HIGH TIMES IN SAN FRANCISCO

     Finally! After years of advocating the legalization of marijuana, I can't believe that I'm actually witnessing it all happening! And supposedly with this new dolt as Governor in New Jersey, we're supposed to legalize it here to, though I still believe he only said this to get voters, but I guess we'll see. 

     Anyway, San Francisco too a huge step in the legal marijuana age with a dispensary that was more like an Amsterdam-style cafe lounge. The Barbary Coast Dispensary's marijuana smoking lounge is a darkened room that resembles a steakhouse or upscale sports tavern, which it probably was before, with its red leather seats, deep booths and high dividers, and hardwood floors. 

     "There's nothing like this in Jersey," grinned a visitor from Atlantic City, NJ, as he was getting high with his cousins. To be honest, there's nothing like the Barbary Coast lounge almost anywhere in the United States, a conundrum for many marijuana enthusiasts who find it increasingly easy to buy pot but harder to find legal places to smoke it besides their own homes. 

     Only California permits marijuana smoking at marijuana retailers with specially designed loungers. But it also allows cities to band those kinds of shops. It's no surprise that San Francisco is the trail-"blazer." It's the only city in the state to fully embrace the Amsterdam-style coffee shops, the iconic tourist stops in the Netherlands where people can buy, eat, and smoke marijuana in the same shop. I mean come on...The home of Haight-Ashbury? Are you really surprised? You can drive through that neighborhood and get high. It smells like Patchouli the minute you walk into it. 

     San Fran's marijuana "czar" Nicole Elliot said her new permits will be issued once the city health officials finalize regulations designed to protect workers from secondhand smoke and the neighborhood from unwelcomed odors. The lounges are required to install expensive heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems to prevent the distinct marijuana odor from leaking outside. Other California cities are warming up to this idea. Oakland and South Lake Tahoe each have one smoking lounge. 

     The city of West Hollywood has approved plans to issue up to eight licenses, the tiny San Francisco Bay area town of Alameda said it will allow two and Oakland and South Lake Tahoe each have one. Sacramento, L.A. and other cities are discussing the issue, but have not authorized any lounges yet. The city of Los Angeles' business development manager said residents and cannabis businesses complain there is "no safe place, no legal place, to use it." She continued to say that Los Angeles officials envision smoking lounges to be set up like traditional bars, but for now the idea is more concept than plan.     

     In Colorado, one of the first states to broadly legalize, lawmakers failed in a close vote to make so-called "tasting rooms" legal. However, cities may do it, and Denver has authorized loungers where consumers bring their own marijuana, issuing permits so far. Nevada has put off a vote on the issue until next year, while lawmakers in Alaska and Oregon have considered and rejected legislation. 

     The Barbary Coast, which received its state license in January, first opened as a small dispensary in 2013. It expanded and opened its smoking lounge to medical users last year. On January 11, the shop opened to all adults when it received its California recreational use license. The state started issuing those on January 1 and continues to approve dozens of applications a month since voters broadly legalized the use and sale of marijuana. Man....moving to California is looking better and better every day!

GRANDPA WEED

This innocent looking older gent is my new hero! Personally, I don't like the way he's being treated and I'll tell you why in a minute. I have to tell you what he did first, which would explain why he's my new hero. This 87-year-old from Denver, Colorado just got busted for growing a 'forest of marijuana plants' in his backyard! That's right! I said a forest! Not a few plants here and there. I said a 'forest'! 87-year-old, Edward Bogunovich had more than 500 marijuana plants in the backyard of his Denver home, which he is claiming that he legally grew and was allowed to distribute for medical purposes. There were so many plants in the backyard that police are describing the property as a 'forest of marijuana plants.'

Bogunovich, a farmer by trade, was arrested on Friday and is now facing charges of possession with intent to distribute more than 100 pounds of marijuana, the cultivation of more than 30 plants of marijuana, and possession of more than 12 ounces of marijuana. Bogunovich is claiming that his possession and cultivation is perfectly legal since he and three other family members have state medical marijuana documents that allow them to grow and distribute the plant. Bogunovich went on to say, "I was a care taker for 24 people for the last year or two. We did nothing wrong. I wouldn't be stupid not to be legal after doing this for four years." I love this guy! How can you not? He sounds like he has all his bases covered. 

Medical marijuana use is permissible in Colorado, but there is a limit on how much a patient can use depending on their condition. Well, that's according to Article 18, Section 14 of the Colorado Constitution. Wait a minute! Colorado has a Constitution different from the rest of the United States? When did that happen? I might want to move to Colorado now! Anyway, Section 14 states that a patient can have 'no more than two ounces of the usable form of marijuana' and 'no more than six marijuana plants, with three or fewer being mature, flowering plants that are producing a usable form of marijuana.' The Denver D.A. says that Bogunovich was growing way more than he was allowed for medical cultivation. He's legally allowed to possess 231 marijuana plants, but Bogunovich was 183 plants over his limit. 

Authorities also allegedly found tools and materials in Bogunovich's possession, like scales, packaging materials, and vacuum sealer, that indicate distribution and cultivation, but he did admit to distributing to those he is taking care of. Did they catch him selling to anyone other than who he said he was taking care of? If not, I don't see the harm here in him growing if he has documentation saying that he can. Not to mention, the guy is 87-years-old! Do you really need to put a guy that old in jail for possession? Can't slap him with a fine or something? Come on, people!  

 

Apparently, this isn't Bogunovich's first run-in with the law. He's been arrested for dangerous drug possession on four different instances, damage to property, and possession of marijuana. He's been released on $10,000 bail and has to appear in court on August 16. I'll say it again....The guy is 87-years-old, why would you want to put him away when he's probably going to die soon anyway. Let him keep growing and distributing his marijuana like he wants to. He's not killing anybody, and it sounds like he's only distributing to those who need it and not to those who abuse it. So, I'm not sure that I agree with such a harsh punishment on this one.

LEGAL SYNTHETIC MARIJUANA BECOMES DEADLY

 Okay, I'm not going to beat around the bush here and lie to anyone reading this. When I was younger and all throughout my twenties and thirties, I did smoke marijuana. I inhaled and exhaled a lot of it and on many occasions. I even did a lot of research on the legalization of marijuana because I don't drink, so I wanted to find a way to get just as messed up as my drunken friends. I even went as far as wanting to become a member of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) because at the time, to me, marijuana was not a deadly drug like cocaine, crack, or heroin because it was all-natural. Also, you never heard about someone dying or killing because they were high on marijuana. To be honest, smoking marijuana just made you tired, lazy, and if it was really good, it made you giggly. So, there was no way anyone was getting up to kill anybody. They only thing that was getting killed here were brain cells.

Well, here in 2012, not so much the case anymore. Now, there is something legal on the market that is as easy to buy as aspirin. It's called 'synthetic pot' and is sold in corner stores as herbal incense or potpourri, and doctors and politicians are saying it's becoming a dangerous plague in New York City. A number of people looking for a quick high are winding up in emergency rooms with alarming symptoms ranging from hallucinations and seizures to panic attacks and violent behavior. Now, anyone who's smoked natural marijuana, do any of these symptoms sound familiar to you? Because I don't ever remember hallucinating, having a seizure or panic attack or even acting violent when I was enjoying the natural herb, which means there is something very wrong with this synthetic stuff.

This problem seems to be growing so fast that a major medical journal issued a warning last week about the substance, which is often referred to as K2 or Spice. New York Senator, Chuck Schumer is actually pushing for a nationwide ban that would make it illegal to sell the condom-sized packets that sell for $15 to $75 at stores and online.

According to an NYU medical toxicologist, most people are treating the synthetic weed like its 'just pot', but it's not. He went on to say that synthetic marijuana is really quite different and its effects are much more unpredictable because the synthetic cannabinoids, which is sometimes sprayed with toxic chemicals, is supposed to mimic marijuana's active ingredient, THC, binding to similar brain receptors. Guess what? It's not hitting the similar receptors and that's why people are having these ill effects.

 The packets, which come with names like Aroma and Killer Buzz, are labeled "not for human consumption", but you'd be hard-pressed to find someone buying them as incense. In fact, several teen deaths have been blamed on the marijuana substitute. Just last week, a 17-year-old, who was reportedly high on it, fatally stabbed a sleeping schoolmate in Washington State because he felt the urge to hurt someone. Last June, a 19-year-old was killed after he bought Aroma at an Illinois Mall and crashed his car into a house at 100 M.P.H., and in June 2010, an 18-year-old from Iowa committed suicide in a frenzy of anxiety that his parents believed was triggered by K2. In New York City, the first four cases were reported to the Health Department's poison control in 2010. There were 71 cases in 2011 and 44 more so far this year. Fifty-seven people have ended up in the emergency room in the past 12 months because of this synthetic pot. Last I checked, this never happened with the illegal stuff. Going by these stats, synthetic marijuana is not good for you, people! Find a good dealer and get the real stuff! Yes, it's a little bit more expensive and illegal, but your health depends on it! Besides, how deadly can the natural stuff be if doctors prescribe it to treat patients?

New Yorkers who have tried it say that there are only two reasons to use the synthetic stuff rather than real pot: "It won't get you busted by the cops, and it won't make you fail a drug test." Here's an easy solution to that! Don't smoke the real stuff in front of cops and if you're so worried about a drug test, don't smoke it! It's that simple. For those of you who have tried this synthetic garbage, God Bless! I'll stick to the real stuff because it's better for you!

READ HERE WHAT A STATEN ISLAND SANITATION WORKER HAD TO SAY ABOUT THE SYNTHETIC WEED....IT TURNED HIM INTO A MONSTER!