As he places upon his armor and leds his troops toward the home of a local drugpin, the Police Chief enters into the backyard of the alleged dealer and to his fortune, discovers two users attempting to flee the home. Upon arrest he asks the fugitive if he had been smoking marijuana. The fugitive answers “no” and upon exhalation breathes what appears to be a light vapor towards the chief. Despite 20 years of servitude in the army of the lord and a particularly strong confundus charm the chief falls immediately upon the ground and begins to seize.

Meanwhile some thousands of miles away in Northern California, Reverend Steve Cherms of the Church of Cannabis begins preparation for his weekly service. New to the sphere of entheogen-based religions, the Church of Cannabis is organized around the premise that cannabis is the legendary “Tree of Life” plant mentioned in annual bestseller, The Bible. A cross between a very stoned Kid Rock and Benny Hinn, Cherms takes a relaxed approach to service. Members of the congregation are seen taking ‘sacraments’ in the form of what appears to be parsley filled debbie cakes, while passing an inflamed water pipe from person to person, all in continuous motion. After about 30 minutes of so-called ‘bong rips’, the camera shakes and the narrator’s drawl reports that “eventually, the service has begun”.

Cherms invokes discussion among his members by asking if they agree that Cannabis is indeed the Tree of Life Plant. The congregation echoes his question with a critically thought out “Yes!”. Unlike many religions, the members of the Church of Cannabis are in fact seasonal workers (clippers) who have come to California to capitalize on this century’s Green Rush. Clipping is hard work, a fact manifested in the calloused hands of the clippers, most of which are shaky with poor manual dexterity. The workers assist Cherms in harvesting the crop, and are in turn paid in marijuana. Unlike in Texas, agriculture in California seems to survive through means of a barter economy. After harvest several clippers are seen walking to the local outlet to purchase their goods for the next week. When questioned as to what method of currency he used to purchase his goods one clipper retorts “2 grams of afghan kush and a yu-gi-oh card”.

Having met one clipper before, I can say that in comparison to other seasonal workers, their work conditions are enviable. The young man I met was about 21 years old, traveling through town after a spring harvest. His co-worker and roadmate, described as “wearing a turban and being well-versed in technology” had apparently disappeared on the young man leaving him stranded without a ticket at the Greyhound Bus station. When I asked him if he had a cellphone, he said he was without money or a way to get in contact with Hassan but that it was a fine time to tell me of a mystical place where he had spent many months harvesting the cannabis plant and receiving government benefits, all for 20 dollars an hour. Curious about the possibilities of such an opportunity for myself, I pressed him for more information. Just where, was this land where people ran free, uninhibited by illnesses such as multiple scleroris and my own means for suffering, glaucoma? Unfortunately for me, the man stated that he and his long-lost roadmate had consumed large amounts of cannabis prior to leaving this land, but that a mysterious Queen Frostine would point me to a place about 60 km north of Candy Mountain. Google map results remain inconclusive.

You know that look Kobe sometimes gets when a reporter brushes past him, just to find Ron Artest and ask him what it feels like to be the voice of the team? That’s exactly what I felt the first time when watching the documentary. Just ugh, I’d rather have a schizophrenic be the voice of my movement. In my opinion Cherms seemed too illegitimate to be a proper poster boy for any of the Pro-MJ movement’s mainstream goals, and yet was too normal to ever achieve any cult-like status of his own. I kept getting the urge to jump through the screen and coach him on his cult-skills. Bitch, it’s puff, puff pass, puff, puff pass, keep fucking up and I’ll have you lemon-liming all over this floor.

Upon second watch, I was more inclined to believe that Cherms somewhat unconventional approach to activism also had his place within the Pro-MJ movement. After all, aren’t spiritual needs just as important as any other? If the debate on marijuana’s medicinal and agricultural value is still polarized then surely the spiritual use of marijuana should be a more neutral territory. Considering that much of the opposition tomarijuana’s legalization cite moral and religious beliefs as evidence for supporting arguments, is it entirely unlikely that they too could glean something from the use of marijuana in worship? Religion remains culturally strong because it evolves. Even the efforts for legalization have owed just as much to scientist’s research as they have to their own hard work and passion.

That said, where are all of these volunteers when a serious and unbiased argument in favor of legalizing marijuana is needed? I won’t question where the funding for some of these documentaries comes from, but it seems curious that well-established organizations such as NORML would be skipped in favor of characters such as Cherm. As the number of arrests for marijuana continues to rise and debate remains heated, the access to objective and useful information when making a decision to use should be considered a right within the United States. Even if citizens do decide to use in light of the consequences, the jail system is a  costly and counterproductive method to punishment. If you ever want to meet  the group of people with the most pride in what they do, go talk to a group of repeat offenders. In 2007 alone, the total cost of fighting marijuana to the American budget was 42 billion. One can only imagine how this number has and will continue to skyrocket over time. With those kind of numbers in mind, when will we fight for our rights and say enough is enough?

Link to Drug Inc. Documentary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_KP5IIQqCk

Sources:
http://legacy.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051115/news_1n15pot.html
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/64465/

It's right there, can't you see it?

Christian Brielmaier, originally from Germany, moved to the U.S. in the early 90’s. His resume includes, naval engineer, professional pilot, as well an engineer for a major tire manufacturer. Not exactly the background you’d expect for the unsung hero for the rights of small business owners in Uvalde, Texas.

Christian is currently “at war” with the City of Uvalde to keep his smoke shop “The Luckiest Leprechaun” open.

Temporarily closed to restock

Brielmaier, ”I had originally planned to open March 1st, but then they [City Council] told me ‘we’re not going to let you open’, so I opened!” With a projected grand opening of March 1, 2010, the City Council pushed his hand and led to opening in early February. However, to soothe some of the cities qualms, he has opted not to advertise. Most notably in this effort, his complete, utter lack of signage! That’s right, “my customers sometimes can’t even find me! The only ones that can find me are the ones that are bitching.”

The controversy certainly didn’t scare off the clientele or keep them from seeking him out,”Just imagine someone giving away free beer somewhere. That’s what it was like.” Within 3 days, the stores inventory was completely depleted, the store has been closed since while he attempts to restock and meet demand. “…San Antonio, their prices were through the roof, we can still make money without ripping people off. People were like, ‘it’s so cheap, let me just buy everything!’” So they did, and they took his stock to ZERO. His customers, he points out, are the “…blue and white collar crowd. Homeless people aren’t coming here and picking up a pipe, they can’t afford it!” He also points out that his customer base are the locals, the citizens of Uvalde. While some travel from San Antonio for the “deals,” the majority of his customers live within the city limits.

The concept behind the shop was to bring a touch of culture to a city that, as of present, is severely lacking. A former resident of Asheville, North Carolina, Christian says, ”I lived there for a bit, that was a downtown with culture, with history. Where you have a mix of people. [Some] playing guitar on the street, not because they’re homeless, but because they enjoyed doing it! That is what I would like downtown here to be.”

Less than a block from the shop

The city’s response to bringing culture into downtown?

“The Mayor openly takes credit for parking police cars out here [in front of the store]. Everything they’ve done so far is harassment. They’ve called my landlord, they tried to call my work, it’s turning into quite a big thing[...]I haven’t really heard too much from him lately. Then again, we’ve been closed for 3 weeks.”

The city’s attempted scare tactics to deter business spurred a brilliant marketing scheme. “The Police Car Special”, come in when the car is parked out front and get 15% off your entire purchase!! ”On any given night, generally, both sides of the street are full with people that are in the shop. [...] nobody here seems to care about the cops because there is nothing illegal about it.”

God's House window display

So why is he downtown?

“..the rents cheaper.”

He in fact was close to signing a lease further out of the downtown area, but with the City Council meeting that spawned the controversy and subsequent media coverage, he HAD to open and it HAD to be downtown. “Now if I move it’s as if the City Council wins,[...] it doesn’t matter if its legal or not.”

“I have a lawyer that I keep, it’s not a tremendous amount of money. I have to make sure I have enough cash in the bank in case they want to try to do something  for real, other than their ordinance.” About that ordinance, you keep hearing about it. What does it state exactly? Well… I don’t know, but here’s this:

Under the new ordinance, future businesses would not be allowed to sell kits intended for or designed for use in cultivating or producing illegal substances or sell items used for handling, dealing or using illegal substances, among other things.*

This is part of the reason he opened as quickly as he did, when the store opened he was within the law, and perfectly legit. But that doesn’t mean Christian isn’t remaining prepared. “You pass an ordinance, I’ll put pipes in the window. You protest, I’ll start selling grow kits. We can either live in peace or we can fight about it.”

“kits intended for or designed for use in cultivating or producing illegal substances”

I visited the local plant nursery while I was in town to help my parents pick out some plants for their garden. I noticed they had an earth box on display. By that ordinance, they would have to shut down shop. Hell anyone planning to sell dirt, pots, and watering cans, is attempting to sell equipment for the intended purpose of cultivating marijuana under that ordinance.

As I said earlier in We don’t take kindly to your types ’round ‘ere! this is the craziest bunch of crazy I’ve heard in a crazy long time. Amidst all of the craziness, what does Christian want the people of Uvalde to know?

“I’d like to be here and left alone, that’s it.”

Don’t we all?

Tree City/Police State

*-Ordinance will limit business purposes

Posted: Wednesday, Feb 24, 2010 – 04:18:19 pm CST
by Margaret Palermo – Staff writer

More importantly is the issue of industrial hemp, often glanced over in most films. A product which Ralf Nader describes in the film as,”…not a drug, though it is of the same species as marijuana, it’s a completely different variety of plant. Similar to comparing a Chihuahua to a St. Bernard.” The long and short of it is it can’t get you high.

The many uses of industrial hemp?

1. Clothing (a damn durable one)
2. Food (a damn nutritious one)
3. Biofuel (a damn clean one)
4. Paper (a damn fine one)

And we are JUST scratching the surface. The documentary notes there are over 25,000 products that can be produced by industrial hemp, including medicines for over 200 medical conditions.

The film leaves nothing hidden in the shadows about this industry, and yes, there is an industry to this highly criminalized plant. The director/narrator gives a complete breakdown of how marijuana trafficking works, all the way from investors/grow-op, down to the guy in another country dealing the drug.