SICARIO “Best game of Lazer Tag EVAAAARR!” What’s the opposite of evaporate? Whatever it is, that’s what Sicario does. When so many movies and TV shows disappear from memory as soon as you’re finished watching, Sicario lingers. It clots. In short, Denis Villeneuve’s new drug thriller is phenomenal. Its story is both personal and political, […]
Drugs
Posted inNews
This Guy Lit His Apartment on Fire Because He Smelled Smoke
Don’t do drugs, kids. Where there’s smoke, there’s often fire. But when 29-year-old Portland resident Michael Downey smelled smoke and didn’t see any fire, he decided to set his apartment ablaze. Downey first told police he most certainly did not set paper and metal clothes hangers (what?!) on fire last Saturday in the middle of […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Movie Review: Life, Death, and Drugs in Cartel Land
CARTEL LAND “Oh, sweet! This sunset is going to blow up on Insta!” “Someway, somehow, everybody has gotten corrupted,” says a Mexican man in Cartel Land, a black bandana hiding his face. “It’s just a never-ending story.” And it’s a never-ending story that’s inextricably linked to another—the “war on drugs,” which continues to be waged, […]
Posted inCannabis
Washington and Weed: Cannabis Cup Problems, and an Industry Sales Report
If you were planning to head to the Emerald City for the High Times US Cannabis Cup, the Seattle PI has some bad news: It’s been canceled. Although High Times has held the event in the Seattle area for the past three years, the implementation of I-502 (Washington’s recreational cannabis program) is making this year’s […]
Posted inCannabis
Baristas and Bumps: The Drugs We Do, by Profession
A new study from treatment4addiction.com (did Prince name them? Was “2many8balls4U.org” taken?) examines drug use by profession. According to the report, Americans sure like them some druggies while on the clock, costing $120 billion in lost productivity as recently as 2007 due to drug use in the workplace. You Microbrew Bores don’t escape blame either, […]
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City Council Shelves Medical Pot Sales Tax—Still Wants Money From Recreational Pot
The Portland City Council has backed away from a somewhat controversial plan to levy a 5 percent sales tax on medical marijuana alongside a hoped-for 10 percent levy on sales of recreational pot—assuming Measure 91 passes this fall and no other legal hurdles arise. The seemingly unanimous decision came during this morning’s city council meeting, […]
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The Fight for Legal Pot: Can it Get Any Crazier?
Illustration: Levi Hastings TO GET A SENSE of just how insane the race over legal pot has become in recent weeks, start with an email. On September 25, New Approach Oregon—the campaign pushing Measure 91, which would legalize recreational marijuana statewide—sent supporters a release with the subject line: “FEARSOME.” In text that psychedelically shifts between […]
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Reefer Madness: The Fight Over Legal Weed Has Inspired Fresh Complaints From All Over the Map—Including The Statehouse
Clatsop County DA Josh Marquis Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis says Oregon’s debate over legal weed is fast becoming a “real contact sport”—one that’s grown more personal than he expected. You don’t have to look far to see what he means. The contentious race over Measure 91 is erupting in complaints and attacks with […]
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Multnomah County DA Rod Underhill and a Local Substance Abuse Hotline Are Also Against Legal Weed
In this week’s paper, we’ve got a brief look at the forces coalescing to support Measure 91, which would make recreational pot legal in Oregon if approved in November. The opponents are bemoaning their fate—there’s no way they’ll have the monetary draw we’ve seen with weed proponents—and say they’re counting on people taking the advice […]
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Interview with a Manager at Main Street Marijuana in Vancouver
CM Chris Stipe says the place used to be a jewelry store. “The business will be good for the economy,” he says. [In their continuing coverage of new recreational pot shops opening in Washington state, The Stranger‘s Charles Mudede visits our next-door-neighbor to the north, Vancouver, WA to check out their first shop, opening today.—eds.] […]
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With Its First Pot Store Opening Tomorrow, Vancouver, Wash., Just Got a Lot More Interesting
CM “I’m actually looking at a pot store,” a local tells me as we standing outside this building, where Main Street Marijuana will open tomorrow. “It’s so unreal. I actually lived to see this.” [In their continuing coverage of new recreational pot shops opening in Washington state, The Stranger‘s Charles Mudede visits our next-door-neighbor to […]
Posted inReligion
Falling Out of Love With New Pope
Last week New Pope invited the head of Manif Pour Tous, France’s violent anti-gay group (endorsed by neo-Nazis and NOM), to a private mass at Vatican City. This week New Pope came out against legalizing pot and other recreational drugs: Francis told delegates to a drug-enforcement conference in Rome that even limited attempts to legalize […]