Comment Archives: stories: News & Features
Re: “Wine Country Confidential”
Finally! Some answers to my curiosity concerning the Fountaingrove building. I have walked my dog in that area often and have always been fascinated by that crazy brick building. At least now I know what it was in its heyday.
Any thoughts on the ramshackle mine out by Guerneville and Armstrong Woods, on Sweetwater Springs Rd?
Re: “The Straight Dope”
Hello Hapless Farmer,
The general characteristics of Sativas and Indicas you referenced are indicative of the complexity of plant profiles with their varying amounts not only of THC and CBD but also of individual terpenes and flavonoids. To correct a long-held assumption, high CBD cannabis does not make one lethargic, nor does it cause red eyes and a stoned effect. On the contrary, many people find it rather stimulating and appropriate for functional daytime usage. Also, high CBD strains have been found among Indicas and Sativas alike. Again, a cannabis plant's overall biological effect is influenced not only by its CBD-to-THC ratio, but also its mix of flavonoids and terpenes, which vary from plant to plant and have individual modulating and/or enhancing effects on phytocannabinoids as well as acting upon the body's cannabinoid receptors.
Re: “The Straight Dope”
Not a bad article, however it is somewhat inaccurate. THC does not cause "couch lock" in users. It is psychoactive, and somewhat psychotropic, and can reach the level of psychedelic in strains with high levels of THC and low levels of CBD, CBN, and other cannabinoids and synergistic chemicals. It is THC that gets one "high" and is useful for depression, lethargy, and other psychological issues, along with anti pathogenic activity . CBD (and constituent components) is what gets one "stoned", with the telltale red eyes, heavy eyelids, and lassitude. It can be narcotic-like. It has been shown to be especially deadly to cancer cells, and is very useful to alleviate pain.
THC is psychotic inducing, CBD is anti psychotic.
CBD is found in high levels in Cannabis Indica strains, which are thought to originate in Afghanistan, northern India, Nepal, and southern China.
High levels of THC with corresponding low levels of CBD are generally found in Cannabis Sativa which comes from more tropical regions such as southern India, Africa, southern Asia, and South America and rarely grows well above 35 degrees latitude.
Virtually all cannabis available was Sativa dominant until the early 90's. Indicas were traditionally used exclusively to make kif, hashish, etc. The classic California cannabis strains were Sativas.
That changed when Canada and Holland loosened restrictions on cannabis. Sativas wouldn't grow well in those northern latitudes as they require a very long growing season, produce wispy, fluffy, loose flowers, can be 15 feet tall, and are challenging to grow well. Indicas are short season plants, are rarely over eight feet, are easy to grow, produce hard, easy to trim flowers in abundance.
Generally speaking, in my experience, the more stony Indicas are preferred by younger people and those who tend to be 'hyper' or wish to simply relax or sleep.
Sativas tend to be preferred by mature users, professionals, especially those who have a long relationship with cannabis. These are not hard rules of course, simply my 40 year experience.
Re: “Grow a Spine!”
There's no text here! Please update archives!
Re: “The Anchor-Outs”
Those who feel the anchor outs add lovely character to Sausalito probably also feel the wretched homeless in San Francisco who poop and pee on the BART escalators add a lovely character to San Francisco.
They would not find them so romantic if they lived next door.
Re: “The Straight Dope”
I very much appreciated the article and view the conspiracy theory advanced by Anon-E as being a reminder that rigidity of perspective is an affliction that affects
not only right wing bigots.
Certainly to tease out any facts on a subject that has until recently been so taboo in the legal/academic institutions of the US is a credit to the author. While I would have appreciated more facts, it is clear that we don't have more facts on this topic because as the authors notes, our government has (and to great extent continues) to suppress such research.
Given the prevalent use of grass not only in our modern cultural-- but also dating back to ancient civilizations-- it is incumbent on our journalistic community to keep us informed as this author has done even if the facts are just beginning to be understood.
Thanks you, Melinda for reporting with depths. wit and eloquence from the frontiers of research on a topic of such immense importance.
David
Re: “Step by Step”
Give me a break, Don't Get Me Started. AA dogma is not flexible as is claimed, and I have been to plenty of AA meetings. In all AA meeting there will a reference to Jesus, and how important it is to pray, aka beg, for some higher power to empower me. If said higher power was so powerful, why wouldn't they keep me from being an alcoholic in the first place, I wonder. And since relapse happens in AA, I have the following question: Does relapse show that a higher power doesn't care? Or does it mean that a higher power doesn't exist? There is absolutely no empirical evidence that AA is any more effective than any other treatment or support. The whole "it works" claim is a bunch of hogwash!
Re: “The Straight Dope”
Given that this article explores marijuana’s history and culture, criticizes the federal government’s policy against cannabis and speaks avidly about the use of WHOLE PLANT CBD-RICH CANNABIS as opposed to isolated cannabinoids, I am confused how it could be misinterpreted as favorable to Big Pharma. But to get down to what really is bothering Anon-E, it appears he/she is unhappy about the way I portrayed the majority of dispensaries in the North Bay. I investigated a fair number of dispensaries and found an intriguing similarity among most of them, which I chose to highlight (albeit with humor) in my piece. I also chose to interview folks in one dispensary which actively keeps up with the science. Just about everyone I had interviewed in this industry acknowledged the blurry line between medicinal and recreational usage--especially with regards to dispensaries--a subject which could fill a whole article by itself. This commenter claims to have “friends who work in dispensaries,” so I assume he/she is very aware of this phenomenon.
Re: “The Straight Dope”
Well, let's see. It's been 7 days now since this cover story was published and we have four comments above - mine + 3 who were reacting to my comment. If this story was really so wonderful & I were really so wrong, don't you think there would be more comments? Comments that weren't directly reactive to mine (implying perhaps they were posted because someone was visiting this page because they had been told to shout my opinion down by someone connected to the article-originator versus readers who had actually been inspired by the story). This makes me even more inclined to suspect this article is pharmaceutical shill... Pharmaceutical companies would love to have a monopoly on some marijuana derivative that they could patent, which is what this article seems to be touting (in my opinion). I'd love to be wrong, but - based on responses so far - it seems likely, sadly, and the Bohemian has inadvertently become a shill (best case) or sold out (worst case).
Re: “The Straight Dope”
The first comment sounds like it was written by a dispensary owner who seriously needs a bong rip of CBD ;-)
Re: “The Straight Dope”
Real journalism seems to in fact have been used to deal with the issue of c.b.d strains of the remedy. Building a bridge between medical use and its recreational counterpart requires some looking at things the way they really are. The writer sounds like she has been in such places. I have and the description was dead on. The positive effects of medical and recreational don't have to be mutually exclusive. The gentle poke at the true nature of a dispensary seemed a mere tipping of the hat. An acknowledgment of the need for just such a bridge. Being prone to hyperbole I don't think she even came close. Where such shops are found sadly is true. As contrasted by alcohol which in most places can be vended within steps from court houses, places of worship and schools. Progress has been made in the medical marijuana movement and the writer struck me as a standard bearer doing what so sorely needs to be done. Look at and describe how things are. And look honestly. Having seen and overheard many a young person in the throes of arrested development high five a friend at getting a recommendation I can tell you this. As they return their baseball cap to the reversed position, insomnia or back pain are the frequent punch line. Many times exhaling. The writer stuck me as someone who truly wished to advance medical knowledge. Taking apart with humor some of the drags on the cause in a playful way. There was so much more to the story than this though. What came through loud and clear were the many things that C.B.D. strains of marijuana would help. Including back pain and insomnia. A mere dry description may have done nothing to heighten awareness. Where the real research is being done is in our own back yards. And by people who have dared. People who have risked. That we have have to wait as the flywheel of progress slowly turns is secondary. Legislation slowly turns favorable. Medical sanctioning and understanding slowly turns favorable. People learning what is responsible use and what is not slowly turns favorable. Turning the prism and taking a look through each facet brings such change. Writers such as this one cast the medical possibilities in new light. Heighten awareness and spur on favorable progress. — Tumbleweed
Re: “The Straight Dope”
At last! great news & straight scoop on pot -- well put together article, sounds like a must-have book.
Re: “The Straight Dope”
I could have done with less "yellow journalism" and "questionable" quotation marks and more solid facts. Next time, get a real journalist to write this kind of article, not a writer who is hypnotically in love with her own hyperbole (at best).
1) Cannibis dispensaries are found '...near adult video "shoppes" and liquor stores...' because that is where city and county ordinances will allow them. Can you imagine the hue and cry if one tried to open near a school?
2) Next time the writer has some real "back pain," I doubt she'll feel like it is some slippery excuse to seek pain relief. My friends who work for dispensaries are proud to provide tangible help to people with HIV and Cancer who find real effects from cannibis in getting their appetite back and pain relief and more.
3)...well I could go on, but this article is just a quaqmire; will people even get to the burning question of where and how is this research being done since it is illegal in the U.S. (even though the doctor quoted works at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute). GW Pharmaceuticals (in a secret location somewhere in Britain)? So, is this article trying to tell us something of value in a terribly misguided way or is it some kind of pharmaceutical shill?
Re: “Hidden Agenda”
Leilani Clark.... you are a traitor to America... probably bought and paid for, or did you happen to go to one of those parties, you know, they take your photo while you are committing despicable acts? They either own you or you are incredibly stupid, in either case you would do the world a favor if you resigned and started to read and study. People like you who sell out and 'trade with the enemy' are nothing more than brown shirt boot lickers and a disgrace to humanity. How much are they paying you to ruin America? I guess you love something, money... and what is so sad, you have no idea, once your job is done by screwing your community, you will be ground down like the rest of us, because your handlers and their ilk think you are just as worthless as the rest of us. Get real, grow up, and use your brain. You are only a dumb slave, so don't let your ego trick you into thinking you are more than that.
Re: “Step by Step”
AA continually resists any efforts to quantify its results, claiming privacy for its members and that the program "works if you work it." That just means that if it works for you, credit goes to AA, but if it doesn't work for you, that's YOUR fault. Would you go for cancer treatment to a clinic that wouldn't tell you your chances, just point you to the people in the waiting room who claimed good results? The people who had bad experiences (or died) at that hypothetical clinic aren't there to warn you away!
If you're going to AA and it isn't working for you, you go out and drink and die in a crash, then AA doesn't claim you as an "AA failure," they claim that you "went out" and "weren't following the program." Members are supposed to remain in the program for life, and there are cultish warnings that, if you leave, you could die. Heck, you might die if you STAY.
I attended AA for 3 years while in psychotherapy and had a sponsor, but it sure was annoying to sit around in AA meetings while people talked about how grateful they were that Jesus changed the traffic light so they wouldn't be late to work, for instance. I don't believe in an interventionist God, and if you do, that's fine with me, but I sure hope the courts wouldn't order me to listen to all that blather. (Later I returned to responsible alcohol use and haven't had any problems for the past 15 years.)
However, if you look at the history of the founding of AA, it was designed as a way to bring people to Christianity. It's still steeped in that philosophy, FULL of fanatical believers, and -- worst of all -- uses anecdotal evidence rather than statistics to prove its effectiveness.
Re: “Lethal Blow”
The arguments in support of the ballot measure to abolish the death penalty are exaggerated at best and, in most cases, misleading and erroneous. Proposition 34 is being funded primarily by a wealthy, left-wing company out of Chicago, the ACLU, and similarly-oriented trust funds. It includes provisions that would only make our prisons less safe for both other prisoners and prison officials and significantly increase the costs to taxpayers due to life-time medical costs, the increased security required to coerce former death-row inmates to work, etc. The amount “saved” in order to help fund law enforcement is negligible and only for a short period of time. Bottom line, the “SAFE” Act is an attempt by those who are responsible for the high costs and lack of executions to now persuade voters to abandon it on those grounds. Obviously, these arguments would disappear if the death penalty was carried forth in accordance with the law. Get the facts at and supporting evidence at http://cadeathpenalty.webs.com and http://waiting4justice.org/.
Re: “Field Trippin'”
This was so awesome I nearly had an anxiety attack as I was reading it. I haven't done acid since age 14, but I never forgot a single moment of it. I made gnarly pot brownies once though, and ended up comatose and similarly one-syllabled for about 5 hours sitting on the porch of my co-op in Berkeley, CA. Great read, and I'm glad you and Max worked it out!
Re: “Laughing Matter”
Leilani, I'm SO IMPRESSED that you did this. What a wonderful article. I'm so glad you're giving props to these folks who willingly participate in one of the most vulnerable things in the world, for no pay, and very few rewards. I love them!! And I love that they are finally being supported in a big way. Also, I think Sonoma County's comedy scene owes a lot to Steve Jaxon of KSRO who regularly shines a spotlight on all of the funny people here and throughout the Bay Area.
Re: “Express Lane”
We have to fight the box! and Monsanto! bringing in chain stores would only make gmos more available! what about community gardens in these areas?? guidelines on stores in areas like these and on what they need to carry to be open?there are so many other guidelines they have to go by already to have the license they have, so why not? wtf? were gunna give the go ahead for shit like walmart but not try an bring our community together and plant a garden on all that land?? WAKE UP!!!! two wrongs dont make a right!!
This Week's Issue
Re: “Bedside Bankroll”
California should impose stringent measures to ensure that facilities likeurgent care carlsbad ca can preserve its practice despite of all the non-certified in-home healthcare professionals that are dominating the state.