• Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1064 -- 5/2/19 - Table of Contents with Live

    From Bobbie Sellers@21:1/5 to All on Thu May 2 08:01:49 2019
    XPost: alt.drugs.psychedelics, alt.drugs.pot, alt.hemp.politics

    Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1064 -- 5/2/19
    Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/1064

    A Publication of StoptheDrugWar.org
    David Borden, Executive Director, borden@drcnet.org
    "Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"

    Table of Contents:

    1. MARIJUANA WITH A MISSION: BROTHER DAVID'S QUEST TO TURN THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY TRULY GREEN AND GOOD [FEATURE]
    Applying cutting-edge regenerative agriculture practices to the emerging
    legal marijuana industry may be just what the planet needs. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/apr/29/marijuana_mission_brother_davids

    2. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
    No medical marijuana for South Carolina this year, a Mississippi medical marijuana initiative signature-gathering campaign is rolling along, New Hampshire could see a home grow option, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/may/01/medical_marijuana_update

    3. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
    An NYPD narc gets busted for lying to create drug cases, a former
    Philadelphia cop heads to prison in a scheme that also saw eight
    Baltimore cops jailed for drug stealing and dealing, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/may/01/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories

    4. CHRONICLE AM: MS MEDMJ PETITIONING ON TRACK, KAMALA HARRIS ON PARDONS
    FOR DRUG PRISONERS, MORE... (4/25/19)
    Texas decriminalization gets walked back a step, a Mississippi medical marijuana initiative already has lots and lots of signatures, Kamala
    Harris talks pardons for drug war prisoners, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/apr/25/chronicle_am_ms_medmj

    5. CHRONICLE AM: VT LEGAL SALES COMPROMISE BROACHED, MI FORFEITURE
    REFORM PASSES, MORE... (4/26/19)
    Vermont could yet end up with a regulated marijuana market, Iowa gets
    ready to grow some hemp, asset forfeiture reform advances in Michigan
    and North Dakota, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/apr/26/chronicle_am_vt_legal_sales

    6. CHRONICLE AM: HOUSTON DRUG CASES DISMISSED AS SCANDAL GROWS, WA HEMP
    BILL BECOMES LAW, MORE... (4/29/19)
    A fatal botched drug raid continues to reverberate in Houston, hemp
    bills advance in Louisiana and Washington, North Dakota legislators vote
    to lower penalties for marijuana possession, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/apr/29/chronicle_am_houston_drug_cases

    7. CHRONICLE AM: TX HOUSE APPROVES NO JAIL FOR POT, HI BILL TO END CIVIL FORFEITURE GOES TO GOVERNOR, MORE... (4/30/19)
    There's too much pot in Oregon and the Senate is doing something about
    it, the Texas House passes a quasi-decrim bill, a study of an
    underground American safe injection site finds good things, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/apr/30/chronicle_am_tx_house_approves

    8. CHRONICLE AM: TX GOPERS PRONOUNCE POT DECRIM BILL DEAD, OAKLAND
    PSYCHEDELIC RESOLUTION COMING, MORE... (5/1/19)
    Texas Republican leaders move to squash a cannabis decriminalization
    bill, the Oakland city council will consider a resolution to effectively decriminalize the use and possession of psychedelics, global NGOs use
    the International Harm Reduction Conference to launch a call for human
    rights, health, and drug decriminalization, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/may/01/chronicle_am_tx_gopers_pronounce_0

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    ================

    1. MARIJUANA WITH A MISSION: BROTHER DAVID'S QUEST TO TURN THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY TRULY GREEN AND GOOD [FEATURE] https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2019/apr/29/marijuana_mission_brother_davids

    With the advent of legalization, the marijuana cultivation industry is
    being transformed -- and not always for the better. What was once an
    illicit lifestyle with mom and pop growers hiding in the hills and
    playing cat and mouse games with prohibition enforcers is now a legal, above-board economic sector that increasingly resembles industrial
    agriculture, complete with massive indoor grows the size of football
    fields that gobble up energy, suck up water, and require large inputs of nutrients and pesticides.

    These sorts of practices are not exactly environmentally-friendly and
    they turn a blind eye to the climate change crisis that is already
    having an impact in this country, whether it's ever-more-drenching
    downpours during hurricanes, more frequent and intense tornados,
    shorelines inundated by rising sea levels, or -- closer to home for the
    legal marijuana industry -- drought and forest fires in California and
    the Pacific Northwest.

    Now, some stalwarts of environmental and drug reform activism are
    partnering with one of California's most environmentally and
    socially-conscious cannabis distributors to try to tip the industry and marijuana consumers toward embracing ecologically-aware best practices
    that protect family farms, produce highest-quality product at
    competitive prices, and are good for the planet.

    David Bronner, grandson of the founder of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps and
    the company's CEO (Cosmic Engagement Officer), is joining forces with
    small, sun-grown farmer champion and sustainable cannabis supply chain
    company Flow Kana to create Brother David's, a nonprofit marijuana
    company for consumers who value where their weed was grown and care
    about how it was produced. The venture will also promote a "beyond
    organic" Sun + Earth certification (https://sunandearth.org) that all
    its products will carry.

    Because marijuana remains illegal under federal law, pot farmers who
    wish to demonstrate their commitment to sustainable,
    environmentally-sound organic agriculture practices cannot avail
    themselves of the label "organic," which is a federal program operated
    by the US Department of Agriculture. Sun + Earth certification seeks to
    fill that gap, and then some.

    The Sun + Earth label "certifies that cannabis brands are holistically, responsibly, and regeneratively grown for the well-being of all people, farmers, and the planet," the group's web site explains. "We set the
    standard above and beyond organic." As seen in draft standards (http://sunandearthcertified.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2018-08-21_SUN_EARTH_FINAL_DRAFT.pdf)
    released for public comment last August, compliance with standards set
    by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements is just
    the beginning. The standards go above and beyond organic by promoting biodiversity and preserving ecosystem health, water conservation, carbon sequestration, growing plants in natural light only, and promoting soil conservation, among other requirements.

    Such standards are wholly in line with the cutting edge save-the-planet practices now known as regenerative agriculture (http://www.regenerativeagriculturedefinition.com), which its
    practitioners define as following: "Regenerative Agriculture aims to
    capture carbon in soil and aboveground biomass, reversing current global
    trends of atmospheric accumulation. At the same time, it offers
    increased yields, resilience to climate instability, and higher health
    and vitality for farming and ranching communities."

    That's exactly what Bronner and Flow Kana want to create in the
    marijuana industry.

    "The problem with cannabis production now is the same as with industrial agriculture in general," Bronner said in a phone interview last week.
    "Now that we're post-prohibition, we have all the same problems as every
    legal commodity crop. We're seeing huge, indoor corporate grows that
    rely on chemicals and are energy-intensive and are displacing small
    farmers. There's a way we should be growing our crops that is
    regenerative, that builds top soil and creates biodiverse habitat for
    wildlife -- not dumping huge amounts of pesticides and fertilizers on
    the land and forcing farmers off the land to work for slave wages."

    Flow Kana has the pot farmers Brother David's is looking for. Dedicated
    to creating the first sun-grown cannabis brand while supporting the
    state's small, independent marijuana farming ecosystem, the company has partnered with more than 200 Northern California growers using organic
    farming practices. Not every Flow Kana partner farmer is Sun + Earth
    certified, but every partner farmer whose product is destined for
    Brother David's is.

    "It took us awhile to find Flow Kana," Bronner noted. "We didn't know of
    any distribution entity of any size that wasn't trying to integrate with massive grows. But there is a real cool family at the heart of the
    company; they have really good ethics about partnering with farmers,
    they're very transparent, and their top farms are all totally
    regenerative organic. These are multigenerational back-to-the-land
    farmers who've been growing cannabis alongside vegetables for decades."

    "The Emerald Triangle's ecosystem of small farms is a rare one that regenerative pioneers like Dr. Bronner's have spent decades creating in
    their supply chain. The cannabis industry already has this and we have
    to fight to preserve it from the ways of industrial agriculture," said
    Michael Steinmetz, Flow Kana CEO. "This movement is not only about
    saving these environmental and community values but making this
    decentralized model of agriculture the gold standard for others to
    follow across the cannabis industry and beyond. This fight requires
    everyone's involvement and careful collaboration across many operators, distributors, retailers, and brands working in tandem to preserve,
    protect, and evolve our industry and world."

    Veteran Washington, DC activist Adam Eidinger, who organized the
    District's successful 2014 marijuana legalization initiative, is a
    longtime Bronner ally who describes himself as "a missionary" for
    Brother David's. He accompanied Bronner on Emerald Triangle scouting
    trips looking for the right farms.

    "We visited all the farms," he recalled in a phone interview. "They're
    all advocate farms. They've been in the space since before it was legal,
    some of them 30 or 40 years. These are well-established, multigeneration cannabis farmers. But they're also farms that can grow their own
    nutrients on-site, they usually also have livestock, veggies, greens, perennials, maybe 40 crops on a small amount of land. And no-till
    agriculture. You end up losing a lot of topsoil every time you till," he
    added.

    "Brother David's is an activist brand," Eidinger emphasized. "This is
    people who have consistently been fighting for reform for 20 years, and
    we're jumping in now, kind of late, because we want to identify cannabis
    that consumers can trust and we want to support regenerative organic
    farmers, small-scale producers who have transitioned to the legal
    market. With this brand, consumers can put their money where it will do
    the most good."

    That's because Brother David's is not only operating under agricultural
    best practices, it's operating as a nonprofit, with all net proceeds
    going to support regenerative ag and drug and criminal justice reform
    efforts.

    "Brother David's is dedicating 100% of net profits, and a big chunk of
    that will go to drug policy reform groups, and not just cannabis
    reform," Eidinger explained. "David committed $5 million to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) through Dr Bronner's, but there is still more need with more studies and
    initiatives. Some of the money will go to criminal justice reform in
    general, not necessarily about drugs, things like prisoner reentry and sentencing reform. If this takes off, we can do more for the community,
    and that's the mission. Other companies' mission is to make money."

    "The cannabis legalization movement has achieved significant victories
    in the last 20 years. Now, we need to advance consumer and environmental interests by implementing regenerative organic agriculture in the
    cannabis industry," said Bronner. "As society moves closer and closer
    toward the federal legalization of cannabis, we need to chart a new
    course before it's too late. We need to promote Sun + Earth and other
    high bar standards -- because it's best for the Earth in this age of
    climate crisis, and produces the cleanest, greenest and most ethical
    cannabis possible."

    Brother David's is rolling out beginning in May in select California dispensaries. It will offer nine strains
    (https://www.brotherdavids.com/flower) from eight different Sun + Earth certified farms partnering with Flow Kana. The strains are priced to
    compete in the mid-price premium market. For pot people who want to do
    their share to save the planet, it's time to get woke and bake with
    Brother D.

    Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps is a funder of StoptheDrugWar.org, the
    publisher of this newsletter.


    ================ ...
    ___________________

    It's time to correct the mistake:
    Truth:the Anti-drugwar
    <http://www.briancbennett.com>

    Cops say legalize drugs--find out why:
    <http://www.leap.cc>
    Stoners are people too:
    <http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
    ___________________

    bliss -- Cacao Powered... (-SF4ever at DSLExtreme dot com)

    --
    bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco

    "It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
    It is by the beans of cacao that the thoughts acquire speed,
    the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
    It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
    --from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.

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