1 in 20 Americans (10.725 million) smoked pot last month

[G_j]

(According to U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18653

It's Cool to Get High

By Dara Colwell, AlterNet
May 10, 2004

"Marijuana is a mistress known by many names: KGB, Hash's cousin, Mary; El Diablo de Verde, Mr. T...HC, Bleecker St. Creeper, John Claude van Amsterdam," intone the three actors of the new play, the Marijuana-Logues.


"First, let's talk about THC, which stands for, er, 'The High Causer,'" says Tony Camin, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the eldest Brady son. "To overdose, you'd have to smoke 1,500 pounds of pot in 15 minutes, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. But technically," he continues in a high-pitched stoner's drawl, "it's not all that pot that kills you. It's the cookie dough."


Yes, Mary-Jane is back in vogue and in New York City that includes a theatrical debut. The Marijuana-Logues, an off-Broadway production of the Actors Playhouse, hopes to be a "hit" unlike anything the city has seen. By parodying pot and putting the plant center-stage, the play's performers discovered they have tapped into a wider trend – marijuana's growing, though frequently tacit, acceptability. "There aren't that many outlets for pot humor," says Camin, who has appeared on the late-night circuit. "When we first started doing stand-up, pot jokes sounded corny, but now we get Moms and Dads coming up to us and saying, 'Thanks a lot. We're secret pot heads.'"


Long gone are the days when smoking dope was limited to an underclass of weedy, patchouli-laden advocates. The city, if not the nation, is now ripe for catching the buzz. According to U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 10.725 million Americans – roughly 1 in 20 – have used marijuana in the past month. And it's this enduring penchant for pot that has kept magazine High Times, the stoner bible for bud enthusiasts, in business for decades. Staff at the Manhattan-based magazine, which celebrates its 30th anniversary in May, has witnessed a recent shift in the cultural winds regarding weed.


..more..

[movonne]

1. Good

[seabeyond]

2. how many this morning?

wink

[cheezus]

17. 2... and it makes me feel alright

[catzies]

27. 2 in time of peace, 2 in time of war...

n/t

[frank frankly]

3. thank goodness

metaphysics to the rescue!!!

[LeahMira]

4. Well, OK...

... but is "real life" really that difficult or that boring or whatever?

[Bridget Burke]

5. Don't worry about it.

It's not your problem. You're perfect just as you are.

Or, do you wonder what it's like?

[woofless]

6. Marijuana use doesn't change "real life"

into something other than real life. It is simply a medicinal, beneficial herb. I personally believe that marijuana is one of the many ways God proves to us that she loves us and wants us to be happy.

Woof

[Baltimoreboy]

7. Or it's a pathetic attempt at escape

Take your pick.

Remember 19 out of 20 Americans didn't use pot.

[wildwww2]

13. You have to escape to DU to call a human pathetic? I like the God

theory better than your pompous attitude.
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

[Baltimoreboy]

24. I didn't call the people pathetic

I called the actions of escape pathetic.

[jono]

22. Have you ever "escaped" with alcohol? (nt)

[Baltimoreboy]

26. Have, don't

I seldom drink at all in fact. I'm no Carrie Nation, just don't think escaping from the world is smart. I think living in it is the way to go.

[G_j]

10. humans

have always needed avenues for 'altered states'. I think we are hard wired for it.

And yes "life" is a difficult struggle. That is why people come home from a stressful day of work and turn on the TV which puts their brains in an 'alpha' state.

There are many "escapes" and pot is far more creative than the boob tube, or Prozak for that matter.

[wicket]

19. Ain't that the truth!

:)

[wicket]

18. Do you say the same of people who drink alcohol?

[jonnyblitz]

23. my "real life" doesnt change any when stoned.

I just approach it from a different angle. People who know nothng about it shouldnt comment.

[AntiCoup2K4]

8. Haven't smoked any for a few years.....

But this month is certainly making me consider the option...

[mopaul]

9. uh..........................................................

.............crap! i forgot what i was gonna say

[seemslikeadream]

11. Marijuana plants worth $40 million - surviving and then some

Fresno sheriff's officials agree that only a fraction of Southeast Asian truck farmers are involved in marijuana cultivation, and they have apologized to the refugees for public comments that suggest they are targets. But they warn that the illegal operations and all that they entail — such as the use of rifles and night-vision gear — can pose dangers.

Like the vegetables, the marijuana they raise is an unusual breed. Nurtured indoors and conditioned to grow no more than 3 feet tall, the bushy-leafed crop is easy to hide once transplanted. This season's first surveillance took narcotics officers to a Southeast Asian vegetable farm that stretched out over 40 acres, far bigger than most.

"About 25 acres were cropped, and 15 acres were being used for marijuana," Hill said. "I had farmers who walked their dogs every day along that property and all they saw was tomatoes."

Two men and a woman who spoke little English were arrested and charged with cultivating 12,000 illicit plants. As more tips flowed in, a half-dozen other busts came in quick succession.

http://ktla.trb.com/news/la-me-farm12may12,0,7983445.story?coll=ktla-n...

As Prices Fall, Farmers Turn to Illegal Cash Crops



Fresno County officer dumps marijuana plants to be burned. Half-dozen fields were uncovered in one month.
(Mark Crosse / Fresno Bee)

In the past month, Fresno County investigators have busted a half-dozen marijuana fields hidden by borders of cherry tomatoes. A more ideal camouflage crop — the tomato and the pot plant have similar leaves — would be hard to find. Nearly 40,000 squat but prolific bushes have been yanked out and set ablaze, an illicit harvest worth $40 million on the streets — more than last year's value for cherries or Valencia oranges or sweet corn in Fresno County.

Five lowland Lao refugees have been arrested and charged with cultivating marijuana for sale. The record heat of spring has not only pushed the vineyards and fruit orchards several weeks ahead of their growing cycles but matured the marijuana in half the time.

"This is the earliest in my 23 years as a narc that we've taken off so many marijuana plots," said Lt. Rick Hill of the Fresno County Sheriff's Department. "Usually, the plots we find are in the mountains, and they're mostly operated by gangs from Mexico. These new plots are down on the valley floor, and it's Southeast Asians who are growing them."

The tips, meanwhile, keep coming in. Last week, sheriff's deputies found 13 pounds of processed marijuana, $37,000 in cash and night-vision equipment in a house belonging to a lowland Lao. A storage facility rented by the same man produced two rifles, two handguns and 40 pounds of processed marijuana.

"It's hard to tell if it's one big operation or several smaller ones," Hill said. "I'm afraid we're on the front end of a trend."


Hao Khounmeuang plucks leaves from an eggplant. She says she has never seen a growing marijuana plant.
(Robert Durell / LAT)
http://ktla.trb.com/news/la-me-farm12may12,0,7983445.story?coll=ktla-n...

[Quahog]

12. Hmmmm....

There are about sixty houses in my subdivision. So, statistically, there ought to be three places right in my neighborhood where I could get hooked up....

:smoke:

[WEagle]

14. 10.725 million votes

could make a difference, but only Kucinich supports decriminalization.

[Kazak]

15. Now, how they came upon that figure...

I'd like to know. No one polled me. :shrug:

[rinsd]

16. "John Claude van Amsterdam"

If this is what you call your pot....you smoke WAAAAAAAAAYYYYY too much or you are in college. Those are not mutually exclusives options either.

[neoteric lefty]

20. i missed out last month

March was the last time for me :) Maybe I'll have to get a new friend to do it with this month to make up for it.

[Q]

21. This has to be a guess...

...how would they know how many smoked pot last month? Statistics aren't worth a damn when one is trying to evaluate the use of a substance that is 'illegal'.

- Cannibis has had many uses for thousands of years. Only a puritanical society like New America would prohibit its use.

[Beam Me Up]

25. I bet it was more than that.

This is a truly "re-creational" drug and I'd bet the percentage is about double what they're guesstimating.