Today is April 20, 2011, making it a special day for marijuana smokers around the world, particularly in America.
Many will be lighting up.
Judging by the ride on BART, the chatter makes it seem like people feel they should get a free pass to smoke pot today. A few had hope that they wouldn't be bothered by police.
I went into the city to meet a friend for lunch, and then we were to stop by the Vapor Room, a medical cannabis dispensery.
I had never been to this club, so my friend thought we should try it out at least once, and we are glad we did!
The Vapor Room is a very friendly place…without doubt, right? As I walked in I was immediately kissed by a fragrant green herb in the air. The place is awesome with a wide selection of flowers, edibles and lotions.
I’ll tell you what, if you have never medicated with a Volcano Vaporizer before, let me be the first to tell you that it really added to the enjoyment of tasting the herbs. Nothing compares. It was our little wine tasting experience.
We tried a couple of strains, and I particularly enjoyed actually tasting the various notes. For instance, I tried Trainwreck, which was a past favorite of mine, and I was excited that they had some. The taste was sharp and clear, kind of a piney and skunkish sweetness.
Mother Earth gave us these lovely flowers, and today I celebrate this gift.
We end our experience enjoying a cup of tea, and a slice of pie.
In past years, there have been large gatherings of people smoking on 420, especially on the nation's college campuses and on San Francisco's Hippie Hill, in Golden Gate Park near the famous Haight-Ashbury district.
Gradually, the term got shortened to 420 and spread through cannabis culture, both by word of mouth and by use in 'High Times' and other publications, as well as on TV.
420 is a ritualization of cannabis use that holds deep meaning for our subculture. It also points us in a direction for the responsible use of cannabis.
A little factoid - 4:20 pm was also the time that Albert Hofmann took the first deliberate LSD trip, on April 19, 1943.
Over the years, some groups have used 420 as a day to protest existing marijuana laws, or to advocate for legalizing it. States are starting to follow suit and have decriminalized the act. Specifically, it is no longer enough for police there to investigate someone if they think they smell the drug.
People will likely be smelling more of marijuana today, and everyday -everywhere. Especially here in the East Bay, where I can already smell green buds being set ablaze.
Steven DeAngelo, executive director of Harborside Health Center, an Oakland cannabis collective, is one of the organizers of an April 23 festival in Richmond dubbed Deep Green that offers an expanded view of cannabis culture.
This is a special event that features a house made almost entirely of industrial hemp.
Senator Mark Leno latest effort SB676, The California Industrial Hemp Farming Act, legalizing hemp has cleared the Senate Agriculture Committee (5–1 vote) on April 5.
Over the years, especially here in California, and even more so in the East Bay, the people have spoke, and with overwhelming support for ending the war on drugs, particularly as it pertains to socially benign substances like industrial hemp, a strain of cannabis that doesn't share the psychoactive qualities of its intoxicating sister plants.
In Hayward, and many other surrounding cities, marijuana dispensaries have become a legitimate and important business of the community and provides the city with a tax revenue.
Today people are more educated, and have a better understanding of this natural herb, and when used relatively, it not just about getting people high. We all have learned that cannabis helps cancer, AIDS, and other patients who have been suffering. Cannabidiol (CBD), a compound found in marijuana that doesn't get people high can offers many other benefits, including acting as an antidepressant and antiinflammatory medicine.
CBD and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive compound in marijuana, generally have an inverse relationship in cannabis plants, so the efforts by generations' worth of pot cultivators to breed strains with higher THC content have almost completely bred the CBD out of the plants
There are many patients that look for alternative medicine, especially when it comes to taking psychotropic drugs, produced by these large drug companies. They all have lists of adverse side effects and do nothing to heal a patient. All they do is mask.
Most pot use isn't strictly medical or recreational, there are patients that use it as a "therapeutic," drug. People smoke pot to help cope with the stress of modern life.
The vast majority of cannabis users use it for the purpose of wellness.
The 420inDC
Thousands of people from across the country are expected to converge on the Nations capitol
in an attempt to try and end the prohibition.
420inDC is a non-profit, grass roots organization that is for the legalization, regulation and taxation of marijuana at the Federal level. They support the medical use of marijuana by American citizens and do not think the Government should deny its citizens effective medical treatment.
What is most important to me is that they believe, as I do, that recreational use of marijuana should be up to the individual, not the Government. Marijuana prohibition costs the United States more than $14 billion dollars every year in enforcement, imprisonment and lost tax revenue.
I'm sitting here enjoying another cup of tea, but this one is special, not only because my neighbor made it, but because he made it using a strain of cannabis –Purple Kush. This was the other I picked up at the Vapor Room. I gave some to my neighbor, who is from India and he made me this medicinal tea beverage he calls bhang.
He says it’s a recipe that has been passed down through generations.
Its ingredients are all natural, and include medicinal cannabis flowers, freshly grated turmeric, raw almonds, freshly grated ginger, garam masala, 1 vanilla bean, rose water, green tea (or whole, almond, hemp or soy milk).
What you do is get a mortar and pestal or you can use a mocahete, and slowly grind and pound all of your spices, tea, the cannabis and the almonds. You’ll want to do this until it is a pulpy mass. If it’s too dry, or you didn’t use fresh giner or tumeric, then give it a splash or two of rose water to achieve the wet “pulpiness” you need.
Now add a cup of boiling water to the mixture and allow it to rest for 30 minutes. Filter the water out and set aside the spices.
If you’re a milk drinker (I am not) then heat the milk, but don’t scald and add the spice mixture. Simmer lightly for 15 mins. Add the spice water filtered earlier, and some rosewater.
I like it chilled, but you can serve it warm too. Actually, I enjoy both methods.
It is my right as a human being to use medical marijuana as I see fit.
Enjoy for good health!
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