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Dan Mitchell on April 14, 2021
It’s hard to know anymore what to make of “4/20.” What was once an underground reference (sometimes employed ironically) has now been largely subsumed into the commercial culture of legal weed.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. After all, that’s what legal weed means: it means capitalism, marketing and commodification. It means taking weed out of the underground entirely. Now that accountants in Castro Valley and soccer moms in San Mateo openly use cannabis it has also lost much of its rebellious cool.
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by
Mike Huguenor on April 7, 2021
At the outset of “Soldiers,” the title track from the second album by South Bay jazz trio Murray/Sato/Weeks, a single note appears like a figure on the horizon.
For 10 seconds, saxophonist Tom Weeks and bassist Kazuto Sato hold the note together, while drummer Kevin Murray makes a skittering wash of cymbals beneath—like rain against a window. Then, forty seconds in, sudden and unexpected, it is revealed that the note they have been holding is the first of “Taps,” the funeral signal of the U.S. military.
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Dan Mitchell on April 7, 2021
After the vaping-illness outbreak that started in 2019, when people were sent to emergency rooms in droves and several dozen of them died, sales of cannabis vaping products ground to a near-halt. Sales have picked up again since, and reports of vaping-related illnesses have slowed way down—but they haven’t stopped.
Meanwhile, many people seem to think we know exactly what happened to cause those health issues, but we really don’t. Not only that, but we still don’t even know for sure how safe the safest vaping products are, including the ones that are tested and approved for sale in cannabis dispensaries.
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Dan Mitchell on March 31, 2021
As the federal government tip-toes around making cannabis legal, it’s making what could be a simple and well-regulated cash cow of a business into a complex industry ripe for abuse.
One example of that is the gaping loophole the federal government, presumably unwittingly, offered in its 2018 Farm Bill that not only makes certain cannabis products legal, but allows underage kids to get their hands on the substance without any regulation.
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Mike Huguenor on March 31, 2021
Heraclitus said that no one steps into the same waters twice, but when Saoirse Alesandro stepped back into San Jose last spring after four years in Los Angeles, she and three of her closest friends dove right in and started a band.
“She got back in May, and we started band practice in June,” says Star 99 guitarist Cole Calvo.
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Dan Mitchell on March 24, 2021
Last week, we learned that the Biden administration has reportedly fired or sidelined dozens of White House staffers because of cannabis use.
In the past, this might not have been a big deal; after all, cannabis is still illegal federally and the use of illicit drugs has been disqualifying for decades. But the news came just weeks after the administration issued guidelines stating that it would deemphasize cannabis use in its screening process. Even this isn’t particularly shocking, since the administration never abandoned the existing policy, but merely said cannabis use would no longer be “automatically” disqualifying.
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Dan Mitchell on March 17, 2021
Cannabis may be legal statewide, but people across vast swaths of California still have no opportunity to buy weed, in part because many local governments refuse to license pot shops.
Those people do have options, of course. One is to have it delivered, if that’s available. Another is to grow their own. That is where an Oakland horticulture professor has stepped into the fold to expand access to the plant, which can be used medicinally, or for fun and relaxation in places where it’s legal. In the Golden State, anyone over the age of 21 is allowed to grow cannabis, but restrictions on how much—six plants is the maximum—and where are still narrow.
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Dan Mitchell on March 10, 2021
Back in 2010, a spate of scare stories about “digital drugs” flashed across local TV news channels. It was exactly what it sounded like: a new drug was being delivered over the Internet and into the brains—and souls—of our precious children.
These “drugs” were audio files that supposedly had a euphoric effect, known as an autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR). But in the last decade, the popularity of ASMR has exploded. Suburban moms and guys in trucker caps are listening to sound files that some claim have relaxing or pleasurable effects, such as tingling sensations in the head and spine. Generally, ASMR includes things like people whispering, or crumpling paper. Debate abounds over whether the effect is biological, like the high caused by THC or LSD, or merely psychological, like the rush some people get when the band comes back in after a false ending.
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by
Mike Huguenor on March 3, 2021
It’s the night before Valentine’s Day, and Cutso is spinning records on Twitch from his living room. Framed by the glittering words “Lovers N’ Friends,” and standing before a sign that reads “Punk Haircuts, any style $2.75,” he transitions from reggaeton to the soul and jazz sounds of Sade.
“You can never have too much Sade in the set,” he announces, before shouting out another DJ in the chat: “Nasty Nate, what up dog.”
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Dan Mitchell on March 3, 2021
As pot legalization advocates whipsaw between pessimism and optimism over the new administration and Democrats’ unexpected control of both houses of Congress, some legislators have been pushing for smaller reforms that, in the end, might help make federally legal weed a reality.
The latest such effort comes in the form of a letter sent last month by U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) and her colleague Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) to President Biden, urging him to grant pardons to all Americans with cannabis convictions on their records.
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