New York City

Cannabis! A Viper Vaudeville traces history of plant and culture

Posted on July 20th, 2022 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , .

Baba IsraelNew York’s East Village this summer witnesses the world premiere of a multimedia extravaganza centered on the cultural politics of our favorite herb.

Five years in the making and twice postponed by COVID lockdowns, a theatrical concert dedicated to celebrating cannabis, and raising consciousness around the pant, has opened in New York.

Cannabis! A Viper Vaudeville uses music and projected images as well as dialogue to trace the journey of cannabis from the herblore of ancient India and China through bohemia, prohibition, counterculture and finally legalization.

Brittney Griner gets her day in court —amid geopolitical intrigue

Posted on June 30th, 2022 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , , , , , .

Brittney GrinerUS Olympic gold-medalist Brittney Griner, held in a Russian jail since February, is finally going before a judge. But the trial is looking more and more like a political show.

The odds for justice in Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian Russia are already slim—and especially, we may assume, for a dreadlocked African American icon of the international LGBTQ community. But the war in Ukraine and the geopolitical rivalry between Moscow and Washington are now explicitly at play in the case of Brittney Griner.

Peter Lamborn Wilson, underground intellectual and anarchist luminary, passes on

PLWPeter Lamborn Wilson, celebrated "underground intellectual" and a pivotal figure in the revival of American anarchism over the past 40 years, died May 23 at his home in Saugerties, NY, reportedly from a heart attack. A controversial as well as inspirational figure, Wilson was the author of several cult classics, ranging from ecstatic rants to anti-authoritarian interpretations of history and what he called "drop-out culture."

Peter Gorman, naturalist and legend of cannabis journalism, passes on

Peter GormanPeter Gorman, the acclaimed journalist, naturalist and adventurer who aggressively covered cannabis and the drug war beat for over 30 years, died at his home in Texas on April 24 at the age of 71. He had just returned from a long-planned river journey into a remote area of the Peruvian Amazon that he had first visited in 1984, and where he first encountered the psychoactive shamanic substances that would define much of his life's work.

Contrasts in cannabis equity: New York and Montana

Posted on March 28th, 2022 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , , .

leafThe Empire State and Big Sky Country, although seemingly on opposite sides of America’s political divide, now each face the opportunity—and the challenge—of crafting a post-prohibition cannabis economy on the principle of justice for all.

Hunger strike amid human rights crisis at NYC's Rikers Island

Posted on January 31st, 2022 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , .

RikersNew York’s new mayor has inherited a real human rights crisis at Rikers Island, the city’s principal jail, with desperate inmates launching hunger strikes in protest of oppressive and dangerous conditions. Promises by the previous administration to close the facility saw insufficient action, “decarceration” advocates charge. But with the new admin, the situation may be going from bad to worse.

Oooh, that smell: can it still get you busted?

cannabisWith growing legal and cultural space for cannabis, can the mere smell of the stuff still be sufficient cause for a search that could potentially land you in jail? The answer is that the courts are divided on this question. Meanwhile, cannabis attorneys warn against the fatal error of consenting to a search.

'Wild West' on the East Coast: post-MRTA free-for-all persists in New York

Posted on January 11th, 2022 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , .

NYCThe boom in "gray market" cannabis street sales in the Big Apple since legalization took effect in New York state has now reached the point of actual unlicensed and unregulated storefront dispensaries—which are apparently tolerated. This development is raising skeptical eyebrows from aspiring cannabis entrepreneurs still waiting for Albany to put a regulation structure in place.

Who's new

  • Baba Israel
  • Karr Young
  • John Veit
  • YosephLeib
  • Peter Gorman