For the stoner sect, working on a pot farm must seem like the equivalent of a fat person winning one of those contests where they get to stuff their shopping cart with as much food as they can in one minute. But I–your faithful blogger—have actually worked on a pot farmer in Mendocino County (part of the Emerald Triangle) and the fantasy isn’t always the same as the reality. So here are 7 truths and fictions about working on a pot farm: (more…)

Back in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, weed was nothing much more than some funky grass that made you feel chill, silly and hungry. But today, the US government’s Office of National Drug Control Policy has announced that the average percentage of THC, the psychoactive ingredient, in the currently available marijuana has risen to 9.6-percent, up from 1983’s report of just under 4-percent.

The study was done by the University of Mississippi’s Potency Monitoring Project (how do we join?), which tested 62,797 cannabis samples, 1,302 hashish samples, and 468 hash oil samples, confiscated by law enforcement. “The increases in marijuana potency are of concern since they increase the likelihood of acute toxicity, including mental impairment,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Increased mental impairment a concern? Well, our only concern is getting our hands on some of that bud.

[Props to Gawker for this bit]

Weed has a really schizophrenic status in American culture. Pretty much everyone’s tried it, but getting busted with even a small amount of it can land you some serious jail time.

Meanwhile, magazines like High Times boast super-ridiculous, high-definition marijuana centerfolds and smoking tips, and you can buy amazingly ornate smoking paraphernalia, like, at the local mall. Way to be low-key.

Although smoking pot is normalized, if not practically mainstream (we’re long past the “Reefer Madness” era, after all), there have been over eight million cannabis arrests in the United States since 1993 — at a rate of 1 cannabis users arrested every 40 seconds. And this is in a country where growing and selling pot, at least for medicinal purposes, is totally legal in many states. Could it get more convoluted?

In hopes of alleviating the confusing f*ck-all of cannabis culture in the United States, a new higher institution (pun intended) in the Bay Area has opened its doors to curious stoners, enterprising hydroponic botanists, and legalization activists. Half-jokingly dubbed “Oaksterdam University,” this Oakland trade school is a full-fledged university of weed. (more…)

When the winter months are upon us, Jamaica is indeed the country of cool – in all the right ways.

The former British colony (and current cannabis field) caters to those looking to preserve or pulverize fond memories by way of extreme relaxing or partying, respectively. Our COED itinerary guarantees to put a smile on your melanoma-stricken face (seriously, you really should get that mole checked out).

We start off in… (more…)