Hardrock69's Reefhead Madness Thread

[Seshmeister]

Amount spent annually in the U.S. on the war on drugs: More than $51,000,000,000

Number of arrests in 2014 in the U.S. for drug law violations: 1,561,231
Number of these arrests that were for possession only: 1,297,384 (83 percent)
Number of arrests in 2014 in the U.S. for marijuana law violations: 700,993
Number of these arrests that were for possession only: 619,809 (88 percent)
Number of Americans incarcerated in 2014 in federal, state and local prisons and jails: 2,224,400 or 1 in every 111 adults, the highest incarceration rate in the world

Proportion of people incarcerated for a drug offense in state prison who are black or Latino, although these groups use and sell drugs at similar rates as whites: 57 percent

Number of states that allow the medical use of marijuana: 23 + District of Columbia

Number of states that have approved legally taxing and regulating marijuana: 4 (Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington)

Number of states that have decriminalized marijuana by eliminating criminal penalties for simple possession of small amounts for personal use: 20

Estimated annual revenue that California would raise if it taxed and regulated the sale of marijuana: $1,400,000,000

Number of people killed in Mexico's drug war since 2006: 100,000+

Number of students who have lost federal financial aid eligibility because of a drug conviction: 200,000+

Number of people in the U.S. who died from a drug overdose in 2014: 47,055

Tax revenue that drug legalization would yield annually, if currently-illegal drugs were taxed at rates comparable to those on alcohol and tobacco: $46.7 billion
Number of people in the U.S. who have acquired AIDS directly or indirectly from syringe sharing: 360,836 people, or 30 percent of all people diagnosed w/AIDS in the U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that syringe access programs lower HIV incidence among people who inject drugs by: 80 percent

U.S. federal government support for syringe access programs: $0.00, thanks to a federal ban reinstated by Congress in 2011 that prohibits any federal assistance for them

[DONNIEP]

Just think of all the guns that money could have bought....what a shame.

[Satan]

[FORD]

[FORD]

Best pro-weed speech from a non-stoner ever

Henry Rollins is well known for being "straight-edge", but he is VERY pro-cannabis.... without partaking of it himself.

[FORD]

An issue of grave consequence that affects the lives of millions of Americans

Ford -

I am writing you about an issue of grave consequence that affects the lives of millions of Americans and greatly impacts our democracy - namely the continued federal prohibition on marijuana and the need for reform of our criminal justice system.

As you know, a number of states (including my state of Vermont) have decriminalized or legalized the possession, use and sale of marijuana in recent years. Under the Obama Administration, the Justice Department took no action against these states or the people in those states. However, the Trump Administration has taken a very different stance with Attorney General Jeff Sessions threatening to prosecute. That would be a huge mistake and move us in exactly the wrong direction.

Here's why:

Millions of Americans have had their lives impacted by the federal prohibition on marijuana - arrests, convictions and even jail time. Even when people don't go to jail, the criminal record they receive makes it harder for them to find a job, get housing or go to college. Is this a widespread problem? It sure is. In 2016 alone, over half a million people were arrested for marijuana possession.

These harmful impacts are felt far more acutely in communities of color and poor communities because enforcement of marijuana laws is much stricter there than in more affluent, white communities. Incredibly, African Americans are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana even though marijuana usage rates are basically the same across racial lines.

Of course, marijuana prohibition is part of a larger failed war on drugs that has led to the great national crisis of mass incarceration. Some 1.5 million people were arrested for a drug related offense in 2016 - over 80 percent of which were for possession alone. We need to stop criminalizing addiction. We need to stop criminalizing recreational marijuana use.

The criminal justice system is not the answer to drug abuse. Addiction is a health problem and we should start treating it that way. While communities all across the country lack adequate resources for treatment or prevention, we are spending approximately $50 billion a year on the war on drugs. That's absurd. We need to get our priorities right.

And that starts with making our voices heard:

Sign my petition if you agree it is long past time for the government to end its failed war on drugs and instead invest in programs that focus on treatment and prevention of drug abuse. This is an important issue that impacts almost everyone and we should all make our voices heard.

This so-called war on drugs has led us to have over 2 million people in prison - disproportionately poor and from communities of color. Our incarceration rate is the highest in the world - higher even than authoritarian countries like China, Saudi Arabia, and Russia.

Further, what is not often discussed is how the war on drugs and mass incarceration is impacting the essence of our democracy. People with felony convictions cannot vote in many states. Today, for that reason alone, over 6 million Americans are denied access to the ballot.

Uneven enforcement and the fact that people of color receive longer sentences for the same offenses than white defendants means more felony convictions in those communities. And that means - surprise, surprise - fewer voters.

In other words, the war on drugs is robbing those minority and lower income communities of their political power. In Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee over 20 percent of voting age African Americans are disenfranchised because of felony convictions. It's not too hard to figure out what's going on here. The communities most impacted by these policies are systematically stripped of their ability in our democratic system to politically fight back.

Why hasn't something been done to fix this problem? You know the reason. The sad truth is that some politicians benefit from people not being able to vote. All too often these are the same politicians who are trying to disenfranchise voters in other ways, such as restrictive voter ID laws or extreme gerrymandering.

This has got to change.

We need the highest voter turnout in the world, not the highest incarceration rate. We need to provide treatment for people with substance abuse problems, not lock them up.

As a first step, we need to remove marijuana from Category 1 of the federal Controlled Substances Act where it is currently ranked alongside drugs like heroin. In fact, marijuana is classified more harshly than cocaine. That doesn't make any sense.

Let's have states decide the issue of marijuana for themselves like they do with alcohol. More and more states are moving in the direction of decriminalization. Let them make those decisions without federal interference.

Let's invest in the prevention and treatment of substance abuse.

Let's reform our criminal laws and take other steps to dismantle mass incarceration. Among other steps forward we need to ban private prisons and create new federal policing standards.

Let's restore the voting rights of all Americans.

If you share my goal of making these important reforms please sign this petition.

In Solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

[FORD]

John BONER and Bill Weld to join Acreage Board of Directors???

John Boehner and Bill Weld to join Acreage Board of Directors
Appointments Add Unmatched Experience to Acreage Holdings’ Board of Advisors

New York City, NY – April 11, 2018 – Acreage Holdings (“Acreage”) (www.acreageholdings.com), one of the nation’s largest, multi-state actively-managed cannabis corporations, announced the appointments of former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner and former Governor of the State of Massachusetts Bill Weld to its Board of Advisors.

As members of the Board, Speaker Boehner and Governor Weld will bring an immense, collective and unique set of experiences in government affairs, unmatched leadership and guidance to help drive Acreage towards its strategic mission.

In concert with this announcement, Speaker Boehner and Governor Weld have issued this joint statement:

While we come at this issue from different perspectives and track records, we both believe the time has come for serious consideration of a shift in federal marijuana policy. Over the past 20 years a growing number of states have experimented with their right to offer cannabis programs under the protection of the 10th amendment. During that period, those rights have lived somewhat in a state of conflict with federal policy. Also, during this period, the public perception of cannabis has dramatically shifted, with 94% of Americans currently in favor of some type of access, a shift driven by increased awareness of marijuana’s many medical applications.

We need to look no further than our nation's 20 million veterans, 20 percent of whom, according to a 2017 American Legion survey, reportedly use cannabis to self-treat PTSD, chronic pain and other ailments. Yet the VA does not allow its doctors to recommend its usage. There are numerous other patient groups in America whose quality of life has been dramatically improved by the state-sanctioned use of medical cannabis.

While the Tenth Amendment has allowed much to occur at the state level, there are still many negative implications of the Federal policy to schedule cannabis as a Class 1 drug: most notably the lack of research, the ambiguity around financial services and the refusal of the VA to offer it as an alternative to the harmful opioids that are ravishing our communities.

We are excited to join the team at Acreage in pursuit of their mission to bring safe, consistent and reliable products to patients and consumers who could benefit. We have full confidence in their management team and believe this is the team that will transform the debate, policy and landscape around this issue.

On the appointments, Acreage Founder and CEO Kevin Murphy said, “Acreage has a mission to make cannabis available to any patient who can benefit from safe and reliable access. The addition of Speaker Boehner and Governor Weld to our Board will lead to even greater access for patients by changing the conversation overnight. These men have shaped the political course of our country for decades and now they will help shape the course of this nascent but ascendant industry.”

Both the Speaker and the Governor have agreed to immediately join the Company’s Board of Advisors and have committed to join the Company’s Board of Directors once it has been formed and other qualified directors have been appointed.

ABOUT ACREAGE HOLDINGS

Acreage Holdings is a vertically integrated, multi-state owner of cannabis licenses and assets in states where either medical and/or adult use cannabis is legal. Headquartered in New York City and currently operating in 11 states, Acreage owns cultivation, processing and dispensary operations and has among the largest footprints of any cannabis company in the U.S. The company is focused on building and scaling the best-in-breed operations and creating the best consumer-focused cannabis experiences and brands in the space.
CONTACTS

Communications Contact:
Lewis Goldberg/Jon Goldberg
KCSA Strategic Communications
212-896-1282
Acreage@kcsa.com

Corporate Contact:
Harris Damashek
Acreage Holdings
Chief Marketing Officer
917-877-1766
h.damashek@acreageholdings.com

[FORD]

Considering BONER's past association with big tobacco, I'm a little suspicious about this one. Two companies that should never be allowed anywhere near the cannabis industry: Phillip Morris and MonSatan.

[FORD]

[FORD]

[FORD]

Those guys are preparing to make a 24 ft bong for 4/20 this year!

seattletimes.com
Renowned glassblowing artists will try to make 24-foot-high bong in Seattle
Christine Clarridge
April 12, 2018 at 5:12 pm



Dude, check it out.

Jason Harris and a group of other renowned glassblowing artists will be meeting in Seattle over the “4/20” weekend to create the world’s largest bong.

The final piece, which will be created in parts and then assembled at the Cannabition museum in the downtown Las Vegas Arts District, will tower 24-feet high and weigh 800 pounds when completed.

The bong will feature hookah-like attachments and actually be smoke-able, according to Chris Davison, co-owner of Jerome Baker Designs. “I think everybody on the top floor (of the cannabis museum) could end up high,” Davis said, jokingly.

“It’s going to be so much fun doing this in Seattle where (marijuana) is legal and everybody has a smile on their face about it,” said Harris, of Jerome Baker Designs.

The blow will happen at a rented studio in South Lake Union April 19 to 22, but the owner said on Thursday it will not be open to the public.

While in his 20s, Harris, now 47, learned the art of glass blowing and began to explore making art pieces that served practical, useful purposes. He opened a business in Oregon creating art waterpipes and bongs.

In 2003, he was arrested by federal law-enforcement officers — along with 54 other people, including Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong — in a sting operation called Operation Pipe Dreams for making and distributing paraphernalia.

Chong, sometimes known as the “King of Stoners,” was sentenced to nine months in federal prison.

Though Harris did not serve time, his assets were seized.

But he did not give up on the idea of making the bong into a piece of fine art, and he eventually set up a studio in Maui, Hawaii.

Since then, he has continued to use his artistic passion to create one-of-a-kind glass bongs and pipes and other glass pieces.

“People have been really reacting to the art,” he said, “and I am using it as a tool to make noise and build momentum around change.”

Harris said the energy created when a group of artists work together blowing glass creates “an intense dance of blood, sweat, tears and laughter.”

[FORD]

100 CANNABIS STRAINS TO TRY BEFORE YOU DIE

Click on the link

[Kristy]

Fucking pussy hipster weed is what that list is. No Blue Dream, no Domantti, no White Widow. And Sour Diesel is Willie Nelson's brand of turd gurgled corn flake dog barf. Shit doesn't get yo high but it will get you broke. Fuck that list with a Joe Walsh CD and a clock radio on the next Elon Musk orbit to Mars.

[FORD]

Blue Dream & White Widow are both on the list. Maybe you should read it before you spark up?

And if weed is good enough for Willie, it's good enough for me... but I think I'll be picking up some White Widow next time I get to 420 Capitol

[Kristy]

Only AFTER I had mentioned them.