by
Dan Mitchell on December 9, 2020
The U.S. House last week passed the MORE Act, marking the first time a federal legislative body has voted to remove cannabis from the criminal code.
Just weeks ago, the move might have been called a historic event, but an empty exercise, because the Senate as it’s currently composed is unlikely to even bring such a bill to the floor for a vote, much less pass it. But it might now be more than that, and not only because the Democrats might take control of the Senate next month—an eventuality few people had considered likely before Election Day last month.
Continue reading »
by
Dan Mitchell on August 19, 2020
In the midst of dealing with the day’s pressing issues, we sometimes lose the thread of how much, and how quickly, things change.
A couple of years before the Supreme Court upheld gay marriage in 2015, such a development was almost unthinkable. Tobacco use dropped by 68 percent in the years between 1965 and 2018, according to the American Lung Association and the Centers for Disease Control, from 42.4 percent of the adult population to just 13.7 percent in 2018.
Continue reading »
by
Dan Mitchell on August 12, 2020
In the summer before she was supposed to start third grade, Rylie Maedler’s teeth started falling out. The Delaware kid’s mom, Janie, also noticed an “asymmetry” in Rylie’s face. A CT scan revealed that a tumor was winding its way through the seven-year-old’s skull, the result of a rare disease, Aggressive Giant Cell Granuloma.
Though it was “benign” in the sense that it wasn’t cancerous, the tumor could still kill her, and in the meantime it was making her life miserable, causing pain and seizures. And it was growing.
Continue reading »
by
Dan Mitchell on August 5, 2020
For all the struggles the cannabis industry is facing—slim or nonexistent margins, illicit sales, the enormous costs of running a dispensary—the industry has nevertheless exploded. One can only wonder how huge it would be if the federal government were to legalize weed.
There are now more cannabis industry workers than there are computer programmers, Marijuana Business Daily reported last week as it issued its annual Marijuana Business Factbook. While there are many caveats to this (programmers make a lot more money than budtenders, for example) that’s an astonishing fact given that pot is legal for adult use in only 11 states, and medical marijuana is legal in only 33.
Continue reading »
Earlier today I had to call 911 from the brand new VTA/BART Berryessa station. When the operator asked me for the address, I could only give the bus stop ID number because it didn’t have a street address and there wasn’t one listed at the building. Fortunately, help had been called but there was a sincere problem. One: Why don’t 911 operators know the 511 Bay Area stop ID numbers. Two: When I called VTA to ask about it the initial response was to have the call routed to BART police BUT the problem was when BART police did show up the officer said the bus stop was NOT his jurisdiction. Third : while I was trying to figure out the bus stop address I asked a VTA transit operator and they did not know guessing it was 931 on the side of the building this conflicts with the information I just received from VTA customer service showing the bus stop as 1601 ??? Third: yes, BART police would be helpful INSIDE the BART station but this was a medical emergency for an ambulance -isn’t this a NEW facility for both VTA and BART (where’s the defibulator? ) finally, while this happened where was the alwaysabsent except for events VTA Security Allied Security officer? Fortunately the woman did get medical help and I went on my way but in the event of a more severe emergency what is the address?
I Saw You is an anonymous “man on the street” column. Email your rants and raves about co-workers or any badly behaving citizens to [email protected], or send to 380 S. First St, San Jose, 95113. Submissions should stick to about 100 words.
by
Dan Mitchell on July 1, 2020
People tend to think of the cannabis world as populated mainly by liberals. Most pot people do lean liberal. But the truth is that every political worldview is represented in weed.
Even MAGA: over the weekend, Andrew Kyle of Dallas, who identifies himself as a “cannabis expert consultant” on LinkedIn, posted on that site: “Lots of blame for the rising China virus cases. Yet no one seems to blame the protests and riots.”
Continue reading »
by
Dan Mitchell on June 24, 2020
A few weeks ago, the racial inequities of cannabis (both the illegal and legal kind) blew up amid the protests and riots following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Large groups of looters broke into nearly every dispensary in Oakland.
Debby Goldsberry of Magnolia Wellness, a dispensary that was hit especially hard, thinks the crimes were very much a part of the protest. She said this the day after her shop was smashed to smithereens and put out of commission for at least several weeks. According to Goldsberry, the glee evinced by the looters on the security-camera footage (“they danced on the desks,” she said) showed that they were making a statement, not just burgling the place.
Continue reading »
by
Dan Mitchell on June 17, 2020
Last week, several dispensary owners in Oakland, who have been plagued by a string of robberies, kicked around ideas for improving security. One of those ideas: allowing owners and employees to pack heat.
Continue reading »
by
Mike Huguenor on June 17, 2020
Last Friday, The Chinkees, Mike Park’s all-Asian ska-punk band, unexpectedly put out their first new set of songs in 18 years. K.A. Music, the blazing four-song EP, was released by Park’s Monte Sereno-based Asian Man Records and quickly sold out of its initial vinyl pressing.
Continue reading »
by
Dan Mitchell on June 10, 2020
People are finding all kinds of things to do while they’re stuck at home: binge-watching Netflix, playing board games, doing jigsaw puzzles, learning a new instrument.
And many are growing pot, often for the first time. So many, that the companies that supply home-growers are having a hard time keeping up.
Continue reading »
