Remember the 3rd Annual Texas Cannabis Crusade? Were you there? If so, you were a part of the largest pro-cannabis reform rally in Texas’ history. Of course, we encourage you all to attend next year’s event on May 7th, 2011, which will no doubt increase exponentially in numbers. For now, we have a little something you might be interested in participating in. The following info was received from the Keep Austin High crew.

Dude,

You know that friend of yours who always wants to watch that movie he’s in for 4 seconds, and brings up his 4 seconds of fame EVERY time that movie is brought up, AND even seems to steer conversations toward that movie so he can talk about that 4 seconds?

This is your chance to BE THAT GUY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This weekend. You are NOT dreaming. Glorious Movie Fame in a Soon to Be AUSTIN CINEMATIC LEGEND – it can be *yours.* And what’s more – we need you in your FREAKIEST ATTIRE.

Let your Freak Flag Fly for Film.

Details soon…….filming all weekend….yummy snacks and sexy people. OH MY GAWD on a GIHAD it’s Going to be MORE FUN than a Barrel of Incontinent Monkeys!!!!!!!

Extras are needed from 8 am till dusk on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with the most need for extras on Sunday. If you are an Outgrow Big Bro supporter, or just a person interested in the progression of the pro cannabis movement in Texas, then you should attend this event. OGBB will be there with some of our leftover Texas Cannabis Crusade merchandise.

Lastly, any generally interested parties can get more info at our website: www.keepaustinhigh.com and REALLY interested parties can RSVP for the rally by emailing austinhighextras@gmail.com

If you are reading this, you need to wake up early and be rested on Saturday morning for The Texas Cannabis Crusade.  We know it is tempting to go out and paint the town on Friday night, but chances are you won’t be an early riser, if you do that.  We have the perfect solution to your dilemma.

Join us for an early evening with Chief Greenbud and America’s Pot Poet, Paul Bullock.  We will be there to bring you up to speed on any and all issues surrounding cannabis and the prohibition thereof.  If you are a cannabis consumer, you need to be an informed cannabis consumer.

Our show will be sort of a happy hour type mixer with great tunes and great information out on the “smoking patio.”  We will kick it off around 6 and go till about 10.  Join us after work for a relaxed pre party for the largest cannabis reform rally in Texas history.  Cover is only $3!!!

Hello all you freedom fighting seed planting folks!

You are probably here looking for the newest update on the Cannabis Crusade.  It’s less than two weeks away now.

So here is the game plan:

10 AM — Wake -n- Bake Breakfast with live music from Champagne with Friends and protest sign making

HIGH NOON – We are escorted by Austin’s finest through downtown to The Capitol Building

1:00(ish) –  Chief Greenbud

1:30       –  Bruce Fox
1:45       –  Champa
2:40       –  Barry Cooper

BACK TO WOOLDRIDGE SQUARE PARK

3:15       –  Radio Valley
4:00       –  Ouachita
4:45       –  Flatcar Rattlers
5:30       –  One Step Program
6:30       –  Ashes of Babylon
7:45       –  Shotgun Hustler
9:00       –  Sun Salutation

10:00 PM — OUT!!!  Unless you are sleeping in the park, we’re out at 10.  Join us for the afterparty. [Location TBD]

This is roughly a 10,000 ft view of our day’s events.  Lots of our activities, etc are left out from this schedule.  We are still hosting the MacGuyver-Style Bong Making Competition.  Please, no mentions of water pipes.  Of course our schedule is subject to change without notice, and has been designed for flexibility.  The important thing is to make sure that your schedule is clear that day.  Make sure you have taken off work.  Make sure you have informed all of your friends where you will be on May 1st, and encourage them to join you.

We expect several thousand participants this year.  Remember, this is no longer a “pot-head issue.”  Responsible cannabis reform affects all of us in Texas.  We all stand to gain a certain degree of independence, once the war on some flowers is ended in Texas.  So do yourself and your fellow Texans a favor by attending this march.  If you believe in personal freedom, then you are encouraged to attend.

FLOOD THE STREETS!!!!

We have negotiated a very fair price for hotel rooms in Austin, for those of you who will be traveling in from out of town.  How does $50 sound?  You must book your room before April 16th to get the negotiated rate for the room.  All the rooms in our reserved block are equipped with two queen sized beds, so find a friend, or find a few friends to split the cost of the room with you. Fifty bucks split in two or even split by four is a great deal for even the most frugal of travelers.

Contact the St. Michael Plaza Hotel directly to reserve your room RFF (real … fast), because space is limited.  Follow the link or call (888) 837 3222.  To get the low rate, you will have to mention Outgrow Big Bro as your group name.  All hotel rooms are non-smoking, but all rooms have patio access.

This full service hotel can fulfill all of your hotel needs. Fitness enthusiasts will appreciate the exercise facility and busy travelers can relax and unwind in the sparkling Jacuzzi. Each of the guestrooms includes a continental breakfast, wireless internet, and free parking.  Check in time starts after 3pm, Check out time is anytime before noon.  You just can’t beat this deal with a stick!

The question is, what are you going to do with all the money you save on hotel stay?  May I suggest you pay the $10 entry fee for our 3rd Annual MacGuyver-Style Bong Making Competition?  You could be crowned this year’s best bong maker and walk away with a very nice prize from one of our sponsors.  This year, the bong making competition will be scored by our panel of judges on functionality, aesthetic appeal and crowd approval.

The last few years have produced some really nice contraptions, and some of our participants have walked away with some really sick locally produced functional glass art for their ingenuity.  You could be the next winner.  Just in case there is any “fuzzy” interference, this year we will be using the new legal herbal K2 Spice cannabis alternative for demonstration purposes. 

The Texas Cannabis Crusade has been the largest pro-cannabis rally in Texas history every year since its inception in 2008.  This year will prove to be no exception.  This monumental event is just one month away, and with increased success comes increased cost of operation.  You can help us out by making a donation, pre-ordering your limited edition TX Cannabis Crusade shirt or 420 jar, or by picking up a VIP pass.  Of course just showing up to this event and marching with us helps our cause tremendously.

Don’t be that guy sitting at home on May 1st, wondering where all your friends are.  See you at Wooldridge Park on Saturday, May 1st at 10:00 AM!!!

This passed Winter seems to have been the longest and coldest in recent memory, but alas; it’s over.  All the cannabis seeds you have been saving are ready to find their home in the dirt.  The only thing you have to decide is which dirt in which to deposit these little packages of joy.

In the 1974 George Carlin album, Toledo Window Box, the iconic comedian suggests with a footnote in the album art that listeners should plant their seeds near the March Equinox.  This seed planting web logger had not yet been planted when this album was released, however having found it buried in a stack of dusty vinyl early in youth, I took the advice.

Mr. Carlin never suggested that listeners take to the streets of metropolitan America on their seed planting endeavors.  However, the laws in 1974 were on the verge of becoming rational, in regards to cannabis prohibition.  Everyone seemed to think it would be just a few short years before the God-given herb was back into the hands of the people.  Who would have thought that 36 years later, Americans would still be subject to spending decades behind bars for these felonious inhalations.

Perhaps if he had the foresight that we would still be in this situation, he may have taken to encouraging listeners to put the seeds in public view.  This was not a movement that seemed necessary then.  It is now.  The time is nigh.  The freezing weather is behind us, in The South, and the climate is perfect in Texas for a seed to germinate and develop into a beautiful plant.

But where should you plant your seeds?!  If you aren’t sure, give it some thought.  There are tons of perfect locations in public, where a seed would have the opportunity to develop into a full grown statement.  After all, a ten inch pot plant growing outside a court house is likely to draw more attention than a group of activists standing outside protesting.

To give you a little inspiration, I will explain to you the route of our march in May.  We’ve got one month, one week, one day and one hour left until the largest pro-cannabis rally in Texas history!  Wouldn’t it make a wonderful photo shoot to find the world’s most resourceful plant spangled through the planters of downtown Austin as thousands of cannabis consumers take to the streets?

Regardless of current man law, there is an inalienable right extended to every man and woman born on Earth to plant a seed into it.  Only when we all begin to exercise that right will we begin to Outgrow Big Bro.

Our march begins at 9th and Guadalupe and will proceed toward Cesar Chavez.  We will then cross City Hall over to Congress Avenue, and then head back up Congress to our State Capitol.  The route is roughly 1.5 miles from start to finish.  So, if you have been storing up your seeds all Winter, like we have, make a day of it.  Remember that there are people out there who would try and stop us from exercising our inalienable rights as Earth dwellers.  Just try and be discreet, when you go seed planting, and remember to bring your camera to The Third Annual Texas Cannabis Crusade!

For decades, you’ve heard negative propaganda regarding cannabis and its adverse side effects. They’ve ranged all across the spectrum, from causing “white women to seek sexual relations with negroes,” to causing insanity, to killing brain cells. The educated population now knows these things to be untrue, however there are some ACTUAL side effects of cannabis use.

Cannabis causes an increase in appetite. Referred to as “The Munchies” for the better part of the last century, the user often has a craving for food after consuming cannabis. We all know this, but is it really that bad of a side effect? You can decide to eat unhealthy foods, but is that really cannabis’ fault? The cannabis didn’t make you grab the potato chips instead of the grapes, when you were at the grocery store. Did it?

Cannabis consumption can also cause blood vessels in the eye to slightly expand, causing red eyes. There have been scientific breakthroughs that allow the user to alleviate the red eye side effect. Products like Visine and Clear Eyes only cost a few dollars a bottle and are available at your nearest convenience store. However, this side effect has no negative physical consequence to the user, save for being identified as “high” by an authority figure. If there were no longer a consequence associated with being identified as high, would Visine sales drop???

Cannabis use is often, but not always, associated with paranoia. Some cannabis users have reported the fear of angry men breaking down their door and caging them. However, this seems to be a symptom nearly exclusive to states that have no compassionate laws on the books yet regarding cannabis. It’s safe to say that we’re paranoid because one of us is locked in a cage every 37 seconds, and if the threat of jail were eliminated, we’d likely be a lot less paranoid.

If you sit at home on May 1st, you will be doing yourself, and your fellow Texans a disservice. See you there at 10:00 AM!

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws released a well organized document that  hits all points in regards to the process of the legalization/decriminalization of marijuana[cannabis].  Any outdated stereotype based objection that you may hear from your representative or family member can be defeated with information contained in this document.

The report goes in depth into case studies examining the effects of cannabis decriminalization in various states and countries that have passed the appropriate laws.  A noticeable trend in virtually all the studies is that the existence of legal access to cannabis does not cause an increase in the overall use of the substance, and particularly that its use among youths is not increased.

My suggestion is to download the file below and attach it to an email to each of your elected representatives.  If they’re not receptive to the information, they’ll possibly send you a letter back thanking you for your opinion.  They will go on to say that it is not their intention to blah blah blah…. Don’t let this be the end of the interaction.  You should respond to them and repute any argument they may have in favor of keeping this God given medicine illegal.

Here is the link to the pdf.  Read it.  Share it.  Force this information into the in-boxes of the decision makers of this state.

Real World Ramifications of Legalization

It’s this writer’s experience that some wooden headed representatives refuse to accept new information, so you will have to be persistent, and armed with facts.

Don’t want to share your yahoo or gmail address?  Get yourname@IamnotaCriminal.org today at I am not a criminal dot org.

You can help drive thousands more people from rural Texas to join us in this year’s Texas Cannabis Crusade.  If you want to spread the word about our march to the cannabis consuming members of your community, consider ordering a box of TCC Posters.  These posters are high quality 18″X12″ full color versions of the poster below.  All you need is spare time, a stapler, tape or spray glue, and you can tell everyone in your city or town that they should join you in Austin on May 1st.

Of course, we would love to ship these posters out to every town in Texas, but our limited budget prevent us from doing so.  Your money goes to cover the overhead costs of printing and shipping these posters.  If you and four of your friends can spare $20, you can order a 100 pack of these posters to hang all over your town, and likely draw in lots of folks who otherwise wouldn’t hear about this event.

Remember this is a grassroots organization, and we depend on our roots [YOU] to help us grow.  By helping us promote this event, you are helping to re-legalize cannabis in Texas!

How many?

25 $25.00 50 $50.00 75 $75.00

Need More???!!!

How many?

100 pk $100.00 200 pk $175.00 300 pk $250.00

If you’ve done your homework, you know that all Mexicans are not crazy.  Also for the record, those who are crazy were not made that way by this stuff.  The headline of this blog was a statement uttered on the floor of the Texas Legislature by an elected representative in the early 1900′s.  This was nearly one hundred years ago, before the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed by the federal government.

Here we are in 2010, and the people responsible for making the decisions regarding marijuana are just about as educated on cannabis as the delegates were a hundred years ago.  Just last year, one member of our State Legislature stated on record that she had never heard the term cannabis before and asked about its meaning.

Ignorance is no excuse!  It was an inexcusable act to have prohibited this substance in the first place, on the basis of racism, and it is an inexcusable act not to do something to right that wrong now.  Last year HB 902 died in committee, because the people that we elected to represent us failed to do so.  Perhaps next year you will feel that it is your personal obligation to show up to a public committee hearing to offer your testimony on the subject.  It is.

Of the millions of cannabis consuming Texans out there, only three individuals were present to defend the side of right at the scheduled hearing for HB 902 last year.  The bill would have reduced the penalty of possession of under ONE OUNCE to a Class C Misdemeanor.  Not exactly full on legalization, but definitely a nice small step in the right direction.  However, this bill never got the attention it deserved, it died, and 100,000 more otherwise law abiding Texans will go to jail before September 1, 2011.

The responsibility rested within the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee to allow this bill to be voted on by the House.  They failed us.  Several members of this committee are quite aware of the facts, and have even stated that no matter how many of their constituents wanted this legislation to pass, they would not consider it.  A few of the individuals who hold firm to this belief are as follows:

Debbie Riddle  <———–Does not know definition of cannabis.  Call her office and explain it to her.  (512) 463-0572

Allen Fletcher <—Understands what cannabis is, but holds strong to his law enforcement background (512)  463-0661

Wayne Christian <——Call him & help him decide if he wants to continue to assist ruining lives. (512) 463-0556

Follow this link to find out who represents you.  Call or write to them, and tell them your story.  STOP BEING SHEEP!  This government belongs to us, but it’s working against us.  It’s time to throw the bums out!  It’s time to flood the streets.  See you on May 1st.

Hector X.

The High Times Doobie Awards are returning to Austin this year for their 8th annual award ceremony.  It promises to be another smoking hot party this year right up in the mix of all the SXSW insanity.  This year’s event is being held at Emo’s Outside at 603 Red River.

This year we will the show gets started at HIGH NOON, and runs til 6pm. The show is once again being hosted by High Times Senior Editor Bobby Black.  Making a special appearance is Hip-Hop Icon, B-Real, accepting the highest award, “Lifetime Achievement,” on behalf of Cypress Hill.

Performers this year include:

NEBULA,
KARMA TO BURN,
LOS MARIJUANOS, PROSPECT HILL,
LIONIZE, HOUSE OF BROKEN PROMISES,
DIXIEWITCH
& AMY JO SAVANNAH.

This year the nominees include:

BEST JAM BAND ARTIST
Phish – Joy
The Black Crowes – Before the Frost…Until the Freeze
Disco Biscuits – Planet Anthem
Monsters of Folk – Self-Titled
Gov’t Mule – By A Thread

BEST REGGAE / SOUL MUSIC ARTIST
Easy Star All-Stars – Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band
Lionize – Space Pope and the Glass Machine
Matisyahu – Light
Tarrus Riley – Contagious
Ocote Soul Sounds – Coconut Rock

BEST HIP-HOP ARTIST
B Real – Smoke N Mirrors
Method & Red – Blackout 2
Kottonmouth Kings – Hidden Stash 420
Asher Roth – Asleep in the Bread Aisle
Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon: The End of Day

BEST METAL ARTIST
Mastodon – Crack The Skye
DevilDriver – Pray For Villains
Slayer – World Painted Blood
Shadows Fall – Retribution
Cannabis Corpse – The Weeding

BEST ALTERNATIVE ROCK ARTIST
Them Crooked Vultures – Self-Titled
Alice in Chains – Black Gives Way to Blue
Wolfmother – Cosmic Egg
Assjack – Self-Titled
Nick Oliveri – Death Acoustic

BEST STONER ROCK ARTIST
Clutch – Strange Cousins from the West
Fu Manchu – Signs of Infinite Power
Priestess – Prior To The Fire
Seventh Void – Self-Titled
House of Broken Promises – Using the Useless

BEST NEW / UNDERGROUND ARTIST
Prospect Hill
DJ Slim
Seventh Void
Lionize
Cycle of Pain

BEST LOCAL BAND
Dixiewitch
Funkotron
Amplified Heat
Iron Age
Ocote Soul Sounds

POT SONG OF THE YEAR
“Do My Work High” – Cycle of Pain featuring Sen Dog
“Choking Gesture” – Hank III & Assjack
“Day ‘N Night” – Kid Cudi
“Must Be the Ganja”  – Eminem
“Blunt Cruisin’” – Asher Roth
“Dis Iz 4 All My Smokers”  – Method & Red

We will be there spreading the word about the Crusade.  Mark your calendar, and make plans to fight the traffic to join us at this awesome party.  Tickets are $15 at the door, and no advance tickets are being sold.

If we don’t see you there, we hope to see you and all your friends at Wooldridge Square Park on May 1st.