Pubdate: Wed, 03 Jun 2015
Source: Seattle Weekly (WA)
Column: Higher Ground
Copyright: 2015 Village Voice Media
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Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/410
Author: Michael A. Stusser

SMOKED SALMON, A MINOR SETBACK, AND HOPE

A roundup of reefer news.

Never thought I'd say this, but there's almost too much marijuana in 
the news as of late. With cover stories this month in both Time (by 
local journalist and former Seattle Weekly scribe Bruce Barcott) and 
National Geographic ("The New Science of Marijuana"), you can't walk 
by a newsstand or go online without getting a contact high. Of course 
it's great that mainstream publications are finally treating the 
subject of cannabis in a more mature manner, rather than continuing 
to deliver cliched jokes about smokescreens and . . . contact highs. 
Still, I wish Time and Nat. Geo had saved some for later. Like good 
ganja, ya gotta space the hits out.

SMOKED SALMON

In addition to the weed-news deluge, a plethora of cannabis culture 
stories make me want to roll things back to the days of Reefer 
Madness. Take marijuana-infused salmon. Please.

The owner of Rosenberg's Bagels in Denver created a seriously smoked 
salmon when he recently infused the fish with cannabis. The process 
involved introducing marijuana into Everclear (which extracts the 
THC, the psychoactive element in ganja), then spreading the tincture 
over the fish for 72 hours before cold-smoking it (in the traditional way).

"The flavor is really great, not that weed-brownie flavor that you 
try to cover up with chocolate," noted general manager Nicholas 
Bruno. "The dill, lemon, and cannabis-everything melds perfectly with 
the fish." While the deli may have made a news splash, they're 
ruining a perfectly wonderful fish, as well as some damn fine weed. 
(The lox/cannabis combo was more stunt than serious sales effort, as 
all marijuana edibles in Colorado must be clearly labeled and 
packaged in single doses of 10 mg or less.) I'll say this much: Don't 
even think about ruining our Copper River salmon by infusing it with 
pot. (Though Copper River Chronic does have a nice ring to it . . . )

Point is, not everything has to be infused with cannabis. Yoga 
classes are being combined with getting high, for example. Not 
necessary. Your yogic bliss should be enough for mind, body, and 
soul, so that it doesn't require taking bong hits during bandhasana. 
A company introduced cannabis K-cups last week (Catapult coffee pods 
retail for $10 each), infusing your morning by truly waking and 
baking. How 'bout ya don't!? Moderation, people.

SELLING TO MINORS

The state's Liquor and Cannabis Control Board just busted four of the 
22 recreational-marijuana stores they tested for selling to underage 
shoppers, which is-without a doubt-a serious screw-up. (As a point of 
comparison, Colorado did this kind of check last June after their 
retailers had been open six months, and all 20 passed the test.) The 
biggest reason these failures are so outrageous is that the board had 
announced to all recreational shops a month before that they would be 
doing compliance checks. Many journalists are calling the busts a 
major setback for marijuana (including Seattle Weekly's own Daniel 
Person, declaring "Recreational Pot Is Having Its First PR Fiasco"). 
In fact, I think it's just the opposite: A legal system, with due 
diligence, probing for violations and nailing those not in compliance 
sounds like a well-reasoned plan that moves in the right direction. 
(And indeed, idiots selling to underage kids should lose their 
licenses.) The rest of the stoned state gets a second chance-as every 
one of the 138 retail operations in the Evergreen State will be 
checked for compliance by the end of June. #getittogetherpeople

WE LEGALIZED IT-AND WE LIKE IT

Even with bumps in the rasta road, surveys from Public Policy Polling 
show that in the two states that legalized cannabis, the people like 
the law-even more than when they voted it in. Fifty-six percent of us 
here in Washington approve of the recreational weed law, and 37 
percent dislike it. In the 2012 referendum, the same percentage of 
folks approved, but 44 percent voted against the intiative. Better 
still, 77 percent of voters say the new laws have either had a 
positive effect or no effect at all. In Colorado, a different poll 
confirmed the trend. Sixty-two percent of voters there support the 
new ganja laws, an increase of seven percentage points from the vote 
tally in 2012.

Survey says: It's all good.

CLEMENCY

Finally, in a bit of good news related to a previous column 
("Prisoners for Pot," May 13), the governor of Missouri commuted the 
sentence of a man serving a life term for marijuana. Gov. Jay Nixon's 
commutation makes Jeff Mizanskey, 61, eligible for parole after being 
jailed for 22 years under Missouri's three-strikes law. Part of the 
reason for the governor's move? Four hundred thousand people had 
signed a change.org petition requesting clemency. Mizanskey's not 
free yet, but he'll plead his very strong case before a parole board 
this summer. A nonviolent offender, Mizanskey has been a model 
prisoner-and has served a longer term than many rapists, 
child-molesters, and murderers. (Parole accepted!)
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom