Erin La Rosa

Let’s be honest, Alicia Silverstone could be selling hemp flavored bubble gum and I’d buy it. Luckily, she’s hawking something much prettier— the actress/author/advocate can add eco-friendly cosmetic designer to her resume!
We told you when the outspoken vegan first designed a line of cosmetic brushes and bags for EcoTools that launched in December 2009. But now there’s a revamped collection in preview online, officially launching this spring!
Over at Ecouterre, they discuss the changes saying, “the sophomore EcoTools by Alicia Silverstone collection will feature a ‘gorgeous new look, revised shapes, and revamped favorites,’ along with illustrations of Silverstone’s favorite flowers.”
Granted, it’s not the actresses first dip into the designer pool. On her blog, TheKindLife.com, she has written about designers she admires, and auctioned off stylish eco-friendly duds.
So, let’s count all the way that Silverstone has made this line green. For the cosmetic cases, they are made with natural hemp material, lined with recycled plastic (PET), and the floral design (based off of Silverstone’s favorite flowers) is printed with non-toxic inks. If you want one of her brushes, you can anticipate sustainable bamboo handles, 100% cruelty-free, soft taklon bristles, and recycled aluminum ferrules. All packaging for the brush products is a result of 30% post-consumer reycled content and is also printed with non-toxic inks.
Read complete article here:
http://www.ecorazzi.com/2011/01/11/alicia-silverstone-makes-getting-gorgeous-a-little-more-green/

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Photos: SanLuisObispo.com

​A Southern California couple arrested for operating a mobile medical marijuana dispensary won’t be facing any jail time — because they are no longer facing charges.

Posted by doctork
On December the 23, 2010, a well known Christian Conservative, Dr. Pat Robertson, spoke to his audience about the need to decriminalize small personal possessions of marijuana, “a couple ounces, or so”. Dr. Robertson correctly observed that sentences for “marijuana offenses” are way too harsh, and that the whole “enforcement” business is costing this country an absolutely inordinate amounts of money. Former US Surgeon-General, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, remarked on CNN prior to November elections that, because of the anti-Cannabis repression in this country we are criminalizing more of our population than any other country of the Civilized World. As Dr. Elders pointed out, and as many people already know, the prison population in this country practically exploded since 1970, or when the DEA “took over” along with the so-called “Controlled Substances Act” of 1970.
At the historic L.A. Conference organized by the Drug Policy Alliance in cooperation with the California Society of Addiction Medicine held on July 8, 2010, there was an almost total consensus about decriminalization of marijuana for personal use, while the California State Medical Association had already made a policy statement in which it expressed that “criminalization of marijuana is a failed public policy”. All this is after the Shafer’s Commission recommended decriminalizing marijuana back in 1972, and Judge Francis Young said in 1988 that “marijuana is the safest therapeutically-active substance known to men”. Why, then is marijuana still illegal in this country, why our everyday, decent, hard-working people are still being thrown in jail over the use of a natural substance with a multitude of medicinal properties? How is it that both the serious science and the common sense say “legalize (or, at least, decriminalize) Cannabis” to this government, but to no avail? How is the DEA able to fight “tooth and nail” the Medicinal Cannabis that has served humanity as medicine for thousands of years? In order to answer these, and some other questions, we need to look at what the L.A. Conference called the “Prison-Industrial Complex” in this country, an entity with tremendous amount of “lobbying power”, which is being headed and directed by none other than the DEA itself! It is very hard to really understand the despotic powers that these people have, and it is even harder to make others understand them, but what helps in my case is that I am a former political refugee from a world at one time ruled by the KGB, so the mechanics of this repression are made somewhat more “intelligible” for me.
When Pat Robertson made his remarks about the need to decriminalize Cannabis to the “700 Club”, he correctly observed that criminalization of marijuana costs this country a whole lot of money, in addition to the harsh, life destroying criminal sanctions directed at the people of this country for exercising their rights as free citizens. In order to even begin to understand the DEA’s iron grip on power in the United States, let’s look first at the current debate about cutting our Federal spending as a way to deal with the ballooning deficit. Many proposed spending “cuts” are being discussed, but have we noticed that there is practically no discussion about reducing the DEA budget, or that of the Prison-Industrial Complex as a whole? In fact, it appears to me that our so-called “representatives” in Congress would much rather talk about taxing a mother’s milk than about cutting the DEA budget together with its “marijuana enforcement”. Any one who would even dare to suggest that maybe the DEA should somehow contribute to the much-needed saving of resources, would be labeled as “soft on drugs” with the potential very unpleasant political consequences.
Read complete article here:
http://blogs.alternet.org/doctork/2011/01/10/the-dea-or-the-usa-that-is-the-question/

Michael dEstries

 
It’s happened again.
Back in April ’08, lawyers for Tom Cruise became “concerned” over licensed cannabis clubs in Northern California selling a strain of marijuana called “Tom Cruise Purple”. It reportedly featured a picture of Tom Cruise on the front laughing hysterically. Said one weed connoisseur, “I heard it’s the kind of pot that makes you hallucinate.”
Even without a buzz on, it was easy to find the humor in that story — and now we’re giggling again over yet another new strain of marijuana nicknamed “Chuck Norris’ Black and Blue Dream”. Said a source to TMZ, it reportedly has “a real kick to it”. Ha. Ha. Eh.
Read complete article here:
http://www.ecorazzi.com/2011/01/10/chuck-norris-marijuana-really-bugging-out-chuck-norris/

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Photo: The Skunk Stripe

Pawcuff that skunk! He smells like weed!

​
A Canadian man is demanding an apology after his home was raided at gunpoint Thursday by police who thought the scent of a skunk living under his home meant he was growing marijuana.

Photo: CBC

Oliver MacQuat said police raided his home, thinking it was a marijuana grow-op, because of a skunk living under his house.

The Patient & Caregiver Rights Litigation Project
the Cannabis Trade Council and the Cannabis Therapy Institute will be hosting a:

Public Meeting and
Medical Marijuana Legal Panel
Wed., Jan. 12, 2011
Casselman’s Bar and Venue
2620 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205
Free and open to the public.
Patient and Caregiver Rights Litigation Project
www.CannabisLawsuits.com
http://cannabistherapyinstitute.com/

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

​Irvin Rosenfeld, the longest survivor of the four remaining federal medical marijuana patients in the United States, plans to visit Montana to speak before the Legislature next week. Rosenfeld will be there to educate people on the importance of medical cannabis and its true value as a medicine.
As a federal medical marijuana patient for more than 28 years, Rosenfeld has knowledge and experience to share with others. According to Irv, cannabis is a medicine like any other, and should be treated that way.
As senior vice president of investments for Newbridge Securities in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, he also understands the economic aspect and how medical marijuana creates jobs for thousands of Montanans.
“Montana is being watched nationally, and what happens in this legislative session could set precedence around the world,” said Rosenfeld, who serves as a director for the advocacy group Patients Out of Time.
“Medical cannabis patients are productive members of society,” Rosenfeld said. “I am living proof. I have been a stockbroker for over 23 years handling millions of dollars on a daily basis.”
Read complete article here:
http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2011/01/federal_patient_wants_to_save_medical_marijuana_in.php

By Leander Kahney
LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — Fittingly for a line of music accessories bearing the name of reggae legend Bob Marley, some of the product components are made from hemp.
The carrying pocket for the House of Marley earbuds, for example, are made from hemp fibre, a spokeswoman told me. Bob Marley famously used hemp for something else, of course.
The House of Marley launched a range of about a dozen music products here at CES, including a boombox, iPod speaker dock, and several headphones and earbuds.
Read complete article here:
http://www.cultofmac.com/hemp-used-in-bob-marley-headphones-earbuds-ces-2011/75566

by Andrea Macpherson

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) –
A Canadian actor, comedian, author, musician and pot-enthusiast is endorsing a BC NDP leadership candidate. Tommy Chong has come forward to support Dana Larsen’s bid to lead the party.
Chong says Larsen is not your typical politician. He says he is a candidate who has honesty and integrity. Larsen is the first and only candidate in the NDP leadership race so far.
Chong lives here in Vancouver.
See video here:
http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/165025–tommy-chong-endorses-only-ndp-candidate-in-leadership-race