As California voters prepare to decide in November whether to become the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use, a Field Poll reveals that weed already is deeply woven into society.
By Peter Hecht

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — John Wade, 43, a San Francisco commercial lighting specialist, takes a quick hit from a marijuana cigarette on the golf course to steady himself before putting.
Sarika Simmons, 35, of San Diego County, sometimes unwinds after her children are asleep with tokes from a fruit-flavored cigar filled with pot.
And retiree Robert Girvetz, 78, of San Juan Capistrano, recently started anew — replacing his occasional martini with marijuana.
“It’s a little different than I remember,” he says. “A couple of hits — and wooooo … ”
As California voters prepare to decide in November whether to become the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use, a Field Poll reveals that weed already is deeply woven into society.
Those who use the drug — and their reasons for doing it — may be as diverse as the state itself.
Forty-two percent of adults who described themselves as current users in the July poll said they smoke pot to relieve pain or treat a health condition. Thirty-nine percent use it recreationally, to socialize or have fun with friends.
Sixty percent say marijuana helps them relax or sleep. Twenty-four percent say it stimulates creativity.
Historically, marijuana use in California remains lower than during peak years of the late 1970s. But voters’ approval of Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act — which made the state the first to legalize medical marijuana — is changing the social dynamic, according to poll results and interviews with users in 15 counties.
“It’s certainly likely that post-Proposition 215, it has become more mainstream and the base of users has broadened,” said Craig Reinarman, a University of California, Santa Cruz sociology professor who has studied marijuana in society.
Other measures back the Field Poll findings:
• More than 400,000 Californians use marijuana daily, according to the state Board of Equalization, and residents consume 16 million ounces of weed a year, from legal and illegal sources.
• More than 3.4 million Californians smoked pot in 2008, according to the latest research by the National Survey on Drug Abuse and Health.
And, in the Field Poll, 47 percent of registered voters said they have used marijuana at least once. That exceeds the registration of any political party in the state.
Better than pills?
Marijuana use in California extends well beyond any stoner stereotype.
“I don’t walk around in Bob Marley T-shirts or have a marijuana flag in my room,” said Kyle Printz, 44, a Marin County software engineer.
Printz occasionally smokes pot after writing computer code — “and dealing with zeros and ones all day long.” He said, “It alters your state of mind a bit and does help you relax.”
Deborah Pottle, 56, a disabled former state corrections officer from Modesto, has a physician’s recommendation for marijuana for her back injuries and a precancerous condition. She prefers cannabis in lozenges and brownies and melds pot flakes into spaghetti sauce and high-protein meals.
“I find it better by a longshot than … trying to keep pills down,” said Pottle, who sees marijuana only as a medical remedy — not recreation.
Nationally, more than 100 million Americans have tried marijuana, and 10 states — led by Rhode Island, Vermont and Alaska — have higher per capita use than the Golden State.
But in California, a proliferating industry of medical cannabis dispensaries, offering exotic strains such as “Blue Dream,” “Train Wreck” or “Green Crack,” helps supply a vast market, including many people who never venture inside a pot shop.
According to the state Board of Equalization, California marijuana dispensaries — intended to serve bona fide medical users, including AIDS, cancer and chronic-pain sufferers — produce up to $1.3 billion in marijuana transactions for people reporting a vast range of ills.
“I’m sure there are people who suffer from any number of maladies that seek therapy from marijuana use,” Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness said. “But for at least as many, I think it’s a ruse for healthy people who enjoy the effects of marijuana.
“That’s how they obtain it without hassle.”
Ngaio Bealum, editor of West Coast Cannabis, a 50,000-circulation lifestyle publication that bills itself as the Sunset magazine of weed, says the dispensary evolution and sophisticated growing techniques are changing California’s pot culture.
But he said illegal marijuana trafficking lives on to satisfy the demand.
“The old-school weed man still exists, but he’s had to step his game up,” Bealum said. “Now when you go to the clubs [dispensaries], you’ve got 50 different kinds” of pot strains. “The weed man now has to offer a few different kinds — and start making brownies, too.”
California decriminalized marijuana use and possession 34 years ago. People caught with less than an ounce face a misdemeanor that carries a $100 fine. Those with medical recommendations now can legally possess up to eight ounces.
Bealum says readily available weed — and the reduced stigma and penalties — make people less wary of consequences.
“As the boomers get older, those guys realized it is really no big deal,” he said. “And the younger kids don’t think it’s a big deal, because their parents used to do it.”
The July Field Poll shows plummeting support for tougher marijuana laws and increased backing for softer penalties. Yet, marijuana arrests continue to rise.
In 2008, California authorities cited 61,388 people on misdemeanor pot offenses and 17,126 for felonies such as illegal trafficking, cultivation or possession for sale. Total arrests were up by nearly one-third since 2003.
Highest in 18-29 group
Marijuana has found niches in the California lifestyle with young people starting their careers, affluent baby boomers and urban professionals.
Californians age 40 to 49 — people who grew up a decade or more removed from the hippie era and the Summer of Love — are most likely to have used marijuana at some point in their lives, the poll showed.
While current use is highest among people between 18 and 29 and earning less than $40,000 a year, pot also is finding a significant foothold among many reaching their prime career earning years.
Steven Keegan, 40, a Los Angeles sporting-goods designer, earns more than $100,000 marketing to Fortune 500 companies. He says he smokes pot before a typical weekend day spent with his girlfriend at the beach.
At bedtime, he relaxes with “Woody Harrelson” — a popular cannabis strain named for the actor, an outspoken booster of marijuana use.
John Wade, who does lighting and production for weddings and corporate events, uses his “one-hitter” — a miniature pipe that looks like a cigarette — to sneak smokes at Giants baseball games, on ski lifts — and on the golf course.
“You don’t want to smoke too much because it can make the game worse,” he said. “But I’ve taken a hit and gone off and had a couple of good holes. I seem to be able to focus on my putting better.”
According to the Field Poll, the overwhelming majority of current pot smokers prefer to use it at home or a friend’s house. Smaller numbers say they enjoy it at parties, concerts or outdoors.
Simmons, of San Marcos, sometimes retreats to a patio to relieve stress once her three daughters are asleep and won’t notice.
“I don’t even like the smell of it on my hands or body,” she said. “I’m very discreet about it.”
Help from her friends
Dawn Sanford, a call-center data-entry worker from Sacramento, said she rarely buys marijuana herself. But she reaches out to friends with a ready supply or a medical recommendation.
Sanford never has seen a physician for a pot referral but suffers occasional panic attacks. Sometimes, she said, she calls a female friend who uses marijuana for anxiety to ask, “Can we do this, please?”
The potential for pot purchased at medical dispensaries to be diverted for recreational use is prompting efforts to prevent patients from reselling or giving away pot.
Purchasers are limited to two ounces a week at Harborside Health Center, which serves 48,000 medical users through its Oakland and San Jose dispensaries. The Oakland outlet alone handles $20 million a year in marijuana transactions, according to the center.
Harborside bans cellphones or money exchanges on dispensary premises. Workers at the facility look for people whose approach — such as buying up particular pot strains or purchasing in multiple quantities — suggest they may be planning to resell it.
“We’ve trained our staff to identify transactions that may be suspicious,” Harborside Director Steve DeAngelo said. “When you have dual markets, one legal and one illegal, existing side-by-side, you’re going to have the issue of diversion.”
Sociologist Reinarman said, “The line that separates recreational use from medical use is blurred” by the infusion of medical pot into California’s popular culture.
“There is no contradiction from people who sometimes use it for pain or sometimes use it for sleep or sometimes use it because it is fun and or stimulates their creativity,” he said.

SOLEGEAR offers bioplastics that range from 15 percent to 100 percent natural materials in two different lines – Traverse and Polysole biocomposites.  Traverse contains 15 to 60 percent natural materials and Polysole contains 100 percent natural materials and organic additives.  Both plastics offer a wider range of possible uses than current corn based plastics.
Traverse bioplastic contains either recycled or virgin “conventional plastic (PP, PE, PET, Nylon)”.  The natural base is composed of wood, hemp, bamboo, rice husks, or other natural fibers, all of which are non edible.  Both types can be used for extrusion and injection molding.  Traverse was developed as “a high tensile, durable and sustainable injection mouldable [sic] solution.”  Some of the injected products possible with Traverse are ”toys, automotive parts and consumer goods, with the durability and strength of oil-based alternatives.”  SOLEGEAR considers the Traverse line to be a “transition step” to its 100 percent natural Polysole line.
Polysole bioplastics are made from 100 percent natural fibers and proprietary organic additives.  There are three different grades of Polysole for different levels of plastic production.  These grades of bioplastic are “ENGINEERED, HIGH PERFORMANCE plastic designed for use in the automotive, electronics, pharmaceutical and consumer goods industries.”
The TF grade is thermoplastic resin that can used with normal equipment and “standard operating conditions”.  Like petroleum based plastic, TF can be thermoformed and extruded to produce transparent wraps and cups.  It can be produced in sheets.
LV grade Polysole “was designed specifically for existing PLA processors.“  Rather than being tacky and requiring long cycle times like PLA, Low Viscosity Polysole decreases cycle times and increases efficiency.  Faster more efficient production means cost savings.
The final Polysole grade is XD which stands for Xtra [sic] Durability.  XD can be used for producing products previously thought impossible for PLA.  XD Polysole “creates a material that is stronger, more flexible and able to withstand greater impact stresses.”
All three grades of Polysole are 100 percent biodegradable “after disposal”.  When we say biodegradable we are talking only weeks not months or years.  Other bioplastics can still hang around in landfills for decades after disposal.
Of course the majority of environmentalist would prefer to see Polysole used almost exclusively but some manufacturers are not willing to take that step yet.  Since both of SOLEGEAR’s plastic lines are brand new – just launched in June – it will take a while for manufacturers to feel confident in its flexibility and durability.  The Traverse line offers a transition step for skeptics while still offering a partially natural and recycled solution.
Plastic has been around since 1862 in one form or another and shows no sign of disappearing anytime soon.  Since it is here to stay, transitioning to 100 percent biodegradable plastic for all levels of use is the only way to prevent continued high volumes of plastic trash.

by Warren McLaren, Bundanoon, Australia

All Photos: The Hemp Builder
The house you don’t need to render, plaster, paint or insulate. The house with the building material that you can grow on one hectare (2.5 acres) of land. The same building material you can process yourself with standard machinery available at your hardware store. The house whose walls lock away over 110 kg (240 lb) of carbon per cubic metre.
Impressive claims. What is this boastful house made of? Hemp. The whole hemp. We’ve talked before about hemp bales, and even hempcrete. But this appears to be something new.

Two years ago we wrote about Klara Marosszeky‘s ongoing research to produce an easily worked building material based on Australian hemp. At that time she was concentrating her work on the hemp hurd — the pithy centre of the stalk — but that proved too costly to separate from the bast — the tough fibrous sheath of the stalk, in a process known as decortication.
But now it seems Klara has hit on a way to use the whole of the stalk and mix it with lime plaster to create a hemp-based, building masonry material.
When interviewed in the Echo News earlier this year, Klara Marosszeky observed that, “Using hemp masonry to build also means you are using a low embodied energy product because you don’t have to fire them like bricks. You can effectively build a house in four days.”
From what we understand, the hemp/lime mixture is then pressed into formwork, as in-fill between a timber-framed structure. As it hardens it becomes a solid, yet ‘breathable’, insulative, masonry-like wall substrate, such as Klara is leaning against in the next photo.

In order to promote this form of building material Klara has teamed up with Paul Benhaim to offer an electronic book called Build A House Of Hemp. Although the technology behind this new hemp material is no doubt very sound — Klara has been researching this for 10 years, and building her own house with it — the website promoting the book does lean towards the late night infomercial end of the marketing spectrum.
Klara and Paul are also planning to run a series of workshops on the topic, starting with one this week in Byron Bay, NSW. This is expected to be followed by workshops in Canberra, Sydney and Cairns in 2011. It looks as if Boulder, Colorado and Ontario, Canada are also on the workshop tour.
We can only hope this building methodology takes off, and Australia finally has a real economic pipeline for a local hemp agricultural industry.

Stick to the pipe, medical marijuana users: that’s the message from Canadian researchers who found that smoking even relatively low doses of cannabis can help reduce chronic pain, ease sleep and reduce anxiety.
The findings were published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
For the study, 21 participants experiencing chronic neuropathic pain for at least three months smoked different preparations of marijuana three times a day for five days each, and stayed smoke-free for nine days as a buffer in between treatments. The most potent concentration was 9.4% tetrahydrocannabinol (the active ingredient in cannabis), followed by one of 6%, one of 2.5% and one with no THC at all.
Patients who inhaled the highest THC concentration felt pain less intensely and slept better than patients who did not inhale THC-laced smoke. Those taking the highest doze reported a pain level of 5.4 on a scale of 1 to 11 –lower than the 6.1 reported by those taking the THC-free dose.
The study’s authors concede that a 0.7-point reduction in pain is pretty modest compared with the improvements seen from other drugs – but they also point out that the patients they were testing had suffered from pain that had resisted other forms of treatment. Smoking up, then, could provide at least some relief to those who can find none.
As University of Oxford professor Henry McQuay wrote in a commentary accompanying the study, “Existing treatments are far from perfect. In the meantime, the current trial adds to the trickle of evidence that cannabis may help some of the patients who are struggling at present.”
— Amina Khan / Los Angeles Times

A team of Montreal researchers has lent scientific credibility to the view that smoking marijuana can ease chronic neuropathic pain and help patients sleep better.
People suffering from neuropathic pain often turn to opioids, antidepressants and local anesthetics, but those treatments have limitations and the side effects can be punishing. Many physicians and policy-makers, however, are reluctant to advocate the use of cannabis since there has been little scientific research into its effectiveness, even though patients champion its use.
The study, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found that pain intensity among patients decreased with higher-potency marijuana. It is one of a handful of scientific attempts to determine the medicinal benefits of the drug.
“We’re not saying that this is the final solution for chronic pain management. As with any pain strategy, especially with chronic pain, we know that the best approach is a multidisciplinary one,” said lead author Mark Ware, director of clinical research at the Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit of the McGill University Health Centre. “All that this does is open the door to the cannabinoid being another tool in the toolbox in treating chronic pain.”
Twenty-one adults with post-traumatic or post-surgical chronic pain took part in the study and were randomly assigned to receive marijuana at three different potencies: with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content of 2.5 per cent, 6 per cent and 9.4 per cent, and a placebo. THC is the active ingredient in the cannabis plant. Participants inhaled a single 25-milligram dose through a pipe three times daily for the first five days in each cycle, followed by a nine-day period without marijuana. They continued this over two months, rotating through all four strengths of THC.
The researchers measured pain intensity using a standard scale, with study subjects reporting the highest-strength drug was the most effective at reducing the pain and allowing them to sleep.
The study does not address questions about the long-term efficacy of using the drug to treat chronic pain, the researchers acknowledge. Also, there were some adverse effects among participants, including dizziness, numbness and a burning sensation in areas of neuropathic pain.
Dr. Ware said further research will build upon this study.
“As a cannabis user, it can be really hard to get people to take you seriously,” said Amy Brown, 28, a Toronto woman who was not a subject in the study but uses marijuana to relieve chronic pain and swelling in her wrist, which was injured in a car crash five years ago.
“To me, this study is vindication.”
For her, cannabis has been more effective than chemical painkillers, which had unpleasant side effects. “I wasn’t me any more, I was a drone, I was robot-like,” she said. “[When I started cannabis], I made a complete 180. I know what’s going on now. I have a clear head.”
The federal government has given authorization to almost 5,000 people to possess dried marijuana, and 3,500 people hold personal use production licences, according to Health Canada. A doctor’s authorization is required before a licence is issued. Several court judgments forced Health Canada to get into the marijuana business a few years back, so that patients would not have to rely on the black market for their supplies.
But despite Health Canada’s regulations, Dr. Ware said many in the medical community are not open to the use of marijuana to relieve pain.
“There’s a lot of resistance from physicians, and in fact some of the policy-makers, that there isn’t much evidence to support this. I know some of the Colleges and the CMA want to see evidence behind these claims before they will consider supporting or endorsing the regulations,” he said. “[This study] should provide some support to the fact that there is evidence now out there to support these claims.”
Henry McQuay, a professor at Balliol College at the University of Oxford, said the study adds to three previous investigations of smoked cannabis in coping with neuropathic pain, two of which involved patients with HIV. He noted, however, that the participant size of the study was small, the trial was short and it remains to be seen if marijuana can yield greater analgesia with fewer adverse effects than conventional drugs.
“The current trial adds to the trickle of evidence that cannabis may help some of the patients who are struggling at present,” Prof. McQuay wrote in an accompanying commentary.

West Norfolk engineer Stephen Eyles has developed a high-capacity multi-bladed hemp harvester capable of cutting at high speeds.
His machine has three blades, which cut the crop into three lengths, which makes it easier to handle for baling.
Mr Eyles, who has more than 30 years’ experience as a practical engineer, was encouraged by his farming brothers to tackle the challenge of designing an effective machine.
And, the three-stage cutter bar is powered by a 135hp Massey-Ferguson tractor, which is far more economical than a heavy-duty forage harvester, weighing about 16 tonnes, fitted with a 500hp engine.
Mr Eyles, of Hall Farm, Northwold, has been involved in hemp harvesting for about 12 years. His efforts were given a major funding boost with the enthusiastic support of the InCrops Enterprise Hub at the University of East Anglia.
He has used his practical experience and also his farming background to design and modify machinery to tackle the challenge of harvesting hemp.
Once the crop has been cut, it has to “ret” or start to break down for several weeks in the field before it has to be baled, dry, for delivery for processing at the Hemp Technology factory at Halesworth.
In the current season, Mr Eyles, who is driving the harvester, expects to complete about 200 hectares of hemp, which is being grown by farmers in west Norfolk and across the county at Quidenham and at Easton College.
His machine is able to operate at high speed and in a long working day might be able to cut as much as 20 hectares. “I’m using 100 litres of fuel and on average I’m cutting 2.5 hectares an hour. In a working day, I’m using 100 litres to 120 litres of fuel. A forage harvester would be using 400 litres of fuel and would do half the work.
“A 100hp tractor would operate the cutter because it only needs about 40KW to drive. It is very low in power consumption but enough tractor power is needed to travel at speeds of 16 to 20kph in places, if conditions suit.”
Mr Eyles has fitted hydraulic valves to keep the power constant to the reciprocating knives. “A forage harvester needs continuous power for the chopping effort and then two more operations are needed. Firstly, the crop has to be spread across the field to allow it to ‘ret’ more effectively and then it has to be brought together.
And with short lengths, crop can be lost. “There are disadvantages of this approach both to the grower and to the final product at the factory.”
The prototype hemp harvester was demonstrated to growers earlier this month at Northwold, where his brothers, Roger and David Eyles run the family farm.
It was commissioned by InCrops Enterprise Hub with funding support from East of England Development Agency (EEDA).
The harvester’s cutting bars are designed for quick folding and unfolding for easier transport. And the adjustable bottom bar can more easily follow the ground contour and leave a lower stubble height.
Preliminary trials were carried out on his brothers’ farm.
The project was initiated by InCrops Enterprise Hub, which is a knowledge-transfer project supporting business growth in alternative and non food crops.
Dr John French, managing director, said: “As a result of our field based activity in 2009 and increasing familiarity with the supply chain it has become clear that a major impediment to the utilisation of hemp is the available harvesting technology.
“InCrops is actively engaged in promoting the development and increased uptake of hemp, both as a crop and also as biomaterial in numerous downstream applications.
“We commissioned the prototype hemp harvester to help promote the production and commercialisation of hemp products.’
A low input, fast growing crop, which can be grown on a range of soil types, the fibres are used in industrial applications such as the automotive and construction industries. The harvested crop will be processed by Hemp Technology, of Halesworth.
Mike Duckett, of Hemp Technology, said: “I’m very impressed with the quality of the machine that Stephen Eyles has built. For a prototype machine almost starting from nothing this is a great achievement!
BLOB A demonstration will be held at Easton College on Friday, September 3, starting at 9.30am and finishing about 11.15am. After a briefing, the harvester will be put through its paces. To attend, please contact Julia on 01603 591765 or email j.orourke@uea.ac.uk

Michele Leonhart’s nomination to head the Drug Enforcement Administration has been complicated by a ponzi scheme that has ensnared DEA agents and officials. Leonhart’s nomination is vigorously opposed by drug policy reform groups, which charge that she is stuck in a Drug War-era mindset, focusing too heavily on medical marijuana and small-time crack cocaine violations.
Despite Obama’s pledge during the campaign to cease raids on medical marijuana clubs in states where the drug was legal, Leonhart, as acting director, staged raids after his inauguration. The raids were seen as a signal from the DEA that it didn’t plan to change the way it operated, but a subsequent directive from Attorney General Eric Holder has reduced the frequency of such raids.
But it may not be Leonhart’s policies or leadership that doom her nomination, Amanda J. Crawford, a reporter in Arizona who covers border security issues and drug isses, reported Thursday. Her nomination is stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where no hearing has yet been scheduled more than a year after her nomination. Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) is a strong believer that states should be given the authority to craft their own medical marijuana laws free from federal interference. A Leahy spokeswoman said that the chairman has yet to take a public position on her nomination. Asked about Leonhart earlier this year by HuffPost, Leahy declined to support or oppose her, but reiterated his support for medical marijuana.
In June, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against the estate of Kenneth Wayne McLeod, who had recently taken his own life as authorities closed in on what they say was a long-running ponzi scheme that ensnared 260 investors, many of them law enforcement officers, and stole at least $34 million.
“McLeod victimized law enforcement agents and other government employees who dedicated their lives to the service of this country,” said Eric I. Bustillo, head of the SEC Miami regional office.
A DEA spokesman confirmed that some agents had been caught in the scheme, but referred comment to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Florida Times-Union has been investigating the scandal and uncovering DEA connections.
Leonhart is a career DEA official, meaning that it will be difficult for her to avoid becoming entangled in the affair, which the SEC began in the 1980s. Crawford reported Thursday at CrawfordOnDrugs.comthat a Justice Department official had deemed her a “dead woman walking.” She has been acting director since 2007. A DoJ spokeswoman didn’t immediately return a call.
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Beyond the ponzi scheme, President Obama has a number of other reasons to want to avoid a confirmation fight over Leonhart:
* She has been hit for chartering a private plane to Colombia at a cost of123,000, even though the DEA has more than a hundred of its own planes.
* She was a champion of an infamous snitch named Andrew Chambers, who presented false testimony for years and who had Leonhart’s backing even after it surfaced that he was unreliable.
* And she’s tied into the “House of Death” scandal, involving a string of murders that the DEA was aware of but did little to stop until it was too late.
“Given Leonhart’s raids against medical marijuana dispensaries and her alleged role in covering up the House of Death scandal, it would be funny if what sinks her nomination is some retirement Ponzi scheme,” said Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance.