Marijuana Vaporizers

[Lucky]

The NY Times today takes a look at marijuana vaporizers. Are they just a novelty item, or a new way to ingest marijuana without all of the smoke? If you cough and hack after taking a hit, this may be for you...if you can afford one!

From the Times: Besides the novelty, advocates say that using vaporizers is healthier than inhaling smoke. “Vaporized marijuana is virtually free of whatever toxic properties come with burning the plant,” said Dr. Lester Grinspoon, an associate professor emeritus of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

The benefits of vaporization are not limited to health, added Dr. Grinspoon, who said that he owns a high-tech vaporizer called a Volcano, about $525. “Vaporizers use an internal heat source, so you conserve more of your grass,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/fashion/vaporizers-put-to-use-with-marijuana.html?scp=1&sq=vaporizer&st=cse

Full disclosure: I spent $80 for a vaporizer at a local pipe shop, and it has hardly won me over. I am not a big pot fan anyway, but I do have a medical marijuana permit. I just don't see how the vaporizer beats the real thing. Mine is the one on the left, but it sits unused:

[lookin]

Allegedly, there's an outfit in the Midwest that sells one in the shape of a corn dog.

[TampaYankee]

Allegedly, there's an outfit in the Midwest that sells one in the shape of a corn dog.

I just thought she was practicing submission to her husband as the good book teaches.

[Lucky]

I think this is more likely for her:

[lookin]

Better get a wiggle on.

Tomorrow the feds are announcing that they sent letters to at least sixteen California medical marijuana dispensaries telling them to close up shop before Thanksgiving. If they rent the space, their landlords got a letter too demanding they kick the pot clubs out or go to jail and turn over any rent they collected along the way. San Diego was particularly hard hit, but at least one Marin club got a letter on Wednesday:

Greg Anton, a lawyer who represents a Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, said the 14-year-old dispensary's landlord received an "extremely threatening" letter Wednesday invoking a federal law that imposes additional penalties for selling drugs within 1,000 feet of schools, parks and playgrounds.

The landlord was ordered to evict the pot club or risk imprisonment, plus forfeiture of the property and all the rent he has collected while the dispensary has been in business, Anton said.

The Marin Alliance's founder "has been paying state and federal taxes for 14 years, and they have cashed all the checks," he said. "All I hear from Obama is whining about his budget, but he has money to do this which will actually reduce revenues."

Some say the letters are no worse than the ones the Bush administration sent out in 2006. More bark than bite, although some clubs did close.

If I were the suspicious sort, I couldn't help but observe that the letter arrived on the same day than Ken Burns wrapped up his "Prohibition" series with a segment called "A Nation of Hypocrites". I watched most of the series and the thrust seemed to be how damaging the 18th Amendment was to the country. I wonder what folks who watched the series are going to think tomorrow morning when they hear that the government is back to its old ways.

I'm not sure what to think, and was wondering what the views are among the Distinguished Dudes of MER. Is the government doing a bit of saber rattling to please the Far Right, or is it really getting ready to put on another Volstead Act?

. .

[MsGuy]

Well, that catches me by surprise. I wonder what's up?

----

edit: Maybe the Mexican drug cartels are paying to have their competition closed??

[Lucky]

The landlord is 14 years old?

[Lucky]

In the movie, 50/50, there is a pot smoking scene. Seth Rogen's character got the pot with a medical marijuana permit. His illness? Night blindness!