What’s Wrong with getting my Pot Delivered?

The problem with living in San Francisco is many of our complaints regarding WEED, sounds like major whining from some elite snobs. Case in point: Marijuana delivery services.

I’ve mentioned a few times that when I don’t go to my favorite Pot Shop downtown, I’ll get my boo delivered. And it’s pretty great deal and I’m always appreciative that something like this exists.

Okay…Sounds kewl…

A few months ago, some enterprising WEED wonk perused the Board of Equalization paperwork, the controlling legal body on who gets permits and the what-not for Marijuana anything (location, can you inhale there, can you have edibles, etc.) and found a loophole in the bureaucratic haystack. It was discovered that if you have a permit for a dispensary, you can deliver your goods, because in the wording, it doesn’t state that you can’t. I am simplifying, but not that much. It’s a loophole. Just like the oilmen and off-shore poker palaces use. Here’s a technical goof that allows an opportunist or Medical Marijuana dispensary to take advantage of an unforeseen revenue stream at their disposal.

I first heard of this down in L.A. when they closed some of the four thousands dispensaries that had been opened in the mad Green Rush. When so many Pot Shops were forced to close-they still had product in the back room. Many owners created delivery services overnight to off their stash. From what I hear, some are still in business illegally. I’m telling you, L.A. is going to bring down the movement. But that’s soon going to be Orange County’s problem. Anyhoo…

So locally here in SF, I see some of the established, so-called compassionate oriented dispensaries are delivering. The drive to include delivery service is nothing more than an excuse to make more money.

Here’s the other aspect to this crazy revolution, so much of it is location, location, location.

The original legal delivery service in San Francisco is Green Cross. Total Transparency: I use these guys.

Kevin Reed is the founder of Green Cross. I spoke to Kevin about what I was seeing with the start of dispensaries who never delivered before; now there are a great number of them getting into his area of expertise. And of course, most of these players started delivering in just the last few weeks.

I should also mention that Kevin Reed is one of the unsung pioneers of the movement here in the City. He’s been in the movement for as long as I can remember (okay mean stoners, yes, the memory goes back clearly at least ten years.) Kevin had a dispensary and it was closed down due to zoning laws and neighbors. Now he operates out of a different local with some success.

I asked Kevin what he thought of what was happening in the City regarding the loophole that Dispensaries now can deliver.

“First of all, they [the dispensaries] really don’t have an idea of what they’re getting into. We’ve been doing this for awhile,” Mr. Reed says securely. “If you noticed some of the dispensaries that started delivering, is now demanding a dollar minimum. Too bad for them that they have to reinvent the wheel.”

“One thing I like about you guys besides for the professionalism of your drivers and delivery guys is that you accept debit cards. That makes it real easy,” I say like a spoiled smoker.

“Our drivers are good, that comes with training. For us, we didn’t get into this yesterday…Our whole focus is on customer service. It’s about personality more than a delivery service. Read our Yelp reviews. We work hard on hiring the right people. Because running a delivery service cost about 400% more than running a dispensary, you have to be smart. And I think I’m still losing money,” Mr. Reed jokes.

“You also have San Francisco’s longest running Cannabis Cup, officially three years old now. Why do you hold the Cup in November?  (November 14^th, 2010 http://thegreencross.org/v4/)

“Well, it’s harvest time, right?” Mr. Reed responds coherently.

“Yes, ‘nuff said. But it’s always harvest time with indoor pot.”

“They grow some pretty amazing stuff outdoors. I believe soon outdoor pot will be perceived as competitive as indoor pot is seen as. Plus, we’re trying to go more organic. With indoor pot, even though it says organic, you never know…Everything we do started up north. They should be included.”

Okay, big question, where are we going with Legalization.

Mr. Reed breathes in and then says, “It will all get down to how we tax WEED. Right now Richard Lee is setting the bar. What he has done in Oakland, is much like the old political machine of old. He’s starting to get his people in place. He’s a non-profit that has invested over a million bucks to see the initiative get on the ballot in November. At some point, he’s going to be able to ask for favors from the politicians he’s supporting. And if the people of California think that by taxing Marijuana, it’s going to save the world. Think again. What Prop. 19 is going to do is, bring up the ancient debate of state rights versus federal rights. It’s going to be interesting…”

I’ll be joining Mr. Reed today when Tom Ammiano and others host a symposium on what Legalization might look like. It is being held at 4pm at the Hiram W. Johnson Bldg. today. I thank Mr. Reed for his time.

More Later

It’s All Happening

My friend Lizrd loves Nascar. She can watch race after race for hours at a time. She tells me who to like and dislike. Her only complaint, “Today’s drivers are get’in too fancy. They’re forget’in their moonshine roots.”

Watching decaled cars going around a track is America’s biggest sport. I know there are many Nascarians out there, who take great pride in the fact that most of the early race car-drivers, whether stock or hot-rod, were moonshiners or cargo-men who were hired to out-run the local Johnny Law. We love there’s a criminal aspect that drives the myth of this sport. That’s why Lizrd loves the bad-boy drivers and raises her perfectly-plucked eyebrows at the new, modern scientific drivers that might actually workout and not take a few beers before they get behind the wheel.

Soon, that same light-hearted spirit will surround Marijuana.

        Lately I’ve seen pictures of Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson sharing a bong. The shots looked like they’re photoshopped, mostly because of the copious amount of smoke in the frame. I hope the picture is true. People need to see the good side of POT. We’re more than Cheech and Chong going, “Yeah, man.” We’re more than Olympic star sneaking a bong. We’re more than blurry-eyed teenagers sneaking a hit under the bleachers.

In fact, we’re starting to happen.

        I think the hundredth monkey just took a hit.

        Little by little, the light is being shown to those who have been afraid to look. Yesterday, Jane Hamsher, of Firedoglake.com, with others organized the new, vibrant campaign, ‘Just Say Now.’ The group is made up of long time-what I would call ‘non-mainstream activists’ for the segment of the population that thinks of Willie and Snoop when they think about Marijuana activists. Like the ex-police chief of Seattle that has been like Cassandra in his banging of the gong for Legalization. Priests and the clergy have joined. Judges and parent-teacher organizations have banded behind the movement for Legalization. This is huge. Bookend this with the Veteran’s Admin acceptance of Medical Marijuana, and Boy Howdy, this Legalization thing might really be happening.

        One of the challenges the activists have here in Cali is, the folks under the age of twenty-seven or so, thinks that WEED is already legal. Since 1997 they or their friends have had the ability to buy WEED at a store. On the dustier side of the coin, if you’re over forty, you might still put a towel underneath the door when you smoke. Old habits die hard…  

        See, I can’t believe that there’s a more than greater chance that come November third this year, WEED will be legal. Yeah, I know the law won’t go into effect until the end of January, but try to tell that to my peers in the Haight/Ashbury.

        Lordy, it gonna be a smoke-fest if this passes…But I digress…

        Everyday we’re getting stronger. It’s like there is this cross-country hayride for all heads and non-heads alike to jump on, getting ready for the mellowest ride of your life. Plus at the end is the possibility of seeing your friends the cops, firemen and teachers back at their jobs. That we might have a partial solution to the fear that is gripping the country due the roller coaster ride of the American Dollar. Once the economy takes a few hits off of its new found taxation, maybe we can mellow out a little and stop blaming those who we find different when we’re scared.

        Once all the Pot-smokers come out who five years ago would never have a chance of believing that they could do their job and still be a stoner like doctors, nurses, bus-drivers, air-traffic controllers, lawyers and police. The world is going to be a different place. Once astronauts, bomb squad workers or super-heroes show that you can take a hit after work, just like those that need a cocktail after landing a plane in an emergency, the public will see that just because you use-doesn’t mean you use at work.  

        Marijuana has its place the same way any spirits or medicine does. It is kinda hard to believe that civilization drank mead, ales and other forms of booze for about three hundred years because, well, water could kill you. We have the Dark Ages, the Medieval times and the Giuliani years, but no, ‘Age of Drinky-drinky.’  It was just understood that how we lived as a people. No big whoop. Kids, Mom and Dad all had the breakfast of champions, beer, every morning. Lunches and dinner too, as far as that goes. Booze was what they drank. End of story.

        And just like booze, we’ll have to be careful and responsible for our actions. A lot of us out here remember how smoking Marijuana made even Dennis Miller funny. Right there is a warning that the possibility to overindulge is out there.

Some historians believe Marijuana has been around as long as alcohol. One day this will be taught in text books in Texas.

        We’re getting to the point where we can hold our green-bud torches high, and I mean, high. More and more the momentum is changing for our side.

        We’ve been a culture dominate in our love of booze and hiding the treat some 54 million of us do in the shadows. But it is all changing.

        I’ve heard car enthusiast go on forever about NASCAR’s early roots in the mountains of Tennessee and the back roads of Georgia. I get somewhat jealous when I hear about the outlaw ancestry of how racing got its start.

        But that is going to change too.

        In five years time, when the rest of the country catches up to idea of Legalization, getting hip to the idea that it is wrong to put other-wise innocent people behind bars. We’re going to be able to look back in pride here in California. We will be able to realistically show a point in time where many people of different backgrounds came together for one issue.

Freedom.

        Divergent groups have aligned themselves together to protect the rights of strangers to be who they are without fear of being put away for being different.

        These are glorious times.

        It’s All Happening…

The Week and the Strong in Review

It was a pretty good week for WEED, for the most part. The Veteran’s Administration acceptance of Medical Marijuana is still the Big News…This is such a giant step…Whatever happens now, once it’s proven that WEED works, there’s no going back. We know the medicinal properties of WEED, now a huge segment of the population that might have never been exposed to the evil herb will now have a chance to experience life with the possible reduction of pain and anxiety. Just like the Viet Nam War in my time, once war veterans start banging the gong, it gets much easier for the Moms and Dads to understand that what they feared can actually help. This is advertising you can’t pay for…But more importantly, people are finally getting the assistance they need. That is what I call Supporting the Troops.

We’re gonna need all the help we can get…

As we get closer to November’s election, I predict that the opposition side rhetoric is going to explode with frustration and fear. And sadly, all they know is the old ways of scaring us…They’re going to come at us with the standard paranoiac drum-beating like, “What about the children?” and “Are these crazy Potheads going to kill us with their crazy WEED?”

An example of this, last week California State Sen. Lady Di Feinstein did her best at creating fear and hysteria with the introduction of a bill that goes to the heart of what is wrong with America’s druggies, Edibles. That’s right, magic brownies. Because earlier this year, some school kids in about three different schools in Northern Cali had to be sent either home, to the hospital or go tripping in the nurse’s office because of the ingestion of brownies, or the like. Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating for the kid’s right to get baked, but c’mon…

If your first drink didn’t come from your parent’s medicine, liquor cabinet, you’re not a ‘Merican. Plus, if that first shot wasn’t some unidentifiable, syrupy, green, alcohol, you weren’t doing it right. Not to minimize, but please. In twenty years, the kids today are going to recount their first hits happily just like our first time getting drunk or what we did to score some happy juice. When you replaced the gin with water, who did you really think you were fooling? Same goes with my Weed in the sock drawer kids. I know how much I have.

More good news…

Super pollster, Nate Silver has ingeniously figured out that the polls showing that the support for Legalization that say is fading with Cali voters are wrong. Nate has the data to show that there is a difference on the outcome depending how the poll is taken. If there is a human voice asking if you are for or against the Legalization of Marijuana, people are more apt to lie or give the answer, ‘No.’ If the poll is taken by a robo-call or a non-human interface, the answer to Legalization question is more likely to be ‘Yes.’ People still care what their neighbors think until they get into the privacy of the voting booth. Nate has given the appropriate name to this phenomenon, ‘The Broadus Effect,’ as a shout-out to Snoop Dogg. In the same way that when the African-American Tom Bradley ran for mayor of Los Angeles, the polls showed the voters were against him, until they were in the privacy of the booth. Now when polls show that the average voter is too chicken-shit to express their real opinions to a stranger and the vote differently when alone, this is the Bradley Effect. How cool is Snoop Dogg. Gets his own ‘Effect.’

Jane Hamsher, PolyBabe of Firedog Lake was on the Dylan Ratigan show last week arguing that the real immigrant problem is drugs, Marijuana in particular. That the vast majority of the traffic coming across our southern borders has to do with the Marijuana smuggling, not people hauling as we’re told. The point was later sent home by a huge bust here in Cali. Something like 1.7 billion in plants and other stuff was confiscated. It all belonged to the Mexican Mafia.

The FBI says that there is a presence of Mexican gangs in over 230 American cities. Some 450 agents were part of this recent state-wide bust. We are letting go of firemen, police and teachers in this state due to lacking of funding and bad governmental management. Tell me we don’t have our priorities wrong.

I just wish there was a way this problem could go away. Oh yeah, Legalization.

It has been stated that 60 percent of the profits that the Mexican gangs make, is from Marijuana. Legalization would dramatically decrease the volume of foreign WEED that enters our country. Remember every pound that these criminals bring in, take away jobs from some American grower or dealer.

While our prisons continue to increase, they’re up almost 300%, let see Hilton or Days Inn beat those occupancy rates. Did you know that Legalization studies show that drug usage goes DOWN with Legalization. That right, MOM. If you don’t want your grandkid not to smoke WEED, Legalize it. If you want them to smoke, just keep it out of arm’s reach and tell them it’s bad for them. Then see who your kids believe for the truth.

In response to my last column about buying outdoor Organic Pot, I want to be perfectly clear…

I have painstakingly removed the husks from around seeds to try to get high. I’ve smoked pipe resin repeatedly, knowing full well I’m only getting brain burns and not getting high. I’ve smoked swag, bad Mexican. Stuff from the backs of magazines that you’ve ordered that claims to get you high. I’ve drove all night for an eighth. I’ve walked, trucked through the snow, mud, rain, hail, earthquakes and possible tsunamis, to try to score WEED.

I have done what I had to for my search of the eternal buzz. I grew up in the Middle West and would have had a grow room today with indoor lights and whatever water source I could get if I didn’t live in the greatest city ever.

I am not going to tell someone they shouldn’t grow indoors if that’s the only game in town. I’ve spoke of my elderly friend who grew his own because of price and he just didn’t want to play the game anymore. He became self-sufficient at seventy years old, when he put in his small grow room. Now I tend his garden for him because of the arthritic paws can’t do the day-to-day tending that is needed by an indoor grow.

My only point is that when you multiply the numbers of indoor grow rooms, we may need to love us some foreign oil for a long time. We’re pushing our power grid and infrastructure to the limits. I want to be responsible before someone tells me I need to be…

But I would never say to another stoner, its okay for me to get high, but not you.

More Later.

I’m Green But My Dope Isn’t

 

Okay, I could be a real prick and ask if you love your country. Start poking you in the chest with, is it about Compassion or Greed? Maybe head for third with, “Really, so you recycle, huh?” And for the big wind-up, making my way home, “Do you try to eat organic?” I could really start guilt-tripping you with facts, but I think too much of you to do that.

But if you’re really serious about eating and buying locally, worried about what you put into your body, why don’t you care about what you smoke?

Total Blue Smoke Transparency: I favor Outdoor WEED.

There are many advantages and disadvantages that could be pointed out with both techniques of growing, but in terms of health and sustainability, the debate could be made quite clear. Let’s look at only two components of what both methods require…Electricity and Chemicals.

Electricity:

The California power company, Pacific Gas and Electricity, did a study of the power usage before and after the year 1997 (the year Medical Marijuana was passed.) There was a major increase after that legislation was passed, almost a forty percent increase. Most analysts believe this was because of the start of the indoor grow room.

I don’t know how many people now are growing indoors, but the power is coming from somewhere. It’s been my experience that most of the grow rooms housing over 10 plants, are drawing the juice illegally. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against getting free cable or power, but it all comes from someplace. Not just the outlet on the wall.

Now multiply the grow rooms by say, oh, 90,000. That’s a lot of hamsters in the wheels.

In Oakland where they’ve been okay’d to grow on say the ‘We are the World’ kind of level, I don’t believe they have a sunlight for natural rays. Even though I love WEED, it doesn’t make the power coming into a grow house any more righteous.

Commerce versus Compassion.

What happens if PG&E is making so much money from illegal growers, that they make a concerted effort to shoot down Legalization because there’s more money in it for them that way?

Btw, if you’re for ‘Drill, Baby Drill,’ or the exploration of the Arctic for more oil or the rise of nuclear energy oppose to alternative sources, keep buying indoor.

This is not to say outdoor growers are any more honest. The Californian streams and river are being polluted by Mexican gangs and local growers too. Generators and diesel fuel are ruining a once pristine environment. I can’t speak about the Mexican gangs, but I know the local outdoor grower is finding out that growing Organic maybe the only defense an outdoor grower has against the Rise of the Machines.

I met one outdoor grower who only uses rainwater. This person is just growing their “25” but with almost no carbon or water foot-print. This person uses solar powered fans and lights.

Plus, if you want to know why some of the outdoor Organic is oh so good, take a moment and Google ‘Hum Tea.’ Hum Tea gives a kick to plants like I’ve never seen.

In the same way hackers understand the Internet better than most, a large number of the outdoor growers I’ve met, have been doing it for more twenty-five years, on the average. They’ve invested in and tested most technologies and have growing down to astute science now. They know what they’re doing and care about the accumulative effect they’re having on the environment and this Earth.

Right now in my humble opinion, Dispensaries run the Marijuana market. They dictate supply and demand. Because of that, outdoor growers cannot compete with indoor growers, for the short-term.

What I am looking at is the Big Picture.

Do we want Dope to bring this nation down in our gluttony for more WEED, at whatever the cost? And I’m not talking dollars here.

Indoor growers can get as many harvests as they want. Outdoor growers get one big one. But I think the smart money gonna be on the mellow, laid-back Hare in this Dope race. Slow and steady will win this.  

I could go and on about the differences between indoor and outdoor. Also, there’s usually a difference in the growers too. An outdoor grower does think about sustainable living and work practices. The outdoor grower usually stays within the same area, so there’s a need to keep the environment safe and useable.

Indoor growers are nomads and opportunists. I mean that in the best way. If there is a hassle, they just move on to a new local or even city. Indoor growers are the source for fires because of improperly wired houses or just being stupid.

But at the same time I realize there is a place for indoor growing. Indoor Pot is somewhat stronger, usually because the best of the outdoor is never seen by mere mortals like us. Indoor Pot can be grown to specifics and can be controlled to the point of overkill. If you’re in the mood for Blue Cheese, it can be requested and a scant ten to twelve weeks later, Bam-O, you got Cheese. I have friends that grow indoor, I’m not going to be a hypocrite and say I don’t buy indoor. I still get indoor, sometimes you have to. But I’m trying to change that.

Maybe after Legalization, they’ll be able to tighten up the operations, and the amount of gypsy grow houses will fade. Yeah, right.

Chemicals:

Here’s the deal on this. If you look at labels to see what the ingredients are in what you’re eating, or if ‘Food Inc.’ is required viewing at your casa, then you are killing yourself with indoor POT. Sorry. I eat meat. I like candy and sweets. I’m not perfect, but when it comes to POT, I’m asking more and more for outdoor.

My belief-there isn’t such a thing as Organic indoor POT. I don’t care if the plastic bottle swears that the fertilizer, the grow juice, the bud enhancer, that you’re utilizing says Organic, it’s not. There is some unnatural chemical swirling around in it, oppose to a natural ones like bat or chicken shit. And when those chemicals are heated, say by, I dunno… a Bic lighter or a match, they have a different carcinogenic value than when tested at room temperature. In other words, that shit is bad for you over the long run.

That’s it.

If you want to have a healthy, organic lifestyle, it starts with what you put into your body.

When you hear the chants for more coal, oil or nuclear energy, think what you’re doing as a consumer.

I love Dope. Let’s not make it into a bad thing. What we do today, is how we live tomorrow. Nature always wins.

For once, let’s go in and out as winners.

More Later.



Paranoia Runs Deep

 

The Emerald Triangle starts around Ukiah and branches out west like deep primitive forest to the coast, full of steep mountains and unfriendly hills. It stretches all the way north to Oregon hiding many sins and Hippies.

More and more I am spending time up there speaking with growers, activists, writers, insurance sales-people, store keepers, cement mixers, organic farmers, resort owners, and sometimes, a conglomeration of those who do it all.

It’s a simple three hour drive from my Haight/Ashbury headquarters in San Francisco to the Triangle. Because we’re talking about an area the size, I don’t know, Rhode Island, Connecticut, it would be impossible to cover the whole northern part of the state; I mostly bounce between Humboldt and Mendocino County. This is where the action is. This is where the best dope in America is grown.

        I’ve mentioned in previous columns about all the signage alongside Highway 101 going north advertising nurseries and garden centers offering the best organic fertilizer guaranteeing the biggest buds! Tractor equipment and rental places that says they’ll be your best friend when harvest time comes. It’s no secret what’s going on, but it is.

        The Triangle is like the string game, Cat’s Cradle, when it comes to Dope. As kids we used to play this game with string where you grab the two outside strings, introvert the position of the string causing what was on the outside is now on the inside. Y’know just like the game, Cat’s Cradle, Pot is on the inside while at the same time, on the outside. It is everywhere, but you will never see it unless you’re a local or they trust you.  

Dope is all around you. It’s never spoken about, but everyone’s talking about it. On the sidewalks outside of the hardware store, folks are complaining about needing more three quarter inch tubing than they thought. Two women while shopping in the market or in the fabric store may ask each other how many plants could one expect to get from high power sodium light. And these days, one might be able to overhear someone say to another, “Do you have your permits? Are you going to get permits?”

I can’t say this enough, it’s all happening…

Because of Proposition 19 and the impact that the Dispensaries in Cali have started, the game has been amped up. And that goes for both sides of the coin.

I’d say in the last five weeks the Highway Patrol has stepped up their operations dramatically. Driving up and down 101, asphalt is starting to look like a revenue stream. I can’t believe all those cars pulled over were for speeding.

On Tuesday of this week, the last week of July 2010, I was visiting with some friends in Laytonville, just having an ice coffee downtown when the news hit town that the usually understanding Mendo deputies shot a grower. Dead. We were stunned. Part of party had just been in the area. Silence.

Guns. Violence. It’s not new to Pot. Growers pack and may even expect their crew to strap. But Legalization seems so close. Growers are coming out of the shadows for permits issued by those same deputies, in a way, to grow Pot legally. But these days before a possible cease-fire may be enacted, it seems like both sides are trying to get their shots in.

Shooting a grower is bad business. The wave of fear and realistic paranoia has many on edge.

 Number one, we’re talking about individuals who may have been growing for thirty or more years, or sons and daughters of growers. That’s a lot of sweat equity and branding to give up recklessly. There might have been second generation growers who contemplated about stepping out of their carefully crafted anonymity into the known world, are justifiably fearful now when their neighbors are being shot for growing. The grey area is very gray these days. People can’t be sure what side is up, if you know what I mean.

The Mendocino Police, scratch that, the Bureau of Equalization or something, wherever California does business, offered the growers of Mendo permits to legally grow Marijuana. They expected about three hundred of the many growers in the county to come forward. Thirty growers stepped forward. It is hard to know who to trust when property, money and lives are at stake. Not to mention, to qualify for a permit, there are about sixty hoops to jump through before you even think about coming out. Right now, the permit situation is horrible. It is unrealistic for many of the small growers financially and for the most, it’s a question of water, electricity and the luck of location, location, location. But at the same time with the advent of permits, the state is offering a way out legally for some growers.

Change is hard.

I spoke to a grower who was able to qualify to grow the permitted ninety-nine plants sanctioned by the state. He said, “Y’know I’ve been growing so long under the grid, that now that I can grow legally, I’m still planting them in the shadows and in the forest. And I don’t have to now, but…”

There’s a couple who are terrified by the story SF Weekly ran on the couple who own the store Tie Dye2 in Laytonville. “We were all set up to get our permits. Some folks had to put big expensive changes to their property or patch, but we were good to go. We had local water. Legitimate electricity right from PG & E. Everything. But after that article, we’re going to wait this out, like a lot of other people are doing too.”

What was so bad about the article?

The couple I was with, when I asked that question, the guy tried to speak. “They’re going to bring in the Feds. They said we ship product back East. That’s interstate, man. That’s not good,” the wife steamed.

“But honey, there’s writers and journalist coming to town almost every day now, looking for stories to write,” the husband said as they both looked at me.

“Still. No matter what. You don’t put in print that you grow or deal” she insisted. “Unless you want the whole world to know. And the cops.”

For most growers, to lose a crop is devastating. To lose your land is unforgettable. It can’t happen. That’s why some growers won’t come out. It means they could lose their land if they were busted. It’s that simple.

Dying over it is an entirely different thing. Most of the growers have rode shotgun for the night or nights in their patch. Growing Dope is a very personal experience. Not only because of all the dollars that goes into raising Weed (anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 large, depending), but you put your heart into it. Nobody’s gonna steal that without a fight.

Some locals whisper that if Prop. 19 did pass this November, many members of law enforcement would lose money. I can’t prove that. I’m waiting for an interview. (More later about that.)

But what I do know is starting around Willits, California, the heat is on, and I’m not talking summertime temperatures. Drive carefully and smart.

More Later.