Pubdate: Thu, 07 Nov 2013
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Ngaio Bealum

WHAT'S THE BEST WEED TO SMOKE BEFORE A SACRAMENTO KINGS GAME?

Also: Ngaio explains Washington state's plan to get rid of medical cannabis

I am a Sacramento Kings fan who likes to get high before games. Can 
you recommend some purple strains of pot I can toast my team with?

- -Toquille O'Neal

Go Kings! I would say stick to the classics. Grand Daddy Purple, 
Mendocino Purps, Grape Ape and Purple Kush (if you can find it) would 
all be good choices.

Let's talk about "purple" strains for a moment. While some cannabis 
strains are naturally purple (Black Domina comes to mind), and some 
plants will turn purple if allowed to flower in a colder climate, 
most of the time, the word "purple" refers to the flavor. Yes, 
good-old synesthesia strikes again. The purple taste reminds me of 
that old-school lavender-flavored gum you can sometimes find at a 
corner store. It's delicious.

I was gonna make a joke about how you should be careful not to 
"Ty-reek" of weed, but since Tyreke Evans has been traded, I guess I 
will have to go with some sort of warning to all you Travis Outlaws 
about being careful.

So, what's all the hubbub in Washington state about getting rid of 
medical cannabis?

- -George

Here's the deal: The Washington State Liquor Control Board is in 
charge of developing the rules and regulations for legal cannabis 
sales and distribution. The rules it proposes would do away with 
medical collective growing, and most likely close medical-cannabis 
dispensaries. Medical-cannabis patients would have to go to 
recreational outlets to get their pot, but wouldn't have to pay taxes.

Washington state medical-cannabis activists are crazy upset right 
now. In my opinion, they have good reason. The backers of Initiative 
502-the initiative to tax and regulate recreational 
cannabis-repeatedly told the medical-cannabis community that 
medical-marijuana would be untouched. Tempers have flared, 
name-calling and yelling "I told you so!" has happened. The trolling, 
the flaming, the wailing, the gnashing-oh, the humanity. None of it 
is productive. Everybody likes legal weed; it's just a matter of 
hammering out the details. Everyone: Smoke a jay and calm down so we 
can discuss our issues like adults.

The government, of course, wants to make as much money as possible 
from legalizing weed. The best way to do that is to make sure it is 
in control of the whole thing. You know, like a monopoly. But good 
luck getting people that have been growing and distributing pot for 
years, often at great personal risk, to just stop doing what they do. 
It's an unrealistic expectation.

It wouldn't be hard for medical-cannabis clubs to go back 
underground. The Liquor Control Board should allow collective 
medical-marijuana growing and distribution separate from the 
recreational market. The medical clubs are going to see a decrease in 
members, anyway, as most people won't want to go through the hoops 
necessary to get a recommendation, when they can just go to the pot 
shop down the street. Any revenue lost from medical-marijuana 
patients (who wouldn't be paying a weed tax because Washington 
doesn't tax medical cannabis) would be small.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom