Ganja is very close to all our hearts. For some of us, it’s an integral part of who we are.
To celebrate 4/20 this year, we want to hear your stories/praises for the herb we all love so much.
Each of your stories will be posted on our blog where everyone can vote for their favorite.
There will be 10 winners. If you win, you’ll get Cash Crop on DVD and 9ft of Beeline hemp wick (more info below).
We’re doing all of this to celebrate 4/20, but the contest will run until May 15, 2011, when the votes will be final and we’ll mail the winners their prizes!
Here are the “official” rules:
- All entries should be 1 paragraph long (3-5 sentences), but we suggest 3-5 paragraphs to fully explain yourself (or more, if you like).
- You can have as many entries as you want, as long as they’re not duplicates.
- You retain all the rights to your content. (we’re not facebook
)
Since we’re celebrating our beloved cannabis flower, we think it’s crucial to enjoy the true flavor and high of your particular herb.
If you’re using a butane lighter, over 60% of the complex flavors in cannabis are completely tarnished by butane, not to mention the health effects.
When we started using hemp wicks, we immediately noticed that the majority of any “couchlock” feeling, or fogginess was gone. And, one of the best things is that your bowl still tastes great to the last toke because you’re not covering it in butane 
So, that’s why we’re giving away Beeline…
Beeline is a natural alternative to butane lighters and matches. Bee Line is made using only 100% organic hemp string, which is dipped into 100% organic beeswax.
Beeline is a multi-purpose product, made from two ancient renewable resources straight from Mother Nature.
Beeline is used as a flame source, to light the smoking product of your choice. First time users will notice a truer taste in their smoke.
Whether you choose to smoke fine cigars or medicinal herbs you will appreciate the positive effects of Beeline vs a butane lighter.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dale
Gieringer: (415) 563-5858
March 11, 2011
or Stephen Gutwillig (323) 542-2606
Conference on Future of Marijuana Reform in California Will Draw Broad Coalition to End Failed Prohibition Policies
Saturday, March 19th at Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Hollywood
“Next Steps for Marijuana Reform in California,” a day-long gathering of marijuana reform advocates, will take place March 19th at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Hollywood. In the wake of Proposition 19′s remarkably strong showing at the polls last year, this conference will address ongoing efforts to end failed marijuana prohibition in California, steps to reform the state’s medical marijuana laws, and priorities for marijuana reform in the coming years.
The conference is presented by California NORML, Drug Policy Alliance, Marijuana Policy Project, Americans for Safe Access, and VibeNation MultiMedia. Confirmed participants include leaders of the Proposition 19 campaign and other ballot initiative proponents, Latino Voters League, California NAACP, United Food and Commercial Workers, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, and California Church Impact as well as political consultants, attorneys, medical marijuana advocates, and public officials.
The event is open to the public, and the audience will have the opportunity to comment and weigh in on competing proposals. A party and reception, featuring live music, other entertainment and refreshments, will be held at the Montalban Theatre immediately
following the conference until 10 pm.
The conference follows up the sold out “Next Steps” conference in Berkeley in January (http://www.canorml.org/nextsched.html).
What: “Next Steps for Marijuana Reform in California”
When: Saturday, March 19th, 9 am to 6 pm
Where: Ricardo Montalban Theatre, 1615 Vine St., Hollywood
Conference Schedule:
www.canorml.org/LAConfSched_Online.html
Tickets:
www.drugpolicy.org/nextsteps or
http://bit.ly/enYQJX
Admission: $20 for the conference; $20 for the reception. A $30 discounted ticket for both events is available online in advance only.
–
canorml@canorml.org
California NORML, 2261 Market St. #278A, San Francisco CA 94114
-(415) 563- 5858 – www.canorml.org
Not long after we finished filming with him at his medicinal gardens, Eddy Lepp was convicted of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and cultivation of more than 1,000 marijuana plants. He is currently serving a 10 year sentence in federal prison.
In a recent letter to Ed Rosenthal, Eddy wrote, “I sit here hoping someone in charge will see what a failure and a waste of life this current system is and will care enough to fix it. People who create victims belong in prison, they should send the rest of us home. “No Victim, No Jail-able Crime” (that is from the U.S. Constitution).”
Thinking of Eddy being in a cage like that, day in and day out, brought back a couple of not-too-distant memories of myself being in jail (also over a plant that continues to heal, not hurt people).
Every element in that environment is so cold. The walls, the floor, the beds mats, the lights, smells, sounds…everything completely void of love. The worst part is the torment of knowing you’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.
And it continues to happen to so many in America every day.
One of the best ways you can help is to donate to Green Aid (Eddy’s defense fund) or The Human Solution (a defense fund for medical marijuana patients).
Eddy Lepp’s wife, friends and family have asked everyone to send letters to President Obama in support his release through Commutation of Sentence. You can download their letter here and the sample letter to Obama here.
Eddy would love to hear from you. He needs all our support right now….
Charles Edward Lepp
Federal Prison Camp Lompoc
90157-011
3705 West Farm Road
Lompoc, CA 93436
Cash Crop will be showing at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 starting this Friday, October 8th thru the 14th.
There will be a Q&A with director, Adam Ross on Friday (10/8) and Saturday (10/9) at the 7:45pm and 10pm shows.
Welcome to our new site. I’ll try to keep current with this blog. I am new at this.
We began filming in the summer of 2007 and it was very much about staying off the radar. We filmed with a cover title of “Homages” (more on that later). It has been all about not being public and now we are finally putting this film and these stories out there.
There are a lot of stories to be told and issues that came up. We have hundreds of hours of footage and it looks like there will also be a series. We are also still filming and keeping current. So, we welcome your ideas and input.
I consciously set out not to make an advocacy film or a tedious didactic talking heads polemic. My interest has been to humanize these issues through the characters and their stories. I have tried to let truth and beauty be my guides; let the characters speak their truth and take the viewer on a beautiful experiential road trip.
I was taken by just how quintessentially American these people, their stories, and issues are. The issue of “states’ rights” was prominent at the outset of filming as Prop. 215 (California’s Medical Cannabis Law) does not protect anyone from prosecution under Federal law.
There are issues of immigration as California has produced its own crop alleviating much of the need for imported Mexican cannabis. There are drug cartels operating on public lands without regard to environmental impact, and violence has become of issue.
As Americans wrestle with issues of healthcare, Proposition 215 also posed the broader question of what is medicine exactly and who decides this: pharmaceutical corporations, insurance corporations, or individuals with their caregivers.
President Obama used one word repeatedly in his first Meet The Press interview: sustainability.
Sustainability has been central to areas in Northern California that have been exploited and ravaged by logging, fishing, government contracted chromium plating plants, and water use issues.
The Emerald Triangle is the heart of the back to the land movement.
Mendocino is the first county in the U.S. to ban GMO’s and has the nation’s first organic winery and organic brew pub.
The recent financial debacle posed the issue of whether AIG, Bernie Madoff, sub-prime mortgage lending, and Wall Street practices such as the unregulated sale of derivatives are less damaging and more ethical forms of entrepreneurial capitalism than that practiced now by generations of California cannabis growers.
Recently, the election of an African- American President who admittedly smoked marijuana and continues to smoke cigarettes, who excelled after a life and background markedly different from mainstream Americans, offers an inclusiveness to many who have felt alienated and disenfranchised.
In many ways, the “culture formerly known as the counter-culture” has come of age and has become an essential voice in not merely our sustainability but in our very survival.
We now have a lot of historical perspective.
The current efforts for legalization and decriminalization must be viewed with an understanding of the story of U.S. cannabis prohibition since 1937 and the plant’s use by humans going back 8,000 years.
Greed is a dominant theme in Cash Crop and is especially resonant as we deal with reforming our financial industry, our healthcare industry, and our largest environmental catastrophe.
As we venture down these paths it seems essential that we focus on our culture of abuse versus merely demonizing the victims. Many in law enforcement question the allocation of our resources and efforts. Social and health issues have been objectified and criminalized. It is not the child but it is the child abuse. It is not the spouse. It is the spousal abuse. It is not the food, or credit, or sex, or drugs but the culture of abuse of all of these that has become so entrenched in our consumer culture that objectifies everything and results in a vast depressive emptiness and spiritual vacuum.
As we move from sustainability to survival, we know we must evolve. We are not going to grow claws or tails. It seems the only real area where we can evolve rapidly is in our awareness and consciousness. As we attempt to gain much needed perspective for these changes, it seems timely that we look at how we live and to what we are drawn.
There are estimates as high as 20 million regular cannabis users with 100 million who have tried it in this country. Many find cannabis helps them achieve communion with nature, inner directed contemplation and inventiveness that has driven our society and where we have sought direction and solutions.
The final frontier of our continent has been reached. A kind of “reverse manifest destiny” might now help us draw on efforts behind the Emerald Curtain and throughout the State of California. We must now seek to curtail and remedy exploitation and abuse of ourselves and of our environment and create more tenable structures for a just, fair, and thriving society.
My hope is that, in some small way, Cash Crop resonates with people to take this road trip together.
