After weathering the fear of federal prosecution and competition from drug cartels, California’s medical marijuana growers see a new threat to their tenuous existence: the “Wal-Marting” of weed.

Seeds are a crucial food source for birds, squirrels, livestock and other animals, especially during winter. For humans, edible seeds provide a delicious, nutrient-packed punch to meals and snacks, and are the source of most of our cooking oils, as well as some spices and beverages.
Seeds are quite high in calories because of their natural oils but don’t let that dissuade you from enjoying them. Their nutritional value is worth every calorie. A few interesting edible seeds that top the nutrient charts are chia, flax, hemp and pumpkin seeds.
Chia Seeds
While most of us remember the “Ch-ch-ch-chia Pet” as an ’80s gimmick, the ancient plant is actually regarded as a superfood, with many clinically proven health benefits.
Chia, Salvia hispanica, a plant belonging to the mint family, was so highly recognized by the Aztecs that it was often used as currency. The powerful seeds, referred to as “running food,” sustained Aztec runners, hunters, traders and warriors on long expeditions, often as their only source of nourishment.
Today, experts suggest that chia is one of the most nutritionally complete foods found in nature. In addition to being an excellent fiber source (mostly insoluble, which creates bulk for stool), chia is a rich plant-based source of Omega-3 fatty acids, consists of about 20 percent protein, and contains high levels of antioxidants, calcium, magnesium and iron.
Research has shown that chia has enormous potential to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease and Type 2 Diabetes. It can lower blood sugar (glucose) after a meal, reduce inflammation (C-Reactive Protein) and blood pressure, and is a natural blood thinner.
Since chia can absorb several times its weight in water, it helps the body maintain hydration, an important advantage to athletes and to those living in hot climates.
Gluten-free chia seed can be added — whole or ground — to a wide range of foods, including cereals, breads and bakery products, yogurt, desserts, pasta, and even soups and mayonnaise.
Flax Seeds
Flax has been cultivated for centuries and has been celebrated for its usefulness all over the world. Hippocrates wrote about using flax for the relief of abdominal pains, and the French Emperor Charlemagne favored flax seed so much that he passed laws requiring its consumption!
The main health benefits of flax seed are due to its rich content of Alpha-Linolenic Acid (ALA), dietary fiber, and lignans.
The essential fatty acid ALA is a powerful anti-inflammatory, decreasing the production of agents that promote inflammation and lowering blood levels of C-Reactive Protein (CRP), a biomarker of inflammation. Through the actions of the ALA and lignans, flax has been shown to block tumor growth in animals and may help reduce cancer risk in humans.
Lignans are phytoestrogens, plant compounds that have estrogen-like effects and antioxidant properties. Phytoestrogens help to stabilize hormonal levels, reducing the symptoms of PMS and menopause, and potentially reducing the risk of developing breast and prostate cancer.
The fiber in flax seed promotes healthy bowel function. One tablespoon of whole flax seed contains as much fiber as half a cup of cooked oat bran. Flax’s soluble fibers can lower blood cholesterol levels, helping reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Ground flax seed provides more nutritional benefits than does the whole seed. Grind the seeds at home using a coffee grinder or blender, and add them to cereals, baked goods, smoothies, and yogurt.
Store dry, whole flax seed in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a year. Ground flax seed should be refrigerated, also in an airtight container. Properly stored, it will keep for up to three months.
Hemp Seeds
Hemp has been an important resource and source of nutrition for thousands of years. While Cannabis sativa L. and other non-drug varieties of Cannabis, commonly known as hemp, have not been cultivated for use much in recent years, interest in the versatile plant has been restored worldwide.
Studies have identified hemp seed as a functional food and important food resource. Technically a nut, hemp seed contains over 30 percent fat and about 25 percent protein, with considerable amounts of dietary fiber and other nutrients. Nutritionally, hemp seed — or hemp heart — is best known for its polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). It’s an exceptionally rich source of the essential fatty acids linoleic acid (omega-6) and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), and a rare source of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) and stearidonic acid.
The two main proteins in hemp seed are edestin and albumin. Both of these high-quality proteins are easily digested and contain nutritionally-significant amounts of all essential amino acids, arginine in particular.
Some of the known health benefits of hemp include increased energy, improved metabolism and immunity, reduced food cravings, and it can help lower blood pressure. Hemp hearts also contain plant sterols that have been shown to reduce cholesterol.
In the U.S., hemp seeds are used to produce food, nutraceuticals, and body care products. Natural Product stores and supermarkets sell a variety of hemp-based foods, including hemp hearts, hemp bars, hemp protein shakes, hemp milk (non-dairy beverage), and cereal made with hemp.
Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin seeds have 373 calories per half cup. They are a good source of minerals, including zinc, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper, and manganese, as well as protein and fiber. Only one ounce provides about 7 grams of protein.
Pumpkin seed oil is rich in essential fatty acids (EFAs). EFAs have many benefits, among them the maintenance of healthy blood vessels and nerves, and all tissues, including the skin.
The oil is also rich in phytosterols, plant-based fatty acids that are similar enough to cholesterol that they can replace it in the human body, contributing to the reduction of blood cholesterol levels.
Pumpkin seeds have long been associated with a healthy prostate. The protective compounds present within the seed of the pumpkin, which include zinc and phytosterols, may help to shrink an enlarged prostate. For prevention, eat a handful (about 1 ounce) of raw pumpkin seeds three times a week.
Eating seeds raw is always preferred as roasting them deteriorates or destroys many of the nutrients. Add whole seeds to hot or cold cereals, baked goods (breads and cookies), salads, steamed vegetables, or grind them up to add to burgers, chili and casseroles.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/green/sns-green-seeds-of-life,0,6317255,full.story

Pot-comedy legends Cheech and Chong
talk about reuniting after a quarter-century,
Chong’s bust, Canada’s hate-on for Compassion
Clubs and copping a buzz via coconut oil

FRIENDS WITH WEED ARE FRIENDS INDEED:
Richard “Cheech” Marin and Tommy Chong

by CHRIS BARRY
They should need no introduction, given that over the course of their career they’ve sold roughly 10 zillion records and generated countless millions more dollars at the box office with their classic stoner flicks Up in Smoke, Nice Dreams and Still Smokin’, to name a few. Roughly 25 years after officially calling it a day in 1985, a divorce marked by an inordinate amount of mud-slinging and acrimony even by show biz standards, many of their old bits have seeped into the consciousness of people who weren’t even born back when Tommy Chong and Richard “Cheech” Marin were freakin’ the authorities out as counterculture icons who celebrated the use of illicit drugs as much as lampooning its more ridiculous elements.
Recently reunited and finally enjoying the critical accolades they so richly deserve, the Mirror cornered the two comedians last week to discuss what it is like to be doing stoner jokes again as senior citizens, Tommy’s lengthy prison sentence in a California jail for the unforgivable crime of distributing bongs across state lines, and of course, pot—yes, we spoke a lot about pot. Imagine that! Here’s what they told us.
Mirror: What inspired you guys to work together again after all the years and acrimony between the two of you? Money?
Cheech Marin: The rent was due, that and the opportunity to do it again. We tried to get together many times over the years but nothing ever worked out. I was on a run making movies and appearing in a TV show and didn’t want to interrupt that, but finally all the stars were in line so we did it. I’d finished doing all the things I had to do and, you know, working together again was still on my list.
Tommy Chong: I was having a pretty good time but I always missed Cheech and knew we’d someday eventually get together again. When we split up, our time had simply run out. Like a cake in the oven, we were done. We’d explored every nook and cranny of that genre and it was just time to go our separate ways.
CM: We were sick of each other. We’d been together for 17 years and done everything—concerts, movies, records. We were at a creative end.
TC: Cheech was feeling confined by that one character he’d made famous, the not-too-smart Chicano guy, the first Beavis and Butthead. He wasn’t raised like that, you know, it was just one character in his arsenal. Whereas I really did become the stoner—it started out as a caricature but I did evolve into a pot advocate. Also, Cheech’s being typecast as that Chicano character was a very touchy thing, like Redd Foxx playing the junkman or a Chinese guy playing Charlie Chan. So that had something to do with it as well.

Old fogies

M: Are you doing different material from the Hey, Watch This stuff you started doing last year?
CM: Completely different show.
TC: We’re doing a compilation of bits we’d never done on stage before, like Dave’s Not Here, Santa Claus and His Old Lady, while showcasing our musical talents more.
CM: And there’s a lot of improvisation, more improvisation than ever before, so it’s exciting for us to get to the hall at night.
M: Is it weird doing that stoner humour now that you’re in your 60s? Or, I dunno, is it maybe even funnier because of your age?
TC: Actually, it’s more appropriate. When you’re 60 years old, you’re slow and stupid and never know what’s going on, naturally. You don’t have to act. In your 60s, it’s like you’re stoned all the time anyway.
M: How often do you smoke pot now?
CM: Hardly ever, only when I want to relax sitting around playing guitar or if I go out golfing or something.
TC: I don’t really smoke anymore, my lungs won’t take it. I’m more into edibles. I’m into coconut oil, it’s the latest health-food miracle down here. So I’m cooking pot into that and making these little candies. I smoke pot for creative purposes, it really triggers my imagination.

Bush vs. bongs

M: So Tommy, how did you wind up serving time for this whole bong-distribution thing you got popped for a few years back?
TC: When my wife and I first started doing comedy out on the road, people were selling bootleg items of ours, t-shirts and bongs. So we started our own bong company, which was fine when the Democrats were in power, but once Bush got in, he went gung-ho busting all the bong manufacturers, trying to distract people from their Iraq war by getting tough on pot, the old Republican standby. So they started Operation Pipedreams and I was their target, because I had the name. But what they didn’t know is that I never owned the company, it was my son’s. So once they found that out, I made a deal to plead guilty so my son wouldn’t go to jail—he would have been the first person to ever go to jail for that. They gave me the impression that by pleading guilty, I wouldn’t do any time but I got railroaded and did nine months—eight months beyond the chalk line and one month in a halfway house in Taft, California. It cost me about $2-million, just to plead guilty! $200 K in lawyers fees, $35,000 in cash they confiscated from my home that had nothing to do with anything, lost income from work we had to cancel, it goes on. Imagine what would have happened had I fought the charge? The government can really break you down if they want to. It’s a sad thing, especially for pot, something proven to be beneficial that helps a lot of people.
M: Are you embittered by the experience?
TC: Not at all. I enjoyed my jail time. Every Canadian and American should go to jail for at least a year or two. I was well received in jail anyway, at least by the guys who could speak English there.

Health or Harper?

M: Do either of you have a medical marijuana card?
CM: I had one but lost it in true stoner fashion. People give us weed all the time anyway so it doesn’t make sense to buy it.
TC: Absolutely. I have the first one ever made. When it first became legal for medical purposes, there was no system set up. So Jack Herer called me up saying he’d found a doctor that would give us a letter. So we took that letter and we made it into cards, little business cards. I’ve still got it. But when I showed it to my arresting officer, they just laughed at it. Do you have one?
M: My wife did but they just busted all the Compassion Clubs in Montreal, after 10 years in operation too. It’s totally fucked.
TC: It’s what’s-his-name, Harper, flexing his DEA muscles, right? Canada’s in a unique position because they’ve never really had a pot law and now Harper’s trying to jam one down everybody’s throat. Harper and his right-wing Bush attitude arresting people, saying it’s illegal, forcing the Compassion Clubs to prove it isn’t. After 10 years, you’d think it’d be grandfathered into law.
M: That’s one theory going around, the Harper thing, although I’m sure there’s more to it than that. Hey, who’s the most surprising person that’s turned out to be a fan of yours, someone you wouldn’t expect?
CM: (laughs) The Queen of the Netherlands. We know friends of hers who say they go on her yacht and watch Cheech and Chong movies together.
M: The Netherlands, huh? How appropriate, you gotta love them Dutch. So when the history book is written on Cheech and Chong, what will their legacy be?
CM: I expect to be recognized as one of the most successful comedy teams of all time.
TC: That they were like Mexican immigrants, nothing could stop them
http://www.montrealmirror.com/2010/071510/comedy1.html

Posted by Robyn Urback

of past pot gatherings in Toronto.
The city will host Canada’s first International Medical Marijuana & Hemp Expo at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre tomorrow. The event is labeled as “the first expo promoting the respectable and responsible use of marijuana as medicine.”
“We’re not trying to promote: ‘Come down to the convention centre and get stoned.’ This isn’t what it’s all about,” Expo organizer Marco Renda told CBC. “This is about educating yourself on the benefits of cannabis as medicine.”
Renda says he hopes the expo will boost awareness about medical marijuana. He says he expects over 30,000 visitors to attend (despite the fact that no pot is actually being sold!). There are around 4,000 registered medical marijuana users in Canada.
http://www.blogto.com/news_flash/2010/07/international_medical_marijuana_expo_in_toronto_tomorrow/

Movies? Well, yes, says Glynis Murray, she does dabble in producing them (most recently, Everybody’s Fine, starring Robert De Niro).
“But that’s not my regular day job,” she says in a recent Skype interview. “Henry (Braham, her partner) is a director of photography and I’m a producer. We’ve been doing ads and documentaries forever and produced our first feature 10 years ago. But this is our real day job.”
“This” is Good Oil, which is just being introduced into the American market. Good Oil is the first culinary oil made from the seed of hemp plants – and Murray and Braham are evangelists about both its flavor (for cooking and salads) and its health benefits.
“Initially we were growing hemp as a step toward sustainable farming,” says Braham, cinematographer on such films as Waking Ned Devine, The Golden Compass and several others. “But we found that the seeds were nutty and tasty. So we started reading up about the oil and realized it had been out there for centuries.”
Still, it took them 10 years to refine the process of turning hempseed into a hempseed oil that not only was beneficial to a human diet but appealing to a human palate.
“It’s been sold for years in health stores,” he says. “But you’d have to be pretty sick to want that taste. So we worked at developing it with an attention to detail that focused on it as food rather than medicine.”
“Our challenge was how to capture the taste and make the oil in a time scale that made sense,” Murray adds. “What we wanted was to find an alternative to olive oil – and we found one that was far more healthy.”
As the Good Oil website points out, hempseed oil has 25 times the Omega-3s as olive oil – and half the saturated fat. And even olive oil is a relatively new innovation in home-cooking in northern Europe.
“Before olive oil, most recipes started with a slab of animal fat,” Braham says. “That was the core, the start. It’s only in the past 25 years that olive oil and other vegetable oils started being used. Now there’s a mesmerizing array of oils to choose from. People are more interested in what they’re cooking with.”
Hemp, Braham says, is “a unique story. Nothing is wasted. It’s the fastest-growing plant around, it’s incredibly efficient at capturing carbon, it takes little cultivation and it doesn’t use any chemicals or pesticides. We use the seed to make food with serious health benefits – and the rest goes into building products.
“We’re always hearing tips about how to live a greener life. And here it is, in a bottle. It’s a pretty exciting kind of story.”
The pair has been farming for almost a decade and a half, having escaped from a full-time life in the film industry: “We both came from a farming background,” Braham says. “We went off and made films, then reached a stage in our lives where we wanted to go back to our roots. We were looking for something sustainable, economical and environmental.”
Good Oil is being marketed “in serious food stores in Paris and it’s taken seriously by chefs as well as nutritionists,” Braham says. In the U.S., the product is being sold at Whole Foods in the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast, with plans to expand its distribution.
And no, Murray and Braham point out, there are no psychotropic effects associated with hempseed oil.
“I think there’s a huge awareness of the difference between hemp and cannabis,” Braham says. “Still, there’s this perception. That’s one of the reason we market it as Good Oil, rather than hempseed oil.”
“It’s not like we’re using Woody Harrelson as a spokesman,” Murray adds. “In the United Kingdom, there’s been no antipathy to it at all. Still, we put a number of health claims on the side of the bottle and one of the ones we used at first was ‘good for the joints.’ That shows you how naïve we are.”

Hemp campaigner Bernard Rappaz says he won’t end his hunger strike and has accused doctors treating him in hospital of violating his human rights by force-feeding him.
In an interview with the Tages Anzeiger and Der Bund newspapers, Rappaz says he would rather die straight on his back than live bent over, conforming to rules he disagrees with.
Growing cannabis plants as part of his campaign for the legalization of hemp means he faces a 5-year prison sentence, which prompted him to immediately began a fast.
He’s only eaten intermittently over the past hundred days.
Earlier this week, he was moved from Geneva’s cantonal hospital—where medics were respecting his wish not to be fed—to Bern’s Inselspital, where he’s being given food against his will to keep him alive.
He’s appealed against the prison sentence, but judges have refused to suspend his term for health reasons.

Jillian Follert

OSHAWA — The second attempt at Oshawa Cannabis Day went more smoothly than its predecessor last summer and managed to attract a much bigger crowd.
Organizer Ben Fudge estimated about 200 people gathered at Memorial Park in downtown Oshawa on July 1 to show their support for issues such as legalization of marijuana and recognition of the drug’s medicinal benefits.
“I’m really surprised by how many people came, we’re going to aim for 500 people next year,” he said.
Participants ranged from “die-hard activists,” he said, to everyday people interested in learning how to fill out paperwork for a medical exemption.
There was a small police presence at the event and two people without exemption cards were arrested for possession of marijuana, but Mr. Fudge said it was peaceful.
“The police were respectful and courteous. We got along well with them and they protected our rights to protest,” he noted.
The lack of controversy was a welcome change for organizers after last year’s drama.
When plans for the first Oshawa Cannabis Day were announced in June 2009, Oshawa councillors raised concerns about plans to hold it at Lakeview Park, where the City’s annual Canada Day festivities take place.
The cannabis event was moved to Alexandra Park, where roughly 20 participants were met with a dozen police officers, three cruisers and a prisoner transport vehicle. Police gave the group 15 minutes to disperse or face arrest.
Mr. Fudge said this year’s event was better organized — City officials and police were made aware of the plan well in advance.
http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/news/article/158374

Oregon voters will decide this November whether to allow medical marijuana dispensaries.
That’s one of two initiatives that qualified for the Oregon ballot Friday. The Secretary of State’s office says backers submitted enough valid signatures.
One measure would allow non-profit groups to set up shops where the state’s 36,000 medical marijuana users could buy pot.
Chief petitioner Anthony Johnson says that would be a lot more convenient than the way the system works now.
Anthony Johnson: “The law currently forces sick and disabled patients to grow their own marijuana or find someone to grow it for them. And too many people donít have the access, don’t have the resources to do that.”
The other petition to qualify Friday would require longer mandatory minimum sentences for certain repeat sex offenders. It would also impose jail time for people convicted of drunk driving three times in a ten year period.
The potential cost of the sentencing measure has not yet been determined by a state panel.
State elections officials have until August 1st to determine the fate of four additional petitions that could still qualify for the November ballot.
http://news.opb.org/article/9074-two-measures-qualify-oregon-ballot/