New Pot Policy

It is easy both to overstate and understate the meaning of the Justice Department's decision Monday to alter its policy toward medical marijuana.

The Obama Administration's ballyhooed shift away from federal prosecution for state-sanctioned pot sales and use does not necessarily signal a turning point in the effort to legalize (and tax) marijuana. We are probably still a generation or two away from that. But the new White House policy is no small matter, either, for it means that tens of thousands of Americans now are free from federal persecution and prosecution for conduct that is completely legal in their own states.

Federal prosecutors now will get little internal blame for failing to bring criminal charges against people who are lawfully selling or using medical marijuana. Nor will federal lawyers necessarily get kudos within the department if they aggressively pursue medical marijuana cases. Forget all the nonsense about federal funding and national endorsements of drug use. The official government position now reverts simply to something akin to legal neutrality: if you smoke it, we won't come, because we have more important things to do with our time.

Medical Marijuana Arrest Guidelines Eased
L.A. Prosecutor Vows to Target Pot Shops

Apart from its cultural significant, the shift tells us a lot about where the White House prioritizes its anti-crime efforts. Every minute not spent going after California's pot smokers, for example, is a minute that federal lawyers and investigators now may spend ferreting out terror cells or looking into allegations of white-collar fraud. Every lawful dispensary in Colorado that goes un-raided by the ATF or the FBI or leaves the feds assets and energy to pursue violent crimes, which are on the upswing in many areas of the country, or upon more severe drugs like meth and heroine and crack cocaine.

The shift also has its roots in the economic reality of the times in which it's been invoked. In California and many other states where medical marijuana is legal, officials are trying to reduce massive budget deficits by releasing from prisons inmates who have been convicted of low-level, non-violent marijuana crimes. Even the most ardent law-and-order state executives have had to swallow hard and permit this to occur. The new national policy achieves the same practical effect before indictment, trial and conviction for the simple reason that our federal prisons (especially those in California) are terribly overcrowded, too.

It will be interesting to see, one administration from now, whether Monday's policy shift sticks where it is or floats back in the opposite direction. That's the way it is with these "policy" announcements; they are only as good as the writ of the officials who draft them. Like so many other half-measures performed by the Obama White House since it took office, this tweaking of Justice Department policy sounds more permanent and pervasive than it really is. It is not a sea-change as much as it is a sea-breeze.

For both sides, really, the only way to settle the matter is to lobby the Congress to make meaningful changes to the federal statutory scheme that currently criminalizes the drug. That would be a more permanent and less malleable course—and far less politically convenient. If and when that day comes, we can talk about how the country has moved one step closer to the legalization of marijuana. Until then, you legitimate medical marijuana users out there can take solace in the fact that even though your president evidently won't expend political capital pushing to reform pot laws he also won't be pushing his lawyers to put you in jail, either.

CBSNews.com

A Brief History of Weed

Ok... It's a long weekend... all my smokers, tokers, and rollers enjoy!!!

How to grow Marujuana

Cheeba Cheeba Yall does not encourage illegal activity!
This may be useful information if you want to start growing some sticky-icky for yourself. Home grown herb can be very good if you start with some decent seeds. Check out the previous post to get instructions on how to start your seeds. Marijuana is like any other plant, if you supply the right environment they grow like.... weeds (pun intended)

Growing Marijuana Indoors

The following info about growing marijuana indoors with soil. It is a good way for the first timer with a limited budget to start. You may also be interested in growing hydroponic marijuana. It shows how to grow marijuana indoors without soil. Some of the information can be applied to growing marijuana with soil.

Indoor growing has many advantages, besides the apparent fact that it is much harder to have your crop found, you can control the ambient conditions just exactly as you want them and get a guaranteed good plant.

Plants grown indoors will not appear the same as their outdoor cousins. They will be smaller and may require you to tie them to a growing post to remain upright.

However, the marijuana from plants grown indoors will be more potent (if you provide optimal conditions) than that of the same strain being grown outdoors. Plants will take longer to grow in soil than they would in a hydroponic garden, but they can be just as potent.

Select a grow area and put tar paper or plastic drop sheets on the floors to prevent damage from water or other sources. The walls of your growing room should be painted white to reflect the light.

Containers for houseplants can be used or you can use almost any container that is clean and has never been used to store chemicals or anything else that might be toxic.

The height of the container should be from 12 to 24 inches. Width and depth should both be about 12 inches. 3 and 5 gallon containers do a good job and are easy to find.

You will need enough soil to fill each container to within 4-6 inches of the top. Make sure to provide drainage holes at the bottom of the container if it was not designed for growing plants in. There should be enough holes to allow any excess water to escape and they should be small enough so that no soil is washed away.

Buy sterilized bags of soil form a gardening supply store. Ask a salesperson for soil that was designed for indoor use with fast growing vegetables. You need soil that is fluffy when moist. It shouldn't clump together if you gently squeeze it in your hand.

Organic potting soil is a good choice, if available. If you are already used to gardening, mushroom compost or soilless mixtures might be something to look into. Stay away from anything like clay or sand.

After harvesting, add the soil that was used to grow a crop to your outdoor garden, do not try to use it to grow another crop. See the section about nutrients and marijuana grown in soil so you know how to feed the plants.

Soil pH should be in the 6.0 to 7.0 range. Get a pH meter to measure the soil pH if needed. Most nutrients (fertilizers) cause a pH change in the soil. Adding nutrients to the soil almost always results in a more acidic pH.

The lighting system can be fluorescent, but metal halide (mh) or high pressure sodium (hps) are recommended. Metal halide or high pressure sodium lights provide enough light to grow potent marijuana and should be used by any serious gardener. Make sure you understand lighting and how it affects marijuana plants before setting up your grow room.

If you don't have enough money to buy a metal halide or high pressure sodium light fixture, fluorescent light can be used instead. This is a good introduction to growing, but the results will not be as good. The best sources are those designed especially for growing plants.

Figure about one plant per two feet of fluorescent tube. Fluorescent light sources should be an average of 3-6 inches from the top of the plant. They may be mounted on a rack and moved every few days as the plants grow.

Once you have your grow area setup you will want to introduce your seeds or clones. If you have clones you can place them in the growing containers. If you have seeds, you will need to germinate them before they can be placed into the containers.

Set your light timer for 16 hours on and 8 hours off per twenty four hour period. Keep this light pattern for the first two weeks in the containers.

When I grow with mh or hps lighting, I like using a fluorescent light for these first two weeks of seedling growth. A standard 48 inch fluorescent light fixture sometimes used in garages and kitchens can be found at most department stores. You don't need special grow lights for this purpose, 'cool white' bulbs made for standard 48 inch fluorescent light fixture are cheap and will do a fine job.

After about two weeks under the 16 hours on and 8 hours off light schedule the plants should have put down a good root system and grown a few sets of leaves. At this point you should increase light by an hour a day. You can leave the light on from 18-24 hours a day at this point in the plants life (vegetative phase).

If you have mh or hps lights, now is the time to introduce them to your garden. As you increase the light, the plants grow faster but power consumption increases. This power increase doesn't make a lot of difference with low wattage lights, but mh and hps lights require more power. The more power you use, the higher your electric bill will be.

When the plants are about twelve inches tall, cut the light down to 12 hours on and 12 hours off per day. This will cause the plants to flower. After the plants flower, you will have to remove the male plants unless you want to produce seeds. White hairs (pistils) will begin to develop at bud sites of female plants.

If you are growing under mh or hps in soil, it will be about 10-12 weeks (after flowering starts) till harvest time. Total time will be about 12-16 weeks from seed or clone to harvest time. If you are growing under fluorescent light it will take longer before harvest time, the plants will not produce as much marijuana, and the marijuana that is produced will be very weak.

With a metal halide or high pressure sodium light fixture, a 250 watt light (either mh or hps) is good to grow up to 6 plants at a time (force flowering when they are about eight inches tall). Each plant will yield about 7-14 grams of marijuana in 12-16 weeks.

With a a metal halide or high pressure sodium light fixture, a 400 watt light (either mh or hps) is good to grow up to 12 plants at a time (force flowering when they are about twelve inches tall). Total yield is about 8 ounces of marijuana every 14-16 weeks.

Temperatures should be between 70-80 degrees F when the light is on. When the light is off the temperature can drop to the low 60's and have no negative effect on the plant.

The temperature should never go below 60 degrees or above 90 degrees (even for short periods) or growth will slow down. If these extremes are exceeded the plant may be permanently damaged or killed.

Humidity should be between 40-60 percent relative humidity. Use a hydrometer to measure humidity if you think your grow area is out of range. A humidifier can increase humidity and a dehumidifier can be used to lower humidity.

Method Man lost his 2008 Lincoln Navigator

I feel Meth on this.... not making any excuses, but sometimes you just forget!!!! I have gotten mail that I never opened and some of it looked important. It's not that you are avoiding things, you may not have been able to look right away and then it ends up in the 'pile'.... or planned to pay and just get side tracked.... it has happened to me and I am not on the road or moving about like Meth! No excuses, *ish happens!!! Better go home and check my mail 'pile'!!!!!

Earlier this week, DX reported that Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man lost his 2008 Lincoln Navigator to the IRS because of over $50,000 owed in taxes . While some believed this news indicated a crunch in Method’s wallet, it turns out the How High star can blame the incident on his excessive use of weed.

“Myself, I’m a pothead. It’s no secret. Everyone knows that. I go on the road and forget everything else,” he told the NY Daily News. Laughing off the thought of what occurred, Method Man explained, “I could have easily just written them a check for whatever amount, but no…I waited until they knocked on the door and were like, ‘We got your truck and we outta here.’”

With a repo team and four New York police arriving at his house, Method continued, “It wasn’t like ‘Oh my God! Noo!! Don’t take it…I was half-dressed, and it was so early that I just said, ‘Okay, you’re taking the truck. Aight.”

full story

CHEEBA CHEEBA YALL!!!!!!!!

YALL KNOW WHAT IT IS........ LET'S GET BLOWN AWAY!!!!!!!!!

Marijuana compound may halt breast cancer spread

BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- A compound found in cannabis known as CBD may prevent breast cancer spreading to other parts of the body and be a realistic alternative to chemotherapy, scientists believe.
However, the study carried out by the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute does not advocate marijuana use among cancer patients.
It said it was unlikely that the right concentrations of CBD could be achieved through smoking cannabis.
CBD fights the disease by stopping the activity of a gene called Id-1, which is believed to be responsible for the spread of cancer cells from the site of the original tumor -- a process known as metastasis.
The study found CBD had this affect on breast cancer cells in a laboratory.
Researchers are now optimistic that the compound can become an effective -- and non-toxic -- alternative to chemotherapy.

Marijuana may increase psychosis risk, analysis says...but does it really?

I don't knock all studies, but you have to read carefully and think of the interest involved. They come up with studies for everything and many times the study's data is manipulated, distorted or presented in a manner that gets the desired outcomes. They have done it with 'second-hand smoking', countless drugs, food, consumer electronics and consumables..... and multiple times with marijuana.


"Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could."
--William F. Buckley Jr
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


LONDON, England (AP) -- Using marijuana seems to increase the chance of becoming psychotic, researchers report in an analysis of past research that reignites the issue of whether pot is dangerous.
It is only dangerous to the chemical, pharmaceutical and other big companies that stand to loose if hemp and marijuana was made legal.

The new review suggests that even infrequent use could raise the small but real risk of this serious mental illness by 40 percent.
Why not say how small the risk is.... is the number that represents the risk within the margin of error?

Doctors have long suspected a connection and say the latest findings underline the need to highlight marijuana's long-term risks. The research, paid for by the British Health Department, is being published Friday in medical journal The Lancet.
paid for by people with an interest in the results!

"The available evidence now suggests that cannabis is not as harmless as many people think," said Dr. Stanley Zammit, one of the study's authors and a lecturer in the department of psychological medicine at Cardiff University.

The researchers said they couldn't prove that marijuana use itself increases the risk of psychosis, a category of several disorders with schizophrenia being the most commonly known.
If I can't prove that something causes another something how can I put out a study saying that it does?

There could be something else about marijuana users, "like their tendency to use other drugs or certain personality traits, that could be causing the psychoses," Zammit said.
A lot of things could be..... I could be high right now, but I am not!!!! I could walk outside and get hit by a truck, but that does not mean i will.

Marijuana is the most frequently used illegal substance in many countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States. About 20 percent of young adults report using it at least once a week, according to government statistics.

Zammit and colleagues from the University of Bristol, Imperial College and Cambridge University examined 35 studies that tracked tens of thousands of people for periods ranging from one year to 27 years to examine the effect of marijuana on mental health.

They looked for psychotic illnesses as well as cognitive disorders including delusions and hallucinations, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, neuroses and suicidal tendencies.

They found that people who used marijuana had roughly a 40 percent higher chance of developing a psychotic disorder later in life. The overall risk remains very low.
If the general risk is negligible, then a 40 percent higher chance may also be negligible.... that is probably why the study never gives a hard number on the general risk.

For example, Zammit said the risk of developing schizophrenia for most people is less than 1 percent. The prevalence of schizophrenia is believed to be about five in 1,000 people. But because of the drug's wide popularity, the researchers estimate that about 800 new cases of psychosis could be prevented by reducing marijuana use.

The scientists found a more disturbing outlook for "heavy users" of pot, those who used it daily or weekly: Their risk for psychosis jumped to a range of 50 percent to 200 percent.

One doctor noted that people with a history of mental illness in their families could be at higher risk. For them, marijuana use "could unmask the underlying schizophrenia," said Dr. Deepak Cyril D'Souza, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University, who was not involved in the study.

Dr. Wilson Compton, a senior scientist at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Washington, called the study persuasive.
The study is persuasive... not factual!

"The strongest case is that there are consistencies across all of the studies," and that the link was seen only with psychoses -- not anxiety, depression or other mental health problems, he said.

Scientists cannot rule out that pre-existing conditions could have led to both marijuana use and later psychoses, he added.

Scientists think it is biologically possible that marijuana could cause psychoses because it interrupts important neurotransmitters such as dopamine. That can interfere with the brain's communication systems.

Some experts say governments should now work to dispel the misconception that marijuana is a benign drug.

"We've reached the end of the road with these kinds of studies," said Dr. Robin Murray of King's College, who had no role in the Lancet study. "Experts are now agreed on the connection between cannabis and psychoses. What we need now is for 14-year-olds to know it."

In the U.K., the government will soon reconsider how marijuana should be classified in its hierarchy of drugs. In 2004, it was downgraded and penalties for possession were reduced. Many expect marijuana will be bumped up to a class "B" category, with offenses likely to lead to arrests or longer jail sentences.

Two of the authors of the study were invited experts on the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs Cannabis Review in 2005. Several authors reported being paid to attend drug company-sponsored meetings related to marijuana, and one received consulting fees from companies that make antipsychotic medications.
And of course many of the authors and experts were paid... would they be paid if they came back with the wrong conclusions?

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.

How to refuse a search

Smoking Utensils

Here are a few toys for the smokin crew!!!
Vapoizer (smokeless)

Ladies here is one made especially for you. 'Cause you can smoke out of it.


can be found at:
GRASSCITY
AIR 420
POTSTAR

Troops struggle with 10-foot Afghan marijuana plants

Not a new story but very interesting.
Reuters
OTTAWA - Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy — almost impenetrable forests of 10-foot-tall marijuana plants.

Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defense staff, said Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana.

"The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices ... and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and out of those marijuana forests," he said in a speech in Ottawa.

"We tried burning them with white phosphorus — it didn't work. We tried burning them with diesel — it didn't work. The plants are so full of water right now ... that we simply couldn't burn them," he said.

Even successful incineration had its drawbacks.

"A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action," Hillier said dryly.

One soldier told him later: "Sir, three years ago before I joined the army, I never thought I'd say 'That damn marijuana.'"
MSNBC STORY

From an expert

This video pretty much speaks for itself. I think marijuana
should be legal. Let's just assume that it is bad! How many
other,worse, things are there that are legal and that many people endorse.
1. Alcohol
2. Cigarettes
3. Car emissions
4. Fast food
5. Diet pills
You see what I mean! Just because marijuana is legalized; your doctor won't be operating on you while he is high!!
see the video

A few interesting pics.... HAPPY FRIDAY!!! Time to blaze!