Marijuana's new high life-Cannabis is moving into the mainstream

[kpete]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Marijuana's new high life
Cannabis is moving into the mainstream, with fashion, films, TV and politicians acknowledging it's here to stay.

By Adam Tschorn

August 30, 2009


In June, an estimated 25,000 people attended the inaugural THC Expo hemp and art show in downtown Los Angeles, an event that pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into the local economy -- including a $22,400 payment directly to the city of Los Angeles for use of its convention center.

Barneys New York in Beverly Hills is celebrating the Woodstock spirit by selling $78 "Hashish" candles in Jonathan Adler pots with bas-relief marijuana leaves; Hickey offers $75 linen pocket squares or $120 custom polo shirts bearing the five-part leaf; and French designer Lucien Pellat-Finet is serving up white-gold and diamond custom pot-leaf-emblazoned wristwatches for $49,000 and belt buckles for $56,000.

Earlier this year, Season 5 of Showtime's "Weeds" kicked off with promotional materials plastered on bus shelters, buses and billboards throughout the city. Last year, just across from the tourist-packed Farmers Market at 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue, a "Pineapple Express" billboard belched faux pot smoke into the air. Even the '70s slacker-stoner comedy duo Cheech and Chong are back. After recently concluding an international tour, they say they are working on another movie, voicing an animated version of themselves and even batting around the idea of staging a Cheech and Chong Broadway musical.

After decades of bubbling up around the edges of so-called civilized society, marijuana seems to be marching mainstream at a fairly rapid pace. At least in urban areas such as Los Angeles, cannabis culture is coming out of the closet.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/features/image/la-ig-potculture30-2009aug30,0,669328.story

[FirstLight]

1. Good article

Let's HOPE that we can see it become the 'new alcohol' and legalized properly. It kills less people and only the war on drugs is responsible for the violence around the dealings of it...

[Bonobo]

2. How do you make a freakin' plant illegal? That's what I can't figure out.

It's a FREAKING PLANT!!!!

Helllllo?

People want to use cannabis. So are we a democracy or is that just a slogan?

[Warren Stupidity]

3. poppy-cock

or is that coca-puffs?

[Patchuli]

8. Mmmmmm...Coco Puffs!

Why does that sound sooooooooo good? :smoke:

[endless october]

5. agreed. illegal pot is insane.

let's hope the current administration actually DOES something about it.

President Clinton giving that interview right at the end of his term when he said "oh, yeah, i think people shouldn't be put in jail for pot" right at the end of his term infuriated me.

dude, you weren't a bad president, but YOU HAD EIGHT YEARS TO FIX THAT SHIT. WTF?

[misanthrope]

12. He not only did nothing, he actively defeated steps against reform...

...when the citizenry of a handful of states voted to legalize medical marijuana, he acted against the concept of democracy and refused to recognize the legitmacy of the referendums. I recall hearing him explain his stance that he didn't want to be remembered as the POTUS who paved the way for decriminalization.

But being remembered as the POTUS who couldn't even lie effectively about his experiences with marijuana is fine?

[jberryhill]

6. While I Agree With Your Sentiment

If people didn't want to do anything illegal, then we wouldn't have laws against anything.

The criminal code is a to-do list for some folks.

What I can't figure out is why we don't make poison ivy illegal, while we're at it.

[crikkett]

7. it's a slogan. IIRC we're a federal republic. n/t

[WeDidIt]

16. You're wrong, we're a democratic republic. n/t

[crikkett]

18. Um, the CIA agrees with me. Show your source.

"Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition"
-CIA world fact book

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html

[Initech]

9. I quote the late, great Bill Hicks on the subject:

"Marijuana grows naturally upon this planet, it's against the law. Mushrooms grow naturally upon the planet, they're against the law. Don't you think you think making nature illegal is a bit, I dunno, unnatural?"

[Froward69]

14. Because it is "magical"

thats a bit overstated but it is close to a true statement. the multiple uses for hemp would hamper profits of some very large industries.
like Alcohol = people get high
cotton = softer more durable clothing made with hemp
pharmaceuticals = pain relief from Marijuana grown in ones own back yard
Lumber = not in building materials but in paper, hemp grows faster and makes paper just as good.
Oil = as the Oil that can be derived from Hemp lubed George H W Bushes fighter plane in the Pacific during WWII. and could lube cars and airplanes etc also can be refined to produce fuel...

... just a few industries that work to keep it illegal.

as Murdoch today, their was a guy named Hearst? (correct me if I got it it wrong) who spearheaded through his newspapers a propaganda campaign that not only targeted Hemp (to bolster those industries) but marijuana also, as Jazz musicians and Mexican farm workers would tend to question authority if they smoked pot.

Just as Today questioning authority can get you a whiz quiz and quick dismissal. or labeled a Liberal Democrat.

[mistertrickster]

15. The funny thing is that while pot is illegal, dried poppy stems are

freely sold at any florist shop. With some simply chemistry (I'm not telling), the opiate can easily be freed from these pods.

Apparently, the high is not pleasant and is quite addictive, so I'm not recommending it.

It simply shows how silly it is to try to make living things illegal.

[dbonds]

4. Moving? Its been there. Just not acknowledged.

Time to legalize it.

[slay]

11. Very true - MANY people want weed legal and have for years

And it's way past time. Just cause it's a plant and can't be patented the corporations and government lackeys drum up all this fear - JUST SAY NO and D.A.R.E and all this bullshit while putting our OWN citizens in jail over a plant that is less harmful than tobacco or alcohol. People KNOW it's bullshit - and indeed we need to legalize it. :smoke:

[asdjrocky]

10. In Ca it's been a culture and a community for decades.

You'd be surprised to know how many people have made a nice living off of this plant for their entire lives.

[misanthrope]

13. Now that prisons are a corporate, capitalistic venture...

...I see it having less chance than ever.

[charlie]

17. We've been here before

Then Ron and Nancy showed up and it was back to the dark ages.

[pleah]

19. Deja vu

K&R