Our Summer of Hemp Discontent

Irony is in full bloom this growing season.  We are the last industrial nation to forbid hemp cultivation, and the largest importer of hemp raw materials.  Our Guy of (dashed) Hope and (spare) Change does nothing about oligarchic edicts cooked up nearly a century ago by greedy white men to take out the competition, so with this frontier off limits in America, the freedom to grow is giving hemp farmers and enterprisers an enviable head start in more enlightened countries like North Korea and China.

Don't Tell; Ask

Now that the truth is out there, cannabis advocates with the opportunity to connect on camera with the keepers of the Great Prohibition ought to pose questions that give the viewers something to search for.  Have you read Marijuana is Safer?  Have you watched Hemp and the Rule of Law?  Do you know who Shona Banda is?  Why not?  People who seek to lead in the new century must agree to look, learn, and evolve.  What would Mitt do?

It's Not Dope, Stupid!

I used to attend statehouse hearings on hemp legalization measures, but no more.  In New England it's often a dull sideshow presided over by intractable old Yankees--demanding parliamentary respect from a few good citizens who know enough and care enough to show up, but offering little in return (empty seats, side-chats, tapping pencils, vacant stares).  I motion: Vote them old bahstahds out and restore the right of US farmers to grow hemp.

Hemp People; Join us, Unite the clans

Hemp is a non-psychoactive (little or no THC) strain of cannabis.  There.  I said it.  Too many hemp advocates still duck and dodge this convenient truth--convenient because acknowledging the cannabis connection reveals our rich and important association with this amazingly diverse and useful species; food, fiber, medicine, creative, spiritual.  Hempsters!  Embrace the facts and join the worldwide movement to restore our right to choose.

Not Quiet Not Desperate

Quiet Desperation, Rob Potylo's fun and edgy Boston-area show is headed for notoriety if not fame.  In getting sacked by incoming station owners (conservatives who Just Say No to programming that messes with their ability to attract old-world advertisers), QD has exposed the institutional nature of cannabis prohibition--and set itself for a better deal down the road.  Right time, right place in history.

On liking but. And and.

As a writer who has always counted on cut/slash edit rounds to achieve 'good enough is good enough', this blog excursion is something new indeed--since my first drafts, heavy with punctuation, tend to be filled with extended verb constructions and long sentences; many of them beginning with and.  And but.  But by the time the final draft rolls out they're all gone.  Mostly.  I like but.  And and.

Life in the cannabis trades

My contribution to the revolution is teaching folks how to make a reduction tincture I've used for years--first for big screen movies and later to drastically reduce my use of the pain pills that were killing me. 

The most addictive aspect of cannabis is once you start learning and sharing the truth, and seeing lives saved and lives restored...you can't stop.

Since I have no interest in living the life of a black marketeer, I am funding this addiction by building a festival product development company called Cannabis Rising; Most Excellent Goods/Made for the Revolution.  Our first offering is the print Cannabis Rising by artist Douglas Lakota.  Our second item is the Candana; a bandana screened with leaf scans of notable strains.

Building a cannabis biz in the Northeast is tough.  Angel investors (the ones who btw enjoy cannabis) either squirm and look around to make sure no one is listening, or titter like schoolgirls at the idea that they would ever invest in a 'marijuana' enterprise.  Alliances are easy to establish but very difficult to sustain because frankly there are more than a few all-talk stoners in this emerging industry.

In Southern New Hampshire, a state still ruled by prohibitionists, professional services can be difficult to nail down as well.  One woman, a cannabis fan I've know for years and an Illustrator/Photoshop master, declined my offer to enhance CR images/files at $20/hr, saying she was 'uncomfortable with the whole out-on-a-limb cannabis thing, and I don't want to align myself with that..."

The day before a screen printer I just started working with sent a pdf proof for the Candanas/series #1 with a file name pot-leaf bandanas. I felt compelled to reply:

Cannabis Rising is about using specific words and images to help counter nearly 80 years of anti-cannabis propaganda.  While we love and use pet names for this herb, at work we agree to stick with cannabis.

Just another day in the cannabis trades...