In just a few hours the doors to the Los Angeles Convention Center will swing open for the biggest Medical Marijuana event in Southern California, HempCon 2010 Los Angeles, happening today until Sunday February 21st! HempCon is a premiere event held at the where exhibitors from all over California and across the United States come showcase their products, educate about their services and promote awareness about the Medical Marijuana community.

This year’s show will feature Keynote addresses from two of the top Medical Marijuana activists in Southern California and the US, Cheryl Shuman and Frederic Rhoades from Beverly Hills NORML. Cheryl is the Executive Director of Beverly Hills NORML (National Organization for the Reform Of Marijuana Laws) and Frederic is the Director of Operations, both of whom are widely recognized and respected voices in the Marijuana community. Along with Cheryl and Fred, there will be a list of events all day long, every day consisting of guest speakers to educate and guest entertainers to elevate your spirits while taking in the show. This year’s lineup of speakers speakers, entertainers and exhibitors guarantees that HempCon 2010 will be the most fun you’ll have at an event all year.

Now here’s a weed if there ever was one that surpasses it’s mystique and lives up to it’s legend. What I love most about this cannabis strain is that it’s more often than not grown outdoor because of it’s reputation as a hearty breed, fond of the long California summers. In more recent times, with the world gone mad for whole foods and paranoid of chemicals, rightfully so, this durable strain is often grown organically. When primo Afghani Bullrider buds find there way to your grinder be grateful and give thanks to the Cannabis Gods, for you have in your hands one of the most exotic weed strains on earth.

The Bullrider Legend: In the same issue of High Times Magazine as Toker Poker there was a story called “The Bull Rider’s Journey” in which the author Jef Tek tells the myth of an African-American dude who was a professional Bull Rider that was passionate about growing weed. As the story goes, this Bullrider traveled allot and knew at least one serious grower from overseas who bestowed the seeds upon him, after which he arrived in California and grew the plant to full-strength and cured it, then the bull-rider and some friends smoked some of the bud, after which one of the friends remarked that he felt like he’d just been riding a bull – bam!

The Afghani Bullrider name stuck and ever since the late ’80’s the strain found it’s way all over California in clone form. At one point someone even created Hats and T-shirts to commemorate the great strain. Growers as far away as Oregon and Vancouver managed to get their hands on either the seeds or the clones as the Afghani Bullrider strain made it’s way far and wide. However, it’s Southern California where the climate provides an endless budding season, all you need to do is place a clone outside and it will begin to produce buds. As with most indica-dominant strains the Afghani Bullrider will reach maturity within 8 weeks or less and deliver an impressive harvest.

Dr. Lester Grinspoon may very well be the most influential marijuana activist of all time. If there were an award for achievement in changing the way people think about smoking marijuana Dr. Grinspoon would win hands down. During his more than 4 decades of honest intellectual contributions and recommendation for re-thinking the use of cannabis and the laws related to marijuana Dr. Grinspoon founded the Harvard Mental Health Letter, and was its editor for fifteen years, which among other qualifications, put him in a better position than any contemporary American physician to tell the truth about drugs.

Dr. Grinspoon is Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the author or co-author of over 160 journal articles, including his 1995 commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association entitled “Marihuana as Medicine: A Plea for Reconsideration.” His first book, Marihuana Reconsidered, originally published in 1971 by Harvard University Press, was recently republished as a classic. His latest book, Marihuana, the Forbidden Medicine, co-authored with James B. Bakalar, was published by Yale University Press in 1993 (revised and expanded edition, 1997) and has now been translated into ten languages. Dr. Grinspoon was also a reviewer of the 1999 Institute of Medicine report, “Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base.”

Dr. Grinspoon appeared in the Canadian documentary The Union: The Business of Behind Getting High ~ Also, he has two very good websites that I recommend, plus that you visit and join his Facebook Fan Page.

• Marijuana: The Forbidden Medicine – Dr. Grinspoon’s official website
• Uses of Marijuana – A website about the potential of medical cannabis

Reefer Love is the name of the newest event at Reefer Poker where players are awarded with a free coupon to a 0 added Reefer Love tournament by winning a poker hand with a heart flush.

Details: From Saturday, Feb 13 through midnight on Sunday Feb 14 any player that wins a cash (ring) game hand with a heart flush, using both of their hole cards, will earn a free coupon to a + .50 tournament with 0 added that will be held on Monday Feb 15th. Only games of Texas Holdem will qualify for this promotion, and both SnG and multi-table tournaments will be excluded. Players that have the qualifying hands must email love@reeferpoker.com with the winning hand number. After verifying that the hand qualifies, players will be awarded their coupons on Monday, February 15 at least 2 hours prior to the start of the tournament.

So don’t be shy, whip-out that big sticky cola, roll it up and show some love, enjoy it with your sweet hearts….

With the Winter Olympics firing-up in Vancouver, British Columbia, February 12, the most marijuana-friendly host city in Olympic history, a place where restrictions on pot are loose enough to allow “consumption lounges,” some of which are extending their hours to accommodate a wave of jet-lagged international visitors, partly explains why this has been nicknamed the “Pot Olympics”. Many of the winter sports enthusiasts attending are also ganja lovers who will be pining to score some of the legendary BC Bud, to take with them to the slopes. Since I’m somewhat of an expert at scoring weed in Vancouver, my city of birth, I felt it only hospitable and kind to offer a few suggestions and tips.

If you’re heading to Whistler, where most of the Alpine action is, don’t take the risk of being able to find a steady supply of weed there, also because you won’t want to drive the “Sea to Sky” highway without blowing a nice fatty along the way, preferably as you drive out of the city limits but also because the chances of finding some bud to smoke at Whistler is not always a sure thing, however if your stash runs out cruise the outside area of Moguls Cafe, around the liquor store and the little grocery store, just ask people sitting around and most of the time you’ll be able to find some dank BC Bud.

One thing to remember about buying good herb in Vancouver is to look in the right places, discreetly ask the right people and you’ll be hooked up with BC Bud at it’s best because there is so much good grass grown locally that the street market always has fresh crop at fair prices and even a small sack of pot from the back of a bar parking lot, rolled into nice reefers, will keep you pleasantly buzzed and the stash last for days of watching winter sports, skiing, snowboarding and/or whatever other recreation. To get some ideas where to look for BC Bud just start by heading for W. Hastings Street and walk around, to get a feel for the city. Just relax and walk around the city and feel comfortable about your rights related to weed, follow your instincts and ask for advice. There are many people who will point you in the right direction, even the cab drivers.

If Hunter S. Thompson were still alive he’d have been the “Master of Ceremony” and I’ll wager that if he hadn’t of thought of the idea he would have thought it was an outstanding concept but none-the-less, the smart folks from “High Country Caregivers” probably got really high one day and dream’t up this clever idea. I mean really, is there a better place in continental USA to host such an event? How high do you want to get?

Already the Western Slope Cannabis Crown, held April 17-18, will include as many as 400 strains of weed, live music, guest speakers, and information about medical marijuana. The event is open to the public, but only registered medical users can buy weed or get their hands on “golden tickets” to let them sample all the entries.

“We’re really almost sold out already,” said Joe McVicker of High Country Caregivers, a Glenwood Springs dispensary helping organize the event. “There were, like, 1,500 tickets and we probably have, like, 40 now.”

Luckily, for those of us too stoned and lazy to go all the way to Glenwood Springs for a ticket, McVicker said there’s another 80 or so on Craigslist. Oh, and some place in Denver called Green Thumb has them, too, but he wasn’t sure where it is. (No joke.)

“We’re going to have Hunter S. Thompson’s wife here for a chat, and the editor of High Times will be here, too,” McVicker said. “We’re gonna help people get [medical marijuana] cards, and it’s just going to be a good time.”

Cannabis strains will be judged based on THC levels and how well they treat different medical problems. Golden ticket holders will help choose a people’s choice, but expert judges will select the winner, and McVicker thinks the grower will win a trip to Amsterdam. For more information, you could visit the website, but it’s, you know, still in the works. For more information visit www.cannabiscrown.com.

Here is a list of some of the negative effects of the ban on cannabis:

1. The ban on cannabis means that in addition to the coffeeshops and people who grow for their own use, an illegal market in cannabis also exists. There is no possibility of control over this illegal market which leads to criminality, unsafe situations, and events that disturb the peace; and to which underage people have easy access.
2. The ban on cannabis makes large scale crops and export of the product into a lucrative source of income for criminal organizations which can then use this income for other criminal activities, or ‘wash’ it via money laundering operations that can disturb the legal economy.
3. The ban on cannabis encourages criminal and antisocial behavior: rules concerning safety and security (for growing and in the marketplace) are easily broken and this goes unpunished. Conflicts are resolved using violence.
4. The ban on cannabis leads to an increase in prices, as the producer in an illegal market calculates their risk into the price.
5. The ban leads to a migration of tourists to coffeeshops near the borders of the country, and the operation of ‘drug runners’ to transport the product. Simple solutions for this problem such as the proposal for a so-called ‘Weed Boulevard’ with legal supply logistics are held back by the ban on cannabis.
6. The ban on cannabis puts enormous pressure on the resources of the police and the justice system, which cannot then devote them to other, more important goals. Some of the methods used to enforce the ban limit the personal freedom of civilians and are a matter of contention in court.
7. The costs of enforcing the ban on cannabis are not justified by the results. Although the goal of the ban (an essential reduction in supply and demand) fails to come a single step closer, the ban itself is never brought forward for discussion.
8. The ban on cannabis damages the credibility of the government, given that the use of cannabis continues to be firmly naturalized in society.
9. The (world-wide) ban on cannabis is one of the pillars of the U.S. dominated War On Drugs, which has led to sizeable global violations of human rights; and severely damages both the environment, and the security of the populations of cannabis-producing lands.
10. The ban on cannabis impedes the development of the industrial applications of the plant, which is capable of making a very valuable contribution to a sustainable future.
11. The ban on cannabis makes it impossible to carry out standardized controls on the product. Therefore demands can hardly be placed on the product in terms of consistent quality, health, or accompanying information on the contents and effects of the product.
12. The ban on cannabis leads to unwelcome and unhealthy practices in production which negatively affect the quality and effects of the product, and thereby damage the health of the consumer.
13. The ban on cannabis criminalizes the cannabis consumer (over one million Dutch people), with negative social consequences for the people in question, their relationships, their family, and their home and work environment.
14. The ban on cannabis is a restriction of the right to freedom of expression. It legitimizes information about the supposed evils of cannabis, information that cannot be seriously tested for durability, credibility or truthfulness and yet is used as justification for the active enforcement of the ban.
15. The ban on cannabis damages the right of the individual to make decisions about his / her own body.
16. The ban on cannabis damages the right of the individual to possess a medicine that is necessary to maintain or support his or her health and wellbeing.
17. The ban on cannabis dissuades doctors from prescribing it to patients who could benefit from the effects; and delays the process of recognition of its medicinal applications in the treatment of multiple afflictions such as HIV and AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, cancer, and chronic pain.
18. The ban on cannabis denies the government the possibility of levying taxes on the product.

If Hunter S. Thompson were still alive he’d have been the “Master of Ceremony” and I’ll wager that if he hadn’t of thought of the idea he would have thought it was an outstanding concept but none-the-less, the smart folks from “High Country Caregivers” probably got really high one day and dream’t up this clever idea. I mean really, is there a better place in continental USA to host such an event? How high do you want to get?

Already the Western Slope Cannabis Crown, held April 17-18, will include as many as 400 strains of weed, live music, guest speakers, and information about medical marijuana. The event is open to the public, but only registered medical users can buy weed or get their hands on “golden tickets” to let them sample all the entries.

“We’re really almost sold out already,” said Joe McVicker of High Country Caregivers, a Glenwood Springs dispensary helping organize the event. “There were, like, 1,500 tickets and we probably have, like, 40 now.”

Luckily, for those of us too stoned and lazy to go all the way to Glenwood Springs for a ticket, McVicker said there’s another 80 or so on Craigslist. Oh, and some place in Denver called Green Thumb has them, too, but he wasn’t sure where it is. (No joke.)

“We’re going to have Hunter S. Thompson’s wife here for a chat, and the editor of High Times will be here, too,” McVicker said. “We’re gonna help people get [medical marijuana] cards, and it’s just going to be a good time.”

Cannabis strains will be judged based on THC levels and how well they treat different medical problems. Golden ticket holders will help choose a people’s choice, but expert judges will select the winner, and McVicker thinks the grower will win a trip to Amsterdam. For more information, you could visit the website, but it’s, you know, still in the works. For more information visit www.cannabiscrown.com.

The UN estimates that up to 190 million people use cannabis, representing 4% of the global adult population, compared with 1% of the population, which uses all other illegal drugs together.  Thus cannabis is by far the most used controlled drug in the world, making it the mainstay of the War on Drugs. In the United States alone there were an estimated 829,625 arrests for cannabis violations in 2006.  Despite these figures, cannabis continues to be largely ignored in international drug policy debates.  Here is a list of 10 other interesting facts about marijuana.

1. According to one national survey on drug use, each day approximately 6,000 Americans try marijuana for the first time.
2. Worldwide, it is estimated that about 162 million adults use marijuana at least once per year, and 22.5 million use the drug daily.
3. Marijuana usage is a ritual part of many religious traditions throughout the world. In Islamic nations, it is accepted alongside coffee and tobacco while alcohol is strictly prohibited.
4. According to one report, it would take 800 joints to kill a person “but the cause of death would be carbon monoxide poisoning.
5. There are over 200 slang terms for marijuana in the popular vernacular.
6. The name marijuana comes from a Mexican slang term for cannabis and is believed to have derived from the Spanish pronunciation of the names Mary and Jane. (The two names were also common Mexican military slang for a prostitute or brothel.) Marijuana came into popularity as a name for cannabis in the U.S. during the late 1800s.
7. The cannabis plant can grow in nearly any environment and averages one to two inches of growth per day and up to 18 feet total in ideal conditions.
8. The primary active ingredient in marijuana is THC (delta 9 tetrhydrocannabinol). It is this chemical that produces marijuana’s mind-altering effects.
9. Depending upon the weather conditions, soil type, and time of harvest for a cannabis plant, as well as the specific mixture of dried leaves and flowers in the marijuana product, a sample of marijuana can contain anywhere from 3% to 20% THC.
10. Cannabis seeds were used as a food source in China as early as 6000 B.C.

What is it that makes the Weekend 420 Poker Tournament on Reefer Poker so much fun? Could it be hanging-out with the coolest people online? Or is it just the thrill of the game and the love of the ganja?

Every Saturday and Sunday at 4:20 Reefer Time they host a .20 + {content}.00 (yup, no fee) tournament with cash added, PLUS an exclusive, highly coveted and cool Reefer Poker Prize Pack for the winner! This is your chance to really “smoke the competition”!

The Reefer Poker Prize Pack consists of a Reefer Poker shirt, hat, papers, and stickers, and will be sent to your address on file. If you are the winner.

The Caribbean Festival is the best party of the year in Miami and this year will be the 17th Annual, this time back in Bayfront Park, right downtown in Miami on the bay in a fabulous outdoor amphitheater. The event is sort of like a Marley family party combined with a food drive for South Florida charity. This year the festival is dedicated to the memory of Cedella Booker Marley (Mother Bee, Bob Marley’s Mom), who passed away last year. The line-up of talent is excellent as always and one thing you can count-on is that at some point during the festival there will be set played as a tribute to Bob Marley, where you’ll see the family, old friends and guest musicians, all come together to jam to some great Bob Marley songs. Another thing you can count on is more ganja smoking in one place than you ever imagined possible. To learn more visit Caribbean Festival.

OG Kush is a super-potent variety of medical-grade, Indica dominant Cannabis with very distinct lemony citrus, pine-sol aroma. The look of OG Kush is remarkable, it’s lime green and covered in white trichomes but the main reason it’s so popular in medical marijuana dispensaries is the long-lasting, heavy-hitting sativa buzz effect which is both a soaring cerebral high and physically stimulating.

Whenever I think of OG Kush I think of Los Angeles, since that’s where I first tasted this legendary cannabis strain and the only place I’ve ever seen this great bud. Amongst the details that make this strain so interesting is that OG Kush is mostly a Cannabis Sativa hybrid, so really doesn’t even deserve having Kush in it’s name, although it’s probably bred into it’s genetic heritage. Added to that, OG Kush is a 1st generation offspring of a self-pollinated hermaphrodite and is only privately available in clone form and not in seed.

OG Kush clone-only cultivar is rumored to have been grown from a cutting of 91 Chemdog, which means that unless you live in Southern California it may be very difficult to get your hands on this strain. However, if you are lucky enough to locate some clones for your grow-op these plants are reputed to yield a great crop and for medical marijuana patients living in the greater Los Angeles area, they can score this wonderful medicine for an average of USD for an 1/8 of an ounce.

A new initiative to tax and regulate adult use of marijuana in Nevada by licensing retail stores and growers was filed Wednesday with the secretary of state’s office.

Nevadans for Sensible Marijuana Laws will need to gather 97,002 signatures to send the measure to the 2011 Legislature. If lawmakers fail to act……….CONTINUE