'This Country is Definitely in Need of a Homegrown Industry, and This Could Be It'

Magic Ellingson, who goes by Henry Hemp, smells a marijuana plant at the International Cannabis & Hemp Expo on Saturday, April 17, 2010,
in Daly City, Calif. (AP)

Well, we certainly do need more homegrown industry, but I'm not sure this is quite what people are looking for, especially guys walking around with giant marijuana leaves on their heads.

– Medical marijuana users near San Francisco lit up Saturday at the opening of the two-day International Cannabis and Hemp Expo, where vendors displayed bongs, vaporizers, hash brownies and other marijuana-related products.

Organizers of the event at the Cow Palace said they insisted on having an onsite medicating area before holding the expo. Under a white-canopied courtyard, young adults in baggy jeans and baseball caps smoked alongside aging hippies.

Adrian Hernandez said marijuana use helps him deal with chronic knee pain.

"Everybody needs their medication when they need it," said Hernandez, who is in his 30s. "We'd have to step out and go hide in our cars."

In 1996, California voters approved a measure that allowed sick people to use marijuana if they have doctor referrals and an identification card.

But marijuana advocates want to take it a step further. In November, voters will consider a ballot measure on whether to legalize and tax pot in California.

They may as well just legalize it since so many folks there are using it, but good luck squeezing tax revenue out of the large scale growers.

The expo, and others like it, will help develop the multibillion dollar pot industry, said Bucky Fisher, national sales manager for Medical Marijuana Inc., which sells hemp-related products and provides services to ensure marijuana dispensaries follow the law.

"It makes the industry more of a community, more visible, more powerful," he said. "This country is definitely in need of a homegrown industry, and this could be it."

Meanwhile, it looks like some heavy duty ingesting was going on there yesterday.

Mike Ush smokes vaporized marijuana from a large balloon during the International Cannabis & Hemp Expo on Saturday, April 17, 2010, in Daly City, Calif. (AP)

'This Is Not About Pot Heads Running Around the Streets'

There will be some high times in Aspen this spring at what may be the first event of its kind here in the states.

A version of Amsterdam's “Cannabis Cup” is coming to Aspen, in which medical marijuana growers, providers, patients and others in the industry will convene over one weekend in April.

The First Annual Western Slope Cannabis Crown, organized by Glenwood Springs resident Bobby Scurlock and the owners of High Country Caregivers, will be held April 17-18 at The Gant.

The conference is open to the public and will include speakers, live music, information booths, and most notably, a competition among providers that showcases their best strains. Growers and providers will vie for the “cannabis crown.”

Scurlock said he hopes to draw about 50 dispensaries from around Colorado and their strains will be tested by Denver-based Full Spectrum Laboratories. The marijuana strains will be diagnostically tested for their THC levels and how it matches up with patients' ailments.

There also will be a “people's choice” award for those who are on the state registry for medical marijuana and have received a “golden ticket” from one of the organizers. The people's choice will narrow down the field for the crown but the ultimate winner will be based on the diagnostic test, Scurlock said.

“We want to get the best of the best in there,” he said. “We want as many vendors as possible.”

Only Colorado registered medical marijuana users will be able to buy products from vendors, which will have to occur outside of the conference — most likely in a private condo or room where the providers are staying.

“This is not about pot heads running around the streets,” Scurlock said. “This conference is to enlighten people and talk about the benefits, and its economic impact.”

Scurlock said the event is nearly sold out; about 1,500 tickets have been sold. The $25 ticket buys admission to the two-day event.

Munchies sold separately.

Where's that joint?

Supreme Court rules in favour of cannabis grower
The Supreme Court recently ruled in favour of a woman who had grown cannabis for medicinal purposes and who had been previously found guilty of illegal production and possession of drugs by a lower court. The breakthrough ruling suggests that growing cannabis is not necessarily the same thing as marijuana production. Experts believe it could set an important legal precedent. Ruth Franková reports:

A 57-year-old pensioner from a village in Central Bohemia cultivated some seventy cannabis plants in her vegetable garden, using them to treat her ulcer as well as foot pains. As a result, a regional court in the town of Nymburk twice found her guilty of illegal production and possession of marihuana and she was given a suspended sentence of two years. The Supreme Court has now overruled the previous verdicts and ordered the Prague Municipal Court to re-examine the case. Ivan Douda, one of the founders of Prague’s “Drop-in” drug clinic, welcomes the verdict.

“I think this a very important decision and I hope that everybody, I mean the police and lower courts, will accept it. We were waiting for this ruling for a long time. As it is now, many Czechs are using cannabis for medicinal purposes and they have to grow it illegally. It is a very bad thing if law doesn’t respect this reality and if people can’t use something that is good for their health.”

The ruling of the Supreme Courts does not make the growing of cannabis legal and people who do so can still be accused of illegal production and possession of drugs. Nevertheless the verdict suggests that lower courts should thoroughly investigate individual cases to prove whether the grower really intended to produce marihuana or just use it for medical purposes. But observers, including Ivan Douda of Drop-In, stress it would be useful for those who do, to have some kind of doctor’s recommendation. More and more people are being tried for marihuana possession in the Czech Republic each year and experts now hope that the recent Supreme Court decision could lower the number of what they view as unfair convictions.

Don't Bogart that joint, my friend . . . .

Via Radio Praha

Munchies Sold Separately

Well, you still need a prescription.

Los Angeles, CA -- Ironically...pot dispensing vending machines have been approved in California.

Starting Monday, patients can buy legal medical marijuana at a Los Angeles herbal nutrition center.

All they have to do is pass through security, submit their scripts, pay, and pick-up their drugs.

Store employees say it is a safe, fast way to process prescriptions.

Geoff Dulebohn, Herbal Nutrition Center: "They'll slide card in, and they'll fingerprint in to verify that it's them. A camera takes a picture of them, verifying that they're actually at the machine."

Why don't they just make it easier and use couriers?