The Waste Land

Out here in the fields
I fight for my meals
I get my back into my living
I don’t need to fight
To prove I’m right
I don’t need to be forgiven

Don’t cry
Don’t raise your eye
It’s only teenage wasteland

Sally, take my hand
Travel south crossland
Put out the fire
Don’t look past my shoulder
The exodus is here
The happy ones are near
Let’s get together
Before we get much older

Teenage wasteland
It’s only teenage wasteland
Teenage wasteland
Oh, oh
Teenage wasteland
They’re all wasted!

It’s basically a song written to Meher Baba, whom Pete Townshend lovingly studied, telling Baba not to worry about the state of youth in the world, that it’ll all be okay even if the kids do smoke cannabis. Meher Baba’s writings are really quite remarkable.

“I have come not to teach but to awaken. Understand therefore that I lay down no precepts.
Throughout eternity I have laid down principles and precepts, but mankind has ignored them. Man’s inability to live God’s words makes the Avatar’s teaching a mockery. Instead of practicing the compassion He taught, man has waged crusades in His name. Instead of living the humility, purity and truth of his words, man has given way to hatred, greed and violence.
Because man has been deaf to the principles and precepts laid down by God in the past, in this present Avataric form I observe Silence. You have asked for and been given enough words — it is now time to live them.”

- Meher Baba, The Universal Message, 1958

“I tell you all, with my Divine Authority, that you and I are not “WE,” but “ONE.” You unconsciously feel my Avatarhood within you; I consciously feel in you what each of you feel. Thus every one of us is Avatar, in the sense that everyone and everything is everyone and everything, at the same time, and for all time.”

- Meher Baba, Meher Baba’s Call, 1954

​”The State of Colorado has the most advanced cannabis commerce system in the United States — love it or hate it,” notes St. Pierre, who just arrived in Colorado from Washington, D.C., where NORML is based. “It’s also in clear violation of federal and international laws. Even in the Netherlands, when one goes into a coffee shop, as they’re known, they can purchase as much cannabis as they like — but there, we’re told sales are tolerated, and there’s no taxation system. But here, we have Mr. Hartman and Mr. Cook” — a reference to the Department of Revenue’s Dan Hartman and Matt Cook — “and they’re collecting revenue for the state.

“Everyone points to California as the place where all this began politically, and they should,” he goes on. “But Colorado, unlike California, actually stepped up to create a mature reply to a sociopolitical public-health quandary and created a taxation and regulatory scheme. So we brought the conference here to acknowledge this, to learn from it, and in some respects, to honor it.”

via NORML 40th anniversary conference in Denver preview: A celebration of cannabis commerce – Denver News – The Latest Word.

Wishing everyone a high and happy 04/20 as we are about to kick off the 40th Annual NORML Conference in Denver, CO.

Stayed up pretty much all last night researching cannabis and tweeting and archiving the links to the many informative articles I found. I joined & donated to NORML, who had a special membership drive for 4/20. Answered some questions about cannabis on my wall on Facebook just before I signed out early this morning.

Slept about 7 hours, then immediately got back on Twitter, where the 4/20 crowd was just celebrating up a storm all across the country. Things were getting going up in Denver with the NORML 40th annual conference and it was fun to watch the Tweet stream about that. Wish I could have been there (also missed the HIGH TIMES Medical Cannabis Cup).

Pouring rain today in Colorado Springs, so I didn’t go to the 4/20 gathering in the park… but I did take my first steps at obtaining my medical marijuana card this evening, and was given the calling card of a local doctor. No, I did not smoke any weed (no connections) and my arthritis is acting up something terrible, but I’m on my way to getting legal, at least. I’d love to work in the MMJ industry, maybe in social media or something similar… still looking for an opportunity to do so; I’ve been keeping an eye on THCJobs twitter feed, but haven’t found the right opportunity yet. Looking… looking…

Muller and Schumann write: “We propose that the majority of non-addicted humans, who consume psychoactive drugs as a normal part of their life take drugs because their effects are useful for their personal goals. When it comes to using drugs or other stimulants as instruments, for example, most adults can drive a car un-drugged. However, after a long working day, having a last coffee to awake and refresh the mind may enable the driver to drive home more safely. In this case, caffeine is the instrument that improves the mental state.”

Muller and Schumann go on to suggest that a non-addictive use of drugs may have evolved to help the human race adapt to different aspects of life, and that we have learned to use drugs in ways that enhance our chances for survival and reproduction. Examples include alcohol helping a shy person overcome their shyness and initiate a sexual encounter, or amphetamines helping a tired student stay awake and study for crucial exams that will determine success in their professional life.

via Researchers argue ‘addiction’ a poor way to understand the normal use of drugs.

A Milwaukee judge has dismissed a drug paraphernalia possession charge against the former talk-show host at the prosecutor’s request after learning the pipe in question that was seized from him at Milwaukee’s Airport tested negative for marijuana.

via Montel Williams’ Drug Paraphernalia Charges Dropped | Cannabis Culture Magazine.

Are they going to start testing everyone’s pipes now?

An Ontario court has struck down Canada’s laws that prohibit the possession and growing of marijuana after ruling that the medical marijuana program is unconstitutional.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Donald Taliano found that the marijuana program is failing to ensure that patients who need the drug can get the necessary approvals. So the St. Catharines, Ont. justice declared the “Marihuana Medical Access Regulations” invalid.

And, because the problems with the program force medical marijuana users to resort to illegal means to obtain their marijuana, Taliano also struck down two sections of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that prohibit possession and cultivating marijuana.

He deemed the sections unconstitutional because they can be used to charge medical marijuana users who haven’t been able to obtain medical marijuana licences.

via CTV British Columbia – Ontario court strikes down marijuana laws – CTV News.

The approved draft included a limit of 10 marijuana collectives in San Jose, a number Reed and Constant said they could support. But it was clear that several of those who had voted in favor were unaware that cap was included in what they approved, including Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen, who had made the motion. She wanted 30.

“I’ve come to realize that 10 is just not sufficient,” said Nguyen, who had originally backed that limit. “Let’s just be realistic. We have 110 in San Jose.”

There may be even more. Medical marijuana activists say there are about 125, a dramatic increase from October 2009, when the council first weighed regulations for what was then just a couple of new dispensaries. A year before that there were none known in the city.

The proposed zoning regulations will be forwarded to the city’s planning commission for review before returning to the City Council for another vote.

via San Jose council votes to sharply limit marijuana dispensaries – San Jose Mercury News.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — House lawmakers approved a bill Monday to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries and give greater legal protection to patients with a prescription for cannabis.

The bill, originally sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, aims to bring medical marijuana dispensaries out of the legal gray area in which they operate under current law.

via Wash. bill regulating medical marijuana advances – seattlepi.com.

The 40th annual conference of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana  Laws (NORML) is going to convene next Thursday, April 21 – Saturday, 23 at the Grand Hyatt in Denver, Colorado.

via National Marijuana Law Reform Conference To Be Held In Denver Announces Line-Up: Montel Williams and Ziggy Marley To Be Featured | Cannabis News.