Stuff Stoners Like

Now that we have your attention, it’s true…Marie Myung-Ok Lee pushes marijuana on her 9-year-old son. She feeds the li’l guy weed-laced tea and cookies. Why, you ask? “Because he can’t figure out how to use a bong.”

Marie Myung-Ok Lee’s son, “J”, suffers from autism. Imagine the horrors of autism and watching your child suffer each day. Like Lee, you’d want to help any way possible, wouldn’t you? Sure, there’s all sorts of crazy ineffective pharmaceuticals with horrible side-effects available to help the li’l guy get through agonizing days and nights of chronic pain from an inflammatory bowel condition and a spinal cord operation. But, after trying Risperdal and a bunch of other pharmaceuticals to control J’s tantrums and pain to no avail, Lee, with her doctor’s support decided to go the all-natural route and treat her son’s condition with marijuana.

“My son J has autism,” says Lee of pot-friendly Rhode Island, a writer for DoubleX.com. “Since we started him on his “special tea,” J’s little face, which is sometimes a mask of pain, has softened. He smiles more. For the last year, his individual education plan at his special-needs school was full of blanks, recording “no progress” because he spent his whole day an irritated, frustrated mess. Now, April’s report shows real progress, including “two community outings with the absence of aggressions.”

Read Lee’s own encouraging  words and the touching story of her pursuit to give her son, “J” a better quality of life with marijuana here: Why I Give my 9-year-old-pot.

It’s compassionate and enlightening stories that depict responsible medical marijuana use in real-world situations effectively treating debilitating medical conditions that flat out proves marijuana is safe medicine! It’s these stories that will bring an end to Reefer Madness!

Mark Emery has been fighting for OUR rights for over 30 years. Now he’s facing LIFE in prison! In 2005 the US DEA arrested Emery for selling seeds online. They’re victimizing him for his leadership!We not only support Emery because of his tireless pro-medical marijuana efforts, but as writers, we adore Emery for his fight against censorship! We at Stuff Stoners Like are committed to helping Mark Emery and we NEED your support.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Visit: http://www.cannabisculture.com/noextradition for the backstory.
2. Write a letter asking the Washington State judge to let Marc Emery return to Canada without any imprisonment.
3. Spread the news relentlessly and encourage others to do the same!
4. Smoke a bowl and feel good about helping a CHAMPION of the cause!!! (This is the most important step.)

The US Drug Enforcement Administration admitted in a press release that Marc Emery’s July 29th, 2005 arrest was based on drug legalization efforts!

“Today’s DEA arrest of Marc Scott Emery, publisher of Cannabis Culture Magazine, and the founder of a marijuana legalization group — is a significant blow not only to the marijuana trafficking trade in the U.S. and Canada, but also to the marijuana legalization movement. His marijuana trade and propagandist marijuana magazine have generated nearly $5 million a year in profits that bolstered his trafficking efforts, but those have gone up in smoke today. Emery and his organization had been designated as one of the Attorney General’s most wanted international drug trafficking organizational targets — one of only 46 in the world and the only one from Canada. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of Emery’s illicit profits are known to have been channeled to marijuana legalization groups active in the United States and Canada. Drug legalization lobbyists now have one less pot of money to rely on.”

Don’t let the DEA wrongly persecute OUR leaders for fighting for OUR rights!

FREE EMERY NOW!

Prohibitionists are now persecuting our religious leaders! Maybe we should just make a fucking form-letter type blog post so we can save time and just swap the names and locations of victimized dispensaries, medicine providers, and patients because dispensary busts here in California are rising sharply! Yesterday (Thursday August 20, 2009) marked the third time in a week that the Los Angeles Police Department has raided a medical marijuana dispensary!

This time around police nabbed three people during a raid  of a Rastafarian Ministry called the Royal Temple of Zion in Echo Park. Authorities say the facility has not applied for a hardship permit like all the other medical marijuana dispensaries, so selling weed is illegal. Interestingly however, proposition 215 does NOT mention anything about applying for a hardship permit. So what if the law is a bit ambiguous, that does NOT give the LAPD the right to bust Rastas for growing weed for sick people. This case will most definitely go to court and cost the taxpayers a ton of money!

Like most raids, this one happened as a result of some nosy neighbors who told police illegal drugs were being sold at the location. “This is a church run medical marijuana club providing medical marijuana for sick people, but we do it as a church,” said Rasta Pastor Craig Rubin.

“We don’t just provide marijuana, we provide for their safety, their security. Every day we give everyone a place to congregate,” added Nathan Wade, a member of the Royal Temple of Zion.

“It’s because we believe a cannabis from Revelations 22 is a plant for the healing of all nations and that people should have access to this plant. It’s not only benign, it’s benevolent,” said Pastor Rubin.

We believe this religious persecution is  just another insidious tactic to win the war against people plants pets drugs. Despite the fact that the Obama administration and Attorney General Eric Holder have both demanded an end to dispensary raids, sadly raids are becoming more numerous. This time prohibitionists not only raided and successfully shut down a dispensary they closed down a sacred place of worship!

Listen, if you think the War on Drugs is a war on people, you’re WRONG. The War on Drugs is also a war on pets! Even though President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have announced an end to the feds raiding law-abiding dispensaries, that didn’t stop a slew of agents from raiding two LA marijuana dispensaries as well as the residence of the owners yesterday. It must have cost a fortune because of the amount of people who showed up for the bust. Federal authorities including the DEA, FBI and the IRS, plus agents from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s and Police Department as well as Torrance Police Department and Culver City agents were all involved in the raid.

During one of the raids officers shot a dog. It’s believed to be a pit bull, but the circumstances of the shooting remain unclear, say a law enforcement spokesman. They also say they found 200 plants, 100 pounds of marijuana, $100,000 cash and made one arrest. What they don’t say, however, is what prompted the raids and why they had to shoot someone’s pet.

Perhaps murdering pets is standard practice during raids, because a Maryland mayor is currently asking the federal government to investigate why the SWAT team busted into his home last year and murdered his two dogs in an investigation into a drug smuggling scheme.

“We lost our family dogs at the hands of sheriff’s deputies who burst through our front door, rifles blazing,”   says Cheye Calvo, mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, who also said he was brought downstairs at gunpoint in his boxer shorts, handcuffed and forced onto the floor with his mother-in-law near the carcass of one of the dead dogs.

Columbia residents Kevin and Lisa Henderson filed a $5 million federal lawsuit last month alleging Howard County police killed their “gentle, loving” 10-year-old mutt, Grunt, during a SWAT team raid last year. The raid was the third in 18 months in which county police had been publicly accused of shooting dogs. The Hendersons’ lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore July 27, alleges not only that their dog was killed but they suffered assault, battery and racial discrimination.

Back in July the Police not only killed Baltimore resident Coina Amato’s dog, they trashed her home. “They shot through the door in front of screaming children that were begging them to let the dog out and she was cowering in there,” said Amato, “They shot through the door and she ran upstairs in the bedroom, and they went up there and pumped AK47 shots into her in my bedroom.” No one has been charged, and the department has neither apologized nor offered any restitution for killing their dog or trashing their home.

These are just a few recent cases. There are stories of  similar cases, where people’s rights were violated as they watched in horror the murder of their pets, all across this nation. They clearly illustrate how abusive and unjust the War on Drugs has become. It’s time to end the War on Drugs, the War on People, the War on Pets or whatever the hell you want to call it before more innocent people, plants, and animals are harmed. FAIL.

Not only does smoking marijuana NOT cause cancer…it actually PROTECTS against it. But, don’t take our word for it, however, check out this month’s Cancer Prevention Research Journal which has a study demonstrating that chronic, long term use of cannabis actually reduces the incidence of head and neck cancer. The report states that10 to 20 years of marijuana use was associated with a significantly reduced risk of HNSCC or head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

But, what’s amazing is that this breaking news is not breaking news at all. Back in 1974 researchers at the University of Virginia determined that weed had an unexpected result on cancer, it inhibited the growth of lung cancer cells. Unfortunately, the Carter administration discouraged all follow-up studies, except those that would prove otherwise, and the discovery went virtually unnoticed in the States. But, there was research being conducted outside the US by Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, in Israel, and Dr. Manuel Guzman in Spain. Even more amazing was that the US Government was secretly conducting follow-up studies during the 90’s and were able to prove that THC, when administered to mice, protected them against malignancy. Never heard that? Of course you didn’t because the Gov decided to burry the information. Luckily, the study was leaked to the journal, AIDS Treatment News, and the media covered the story. An excellent article by Paul Armentano, Deputy Director of NORML, details the bullshit.

Still, the US Government funds research to prove that cannabis causes cancer. What a waste of money. One such waste is an extremely flawed study that attempted to link cannabis smoking with testicular cancer. There was also a very flawed recent study conducted by researchers in New Zealand that claimed cannabis led to an increased risk of lung cancer. You’ll remember that the leading lung specialist in the world, Dr. Donald Tashkin released a report last year that showed that not only does cannabis not cause lung cancer, but appears to protect against it! Already three highly-respected cannabis research doctors have written letters to the European Respiratory Journal debunking the study.

So put those Reefer Madness fears to rest, finally, because smoking marijuana doesn’t cause cancer…in fact it helps fight it!

As harvest time approaches, so does the end of summer and that means school is right around the corner. Not everyone hates school, especially those attending Oakland’s increasingly popular Oaksterdam University located in downtown Oakland’s Oaksterdam district.

“Oaksterdam University is a trade school for the cannabis industry,” says the university president, Richard Lee. “It was founded in November 2007. The idea is that there are a lot of people who want to get involved in the politics of cannabis and help with cannabis prohibition but they don’t know how or they want to get into business here in CA. We have a major medical marijuana industry and we’re working on legalizing it for everybody so we need people who can operate in the industry in a safe and responsible manor so that’s what we’re here to help train them to do that.”

So who exactly is interested in the marijuana industry and what sort of folks attend the university? “We have all kinds of students as far as age and demographics and types, says Lee. “I’d say the majority are older people looking for a second career, things like that…it’s not like college kids primarily. In general it breaks down into 3 categories. There are people who are looking to work in the industry, get a job at a dispensary. Our first valedictorian got a job right away at Berkeley Patients Group, a nearby dispensary. Or (they want) to start their own business. We’ve had students go on to start dispensaries. The second group would be people who just want to grow for themselves, personally, so they need to learn about the politics and legal issues of doing that as well as the actual how-to’s of horticulture. And, the 3rd type are people who are just interested in the politics who want to get involved in changing the law and want to learn more about what’s going on with cannabis and repealing cannabis prohibition.”

Speaking of pot politics, they’re rapidly changing aren’t they? And, it seems like Oakland is leading the charge. We recently heard about how you and other dispensaries here in Oakland opted to RAISE taxes? “Measure F is the first Cannabis business tax, it’s the 1st time that a special a special category has been created just for cannabis businesses. Before, the dispensaries of Oakland were under the regular retail rate of .12%, this sets up this new cannabis category and increases it or sets the rate at 1.8%. Almost 2% or 15 times the old amount. IT’s a big increase,” explains Lee. “Our dispensary nearby will go from paying about $3,000 a year to about $45,000 in those gross receipts business license tax, we already pay $30,000 a year though in permit fees as well as 300,000 a year in sales tax and about a half-million in payroll and income tax.”

“The other historic thing,” adds Lee, “ is that there are other cities already looking to copy it. I was just reading online that Sacramento is looking to copy it, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Berkeley. I’m sure a lot of cities will be doing this with the economic hard times. We’re in favor of paying taxes. We believe that we are a responsible part of the community that we should pay taxes, pay our fair share for police and roads and everything else we use. So we’re happy to pay taxes. It’s a lot better to pay taxes than it is to be arrested and thrown in jail or another way we have put it is ‘it’s a lot cheaper to pay taxes than it is to pay lawyers.'”

Just how much money would the State of California rake in, oh from the sale of say $60 million worth of medical cannabis? Who knows since Santa Clara County pissed it all away and wasted tax dollars to fund the eradication and ruthless slaughter of 20,000 innocent marijuana plants today.

Worried that the plants might actually fight for their lives, the county wasn’t taking any chances and called in the SWAT team! Those marijuana plants never had a chance as agents from the sheriff’s office marijuana eradication team, the Palo Alto police SWAT team, and the California Department of Fish and Game all worked in concert to remove the two gardens. Officers didn’t arrest anyone, but found several unoccupied camps inside the two gardens they destroyed. Luckily, the Dept. of Fish and Game was paid to be on the scene because there was even evidence of unauthorized hunting too, according to Sgt. Rick Sung of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.

Matches are for suckers or for people who don’t have lighters. Why? Because they suck..that’s why. Have you ever tried to spark up a fat bowl with a match? Oh you did…did you? Well, how many times did those matches break before you got in the car and drove to 7-11 to buy a fucking lighter?

Matches, what a joke. You might as well go rub two sticks together or something because matches are just about useless. The wind blows, they go out. The wind changes direction, they go out, you breathe too heavy, they go out. You’re girlfriend farts and well, either you all explode into a million li’l charred stinky bits or the match goes out. Yep, useless little things those matches are. They’re manipulative too…make you think they’re gonna work, make ya think they’re going to help you get high, but nope. All they do is burn your fingers. Matches might as well be prohibitionist because they’re not helping anyone get high.

You ever drop a match in your lap? Of course, who hasn’t? One second you’re lighting a joint with a match,  you’ve got a cheeseburger and the steering wheel in the other hand, hit a bump, and now your crotch is on fire.  Well, that shit doesn’t happen when you drop a lighter.

You pull too hard on a bong rip and out goes that li’l sadistic match. Now you’ve gotta put that hot li’l fucker down and pull off  another. Close the god damn flap find the li’l sandpaper part and try it all over again. All the while you’re missing the A-Team on TV and you’re not even stoned yet!

You know the colloquialism that everyone tells kids, “Don’t play with matches”? You know why folks tell ’em that? Well, it’s reverse psychology, man. If you tell those li’l fuckers not to play with lighters, they’ll actually accomplish starting a fire and burn the fucking house down.

You know when Pete Townshend would get all mad at his Rickenbacker and smash it into a million little pieces all over the stage and you’d say to yourself, “Shit, Pete, man…why don’t you just give that fucking beautiful geetar to me?” Well, that’s how stoners feel every time they see some footage of a helicopter lifting up a bail of freshly murdered marijuana or see weed being burned alive or slashed in half with Chancho’s mom’s lucky machete. It’s just so fucking terribly tragic. Why not force us to sit and watch Pineapple Express or a movie that Madonna starred in or something…because that’s just some fucked up shit to show to a stoner.

Really, what sadistic motherfucker likes to see photos or footage of innocent plants being massacred…especially marijuana plants? Seriously, DEA dudes, what did those adorable little harmless plants do to you guys? Don’t you know that plants have feelings? And, because marijuana wants to help humans so much, marijuana has the most feelings of any plant in the whole world. It’s true. Stoners know it, they can see the pain and strife all over those plants just by witnessing the footage or the photographs of such senseless slaughter. Why…oh…why do you have to recklessly destroy life with such pleasure, anti-marijuana dudes?

Maybe it is kinda funny. I mean look at these marijuana eradication dudes…they look just like the guys who hunted that fishy dreadlocked Admaral Akbar looking thing in all those Predator movies, jumping out of military-style helicopters and shit…carrying weapons and wearing camouflage. Wait? Wasn’t one of those dudes saying that “it’s time for debate” on the issue of legalizing marijuana or something? Eh, maybe we were just dreaming. Anyhow, what’s the need for such an arsenal gentlemen, it’s not like those big bad marijuana plants are trying to exterminate you or anything. Wait? Are you guys afraid of a bunch of gardeners or something?

Almost as disturbing as the slaughter of helpless innocent female marijuana plants is the attitude of the reporters and agents on these erradication raids. Have you ever seen ’em? Notice how giddy they appear. It’s not because they think they’re doing the world a favor by destroying it’s medicine or winning the war on drugs or anything. You’d be smiling and all happy as hell too if you were filling an entire helicopter full of free weed to smoke!

Imagine a bar band dressed in whatever they could find on the dirty floor of a thrift store or stowed away in Davey Jones Locker, with a singer that sorta looks and moves like Mick Jagger in the dark, and you have Aerosmith.

Yeah, we agree that for a second things looked promising when Aerosmith took a look at themselves and realized they were nothing but a magpie act. So they ventured out of their comfy zone of classic rock plagiarism and collabed with Run DMC. Remember that shit? All of a sudden Aerosmith were turning fresh from hesh. Well, that freshness lasted as long as a bong hit. And, that collaboration did for Run DMC what Aerosmith thought it would do for them…give ’em some credibility. But just how much credibility can you have when you share the Super Bowl stage with Mary J. Blige, Nelly, ‘N Stync, and Britney Spears?

It’s not like stoners don’t dig bar bands, or rock and roll, or singers that hang a bunch of fucking bandannas off their microphone stand. Okay that’s not entirely true, we’re not sure if stoners dig that bandanna shit or not. Bandanna danglin’ seems sorta lame and passe. But, who are we to judge? Maybe they’re all vintage and cool. Either way they’re great for singers who can’t actually sing because they’re an awesome way to hide cords going from a microphone to a voice synthesizer. Oh, and speaking of vintage…so what if Aerosmith has been around for a while…are they as vintage as Zeppelin? No…they just look that way because they aren’t aging well and they’re trying to copy everything about Zep.

Instead of adding the lame tune “Dude Looks Like a Lady” to accompany the film Mrs. Doubtfire, which sorta makes sense, they cram pussy-ass power-ballads that even Tom Jones would be a li’l embarrassed to sing, like “Crying” and  “Amazing”, into lousy chick flicks. “Eat the Rich”, how ironic, right? What, is that some song about eating yourselves or something?

Anyhow, here’s the point…why smoke bammer when you can listen to the Rolling Stones? Did you catch how we just compared Aerosmith to bammer weed right there? Because Aerosmith is the schwagg of Rock ‘n’ Roll! Schwagg is still weed and all, but it’s not all super killer and shit like OG Kush or anything. And, if you were going to pirate some marijuana…like if there was some sort of online marijuana Napster…would you download some Aerosmith weed or are you going to go for some nice Sour Diesel?

That’s all we’re saying, man. Sure, smoke…er, uhm…listen to Aerosmith if that’s all you got, man. But, if that’s all ya got we’ll loan you a fucking buck so you can go download something authentic to listen to while you get stoned.