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Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Smoking Lounges and Social Clubs - October 2019

By Ben Horner


Flint, MI- Camp Sesh held an educational event for cannabis users, medical marijuana patients and caregivers last month at The Rec Center, Michigan’s first adult use cannabis social club. Days before, Flint’s newest lounge, Beckrock Lounge in Flint,  hosted a book signing with our own John Sinclair. For those who have not had the pleasure of becoming a member at one of these clubs, here is some basic information.

“Compassion Clubs” were the first organizations that started here in Michigan back in 2009 to provide a safe place for patients and caregiver to gather and exchange information and wares. Many have since closed or disbanded, like the Waterford Compassion Club, which held meetings at Everybody’s Cafe before bing raided years ago. Most of the original Compassion Clubs that survived, evolved into modern day “Provisioning Centers”. Genesee Compassion Club is one of the few originals that still exists. With the passing of  Michigan’s legal adult-use of cannabis in 2018, a new concept of Smoking Lounges where people can consume their joints, dabs and edibles onsite became relevant. Compassion Clubs, started calling themselves social clubs/lounges, some with non-profit status, some without. 

John Sinclair signing books at
Bedrock Lounge
Most of these clubs charge an annual membership fee, typically twenty dollars. Some no longer require a medical marijuana card, just a picture ID for people over the age of twenty-one. The biggest appeal is that “vendors”, better known as caregivers, can rent space and sell marijuana products directly to members of the club. Typically these locations have several vendors to choose from. All products that you would find at a standard Provisioning center are available for a fraction of the price. No taxes are paid on products transferred at these locations, as vendors are reimbursed in the form of donations.  Sometimes the cannabis buds and other infused products is significantly better and much cheaper, however not everything is lab tested for safety.

 Lawmakers are considering the future rules for these clubs.  Many squares think that any direct sales of cannabis products should be stopped at these locations. Officials do see the need for public locations to consume marijuana as the state laws prohibit public use. To solve this it has been proposed that Provisioning Centers approved by the state for home delivery could deliver products to registered patients, and eventually every adult over 21, to consumers at the clubs verse at there homes. Menus could be made available to customers right in the lounge. Club members and vendors are concerned that this will increase the cost and further move to eliminate caregivers and other cannabis farmers from covering their costs of cultivating.

These clubs provide a needed place for the exchange of medicine, information and fellowship for the cannabis community. Clubs should work together to lobby for their freedom in Michigan. It would be a shame if the state shuts these places down for a few extra tax dollars.

Camp Sesh vendors included: growTech, Five Sisters, Certified Canna Connoisseur, & Over the Moon Clothing



Spotlight - Cannabis Industrial Marketplace - October 2019

Cannabis Industrial Marketplace
By Ben Horner


Chicago- Just off the O’Hare International Airport, I arrived at the Donald E Steven’s Center to attend the ChiCannabisExpo.com on September nineteenth of 2019. Walking across the skyway from the adjacent parking structure I hauled my trusty and well-traveled cart, full of Michigan Marijuana Report magazines. Having been  to many cannabis related events over the years, there was no particular excitement or anxious anticipation, as at this point conventions and expos of this kind are par for the course….I was soon to be pleasantly surprised.

After accepting my press badge and vendor packet with assigned booth number I set out into the convention hall. As I entered the convention show floor and navigated towards my space to set up the MM Report booth,  I was taken back by the size and scope of the vendor space.

The 60,000 square foot Expo Floor was packed with 175 exhibitors showcasing their products and services, highlighting the diverse businesses already invested in the cannabis industry. Vendors included a wide variety of companies that provided products and services for the cannabis industry. HVAC, legal, real estate, automation, packaging, facility design, LED grow lights, security, genetics and just about anything else you could imagine was present. Companies from around the country traveled here to show off their products or services. Two local vendors who really touched me personally were Mary Jane’s Creations and Mindful Medicine Clinic.

The women owned and operated Mary Jane’s Creations which provides at home custom cooking classes in the Chicago area. These lovely ladies teach healthier food options, herbal infusions and extraction methods. Their services cater to one-on-one and group classes right in your own home. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone at this event made a connection for possible receipt consulting for larger scale product design in a licensed facility.


Dr. Sara Mann, MD is the physician of Mindful Medicine Clinic, which services medical marijuana patients in Illinois. Dr. Mann explained the process in which a patient must take to receive a medical marijuana patient card. The clinic, which is located in Barrington, has assisted hundreds of patients seeking cannabis treatment. Her partner Steve Fix assists her with college level cannabis classes at Oakton Community College in Des Plain. These folks at Mindful Medicine are extremely knowledgeable. If you are looking to qualify as a patient or need information about the Illinois medical marijuana program, this clinic is a good source.

Impressive engineering extraction and processing displays from extraction experts Deutsche Processing and Luna Technologies allowed attendees an impressive visual experience on processing and extraction engineering capability.

My show neighbor and friend Joshua Alper, executive VP for Harvest 360, welcomed me with a quick smile and had to run upstairs to the seminar rooms to give one of his presentations.

The Seminar Series featured 60 top-notch speakers, with 50 unique topics educating on all levels of cannabis industry expertise. Four rooms focused on business opportunities, legal impacts, cultivation/processing and technologies. Although the event organizers put a strong focus on cannabis business-to-business solutions, local speakers broke down the Illinois dynamics with personal experience and thoughtful communication.

Sherri Springer, MJ Freeway’s Director of Consulting Services, and featured speaker in the seminar series, guided attendees through what they need to know to plan for a profitable cannabusiness. One of the toughest obstacles of any business is efficient vendor and supply management. The robustness of a company’s supply chain can often be the deciding factor separating success from failure. Such an endeavor is further complicated when the market is new and heavily regulated like cannabis.

Another highlight of the Expo was The Next Great Canna Idea, a unique cannabis technology competition. Entrepreneurs with a new cannabis industry product or technology idea, were entered into a judged competition, the winner being awarded a full product patent of their idea sponsored by Block45 Legal. A lot of unique ideas were presented, and the judges had a difficult time in deciding a winner, but ultimately only one could prevail.  Congratulations go out to Kevin Whitfield for his CBD Hair Growing concept idea catching the eye of the highly respected judging committee.


Attendees included dispensaries, cultivators, small business owners, entrepreneurs looking to enter the industry, as well as medical patients and consumers interested in learning more about cannabis businesses and prospects on the horizon. Charles Baxter, a wheel chair riding medical marijuana patient explained how hard and expensive it was to be a patient in Illinois. Baxter told us that he had to register at a dispensary and could only acquire his medicine from that individual source. High prices and a limited amount of medicine to choose from made me feel a little better about the progress Michigan has made. Just getting an Illinois medical card required multiple background checks. Cost of getting his card, with everything required at the time, cost Baxter over five hundred dollars and his dispensary charges sixty to seventy dollars for an eighth.

Illinois is gearing up for full legalization on January first next year. Although there is no home cultivation for adult use, medical patients can grow. Chicago has a cap on facilities and is steering the locations out of the Chicago loop. Illinois is moving towards being the second best market in the Midwest, behind Michigan.


The ChiCannabisExpo.com was one of the best and most profitable events I have participated in years. The group will be having an expo in Michigan next March, which I highly recommend. Jennifer Wynn, the VP of Expositions for Cannabis Industrial marketplace, is excited about setting a higher bar for these industry events around the country in 2020.   Jen states, “After the incredible success of our Chicago Expo, we are very excited for our next shows and our March homecoming to Michigan to help maintain the growth of cannabis here.”

Their next events are in Florida in mid November,  Arizona in February, and Birch Run Michigan in March; MiCannabisExpo.com.  After that, it is back to Chicago in May, the Tri-States (Philadelphia) in August and ending 2020 in Ohio/Kentucky in October. Interested parties should reach out via www.uscannabisexpos.com and tell them Ben sent you!



MM Report Special News - October 2019


Michigan Expands Roadside Drug Testing

In November of 2018, Michigan State Police (MSP) concluded a one-year pilot program for Oral Fluid Analysis; a roadside mouth swab test that relied on officers trained as drug recognition experts in five counties. Although there was mixed results from the swab test, which can test for THC, as well as a variety of other drugs. A significant number of false positives from the swab test came back after blood draws came back negative.

Attorney Neil Rockind says, “Don’t submit to the test!” He stated that he doesn’t trust the science behind the test. Unlike with PBT, which tests a drivers blood alcohol level, the drug saliva test being administered if refused is only a small civil infraction with no points added to ones license and suspension of driving privileges.

The second round of the pilot program starts this October and expands into the following communities:

  • Adrian Township Police Department
  • Allegan County Sheriff’s Department
  • Alma Department of Public Safety
  • Alpena Police Department
  • Ann Arbor Police Department
  • Auburn Hills Police Department
  • Battle Creek Police Department
  • Bay City Police Department
  • Bay County Sheriff’s Office
  • Berrien County Sheriff’s Office
  • Bloomfield Township Police Department
  • Cadillac Police Department
  • Canton Township Police Department
  • Charlevoix County Sheriff’s Office
  • Chikaming Township Police Department
  • Clawson Police Department
  • Dearborn Police Department
  • Escanaba Department of Public Safety
  • Gogebic County Sheriff’s Office
  • Grand Blanc Township Police Department
  • Grand Haven Department of Public Safety
  • Grand Rapids Police Department
  • Grand Valley State University Police Department
  • Greenville Department of Public Safety
  • Hamburg Township Police Department
  • Imlay City Police Department
  • Ingham County Sheriff’s Office
  • Kalkaska County Sheriff’s Department
  • Kent County Sheriff’s Office
  • Lake County Sheriff’s Office
  • Lapeer Police Department
  • Lincoln Township Police Department
  • Livonia Police Department
  • Macomb County Sheriff’s Department
  • Marquette County Sheriff’s Office
  • Menominee Police Department
  • Michigan State Police
  • Midland Police Department
  • Monroe Department of Public Safety
  • Mt. Pleasant Police Department
  • Muskegon Police Department
  • Novi Police Department
  • Oscoda Township Police Department
  • Petoskey Department of Public Safety
  • Pokagon Tribal Police
  • Port Huron Police Department
  • Roscommon County Sheriff’s Department
  • Southfield Police Department
  • St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office
  • Troy Police Department
  • University of Michigan Police Department
  • Washtenaw Co Sheriff’s Office
  • Wayland Police Department
  • Western Michigan University Department of Public Service
  • Ypsilanti Police Department


MRA Announces Social Equity Expansion

On October 2nd the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) announced an expanded list of communities that will qualify for social equity bringing the total list to forty one.  Michigan’s had already included nineteen mailing addresses that, according to MSP data, had been disproportionately impacted by marijuana prohibition and enforcement.  

MRA social equity representatives will be touring the state in an effort to reach each of the disproportionately impacted communities prior to accepting applications starting November 1st.  They will be providing educational sessions regarding the application and licensing process for those who qualify for social equity.  Services they will provide include:
  • Answering questions regarding the application and licensing process
  • Providing one-on-one assistance with application completion
  • A compiled resource of information relevant to the marijuana industry and help coordinating that info
  • Identifying resources at other state agencies and in the private sector that applicants can utilize to answer further questions
Social equity has been a prevelant issue in local governments decisions to endorse adult-use marijuana, or in otherwords ‘opt-out’.  The topic also made news recently when Gage Cannabis Co. offered up $950,000 for cities in Michigan who were disproportionately impacted by prohibition and enforcement, $50,000 for each of the original 19 communities.  The Shelby Township-based company furthers the deal by asking that those qualifying for reduced fees bring them their business models, with the possibility of receiving additional funding from Gage.  “We can provide high-level feedback on applications, they can shadow at one of our facilities, or we can provide feedback on their business plan from our leadership team,” stated Gage’s marketing and community manager Rosie Riashy.

So far Ryan Basore is the first Michigan resident to receive reduced rates via the social equity program.  Basore was sentenced to four years in federal prison for ‘manufacturing’ 100 or more mairjuana plants within 1,000 feet of a school.  He was released in 2015.


The expanded list of communities disproportionately impacted by marijuana prohibition and enforcement:

(* Denotes a new entry)


  • Albion
  • Alger*
  • Bay City*
  • Benton Harbor
  • Big Rapids*
  • Coldwater*
  • Coloma*
  • Covert*
  • Detroit
  • Eau Claire
  • East Lansing
  • Ecorse
  • Flint
  • Fremont*
  • Hartford*
  • Highland Park
  • Hamtramck
  • Holton*
  • Inkster
  • Kalamazoo
  • Mesick*
  • Montgomery*
  • Mt. Morris
  • Mt. Pleasant
  • Muskegon
  • Muskegon Heights
  • Niles
  • Pontiac
  • Prescott*
  • River Rouge
  • Roscommon*
  • Saginaw
  • Shepard*
  • Sodus*
  • South Haven*
  • St. Helen*
  • Sterling*
  • Twin Lake*
  • Watervliet*
  • West Branch*
  • Ypsilanti

Michigan News - October 2019



Flint City Council Votes No to Adult-Use Businesses

In a 6-0 vote (Councilman Mays later stated he meant to dissent) Flint City Council chose to approve the first reading of an ordinance amendment to prohibit all adult-use marijuana businesses from the city.  This would include marijuana growers, safety compliance facilities, processors, micro-businesses, retailers, event organizers, secure transporters, designated consumption establishments, and temporary events, essentially all legal recreational marijuana-related business.

Councilwoman Monica Galloway cited concerns about allowing legal recreational marijuana businesses in her city, “I don’t want to walk into a restaurant with my grandbaby and have him smell marijuana.”

But not all of Flint’s council shares her opinion.  Councilman Eric Mays demands a more detailed ordinance be brought forth.  Voicing his support for adult-use establishments in Flint he quipped, “This isn’t the land of Mormons.”

With more than half the states voters choosing to approve the legalization of recreational marijuana and marijuana businesses, and the financially struggling Flint having been named one of the now forty one communities to receive reduced fees for owners under the social equity clause, many residents question the decision, and reasoning.

Flint City Council is expected to take up the issue once again on October 14, as the November 1st deadline to ‘opt out’ draws near.


Grand Rapids City Commission Decides on Park Proximity Waivers

Six medical marijuana facilities applied for waivers which would allow them to open near city parks, two of them denied.  Grand Rapids has an ordinance that requires a 1,000-foot separation between potential medical marijuana establishments and park spaces.  Taking into consideration community feedback, distance, parking, and possible barriers between the park and facility, the commission discussed and decided on a case by case basis.

Commissioner Joseph D. Jones voted in opposition to five of the six waivers based on race, taking into account that only one proposal had significant ownership by an African American or Latino.  In his own words, “We have very little to do with who is positioned to have ownership and to prosper economically from this.  But that’s always been an issue for me. ... This is an opportunity where we have a say in the decision.”

Grand Rapids has approved over 10 medical facilities with dozens more awaiting the thumbs up.  However, due to the spacing clause in their ordinance, each new approval could void another application for being too close to that new facility.


Social Equity, Record Expungement Concerns Delay Muskegon Rec Approval

Adult-Use marijuana businesses may exist in Muskegon as soon as 2020, pending city commissioners debate of two new acts, which met immediate opposition, delaying approval.

After a powerful interchange, city commissioners were unable to reach a majority decision on two recreational motions.  The ordinance that would allow adult-use businesses to open in Muskegon resulted in a 5-2 split, and the amendment to permit recreational sales in the city’s special medical marijuana district ended in a 4-3 vote.  The city currently has two medical provisioning centers who operate within this special zone, Park Place Provisioning and Bella Sol Wellness, who would have first access to adult-use licensing.


Social equity and record expungement weighed heavily on the minds of the opposing commissioners while considering their vote.  Debra Warren expressed support for recreational cannabis but voted no because she feels the states social equity program does not go far enough, as well as citing Michigan’s slow pace to clear criminal records.  She went on to say she was disappointed that city staff did not have a plan to help people negatively impacted by prohibition.  Her fellow member, Willie German, who also voted no, shared her concerns.  Mike Franzak, Muskegon City Planner, stated he was unaware of the commission’s desire to create their own social equity program, believing that the state’s existing social equity plan would satisfy Warren and German’s previous demands for social equity.

Both measures, having not been decided unanimously, will be taken up and read again at a future meeting.


Adult-Use Cannabis Gets the Green Light in Ypsi

Ypsilanti City Council approved a comprehensive adult-use ordinance in September, giving the go ahead to recreational marijuana.  Purposefully designed for flexibility and with a broad reach, it will allow them to adjust for future changes in the markets or state laws.  Arguments for both sides were heard before the council reached their decision.

Mayor Pro Tempore (stand-in Mayor) Lois Richardson moved from her chair to the audience to speak as a common resident, “I would like this council to stop and think what they really want this city to look like.”  Explaining that she is not opposed to recreational marijuana on moral grounds, it was a matter of not thinking it a good idea to opt in before the state has finalized the regulations.

After just one reading the measure officially passed in a 7-1 vote, Richardson the only one opposed.  Ypsilanti will grant ten permits for recreational cannabis shops, seven of which will be held for pre-existing medicinal establishments.

Ypsilanti’s new ordinance includes the most expansive social equity measures in the state of Michigan, according to Councilwoman Annie Somerville.  With mandates such as holding the three remaining permits for social equity applicants, devoting $1,000 from every permit fee toward education and outreach regarding criminal justice and the war on drugs, a call on business owners with $10,000 in city contracts to specifically hire employees who have been adversely impacted by prohibition with a goal of 25% of employees being low-income or Ypsilanti residents, and removing cannabis drug tests from city employees with non-safety sensitive jobs.

Despite Sommerville’s assessment, some residents pointed out that none of the seven medical provisioning center owners are African-American, and asked the council to take into account how the war on drugs and the medicinal marijuana industry has affected the African American community.  They argued that the states social equity program falls short by taking into account poverty level and marijuana convictions but not including race or ethnicity.

National News - October 2019




Massive Black Market Cart Bust in
Minnesota

76,972 THC carts have been seized in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, along with $23,000 in counterfeit money.  Reported to have a street value of approximately $4 million, the effort is being hailed as a record bust.


The news comes after the death of an elderly woman, who vaped marijuana for back pain, died in August, as reported by the Minnesota Department of Health.  She is considered the state’s first black market THC cartridge fatality.  This follows a national trend of deaths and illnesses being linked to marijuana vape.

Their primary concern, however, is not THC.  Fatalities are linked to black market carts due to the various unknown substances that may or may not be safe to ingest.  In the words of Brian Marquart, a Minnesota Department of Public Safety official, “We have no idea what is in these cartridges.”

Minnesota officials suspect the vape carts originated from out of state.



Federal Marijuana Banking 
Bill Clears First Hurdle

The Secure And Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2019 (H.R. 1595) passed in a bipartisan vote at the House, making it the first standalone marijuana reform bill to ever make it through a chamber of Congress.  

With nearly all Democrats and 91 Republicans on board, the measure reached two thirds majority with a 321-103 vote.  If made into law the act will protect financial institutions and ancillary firms who work with cannabis related businesses, and has the full support of a number of national banking groups including the American Bankers Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America, and the Credit Union National Association.

With only 33 senators in sponsorship, the Senate version of the bill has yet to leave committee.  Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Mike Crapo (Idaho, R), stated he planned to draft a measure on marijuana banking by years end, but warned that it may not be the same one that has been introduced.  It is also uncertain as to whether or not Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will be willing to bring up the measure.



Pick-Your-Own Hemp 
Farm Opens in Maine

Sheepscot General Farm in Whitefield, Maine, began by planting roughly 7,000 plants on a 3 acre section of their farm after the federal legalization of hemp.  After having the plants tested by the state’s Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry to ensure they did not exceed the 0.3 percent THC threshold required by law, Maine residents can now ‘pick-their-own’ plant.

“We always wanted to do a pick-your-own, like we do with strawberries.  But this has gotten a lot more attention than strawberries, that’s for sure.  It was a great crop to grow, easy to do, but it’s not a crop I’d want to harvest by myself.  It’s time consuming.  But these people, they’re thrilled to pick,” said Ben Marcus.  He and co-owner Taryn Marcus believe, if processed correctly, each plant should hold about 15 to 20 percent CBD.






Massachusettes Passes 
Round of Cannabis Reforms

Three key changes to Massachusettes marijuana laws came recently after a unanimous vote.  These reforms seek to expand and improve the recreational and medicinal programs that currently exist, being touted by some members as a way to bolster public health and safety, promote access to and participation in the industry, and to support small business in Massachusettes.

The most noticeable of the changes are a diversion of patient fees to licensing fees.  The state levied a $50 annual fee for medical use patients, which will now be waived.  Budget shortfalls will be made up by increases to licensing costs for large cultivators and retailers.

The reforms also pave the way for adult-use and home delivery establishments, licensing for which will be exclusively available to social equity and economic empowerment applicants for the first two years.


Gov. Tom Wolf Calls for
Adult-Use in Pennsylvania

Returning from a ‘listening’ tour of all 67 counties in the state of Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf has formally called on state lawmakers to craft legalization legislation.  Finding that the majority, or near majority of citizens supported full legalization he stated it was “time to take a serious and honest look” at legalizing marijuana.

Wolf also found vast support for the expungement of low level and non-violent cannabis crimes from records. The official report, written by lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, states. “People see economic potential, saying the state would save money on prosecution and incarceration of cannabis-related offenses.  Residents who commented said regulated sales could create jobs.  They specified that income generated should be used for infrastructure, education, and property tax relief.”


Of note were shared concerns regarding an increase in driving under the influence, and cannabis’s role as a ‘gateway drug’.  The survey also found that most did not support ‘candy-like edibles’ due to their potential appeal to children.

Fetterman reports receiving 10,275 comments during the tour, and 44,407 total responses including tour comments, webform submissions, emails, phone calls, and faxes.

World News - October 2019



                          

Greece Moves Forward 

Investments into Medical Marijuana in Greece reach higher then €100,000,000 in investments over three years from the twenty-seven approved medical licenses in the country.

Foreign investment is taking advantage of the low price of prime land excellent for cultivation. The port of Thessaloniki is gearing up to be a major export hub for Greece to the rest of the EU. 

Prime Minister Kyiakos Mitsotakis is hoping Greece will bank on the economic opportunity to help recover from the countries nine year recession. 





Israels Dr. Raphael Mechoulam 
Does it Again

Cannabis researcher credited with the first synthesis of THC, as well as the discovery of the endocannabiniod system, Dr. Raphael Mechoulam announced a new discovery at the cannabis research conference CannMed in Pasadena, California. Eighty-three year old organic chemist and his research team unveiled their new ability to synthesize cannabinoid acids. The research team worked with six universities in Israel, Canada and the United States.    




“This is exciting and unprecedented research. We have taken the unstable molecules of the cannabis plant and synthesized them to provide a stable, consistent basis for researching new therapies across a wide range of medical needs – from CNS disorders to inflammation and many more. In addition, we have provided several delivery mechanisms including tablets, topical applications and others to facilitate several approaches. Our work is a catalyst for the development of potential new therapies from a source long thought to have huge potential.” — Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, head of research for EPM, in a press release.










Failing Marijuana Publications

High Times Magazine, which has acquired both Dope and Culture magazines, is scrambling to raise funds to meet its IPO goal of fifty million. Extending the deadline through this October, the company hopes to raise more using crowd sourcing. This is the latest postponement in an attempt to trade the company on the public market.

Culture magazine is now suing High Times for lack of payment, four million was supposed to be paid before the end of 2018. High Times pledged eleven million to the founders of Dope, but much of that was in stock in High Times new parent company. So far High Times only has twenty-two of the fifty million needed to have that stock become publicly tradable.

John Sinclair - Free the Weed 103 - October 2019

A Column By John Sinclair


Hi everybody and highest greetings from Detroit on my 78th birthday. That’s a long time to walk this sordid planet called Earth and believe me, although I’m a pretty beat-up old man suffering from a variety of physical ailments at my advanced age, I’m very grateful to be here and I hope I can stay a little bit longer until I can accomplish some of the many things still on my artistic agenda.

But I’ve just received the fantastic news that what I consider my master work, an elongated blues work in verse titled Fattening Frogs For Snakes—completed in 1999, published by the Surregional Press in New Orleans in 2002, and recorded in four parts with four different ensembles in New Orleans, Detroit, Oxford and Clarksdale, Mississippi over the next several years, is now going to be released in a boxed set of vinyl albums by the Jett Plastic Recording company next April.

At the same time Horner Books, publishers of this magazine in Flint, Michigan, will print a second edition of the Fattening Frogs For Snakes book designed by my daughter Celia Sinclair with only a few minor corrections to the first printing, to coincide with the release of the boxed set and, in fact, to be included in the box with the albums.

And, to top it off, Funky D Records in Detroit will issue a 2-disc CD set of Volumes 3 & 4 of the collection, completing the run from Volume 1, released in 2002 by Okra-Tone Records and long out of print, and Volume 2, issued by No Cover Records here in Detroit around 2004. 

Volume One (The Delta Sound) was produced by the late great Andre “Mr. Rhythm” Williams & Mark Bingham with Bill Lynn, Jeff Grand and Everett Eglin on guitars, Mark Adams on keys, Rockin’ Jake on harmonica, Tricky Dick Dixon on bass, Michael Voelker on drums, and ELS singing background vocals. Volume Two (Country Blues) was produced by Jeff Grand at No Cover Studios in Detroit and featured the late great Eddie Harsch on keyboards, Chris Rumel on bass, and James Whalen on harmonica.

The forthcoming Volume Three (Don’t Start Me To Talking) was produced by Justin Showah at the late Voyagers Rest Studios in Oxford, Mississippi, with Lightning Malcolm on guitar, Justin on bass, Wallace Lester on drums, and guest pianist the late great Jim Dickinson. Volume Four (Natural From Our Hearts) is the Muddy Waters story and was produced by Jimbo Mathis at the late New Africa Studios in the Alcazar Hotel in Clarksdale, Mississippi with Eric Deaton on guitar, Justin Showah on bass, Kenny Kimbrough on drums and various guests including Jimbo on harmonica.

I know I’m probably boring your pants off with all this detail about some obscure music & poetry I recorded some years ago, but one of my life’s ambitions for the past 20 years has been to get to issue Fattening Frogs For Snakes as a boxed set including the book itself, and now it’s about to happen! What more can a poet ask for?

Since it’s my birthday today, let me go back to the beginning: I got turned on to the idea of poetry, creative writing and reefer as a way of life when I read On The Road by Jack Kerouac upon its release in September 1957, just a month before my 16th birthday. It took me a couple of years to start writing and a couple more to find some marijuana to smoke—white people just didn’t have any weed at that time—but once I put these things together I began to find the way of life I have lived ever since. 

Once I started smoking marijuana on a daily basis I found the process of composing poetry increasingly rewarding both in terms of personal expression and in the quality of the product of my labors. By the time I graduated from the Flint College of the University of Michigan in January 1964 my poetry was beginning to show some promise, and I had already served as the editor of the UM-Flint college newspaper, a mimeographed rag that we called The Word. 

When I relocated from Flint to Detroit in the spring of 1964 I was seriously at work composing poetry and writing about music and literature for small magazines in Detroit and elsewhere. I met another poet called Allen Van Newkirk on my first day of classes in graduate school at Wayne State University and he moved into my basement apartment at the Forest Arms with me until he left for New York City later that spring.

In the meantime I met the people who would shape the next stage of my life in Detroit—the poets George Tysh, Robin Eichele and James Semark, painters Ellen Phelan, Larry Weiner and Howard Weingarden, photographers Magdalene Arndt and Carl Shurer, and musicians Charles Moore, Pierre Rochon, John Dana and Larry Nozero. My musician friends from Lansing—keyboardist Lyman Woodard, guitarist Ron English, and drummers Danny Spencer and Bud Spangler—fell in with this same bunch of characters and by the fall we formed the Detroit Artists Workshop as a base for our artistic operations in the Motor City. 

With very few exceptions all of us were serious marijuana smokers and quite a few of us were regular users of psychedelic substances like peyote, mescaline and LSD. We were all variously inspired in our artistic endeavors by smoking weed and we all were early advocates of legalized marijuana, which was then classified as a narcotic by the State of Michigan.

At the Detroit Artists Workshop I wrote and performed tons of poetry, wrote about music and literature at great length, published mimeographed poetry and jazz magazines named Work and Change and Where, and issued a series of 20 little mimeographed books by Workshop poets.

By 1967 our underground movement had blossomed into a full-scale revolutionary cultural movement and I became a full-time cultural warrior in Detroit, taking over the management of a rock & roll band called the MC-5 and forming a wide-ranging hippie service organization called Trans-Love Energies with my then-wife, Leni Sinclair, artist Gary Grimshaw and MC-5 lead singer Rob Tyner.

This role left little time for poetry, and I left my compositional efforts by the roadside for the next 15 years. In 1982 I read a brilliant essay by my friend and mentor, the poet Edward Sanders, called Investigative Poetry and began writing verse once again. 

My first project was a series of poems that became the book-length work in verse called Fattening Frogs For Snakes. Now, some 37 years later, I’m about to complete this project in grand style with the release of the boxed set on Jett Plastic Recordings and the 2nd edition of the book itself after selling out all 2000 copies of the first edition at my performances over the past 20 years.

I don’t think you can blame me for being excited, and I hope you’ll take the chance of investigating this work when it becomes available to the public this coming spring. As far as I can ascertain, no one has ever created a work of this particular magnitude, and I’m a very proud celebrant. And of course it all goes better with a good joint, or whatever your chosen method of delivery may be. FREE THE WEED!

P.S. On November 7 I’ll be appearing with Edward Sanders and others at Third Man Records in Detroit in a special poetry event organized by M.L. Liebler.

—Detroit
October 2-3, 2019


© 2019 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved

Herbert Huncke's America - Edited By Jerome Poynton Literary Executor - Sea Voyage - October 2019

SEA VOYAGE, CIRCA 1945



Phil awakened me early in the morning—apparently Bozo let him in—pulling the bedclothes off and exposing me to a cold draft from the open window. Bob and I had shared the studio couch in the front room and we had drawn together during the night to keep warm and I had wrapped my arms around him—something that I secretly wanted to do—and it was with added reluctance that I greeted Phil who stood hovering over the couch sort of clucking with a widespread leer on his face. It was from a pleasant drowsiness and peaceful dream I was awakened into the nightmare morning.

A cold chilling wind whined outside the windows and the sky was overladen with grey clouds. Cold city sounds carried up from the streets and there was nothing I wanted quite so much as to remain in bed.

Kay and Phil had been quarrelling—Kay complaining about Phil’s habit and pleading with him to try and kick—and finally suggesting that he and I get a job aboard a ship together so that we both might kick. Phil, in order to restore peace and partly through feelings of guilt and frustration, was won around and had spent the preceding day convincing me the idea was sensible. It wasn’t that either of us was anxious to kick but rather that the conditions we were surrounded by had forced us to seek a means of escape.

We both had obtained our seaman’s papers at about the same time but had never made a trip together and in some respects the plan was appealing.

At any rate he was now standing over me, insisting I get up so we could go down to the ship companies for jobs.

Bozo was wandering around the kitchen preparing coffee while making snide remarks about my general indifference to the more practical aspects of life.
Bob had promptly rolled over, pulling the blankets up around his ears and mumbling to the effect he’d wished we’d get the hell out so he could go back to sleep.

And so I got up.

I had saved a little fix and after getting straight I dressed while Phil and Bozo sat gossiping about what a dear, fine female Kay was and how understanding. After all, there were really few respectable women willing to put up with a junky and, at least in Bozo’s opinion, Phil should be grateful.

Kay was actually a vampire and eventually drained Phil.

We finally got started and went directly down to a company sending out tankers and were assigned to a ship bound for Honolulu. Phil was signed on as a ship’s mess-man and I took utility man in the galley. The man out of the corner of his mouth had told us, “This ship is a hot ship”—meaning that it was scheduled to sail almost immediately—which was good since by this time both of us were anxious to get away as quickly as possible.


We sailed from New Jersey early the following morning. We had rushed around New York all the preceding day, first making a connection—this was to be a slow withdrawal cure—then saying good-bye to acquaintances and friends—making arrangements to have our few possessions taken care of while gone—and a special farewell with Kay. We sailed in a blinding snowstorm.

We had been the last to sign aboard and received what was left of the sleeping quarters. Our fo’c’sle was large enough to accommodate two more—for some reason I never discovered we remained alone—and was situated in the aft end of the ship. It was comfortable and we succeeded in unconsciously turning it into what the captain later suggested looked like an opium den.

Phil immediately climbed into his bunk—staying there for two days, causing the steward to become almost sick with anxiety and to bombard me—though I provided myself with a good supply of Benzedrine and was busy performing my required tasks with what was to the steward amazing vigor—with all sorts of questions. He found it difficult to understand what could possibly be ailing Phil and was somewhat hesitant in accepting my explanation to the effect that he had been drinking—heavily—for the past few weeks. “Don’t worry, man, he’ll come around. Give him time.” To which the steward replied, “I know—but the same can be said for most of the crew—and they’re up and working.”

The ship was an old ship—having hit the sea about 1915—and in the rough seas creaked and groaned. It had been making the same run for many years and it wasn’t until we entered the Caribbean that it settled down. The trip down the Atlantic Coast was uneventful except that en route we gathered several hundred birds. We would awaken in the morning and there they were—roosting all over the ship—and when we began reaching the area off the Florida coast they began departing. By the time we passed through Windward Passage most of them were gone. I don’t know what kind of birds they were—although I did recognise an owl which was almost the last to leave—but I was much impressed by them and they were the first of a series of natural phenomena to fill me with awe and wonder during the voyage.

The crew was an interesting group of old-time seamen—the kind that one sees hanging around the bars on south Street along the waterfront passing a bottle of wine among themselves and looking like typical bums. Not one of them had even been to Maritime School and Kings Point was only a name as far as they were concerned. One old deck hand had been around the world eighteen times and could tell stories about every port he had been in. They were a rugged lo—filled with a sense of joy of living I have never encountered in any similar number. They were all friends and many had sailed together for a long period of time.

Phil and I were rather outsiders and it took awhile before they accepted us into their confidence.  Phil was more successful than I in making friends with them, and when he finally came out of his two-day sleep it was no time until he knew practically everybody.

The captain was an old Dutchman, burly and gruff, who stayed much to himself in his own quarters. The only time I heard him speak was after he received a report from the steward—this happened outside Aruba as we were leaving on our way toward Panama—that I had refused to sort out some old rotten potatoes—suggesting that if the steward wanted it done he do it himself—and besides it wasn’t my job—and that he didn’t know what to do about Phil and me—we were good workers but inclined to do as we pleased. The captain had come to our fo’c’sle and after looking around said, “Goddamn—this looks like and opium den. You guys hopheads?” This was said in a heavy guttural accent. We both assured him such was not the case and he left telling us, “Try and get along with the steward—who is a damn fool.”

We had an exceptionally fine time in Aruba. As a matter of fact the captain was closer to the than he knew—since while in Aruba we had picked up yen-pox and had stayed knocked out the whole time we were there.
Aruba is a small island and very tropical as to climate. We had not been there an hour when out of the clear blue sky a sudden cloud appeared and unleashed a deluge of rain which lasted a short time and then disappeared, leaving once again the blue and gold day. The rain evaporated quickly and everything was left dry.
The people of Aruba are a mixture of light and dark and all very beautiful. There are several nationalities and it was from a Chinese we had obtained the yen-pox.
Phil became involved with a little dark-skinned girl who after they had balled kept trailing him around begging him to stay. We stayed three days.
It was while sailing through the Caribbean Sea I first became aware of how insignificant I am in comparison to the vastness of the universe.

The sea all day remains a magnificent sparkling surface of blue—deep indigo—undulating in long rolling swells. Schools of spangle-blue flying fish skim the top. Porpoises race and leap in constant play. And at night the sky overhead is either a vast expanse of stars—some of which streak across space in splendid motion which when beheld quickens the heart—or is blanketed with great heavy clouds—black and rolling—lit from above with ceaseless flashing lightening while the sea glitters with balls of tossing phosphorus light. The air is warm and scented with the odor from the distant jungles. One has a sense of concentration of energy and sizzling, crackling electrical force, which seems to be waiting to tear the universe asunder.

It was on one such night we were steaming steadily toward Colon when Phil and myself, along with two others—one a fellow who shortly after we were acquainted had produced a cigar box full of pot, so that we had been smoking pot for the entire trip so far—and the other who had eyes for Phil and had been wooing him by stealing morphine Syrettes from the lifeboats—presenting them to him and beseeching him to have a ball—were sitting and lying on the aft end of the ship, watching the wake and exclaiming about the night and laughing and sometimes singing. The gay boy had been pressing Phil to go below with him and making various remarks full of suggestive sexual connotation—finally capping himself when he suddenly exclaimed, while observing a large, almost perfectly round puff of black smoke which had been emitted from the ship’s funnel and was hanging nearly motionless overhead, “Oh look—it’s just like a big dinge nut.”

We arrived in Colon and were given immediate shore leave. Phil and I lost no time in searching out the native section and were successful in obtaining cocaine and undoubtedly the finest pot I have ever smoked. The man who helped us make the connection was really a cat. He was tall and very dark-skinned, dressed in a delicate pink shirt, light—almost white color—slacks, and a large brimmed Panama hat with a brilliant red band—and sandals. He moved with truly feline grace and spoke softly through shiny white teeth. Phil had left me standing in front of a farmacia—the whole storefront open to the street—while he was inside with the proprietor wildly searching the shelves looking for anything remotely resembling junk—and I had become interested in two children who were playing some kind of game when he appeared at my side and said, “Hi man—my name is Victor—you want to get straight?”


He led me down a street—unpaved and with the houses all sitting back from the walk and wide open so that I could see into them—their occupants and what they were doing. It was a still, hot, tropical night and pervading the whole street was the aroma of burning pot. Several young girls with high breasts and tight dresses passed us, giggling and swinging their hips and flashing big smiles at Victor, who pretended not to notice. Kerosene lamps and candles shed the only light except that of the night overhead. The scent of lilies blended with and perfumed the pot smoke. Suddenly Victor halted and said, “Wait here, man”—and disappeared. I stood there in wonder and delight. He returned soon and laid a long package—a sheet torn from The Saturday Evening Post, and big around as a half dollar—of pot in my hands and then said, “You want cocaine—I get.”  I said yes and once again I was alone. As before, he returned quickly. I gave him the money—something like ten or twelve dollars—and returned to where Phil, who had settled for a hypodermic needle and a pocket full of Nembutal, Seconal and Ambutal was waiting. We said good-bye to Victor and started back to the docks to catch the launch to the ship, which lay anchored out in the bay. En route we bought a small white-faced monkey from a boy who had him on a long chain and was teasing him with a stick, causing him to screech and jump. 
We kept him in our fo’c’sle where he occupied the section set aside for two other men. I took one of the bunk springs and set it on end facing the bulkhead, and he slept on top and climb up and down the springs. He was comparatively clean, in that he pissed pretty much in one spot, and most of the time I had newspapers which I spread over his section. He had the run of the fo’c’sle—and took over. When he was pleased or content of after having been fed something he liked—grapes were his favorite dish—he would chitter and show his teeth, but when annoyed or angry—especially if scolded—would set up a din of screeching which could chill one to the bone.
The trip through the locks was interesting. We stopped in Balboa for a short time but not long enough for shore leave—and then out to the Pacific Ocean.

Life aboard ship had settled down to a more or less even routine. We were making it on Benzedrine—Nembutal—Seconal—Ambutal—a fairly steady supply of morphine Syrettes and pot.
Jacko—the monkey—took to pot like the proverbial duck to water, and as soon as I would light up would jump up on my shoulder and I would exhale the smoke into his little grinning face. He and I would get high and he would balance himself on the rail while I leaned up against it and looked at the sea. He would talk to me in little chittering sounds and I would tell him about how cute and how great I thought he was. One day we saw a huge fish leap out of the sea and plunge back in again. The sea was a molten gray mass with a veil of shimmering vapor hanging just above the surface—reflecting the burning sun—when suddenly it seemed almost to shatter. This huge fish—glistening in the light—exploded in the air for a moment amidst a spray of crystal drops of water—arched—and slid back into the sea. We were both surprised. Jacko actually screeched and I almost yelled to him, “Did you dig that?”

Phil had decided to augment his finances by playing poker—and at this time spent much of his free time practicing how to stack the deck. I don’t remember him being very competent at it but at any rate he didn’t lose. The games would occasionally last all night and continued until we reached Honolulu.
We didn’t spend enough time in Honolulu for me to absorb much of an impression of it. I recall several bars of nondescript nature where we drank rum—a small amusement park—Dole’s Pineapple—palm trees—hundreds of soldiers and sailors—the YMCA where I mailed a postcard to somebody—clean sheets—high prices—tapa cloth, which I like—and of course the beach and the glass-clear water and its turquoise-blue color. Also, we were completely unsuccessful as to pot or junk, although we did make a drugstore for a fresh supply of Benzedrine. I must admit that what little I saw of the islands from the ship was beautiful—and I might like going back sometime. Unfortunately—everything is too Americanized and concerned with the tourists.


We returned by the same route, and just before getting back to Balboa it was time for the full moon and for several nights I lay up on deck moonstruck. We sailed in a long silver lane. Everything lay revealed in the light of the moon and wore a glowing aura—mysterious to the night—and became new—retaining but little relationship to what it was in the brightness of the sun. Everything was bathed in opalescence. The night became a sort of day—strange and weird as if of another world or planet.

Once again we anchored in Balboa. We picked up supplies—bananas, oranges, green stuff, grapes and some staples—and then on back thru the Canal to Colon, where we sailed past while I stood on deck with Jocko sending telepathic messages to Victor—telling him I would never forget him and I would try and make the scene again sometime and to please remember me. We continued on through the Caribbean, celebrating, the New Year with beer and ice cream, and back up past the Florida coast after catching a glimpse of Haiti and the Atlantic Coast—minus birds—into Chesapeake Bay to Newport News and the end of the voyage.
I left Jocko aboard the ship with one of the crew members who was signing back on and who promised me he would try and set him free—or at least see he got a good home, maybe in Aruba or even Colon. I would have liked keeping him, but it would have been cruel of me to bring him here to New York. The weather was exceedingly cold as well, and Jocko belonged in the tropics. I could have smuggled him ashore without any trouble.
Phil and I, after we were paid off, took the train for New York and could hardly wait to make our first connection. Junkwise, the trip had been great. Habit-kicking was a complete failure, but neither one of us—as I said before—really wanted to kick.
Bozo was still wandering back and forth between Creedmore—where he had a job as an attendant—and the apartment—bickering and fretting. Bob had gotten himself involved in some big vague scheme and was rushing around in a Benzedrine whirl. Kay could hardly wait to sink her teeth into Phil.  
Phil left me in front of the apartment after we made arrangements for a meet the following day, and I went upstairs—rolled up the last of the fine Panamanian pot, flopped down, and got stoned thinking about Jocko, Victor, the Caribbean Sea and the whole trip.

Jerome Poynton is giving a talk on Herbert Huncke at the European Beat Studies Network (EBSN) on October 12 in Nicosia, Cyprus. The talk is titled “Herbert Huncke: Writing in Neutral” and a special edition of MMR October story, Sea Voyage, is being published for academics to read Huncke’s writing, “as if for the first time.”