going to go wrong in that minute. No heavy winds, no cops, no messed up lighters. Get together with your friends and smoke pot hardcore.”

So after the flier was printed, where else did you see or hear the term 420?

It started to pop up on the High Times Hemp 100 list of things that stoners like. After a few years, there were baseball hats, t-shirts and stickers. 420 started to take off.

How about the first events on April 20?

Debby Goldsberry and the Cannabis Action Network did some 4/20 events in San Francisco in the mid-’90s. Those were the first professional events associated with April 20 and marijuana.

At High Times, we adopted it too. At 4:20 pm, we’d toke together and have brainstorming sessions. We made it a point to hang out at that specific time.

I remember one April 20 when we decided to go down to Union Square – which was a few blocks from the office. About 20 of us went there and celebrated 4/20 by passing joints under picnic tables. New York City was the marijuana arrest capital of the world. This was pretty daring at the time.

Was the idea of the 420 holiday part of the whole 420 phenomena from the beginning?

Absolutely. The big convergence was the ultimate goal. The people who wrote the flier, whoever they were, invented the 420 holiday.

Related Articles

The Ultimate 420 Event Guide for 2019

420 By the Bay: A Marijuana Activist’s Story

4/20 Celebrity Birthdays

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The post The Original Flier That Sparked the 420 Phenomenon appeared first on Freedom Leaf.

Source: https://www.freedomleaf.com/420-flyer/

The blog post The Original Flier That Sparked the 420 Phenomenon is republished from The Giggles N Dimples Blog

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