Last Thursday evening, photographer/director Octavio "Winkytiki" Arizala (MySpace) celebrated the release of his Vivid-Alt (MySpace) movie The Bad Luck Betties at the Redwood Bar & Grill in Downtown LA. Also in attendance, besides Bad Luck Betties' "Smoking" Mary Jane (MySpace) and Mika Tan (MySpace) and newcomers Sochee and Mika, were Vivid-Alt head Eon McKai (MySpace), photographer/director Dave Naz (MySpace) and his girlfriend Ashley Blue, and director Vena Virago (MySpace). The party was presented in......

I wasn’t much of a Tom Petty fan in my pre-L.A. years, but like most people, I knew him from the basics…I had caterwauled the lyrics to "Free Fallin’" alongside other angsty Massachusetts teens at a dance or two, and I had been baffled by, but pretended I knew what the hell was going on in, the "Mary Jane's Last Dance" video. But beginning with my drive cross country, I began to develop a taste......

Update on why Ventura Blvd. in Studio City was shut down this afternoon by the LAPD: according to the North Hollywood Police Division, the shooting took place at De Soto Ave and Gresham St. in Chatsworth. Later, the suspect's car was found at the Studio City 7-11, prompting the LAPD shut down the area to search (hence all the helicopters). The suspect was later found in the city of Fontana and was arrested without......

While you were sleeping: There's nothing wrong with the ganj in California, as long as you've got a scrip to use. So decided the 4th District Court of Appeals in the case of a 22-year-old who had a quarter of weed confiscated in a traffic stop by LAPD, despite having a prescription for marijuana as treatment for severe back pain. Now, how exactly will LAPD go about "returning" weed to rightful owner 2.5 years......

A Venice-based organization has ended their efforts to bring NFL running back Ricky Williams to Los Angeles. The group, known as Wii'd, likes to get high and play Madden 2007 on days that end in "y." Williams, who was a college standout at Texas, has a strained relationship with the NFL due to his close relationship with Mary Jane. He recently applied to the league for reinstatement. That caused people in Denver to put......

Most people start their day off with a nice shower or a cup of coffee, not I. My day begins with a nice green bowl of a strong sativa. This strain definitely does the trick for me. Very pungent sent, Sweet in taste and a very smooth smoke all around. To me this is my double shot espresso in the morning. It puts a smile on my face and gets me ready to endure......

Despite our weekend report that the California Patients Group was doing all that it could to stay open, and continue to aid the sick and the needy with care and medical cannibis, they will be closing their doors. Here is a portion of an email sent out today from Coordinator Don Duncan: I am sad to report that we have decided to close CPG as a result of the economic and legal hardship resulting......

Don Duncan of the California Patients Group in Hollywood talks to reporters through the door broken by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) As the Los Angeles City Council placed a moratorium on new facilities so rules could be drafted to better regulate them, federal agents raided 10 local medical marijuana facilities on Wednesday [LA Times]. What follows are pictures from the raid at the California Patients Group in Hollywood.......

Right when I decide to stay home and do absolutely nothing except get stoned and clean my room, my sometimes dealer informs me that he no longer sells. Since he’s obtained a pretty kush job at an investment firm, he feels that he no longer needs to sell the crystally ganja that he’s provided me with so many times. Thanks guy. The only other person I know that could possibly hook me up is out......

Trivia: Although popular folklore asserts that Jerry Garcia played pedal steel on this #10 Billboard hit, I'm pretty sure that "Oh, Mommy (I Ain't No Commie)" was his only credited contribution to Brewer & Shipley's 1970 album, "Tarkio." That's close enough for today. Feel the burn: "One Toke Over The Line" - Brewer & Shipley What's your favorite stoner classic? Tell us in the comments.......

Dear People With Pot Houses, Four more houses whose sole purpose was to harvest marijuana were raided by police in the San Gabriel Valley. This means at least a dozen homes have gotten popped in a month out there. So either there are thousands of homes in the SGV growing weed, or the few who haven't gotten raided yet should learn from the mistakes of the others. Here are some things we've noticed. -......

- "With little fanfare until this month, Los Angeles County has quietly become the country’s capital of medical marijuana." - LA Business Journal - Tuesday night he was sent to Hollywood on "American Idol". Wednesday TMZ reported that he had been busted for possession of weed.Thursday he was fired from Idol. Thursday afternoon he says they knew about his record even before he auditioned - People - Marijuana-like chemicals (whatever the hell those are) may......

- The founder of Reason magazine wrote a column in today's LA Times entitled "Let them have their pot" about the feds cockblocking weed from sick people - LAT - The cost of getting a California medical marijuana ID card is going up almost 1,000% because not enough people are getting California medical marijuana ID cards. Which is interesting because we thought that marijuana dispensaries in LA were booming. So wtf? - Bay Area......

With all this national attention surrounding the recent DEA raids on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries, LAist found it the perfect time to get the news from the horse's mouth, so we sat down with a Medical Marijuana card-holder who has visited some of the shops that the DEA shut down. Hopefully we can answer some of the questions surrounding the rumors, the hype, and the DEA: How does a person get a Medical Marijuana card? How......

It's been decided that the Week in Weed should be posted on Mondays, unless it's a holiday, in which case it will be posted on Tuesdays. If we get around to it... - Midland Texas trucker caught at the border with 1,800 pounds of weed - KGBT - Yuma is not a great place, especially if you're a pickup truck, that cant move any more, with more than a half ton of weed in......

- Neighbors near Santa Barbara dispensary call the cops when men in dark clothes try to break in to the Acme Collective. Cops come in 15 minutes, thieves popped in minutes. - SB Independent - The LA Times prints two letters today regarding medical marijuana, the second being someone upset that it doesn't get taxed - LA Times - LAPD mistakes catnip for herb when they search the car of a man who runs......

Even though tens of thousands of tourists have gotten their picture taken with the "superheroes" out front of Mann's Chinese, it took the Jimmy Kimmel show that's taped across the street to make these fellas world famous. Recently Rob Cantrell of the THC Comedy Tour approached Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, and the Incredible Hulk to ask them if they'd get baked with him. Cantrell didn't ask for an autograph or a backrub or to pose......

- Torrance man found with 115 pounds of buds in his pickup in Ohio - Palladium-Item - 90,000 marijuana plants were confiscated in the San Bernardino National Forrest this year - Daily Bulletin - Mill Valley artist caught growing 297 marijuana plants, having 15 pounds of kush, and $65,000 in cash given four months of jail time - Marin IJ - North Pole man goes on a high speed chase from Alaskan cops because......

- New Hybrid marijuana plant found in Mexico; grows year-round, can't be stopped with pesticides - AP - Cannabis is the largest cash crop in the USA. Worth $36 billion - Norml - Is Bong Rip a Drug Dealer or just a stoner with a shitton of buds? - OC Weekly - "The Best of Times", 2006 advances in drug reform laws - stop the drug war - Tuscon car chase leads to cops......

- San Diego appealing to overturn Prop 215 - SignOnSanDiego - Miami Police Chief's son sentenced to 18 months in the slammer for trying to buy 400 pounds of weed from an undercover cop - Officer - 50 tons of Mexican weed seized at the border. Street value: 100 pesos. (just kidding) - Star-Telegram - New book called "Yes, But Is It Good for the Jews?" says pot is good, but cheesecake is not......

Parents can no longer blame Mary Jane for their children sneaking into a closet to get a bump of cocaine or a toke off the crack pipe, according to a 12-year study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh that clears marijuana as being a gateway drug to harder vices. In fact, if their kids grow up being hard-core drug users, parents may have no one to blame but themselves. “The emphasis on the drugs......

With sweat dripping down my neck and the taste of stale whiskey on lips, I rocked the dance floor of the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana this past Saturday night. The reggae themed Surf Rock Tour took place just east of L.A., bringing out the fabulousness of Chapter 11, OPM, and Common Sense. Oh, and did I mention, there were even a few drunken guys boogieing down to James Brown between sets. Not to......

Chief of Police, William Bratton, has been making headlines after a July 6th KTLA interview where he said that councilmen Dennis Zine (former police sergeant) and Bernard Parks (former Chief of police) didn't "know what the hell they're talking about" when both disagreed with Bratton's loosening of hiring standards when it comes to drug use in the "distant past." LAist asks you: Does it matter to you that there are some police officers in......

Hi, smelly sticky green bud. Hi LAist. So how are you doing, you sexy thing? I'm doing great, LAist, because West Hollywood just made me legal. No, no. I believe yesterday they just passed a resolution that advises the Sheriff's Dept to busy itself on more serious crimes. Whatev. All I know is I'm gonna get hiiiiiiiiiigh tonight. Par-tay on Santa Monica Blvd. Weed, isn't there always a party on Santa Monica? Haha yeah......

We've written about it before — how the LA Times Column One feature regularly disrupts our morning newspaper time. The stories are rarely more than well-written fluff, like, say for instance today's story on Czech marijuana. (Aside: What?) The sad part is, we're equally flabbergasted by the stories every single day; eastern European mary jane is more important than 90% of the subject matter covered. So here's an idea from today's suggestion box, courtesy......

What do pro skater Tosh Townsend, Filthee Immigrants, the Element Skate Team and the Oakley Skate Team have in common? They'll be joining bands Trek-Life, Mary Jane Band, FM, Crush One, Shot Blue and REHAB DJ's (Syphe and Eric D Lux) all day long this Saturday, August 28th between 1:00 AM and 9:00 PM at Los Angeles' new skate/surf/snow shop Nine Star. The event, whose sole goal is to get younger voters out to......