The Raids Continue in California

The DEA continues to bring the ideals and practices of the Nazi SS to North America.

The following is quoted from Salem-News.com HERE

In spite of recent announcements by the Attorney General that the days of federal agents raiding legal medical marijuana dispensaries are over, the Sheriff of Kern County, California utilized agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency Wednesday in its raid of a medical marijuana dispensary in east Bakersfield Wednesday afternoon.

Local TV station KGET 17 News reports that the search warrant was served on the Green Cross Compassionate Medical Marijuana Co-operative at 319 Bernard Street in Bakersfield.

The station’s Website stated that their calls to the sheriff’s department were not immediately returned. They did contact the DEA who reportedly stated that the agency was there only to assist, insisting that the lead agency on the case was the sheriff’s department.

The story is taking place a couple of hours east of Morro Bay, California, where lawful medical marijuana dispensary owner Charles Lynch was singled out by the local sheriff who also used the DEA to conduct their raid.

Medical marijuana is legal in California and Attorney General Eric Holder recently said federal agents will no longer be utilized to raid dispensaries unless they are violating both federal and state law.

Sheriff Donny Youngblood told KGET 17 News that his office will not interfere with the operation of non-profit medical co-operatives run by patients for patients. But, he said dispensaries that sell marijuana for a profit should be expected to be treated like other drug dealers.

This is absolutely infuriating. How can law enforcement be allowed to abuse their power in such an obviously illegal way? The statement made by Attorney General Eric Holder is now officially meaningless.

“Dispensaries that sell marijuana for a profit should be expected to be treated like other drug dealers” This is the most ignorant statement I have heard in the media in the past month. This tops Glen Beck’s Singaporean drug law statement. How can a legal business be required to operate for no profit when one of the most profitable industries in America is pharmaceuticals. These two industries, marijuana and pharmaceuticals, are providing the same services and providing health care and medicine for sick people. Why is there a double standard for these two industries which are essentially providing the same service?

This sheriff in Bakersfield is acting on his own in order to push his own moral ignorance on the subject of marijuana. This can not be allowed to continue! Call your legislators and DEMAND that they change their policies of attacking law abiding citizens for doing when they (AND CALIFORNIA LAW!) believe is legal.

Peace and keep blowing that smoke proud,

Kid Kulture

Read Full Post »

Arnold says it's time for a Debate!

"That is not a drug. It's a leaf" ~ Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

Hey everybody HUGE news! Yesterday up in Davis, CA governor Arnold Schwarzenneger stated that it is time for a debate on the legalization and taxation of marijuana for recreational use in California.

Now this may not seem like a big step but this is a major stepping stone. For a decision making politician to open up the floor for debate is all the momentum we need. There are no longer any legitimate arguments in support of the prohibition so as soon as we take the floor we can push the issue to the people that matter. With the recent poll stating that 56% of California voters support the legalization, more and more politicians are starting to lean towards support. If we can win the debate in this most important of settings it may be all that is needed to get other politicians to co-sign Tom Ammiano’s Bill for legalization to be reintroduced next year.

The bill is gaining support and its looking good for 2010!! Could the governor possibly be the champion we need to get this movement moving towards the mainstream support of the states government officials? I sure hope so!!

If you live out in California be sure to write letters and send emails to your representatives requesting that they cast their support in alongside Tom Amianno’s bill for the legalization and taxation of marijuana!

Peace and keep blowing that smoke proud,

Kid Kulture

Read Full Post »

Mexico Passes bill to decriminalize

I am back in Vancouver and home from my visit to California so pardon my absence and lack of posting, but some interesting stuff happened while I was away!

Last tuesday Mexico’s senate passed a bill proposed by Mexican President Felipe Calderón to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana and other narcotics for personal use. The new laws limit the quantities that would not be subject to prosecution at 50 milligrams of heroin, 2 grams of marijuana, 500 milligrams of cocaine and 40 milligrams of methamphetamine.

This new bill is an attempt to focus law enforcement efforts on the production, distribution and trafficking of illegal drugs rather than wasting resources on addicts and those who wish to use the substances recreationally.

This is a definite step in the right direction and it will be an important issue for the united states to take note on. Rather than a full blown legalization or decriminalization this redistributes the focus towards the source and not on the victimless crimes of personal use.

For a country such as the US who holds %5 of the world’s population and yet %25 of the worlds prisoners this is the solution that President Obama should be considering as well. Obama should be taking on a policy that is in tune with his campaign promises of treating drug use as a health issue and not a criminal issue such as portugal has so effectively done.

Portugal is the perfect model of what happens when you treat drug abuse as a health issue and offer treatment rather than punishment. Since the decriminalization in 2001 Portugal’s drug use has fallen to an all time low. Five years after the legislation, the number of deaths from street durg overdoses dropped from around 400 to 290 annually, and the number of new HIV cases caused by using dirty needles fell from nearly 1,400 in 2000 to about 400 in 2006. Lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the E.U. is reported at 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%. According to the the Time magazine article HERE, a higher % of people in the united states have used Cocaine that people in portugal have marijuana.

Check out the article on Time.com for some more incredible facts about the drop in use of harder drugs as a result of the decriminalization.

Peace and keep blowing that smoke proud,

Kid Kulture

Read Full Post »

Kid Kulture Visits the Vancouver Seed Bank

So yesterday I went down to the Vancouver seed bank for their 420 after party. I got there a bit early, despite the fact that I took the wrong bus and had to kick rocks a few blocks to get there. The dispensary wasn’t opening till 1:30 because of some traffic issues or something like that so I hung out with some guys in front and waited it out. I met a cat named leigh who told me about the current state of the music industry and the direction in which he thinks it should head. This older gentleman was spitting some solid advice and just before he left he told me to check out his blog, Advice for Young People at blogspot which I have been sadly unable to locate, I could really use some advice. Kiweed popped his head out the window and said whats up for a minute before heading back in to the lounge. When the dispensary opened at 1 I stopped in and picked up a couple grammes of their newest shipment, Kootney Hash Plant. This was some of the tastiest weed I have had in a long long time. Bright green in colour, dense nugs with and a smooth fruity taste. the buds themselves were some of the nicest little trees I have ever seen at the dispensary. Its now a toss up between the purple kush, one batch of lemon hash plant they had, and the new Kootney hash plant.

When I finally headed in to the lounge DJ Kiweed was spinning in the the kitchen window and by far this could have been the most diverse session I have ever had.  My first couple jays I shared with two older gents and the guy who built the pond in the seed bank garden, one guy that left shortly after for a quest to find the cannery restaurant along the water in east van. Before he left though we shared some interesting conversation about technology which led to self learning robots and what can be considered sentience. Interesting and intelligent conversation come few and far between. one of the girls was walking around giving out complimentary hash tokes from all the kief they collected on 420 which IMO is pretty special on its own. When the first guy left we adopted a few new comers to our cipher. Two younger people, one interested in the movie business and another who I assume just likes smoking weed. I am currently studying entertainment business so I gave the girl all the advice I had before going on to talk to another guy about hemp oils and the possible medical benefits such as its application in the fight against cancer. Later a few people came in who could have easily been good friends of my parents. They bummed a paper off me and proceeded to try and roll a jay. I found this hilarious and yet so cool.

At the 20 of every hour there was a door prize raffle for a gramme of cannabis, around 3:20 I won a gramme of cherry that I twisted up and shared with the current cipher that had greatly grown in size by this time. Much to my surprise  the Tallbrothers showed up and did a live show which was amazing and got the whole crowd jiving. The Tallbrothers are a reeferjazz band who’s not so subtle message of “Jive up” can be heard here on their myspace. They started off their set with jive up, went on to sing about their favourite kind of rolling papers “Club Papers”. Later in the set they played the famous theme of Marc Emery “Prince of Pot” that was featured in his documentary on CBC  that you can check out online or purchase from the Cannabis Culture website.

The band took a short break for the bong hitting contest which in retrospect I should have joined in on, maybe next time. For a $5 entry fee the contestants each had to burn a full gramme out of a large gear bong with an ash catcher and double bubbler on the stem. all of the contestants got water after their rip and a free cookie. The winner won an eighth of some 007 who happened to be, with no surprise the older gentleman with the long grey beard. He had a beard, he had to be good.

Right after the contest they had the big draw at 6:20 for the big prizes of an ounce, a half, a quarter, and an eighth. I won nothing but then again I only bought 3 tickets. Next time, now that I’m aware of how it works, I’ll be dropping a 20 or two on an arms length of tickets in hopes of winning that ounce. $40 for a good chance to win an ounce or a half or even a quarter is pretty good. So right around this time just before the big raffle the place flooded with people, a few of which looked like small time dealers who hung out in the back with a bunch of tickets in hopes of winning a new shipment. I saw one girl who in some of the worst most obvious dealing I have ever seen took out a large ziplock packed with filled dime bags. Can anyone say “Intent to Distribute”? Oh well… She’ll learn when a cop searches that bag.

My favourite part of the whole event was the house. The house can only be described as what I imagine an old booze running stash house might have looked like. There were people everywhere. The big boss guys from the cannabis culture HQ, including Dana Larsen, Jacob Hunter and Michelle Rainey were all hanging out on the uppermost balcony of this ancient structure. Everyone was “jiving up” all day, I adopted a bong for the day and burned off more than a few jays that seemed to come from every direction. The House upstairs of the Seed bank had an internet room with two computers and wireless internet. There is a chill room with an N64 and a second room with full black lights and a projection tv for all kinds of trippy visuals. The DJs were set up in the kitchen and the barbecues were set up out on the balcony and working hard to feed all the munching patrons of the afternoon. When I had had a few bottles of water I headed down to search for the washroom and was directed to the moon door. This was the smallest, albeit rather cool, washroom I have ever been inside. I couldn’t stand up straight and It was quite the effort to pee in the tiny toilette, but I managed. The Walls were plastered with newspaper clippings of everything from Peter Tosh calling for legalization to the Vancouver 3’s exploits against the US.

At the end of the party, after the final raffle i was chilling out with a hamburger when an extremely large man flipped out beside me and started claiming that his clan of vampires was the best, something about facebook, his battle cry and I dunno what else but I took that as my cue to leave. So a picked up my salad and headed for the bus.

I stopped by the grocery store on the way home and picked up some oreos, ginger-ale and taco seasoning which later turned out to be fajita seasoning. I didn’t really realize how stonery this was until the chick working the check-out took one look at my choices, glances at my eyes and burst in to laughter. Oh well, no shame in my game.

Definitely an interesting day, check out some of the pictures.

Peace and keep blowing that smoke proud,

Kid Kulture

Read Full Post »

Fox News, Bringing rational thinking to an all time low

Newt Gingrich discussed his proposed “improvements” to the drug policy in the United States earlier this month on Fox News. Check it out.

Now the combined brainpower between these men couldn’t set a pinwheel in motion let alone lead a country, but what they propose is a drug policy similar to that of Singapore. Lets examine the Singapore drug laws and discuss just how ignorant O’Reilly’s statement really was.

The Following is Quoted from the Misuse of Drugs Act of Singapore

• The law creates a presumption of trafficking for certain threshold amounts, e.g. 30 grams of cannabis

• Any person found in or escaping from any place or premises which is proved or presumed to be used for the purpose of smoking or administering a controlled drug shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to have been smoking or administering a controlled drug in that place or premises.

• Once again cannabis is listed as a class 1 drug, right next to cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, opium, ecstasy.

• The limit of cannabis to be presumed a “trafficker” is as follows
  • Cannabis 15 grammes
  • Cannabis mixture: 30 grammes
  • Cannabis resin: 10 grammes

• “Drug addict” means a person who, through the use of any controlled drug, has developed a desire or need to continue to take that controlled drug.

• For a citizen to consume any controlled substance in any place outside Singapore, he may be dealt with as if that offence had been committed within Singapore.

• For the Presumption of possession and knowledge of controlled drugs
  • Any person who is proved to have had in his possession or custody or under his control
  • anything containing a controlled drug;
  • the keys of anything containing a controlled drug;
  • the keys of any place or premises or any part thereof in which a controlled drug is found;
  • The presumptions provided for in this section shall not be rebutted by proof that the accused never had physical possession of the controlled drug.

• Whenever a pipe, syringe, utensil, apparatus or other article intended for the smoking, administration or consumption of a controlled drug is found in any place or premises, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that the place or premises is used for the purpose of smoking or administering a controlled drug.
• Power of search and seizure An officer of the Bureau, a police officer not below the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police or any police officer authorised by him or any senior officer of customs may at any time

  without a warrant enter and search any place or premises in which he reasonably suspects that there is to be found —  any controlled drug, controlled substance or article liable to seizure; or a person who has committed or is reasonably suspected to have committed any offence under this Act or any seizable offence under the regulations; search any person found in that place or premises;

• Punishment for repeat consumption of specified drugs
  • Where a person who has not less than 2 previous admissions;  (This includes any 2 of the previous possible convictions we have already seen)
  • He shall on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term of not less than 5 years and not more than 7 years; and  not less than 3 strokes and not more than 6 strokes of the cane.
  • In the event that someone commits a further 4th offense,
  • imprisonment of not less than 7 years and not more than 13 years; and not less than 6 strokes and not more than 12 strokes of the cane.
  
  
• Supervision, treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts
  • The Director of the Central Narcotics Bureau may require any person whom he reasonably suspects to be a drug addict to be medically examined or observed by a Government medical officer or a medical practitioner. (Remember this is anyone who has the desire to use the drug again)

• • Every person who has been admitted to an approved institution under this section shall be detained in the institution for a period of 6 months unless he is earlier discharged by the Director of the Central Narcotics Bureau or the Review Committee of the institution.

• Punishment for Trafficking Cannabis
  • Unauthorized traffic in cannabis where the quantity is
  • • Not Less than 330 grammes (11.6 Ounces) and not more than 500 grammes (17.6 Ounces) Maximum 30 years or imprisonment for life and 15 strokes of the cane, Minimum 20 years and 15 strokes.
    • More than 500 Grammes, DEATH.

• • Unauthorized traffic in cannabis mixture where the quantity is
  • • Not Less than 660 grammes (23.28 Ounces) and not more than 1000 grammes (35.27 Ounces) Maximum 30 years or imprisonment for life and 15 strokes of the cane, Minimum 20 years and 15 strokes.
    • More than 1000 Grammes, DEATH.

• • Unauthorized traffic in cannabis Resin where the quantity is
  • • Not Less than 130 grammes (4.6 Ounces) and not more than 200 grammes (7.05 Ounces) Maximum 30 years or imprisonment for life and 15 strokes of the cane, Minimum 20 years and 15 strokes.
    • More than 200 Grammes, DEATH.

To receive the death penalty for trafficking methamphetamine, you must have  more than 250 grams. How does it make sense that the punishment for a smaller amount of cannabis resin the punishment is harsher than it is for Meth? They treat hash and similar products as if they a chemically refined hard drug.

After reading through this List of policies take directly from the Singapore Misuse of Drugs Act how can this even be considered a possible route for the United States to take? Drug Dealers are hung on the spot regardless of what kind of drug they are moving, Mandatory rehab has proven a failure and although corporal punishment will deter people from partaking in these illegal activities, it is a horrible crime to cane someone for being in the possession of a glass pipe.

For Bill O’Reilly to ignorantly state that this is the policy that should be adopted by the United States should be a crime unto itself. He is a figure who’s word is taken as an authority and for him to make statements like this without examining the facts is awful.

With the current direction of the war on drugs, a policy such as that of singapore is the only possible outcome. If the government continues to strengthen their stranglehold on their citizens with harsher minimum punishments for small time offenders, without the public outcry it will take to make a change,  they will spiral towards an inevitable dictatorship where those who act against their policies are put to death.

The time to act is now. We can’t just sit back and let our freedoms be taken away one by one till there is no hope left. Get in touch with your local and national champions for a change in drug policies such as the Drug Policy Alliance Network and NORML and make your voices heard.

Peace,

King of Hearts (Kid Kulture)

Read Full Post »

4:20 420 at the Gallery DT Vancouver

Wow I have never seen so many people smoking weed. The  cloud above the crowd was so thick it looked like an outdoor hot box. There were way too many people for anyone to really enjoy this unless you got there early and got a good spot. For future reference make rounds to the 420 rally around 10am if you are looking for a good relaxed experience. I’m glad to be out of the sea of humans, and i’ve finally made it home for some more celebrating. I hope everyone’s having a great 420!

Read Full Post »

Vancouver 420 Madness!

Hey there Viewers, Let me Kick it off with a big Happy 420 To the World! I’ve got a pack of sour diesel dooby snacks for the day and I’m about to head out! Let the celebrations begin and feel free to follow me throughout the day via mobile broadcast from my iphone right here!

Peace and Keep blowing the smoke proud!,

King of Hearts

Read Full Post »

Vancouver 420 Day of Fun!

Hey everybody, I’ll be spending the next couple days getting my stuff together for 420 and I’ll be mobile broadcasting video from the rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery on monday April 2o for the world to see what’s going on over here on the west coast of Canada. So if you’ve got no plans for 420 join me here on my blog and enjoy the celebrations. If you’re In the greater Vancouver area come downtown and join the fiesta out front of the art gallery and If you feel so inclined I’ll be rocking the Proud Smoke Logo and wandering around talking to an Iphone so  feel free to introduce yourself and we’ll have a good time! I’ll be arriving down there just around 4:20pm but if i have time i might be wandering through a bit earlier as well. Its gonna be a lot of fun and something you don’t want to miss.

Peace and keep blowing that smoke proud,

King of Hearts

Read Full Post »

Bong Hits for Public Servants!

Wow, I was so Impressed by this act of civil disobedience that I would like to share it with all of you. The original Blog by Trevor Titman is HERE.

Trevor Titman at the University of Texas heard about John Ashcroft coming to speak at the university. Not an avid smoker, but having strong oppinions against Ashcroft’s drug policies, Trevor snuch in a bong and had a photographer on hand for this amazing phot op! This is an excellent statement as to just how prevalent Marijuana is in our culture, it is all around us and I think its time we make our politicians aware of this! Prove to them that cannabis is part of our culture and there’s nothing they can do to deter this fact

Its Time for some guerrilla activism people!

I officially Challenge all of you out there to capture photos of yourself and your public servant of choice sharing your favourite smoking apparatus. I’ll be aiming for this challenge as well and I will be posting back as soon as the mission’s accomplished! Post your photo’s on here and we’ll print and create a family album to send out to our legislators!

Good Luck!

Peace,

King Of Hearts

Read Full Post »

The DEA – Glorified Gardeners

Check this out, I pulled this from an article on NORML’s website. The Original Ariticle is HERE:

September 7, 2006 – Washington, DC, USA

Washington, DC: More than 98 percent of all of the marijuana plants seized by law enforcement in the United States is feral hemp not cultivated cannabis, according to newly released data by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program and the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics.

According to the data, available online at:http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t4382005.pdf, of the estimated 223 million marijuana plants destroyed by law enforcement in 2005, approximately 219 million were classified as “ditchweed,” a term the agency uses to define “wild, scattered marijuana plants [with] no evidence of planting, fertilizing, or tending.” Unlike cultivated marijuana, feral hemp contains virtually no detectable levels of THC, the psychoactive component in cannabis, and does not contribute to the black market marijuana trade.

So if 98% of the plants they have been burning are wild hemp, left over from the days when the cultivation of hemp was legal and encouraged, Why the hell are they getting paid so much? Their job isn’t fighting drug cartels, their job isn’t fighting drug dealers, 98% of their job is acting as gardeners for a government that feels some “weeding”, pardon the pun, needs to be done on their land. This is a blatant waste of tax payer’s money fighting a plant that anywhere else in the western world would be cherished as a blessing and a lucrative resource. Even if you do not support the legalization of Marijuana, you can not deny the fact that Industrial Hemp is an enormous economic stimulus as well as a stepping stone to sustainability. The DEA is acting on behalf of the government to make sure that the US stays a capitalist consumer nation by destroying all hopes for a sustainable economy. They don’t want you growing your own medicine, and they sure don’t want to let a weed grow that could become the largest natural resource for half of the industries in North America. Textiles, plastics, petroleum products can all be replaced by introducing industrial hemp In to the United States and in doing so would open millions of jobs for Americans to make the switch to a “Green” (I feel like an episode of Scooby Doo) Nation. It just makes sense and there are countless experts to back up this claim. There is no reason industrial hemp should have ever been grouped with marijuana and its time they fix this mistake and help fix our economy.

Peace,
King of Hearts

Read Full Post »