A plant that grows and naturally exists on earth is illegal. Only stupid humans can say a plant is illegal. Walk into any liquor store and buy a bottle of man made juice and get drunk enough to die from alcohol poisoning and its completely legal. Now that sounds like the US government at its finest.

You guys are saying "medical" again. It shouldn't be that, it should a cannabis movement. Jayelle said it. It should be a "cannabis civil rights movement" and that's it. Why dance around with terms? All it does is give fuel to the prohibitionists. When you call it "medical" you're doing nothing but opening the door to pharmaceutical companies and they'll screw this movement faster then Stevie D's comment. If your straight up about it the government and people will respect the movement more.

It's a shame that this was highly promoted by the legalization community, and then concluded with a lack of support for the same community who brought in a good deal of viewers. It's a shame that the same person who ONLY supports medical marijuana deals to thousands of people annually who are using it for nothing more than the "recreational purposes," using the medical term as a way to get high. Many people need medical marijuana, like my sister who suffers from MS, but so long as it remains "medical only" the patients (who really need it) must stand in long lines like in an Apple store to get their medicine waiting on someone who broke their pinky years earlier who doesn't know the difference between indica or sativa.

There's a medicinal application for alcohol, even tobacco... but the majority of people who use these items are using it to relax or cut loose. If it needs to remain for medical purposes, it should be sold at a pharmacy like all other medicines. Though, so long as profit margins stay high, and the small guys getting beat out by commercial sized operations, there will always be the opponents to legalization.

I would much rather see it sold legally with a tax to help the nation's economic problems and given to patients for a fraction of the cost (if not completely for free, considering it's a renewable resource). I wonder then if the dealers would think it should be for patients only if they couldn't profit as much, or if they'd join the legalization movement to continue their business?

If they're willing to give to all patients for free, then I'd have a bit more faith. Sadly, people sell out, flip flop and unfairly treat those who have supported them for years. Also, this does nothing but divide the movement again, setting us back more and more as people abuse semantics, legal loopholes and patients (and users) in need.

Also, in places like Oklahoma, where we're decades away from medical marijuana, why would we support the notion of medical only when we don't even have that? Everyone deserves it, and patients with real diseases shouldn't be paying hundreds of dollars every month for such a cheap medicine. This is atrocious and completely bogus. Not to mention the many hypocrisies one would know on a personal level from people who party with Steve.

It would be awesome if the medical community could be real, because they're not doctors, they're not pharmacists, they're semi-prohibitionists of an exclusive club where people pay outrageous amounts for something that winds up in the black market just the same and gets shipped to places like Oklahoma. Also, I can guarantee Steve didn't start using for medicinal purposes, simply... it wasn't around at the time.

Get real Mr. D'Angelo. This quote comes directly from HHC's site: "At 16 years old he dropped out of school to join the Yippies, and was the key organizer of the annual July 4th marijuana Smoke-Ins in front of the White House." This doesn't really sound like support for medical marijuana as much as "recreational use."

I will no longer be in support of Harborside, will recommend other facilities and will not give a single ounce of help until Steve changes his hypocritical opinion regarding legalization. I stand alongside many smokers and countless organizations who will now see the truth for what Harborside stands for. It's not wellness, because they wouldn't charge so much. It isn't against recreational usage, it's simply business.

Pure & simple: LEGALIZE IT! DON'T CRITICIZE IT. And STOP arresting people for smoking pot regardless of why they do it! I visited Harborside Health Center on a recent weekend in the Bay Area simply 'cause a guy at my local pot store told me to check it out. I LOVED IT! They're creating the future of marijuana production and distribution & I want to see their model recreated everywhere! Steve DA has also moved up to a level where he has to be more political than radical so that the bozos who say it's illegal will let him say anything!!

THE BIBLICAL SLANT IS THE WHOLE WORLD IS ILL... AND THE SHOOTS/LEAVES OF THE TREE ARE FOR THE HEALING OF THE PEOPLES. PERHAPS THAT'S WHERE DYLAN GOT IT FROM: EVERYBODY MUST GET STONED. OR HE WAS MEANING IT'S THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST AND REJECTING IT. ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE, IT'S THE ONLY UNPARDONABLE SIN. CANNABIS AMNESTY IS PROBABLY THE BIBLICAL REFORMATION

Alcohol is toxic. Marijuana is not toxic. Stop equating the two. Alcohol is for intoxication. Marijuana is for your health, both mind and body.

Legal as tomatoes just don't give/sell to underage. That appears to be the opinion of about 58% of Massachusetts voters.
http://masscann.org/legal-reform/56-research/412-masscannnorml-is-conducting-a-professional-poll-in-massachusetts

As a pot smoker living in Texas I see any attempts at legalization a step in the right direction. I watch news reports about innocent people dying on either side of the Mexican border over drug dealing. Any form of legalization in the southern states will cripple the drug lords and bring their reign of terror to a halt. If saying it's for medical use gets us a foot in the door, then slowly we can change the system. As a person who spent a week in Harris Co. jail in Houston for being in possession of my last bowl of weed and a pipe I can honestly say I don't mind paying taxes on weed if it means I won't get arrested for having it. I watch as the movement spreads across the country and hope that one day we can get a medical marijuana "start," I don't expect it to instantly be legalized; in my eyes that's an unrealistic goal. We've got to start somewhere and grow from there just like a seed. I've been smoking marijuana for almost 24 years now. I was born with something wrong in my head and when I started smoking I was able to interact with other people like I never had felt comfortable doing before. I deal with depression, anxiety and pain every day of my life and this funny-looking little plant is the only thing that helps all of my issues. Obviously I would like to wake up one morning and turn on the news to see a declaration of full legalization across the board, but that's just not going to happen so I will take what I can get.

Let's drop the semantics argument and use "medicinal use," "non-medicinal use" and possibly "semi-medicinal."

Thanks for the hard work on this, Steve.

After rethinking, I might be missing the entire point, Since a lot doesn't get documented, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt, unless it's acting. The seem like they're fairly kind-hearted people.

Steve DeAngelo knew very well that his statement about opposing legalization of marijuana for recreational use would create a firestorm. He saved it for the last episode so ratings wouldn't drop. "Recreation" or "wellness," "cannabis" or "marijuana," "stoner" or "pothead" - these are all semantic arguments certainly worth discussing. However, when you make such a broad statement on a national TV show, what are we to think? DeAngelo has every right to try to redirect the discussion, but the average person watching "Weed Wars" will just see him as being opposed to overall legalization and strictly in favor of medical use. To most people, especially outside of MMJ-legal states, marijuana is a social elixir and mind expander. We don't specifically "medicate" with marijuana as people like to say in California and Colorado. That's cute and clever but also falls into the government's trap, which is to build a case against patients that are not truly sick or ill, but are still able to acquire cannabis at dispensaries. Good for them, but perhaps DeAngelo is missing the fact that a backlash has built up against that argument. Most smokers want to get high for their own reasons, whether it's to "medicate" or just enjoy life under the THC influence. Marijuana should be legal for all uses. Like Russ Belville says, if "recreational" is not an appropriate term, then call it "personal" use. Let people make their own decisions and not conform to whatever language is popular at the moment.

For the record, I liked "Weed Wars" except for DeAngelo's concluding comment and the 66-year-old guy who tried MMJ and didn't like it. That segment appeared to be directed at advertisers who likely were screaming in Discovery's ear.

And big-up to my old pal Rick Pfrommer, Harborside's product manager. What an awesome gig! Great job, Rick...

Russ is right. I thought it was funny how in episode 2 he wanted everyone to join together to fight the raids. If he would've joined when it made a difference (aka Prop 19) they might not have theses problems. The truth is we won't be able to make progress until it's 100% legal. Medical alongside of recreational.

Oh, Stevie... Bill Clinton just called and would like to you to tell him what the meaning of the word "is" is.

"Recreation is something you do, not something you ingest... the ingestion of cannabis alone is not sufficient; some other additional step is required to attain recreation."

And that would be... a six-foot bong? Oil hits until you pass out? Puffin' blunts at the Cypress Hill show in the Prop 215 area? Here you are, confirming that there is, indeed, something one can do to be "recreating" with cannabis, and that is something you just stated you would not want to see legalized. Or are you saying "no use is recreational?" That there is no other step one can take to turn the ingestion of cannabis into a recreational activity?

"I don't like the term 'recreational cannabis' because it does not accurately describe my own experience... I think it is the same for every cannabis user I know."

With the power to read peoples' minds, why limit yourself to pot dealing? Let me clear something up for you. Right now, I am physically healthy. I have gone the entire day without consuming cannabis. (I even picked out a matching shirt and tie completely sober!) I feel no pain, no anxiety, no depression. If I didn't consume cannabis today, I would be no better or worse off than I am right now. As I sat here writing this, I thought, "Wouldn't it feel good right now to smoke a bowl?" So I loaded my water pipe and ingested a few strong hits. It feels good. I'm enjoying it. That's called "recreation."

For the contra-positive to prove the rule: what do we call it when somebody smokes a cigar?

"...the term 'recreational cannabis' enables our opponents to argue that our movement advocates the replacement of recreational activities with the ingestion of cannabis."

That's a leap. I don't like "recreational cannabis" because it sounds like something you do with an RV in the woods. But I'm not going to try to cram that understanding into the word "wellness"; I prefer "personal."

"This idea is profoundly scary to parents, even parents who use cannabis."

What's scary to parents is the idea that someone out there is trying make a buck selling their kids pot, and those people are usually sneaky and untrustworthy. The proper response to the inaccurate lies about marijuana by the prohibitionists is not to replace them with inaccurate euphemisms for getting high on our side. The proper response is to tell the truth.

"Public opinion poll after public opinion poll show far more Americans support medical cannabis than recreational cannabis."

Here are the most recent Gallup Poll numbers:

1996: [Prop 215 Passes] / Legalization 24%
1999: Medical 73% / Legalization 29%
2003: Medical 75% / Legalization 34%
2005: Medical 78% / Legalization 36%
2010: Medical 70% / Legalization 46%
2011: Medical ??? / Legalization 50%

So that "far more Americans" that were +44% in 1999 are now only +20%. Since Prop 215 passed, legalization support has doubled and medical support has flatlined and, recently, dropped. The CBS News poll this year showed only 31% believe medical marijuana was being used "for serious conditions" and 52% believe it is used "for something else."

Now we have to assume the people who support legalization are also supporting medical, right? Who would say, "No, you shouldn't lock up a guy for smoking a joint... unless he's really sick!" That tells me, then, if legalization support is rising and medical's not, lots of medical-only supporters are coming over to the legalization side. It would seem to me that among Americans, legalization support has doubled while medical support has stalled. Furthermore, it is disingenuous at best to think that 70+% support for "Should marijuana be legal for use by seriously ill and disabled people?" in a poll question translates to "See, the public would support getting high if we called it 'wellness'!" After all, most medical states have mechanisms by which they can add qualifying conditions to medical marijuana and, aside from Oregon adding Alzheimer's agitation and New Mexico adding PTSD, few additions spring to mind, and certainly none of them called "wellness."

Meanwhile, the new medical-marijuana states that come online get stricter condition lists, lower possession amounts, no home grow, and odious registration and security requirements because legislators there want to be sure that their people vote for granny to use her glaucoma medicine doesn't turn into a $20 million WalMart of Weed. The biggest mistake we can make in arguing for cannabis liberation is to put the word "because" after "It's OK to smoke pot." This is not a battle of proving "why" or "how" it's OK to use cannabis, for "why" and "how" always require adjudication and correction of those with the wrong reason or method. It's a battle of "None of your damn business." Nobody has to justify their alcohol or tobacco use; if I want to smoke and drink, it's nobody's damn business why I do.

As for "What About the Children?!?" even though parents are rightfully scared of their kids getting into alcohol misadventures or getting hooked on cigarettes, they accept intrinsically that the potential harm to their kids from these substances is far less than the guaranteed harms to society of prohibiting them. When's the last time you saw "Mothers for Alcohol and Tobacco Prohibition?" No, we've got "Mothers Against Drunk Driving,""Drink responsibly" and "Truth.org" activism to educate and legislate about responsible adult use and accurate education of substance harms.

What we have here is a weed dealer "eligible for three federal death penalties" who desperately has to show the IRS that 280-E doesn't apply because it was made for the terrible people who are running criminal enterprises profiting off the sales of Schedule I substances that people use for recreational purposes, not the good compassionate people like himself who only supply medicine to 94,000 people who are all using it for wellness.

Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. So basically you're arguing semantics which still doesn't excuse your statement.

Let's just make this simple: it's all about money. What does this dude gain if hemp cannabis is made legal like wine? Nothing, He will not make as much money as he does now and more free market enterprise cuts into his profit. Just my take!

Thank you Bloom for writing this. He was smoking illegally from age 16 and I'll bet he didn't have a doctor's order until in his late 40's and was it for legal reasons or just to get into the industry legally? Nobody should have to have a Dr's recommendation to use marijuana. He's more than a hypocrite, he's greedy and his supporters should be distancing themselves asap. Remember he does a lot of public speaking about investing money in his business. He has set the legalize movement back at least 10 years so he can protect his "world's largest club" record and his cash flow (including investments). It's the only logical reason given his background unless it's worse and it's Big Pharma paying him on the side. Let's face it, that statement just told the public NO to legalizing marijuana, which is against even a lot of non-pot smokers' views. Lastly, the show isn't really that interesting and not because it lacks drama, it just lacks depth and the episodes are forgettable.

For his last 20 years I have been a friend of Jack Herer's and we both felt that adults have an inalienable right to grow without taxation, regulation or government control. It appears that message is FINALLY getting through. Perhaps it's time to elect someone like me so that we can end this once and for all.

New Candidate for 2012 Presidency wants a “Green Economy” Based on Marijuana:
http://www.newagecitizen.com/MERP/RelegalizeNowObama57.htm

Yea, their stance on legalizing is a little weird. I'm not sure pushing it as "medical" or "wellness" is really what we want. Everybody who wants to toke shouldn't have to be a "patient" and I don't like considering myself "medicated." The other thing that bothers me a bit about these guys is that they're ALWAYS "medicated" and customers complain about this too in their online reviews. I mean even the cashiers (budtenders) are totally baked while they're working. C'mon, how many bartenders do their job drunk? I'm sure in some after-hours clubs it is accepted but when you go to a bar around dinnertime the workers most likely have not been drinking. So why would we try to push being "medicated" at all times as acceptable? It makes the industry look stupid and like a bunch of stoners... and this is obviously not what we're going for so cut it out please. Do your job, sober, and then go home and blaze.

And hey, another tidbit of advice would be to maybe lay off the edibles before going to give a speech in front of government officials. People can tell when you're "medicated" and will not take you seriously.

Despite the above, they seem like pretty cool guys and I'm glad they had the balls to do the show.

Great job, Bloom. As tight-knit as we all want to be in the cannabis community, it's nice to see someone call this show out for what it is and how hypocritical it looks to the cannabis community. I'm sure Steve D is a compassionate dude with good intentions but you nailed everything on the head. "Only for medical use"... my ass. If anyone who isn't "pot-friendly" watched and analyzed this show, Steve D and his fam would be called out for so much bullshit based on the TV series. It's unfortunate. Not only has he caused friction in the cannabis movement, but I'm sure there are critics waiting in the sidelines to blast MMJ programs and pro-MJ legislation. It's sad that this happened this way. Hope Steve d is ready to take even more flack for hindering any progress in the MJ movement.

Thank you Tom Angel! You just made this entire article pointless and I agree with you 100%! Stay well my friend.