Thursday 30 May 2013

George Zimmerman to Dead Trayvon Martin: You Smoked Pot, So You Deserve to Be Shot

Marijuana is legal in Washington and Colorado for all purposes, and medically legal in many other states. But years of anti-marijuana propaganda still resonate in the American psyche, and nowhere is this more evident than in the trial of George Zimmerman…the police officer wannabe who stalked and gunned down unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February 2012.
Before we look at how reefer madness is alive and well in America as revealed by the ongoing Trayvon Martin case legal battles (George Zimmerman has been charged with second degree murder and is awaiting trial), it’s useful to review the Zimmerman-Martin facts as we know them now.

When somebody is following you around and confronts you, better not stand your ground, especially if you’re a pot smoker.

Simply put, Zimmerman was armed inside his gated community when he spotted 17-year-old African-American Trayvon Martin. He didn’t like the way Martin looked or acted, so he called the Sanford, Florida police department and said Martin looked like he was “on drugs,” because Martin was walking around in the rain.
Zimmerman was not a police officer, but has been described as a "neighborhood watch volunteer." Apparently he took his volunteer job a little too seriously: in his vehicle and on the phone with a police dispatcher, Zimmerman started following Martin around.
The police dispatcher told Zimmerman to stay in his vehicle and let law enforcement handle the situation. Instead, Zimmerman got out of his vehicle and confronted Trayvon Martin. Nobody is yet sure about the total details of the altercation but it’s likely Martin was scared and angry about being stalked by a pudgy, older, Hispanic-looking guy, so that when Zimmerman verbally accosted Martin (apparently asking him questions that only a police officer would have had the right to ask), the younger man may well have hit Zimmerman. Read More Here...

Thursday 23 May 2013

Marijuana DUI: High on the Highway Laws Are Changing

As voters and government officials legalize recreational and medical marijuana across America, anti-marijuana people have latched onto stealth methods for attacking marijuana users. One of their tactics is to make it illegal for us to have any amount of marijuana metabolites in our blood when we’re driving. They call this “marijuana DUI,” or “drugged driving.”
In at least nine states, if you get caught driving with any amount of marijuana metabolites in your blood, you’re guilty of a crime.
previous BigBudsMag.com article looks at how ridiculous this is. Marijuana compounds known as cannabinoids have a long shelf life in the body. You could take a hit of Kush in May, not get high again for three weeks, and still have detectable cannabinoid metabolites in your blood.

Alcohol, not marijuana DUI, is what most often leads to this.

And we all know that each of us reacts differently to marijuana. One person can inhale dabs of the strongest marijuana concentrate, but not even seem high. Another person takes one hit of mid-grade Mexican marijuana, and acts like a fool.
The marijuana DUI problem snared a Michigan marijuana user named Rodney Koon, who was stopped for speeding and voluntarily told police he was a medical marijuana cardholder who had used marijuana just a few hours before driving.
Not a smart thing to do. Remember—when you talk to police anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. Never admit to anything. Just keep your mouth shut and ask for a lawyer.
Koon’s mouth got him in big trouble, and court rulings upheld marijuana DUI charges against him, even though there was no provable sign that the marijuana in his blood was impairing him. He was just a speeder, like millions of other speeders. Why add on a marijuana DUI or drugged driving charge? Wouldn’t that mean that anyone who uses marijuana and has any amount of THC in their blood is technically always guilty of a crime any time they drive?

Wednesday 22 May 2013

Is Louis C.K. Right When He Says Today’s Marijuana is “Too Strong?”

Louis C.K. is one of the world’s most popular stand-up and television comedians, but what he said recently about getting "too high" on modern mega-potent marijuana is more than just hilarious...it's a serious topic for marijuana growers and users.
Louis C.K. is one of the world’s most popular stand-up and television comedians
The comedian is no stranger to personal revelations, or political controversy. When he was a guest on the Opie and Anthony radio show, he even asked former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld if Rumsfeld was an evil “lizard!”

 
In his very funny comedy segment about smoking marijuana,  Louis C.K. is talking about the generation gap between how 20-year-olds handle the THC potency of today’s top-shelf connoisseur marijuana…and how that same marijuana is sometimes overwhelming for older marijuana consumers.
As a professional marijuana grower, what I focused on most when I saw the Louis C.K. marijuana comedy clip embedded later in this article, is that he’s right to say today’s marijuana IS stronger than marijuana in the 1970s and 80s. Here’s why Louis C.K. is right about marijuana potency, and why what he says is a compliment to our marijuana community…
First off, remember that in the 1960s and 70s marijuana was grown mostly in Mexico and other Third World countries. Marijuana growers didn’t yet use the modern “sinsemilla” seedless marijuana technique that deprived female marijuana plants of male pollen so that female flowers swelled up unfertilized, piling on more and more THC and other resins.
Even the best Colombian Gold, Oaxacan, Panama Red, and Jamaican marijuana came into North America in comprssed bricks. This stuff was full of seeds, stems, and sometimes even had male flowers.
You could get an ounce of the finest Colombian Gold for $20. But when you “cleaned” that ounce to remove seeds, stems, dirt, and other contaminants, it became a lot less than an ounce.


So some marijuana smokers smoked everything in the bag, which meant they were smoking low-THC material along with high-THC material.
Worse yet, because old school marijuana was most often picked wet, doused with water or sugar, subjected to heat, bricked, and shipped thousands of miles, it was degraded...so its THC was compromised and there were higher levels of other cannabinoids (such as CBD and CBN), that tend to limit rather than potentiate the THC high.
The overall marijuana THC percentages, measured in the 60s and 70s by government testing and other marijuana testers, was in the range of 3-7% even for primo weed. You could go see Pink Floyd doing Dark Side of the Moon live, and smoke an entire ounce of Colombian Gold.
Nowadays, top-shelf marijuana tests as high as 15-27% THC. The marijuana is domestically-grown, picked at the height of resin gland size and THC percentages, properly dried, cured, and stored.
Marijuana today is the result of 50 years of progress in marijuana botany, hydroponics nutrients, breeding, strain development, and growing techniques.
Today growers can use marijuana resin and weight boosters like the made-for-marijuana Advanced Nutrients’ Kushie Kush, Bud Factor X, Bud Candy, Bud Ignitor and other formulas to grow marijuana strains that combine the best old school and new school marijuana genetics with 21st century cannabis cultivation and processing strategies to create solid chunks of frosty, sticky buds loaded with THC preserved at peak ripeness and psychoactivity.
Take it as a compliment that today’s marijuana is stronger than what people like Louis C.K. smoked when they were teenagers many years ago, but here’s another thing Louis C.K. gets right: as your brain and body get older, they have a harder time processing THC and other cannabinoids.

Mouthwatering Marijuana Cookbook:
Marijuana Medibles @ Gourmet Level!

I was high when somebody handed me a copy of a marijuana cookbook that drove me crazy with food lust. The cover and inside of the book tempted me with wicked photos of steaks, pancakes, desserts, gourmet sandwiches and other unique recipes for tasty marijuana foods that will get you baked beyond your wildest dreams. This book ignited marijuana munchies, big time!

Steak and marijuana…it’s what’s for dinner!
Yes, there are many other marijuana medibles cookbooks. I’ve purchased or read 11 other marijuana cookbooks and realize it’s kind of bold to claim that Ganja Kitchen Revolution, authored by Jessica Catalano and published by Green Candy Press, may well be the one that turns you into a marijuana chef.
Part of this book's appeal is that it is beautiful to look at. Photographer Tyler Kittock and the Green Candy Press graphics and design team, make this look like the kind of cookbook rich people pay $100 for (but it doesn't cost anywhere near that much).
The beauty is functional: the photos complement and enhance the book's medible preparation instructions. You don’t just read how to make delicious recipes containing marijuana (like the Blue Pearl Ahi Tuna Sandwich), you seehow to follow the recipe.
Author Catalano put some truly original, creative thought into the many details and considerations involved in cooking with cannabis. She provides a chart showing the taste characteristics of many popular marijuana strains…very useful when you’re looking to harmonize marijuana taste with a specific type of medible.
In the drinks section, for example, she specifies the type of marijuana to be used to max out the match between the marijuana’s taste/aroma and the drink you’re making: Spanish Orange Kush Sangria. Mexican Hash Plant Chocolate. Strawberry Cough Milkshake. Yummy!
Catalano’s book is also superior because she gives us an in-depth, understandable explanation of dosing, and explains how to avoid ingesting too much marijuana medicine.
Instead of the usual and often confusing or inaccurate marijuana medibles generic instructions about making cannabutter that you often get from other marijuana medibles info sources, Ganja Kitchen Revolution provides an impressive range of professional ideas for extracting cannabinoids into oils, butters, honey and other materials.
Again, Catalano has taken it to the next level. Instead of just cannabutter, you find out how to make Rosemary Marjoram Infused Oil, Raw Cannabis Coconut Oil, Madagascar Vanilla Bean Bourbon Extract, Medicated Honey Peanut Butter and Hazelnut Butter—hungry yet?
Catalano recognizes that many medical marijuana and marijuana foodies are also vegetarians, vegans or on restricted diets, but for flesh-lovers, she has what looks to be the ultimate meat-lover’s meal: The Catalan Conquistador Steak. After seasoning a choice cut of T-Bone or filet mignon, blend a mixture of pepper, basil, garlic, tomatoes, with orange and lemon peels, pan-fry the steak, and then season it with a helping of Clarified Herbal Cannabutter. The more you eat, the more you want to eat. Watch out, cows! 
Or try the Moroccan Mazar Lamb…a spicy, stony main course that combines carnivore delight with Mazar Cannabutter.
Of course, we all dream of sweet treats like space cakes, brownies, cupcakes, and cannabis candy when we think of marijuana medibles.
Ganja Kitchen Revolution takes marijuana desserts to a much higher level than I’ve ever seen before: Indian Kalichakra Sweet Carrot Pudding, Chocolope Frosted Raw Brownies, German Vanilla Kush Marzipan, Chewy Vegan Chocolate Thai Kief Chip Cookies. These desserts take you past the usual marijuana brownies and into the realm of gourmet!
One of the features that distinguish this marijuana cookbook from all the others—the “Revolutionary Dosing Chart.” It gives you insightful details on how much marijuana to use, and how to ensure you get the precise dose you want, regardless of the cannabis recipe you’re preparing.
Fact is, a lot of people have never experienced the edible marijuana high, because they’ve been scared off by horror stories about “overdosing” on marijuana medibles.
Even though marijuana medibles dosing information is crucially important, it’s often mishandled in other marijuana cookbooks, online articles, and marijuana magazines. If you make a dosing mistake and ingest too much activated cannabinoids, it’s not fun at all. 
Ganja Kitchen Revolution avoids that problem by giving you a dose chart that corresponds to the serving size of each recipe.
Green Candy Press and the book’s author, art designer, and photographer deserve congratulations—they’ve given the marijuana community an incomparable cookbook worthy of marijuana-loving chefs everywhere.