PFlynn
New Member
The town of Weed, Calif., has no greater asset than its funny name. Many a pot smoker has pulled off Interstate 5, just south of the Oregon border, to pose for pictures under the burg's eponymous entry archway. Gas stations sell "High on Weed" T-shirts, playing off the area's 3,500-foot elevation. And the sign on the road out says, "Temporarily Out of Weed."
Policeman-turned-brewer Vaune Dillmann is the latest resident to bring the town's collective sense of humor to the market. The 61-year-old saloon owner put a new twist on the marijuana moniker on his bottle caps: "Try Legal Weed: A Friend in Weed Is a Friend Indeed."
But the stiffs with the U.S. Treasury's Department of Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau don't like the joke. According to the Los Angeles Times, they've threatened Mr. Dillmann's Mt. Shasta Brewing Co. with fines and sanctions if he doesn't delete "Try Legal Weed" from the caps.
"We consider it to be a drug reference, and find it to be false and misleading to the consumer in terms of what may or may not be the properties contained within that product," said department spokesman Art Resnick.
With the economy in crisis and businesses laboring to keep their doors open, this is your federal government at work. How stupid do regulators think we are? That someone will buy a beverage from the brewery with the expectation of imbibing liquified marijuana? That someone will take up pot smoking because of a pun on a bottle cap? For goodness sakes, it's a play on a town named for former lumber baron and state senator Abner Weed.
What's next, a federal crackdown in Coke, Texas? Will the Treasury's censors canvas Hemp, Ga.? Or Reefer Creek, Wis.? How about Dope Creek, Ore., or any of the half-dozen American towns with "Mary Jane" in their names?
"This is ludicrous, bizarre, like meeting Big Brother face-to-face," Mr. Dillmann told the Times. "Forget freedom of speech and the First Amendment. They are the regulatory gods, a judge and jury all rolled into one. This is a life-or-death issue for my business."
Mr. Dillmann plans to fight the government to keep his slogan, which thus far has been put atop about 400,000 bottles of beer. He has our full support. Unfortunately, he expects a costly legal battle -- and you'll pay for his prosecution.
News Hawk: PFlynn - 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Review Journal
Copyright: 2008 The Review Journal
Contact: brett@laattorney.com
Website: ReviewJournal.com - Opinion - EDITORIAL: Your government at work
Policeman-turned-brewer Vaune Dillmann is the latest resident to bring the town's collective sense of humor to the market. The 61-year-old saloon owner put a new twist on the marijuana moniker on his bottle caps: "Try Legal Weed: A Friend in Weed Is a Friend Indeed."
But the stiffs with the U.S. Treasury's Department of Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau don't like the joke. According to the Los Angeles Times, they've threatened Mr. Dillmann's Mt. Shasta Brewing Co. with fines and sanctions if he doesn't delete "Try Legal Weed" from the caps.
"We consider it to be a drug reference, and find it to be false and misleading to the consumer in terms of what may or may not be the properties contained within that product," said department spokesman Art Resnick.
With the economy in crisis and businesses laboring to keep their doors open, this is your federal government at work. How stupid do regulators think we are? That someone will buy a beverage from the brewery with the expectation of imbibing liquified marijuana? That someone will take up pot smoking because of a pun on a bottle cap? For goodness sakes, it's a play on a town named for former lumber baron and state senator Abner Weed.
What's next, a federal crackdown in Coke, Texas? Will the Treasury's censors canvas Hemp, Ga.? Or Reefer Creek, Wis.? How about Dope Creek, Ore., or any of the half-dozen American towns with "Mary Jane" in their names?
"This is ludicrous, bizarre, like meeting Big Brother face-to-face," Mr. Dillmann told the Times. "Forget freedom of speech and the First Amendment. They are the regulatory gods, a judge and jury all rolled into one. This is a life-or-death issue for my business."
Mr. Dillmann plans to fight the government to keep his slogan, which thus far has been put atop about 400,000 bottles of beer. He has our full support. Unfortunately, he expects a costly legal battle -- and you'll pay for his prosecution.
News Hawk: PFlynn - 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Review Journal
Copyright: 2008 The Review Journal
Contact: brett@laattorney.com
Website: ReviewJournal.com - Opinion - EDITORIAL: Your government at work
