Sleeping with the Dragon

Americans suffering from sleeplessness brought on by a range of ailments (aches/pains, fibromyalgia, MS, restless legs, racing mind, PTSD, stress, depression) are in for a happy awakening.

Green dragon cannabis tincture, a fiery ancient extract made with pure grain alcohol (>10 drops/dose) is arguably the finest medicine nature has to offer. Since there are no after effects, sleep-deprived patients awake feeling clear-headed and OMG! RESTED!

Unlike many modern sleep aids, cannabis is not toxic and not physically addictive. Overdosing on concentrated THC can be unpleasant to the extreme, but cannabis doesn’t kill the careless; it makes them smarter.

Cannabis truth is rising fast as patient pioneers treat themselves and share what they learn. Sooner than most people imagine, mainstream Americans will finally wake up and demand back the right to choose their own medicines—in private. And as America restores cannabis patient rights, so goes the world.

Denver Post letter on Cannabis Freedom



Green dragon cannabis tincture is non-toxic
and not the least bit physically addictive


AVAILABLE NOW!
But only through the cannabis underground
Note that green dragon extracts made with pure grain alcohol
and organic Colorado cannabis can go for $300/oz.
...and all that that implies

Or learn how to make it yourself:
http://cannabisrising.blogspot.com/2012/07/cannabis-oil-for-cash-hyde.html


******

Free Means Free
NOT void where prohibited

 

Prohibition has no place in a free country, Mr. President. End it, sir.

Cannabis prohibition, like alcohol prohibition before it, is being dismantled state by state, by the will of the people. Americans who think that’s a bad thing either have a vested interest in the way things are, or they haven’t done the research. Because behind the smoked party drug image so brilliantly propagandized for nearly a century lays a most convenient truth, an amazing secret hidden for generations.

Cannabis is a non-toxic, not physically addictive ancient medicinal flower that is (when used properly, of course) totally safe, even for children and pets. As tincture and oil, cannabis is proving effective for some of the most common ailments of these frenzied times; alcohol and pill abuse, insomnia, stress, migraines, depression, fibromyalgia, MS, ADHD, PMS, PTSD, late-night barking…

Naysayers search US patent 6,630,507; Cannabinoids as Antioxidants and Neuroprotectants, filed back in 2003 by none other than Health and Human Services, the same agency that continues to insist that marijuana is bad, all bad. And these are the people We the People are taking orders from? Wake up Americans! Read the declaration the founding fathers risked their lives to compose. It says we have the right as free people to decide what’s best for our bodies, our families and our lives.

The inevitability of re-legalization has many fearing the worst; that reefer madness will rip through neighborhoods, claim the sanity of our children and spike healthcare costs. Hand-wringers need only look to capacity-crowd cannafests for proof of weed’s safety in numbers across a wide demographic.

Since their rise in the sixties marijuana freedom gatherings have always attracted families and people of all ages, all races, and all political and religious persuasions. They mass together—sometimes in the rain—to learn, share, and get stoned a lot, because that’s the point.  As a long-term population study, cannabis-only festivals provide clear evidence that the norm really is a positive vibe of peace, love and understanding.

The exciting news for Middle Americans struggling to make ends meet is that cannabis freedom comes with its own enterprise frontier—one that provides jobs and opportunities at every step in the delivery chain. Demand for secure, safe and legal indoor grow ops, for example, is creating a lucrative new specialty field for plumbers, electricians, carpenters, air control experts and security system technicians. As the frontier expands there’ll be good jobs for professionals in finance, accounting, administration, marketing, production, and education.

Washington, of course, denies such a frontier even exists, while at the same time using every agency in the fold to disrupt, discredit and hold back the cannabis trades; medical, recreational and hemp, that farm-country marvel with a bright future in plastics, building materials, food products, paper, textiles, energy and fine lubricants. Despite economic sanctions such as harsh tax rules and a banking embargo, the budding cannabis industry is doing well, and generating solid revenues in states that restore those liberties.

When the Epilepsy Foundation declared last year that access to cannabis should not be determined by one’s zip code they spoke for all patients and families caring for patients. The right to choose and responsibly use the full bounty of nature’s gifts is, in Christian terms, a God-given, human right (Genesis 1:29). Americans gave up that right in service to the industrial revolution, and very soon they’re going to wake up and want it back.

Prohibition has no place in a free country, Mr. President. End it, sir. If you don’t, your successor will surely have to.

Toon: The Circus on the Way to a Place Called FREEDOM

This panel was inspired by the work of misguided religious leaders, oh-so last-century moralists and prohibitionists, greedy industrialists and lying politicians.

The best example of the CRAZY in the waning years of cannabis prohibition is that while the US Surgeon General recently admitted that cannabis is medicine, the flower still remains listed as a Schedule 1 substance.

Richer still is the fact that Washington uses every agency it has to disrupt and hold back the rise of the cannabis trades, and yet, since 2003, the US has held a patent on the medicinal effectiveness of cannabinoids! US Patent # 6630507 was filed by Health & Human Services, the same agency that is still saying non-toxic cannabis is so dangerous even research ought to be carefully managed.

On the advocacy side of the circus the legalization forces have focused on the casual smoked aspects of cannabis, which is exactly what prohibition propaganda has been 'pushing' for nearly 80 years. Prior to the big drive to demonize this natural healing flower, cannabis was well known as medicine in the form of tincture. Laudanum, an opium tincture, was in all drug stores as well, but unlike cannabis tincture, was extremely addictive and potentially fatal. With the invention of pills and injectables both medicines fell from popular use because the 'modern' stuff was so easy to use.

Free to Choose. A Tune for Revolution.

Hear Free to Choose here: 
https://soundcloud.com/cannabisrising/ftc-roughcut

Where's Cannabis?

If films are meant to portray the truth, where is the truth about cannabis on the big screen?  Not weed; cannabis.  Weed is marijuana.  It’s typically smoked as a recreational relaxant.  Cannabis is an ancient medicine, and a conduit for creative and spiritual explorations.  While marijuana the chill-out drug is finding its way to the big screen with increasing frequency, authentic medicinal use of cannabis doesn’t yet rate a cameo.

Booze, butts and bad behavior

Feature films and the characters that come to life within them have traditionally reflected and even informed our popular culture and social practices.  This is particularly evident with our use of drugs.  How many smokers light up and squint like Bogey and Madsen, or sip a stiff one like Pacino and the Bonds?  And who hasn’t seen folks, from gay men to socialites, holding their cigs high-wristed, palm to the ceiling, with the other hand cupping the elbow.  The Bette Davis pose.

From the indies to the major studios, drunkenness and hangovers remain standard vehicles for character tells and scene development.  Every December, millions of viewers still snicker as Uncle Billy, clearly a serious alcoholic, staggers home while proclaiming to be okay.  The same audience response is expected in Thor (2011) when Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård ) passes out from alcohol over-consumption while trying to keep up with the big guy. 

Now that we know the truth and have the stats, tobacco and alcohol use on the big screen ought to be going down.  But it’s not at all.  That’s surprising because filmmaking is renowned for giving us a view of our culture that is just one step ahead of the norm.  Even as Colorado and Washington state embody what lies ahead as prohibition fades, visionary films like Avatar (2009) still show us a future with drug choices and practices that even now are so last-century.

Welcome to Cannabis Country

Cannabis country is all around us, and the beauty of that (particularly for dramatic storytellers) is that for the most part that world remains very well hidden and largely unknown to mainstream Americans.  Private grows are taking off, and many of those home cultivators are making their own medicine—an act that is strictly forbidden by our government and yet impossible to stop, tax or control.  And within that shadowy realm, regular folks in ordinary neighborhoods are utilizing cannabis the exit drug as a substitute for toxic and addictive substances that wreck the lives of people from all walks of life—and still define the choices of big-screen characters.

While cannabis use in upscale neighborhoods is on the rise fast, the best place for storytellers to find truly dynamic, provocative, knowledgeable, and colorful characters is to visit with the sort of people found in films like Where the Heart Is (2000) and Winter’s Bones (2010). Think white, broke down, broken, addicted, violent, uneducated, and truly sad.

Unless of course they live in cannabis country, where that same demographic embodies passion, clarity, exploration, empowerment and enterprise.  In rural Maine, you can connect with such people at the summertime festivals in Starks, where many of them remember the old days when drunkenness and beating on things was just the way people got through the long winters.  Not anymore.  Local police in that state and in others have long understood the convenient connection between cannabis use and a reduction in alcohol-related crime, violence and stupid behavior.

In the process of learning how to treat themselves (often completely off the grid of Westernized medicine), rural medicinal pioneers have discovered that cannabis is a safe and versatile medicine they can grow in the basement and refine in the kitchen.  And since all that (scene-making) personal exploration can’t kill them, the valuable knowledge they are acquiring and sharing with trusted friends and family will eventually attract economic opportunity to regions of this country long assumed to be beyond hope.  Not over night, and probably not for decades, but absolutely.  And if it’s in our future, it ought to be in pictures.

Character, Color and Conflict

 

There are two major reasons why filmmakers ought to enrich their stories with medicinal cannabis themes.  For one, cannabis people and practices represent an untapped goldmine of color, conflict and progressive social realities.  The other reason is that since prohibition is a deeply installed war of words and images, bringing the truth to the big screen would be a massive advocacy win for a movement still defined by its love of binge-bonging festivals. 

Movies take us to places we’d like to be, and to worlds we could never go.  If believable big screen characters in excellent feature films were to use cannabis as medicine in the privacy of their own lives, mainstream understanding would rise in a Gore minute.

Cannabis prohibition is on the way out, and since the proof of that future shock can been found in private homes and lives across America, the truth ought to be evident on the big screen.  It’s not.  So while full and unfettered use of cannabis is sweeping the nation, particularly in states where home cultivation is permitted (or at least not busted), screen characters are still rolling fatties, filling bowls and smiling through the smoke. 

Cannabis is medicine; so use it.  Lights, camera, cannabis!

Root essay:  Lights, Camera, Cannabis!  http://cannabisrising.blogspot.com/2012/07/lights-camera-cannabis.html

Related essay:  Cannabis Country sketches for storytellers  http://cannabisrising.blogspot.com/2012/11/medicinal-cannabis-use-pot-plots-series.html

Carl Hedberg is a guitar teacher and cannabis freedom writer living in Lafayette, Colorado.

Flyer: Medicinal Use Weekends in Boulder

Top ten CULTURAL reasons cannabis freedom is rising

1.  The rise of advocacy groups which by their very names challenge the prevailing cultural order and prohibition-era stereotypes built up over generations.  Examples: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)...  Blueblood Yankees On Cannabis (they’d sooner die).

2.  Moms for Marijuana.  Watch out!  When the moms of America finally wake up and see what cannabis really is and what it can do for their family…Washington is gonna get so nailed for lying, and the drug war will be grounded. Forever. Nuff said.

3.  Countries like Uruguay, Portugal and Switzerland are taking the lead on crafting modern drug-use strategies, and proving once again that the freedom to choose works.  

4.  Cannabis is horticulturally, historically, medicinally, economically, artistically, and socially significant, and way cool.  It’s our very own ancient, healing, best exotic, fragrant, sweet, silly, sticky, sexy weed.

5.  Mainstream Americans, still the most influential cultural group in the world, are discovering the medicinal truth about cannabis in large numbers by way of their ailments, and internet testimonials by brave patient pioneers like Shona Banda and David Triplett.

6.  Alcohol and pill abuse is rampant in our culture, and cannabis is proving to be a useful exit drug for patients wrapped up in those costly, toxic, and often tragic addictions. [Myth-busting research study by Amanda Reiman: http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/6/1/35] 

7.  Doctors, particularly in free states, have begun to assert their sacred oath by insisting on treating patients in the privacy of their own practices—with cannabis if that works.

8.  Long-lasting, stealthy cannabis edibles and extracts are starting to make the party scene; 420 revelers typically drink less and feel better in the morning.  Evidence: Drunken driving fatalities decline in states that give their citizens the right to choose cannabis [see Maia Szalavitz piece for Time Magazine: http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/02/why-medical-marijuana-laws-reduce-traffic-deaths/].

9.  Cannabis festivals are all the rage: fun, safe, friendly, and often held on private land, these vibrant transitory marketplaces expand the support base, provide income for sellers of everything from goat soap to edibles, and serve as a key meeting place for local and regional growers, patients, ganjapreneurs, advocates and aficionados.

10.  To the utter frustration of the prohibitionists in power, the internet has fallen into the hands of the people.  The convenient medicinal and economic truth about cannabis is now appearing on screens large and small, all over the world.

Related works:
My new tune in celebration of cannabis freedom. http://cannatv.org/video/173/Free-To-Choose
Baking with Mom  http://cannabisrising.blogspot.com/2012/09/baking-with-mom.html

Lights, Camera, Cannabis! http://cannabisrising.blogspot.com/2012/07/lights-camera-cannabis.html

 

Ten Reasons to Give Thanks for Cannabis

1.   Cannabis is powerful medicine with a sense of humor

2.   Cannabis is not toxic or physically addictive

3.   Cannabis helps people overcome toxic addictions

4.   Cannabis sparks clarity, imagination and creativity

5.   Cannabis crowds are famously peaceful

6.   Cannabis is an emerging enterprise frontier

7.   Cannabis hemp provides food, fiber and fuel

8.   Cannabis connects us with the spirit of all things

9.   Cannabis is an ancient, beautiful, exotic, sexy flower

10. Cannabis can be grown in the privacy of our own lives

Happy thanks and giving to all my friends in cannabis country!

, 

Patent proves the lie: They know cannabis is medicine

The tragicomedy of the war on cannabis is that our own government knows cannabis is medicine, and they have the patent to prove it.  Here are the details>

US Patent # 6,630,507

Inventors: Hampson; Aidan J. (Irvine, CA), Axelrod; Julius (Rockville, MD), Grimaldi; Maurizio (Bethesda, MD)
Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services (Washington, DC)
Appl. No.: 09/674,028
Filed: February 2, 2001
PCT Filed: April 21, 1999
PCT No.: PCT/US99/08769
PCT Pub. No.: WO99/53917
PCT Pub. Date: October 28, 1999 

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6630507.PN.&OS=PN/6630507&RS=PN/6630507

Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants

Abstract

Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia. Nonpsychoactive cannabinoids, such as cannabidoil, are particularly advantageous to use because they avoid toxicity that is encountered with psychoactive cannabinoids at high doses useful in the method of the present invention. A particular disclosed class of cannabinoids useful as neuroprotective antioxidants is formula (I) wherein the R group is independently selected from the group consisting of H, CH.sub.3, and COCH.sub.3. ##STR1##

http://overgrow.ning.com/photo/dsc05552/next?context=latest 

Very Helpful Source:  http://electropig.blogspot.com/
Thanks for sharing!

Cannabis Sociables seeks Producer

We are trying to…make the thing sort of a sophisticated weekly get-together of people we dig and who dig us.  Just have ourselves kind of a late-night ball…

Hugh Hefner speaking with Lenny Bruce
Playboy’s Penthouse, October 24, 1959



Link to Stage 32 proposal: http://www.stage32.com/profile/48980/project/cannabis-sociableschanging-world-one-party-time

Healing the world, one party at a time

 Coffeehouse Pitch

Cannabis Sociables will be the Playboy After Dark of this century

Smart  Classy  Fun

A magnet for mainstream viewers—because as you well know

Americans love to watch people they wish they knew,

Hanging at parties they wish they could attend.

I’d play host; a tall, thin, well-groomed 50-something cannabis Yankee

From a pair of conservative Eastern medical families, and conveniently,

A self-taught guitarist and authority on medicinal uses of cannabis

A Hefner party without the Mad Men, alcohol or tobacco

Chatting with smart and interesting creative artists

About their connection with cannabis

THE TWIST

It’s a prohibition-era mask with invited guests treated to beautiful disguises

THE HOOK

Celebrities come on as themselves because they don’t need to hide.

My host persona will draw from

Hefner, Carson, and Benny

A bit of Robin Leach, a dash of Tom Lehrer…

No Dean Martin.

Mr. Hefner made a hero of the martini.

I’m going to do the same for the finest green.

What’s the Attraction?

This reality show will reflect the ‘honesty’ Lenny Bruce talked about with Mr. Hefner back in 1959; it’s actually a party.  The message; Look smart, be well-informed, have fun and act civilized.
 

The show will be popular with college students and young professionals, since many guests will be rising young artists, musicians and actors who see the party as a great place to openly discuss their connection with cannabis.

Cannabis Sociables will attract boomers and senior viewers who use cannabis in the shadows—and have fond memories of The Tonight Show and Playboy After Dark (I was 12, sneaking episodes while the house slept).

Just as Playboy After Hours attracted viewers who didn’t necessarily use alcohol, Cannabis Sociables will attract folks whose view of cannabis has been shaped by the most successful and far-reaching propaganda campaign the world has ever devised.  Americans will tune in for the vibe; beautiful people and intelligent conversation, and along the way we’ll show them the true nature of cannabis and the people who choose it.

 

Why now?
Cannabis use is rising in every demographic and support for full legalization grows with every election cycle.  Legalization is now inevitable, and more viewers than ever are tuning into cannabis-theme shows.

·         

Who will buy?

ADVERTISERS OUTSIDE OF THE CANNABIS TRADES: Clothes, jewelry, watches, eyeglasses, airlines, travel and resorts, spas and hotels, computing and communication devices, snacks and beverages, chain restaurants, feature films, musical instruments

CANNABIS TRADES ADVERTISERS: Dispensaries, consultants, extract/edibles manufacturers, glass makers, 420 retailers/e-tailers (clothing, merchandise, head shops, cafes), vaporizing and smoking devices, cultivation and processing equipment (lights, nutrients, trimming), grow room builders, ganja vacations

Production Notes

ADDITIONAL REVENUE:  Limited number public ticket sales, product placement, merchandise.

DOMAIN ASSETS:  www.thefinestgreen.com/net/org, www.cannabisrising.com/net/org

AGGRESSIVE ATTITUDE: Some of us who have been ducking and dodging prohibition for decades have had enough of the bullshit.  Like many I use cannabis medicinally and it’s my creative and spiritual muse.  We harm no one, and yet in New Hampshire, for example, they could still come for you; put you away.  National advocacy groups are not taking the case to the people.  For them it’s all about holding smoky festivals to expand the base, and crafting laws with people who were elected to maintain the status quo.  If the American people were shown the truth about cannabis; about how people use it in the context of successful lives, this long and terrible war would be over sooner than later.  This is the way to reach them…

HONEST ENTERTAINMENT:  In the growing field of cannabis programming, content is often defensive, fact-laden, noisy, crazed, or just silly.  That holds minimal appeal for mainstream viewers.  No appeal, no interest, no education; so The Great Prohibition continues.  Cannabis Sociables is a reality show that can tear down the wall and attract Middle Americans.  When they tune in, they’ll learn the truth about cannabis and the sorts of people who use the herb—by way of upscale parties with celebrity guests, talented performers, and smart people respectfully enjoying the finest green.

SMART TALK WITH CREATIVE, ARTICULATE GUESTS:  Cannabis aficionados are often deep thinkers, and Carl will want to hear what they have to say on a wide range of subjects and issues.  Held in undisclosed, classy settings in legal states (a mansion in Newport, a chalet in Telluride, a San Francisco rooftop), these private gatherings will attract socialites, models, fashion designers, musicians, writers, philosophers, visionaries, teachers, artists, inventors, and entrepreneurs. Some guests, like rising artists, will be looking for exposure; most will choose to remain in the shadows…

COMING OUT IN DISGUISE:  Guests not wishing to reveal themselves at the party will be treated to a custom disguise by a team of Hollywood make-up artists.  Well-spoken, successful closet stoners (doctors, lawyers, teachers, moms, dads, stiletto stoners) will finally have the chance to express themselves about cannabis outside of the legal and/or social framework that keeps them underground.  These artsy semi-formals will be visually intoxicating; beautiful guests in disguise mixing with established artists, entertainers and entrepreneurs who no longer feel the need to hide.

EXCESS SELLS:  This house party concept is of course entirely self-serving and hedonistic in the same manner as Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous was for Robin Leach.  Cannabis Sociables will be classy, smart, interesting, and very exclusive.  Viewers will tune in for the vibe, the people, the music, the strain reviews, and especially to see who might drop by to talk cannabis connections with Carl.  In the course of being entertained and dazzled, Americans will receive cannabis truths by way of comments and testimonials from successful, vibrant people they respect, admire, or at least envy.

A CANNABIS TASTING:  Cannabis Sociables will begin with a tantalizing look at the evening’s featured strains.  While the expert (dispensary/seed company sponsors) describes the flavor, medicinal uses and other characteristics, images of the bud and magnification shots are cut with shots of masked guests listening to the presentation.  Several perfectly cured strains will be chosen to demonstrate how different the flowers can be from one another—in appearance and in effect.  A medicinal use practitioner will be on hand to dispense the buds, answer questions, and provide guidance.

CANNABIS ONLY:  Alcohol will not be served and tobacco use will not be shown.  Great food, fresh juice, coffee, tea, smoothies, ice cream, chocolates; a stoner’s culinary paradise…

TRUTH AND MUSIC:  Venues would feature an area for musical exploration; a nice piano, maybe an artisan violin and some beautiful guitars maybe on loan from Taylor Guitar.  Carl will sit in on impromptu jams, which would be encouraged between guest performances. 

PRODUCTION:  One camera would stay with Carl while he greets guests and sparks conversation.  At the same time, other videographers roam in pursuit of musical moments and compelling discussions.  The raw material from each sociable will be cut to make two reality show segments.

SUMMIT GATHERINGS:  Once or twice a season Cannabis Sociables will travel abroad to provide Americans with a look at more progressive countries like Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and Argentina.   Stoner celebs (on vacation or shooting on location) will drop by to chat and sample the best of the local green. 

YOUR HOST:  Writer, musician, tincture maker, and cannabis patient/advocate Carl Hedberg, 56, will host the show modeled on Mr. Hefner's socially groundbreaking Playboy’s Penthouse and After Dark shows.  

Carl is not a typical cannabis advocate, and he’s no stoner.  He’s a boomer Yankee with conservative roots who grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts—Dexter School boy, former skeet shooter and curler at The Country Club, MBA from Babson College, co-founder of Boston Bagel, a wholesale business he ran in the 1990s. 

A few years ago Carl managed to take himself off of pharmaceuticals (for headaches) using a potent cannabis tincture he still makes for himself and legal patients.  In 2009 he came out in the Nashua Telegraph about it, and ever since he has been working to find ways to deliver the truth to the world.   

As a father of two teen girls—with one headed for the film industry—Carl says it’s important to tell the truth to young adults who finally have a chance to end this terrible war:

The new generation is not buying the crap anymore, but we still need to fascinate them with the possibilities of freedom before they get caught up in their jobs, money, and family and end up as closet stoners like most of my generation has…

Carl is the son and grandson of Harvard Medical School physicians.  He was named after his mom’s grandfather; Schyler Carl Wells, founder of S. C. Wells & Company, a well-known turn-of-the-century ‘cures and remedies’ maker.  Carl worked as a teaching case writer at the Blank Center for Entrepreneurship at Babson College until 2008.