A press release mailed out by the Marijuana Policy Project is saying that Barney Frank and Ron Paul are to introduce a new bill to fully legalize marijuana.

From that email:

Other co-sponsors include Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA). The legislation would limit the federal government’s role in marijuana enforcement to cross-border or inter-state smuggling, allowing people to legally grow, use or sell marijuana in states where it is legal. The legislation is the first bill ever introduced in Congress to end federal marijuana prohibition.

Rep. Frank’s legislation would end state/federal conflicts over marijuana policy, reprioritize federal resources, and provide more room for states to do what is best for their own citizens.

Can’t wait to see what develops out of this. LEGALIZE! The time is right.

read more: Barney Frank and Ron Paul Legislation to Fully Legalize Marijuana

Do you like Stoner Rock? You should! Deep and heavy, it’s always the perfect sound to rock out a little and ride out your warm fuzzy feelings. MMMm… kushy.

Check out these bands and their music:

Zoroaster – Sludge Metal from Georgia.

Leather Nun – American Doom from California (weed capital of the universe)

Howl – Hellish Stoner Sludge Doom Metal!!!!!

and our favorite,

The Sword – American Metal

and yes, it makes us sad that the Stoner Rock site is dead now. RIP to their website, but Stoner Rock lives on!

Well it looks like the famous KFC Pot Shop “Kind for Cures” has been shut down by the LAPD. No idea when they will reopen but police served a warrant for violating the ordinance that went into effect June 7 and was supposed to shut down 439 out of about 580 shops. This is the shop you’ve probably seen in that South Park Episode where Randy gives himself testicular cancer so he can get his medical marijuana card. Classic. It was originally an abandoned Kentucky Fried Chicken in Palms, slumping sadly a few months on the corner of Exposition Blvd. and Hughes Ave until the new owners converted it. I hear their goods weren’t the greatest anyhow. LOL

I don’t think Northern California marijuana growers have much to worry about.

Pot pays the bills in this Northern California enclave, home to hippies and good old boys alike who espouse the weed’s curative and economic benefits. The expensive trucks, bustling restaurants, escalating rents and plentiful wads of cash all point to profitable pot cultivation in Humboldt.

Now, a state voter initiative on the November ballot that would make California the first U.S. state to legalize and tax this cash crop has locals jittery about losing their dominant market position.

“We’ve always had a cannabis tinge to our culture,” said Kevin Hoover, editor of weekly newspaper The Arcata Eye. “What we have now is a very entrenched industry that’s making a lot of money off the fact that it’s illegal.”

Starting in the 1960′s, free-thinkers wanting to get away from it all moved to the area long dominated by the lumber and fishing industries. Marijuana cultivation supported these new residents and newly unemployed blue-collar workers who watched the demise of Humboldt’s traditional manufacturing base.

Although the underground pot economy makes for poor statistics, Beth Wilson, an associate professor of economics at Humboldt State University, estimates the area’s annual income from marijuana at about $500 million.

The “multiplier effect” of that money circulated to support local businesses — garden centers do a brisk business and the town of Arcata’s sushi restaurant is always packed — could push that figure to $1 billion annually, she said.

Republicans dont think a man should be able to smoke marijuana in the privacy of their own home without having their door kicked in, but they are scared shitless now thinking about having THEIR Congressional doors kicked in by FBI targeting them for their corruption!

House and Senate leaders challenged the constitutionality of an FBI raid on a lawmaker’s office, saying it broke a 219-year precedent and raised concerns about the separation of power between the administration and Congress.

“The actions of the Justice Department in seeking and executing this warrant raise important constitutional issues,’’ House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, said in a statement last night. “I expect to seek a means to restore the delicate balance of power among the branches of government that the founders intended.’’

Frist and co are only voicing opposition to raids because they are afraid of having THEIR office searched!

I think, finally Congress understands what its like to be American now. Welcome to the club, congress. You want to kick in doors in the name of the “War on Drugs” well you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

The separation of powers argument seems to be pretty weak to me: The actual scope of Congressional immunity under the speech and debate clause is quite narrow (narrower, oddly, than the judicially-created immunities enjoyed by judges and prosecutors) and certainly doesn’t include immunity from search in a bribery case.

At any rate, members of Congress who are offended by an unannounced late-night raid on an office might profitably be asked what they think about late-night unannounced raids on private homes, which happen all the time as part of the Congressionally-mandated War on Drugs.

These same people want to stop CANCER PATIENTS from using medical marijuana and have mandated a “kick in door” policy against terminal people, to Congress I say you reap what you sow.

(republishing this article due to copyright infringement)

Our founding fathers grew hemp, so why are we arresting people for growing hemp today?

There is major difference between hemp and marijuana, for one, hemp does NOT GET YOU HIGH. Marijuana does. So here you can clearly see citizens being hassled for simply growing a non-intoxicating plant.

A Winsted man arrested for growing marijuana may avoid jail time if he agrees to remove bright green images of marijuana plants he spray-painted on his home.
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Christopher Seekins — who lives on High Street — accepted a plea agreement Thursday in Litchfield Superior Court. He’d receive three years probation on a felony charge of growing marijuana.

Seekins was arrested in October when police discovered about 100 plants in his house. He said they were hemp and part of a research project.

After his arrest, Seekins painted images of the distinctive green leaf on his Victorian-style house, each accompanied by the word hemp. Town officials say they received several complaints because Seekins’ home is visible from Winsted’s main thoroughfare.

Notice how they retreat and try to get this citizen to remove images he painted on his home in protest because they have no case. Part of the agreement is to remove images of hemp plant painted on his house? I wonder why…. because the message it sends is the truth!

There is nothing wrong or illegal about HEMP PLANTS. Marijuana is illegal but hemp does not even produce THC which is what gets you high. Our founding father grew hemp for clothes, and much more. Not only did our founding fathers grow hemp and marijuana, George Washington wrote about growing females (which get you high) and Thomas Jefferson was known to have illegally imported hemp seeds from China into America.

So next time you think it’s a crime to sneak in seeds to this country, realize even Thomas Jefferson did it. Would anyone arrest Thomas Jefferson for sneaking in hemp or marijuana seeds to this country?

When will America wake up and realize not only is the war on drugs hurting this country, but you cannot arrest people for growing “hemp.”

We need 100 more guys like this every month to make a stand and maybe, just maybe we could wake up this country.

(republishing this article due to copyright infringement)

While he may not come out and say it, at least Arnold Schwarzenegger is open to debate about marijuana. Progress is only made when discussion takes place.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Tuesday he welcomes a public debate on proposals to legalize and tax marijuana, which some suggest could provide a lucrative new revenue source for the cash-strapped state.

The Republican governor, whose term in office expires at the end of next year, was asked about the idea of treating pot like alcohol at an appearance in northern California to promote wildfire preparedness.

“No, I don’t think it’s time for that, but I think it’s time for a debate,” he said. “And I think we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing that have legalized marijuana and other drugs, what affect it had on those countries, and are they happy with that decision.”

Overwhelming majority of people in California would approve of legalizing marijuana.

The former Hollywood actor, who has admitted smoking marijuana in the past, cited his native Austria as a country where “they want to roll back some of the decisions that were made in European countries.”

He said a decision to legalize marijuana, which has been outlawed in the United States since 1937, should not be made on the basis of raising revenues alone.

Schwarzenegger’s comments come days after a statewide Field Poll found that 56 percent of California voters support the idea of legalizing cannabis for recreational use and taxing its proceeds.

A bill introduced in the state Legislature by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a Democrat from San Francisco, would do just that — permitting taxed sales of marijuana to adults while barring sales to or possession by anyone under age 21. A similar regulatory structure already exists for alcoholic beverages.

Ammiano said his proposal would generate up to $1.3 billion in revenue for the state, which faces another multibillion-dollar budget shortfall just weeks after a landmark deal closing a $42 billion deficit.

He and others who support legalizing pot say such a move also would improve public safety by redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes and would end environmental damage to public lands used for illicit cannabis cultivation.

But in 2004, Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have eased rules on how much medical marijuana patients can possess in California.

Voters in California, the nation’s most populous state, became the first to approve the use of marijuana for medical purposes in 1996, putting the state at odds with federal law.

Under the Bush administration federal agents stepped up raids against medical marijuana dispensaries in California and other states that have passed similar laws.

But U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in March that the Justice Department under President Barack Obama has no plans to prosecute such dispensaries in those states in the future. However, Obama, who also has acknowledged smoking pot in his younger days, recently dismissed the idea of legalizing marijuana on a national level.

Any debate at the state level regarding the legalization of marijuana should be embraced and welcomed. We encourage the discussion and hopefully people realize the benefits of legalization over continuing to arrest and jail people for cannabis.

Who cannot agree with this?

Post gazette writes in: State to consider medical marijuana use HARRISBURG — A state legislator from Philadelphia said today it’s time to get rid of the decades-old negative image surrounding marijuana and replace it with “a new, honest image.”

How? By legalizing the use of small amounts of marijuana for medicinal purposes, such as reducing pain for sufferers of cancer or multiple sclerosis, helping people with glaucoma and assist with insomnia and mental disorders such as manic depression, said Democratic Rep. Mark Cohen.

There are so many uses for medical grade cannabis, including Migraine nausea and relief.

He introduced House Bill 1393, which would put Pennsylvania in a league with 13 other states that permit a person, with a doctor’s recommendation, to apply to the state Department of Health for a “registry card” that would allow the patient to purchase or grow one ounce of marijuana at a time.

“The only thing blocking this bill’s passage is the old image that marijuana has from the 1930s,” Mr. Cohen said. “It’s time to create a new image, as a form of treatment that, when prescribed by responsible doctors, could help thousands of patients in Pennsylvania.”

People with state-issued registry cards could either grow up to six marijuana plants at their home or buy it at yet-to-be-created “compassion centers,” legal dispensaries of medical marijuana. The sale of marijuana would be subject to the state’s 6 percent sales tax, and Mr. Cohen claimed that the state could get up to $25 million a year in new revenue.

Patients should be able to grow more than six plants, and should be allowed to grow as much as needed to treat their condition. The amount of medicine one can harvest from one plant differs so much, it is not hard to imagine that some people can grow plants better than others and some people will not be able to grow enough medicine with just six plants. Sometimes plants get sick and more than six is needed to grow enough for one patient to be able to use regularly.

He appeared at a news conference today with Chris Goldstein, an advocate with Pennsylvanians for Medical Marijuana, and Chuck Homan, a 58-year-old roofer from York County who was arrested last year for growing marijuana plants on his property. He uses marijuana to allow him one or two hours of sleep a night.

Without it, he said, he can’t even sleep that long. He attributed his insomnia to suffering from depression. His legal case is still pending, he said, but now he has joined the effort to legalize medical uses for marijuana.

Mr. Cohen said he has six co-sponsors for his bill, far short of the 102 votes he needs in the House. The Senate, controlled by Republicans, many of them social conservatives, will likely be even tougher.

And then we get to what is holding back progress… instead of the patients and citizens being allowed safe and effective medicine they can grow themselves, the politicians sit back and vote against medical marijuana while the people suffer pain.

And we agree!

The argument to legalize marijuana is back in the news, after rock legend and Obama supporter Carlos Santana said that marijuana needs to be legalized, while also taking a hard swipe at California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In a recent interview with the Associated Press, the Grammy-winning guitarist said, “I really believe that as soon as we legalize and decriminalize marijuana, we can actually afford a really good governor who won’t keep taking money away from education and from teachers and send him back to Hollywood where he can do ‘D’ movies and we can get an ‘A’ governor.”

Santana went on to give a heart-felt plea to President Obama, saying, “Bring the brothers home, and sisters home now. Legalize marijuana and take all that money and invest it in teachers and in education. You will see a transformation in America.”

The amount of money wasted on arresting and jailing Americans for smoking pot is in the billions. That money alone could help change our education system in America. Let alone, the money made from taxing the legalized cannabis products that would come after its legalization across the United States.

California will lead the way in terms of addressing American laws regarding the recreational use of cannabis.

Marijuana would be sold and taxed openly in California to adults 21 and older if legislation proposed Monday is signed into law.

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, said his bill could generate big bucks for a cash-starved state while freeing law enforcement agencies to focus on worse crimes.

“I think there’s a mentality throughout the state and the country that this isn’t the highest priority – and that maybe we should start to reassess,” he said.

Critics counter that it makes no sense for a Legislature so concerned about health that it has restricted use of trans fats in restaurants to legalize the smoking of a potentially harmful drug.

“I think substance abuse is just ruining our society,” said Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley. “I can’t support that.”

Maybe Paul Cook should start his ban on alcohol if he is so concerned about “substance abuse.” These old abolitionist ways of dealing with things will not work for this country, the problem is too big now. It is time to legalize the use of cannabis.

In regards to “smoking a potentially harmful drug,” these Republicans must not know that doctors have verified the non carcinogenic method of medically partaking in cannabis through the use of vaporizers, which is unlike smoking as the plant is not burned while you consume it. Vaporizers do not have the same negative effects such as smoking.

By bringing up the aspects of “smoking cannabis” this lawmaker is just trying to obscure the facts. Doctors stand by the use of vaporizers as the doctor accepted method of medical marijuana intake.

As the lawmakers said, they are not interested in medical use of marijuana, they just want to “stop the bill.” Not once caring about those who need access to marijuana.

“I think it’s a slippery slope,” Assemblyman Tom Berryhill, R-Modesto, said of easing pot laws. “We’ll do everything we can to defeat it.”

But they couldn’t STOP a bill when California citizens voted for it, and the people of California should not let them stop this one either! How can an “assemblyman” try and go against the vote of the California people? He should be removed from office!

Medical use of marijuana already is legal in California, but the new legislation would go a step further by allowing recreational use.

Stop letting these guys take billions of your tax dollars to arrest you for smoking marijuana!!!!!

Assembly Bill 390 would charge cannabis wholesalers $5,000 initially and $2,500 annually for the right to distribute weed.

Retail outlets would pay fees of $50 per ounce of cannabis to generate revenue for drug education programs statewide.

The bill would prohibit cannabis near schools. It also would ban smoking it in public places or growing it in public view.

Adding $50 to the cost of an ounce if going to be felt, most people who use want to grow their own so you can tax all you want, but those who grow their own will never pay taxes on it.