Costa Mesa police say there was nothing to indicate that mall storefront was Native American sanctuary. Police officers who thought they were shutting down a marijuana dispensary in Costa Mesa last month were in fact raiding a Native American church that uses cannabis and other controlled substances in its spiritual ceremonies, according to a lawyer representing the organization's founders. Attorney Matthew Pappas said Oklevueha Native American Church was opening a branch in Costa Mesa when police stormed the Harbor Boulevard location. [continues 489 words]
A national Native American church that courts have allowed to possess and distribute peyote soon will open branches in three former Orange County pot shops where they plan to use and dispense marijuana and other illegal drugs as part of religious ceremonies. What's more, church members say almost anyone can join the religion and partake in its hallucinogenic sacraments, regardless of whether they have Native American heritage. Representatives from the Oklevueha Native American Church, which claims over 200 branches nationwide, said they recently signed leases in Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and Westminster, targeting former marijuana dispensary storefronts where landlords don't mind having pot on the premises. [continues 460 words]
Members of Colo. Group Say Pot Strengthens Faith CENTENNIAL, Colo. - As snow began to fall outside, Deb Button snuggled up on her couch, fired up a joint and spoke of the nature of Christ. "Even if Jesus didn't smoke weed, he'd still be a stoner," she said, exhaling a white cloud. Her kitten sniffed the air curiously. "Jesus was peaceful and loving. He went from house to house and was always accepted," she explained. "Only a stoner could do that." [continues 984 words]
The Flat Bay Band Inc. is working on a project to develop a native addictions treatment centre in consultation with Memorial University and a local steering committee. The project got underway in November 2015 and is expected to wrap up in November of this year with a manuscript on the scope and nature of the treatment centre, recommendations on site locations and draft plans. Flat Bay Band Chief Liz LaSaga and the steering committee say there is insufficient research into native health statistics in the province. Along with Memorial, the research derived from this project will be a fundamental piece of evidence. The need for the Nujio'qonik Healing Center - named in recognition of the area in which it will be located, Bay St. George - has long been recognized. [continues 313 words]
Thank you for your humane, yet nononsense editorial that describes how law enforcement can work together with addiction treatment centers and programs ("Invitation to recovery," Jan. 27). The practice of inviting people with substance use disorders to come to a police station and get treatment is a cost-effective way to successfully tackle addiction. Lockup is not detox; being incarcerated in a cell does not provide the necessary clinical, therapeutic and spiritual needs that are essential for long-term recovery. While some naysayers may think such a program is inappropriate for law enforcement, there is a positive history of police departments using unsworn officers or staff to handle these cases. Examples include victim assistance counselors, diversion program staff and others who provide the necessary human services that addicts and their families need to stay sober. [continues 157 words]
Members of Stoner Jesus Bible Study Say Pot Strengthens Their Faith As Snow Began to Fall Outside, Deb Button Snuggled Up on Her Couch, Fired Up a Joint and Spoke of the Nature of Christ. "Even If Jesus Didn't Smoke Weed, He'd Still Be a Stoner," She Said, Exhaling a White Cloud. Her Kitten Sniffed the Air Curiously. "Jesus Was Peaceful and Loving. He Went From House to House and Was Always Accepted," She Explained. "Only a Stoner Could Do That." [continues 966 words]
NORTHUMBERLAND - Northumberland-Peterborough South MP Kim Rudd wasn't in her Cobourg office when a post-New Year's present arrived last week: a plastic bag containing marijuana. Rudd is just the latest in a series of MPs across the country whom author Dana Larsen has written, including in his package a copy of his book, Cannabis in Canada: the Illustrated History, plus some of the actual topic of his book, in dried form. Rudd's communications director Jamie Simmons told Northumberland Today in an interview they had heard "someone was sending marijuana to MPs." [continues 319 words]
In what could be a test case to create a legal category of "sacramental marijuana," a Kenwood branch of a church co-founded by a man claiming Native American heritage is suing Sonoma County, contending that the branch's cannabis was wrongfully seized by deputies because its members are entitled to it for religious purposes, similar to exemptions made for peyote and ayahuasca use by some native groups. Is marijuana central to the tenets of the Oklevueha Native American Church, or are its members simply looking for a convenient cover to get high and grow lots of pot? The question is at the heart of a federal civil lawsuit, as well as a pending criminal prosecution stemming from a raid last year at the church's newly established Sonoma County branch, located off a rural road in the Kenwood area. [continues 1323 words]
NORTHUMBERLAND - Northumberland-Peterborough South MP Kim Rudd wasn't in her Cobourg office when a post-New Year's present arrived last week: a plastic bag containing marijuana. Rudd is just the latest in a series of MPs across the country whom author Dana Larsen has written, including in his package a copy of his book, Cannabis in Canada: the Illustrated History, plus some of the actual topic of his book, in dried form. Rudd's communications director Jamie Simmons told Northumberland Today in an interview they had heard "someone was sending marijuana to MPs." [continues 321 words]
Marijuana Party member Dana Larsen wishes politicians a 'Merry-Juana Christmas and Hempy New Year' COBOURG -- A late Christmas present of medical-grade marijuana at the Cobourg office of Northumberland-Peterborough South MP Kim Rudd sparked a call to the police. The MP, who also represents Orono and Newcastle in Durham Region, is the latest in a string of Liberal MPs to receive a package from Dana Larsen -- a founding member of the Marijuana Party. Mr. Larsen reportedly mailed each of the 184 federal Liberal MPs a gram of dried marijuana along with a copy of his new book Cannabis in Canada - The Illustrated History. Also receiving pot were two MPs in Durham, Ajax's Mark Holland and Whitby's Celina Caesar-Chavannes. [continues 668 words]
The classic 1936 anti-marijuana propaganda film Reefer Madness revolved around very melodramatic events where high school students, lured by pushers to try marijuana, descended into a sensational multitude of drug-induced depravities. In decades hence, this cautionary tale of a drug menace gone mad has been rightfully seen as an extremely exaggerated take on the use of marijuana. Today the pendulum has swung to quite another extreme. Recently a Gas & Grass (combination gas station and marijuana dispensary) has opened in Colorado Springs so customers can get a variety of errands done in the same place for their unprecedented convenience - including the purchase of lottery tickets, beverages and cigarettes. The March 2014 issue of Psychology Today published an article titled, "It's Time to Address the Marijuana Issue: To put it simply, What are we thinking?" In it, the author, Dr. Robert Berezin, writes that "the substance abuse epidemic is so incredibly destructive to the well-being of our society ... it's problematic enough to deal with the hard drugs and prescription pharmaceuticals." He furthers that marijuana is a psychoactive drug, and while not physically addictive, it is powerfully habituating. Dr. Berezin says that he has treated all the addictions and that marijuana usage has gotten a "pass" - a substance whose habitual use negatively affects the brain and can be distorting and destructive to the personality and optimum functioning in life. [continues 429 words]
How can we remove the stigma of pot use? Maybe give it a spiritual spin? I was recently asked to participate on a panel that was part of a charity auction for a local nonprofit. The organizer was excited to have me involved, but wanted to make sure I didn't mention my work in the cannabis community as "it wouldn't go over well with our patrons." While I agreed to avoid any wild diatribes about legalization, I did think the request was a bit ironic, given that there was an open bar and they were auctioning a wine trip to Walla Walla as a grand prize. [continues 807 words]
Fight Breaks Out After Pair Who Were 'Like Brothers' Reportedly Took Psychedelic Drug Ayahuasca A spiritual retreat in Peru turned deadly when a 29-year-old Canadian allegedly stabbed a British man after the pair took a hallucinogenic brew. Local police allege Canadian Joshua Andrew Freeman Stevens killed Unais Gomes, 26, after Gomes attacked him with a knife Wednesday night. The incident occurred during a retreat near the city of Iquitos in the Peruvian jungle where the pair - who were reportedly "like brothers" - both ingested ayahuasca, a powerful psychedelic drug also known as "the vine of the soul." [continues 615 words]
To the Editor, Re: Pot shops had to be closed, Editorial, Dec. 3. I've only lived in Nanaimo for a few years, but I get the impression that few people here know much about cannabis or the fact that humans have been using the plant for medical, spiritual, and social reasons for thousands of years. The News Bulletin says it supports the police raids of local medical marijuana dispensaries because "they were dealing drugs" and not providing education and other trappings that come with legalization. I find this surprising, partly because I learned more about cannabis from medical marijuana dispensaries than I did from years of working as a writer at an addictions research office. (I had read and written about cannabis many times, but I didn't really 'get it' until I got bone cancer and survived my first soul-crushing chemotherapy session. It turned out cannabis was the only drug that could stop me from throwing up and giving up, and it still helps with mood and bouts of debilitating fear.) Dispensary staff taught me which products and methods worked best for nausea, anxiety, mouth sores, and so on. [continues 106 words]
THE decision whether or not "holy herb" users in South Africa will be allowed to indulge in and use dagga for health reasons, will be decided in March next year. The presiding Western Cape High Court judge, Dennis Davis, yesterday postponed the matter between marijuana advocate Ras Gareth Prince and respondents who consist of authorities from the trade, justice and health cluster to the second week of January when he will finalise the dates for the matter. Prince, with the support of various other pro-cannabis organisations is seeking the legitimisation of all dagga smokers as well as the right to use cannabis for religious, spiritual and recreational medicinal purposes. Additional plaintiffs are also challenging the constitutionality of the criminal prohibition of marijuana saying that the legislative prohibition is irrational and violating their constitutional rights. [continues 117 words]
WITH the Stereosonic music festival coming to Adelaide tomorrow, parents will be asking, "What do we need to do to keep our children safe?" This follows the tragically predictable death at the Sydney event last weekend of a yet another young Australian. It's as if we are faced with some sort of horrendous "toxicological terrorism" - we don't know where the next death will be, just that inevitably, there will be another. Having become a parent myself in the decade since I last wrote about drugs in The Advertiser, it's a question that has become a very personal one for me. [continues 727 words]
Counterintuitive but true: Pot can make you more productive. One of my favorite things to do is get stoned to the bejesus and clean house. And I'm not just talking about casual dusting, either; I'm talking about down on your belly, shoving the long extension vacuum tool deep under the bed and sucking up dust mites and fur balls, only to discover long-lost socks, exercise equipment, underwear (whose are those?!), and enough change to go out and buy MORE weed to smoke and then Shop-Vac the garage. In this way, stoned cleaning is a sustainable endeavor. [continues 787 words]
All Drugs Should Be Treated the Same As Marijuana Commanding a majority of the seats in the House of Commons, and with the already-established support of the courts, there is no reason the incoming Liberal government cannot make good on its promise to legalize, tax, and regulate the sale of marijuana. The ending of the prohibition on marijuana is the proper time to reconsider our society's stance on other drugs as well. Many drugs, like marijuana, are not illegal because they are inherently addictive or harmful - the arguments put forward as justification for the legalization of marijuana apply to them also. There is no reason (other than the weight of tradition and old attitudes) that a significant part of currently outlawed substances cannot be legalized, taxed, and sold. [continues 1050 words]
Editor: Last night, Wyoming PBS TV sponsored a discussion from an advocate, a medical physician, a city mayor and a law enforcement official, concerning the legalization of medical marijuana. Many semantics were brought out whereas the real issue was evaded. What is at issue is God almighty in America, the U.S. dollar and its bondage or worship between the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA. Marijuana is an herb and herbs in America are not processed by the FDA because politicians are not concerned by what a person may grow in his backyard, excepting for marijuana. [continues 148 words]
NOW THAT YOU can grow four cannabis plants at home, what kind will you grow? Yes, yes, the sticky-kind kind, otherwise why bother? But using what method? There are many ways to grow cannabis. You can grow in soil or hydroponically. Some brave souls even grow aeroponically, a method in which the roots are bare and exposed, and get sprayed with a nutrient solution. Same as with produce, there are "conventional" growing methods (meaning chemicals are used) and organic choices. Yet another option is biodynamic growing, a method designed by Rudolf Steiner that involves mystical and spiritual approaches that can include burying quartz in a cow's horn with your crop. I graduated from a Waldorf school so I'm contractually forbidden from mocking this method, but you should feel free. [continues 347 words]
