4/04/2005 12:34:00 AM|||Jonthon||| I'm not sure if there were water purification pools or what, but it seemed like the right thing to fly over on our way in to San Fran...
San Fran was all I could ever have hoped for it to be, and more. But it didn't start out so great. Our school's travel agent had indeed made reservations for us, but soon after retracted them without informing us. Over the course of our stay at the airport, the airport staff asked what we were traveling for. As it turned out, they were very supportive of our cause! They worked with our travel agent as we worked with out schools, and we got lucky in that MidWest decided to let us fly at the rate it would have been had our reservations not been canceled (saving our school hundreds of dollars, I'm sure). So once that was over, we were on our way.
When we got to San Fran, we went right to where we would be staying. The Cathedral Hill Hotel was also hosting the conference, and is located in downtown San Fran on Van Ness. We walked around the town a bit, saw the Great American Theatre( where Pedro the Lion was playing), saw the porn theatre Hunter S Thompson used to work at, ate some good Thai food, and visited a few head shops (which had great deals for the conference weekend).
After that, we went back to our hotel, mingled with other people as they arrived, and unpacked. Sadly enough, I didn't smoke through the whole afternoon. That evening, we went to a hotel lobby where our group was having its opening night food and drink. People were blazing up, right there in the hotel! But I hadn't seen anything, yet. Then again, I hadn't smoked anything yet, either. I went to bed early, mostly because we gained two hours flying over.
The next morning, I headed out to the conference. There were a lot of booths distributing information and selling stuff. The conference opened with the announcement of the new executive director. The next program was a review of what had happened in the last year. Representatives from my school spoke at this, which was pretty cool. After this, I met some guy from San Fran named Geoff, and we went looking for grass. We headed to the room on the third floor which had purportedly been set aside and filled with couches just for NORML. We couldn't find it, so we headed out to the patio.
Out there, we met some kids from Florida (they sent over 50!) who were just finishing a joint out in the open. I started talking to them, when we were interrupted by a hand hanging out a third story window. A Florida kid and I headed over, and a guy threw out the most amazing joint I had ever seen. Fat and perfectly cylindrical, it was almost transparent from the quality marijuana that it had wrapped. The nugs were visible and beautiful. Even though we shared it with about 10 people, we got VERY high. So, the first time I got high at the conference...it fell from the sky!
When I returned to the conference, the speakers for the next topic had already begun. Jack Cole, a former Cop who represents officers who want to focus their efforts on real crime, was one of the speakers. I asked him a very good question regarding the City of Columbia with our officers. After that, Justin, Joe, Matt and I headed out to explore, and find a place to eat lunch. We settled on a place called Bob's, which was full of small asian women. We all ordered Bob's hamburgers. We were all high. The hamburgers were sooo good.
Then we went back. The high times booth was giving away magazines and stickers, and selling DVDs called "Ready, Set, Grow!" I bought one. I also bought a cool little equal rights for cannabis consumers pin, which I later lost. Damn. The next part of the conference was about Teens and Drugs. The next was Cannabis Prohibition victims, and featured cancer patients, doctors, and medicinal growers who had been prosecuted. Then I went to play hack with a group of Mizzou kids. After that, there were three breakout sessions. I chose to attend the one on Cannabis Cultivation with Kyle Kushman of High Times. That evening, we went to a local restaurant, smoked out by the pool, hung out with some activists from new York, and got real, real high.
I was up at 8 the next morning for more sweet conference action. Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance was the first speaker, and he goes around the country on George Soros' dime preaching the truth about marijuana and helping out big players with funding in all the ballot reforms. Nadelman is a very engaging and motivating speaker. The next presentation was "In the Cross-hairs: Medi-pot Docs." It was equally informative, and you just kind of had to feel bad for these doctors, who didn't smoke, loved their patients, believed cannabis would help them, wanted to prescribe it, but would be arrested if they did. The next presentation was on marijuana and good health. Did you know that using cannabis actually helps regulate 7 of our bodily systems? Its presence reduces the amount of free radicals that cause the spontaneous generation and deterioaration of cells that we often refer to as cancer, Hodgkin's, or a variety of other names. Cannabinoids also slow the formation for fast-growing cells, thereby reducing the malignance of tumors. Delta-9-tetrahyrdocannabinol (THC)actually cures and maintains a number of other human systems. For lunch, we went for a walk and ended up at an old fifties diner. Again, high. Again, good.
When we got back, we played some more hack. Then we went to a break-out session in Student Activism. We discussed the progress of other schools, and heard from the prezes at some of the others (our SSDP prez spoke). After this, we went down to the room on the third floor and used the vaporizer for a little bit. It looks kind of like an Apple Airport, but it's kitchen silver. You put the plant material in a small metal cup, which you then place on top of the vaporizer. You snap in a plastic piece with a bag on the back of it, and pull the bag so it sits upright. After the machine has warmed up, you flip the switch, and the bag starts to fill with clean air. The trick is that plant material combusts at about 400 degrees, but 99% of the THC will come out in a 200 degree vapor stream, which is also
much healthier for your lungs. You then unsnap the bag, snap a mouthpiece in its place, and push the warm air into your lungs easily. After two hits, I knew this is the future of cannabis use. From there, we went out on the town. We didn't end up going anywhere particular, but just explored. We met up with Amber's friend from San Fran, a former Mizzou grad, and got some California Pizza Kitchen. He showed us around, we gave our leftovers to some homeless people (there were a lot of them), then headed back. We headed out to the pool, where I met and conversed at length with the president of national SSDP. Then I literally passed out in bed, all sideways and funny. It felt good, though.
The next morning, the conference started an hour later. I headed back to that 50s diner with Amanda and had a boysenberry shake. It was good. The first section of the conference was on Drugged Driving tests. It turns out that you can test for THC itself, which only remains in the bloodstream for 3-4 hours after use. It's much more comparable to the breathalizer test than a urine test, which tests for the antibodies that our bodies create when THC is introduced. As those remain for a month or more, depending on a number of factors, it seems unfair that we sample for these antibodies in job screening, driving tests, academics, etc. The comparison is saying that if you were found to have drank a beer in the last month, you would
instantly lose your job. If they tested for THC itself, it'd be the same as firing people who show up to work drunk. Which one are we really worried about? The next presentation was about Canada, and I learned a lot. They seemed to think that although their marijuana was half the price of ours, our quality and distribution in the Bay area, Oakland particularly, was far better. The conference prepared a delicious meal, catered by the hotel. We sat at a table with a cancer patient, and smoked a joint with him. We heard from Keith Stroup, former NORML director, who was retiring, and many of his friends. Rick Steeves, the keynote speaker, gave a wonderful lecture in a clowdy room. Then they held an auction. Someone bid over $1,000 for one of the tins that the government send out the $3000 monthly joints in (the federal government provides low-grade marijuana to 7 people, many of whom were present at the time). They also auctioned off some cool paintings and a few other things. After lunch, I attended a program called "Lessons learned," then another called "The future is now." That evening, their was a going away party at which everyone got very, very high. Drinks and hors d'oeuvres were provided. After a wonderful evening, I made it to my bed, where I again passed out. This time, in a norml (haha, what a pun) position.
The next morning, my mind was set on Oakland. We got up, ate at a bakery across the street, and headed out for the Bart. We rode it under the bay out to Oakland. We walked up out of the subway, and right across the street...was the Bulldog café. Named after the first place to sell to the general public in Amsterdam, the Bulldog operated like a speak easy. The Amsterdam store is now the most lauded of its kind in the world. The one in Oakland remains lower key, but the neighborhood surrounding it has grown to support it and to be a welcoming haven to smokers. Oakland decided to legalize it to consenting adults in the use of their homes. The state government has also decided not to pursue them. This means as long as the federal government does not know, or at least intervene, people in Oakland can use cannabis in the comfort of their own home. Their crime has since gone down, but is higher than it would otherwise be - cops have used the extra money to bring down rapists and murderers instead. We walked into the neighboring storefronts, one of which was a medical marijuana distribution center. The people there were overly polite and very, very helpful. In fact, almost anywhere we went with our NORML badges (we need them - I'll get there in a second), we were treated like heroes. We treated them the same. The next store over made complex water piping fixtures, i.e. Expensive, amazing bongs. The Bulldog, when we walked in, looked like a bar. They asked to see the card we were supposed to get at the conference. Bulldog has a table, and a guy their was handing out cards with proof of conference registration. He was also selling multiple strains of marijuana from his wheelchair. Anyway, after the guy saw our cards, he asked for our badges. After we complied, he led us to a smaller room around a corner. A guy was behind a little half-door, in front of a fridge with a trapper keeper next to him. He pulled it out, and showed us many selections of the finest kb (Banana Buts, Outdoor Organic, etc.) and bubble hash. I bought some outdoor, and we smoked some joints, bongs, vaporizers, and bowls. Strangers showed up, and everyone shared. A quarter of amazing KB was $45. We ended up buying so much that they guy eventually changed his mind on whether he had baked goods. He showed us chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, brownies, chocolates, peanut butter, jellies, and cheesecakes that contained cannabis. After getting higher than I'd ever been in my life, and still in control, we headed back out. Later that night, we explored Golden Gate Park, Haight-Ashbury, fisherman's wharf, and the curvy road you always see in movies. We walked most of this, including the huge, 80 degree hill up to the curvy road. I was TIRED when we got home.
The next morning, we got up, and Amber and Sterling and I headed over to the 50s place again (it was across the street) for breakfast. Then we came home and went into a packing frenzy while we smoked ridiculous amounts of KB and hash that had to be smoked before we left. Then most of us waited for two people to get packed. Then the smart few of us tried to leave them to fend for themselves, but some people lingering caused us to head out far too late. Long story short, we ended up missing the only flight out to KC that day. It kind of bummed us out, but spending an extra day in California wasn't necessarily a killer. Especially since the airport gave us a layover hotel nearby and Sterling rented a vehicle. When we got to the hotel, we got unpacked just a bit, then headed out. We headed straight North, crossed the bay, and headed toward the redwoods and the pacific coast. Sterling drove nuts in this big 4-wheel van with 9 people in it. The road curved through thick, luscious trees, and we stayed near the coastline. We even stopped to take pictures of Alcatraz. Eventually, we stopped at a Park, got out, and explored the beach. It was beautiful. We spent a long time there. Then we headed back, ate lunch in a rundown mexican restaurant in a somewhat forgotten city, and were on the road again. When we got back to the hotel, we kicked ourselves for speed-smoking all the leaf we all so desperately now craved. We ended up rolling hash into hand-rolled cigarettes, which I smoked though it hurt. We ended up finding a bottle of wine in the rental vehicle, so we drank it and two others. We ate some of the chocolates that remained. We went across the streets to email teachers and explain. Then we went to bed.
We rose bright and early. I was packed in about 4 minutes. This time, so was pretty much everyone else. While most of our group went to explore for a bit, I ate "Spliffy" peanut butter with Sterling. He figured he might as well open it, as they had found out that there was only enough room for 8 of the 9 of us (Later, his girlfriend Amber decided to stay and support him). We took the shuttle to the airport, got checked in, and got on our way. I shuddered for a moment realizing that I had indistinguishable cookies in my bag, and hash hidden under the deodorant on my stick, which I had then screwed back in. No problems there, though! When we got home, I broke out the hash and we had a blissful smoke as we drove five to a car
back to Columbia. It was a good ending to a great trip.|||111433397092853439|||San Fran