Cuttings: 10 Steps to Supercharged Cuttings

By Andrew Taylor, FloraMax

Reproducing your own plants from “cuttings” provides control over the supply and quality of “seedlings”.  It also enables you to replicate your favourite ‘strain’.

HOW TO PRODUCE CUTTINGS

1. Start with sterile water. This helps prevent diseases. The water should be around 68 deg F (20 deg C).

2. Choose a professional 2-part nutrient.  Add part ‘A’ and stir, then part ‘B’ and stir.

3. Stimulate root production. Add a root accelerant to the nutrient solution then stir again. This encourages strong and vigorous roots.

4. Check pH to ensure optimal nutrient availability. Use a calibrated digital pH meter to verify that the nutrient solution’s pH is between 5.5 and 7.0.  If the pH is above 7.0, add diluted (not straight out of the bottle!) pH Down, little by little until the pH falls within the correct range.

5. Prep pots then moisten. Line two or three-inch net pots with net pot liners and fill with premium quality, pith-rich coco coir and place in a propagator tray (Fig 5.5). Alternatively use large cell trays, coco propagation blocks or Rockwool cubes. Gently tap the pot or tray a few times to get rid of any large air gaps. Thoroughly moisten (flush) the propagation media with the nutrient solution. Discard any run-off.  

TIP:  To prevent diseases, ensure all hardware has been thoroughly pre-sterilized with bleach.

6. Take small cuttings.  Select a healthy mother plant that is not flowering and has no visible diseases or pest infestations:

• Step 1. Select “lead” growth tips wherever possible.  Ideal length is 3 – 5 inches with one leaf set (two leaves) at the base that can be removed later on (Fig 5.1).  When these lower leaves are removed (in Step 2) this region offers greater rooting potential when placed into ‘soil’.

• Step 2. Work quickly with a sterile, sharp blade (razor blades are good but be careful). Remove lower set of leaves flush with stem, but without cutting into it.  Then cut through the stem on a 45 degree angle about 1/4 inch (6mm) below this (Fig 5.2).  Do not tear or crush the stem.

• Step 3.  Insert 1 inch of base of cutting (Fig 5.3) into a clone gel. Finally, insert stem about one inch deep into a ‘pre-made’ hole (slightly undersized) in the centre of the pot or block (Fig 5.4).   It should fit snugly.  Be careful not to bruise or damage the stem.  NOTE: Steps 1 to 3 should be done quickly to minimize stresses on the cutting such as dehydration and air ingress.

7. Seal in moisture. Place propagator lid on tray and generally close any vents (Fig 5.5).  Relative humidity should be maintained about 90% (open vents slightly if required).  To combat any persistent wilting, spray 2-3 times per day with water or a clone spray.  Avoid pools of liquid at the bottom of the propagator – propagation media should never be allowed to sit in water.

8. Place under low intensity fluorescent light. Use 6500K lamps and leave on for 24 hours a day. Monitor temperature inside the propagator using a thermometer with a remote probe. Aim for 75-80 deg F (24-27 deg C). Use a thermostatically controlled heat mat if temperatures are too cold—unlikely.  Raise lights if too hot—more likely.

9. Check cuttings regularly. Once roots form (typically after 5 – 10 days) the propagation media can become dry very quickly, often catching growers out. Remoisten using the same solution.  In some cases, top-watering fails to water the entire propagation block.  Full immersion of the block itself may be required.

10. Be patient and clean. Wait until roots have fully explored the propagation media before transplanting—keeping the cuttings moist (but not drenched) with regular top-ups of mild nutrient solution.  Vents can be gradually opened once roots have formed.  This will help prevent diseases.  Also, maintain hygiene by keeping hard surfaces wiped clean, and remove any dead plant matter as this is an ideal host for fungi. 

© Andrew M Taylor (Principal Chemist at FloraMax)

For further information see https://www.floramax.com/supercharged-cuttings/  

Author:  Andrew Taylor is an analytical chemist with additional qualifications in plant function and nutrition. He has over 25 years’ experience in agricultural product design, research and development, and commercial manufacturing. As the author of the Flairform Grower’s Guide, he writes extensively on hydroponic growing techniques and has had several articles featured in a number of prominent Cannabis industry publications. Mr. Taylor is the Head of Manufacturing and Research and Development for FloraMax, an Australian manufacturer of hydroponic nutrients.

Common Citizen, Rare Perspective

Common Citizen, Rare Perspective

By: Matthew Gervais

Down a forgotten strip of Averill on Flint’s east side sits a peculiar gem.  Passerby’s for months have speculated as to its purpose while they watched what was once the Checkpoint Lounge transform into... something?  A coffee shop, said some.  Bank was another popular guess, until a green light appeared one day on the side of the building.  That seems odd for a bank?  Then billboards featuring happy people in striking black and white, with a single featured line “Cannabis For Humanity”.   

This, of course, meant it was time for the MM Report to get involved.  We sat down with Michael Elias, CEO and one of the four founders of Common Citizen, at their state licensed pilot marijuana provisioning center, not bank, to get to the bottom of the mystery and find out a little about him and his thoughts on the cannabis industry in Michigan.

Straight to the point, what is Common Citizen?

“Common citizen is a purpose driven human-centric brand that was established, really the journey took about three years to get where we’re at today, and it’s centered on the local environment, the people that look like you and I every day that consume for various reasons.  Whether it be social, medical, wellness, or just a solo consumer who is looking to alternatives for alcohol and potent pharmaceuticals that present too many side effects.  And so the idea of Common Citizen is to create this unpretentious brand that allows the common person to look in and see themselves in the store.  For us, If you don’t see yourself in my store, then you will never think about consuming or looking for alternatives.  It’s really to accelerate the normalization of cannabis in the state.”


Why choose Flint to start this endeavour?

“The four founders were born and raised in Michigan.  I grew up in Detroit, 7 Mile and Ryan, and you know that house is long gone, it is quite the ghetto these days.  But we know Michigan, we know Detroit, Common Citizen is a brand born in Detroit.  We chose Flint because Flint was the epicenter of the economic hub of the world at some point back in the day, and we believe that there is not only a renaissance going on here, but a renaissance going on in Detroit.  We think that renaissance parallels the renaissance of cannabis beautifully.  So we think this is a great location to sping board from and really hold true to our roots.  You know this store, we put about $1.2 - $1.3 million into this store, and people said we were crazy, it’s Flint Michigan, why would you do such a thing?  We believe Flint deserves better.”

Will you tell us a bit about your professional background?

“‘Lean manufacturing is a big part of my background, I ran a hospital, 450 bed quaternary facility.  Spent a lot of time at the bedside as an administrator, looking at the issues around patient care, and not only the patient but the families that support the patient.  You had to look beyond the patient  in some cases because the families that support those patients are just as important.  When they go home and they take that patient when they get discharged, what that family does effects the trajectory of that patient though the system.  And so for us, we are looking at the total patient when they come in, and lean is a big part of continuous improvement in Common Citizen, it’s a 70 year old methodology that keeps the patient in the center of the design.  The learnings I got in healthcare was that most healthcare systems are not designed with patient in mind, they evolve.  It’s just a Frankenstien bunch of Band-Aide fixes, and what I spent 21 years doing in healthcare was unravelling those Band-Aide fixes and trying to get back to why we do what we do as clinicians and design with the patient in the middle.”


So how is that sort of experience applied to selling cannabis products?

“I feel that a lot of that experience is coming into this space, and so when I see a customer walk in it’s a huge highlight for me.  To be able to tap their wisdom, and their experience, to be able to take whatever it is they’re saying could be improved and immediately imbed that into the standard work for the staff.  Lean is very nimble in that regard, it’s real time corrective action.  So we are building, in every one of these Citizen Advisors, the capability to be, essentially, industrial engineers in a service level environment where they can take these soft technologies and methodologies that have been around for 70 years and implement them in real time, which really creates a powerful environment for the staff.”


Citizen Advisors?

“We call them Citizen Advisors rather than Bud Tenders.  Outside of the customers the staff are the most important thing for me.  We have a whole employee happiness strategy that we put together that essentially ensures that they are incredibly happy at work.  I use the word incredible because it is not enough that they are happy, they need to be passionate about the space that they’re in.  I don’t want them coming in and punching a clock.  I want them to feel that they are part of a movement, and spending their time in the community doing things that are important for Flint residents.  Those are pre-requisites to employment, that they have a passion.  For example, we are going to have Wednesday water drives, it was driven by one of the Citizen Advisors.  That wasn’t something I came up with, it was a Citizen Advisor who is already involved in trying to improve the water situation in Flint.  Essentially we are funding her vision, because it made sense.  It fit the brand beautifully.”


Does the brand just do provisioning, or are there plans for more?

“We are vertically integrated, meaning that we manufacture, we provision, and we process, pharmacutical grade cannabis.  We can not transport, obviously, because the state won’t let you do that, if you are into those three, and we can’t test, but we do have our own testing service.”


As someone in business at multiple levels of the cannabis industry, what are your thoughts on the black market?

“My biggest issue is the black market, the grey market, oversupplying the market with sub-par product that isn’t safe.  Those things all have the ability to unravel the commercial environment.  The whole point of the commercial environment is to get good quality tested regulated product to the consumer.  When you allow for black market activities, or grey market activities, that could bypass those regulatory constraints that ensure good quality product, I think you have a problem.  From a business stand-point and from a patient safety stand-point.  You know, we got case studies in Oregon, we got case studies in Cali.  I’m not making this up.  We can just look at what went wrong in those states and hopefully we can learn and build that into our regulatory framework.  So that’s my big concern, oversupplying the market.  But to allow certain laws on the books today to not be enforced I think is a huge problem.  And today there is a level of complacency.  You’ve got mixed signals, you’ve got folks in the higher ups that have come out and declared that their not going to commit enforcement dollars to cannabis related infractions, and I think that has created a mixed signal to enforcement.  But there are current laws, on the books today, that should be enforced.  If it’s a money issue, let’s talk about ways to improve that.  Maybe there are ways the operators could contribute to providing law enforcement with the resouces they need to be able to do what they need to do to adhere to the laws that are on the books today.  So I think there are some problems from an enforcement standpoint, and there are problems from an oversupply standpoint.  If that price per pound comes down significantly, to the extent where we can’t compete with black market activities, well then all those sales are going to go black market and now you’re back to untested unregulated product, and all the money we put into GMP, the $66,000 per license we have to pay, the cost of compliance, bringing in your compliance officers to make sure you adhere to regs, resources dedicated to just the metric system, I mean there are some significant costs here to make sure that we operate properly, then we’re going to have to fold.”


And caregivers?

“I think absolutely caregivers, microbusinesses can co-exist, there is no reason why they can’t.  But they should be adhering to the same regs, standards, that any one of the big guys should be, as well.  I mean that makes sense when it comes to GMP, when it comes to safe handling of product, when it comes to delivering high quality product, all the cost of compliance that we went through, they should be going through that on a smaller scale.  I think as long as they can meet those regs, then it’s fair game. “


You mentioned GMP a couple of times, could you elaborate on that?

“Good Manufacturing Practice, it’s a coveted designation that the FDA uses for food and drug today.  Any mass consumable that is regulated by the FDA must be GMP, it essentially drives a significant reduction in contamination and food safety issues.  The problem with cannabis is that things are going so quickly that the state of Michigan does not regulate operators to be GMP today, which I think is a huge problem.  We are lobbying hard to change that view.   Yes, we are asking for more regs, believe it or not, and people always say, what’s your angle, guy?  And I am thinking the angle is I’m a healthcare guy, number one, I spent years seeing what horrible process and medication administration does to a patient who is already immunocompromised.  The fact that we are not implementing Good Manufacturing Practice, as a proactive measure, to mitigate contamination, is just mind boggling to me.  Look, FDA is coming, and when it does manufacturers and operators like us are going to be held to a completely different standard, and that standard is GMP.  For operators today that are not GMP to retrofit your entire building and implement the standards to drive GMP, is not an easy task, that’s a very costly one if you are not doing it today.  What I’ve been trying to lobby the state to think about is, look, this is not only good for customers and patients, but this is good for business.  To be one of the first states in the U.S. to drive a regulatory environment for GMP is a badge of honor.  To me, it is what every state should be doing.”


Does Common Citizen plan to enter the recreational market?

“We are very excited about the fact that Michigan went rec, they’ve got a year or so, probably less now, to promulgate the rules, and of course we are going to be competing in that space.  My big concern with recreational is that the municipalities we are in, we’re under a medical ordinance at this point, and we’re not clear whether those municipalities will engage in developing the recreational ordinance.  If they don’t, then we’re going to have to look really hard at potentially leaving that city, because it just doesn’t make sense.  The people have spoken, the state of Michigan has spoken, and so likewise I would see that the cities that we’re in would also reflect the will of the people, and if they don’t, business is going to be very difficult.  So I am hoping that cities like Flint, Battle Creek, Warren, Marshall, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Pontiac, those cities start working on a recreational ordinance that makes sense.  If not we’ll have to move out.  That’s my biggest concern with the recreational space, and I think the rules that came out, you know, there’s a mixed bag of things.  I am not a big fan of the fact that there are fewer barriers to entry on the recreational side.  I think if we are going to raise the bar and we want the right operators in the space, I think you should have the capital to be able to deploy that business.  It’s a very capital intensive business, and there should be some common sense barriers to making sure that operators in the space have the class and sophistication to pull it off.  That raises the bar for everybody, and to me that’s what the commercial market is about.  I’m still digesting those regs.  But the other side, what I love about rec is the fact that it allows people access.  We’ve been consuming this plant for 12,000 years.  We have had a harmonious relationship with the plant, and Common Citizens job is to elevate the everyday for everyone.”

Michigan News - August 2019

Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency Issues Emergency Rules

Filed on July 3, 2019, the MRA (Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency) released a set of emergency rules to cover the booming marijuana industry, the coming recreational aspect, and to potentially expand business opportunities.  Some interesting notes include:

• Recreational establishments will not face the same financial requirements as medical businesses.  Medical provisioning centers are required to have $150,000 - $500,000 in assets in order to be approved for a license, while recreational licenses can be issued regardless of capitol in order to ensure small start-ups have a place in the market.

• Recreational and medical marijuana can be sold in the same business, so long as the products are physically separated.  Current medicinal facilities will get first crack at recreational licensing, and are expected to be accepting recreational customers (any adult 21 years of age and up) as soon as the end of the year.

• Licensing for marijuana use businesses (smoking lounges), as well as marijuana use event permits, at $1,000 license fee, with a tentative $1,000 annual renewal.  The smallest of the small business licensing included in the ruleset, these permits will allow for BYOM (Bring Your Own Marijuana) lounges, and all manner of cannabis events and festivals.  Outside of a private home, events and establishments with these licenses are the only places where smokers will be publicly permitted to partake.  

• A provision designed to protect market supply that effectively forces the larger growers to sell outside of their ownership.  Rule 33, section 8 reads: “A marihuana grower or a marihuana processor shall make reasonable efforts to sell or transfer marihuana products to a marihuana retailer not under common ownership or whose majority of ownership is not in common with either the marihuana grower or the marihuana processor to ensure that all marihuana establishments are properly serviced, to efficiently meet the demand for marihuana, and to provide for reasonable access to marihuana in rural areas. The agency may: (a) Issue an order to place a limitation on a marihuana grower or a marihuana processor specifically limiting the amount of marihuana product that may be sold to marihuana processors and marihuana retailers under common ownership or whose majority of ownership is in common with the marihuana grower or the marihuana processor. (b) Subject a licensee to sanctions or fines prescribed by Rule 20 for a violation of an order placing a limitation on a state license.”

• Licensing for micro-businesses at $8,000 for the license, with a $6,000 - $10,000 annual renewal fee.  This license seems designed for the caregivers, allowing the holder to grow up to 150 plants, to process and package marijuana, the retail sale or transfer to an individual 21 and up, and to transfer to a testing facility, but does not allow the holder to sell product to other marijuana establishments.  

• A new license, the “Excess Marihuana Grower”.  At current, class A allows 100 plants, class B allows 500, and class C allows 2,000.  The excess growers license will allow for up to five stacked class C licenses for a total of 10,000 plants.

The wordy document, signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, will expire in six months.  Some see it more as a preliminary way for local governments to determine whether or not they will opt out.

To read the full 64 page emergency rules visit:

www.michigan.gov/documents/lara/Adult_Use_Marihuana_Establishments_659804_7.pdf

If you are confused on any aspect (do not worry, you are not alone) the MRA has an email where they are directing all questions, and doing their best to clarify:

MRA-adult-use-marijuana@michigan.gov

Irwin Proposes Bill to Expunge Criminal Cannabis Offenses

Sen. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) proposed a bill mid July that would expunge the records of people convicted for both possession and use of marijuana.  “Automatic expungement for all of our lowest-level cannabis offenders allows people to move on with their lives and making it automatic is essential because many people can’t afford an attorney, or the legal fees associated with an application”, he said.  “Cannabis is now legal in Michigan and petty offenses in the past should be no barrier to getting back to work or school.”  Also included in the bill is an avenue for those convicted of growing or selling to apply to ask a judge to remove their records, and a provision to grant expungements in instances where the convicted individual was caught with amounts that are now considered legal.  “This is the next step in ending the unsuccessful prohibition of marijuana that incarcerated and punished Michigan residents unfairly for decades”, Sen. Irwin explained, “After last year’s mandate from voters, I am hopeful that a majority of legislators will vote to give Michigan residents back the opportunities that were unjustly taken from them.”

LARA Offers Tips for Provisioning Centers Thinking About Home Delivery

Home delivery has, in recent months, been added to the list of licensing options available to cannabis businesses in Michigan.  In an effort to keep potential deliverers informed, the MRA (Marijuana Regulatory Agency) posted the LARA (Licensing and Regulatory Affairs) tip for licensees, which contains a link to the checklist and daily log created by the BMR (Bureau of Marijuana Regulation).  The guidelines are, as described in the document, “very specific” and cover the following:

• Identifying patients and how they access online ordering systems
• Patient acknowledgement of release of information for home delivery services
• Online ordering system requirements
• Home delivery employee requirements
• Confirmation of patient identity, address, and valid patient status
• Sales documentation and daily/monthly limits
• Transport requirements, including vehicle, driver, product safety and security
• Documentation requirements, including transport manifests and daily logs
• Requirements regarding number of deliveries, payments, and hours of operation
• Requirements for emergency contingencies

Any provisioning center that wishes to deliver to patients is required to develop a procedure, using the BMR checklist as a guideline, and to submit that plan to the state for review and approval.  To see the BMR checklist and get some idea as to whether or not home delivery is right for your provisioning center visit:

www.michigan.gov/documents/lara/4-5-2019_Home_Delivery_Procedures_Checklist_651741_7.pdf

National News - August 2019

New Hampshire Governor Says No to Latest Medical Cannabis Expansion Bill

Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed a bill that would have removed the health-care provider requirement from the New Hampshire medicinal marijuana laws.  As it stands, patients must have at least a three month relationship with a healthcare-provider before they can be certified to receive medical cannabis.

Citing his belief that a strong provider-patient relationship was necessary to ensure proper treatment, the republican governor did allow the passage of other measures in 2018, and earlier this year, that will help the state’s medical marijuana market.  As of Aug. 20, 2019, physician assistants will be able to recommend medicinal cannabis, and regulators are now permitted to allow the states medical marijuana operators, all four of them, to open a second provisioning center in their area.  Legislation passed last year has already resulted in the recent opening of the state’s fifth provisioning center, for a market of roughly 8,000 patients.

Franklin Bioscience Most Recent Acquisition for Florida Marijuana Business Jushi

Pennsylvania based Franklin Bioscience will be purchased by Jushi, a Florida based marijuana company, for the sum of $63 million in a combination of cash, debt, and stock.  Franklin holds licenses for up to 12 medical marijuana provisioning centers in Pennsylvania.

On June 10 Jushi began trading publicly on Canada’s NEO exchange under the ticker symbol JUSH, and have been entering into acquisition agreements ever since.  These include Dalisto, a Virginia based marijuana processing company, and The Healing Center, an adult-use provisioning center in San Diego.  Jushi CEO Erich Mauff admits the company would have liked to stay private longer, but it was always the plan to go public.  Current plans for further purchases include California, Illinois, Nevada, New York and Ohio, and other states where licensing is hard to come by.

Regulators in Alaska Deny On-Site Consumption Application Number One

Unable to come to a majority opinion on how to interpret state law, Alaskan regulators vetoed the first application for on-site consumption in a 2-2 vote.  The Fairbanks Cut, a provisioning center, who would have been the first in the state to legally allow patients to consume cannabis in the retail location, plans to appeal the desicion.  The discrepency lies in the use of the phrase “free-standing”, half the regulatory board arguing that The Faribanks Cut did not meet this criteria as it shares the building with another business.  

Utah Regulators Delay Cultivation Licensing

On July 15, the deadline set for the state regulators in Utah to announce who will receive cultivation licenses for medicinal marijuana, state regulators reported that they would not be making any announcements until the end of July.  Utah is issuing 10 grower licenses, for which eighty-one farmers and entrepreneurs have applied.  Voters approved medical cannabis in the state last year.  Licensing for processors will be tackled next, and is expected “possibly as soon as” 2020.

Study Finds Teen Use Declining in Legalized States

Analyzing data from national and state Youth Risk Behavior Surveys from 1993 to 2017, researchers from Montana State University, University of Oregon, University of Colorado-Denver and San Diego State University took a look at the likelihood of use in the past 30 days among high school students in states that had legalized marijuana.  The data came from 27 states and the District of Columbia, where medical mairjuana has been legalized, and the seven states where recreational has been legalized during the past 25 years.  The results: recreational marijuana laws were associated with an 8% decrease in the likelihood of teens trying marijuana as well as a 9% decrease in the odds of frequent marijuana use.  Medical marijuana laws, however, had no noticeable impact on teen use.  The authors of the study speculate the decrease may be due to it being more difficult to acquire marijuana on the street as drug dealers are replaced by licensed dispensaries that require proof of age.

Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Expand Federal Cannabis Research Policy

On July 17 U.S. Representatives Andy Harris, M.D. (R-MD), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) H. Morgan Griffith (R-VA), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), and Rob Bishop (R-UT) introduced the Medical Marijuana Research Act of 2019.  The bipartisan effort looks to change the processes that currently hinder legitimate medical research on cannabis by amending the Controlled Substances Act.  “As a physician who has conducted NIH-sponsored research, I cannot stress enough how critical this legislation is to the scientific community.  Our drug policy was never intended to act as an impediment to conducting legitimate medical research.  If we are going to label marijuana as medicine, we need to conduct the same rigorous scientific research on efficacy and safety that every other FDA-approved treatment undergoes.  This legislation will facilitate that research by removing the unnecessary administrative barriers that deter qualified researchers from thoroughly studying medical marijuana,” said Dr. Harris.

The proposed legislation addresses two major factors preventing researchers from learning more about marijuana, a Schedule I drug.  First, by creating a new streamlined registration process specifically for marijuana, wait times for approval will be reduced, costly security measures lightened, and additional unnecessary layers of protocol removed.  Second, it alters production and distribution regulations so that researchers, once approved, can more easily access cannabis.  At current the only legally available federal research marijuana is grown under contract between the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the University of Mississippi.

World News - August 2019

British Columbian Government Wholesaler Yet to Call for New Products

Canada is less than 100 days away from the launch of its infused cannabis market, meanwhile the government run wholesaler in British Columbia has made no call for any new product.  The BC Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB), the government agency that has the sole right to purchase beverage alcohol and nonmedical cannabis for private and government run stores both in, and outside, the province, stated on July 9 that plans were in the works.  In contrast, the distribution branch in Ontario issued a call for new product categories in early June.  Suppliers in Ontario were asked to use the provincial portal to ask for products by June 28, and that deadline was not extended.  This could potentially work to the advantage of retailers in the more proactive provinces if a supply shortage occurs when the new products hit the market.  Pointing to logistical issues and regulatory hurdles between provinces and the federal government, experts do not expect infused cannabis products to be readily available in Canada until 2020.

New Zealand Sets Sights on 2020 for Launch of Medical Cannabis

New Zealand’s highly anticipated medical marijuana regulations were released in early July, touted as a “huge milestone” for the nations cannabis industry.  New Zealand aims to become a center for cultivation, production and innovation, and hopes to finalize the regulations by Dec. 18 of 2019 in order to hit the first quarter of 2020.  Co-founder of Auckland-based Helius Therapeutics Paul Manning described the standards set forth in the proposals as “high, yet workable.”  These detailed rules are designed to manage quality standards, licensing, distribution and prescription, as well as monitoring of cannabis products. 

Some of the more note-worthy aspects of the proposal include the creation of a medical cannabis agency whose responsibilities would include licensing, controls on advertising, compliance enforcement, and sampling, testing, and assessing information collected on the product.  The proposed draft would also allow cultivators to bring illicit seed into the regulated market so long as they report it to the regulator.  Food containing medical cannabis will not be approved.  Up for debate still is whether to adopt a manufacturing practice that adheres to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for everyone, or GMP for some and Good Production Practices (GPP), which is similar to Canada’s system, for others.  New Zealand officials are accepting feedback on the proposed rule-set until Aug. 9 when they will begin further crafting the final regulations.

Medicinal Cannabis Purchased Through Insurance in Germany Continues to Grow

Showing a 78% increase in first quarter 2019 as compared to first quarter 2018, the amount of insurance-covered medical marijuana in Germany continues to increase annually.  In the first three months of the year sales of reimbursed cannabis reached $27.5 million (in U.S. dollars), that alone a 7% increase over fourth quarter 2018.  The data was provided by the German National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband) and is based on the retail price at the pharmacies, the only place patients have authorized access to medicine.  Any product not considered a “finished pharmaceutical preparation” (which includes unprocessed flower) is market up 100% by the pharmacies.  This upward trend is expected to continue into the foreseeable future.

With Merger Curaleaf Becomes World’s Largest Marijuana Seller

Curaleaf Holdings clenched it’s place as the largest legal cannabis seller with a deal to purchase GR Companies, a midwestern U.S. based chain of 20 dispensaries under the name Grassroots, for a cash and stock sum of $900 million.  The purchase includes 41 additional licenses held by GR Companies.  Curaleaf saw an 18% increase to it’s stock price following the news, which will expand their operations into central states such as Illinois and Michigan, bringing their total market coverage to 19 states, with 68 operating provisioning centers and 63 additional licenses.  With revenues exceeding Canadian leaders like Canopy Growth’s more than $250 million in 2018 and Aurora Cannabis at almost $90 million in the March 2019 quarter, the consensus on estimated Curaleaf sales in 2020 is about $900 million.  The Grassroots chain alone is reported to be on track toward $350 million in sales for 2020.  

Canadian Patient Permitted to Possess Pounds

Federal Court in Canada just granted Alan Harris permission to have up to 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) of medical marijuana in his possession.  Harris, who has a prescription allowing him to use up to 100 grams a day for an ailment that was not specified, felt his rights had been infringed and argued that he was essentially stuck at home, only ever able to legally carry about a day and a half worth of supply.  Under this new provision, Mr. Harris will now be able to hold 10 days worth of medicine at 100 grams per day. Justice Henry Brown, the presiding official, stated in explanation of his decision, “In effect, Harris is under a form of house arrest brought about solely because of the inadequately low cumulative total possession limit manifesting itself in the circumstances of his particular case.  With respect, this is an injustice.”  Justice Brown went on to say that the amount of medicinal marijuana that Mr. Harris uses is up to his medical doctors, not the court.

Mike Tyson and Cesar Milan Team Up to Make CBD Pet Treats

Mike Tyson’s The Ranch Companies has allied with internationally renowned dog behavioral expert Cesar Milan to start a line of functional dog treat supplements that wield the medicinal benefits of cannabidiol (CBD).  Milan is a beloved TV personality the world over, considered the most recognizable dog expert on the planet, and the two hope that his good name will help dispel myths and rumors regarding the safety of using CBD on pets.  Four soft chews are set for the initial launch and will contain hemp seed oil, the recommended ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 for immune system, and antioxidants to fight free radical damage.  Effects range from a calming and relaxing mood enhancing treat, to supplements for bones and joints, healthy skin and coat, and to aiding with digestion.

John Sinclair - Free the Weed 101 - August 2019

A Column By John Sinclair


Hi everybody, and let me wish you a Happy Bastille Day since it’s July 14 as I write this and it’s the day the French people celebrate annually to commemorate the freeing of prisoners from the city prison back in the days of the French Revolution. Sort of akin to our 4 th of July, but for some of us—particularly those who have been unjustly imprisoned by the state—even better. As Archie Shepp put it, “We celebrated the 4 th on the 14 th —we always did.”

If all goes right, American marijuana prisoners will soon experience a Bastille Day of their own, although it will be staggered from state to state as marijuana legalization continues to spread instead of coming all at once on a national scale, which of course is not going to happen anytime soon because Congress remains convinced that weed is a Schedule I drug subject to severe penalties and prison sentences.

In our present state of affairs it is often difficult for me to understand what sort of reasoning is going on in the executive branch and the Supreme Court, let alone the legislative body known as the United States Congress. These constructs amount to a whole lot of rich old white men who have their heads stuck firmly up their asses and always have had.

These are the same people who wouldn’t allow women or minorities to vote, who considered black Americans “3/5ths of a man,” who dropped the atomic bomb on Japan and poisoned the future of humanity for the rest of time, who have waged wars with bombs dropped from the skies onto people working in their fields and cowering in their dilapidated neighborhoods where people earn less in a year than Americans with jobs make in a week.

Now we’re being gleefully manipulated by an egomaniacal billionaire president who stole the election with the help of the Russians and with 3,000,000 fewer Americans voting for him than his opponent—a dingbat whose exuberant following is drawn from the millions of citizens who watched his number one “reality television” program where he was the Boss every week for ten years. That’s a hard standard to overcome for an actual political candidate who has nothing but his or her beliefs and voting history to run on—along with the millions of dollars all candidates have access to, of course.

Bah, humbug, is what I say to these criminals who run our social order—the political thugs who created the War On Drugs and built up their police state on our backs and with the money they seized from us in the course of persecuting and prosecuting us for the past 80 years. It’s time for the reparations to begin—time to punish these miscreants and make restitution to the millions of citizens whose lives were disrupted by these creeps.

The indications are that several of our states are prepared at least to pardon those marijuana prisoners they have wrongfully incarcerated and to expunge the records of those who were convicted of benevolent acts regarding marijuana such as possessing weed for personal use and providing portions of the sacrament to other weedheads who needed some.

Only the most perverted, scum-of-the-earth types of individuals could characterize these acts as criminal, immoral or wrong and dish out their draconic punishments in a sanctimonious, smug and phony moralistic way. Since the voting citizens have spoken over and over again in state after state to make marijuana legal, the thugs who persecuted us for weed “crimes” haven’t even said they’re sorry, let alone given us any recompense for our suffering and abuse at their hands.

I’m in kind of a bitter mood on Bastille Day because this is when the acting president of the United States has told four Democratic congresswomen that they should go back to the wretched countries they came from and stop telling decent Americans how to conduct themselves. Me, I’m 77 years old and I’ve never heard anything remotely like this from the people in power directed at their immediate peers in the Congress. Our government is swirling around the bottom of the toilet bowl already, but this is really a new low.

How far will we allow this lying sack of shit, this pussy-grabbing, blackmail-paying, imbecilic, know-nothing imposter to take us along his path of shame and degradation? In the immortal words of Richard Pryor, “How long will this bullshit go on?”

You know, I’m a card-carrying Democrat of the Bernie Sanders democratic socialist persuasion, and I’ve had good feelings about only two of the presidents in my lifetime—that would be Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama—but this guy I call Resident Rump makes warmongers like General Eisenhower look like a peacenik, idiots like Richard Nixon (or “that goddamned Nixon” as we used to call him) look like Socrates, the Bush presidents look like the Bobbsey Twins.

What on earth did we do to deserve this sort of treatment? How long are we going to have to take it? The one thing that’s good about being old is that if it keeps going this way, I’ll soon be dead and gone and won’t have to live any longer under a bullshit regime like Resident Rump. But that’s a terrible fate to wish upon my fellow Americans, and it would be so refreshing to see the real Americans step forward and banish this punk and his henchmen and women from government service forever.

While I’m pissing and moaning this month, let me not forget my beefs with the government of the City of Detroit, a collection of former police officers, church officials and social workers that keeps trying to run the city farther into the ground than it already is, which is pretty ugly. This is a city of 139 square miles of which a tiny percentage is up to par and the vast remainder scarred and pitted by thousands of vacant lots where there used to be houses and stores. The redevelopment of a three-mile stretch of Woodward Avenue and surrounding area is regarded as a renaissance in the city, which is a pretty absurd position.

Finally, from my point of view as a lifelong daily newspaper reader, this is a city where it is impossible to obtain copies of both local newspapers each day and very difficult to find a copy of the New York Times. The Free Press and News will deliver papers to my house only on Thursday, Friday and Sunday, and the NYTimes will deliver only its Sunday edition to the downtown area. What kind of nuthouse is this?

In closing, if you think the anti-marijuana forces in the United States are a bunch of maniacs, check out the Justice Minister of Holland, Ferdinand Grapperhaus, who has said that the government needs to “think critically” about whether the Netherlands should continue to hold 1,100 festivals a year.

“People discovered [trying to enter these festivals] with drug quantities considered to be for their ‘own use’,” DutchNews.nl reports, “would not be let into festivals, and those suspected to be dealers would be arrested.”

“If we could police this,” the top lawman concluded, “you’d really see something. The problem is that we have 1,100 festivals in the Netherlands, so should we put our police on this full-time?” Hey, why not? What else have they got to do?

Now this is a place where smokers have been able to buy their weed over the counter and smoke it on the premises day in and day out since 1972. What is this guy smoking?

Free The Weed! Everywhere!

—Detroit
July 14, 2019

© 2019 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.

Herbert Huncke's America - Edited By Jerome Poynton Literary Executor - Detroit Redhead - August 2019

DETROIT REDHEAD, 1963-1067

When I first met her she was about eighteen. I was sitting in the Forty-second Street Bickford’s restaurant drinking coffee and talking with a character known as Johnie Pimples—a young cat—a typical Forty-second Street hustler—open for any suggestion where a dollar s involved but most of the time making it with fags for a place to sleep—a couple of bucks’ eating and show money, occasionally scoring a ten spot or twenty—spending it on clothes—a chick—across the bar on his acquaintances—while he gave them a rundown on how smart he had been beating the queer—or how someday he was going to go to Los Angeles—maybe try and get in the movies—if only he could get rid of all these goddamned pimples.

He had heard a lot of actors had bad skin but what with the latest developments in plastic surgery, there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do—that is if a guy was photogenic— which incidentally didn’t always mean a guy had to be especially good- looking. He knew he was photogenic because some gay photographer—one who always came looking just for him—wouldn’t pick up anybody else— good for a sawbuck every time—had told him so.

We had been talking about Pimples’ brother—who was some kind of big shot in Brooklyn—something to do with the rackets—who didn’t like Johnie—wouldn’t let him in the house when he went home. His brother was boss since his mother had died. His old man stayed drunk most of the time and since his brother paid the bills there wasn’t anything he could do. We were both sitting facing the street—Pimples had just finished telling me how someday he was gong to have a place of his own—make a lot of money— and he’d bet sometime his brother would need a few bucks and that it would sure give him a lot of pleasure to tell him to go to hell—when I watched her walk by—slowly—head held high—carefully looking everyone over—half smiling as she notice Pimples and continuing on down the street. She was wearing a simple plain skirt of some dark material—a soft pink sweater— loose and fluffy—a single strand of pearl beads around her throat—hardly any makeup—and later I discovered she had on a pair of saddle-type oxfords. At first glace she looked about sixteen and not at all typical of the usual chick found walking alone on Forty-second Street glancing in Bickford’s window.

I commented to Pimples about her and he said he knew her. He said she had just busted with Knuckles. Knuckles was one of the local pimps and was known for the rough way he handled his girls—also because most of his girls were fine. According to Pimples this one had hit town from somewhere in the Middle West. Knuckles had spotted her coming out of the Fiftieth Street bus terminal—somehow began a conversation with her—taken her to his pad—kept her there under lock and key until she began cooperating. He had broken her in with several of the Forty-second Street hustlers—just to get her started—and recently she had cut out with some trick who had eyes for her—didn’t care she was a whore—and had set her up on her own— threatening Knuckles with the cops or something like that if he didn’t leave her alone.

We continued to sit and talk when shortly she came back and walked into the place and up to our table. She glanced at me and then spoke to Pimples asking him if he had seen someone called Larry. Pimples said he hadn’t and asked her to join us for coffee. Pimples got up and walked over to the counter to get her coffee and she sat down at the table and asked me for a cigarette. We talked and she spoke of having come from Detroit, and one or two experiences she had encountered. Then she began talking about Knuckles and how green she had been, but that now she was beginning to learn her way around and there would never be another episode like that one to contend with. She opened her purse and took out a pair of brass knucks, which she explained she always carried with her and “I’ve got this also,” she said as she removed a switchblade knife from her bag, snapping the blade open. “I can use it—if necessary—although I hope it is never necessary—I hate violence.” Meanwhile Pimples had returned with coffee for all of us. We sat drinking the coffee and when we had finished we decided to leave— Pimples had a meet with a fag who—so he said—was good for a double sawbuck—and Vickie suggested if I had nothing better to do I walk her as far as the subway at Seventh Avenue. There was something attractive and enthusiastic, warm and beautiful about her.

I was living on the Lower East Side—Henry Street—with an ex-show queen named Bozo and a fellow I had met on Forty-second Street and had hung around with all that past winter and spring—Andre—very much the ladies man—whose real name was Fred Veda. He had lived most of his life in Yonkers, New York. He had left home and was hanging around Forty- second Street—picking up a few bucks here and there—mostly from the colored homosexuals that go down to Forty-second Street to look for lovers and young men. He was well liked by them and had known some for many years. He had lived at one time in the Village with a colored poet. He had met Bozo and Bozo had loved him and invited him to share his apartment. Andre had accepted Bozo, and while I had run into some difficulty in a place I had been living, he and Bozo invited me to stay with them.

While walking with Vickie I suggested perhaps she might like meeting a friend of mine and to come on down to my place for a while. She said she had other plans for the evening but she would like to fall in some other time. We made arrangements for seeing each other again. We became friends.

Vickie wasn’t a beautiful girl in the generally accepted sense of the word. She was self-conscious of her height and when we first met she had been in the habit of carrying herself slightly round-shouldered to minimize her tallness. Her hair was an almost mahogany red she wore shoulder length —softly waved and lightly fluffed at the ends. Her skin was pale with a dusting of freckles. Her eyes, green and rather widely spaced, were expressive and always held a sort of bewildered gentle look of innocence. Her mouth was a bit wide with a full underlip and very red. Her body was beautiful with long legs and small well-shaped breasts firm and high she never encased in brassiere. Her movements were graceful and when she walked she took long free steps. She wasn’t beautiful—but decidedly striking in appearance—and later when she became a bit more confident of herself and took to wearing more glamorous type clothes, she was something to see cutting down the street.

She was a strange mixture of gentleness and extreme violence. She was filled with doubts and confusion. She was lonely and rushed about seeking love and understanding. She felt very much alone. She was unable to make any sort of adjustment—she would try and conform—only to find herself feeling sadly rejected. There was a certain strain of creativeness within her she was unable to release, causing her frustration. She was a dreamer—a lover of the sun and the river. She liked to walk and many was the night we walked all night long, ending up in Chinatown for breakfast.

She became well known and had many people interested in her. Most of the cats from the Times Square area knew her and were in love with her to some extent. There were several chicks she made it with.

Her mother had died when she was a young child and she had been raised by her father. She had a great love for her father and it was when she discovered he was homosexual she had left home. Eventually she became more understanding and learned to accept his deviation—this after she had experienced love for the first time.

Vickie was living up in the seventies in an old brownstone front. She had a large first floor room with two huge windows that reached from the ceiling to the floor. One could step from either window to stone balustrades on the sides of the steps to the sidewalk. The room was oblong in shape with high ceilings. One entered through two large sliding doors. Opposite the doors was a big mirror built into the wall. Vickie arranged a small lamp with a dim bulb immediately in front, using it as the only light. A street lamp burning outside cast light in thru the windows.

She met Andre and they fell in love. She had kept her appointment with me and I took her down to my place and they met. He was good-looking and should have lived during the time of buccaneers—flowing capes and hats with plumes. He knew New York from one end to the other and soon he and Vickie were to be seen at any hour in almost any part of the city. They went for long walks and spent hours talking and dreaming what the future might hold for them. They loved each other unstintingly and planned to get married until his family stepped into the scene and let him know in no uncertain terms they wouldn’t tolerate him marrying a whore. Vickie had tricked with his father at a convention and was embarrassed and ashamed when Andre had invited her home to meet his people and they were introduced. It upset her far more than it did Andre, but his father nearly hit the ceiling when he learned they were planning marriage.

(For magazine readers the article continues here)

The plans for the marriage fell through.

Vickie continued living an active life—meeting people—settling down to a more practical attitude concerning her prostitution—lining up several johns who were regular weekly customers contributing various sums of money—from one who paid her $50 to one who was giving her $150— moving from a one-room apartment to a three-room apartment—buying furniture—new clothes—occasionally acting as a fence—buying and selling articles of jewelry—learning to play drums—making it with the bop musicians—being seen at Birdland—The Royal Roost—swinging up to Harlem—eventually picking up steady with a cat who was a junky— beginning to take an occasional joy-pop herself. Every now and then I would run into her and we would sit and talk—usually over coffee in some cafeteria—but I wasn’t seeing her steady during that time. She had gotten pretty hung up over Andre and it was a disappointment things hadn’t worked out per plan. She said she guessed that was life and that now since she had organized her life—such as it was—perhaps it was well she hadn’t married. She was still seeing Andre off and on and they would spend a day or two together—but the big passion had cooled down. Once I ran into her one morning about five A.M. in Kellogg’s Cafeteria on Forty-ninth Street—a hangout for a big group of Times Square pimps—whores—thieves—show people—musicians—potheads—and junkies. She was with two brothers just in from Cleveland, Ohio. I don’t know exactly how they had met originally but she apparently had known them for some time and they sat reminiscing about some of their past experiences. She introduced them as Bob and Don Brandenberg and at the same time told me, “They are the greatest. Get to know them.”

Later—after I did get to know them—Bob told me he met Vickie about a month prior to when we met and that they had been introduced by one of the musicians—blowing sax up at the Roost—he had known in Cleveland. He had looked him up when he hit town looking to cop some pot. He and the cat had fallen up to Vickie’s and she had turned them on. He and Vickie had eyes for each other so he had made it with her until having to return to Cleveland. He had gone back to Cleveland—taken care of some business—picked up his brother Don—and it was just after they had returned to New York we met.

Don was a merchant seaman and had come to New York to get a ship.

Vickie suggested—since she had a meet with one of her johns later in the morning—I take Bob and Don downtown with me. She said they were nearly broke and were tired. She slipped me a couple of sticks of pot and told me to light up when we got home.

Bozo and Andre had been in the process of severing their friendship for the past few weeks—and Bozo took an immediate liking to Bob. He suggested Bob and Don stay with us until they could make other arrangements. Andre took an instant dislike to both Bob and Don and decided to move out immediately. We all managed to settle in comfortably. Don and I spent most of our time looking for a ship. I had decided to go back to sea and we both thought we would enjoy making a trip together. We finally got what we were looking for in the way of a ship—and we made about an eight-month trip. It was one of the best trips I ever made while going to sea.

When we returned Don decided to go back to Cleveland. Meanwhile Bozo and Andre split up and Bob and I took over Bozo’s apartment and turned it into a tea pad and thieves’ den. There were four or five fellows making the place a sort of headquarters. They would spend the night going out and scoring—coming in—in the morning—with quarts of beer—pot— bennies—and a friend or a chick—and we would sit around and ball— people sometimes falling asleep—so there was some kind of action constantly.

We painted the walls black with yellow panels and a Chinese red ceiling. Long black and yellow drapes hung to the floor over the windows. A crescent-shaped lamp with a red bulb hung from a cord suspended over a black L-shaped couch. There was a distinct Oriental opium den atmosphere.

Meanwhile Vickie had gotten hooked on junk. When I got in touch with her she invited me to come up to her room. She had lost her three bedroom apartment and all her furniture and was living in one room up on 102nd Street just off Central Park West in a strange building with all sorts of unnecessary staircases—hallways—different levels on each floor—little closets and cupboards in the hallways all painted different colors so the whole effect was almost surrealistic—and most of the people living there even stranger. There were musicians of all kinds—bop—jazz —hillbilly— pop singers—even an old man who used to sit out in front on the stoop – twanging a Jew’s harp. There were various types of show people— including a group of out-of-work midgets—who quarreled and screamed at each other all hours of the day and night. There were several young college students from Columbia—three old ladies who were always drunk and sat in a room on the first floor near the entrance every day with the door open—a half gallon of wine on the table—watching everybody who came in and went out—what a bitch she is—or he beats his wife—etc.—loud enough so people could hear. And then there was Vickie and her group of friends, most of whom were using junk.

I had been seeing Vickie regularly and using junk with her. In fact— although I didn’t give up my interest in the pad downtown completely—I moved in with her.

She had changed considerably from the young innocent girl I had first known. There was still the quality of gentleness and wide-eyed wonder about her but on the surface there was a patina of indifference. Somewhere along the line that certain spark of aliveness distinguishing her from the other girls—that special little flame so completely hers—had been quenched. She now lived entirely in a world of fantasy. We spent hours simply sitting —listening to music. She had managed to keep her phonograph and records —and would place a stack on the changer—then lie back—listening.

Somehow we managed to get by financially even though our habits were costing twenty-five to thirty-five dollars a day. She had kept two of her johns and would see them every week. I still had some money from my trip and was doing some stealing. We lived together in this way for about five months—all through the summer and up until about Christmas of that year. We had a rather beautiful kind of love—devoid of tension—anxiety—and emotional violence. We were at peace with each other and I look back at that time with a deep feeling of gratitude.

Just about Christmas things began going bad for both of us. We were having trouble keeping our habits going. Money was becoming difficult to obtain and we had gone sick once or twice—making us irritable. We had an argument where we both said miserable things to each other. Things got so bad we couldn’t make the rent and Vickie was afraid to go out and leave her things because the landlord might lock the door. Finally we decided to pack everything up and move downtown.

Most of the cats making the scene downtown kind of fell in love with her. She babied them—listening to their troubles—let them tell her about their dreams and plans—played music for them—read them poetry—so they understood it—for the first time. Occasionally when one or two of them had a job they intended pulling—breaking and entering a store—they would take her along and then when they got back they would talk about how cool she had been or how much heart she had.

The bathtub was in the kitchen and it was entertaining to watch Vickie bathe. She was beautiful sitting in the tub with her hair piled on top of her head—the tub overflowing with frothy bubble bath—heavily scented with something called Shanghai.

One morning she had one fellow painting his toenails silver. He was just out of prison—having served almost ten years. He never forgot Vickie and years later when I ran into him, he asked about her and said, “Man—that was some redhead.”

She used to go out alone and cut around the city and she took to wearing our clothes. She would put on a suit and a man’s shirt or sometimes she would go glamorous in a dress and high heels.

About this time a young Italian cat named Ricci began hanging around the pad. He became friendly with Bob and they formed a partnership. They planned a caper in Washington, D.C., and spent much time running back and forth between the two cities. Finally they made the take in Washington—but at the last minute—when they were making their getaway —one of them dropped a match pad with a telephone number on it. The cops found it—traced the number—and grabbed them in Washington. We got the news about three-thirty in the morning. One of Ricci’s boys from Long Island came by and told us we had better clear out before the police had a chance to locate the pad.

Vicki and I packed up—bag and baggage—called a secondhand furniture man—and sold everything in the place to him—and were out and gone by two o’clock the following afternoon.

Vicki had met a young cat who lived in Philly and had pleaded with her to make the scene there with him. She decided to take him up on it— figuring it was a good idea to get out of New York at the time. We said good-bye and it was nearly two years before we saw each other again.

Things continued to go along pretty rough for me until I took a fall for possession of a five-dollar bag of heroin and was sentenced to six months on Rikers Island. I served the six months—actually less than six—since I got five days a month off for good behavior. I had of course kicked my habit— cold turkey—while in prison. When I came out I was very careful—not doing any stealing—getting by bumming off friends and acquaintances until I got a job on a ship and went back to sea. The following winter—shortly after coming back—I went down to Texas and stayed not quite a year with a friend. After returning to New York in the late fall I got hung up again on drugs—acquired a partner who taught me how to burglarize. I worked with him until the middle of the summer—when we split up because he wanted to go back to his hometown.

My habit was pretty heavy by this time and again I found the going rough.

I was just barely getting by—I was spending everything I’d get my hands on for junk and didn’t even have a place to live. When I had about reached the end of my endurance—I was sick half the time—run down physically—without a place to sleep—dirty—worn out— my feet sore and bleeding—ready for suicide—a friend I hadn’t seen for some time—and then ran into on the street—took pity on me. He let me sleep in his place. It was days—many days—before I could get up and around. I was exhausted and slept—twenty and twenty-four hours at a stretch. I was more dead than alive and wanted it that way. I didn’t want to live. Prayed for death.

Eventually I began coming out of it—although emotionally and mentally I was defeated. I began going out on the streets again and one night at the corner of Fiftieth and Broadway I ran into Vickie. She was looking extremely well—dressed in a black silk coat and gold wool dress. When she saw me she held her coat in both hands spreading it out like wings —and sort of running toward me she reminded me of a big black and gold butterfly. She told me she had been doing quite well—until but recently working as a model—doing a little hustling on the side—living up near Columbia over close to the river—and was half in love with Ricci whom she had been seeing a lot of since returning to New York. She said she had done fairly well in Philly but had gotten homesick for New York. She was vague about what happened in Philly except to say that she had spent only a short time with the man she had gone down there to see. She mentioned having had various jobs none of which suited her very long. She had kept in touch with Bob and Ricci having contacted Don in Cleveland, and although Bob was still serving time Ricci had been home about six months.

He had driven down to Philly with a friend about a month ago and they had balled for about a week. He asked her to come on up to New York and here she was.

She also told me she was using stuff again—in fact both she and Ricci were—so she explained—half hooked. She had kicked her habit in Philly but when Ricci came on the scene he had some stuff with him and she picked up. She said she was just on her way to cop and suggested I go along. She said Ricci was waiting for her to come back to her place and after she makes her meet we would go up there and get straight.

I joined her and from then on we began seeing each other consistently. Ricci was doing fine but spent much of his time out on the Island with his people. Vickie would stop by where I was living and sometimes we would sit and talk or go out and see a movie. Occasionally Ricci would come along with his car and we would take long drives.

Ricci was anxious to make a big score and he had cased several places out on the Island he thought might be good takes. One afternoon we made one of the spots and—although the take wasn’t big—it did get us straight financially for a while. From then on we operated regularly. Things were getting better when one night the three of us got caught. Ricci had said, “This is a sure thing”—and per result we were overly confident and that was it. We were taken to the Long Island City Prison. Ricci and myself were held there for trial and Vickie was taken to the Women’s House of Detention in New York City.

I saw very little of Vicki after that. I learned she had finally broken down and written to her father who immediately flew to New York, bailed her out of prison—obtaining permission to take her back to Detroit until the day of the trial and again on the day of sentencing. On the day of sentencing she stood next to me, looking pale and tired. She was wearing something plain. Her hair was neatly combed and she stood with her head bowed. She glanced at me once, and for a moment her eyes lit up and a tiny smile touched her mouth, then once again she looked down and there was little of the Vickie I had first seen and known. The judge gave her a five-year suspended sentence and they whisked her out of the courtroom. That was the last time I saw her.

I went upstate to prison for five years and Ricci was sent to Pilgrim State Hospital.i

Almost a month ago I ran into a girl Vickie and I had known and she told me she had made a trip to Detroit last year and had looked Vickie up. She said Vickie had married and has two children. She said she is very much the typical suburban matron and is active in the PTA. We both laughed and agreed we could see her organizing the good mothers of the PTA and that Vickie was surely the one to do it.

I probably knew Vickie better than most of the people she was acquainted with here in New York, and I wonder what she had done about all her dreams and how she has managed to curb her enthusiasm for excitement and adventure. Basically she was one of the most honest women I have ever known.

There are few spots in the city I can go without being reminded that Vickie was once there also.

iRicci, also known as Allen Ginsberg, spent six months at Pilgrim State Hospital where he wrote the poem Howl and met fellow poet Carl Solomon.