cannabisnews.com: It's, Like, a Pot Fest, Dude










  It's, Like, a Pot Fest, Dude

Posted by CN Staff on April 19, 2006 at 07:46:12 PT
By Matt Peiken, Pioneer Press 
Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press 

Minnesota -- The CHEEBA Club's celebration of marijuana is 'part entertainment (free food and dodge ball), but it's also about social justice.' So, like, check this out.These dudes at Macalester College are throwing this righteous party Thursday. They're calling it CHEEBAdanza — "the Twin Cities premier marijuana festival." Says so right on the green flier. This isn't one of those mediocre pot fests — it's A-grade all the way. Excellent.
First of all, OK, you have the date, right? Thursday, April 20. That's 4/20. And you know the party starts at 4:20 p.m. That's the legendary tokin' hour, my friends.So anyway, there's gonna be all kinds of free munchies and jam bands playing on the Old Main Lawn, probably well past 7, and they promise, somehow, to parade up Grand Avenue to Fairview Avenue to Summit Avenue and back to Grand."It's pretty short. We're pretty lazy about these kinda things," said Spencer Edelman, a Macalester senior from Boulder, Colo., and a festival co-founder. "Marching long ways isn't really our thing."No worries.Just even having the festival, man, it's like, how'd you pull this off? Turns out Edelman and his buddy Reid Lustig and some other Macalester dude — think his name is Stefan — two years ago formed an official campus CHEEBA Club (Creating a Harmless Environment to Enjoy Buds Appropriately).They held a chili cook-off, led a fall bike tour of Highland Park and threw their first marijuana fest last spring. They called it Cheebonanza, but a friend thought it was called Cheebadanza and the name stuck. Only about 200 people showed up, and some complained it was too disorganized, but the only thing school administrators harshed on was that the kids made all the food themselves. Health code, anyone?"We probably gave out, like, 200 free tacos," Edelman says. "One cool thing about CHEEBAdanza, we give out a ridiculous amount of free food."Oh, sweet!People have been trying to legalize pot since, like, forever. The National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws even has a Minnesota chapter. CHEEBA scored $2,300 from the Macalester student government for this year's fest, and some of the cash has gone to a caterer to roast a 100-pound pig."We're able to take little amounts of money and do a whole lot with it," Edelman said.They're also going to play dodge ball and lawn bowling and spark up a bonfire. That is going to be one seriously tweaked game of dodge ball."The main reason for the festival has little to do with marijuana itself," Edelman said with a straight face. "It's more about offering an awesome festival for students. It's part entertainment, but it's also about social justice. You may not know it's about marijuana unless you see some of the propaganda around at the booths."Yeah, right. Whatever."We don't advocate our students to break any law in any way, shape or form, but our students are advocating a change in the law and we want to support their right to advocate for the policy change they desire," said Brian Wagner, director of campus programming at the college. "We're not here to tell them what to think.""Does an event like this encourage use? Every college in the U.S. struggles with student use of drugs and alcohol," said Jim Hoppe, associate dean of students. "But this is a group of students who feel really strongly about the issue and want conversation about it and to raise awareness about it. We have to encourage and provide a forum for the discussion — that's what higher education is all about."Right on."It's culturally acceptable to talk about drinking and even binge drinking, but when it comes to marijuana, they're silent about it," said Lustig, who hosts a night of space exploration every Tuesday at the Macalester observatory. "There is the chance that by talking about it, there could be a backlash (against students who smoke). But I think we're moving in such a positive direction, I don't think anything bad's gonna happen."Good vibes all around. But it's going to be seriously intense at Macalester this weekend. There's the 33rd annual Springfest on Friday, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who attended Macalester, is speaking Saturday."We're calling it the weekend to remember," Edelman said. "Or to forget." Origins of '420' HazyNobody can say with certainty how "420" emerged as a universal code among marijuana users, but there are plenty of theories:• High Times Magazine and other sources claim that in the early 1970s, a group of teenagers at San Rafael High School in California met at 4:20 every day after school to smoke marijuana.• One discredited urban legend posited "420" as police code for a marijuana or other drug bust.• The colorized version of the 1936 anti-marijuana film "Reefer Madness" includes a brief flash of "4:20" with a marijuana leaf in the background (it comes at 20 minutes and 24 seconds into the film). The colorized DVD was originally released on April 20, 2004.• The Bob Dylan song "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" is popularly known as "Everybody Must get Stoned": 12×35 = 420.Copyright: 2006 St. Paul Pioneer PressNORMLhttp://www.norml.org/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml

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Comment #26 posted by whig on April 20, 2006 at 14:02:27 PT

Hope
Man in the Moon indeed. Thanks for the Photograph.
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Comment #25 posted by Hope on April 20, 2006 at 13:32:49 PT

This is beautiful. It almost seems like
you can sense God in it, to me, anyway.http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/cgi-bin/pod/wallpaper.cgi?day=15&month=06&year=05
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Comment #24 posted by Hope on April 20, 2006 at 13:06:52 PT

"premier marijuana festival"
Ouch!Nipped in the bud.
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Comment #23 posted by FoM on April 20, 2006 at 11:23:19 PT

Update on Above Article
Macalester Cancels Today's Planned 'Marijuana Festival'April 20, 2006A festival this afternoon at Macalester College for the reformation of marijuana laws has quickly gone up in smoke.College administrators early this morning canceled CHEEBAdanza, a student-organized event, citing public confusion about the nature of the festival and the potential that the public could see the school as condoning illegal activity.The cancellation comes a day after a Pioneer Press article about the event. Alumni and others contacted the college, playing a role in the school's decision, said Jim Hoppe, associate dean of students. Hoppe pointed to the student-made flier for the festival, rather than the Pioneer Press article, as the source of the confusion.The poster touts CHEEBAdanza as "the Twin Cities premier marijuana festival" and features an illustration of two squirrels passing a joint between then while sitting next to a marijuana plant."It's one thing to say there's a rally, and it's another to bill this as the 'premiere marijuana festival,' " Hoppe said Thursday morning, adding that he hadn't seen the green flier until the day before."It would be a double standard to support one thing and have people come to campus thinking another," he said. "Given the publicity that went out, it wouldn't be possible to have an event the students had hoped."Spencer Edelman, a Macalester senior, festival co-founder and charter member of the school's CHEEBA Club (Creating a Harmless Environment to Enjoy Buds Appropriately), says the cancellation cuts into the school's credibility as a home for free speech."I'm just pretty bummed out," Edelman said in an e-mail. "We had worked so closely with them in planning the event. Nothing we were doing should have crept up on them. I don't know what people are going to do who show up and expect free pig and sweet music and fire dancers, but I'm sure we'll look like jerks."— Matt Peikenhttp://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/14388670.htm
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Comment #22 posted by Hope on April 20, 2006 at 10:29:41 PT

"....world-class jerks...."
I so agree that that's what they are. Hammer on!
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Comment #21 posted by FoM on April 20, 2006 at 07:11:48 PT

 JoeCitizen
Thank you and have a very happy 4:20!
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Comment #20 posted by JoeCitizen on April 19, 2006 at 22:21:13 PT

FOM
No, thank YOU! I love your site. If I didn't come here every day to read some truth, honesty, and compassion on these pages, I'd probably be totally crazy by now.Thanks for all you do. I appreciate you.JC
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on April 19, 2006 at 16:23:43 PT

JoeCitizen
That was so refreshing for me to read. Thank you.
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Comment #18 posted by JoeCitizen on April 19, 2006 at 16:09:28 PT

lombar- Clinton
When Clinton was in office, I was heavily involved with NORML, and I hated ol' Bill's guts for ratcheting up the war on cannabis users.But since then, I've gotten a little perspective on the situation.  Clinton really only had the first two years of his presidency with a Democratic majority.  A lot of that time was spent (squandered?) on his failed attempt to reform the healthcare system. There was Somalia, and also a whole heckuva lotta fuss about gays in the military, And I think Whitewater and Travelgate might have also started in those first two years.After 1994, the Republicans in Congress were really the driving force in government, and Clinton had a lot less power. Plus Whitewater kept rolling along, and then the whole ugly Monica Lewinsky-Impeachment thing started.I think being a completely political animal, Clinton just chose not to fight for the drug issue, and so the a**-hole Rethugnicans were to driving force in that period. You had world-class jerks like Bill McCollum from Florida, Asa Hutchinson from Arkansas, and of course, the hole of holes, Newt Gingrich himself.Gingrich is one of the worst, IMO, because he has admitted to having smoked cannabis in the past, and in 1982 wrote a letter to the JAMA in support of Medical Marijuana (his term, I much prefer the term cannabis.) Some of the other Drug Warriors might be able truthfully say that they never tried it and only believed the lies they read, but not Newty. He knew. He's just as opportunistic and amoral as they come.Anyway, I wish Bill Clinton would have stood up and spoken some truth, even if he lacked the political muscle to enact it in law.  But like I said, he was a completely political animal, and it wasn't politically "safe" for him to do so.I really feel that with a solid Democratic majority for most or all of his presidency, that it would have been very different.Contrast that with our current Preznit, who has Repuke-likan majorities in every branch of government, and only uses his power to further burden and torture the sick and powerless.I don't believe in Hell, but if I did, it waits for people like him.JC
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on April 19, 2006 at 14:14:53 PT

Another Raid on a Cannabis Club
Agents Raid Sacramento Medical Pot Store 
 February 19, 2006Federal authorities raided a midtown Sacramento medical marijuana store on Wednesday. 
Agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency served a warrant at Capitol Alternatives, a marijuana dispensary at 16th and U streets.Protestors present outside the building said the business has been unfairly targeted, KCRA 3's Tana Castro reported.DEA agents seized boxes of evidence containing bags of marijuana from inside the nondescript building.Agents also served warrants at homes in Citrus Heights and North Highlands. Those homes are believed to be owned by the same person that runs Capitol Alternatives, Castro reported.http://news.yahoo.com/s/kcra/20060419/lo_kcra/3410717

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Comment #16 posted by lombar on April 19, 2006 at 13:35:07 PT

Oh I agree
It's just a matter of degree however. The current bunch are further extending DEA tendrils into Canada. This bunch is far worse, 9-11 has been a big gimmee to the police state. The dems can be blamed for their own stuff...
Marijuana Arrests and Total Drug Arrests in the US
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on April 19, 2006 at 13:07:42 PT

Lombar
I know that what has made it worse is this administration. I don't blame the democrats for where we are today just the republicans. As far as cannabis goes that is different then the way the world is now.
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Comment #14 posted by lombar on April 19, 2006 at 13:00:45 PT

Dem damn dems
I don't think the previous administration was much better for the cannabis movement. Clinton was just more charismatic than Bush. Just about anyone I have talked to lately seems to think the US government is corrupt all the way thru. There is only one thing left for the citizens... go back to first principles... When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. 
Anyones whose pursuit of happiness includes consuming cannabis, their life and liberty can be deprived from them. Just so much paper these days unfortunately. Outlawed lifestyles written on outlawed paper.
A Canadians' notion of the True heart of America
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on April 19, 2006 at 12:18:35 PT

lombar
I understand what you mean. Just look at where we are as far as cannabis laws are concerned in Canada or the USA. We were moving along slowly and then this administration got in power in the USA. I find myself retreating from society more and more. There is something stirring in people though. If we don't wake up we will have a one world order with very little tolerance for people who don't conform.
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Comment #12 posted by lombar on April 19, 2006 at 12:12:59 PT

The good times...
The good times are too short, the bad, too long. The songs that my government is singing is disheartening. They are doing their best to placate the current gang in Washington and that will just destroy our international image. I have been wrestling with my own fears and trying to motivate myself to become a more outspoken activist. The fact that the conservatives are in power is just another goad... I must be in a low ebb of my cycles... The patterns I am seeing in the world are dismaying, perhaps they always were but I have a bad feeling that something big and real bad is just over the horizon... It's just a ghost, an impression really but trying nonetheless... hey wait.. its not a ghost.. its theCanadian Census. About to be done by a subsidiary of Lockheed-Martin and the government is about to spend a bunch of money to tell us its a crime not to participate. On the one hand we have an intenational ARMS MANUFACTURER about to have ALL the private DATA on all my fellow citizens, and on the other, the option to deliberately disobey. They claim all the data will be kept private yada yada... when you have no faith in the laws or the state, it is impossible to believe anything they say without direct corroborative evidence. A few disks handed off to someone .. who would know? 
 Private prison operators waiting to cash in on Harper policies
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Comment #11 posted by Had Enough on April 19, 2006 at 12:11:31 PT

opps wrong thread
????
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Comment #10 posted by Had Enough on April 19, 2006 at 12:10:06 PT

Ohio
A song about truth
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on April 19, 2006 at 11:31:24 PT

lombar
I use the anonymizer to try to avoid getting hacked. I do my best to not say anything that could get me in trouble. I was told a long time ago to use sense when posting or sending e-mails because the Internet is as private as a postcard sent thru the mail.As far as suffering goes I believe there is a time for every season under the sun. Everyone has good times, bad times etc. It's just part of the circle of life. No one is immune from pain and suffering.
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Comment #8 posted by lombar on April 19, 2006 at 11:23:38 PT

days pass, cycles continue
Today I think I finally, to the depths of my being, understand the first noble truth. Everything is basically unsatisfactory, even when things are good, nastiness waits in the wings. Suffering and death. Even if we can look past the inevitability of our own demise, it is acutely painful to imagine that for those we love... and it is something that all living beings face.So even when things are good, we are 'free'(well not caged)there is the underlying unsatisfactoriness of existence, the knowledge of it's frailty.What then for those who impose death and suffering upon others? Suffering that can be alleviated is instead compounded. The so-called solution that is FORCED UPON US is the problem.If one knows the true nature of suffering then would they ever willingly add to the suffering of beings? So it must either be ignorance or egotistical desire that keeps it all going. I am so sick of it all. Working in a sewer would be cleaner than dealing with the political process...So I also recognise the wisdom of being concerned only with suffering and the alleviation of suffering.FoM.. you post here through an anonymizer? I have never hidden my IP at any of these boards. Proxys only provide the illusion of anonymity. Should the FBI descend upon the providers of the proxies then they have the originating IP. I always thought, "I sign my letters... why hide this activity?"... but I am in Canada. Proxies are only illusory security at best.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on April 19, 2006 at 10:09:53 PT

Max Flowers
Thank you. I did that. I can post behind the anonymizer but not unless I am using the anonymizer. I don't know why this happens on and off and I hope others aren't having problems too.
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Comment #6 posted by Max Flowers on April 19, 2006 at 09:59:57 PT

Seems to be working
Try clearing your cache and rebooting?
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Comment #5 posted by Max Flowers on April 19, 2006 at 09:57:49 PT

Test
Just testing the board, FoM...
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on April 19, 2006 at 09:55:40 PT

Alaska, Alaska....
The chains that bind you. A chain falls away and the chain masters are so trying to get that chain locked in place again.Weep, Alaska, if the chain masters succeed.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on April 19, 2006 at 09:46:06 PT

Just a Note
I am having trouble posting on CNews. If anyone is having trouble please contact Matt Elrod and let him know because something is wrong and I have no way of fixing it.
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Comment #2 posted by whig on April 19, 2006 at 09:27:19 PT

Yeah, right. Whatever.
What's your damage, dude?
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on April 19, 2006 at 09:03:23 PT

News Brief About Alaska Marijuana Bill
The Senate approved the conference committee report 16-4.April 19, 2006The Senate on Tuesday also approved a conference committee report on a bill that would recriminalize marijuana possession in the home and make it harder to buy the ingredients to manufacture methamphetamine.The House was holding the drug bill under unfinished business. It will be transmitted to Murkowski only when the House approves the report.The bills are Senate Bill 232 and House Bill 149.http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/041906/sta_20060419071.shtml
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