One of the biggest annual music festivals in Australia is not too far away. StickyPoint will be covering this year’s Bluesfest, April 1st – 5th (easter Weekend) 2010.

From the source:

“Australia’s most awarded and internationally renowned festival officially will be held at its permanent new home – at the Tyagarah Tea Tree farm just off the Pacific Highway, 12 minutes north of Byron Bay.

Festival goers should also note that the new and updated playing schedule is now online, and one day tickets are now also on sale – just visit www.bluesfest.com.au to see it all.

Bluesfest 2010 looks forward to welcoming patrons on its own land – and will accommodate approximately 6,500 campers! The very spacious and natural environment is right next to the festival grounds and will include a general store, showers and toilets.

The festival itself will feature more space, more music, more stalls, and more areas to chill out, but is all about keeping in the Bluesfest tradition, which is about creating an environmentally sound, peaceful, relaxed and happy home for everyone. Regular shuttle buses will be included to and from the festival into Byron Bay, Mullumbimby and surrounding towns.”

Headliners include: Jack Johnson, Crowded House, John Butler Trio, The Fray, Jools Holland & His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, Taj Mahal, John Mayall Matisyahu, Angus & Julia StoneDonavon Frankenreiter, Ozomatli, Galactic, A.L.O (Animal Liberation Orchestra), Matt Costa, Buddy Guy, Roger Hodgson from Supertramp, Gipsy Kings, Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club®, Jeff Beck and many many many more….

Also look out for Shapeshifter on tour in September. These guys are a live drumnbass outfit from New Zealand- definitely know how to play tight, fast and loud. They’re playing Byron Sept 9, Gold Coast Sept 10 and Brisbane Sept 11. Check out nicheproductions.com.au for more info.

DE LA SOUL have earned themselves a huge following in Australia and internationally since the release of their ground-breaking debut album ‘3 Feet High and Rising’ in 1989. We last saw the good-time guys in early 2008, but this time they’re splashing out and coming with a 10-piece band, made up of seasoned players from across the USA, handpicked by DE LA SOUL.

Cut Chemist, one of hip hop’s most influential DJ’s, has been confirmed as a special guest for the tour, performing in a never before seen, 3 piece live format featuring vocals from Hymnal, custom visuals, decks and fx. Cut’s profile as a member of Ozomatli, dj and producer for legendary hip hop live outfit Jurassic 5 and frequent collaborator with fellow turntablist DJ Shadow steps up to the next level as he takes his unique cut & scratch audio visual presentation to the following shows:

DE LA SOUL 2009 Australian Tour

Sunday, April 26 – METRO CITY – Perth

Friday, May 1 – THE ESPLANADE HOTEL – Melbourne

Saturday, May 2 – GROOVIN THE MOO FESTIVAL – Lou Lister Park, Townsville

Sunday, May – 3 BRISBANE Tivoli – Brisbane

Tuesday, May 5 – METRO THEATRE – Sydney

Friday, May 8 – THE SHORES COMPLEX – Adelaide

Saturday, May 9 – GROOVIN THE MOO FESTIVAL – Newcastle Showgrounds, Newcastle

Tuesday, May 12 – SFBH – Wellington

Wednesday, May 13 – LAKE KAWANA CENTER – Queenstown

Thursday, May 14 – THE BEDFORD – Christchurch

Friday, May 15 – THE POWER STATION – Auckland

Saturday, May 16 – GROOVIN THE MOO FESTIVAL – Bendigo Show Grounds, Bendigo

“Wow, I’m in shock.. I have never won anything before in my life and have been wanting one of these awesome machines ever since I’d heard about them. I never dreamed this would happen, thank you so very much to everyone involved. Keep up the great work with the magazine by the way!”

No worries Anonymous winner, we hope you have a lot of fun with this machine.

We also have the great news that Issue 6 of StickyPoint is not far away. As a sneak peak, here is a look at the cover so you know what you are looking for on the shelves.

The up-coming issue of StickyPoint is centred around medicinal use of cannabis. Dr John Jiggens has an interesting story on the history of cannabis as a medicine, looking into the works of Dr William Brook O’Shaughnessy and the understanding and emergence of the Central-Asian Cannabis Indica.  We also have a story from Treating Yourself editor Marco Renda, detailing his trials & tribulations of being a certified medical cannabis user in Canada.

On top of that, we have an excellent interview with Speech (one of the main members of the soulful Arrested Development), an interview with Adelaide-based hip-hop duo the Roach Scholars as well as our featured artists and a tonne of budshots.

The Spin Trim is a gentle and effortless hand operated leaf trimming machine, which we had to see to believe. We were amazed at its effeciency despite how simplistic the machine appears to be… and the quality of the end result is simply awesome. No more seized up scissors and white knuckles. No more pain-staking hours of cut, cut, cuttity cut.

Competition is open to all Australians, entries close March 10th 2009. To enter, complete the simple form below… that’s it! Entry limited to 1 entry per person.

StickyPoint Issue 6 will be hitting the shelves in the new year.

Tariq was initially charged with drug trafficking, which carries a mandatory death sentence, despite Tariq denying ownership of the cannabis and claiming that the cannabis was for medical purposes.

Tariq’s lawyer pleaded that Tariq was caught up with the wrong people, and was otherwise a good student, studying business computing at a private college at the time of his arrest. A week ago, the prosecution offered Tariq the reduced charge of drug possession, which he initially accepted. However, Tariq then changed his mind, claiming “I don’t want to plead guilty to these two charges. I was not involved in this”.

Tariq’s lawyer then threatened to quit the case unless he cooperated and accepted the reduced charge. Tariq accepted these charges and pleaded guilty a couple of days ago; the first charge for possession of 2.57kg of cannabis (12 years prison and 3 strokes of the rotan) and the second charge for possession of 43.5g of cannabis (3 years prison and 10 strokes of the rotan). Both sentences will run concurrently, backdated to his original arrest in November 2006.

What doesn’t seem to be clear in this case is why there were 2 separate charges for possession of the same substance. Is it possible that Tariq possibly had the small 43.5g (1.5 ounces) of cannabis in his pocket for his own personal supply? Could the 2.57kg (5.6 pounds / 90 ounces) have been a legitimate medicinal supply?

Regardless of what the motives behind the possession were, does a young man in the prime of his life deserve to sit behind bars for the next 10 years of his life and be caned 13 times for a first-time cannabis charge(s)?

What are your thoughts on this sentencing? Does this sentence only seem outrageous because we have rather relaxed cannabis laws compared to Malaysia and other south-east Asian nations?

Sources:
“12 years for Saudi student having cannabis” – New Straits Times – 09/12/08
“Lawyer threatens to quit over Saudi’s plea” – New Straits Times – 04/12/08

The reason behind this is that StickyPoint was given a Category 1 Restricted (R18+) by the OFLC (Office of Film and Literature Classification), and by Queensland state laws, that means StickyPoint is not allowed for distribution / sale in the sunny state. Unfortunately our hands are tied by these laws, and it seems to be yet another case of unfair censorship.

We genuinely apologise for the inconvenience caused to any of Queensland readers, we wish we could change the laws or the rating we were given. However, there are online stores that do stock our magazine and ship Australia-wide, so…

Our apologies again Pete, keep an eye on your mailbox in the coming week…

Let’s start with some fatty links:

• some of the dopest mixes online can be found at www.djztrip.com – make sure you check out the mixes section in the forum- all free, all good!
• I’m also diggin www.woodnsoo.com – two Vancouver dudes with some sick mixes you can download for free- reggae, hip hop, funk, dubstep, dancehall, ragga, grime- all good shit!

Check back in the coming weeks for exclusive reviews & interviews.

The list of medical uses for marijuana (Cannabis Sativa) continues to grow. The Journal of Natural Products recently published a paper outlining the newly isolated antibiotic effects of the class of molecules known as cannabanoids. This group includes the non-psychoactive cannabichromene, cannabigerol, and cannabidiol but also includes the well-known and definitely psychotropic tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

Researchers believe that the powerful antibiotic effects of cannabanoids can be enlisted in the increasingly difficult fight against MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) and other ’superbugs’ that have evolved resistances to most modern antibiotics. MRSA is perhaps the best known of these superbugs, often running rampant in hospitals, with estimates of up to 1.2 million hospital patients becoming infected and possibly over 100,000 patients dying each year in the United States due to lack of effective medicines against them. The known effectiveness of cannabanoids and the fact that they have not been used before, and therefore no bacteria has yet developed a resistance to them, could prove to be a very valuable tool in the arms race against these constantly changing bacterial strains.

In some ways the notion of cannabis having antibiotic effects is counterintuitive. This is because it has been proven that the act of smoking marijuana actually increases vulnerability to infections. This vulnerability however seems to be a result of inhaling marijuana smoke or even smoke in general and likely has little to do with the presence or absence of cannabanoids.

Contrastingly, cannabis sativa itself, when not smoked, has been known since the 1950s to have strong antibacterial properties. However, as the technology of looking into how molecules are structured and how they interact was in its infancy at the time, the researchers were unable to determine which marijuana compounds were actually causing the antibacterial effects. As the social and research climates started to grow increasingly hostile to the investigation of black-listed substances in the US and around the world, antibiotic cannabis studies were soon shelved and ignored until they were finally picked up again fairly recently by modern science.

With all of the advances in chemical analysis made since the fifties, the new batch of scientists studying cannabis related antibiotics were now able to pinpoint the basic backbone structure that is common to all cannabanoids, to be the active component in killing off bacteria. Now that the bio-active section of the cannabanoid molecules has been identified, researchers and drug makers are busy developing and testing antibiotic drugs as well as considering potential uses for cannabanoids in various soaps and cleaning products. At present they are focusing their efforts on the derivatives of the non-psychoactive cannabanoids. This is presumably because the US FDA, and other governing bodies world-wide, might have a hard time with people getting high in order to cure a bacterial infection; not to mention getting high by just washing their hands.

Sources:

www.spectroscopynow.com

http://pubs.acs.org

http://www.kaisernetwork.org

While I was in Nimbin recently at the 2008 Mardi Grass, I had the opportunity to sit and blow a joint with Ed Rosenthal (pictured right, I’m on the left, Ed on the right). We got to talking about Terpenes, with particular regard to a chapter in Ed’s latest Book, “The Big Book of Buds Vol. 3″, called ‘The Secret Chemistry of Cannabis Odors and Highs’.

The discussion led to a Terpene known as Myrcene, which is the most prevalent Terpene found in most varieties of Cannabis, but not found in hemp. It is also present in high amounts in mangos, hops, lemon grass, West Indian bay tree, verbena and the plant from which it derives it’s name; Mercia.

Myrcene appears in small amounts in the essential oils of many other plants.
Its odour is described as clove-like, earthy, green-vegetative, citrus, and fruity with tropical mango and minty nuances.

Without going into too much detail from the book, Ed explained that the presence of Myrcene was an important factor in the quality and enjoyment of the high from smoking certain Cannabis strains, particularly those strains that came from tropical climates…namely Sativas.

Ed went on to tell me that it was possible to enhance the quality of the high from a low potency bud, through the addition of Myrcene. He went on to say that this could in fact be tested and verified. And this is how he told me to do it.

Say I had a nicely grown bud that was lacking in the ‘Zing’ department when smoked. If I was to eat a Mango one hour before smoking the bud, Ed said the addition of Myrcene to my body from the mango, would have a profound impact on the quality of the high, and I would notice the ‘Zing’ that was missing, had I just smoked the bud without having eaten the mango.

Yes folks, you heard it here. You can improve the quality of the high from a bud you smoke, if you eat a fresh mango ONE HOUR before smoking!

Yep… that is true.

So, how do we use this information to help us further, so that we can improve the quality of our high, or maximise the medicinal benefits of our cannabis.

Well, first up is to make sure that you ALWAYS inhale the aromas and perfumes PRIOR to smoking or vaping your buds. You do this by breaking up, or chopping up your bud prior to consumption. This releases the volatile terpenes in the bud when you rupture the resin glands. If you then inhale deeply through your nose and wait at least 5 minutes, you will maximise the benefits from that bud.

To show how this works in practice, all of you will have seen reports from police that their officers have gotten ‘high’ when seizing ripe cannabis in large quantities from a grow room. The police are not actually high, but they are in fact affected by the terpenes released into the air as they handle the cannabis. The two most prevalent terpenes giving this reaction are Myrcene and Geraniol. The police are relaxed and somewhat sedated, but they are NOT high. You will also notice this effect when manicuring your cannabis at harvest time.

I know a lot of purists will nay say about breaking a bud up prior to smoking, but I can assure you that they would get a better benefit if the chopped and inhaled first.

I hope you find this helpful.

Namaste

Check back in the future for more articles from The Medical Mark.