Marijuana critics, and our brilliant plan to save the San Francisco 'Chronic'-le
The decline in newspaper advertising and an upswing in medical marijuana sales are happening simultaneously. And if viewed together, they present an illuminating opportunity for a few daily papers, should their publishers take advantage of the opportunity.The two industries are moving in opposite directions. We all know what's happening to newspaper ad sales: The Audit Bureau of Circulations released precipitous circulation figures on Monday, with a shocking average decline of close to 11 percent over the past six months for daily papers. Weed's having better luck. The Justice Department announced last week that it will no longer prosecute medical marijuana users, and instead leave enforcement up to individual states (only 13 of which permit marijuana as legal pain relief).
Let's look at a market where these two trends collide: San Francisco. Circulation at the ailing San Francisco Chronicle, at a limp 252,000 copies a day, slid a horrifying 25.8 percent between April 1 and Sept. 30 over that period a year earlier. Readership of The Chronicle, long the second biggest newspaper on the West Coast, after The Los Angeles Times (circulation down 11 percent), has been falling steadily for years. The paper reported in February that its owner, the Hearst Corp., was looking for a buyer; fears of layoffs, or a total shutdown of the paper, are still echoing around the Bay Area.
The Chronicle's death spiral became more dizzying in 2006, when the publisher reacted to poor circulation numbers by decreasing its local coverage and instead publishing more wire stories. In hindsight, that strategy looks completely backward. The Chronicle needs to engage with its local readers to become relevant. And one way to do that is to cover marijuana.
Let's back up. Last month, Denver's respected, 32-year-old free weekly paper, Westword, made waves by posting a listing for a new position: marijuana critic. Westword's prospects are comparatively bright; its circulation of 84,000 is about a third of the Chronicle's and places it among the top 25 alt-weeklies in the U.S. The paper received more than a hundred applications for its marijuana critic position, and perhaps the public's renewed interest in Westword will even give its circulation a boost.
The job posting was serious in intention, but it was also something of a stunt. A prerequisite for a freelance reviewer for the "Mile Highs and Lows" column was a Colorado medical marijuana ID (or a condition that could lead the jobseeker to obtain one); the job description noted, "Keep in mind this isn't about assessing the quality of the medicine on site; it's about evaluating the quality of the establishment. After all, we can't have our reviewer be stoned all the time." What's more, "Compensation will be meager -- and no, we can't expense your purchases, although that would be pretty cool."
Perhaps I'd have taken Westword's aim of reviewing the service at Denver-area marijuana dispensaries more seriously had the paper refrained from publishing many responses (not all of them good). Everyone's favorite application had writing style that could generously be described as "beat" -- The Wall Street Journal called it "haiku-esque" -- and went like this: "marijuana. what it means to me has changed over the years. smoking scwagg when i was 14 just because it was 'cool.' finding kind bud when i was 17.... i received my license in march. since then i have been to 7 dispesaries. i have sampled over 100 strains, edibles, and hash and. i have had issues with each dispensary. mostly getting shut down. employees stealing. shitty weed.'
Even if the attitude surrounding the job posting was tongue-in-cheek, the idea for a weed critic is a good one, and it should be far more nuanced than merely evaluating counter service at a cannabis shop. A lot of Americans smoke marijuana, not just poets with bad spelling habits. Conservative estimates based on survey data put the U.S. marijuana market -- both medical and illegal -- at up to $50 billion, although some experts feel the industry may be worth as much as $200 billion. And the leaf has mainstreamed; among my peers of artsy stay-at-home moms, Wall Street investment bankers, writers, technology entrepreneurs, city employees, soldiers, chefs, minor rock stars, translators, and nannies, those who don't smoke weed are in the minority. One of my relatives last month told me a friend in his 30s -- a self-professed family man -- estimated his lifetime pot expenses above $50,000 (and counting).
The legalization movement seems to be gaining steam. Hedge-fund manager Andrew Lahde furthered its cause a year ago when, in shutting down his fund for having made too much money (!), he wrote that marijuana was illegal because "Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other addictive drugs than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers." (Need a connection? There's an app for that.)
That brings us to the San Francisco Chronicle. California is an enormous market for medical marijuana. Across the Golden State, "pot docs" freely prescribe marijuana for the flimsiest excuses -- headaches, stomach aches, sleeplessness, general anxiety. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has even said he has considered legalizing and taxing marijuana without restrictions.
So what should San Francisco's troubled paper do? The answer seems obvious: It's time for the Chronicle to become the Chronic-le. It's time to follow Westword's example -- and hire a pot critic.
Here we have, on one side, a storied newspaper losing both its advertisers and its relevance among local readers. (The New York Times is circling overhead, having just announced plans to launch a daily Bay Area edition with local news that the city's own metro daily no longer bothers with.) On the other side: a city full of pot enthusiasts (and tolerant non-enthusiasts who accept marijuana's social status), a populace comfortable with consuming products at cannabis dispensaries that have been grown and processed locally by marijuana artisans. A city where pot might soon be totally legal to all, with no strings or registration cards attached.
Instead of slashing its staff in half or shutting down, The Chronicle should embrace its readers' culture and interests. In a city whose citizens wax poetic about the amazing varieties of garlic, apples, heirloom tomatoes, surely there are talented writers who can steer newly enthusiastic newspaper readers to the righteous Blue Mystic and Purple Urkel, and away from the inferior Early Girl.
Hiring a marijuana critic might sound like a joke, but it could be the most brilliant joke the Chronicle's circulation department has seen in years.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-27-2009 @ 4:00PM
sherry fisher said...
read this please................
Reply
10-27-2009 @ 2:54PM
wethertime said...
I thought you were going somewhere far more relevant - print the paper on rolling paper and actually COVER marijuana by rolling it in the paper. There's a concept!
Reply
10-27-2009 @ 4:28PM
Gene Wright said...
"""One of my relatives last month told me a friend in his 30s -- a self-professed family man -- estimated his lifetime pot expenses above $50,000 (and counting)."""
Geeze.... and if it is legalized, what will such an amount soar to??!!!
Reply
10-27-2009 @ 4:38PM
justlegalizeit09 said...
i currently spend over $5,000 a year on marijuana.... you need to understand that marijuana is extremely cheap to grow... you dont need the pesticides and the only manufacturing costs are trimming the buds... which you can build a machine to do.... you could grow it for about $25 per pound.... currently, crap weed is selling for $130-$150 per ounce.... you can grow it, tax it like crazy and still have it be a lot cheaper than street prices..... it doesnt cost more to grow high thc weed either.... but you can sell it for a lot more....
10-27-2009 @ 4:40PM
marty said...
Go for it arnie
Reply
10-27-2009 @ 5:04PM
DREW said...
WORD... mj is expensive, a hundred dollar a week bud budget is cheaper than someone's alcohol budget. 5200 a year is standard, so if government takes 20 or 30% in taxes thats 1500 in tax revenue a year from each pot smoker which eqauls about a trillion dollars over ten years.. TAX IT or leave it
Reply
10-27-2009 @ 5:56PM
devon said...
we need to legalize not have legal lies.i hope every journalist writes about marijuana.it should be legal.its hurting nobody.I hate even hearing about the dispensaries because i could care less unless its marijuana being legalized.
Reply
10-27-2009 @ 6:09PM
Tonya said...
Legalize it , heck yeah !! Almost everyone I know has either smoked it before, or still does, and all the BS about it destroying brain cells, I find very hard to believe because I bartended for ten years, got high on weed for sixteen, and when I went back to college when I was 30, yes 30 years old, I was on the honor roll every semester with nothing less than a 93% in any subject. Alcohol is so much more dangerous, and of course cocaine and heroin are just plain idiotic. but weed? Come on, this economy would thrive like it's never thrived before. Legalize it. Do it now.
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10-27-2009 @ 6:14PM
justlegalizeit09 said...
yes Tonya, you are correct to question the 'pot kills brain cells' argument. It is 100% false. It was the result of a study done in 1974 called the Heath/Tulane Study which put gas masks on monkeys and pumped in the equivilent of 63 columbian strength joints with no oxygen in a matter of 5 minutes a day.... thats suffocation and your brain cells die when you are suffocated. Every study since this one has shown not only does marijuana use NOT kill brain cells, it actually protects them from damage and even spurs nero-genesis... in other words, pot use creates new brain cells.
However, getting drunk does kill brain cells.... look it up..... but there is a silver lining to it... recent studies show that when you drink alcohol and smoke marijuana, the marijuana helps to protect your brain cells from the damages of alcohol.
10-27-2009 @ 6:27PM
Tonya said...
I totally get it, I knew hat was a crock. Doing that to a monkey with that much cannabis, I mean I can smoke it up but 63 joints in 5 minutes without oxygen? What, did they think we smoked in an atmosphere with no brethable air? That would be like sticking a hose in the muffler, shutting the garage door, starting the engine, and buckling in for ride of (the end) of your life. I would have much rather worked in a hash bar instead of a liquor establishment any day, at least we know what stoners are going to do, eat and laugh....alcoholics are so unpredictable, it's always a gamble when you drink like an ignoramus.
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10-27-2009 @ 6:28PM
Tonya said...
oops, breathable lol
Reply
10-27-2009 @ 6:31PM
Tonya said...
I don't drink much, I'm not bashing people who do, just the ones that can't handle their alcohol but try to convince themselves and everyone else they can. LOL
10-27-2009 @ 7:10PM
mike said...
Good job Sarah, i hope they hear you
Reply
10-28-2009 @ 8:00PM
Phil said...
see i think that god or jesus, or whoever your god is sent us the plant. i dont see why it cant be legal as long as you dont abuse it. it could have the same laws tied around it as alcohol like, Don't smoke and drive and you have to be 21 or older to smoke it (unless for medical reasons). then the government could sell it and tax it. WOW! our economy just got better. because weed is worth buying. turst me.
Reply
10-28-2009 @ 8:06AM
Don said...
With the increasingly "pumped up" potency of Weed today.How could any rational human think this crap should be legal...what good could possibly come from it..Pot heads are just so motivated,they contribute greatly to our society!!
Wake up you spoiled,self centered brats..
Reply
10-27-2009 @ 10:14PM
THJ said...
Here's a list of some people that smoke weed:
Abbie Hoffman
• Abraham Lincoln. On a Hohner box cover but disputed.
• Al Gore.
• Aldous Huxley
• Aleister Crowley
• Alexander Dumas
• Alice B. Toklas
• Allen Ginsberg. Poet.
• Alexis Korner. Musician.
• Andy Warhol. Artist.
• Annita Roddock. Founder 'The Body Shop'.
• Anjelica Huston. Hollywood actress. Jack Nicholson's girlfriend for 17 years. Pro-drug statements by her in Peter McWilliams book, 'Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country'.
• Arthur Conan Doyle. Author, creator 'Sherlock Holmes'.
• Aswad. Musicians.
• Beatles.
• Bill Clinton.
• Bill Gates. Not confirmed, just very strongly hinted at in the Playboy interview
• Bill Murray Arrested for possession
• Bob Denver.
• Bob Dylan. Poet, singer, song writer.
• Bob Marley. Poet, singer, song writer.
• The Bishop of Monmouth.
• Brian Eno. Singer, song writer. Signed 'Independent' list.
• Boy George.
• British Lords & MP's - too many to list .
• Buddy Rich.
• Cab Calloway. Jazz musician.
• Carl Sagan. Author.
• Caroline Coon. Artist, founder 'Release', manager of the Clash.
• Carl Segan . Author.
• Carlos Santana. Musician, guitarist.
• Carrie Fischer.
• Cary Grant.
• Cary Mullis. Nobel Laurate, Biology
• Charles Beaudelaire
• Charles Dickens. Claims but no evdience.
• Cheech Marin.
• Chris Armstrong. Footballer, tested positive.
• Chris Conrad.
• Chris Farley. 60's singer.
• Chris Rock.
• Conan O'Brian.
• Count Basie. Jazz legend.
• Dame Ruth Runsiman. Author; Police Federation Report (March 2000) advising liberlization.
• Dave Gilmour . Musician ; Pink Floyd.
• Dave 'Tinki Winky' Thompson - TV personality (UK); the Tellie Tubbie that was sacked.
• Diego Rivera.
• Dion Fortune.
• Dioscorides.
• Dizzy Gillespie.
• Douglas Adams. Author.
• Dr Francis Crick. Nobel Prize winner.
• Dr Lester Grinspoon.
• Dr Mark Porter. TV doctor who says cannabis is not more harmful than alcohol.
• Dr Anne Biezanek (authoress)
• Dr R.D.Laing.
• Dr John Marks
• Dr W.B. O'Shaugnessy.
• Drew Barrymore.
• Duke Ellington.
• Eddie Ellison. Ex head of Scotland Yard Drug Squad.
• Edgar Allen Poe. Author, multi-drug user.
• Elvis Presley. Singer, FBI informer.
• Emperor Liu Chi-nu.
• Emperor Shen-Nung.
• Ernest Hemmingway. Author.
• Errol Flynn.
• Fela Kuti. Musician. Afro/jazz king.
• Felix Dennis. Publisher.
• Fitz Hugh Ludlow.
• Fran Healey. Musician; Travis.
• Francis Ford Coppella.
• Francis Rabelais.
• Francis Wilkinson. Ex Chief Constable of Gwent Police.
• Fredreich Nietzshe.
• Ganesh - Hindu God.
• Gary Johnson.
• Gene Krupa.
• George Clinton. Ex President's brother.
• George W Bush. Possibly the greatest living hypocrite.
• George Gurdjieff.
• George Melly. Jazz musician (early sponsor of Legalise Cannabis Campaign, Uk).
• George Michael. Singer.
• George Washington.
• George Soros.
• Gerard de Nerval.
• Gilberto Gil. Brazilian musical icon.
• The Greatful Dead.
• Hasan I-Sabah.
• Heinrich Khunrath.
• Helen Petrova Blavatsky.
• Henri Michaux.
• Herman Hesse.
• Hiero the Second.
• Howard Marks. Author, cannabis smuggller.
• Howard Stern, Admitted it on the radio.
• Hua T'o.
• Hunter S. Thompson. Smoked weed and snorted coke with George Bush.
• Ian Botham. Convicted Cricket legend.
• Irvine Welsh.
• Kurt Cobain.
• Jabir Ibn el-Hayyan.
• Jack Herer. Author 'The Emporor Wears No Cloths'
• Jack Kerouac. Author ' On the Road'.
• Jack Nicholson. Film actor.
• Jackie Gleason.
• Jackson Pollock.
• Jane Fonda. Actress.
• James Brown. Singer, song writer.
• Janis Joplin. Singer, song writer.
• Jesse 0Ventura.
• Jerry Lee Lewis. Musician, song writer.
• Jimmy Dorsey.
• Jimmy Hendrix. Rock guitarist, singe, song writer
• Jim Morrison. Musician, songwriter; The Doors.
• Joan of Arc. Accused of using 'witch herbs' (another name for cannabis).
• Joan Rivers.
• Joe Strummer. Musician, singer, songer writer; The Clash.
• John Belushi.
• John Denver.
• John F Kennedy. Popular US president (assassinated).
• John Keats. Poet.
• John Lennon. Musician, song writer; The Beatles.
• John Le Mesurier. Tried it but said it's not for him.
• Johnny Cash.
• John Peel. DJ, BBC broadcaster.
• John Sinclair.
• Judge John L. Kane. Chief Judge from the US District Court
• Julie Christie. Actress.
• Jules Verne.
• John Wayne. 'I tried it once but it didn't do anything to me.'
• Kelsey Grammar.
• Ken Livingston. Mayor of London - supports decriminalisation but does not smoke or support the use of recreational drugs.
• Kirk Douglas. Actor.
• Kurt Cobain.
• Larry Adler. Harmonica player and
friend of George Gershwin. May have written a song about it.
• Lenny Bruce. Comedian.
• Lewis Carroll. Author 'Alice in Wonderland'.
• Linda St Clair
• Little Richard. Musician.
• Lord Avebury.
• Lord Byron. Poet.
• Lord Deedes.
• Lord Tony Gifford. QC, civil rights lawyer.
• Louis Armstrong. 'Oh what a wonderful world'.
• Louis Hebert.
• Mark Thomas . Comedian.
• Marlon Brando. Actor.
• Martin Sheen.
• Mary Shelly. Author 'Frankinstein'.
• Mary Tyler Moore.
• Mick Jagger. Singer, song writer, The Rolling Stones.
• Michael Mansfield QC. Lawyer.
• Jade Jagger.
• JC 100. Fastest rapper in the west.
• JT Moore. Legendary white rasta guitarist.
• Mike Tyson.
• Miles Davis. Jazz/rock drummer.
• Mo Mowlan. Genuine honest politician.
• Modigliani. Sculptor.
• Montgomery Clift. Mentioned in his biography.
• Neil Diamond.
• Nick Hornby. Author.
• Niel Young. Musician.
• Norman Mailer. Author.
• Oasis. Rock band.
• Oliver Stone.
• Oscar Wilde. Poet.
• Pablo Picasso. Artist.
• Pancho Villa. Mexican bandit revolutionary.
• Paul Flynn. Uk Member of Parliament.
• Paul McCartney. Musician, song writer; The Beatles.
• Paul Simon. Musician, song writer.
• Pharoahs of Egypt. Traces in body samples.
• Phil Donohue.
• Phil Tufnell. Former test cricketer, now media celeb.
• Peter Fonda. Actor; 'Easy Rider'.
• Peter Sellers. Actor, comedian.
• Peter Tosh. Musician.
• Philip K. Dick. Science fiction author.
• Pierre Burton.
• Pierre Elliot Trudeau.
• Pink Floyd; Syd Barret and Roger Waters.
• Prince Charles. Heir to the Throne. Quoted while visiting a hospital; 'I understand cannabis is good for medical use' .
• Prince William.
• Prince Harry.
• Pythagoras.
• Queen Arnegunde.
• Queen Victoria. Used it for medical purposes.
• Ram Dass.
• Ray Charles. Musician.
• Rev Kenneth Leech.
• Richard Branson. 'Virgin'. Entreprenur.
• Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize Laureate physicist, founder of quantum electrodynamics.
• Richard Prior.
• Richard Wilson. Actor; 'One Foot in the Grave'.
• Rimbaud. Author.
• Robert Burns. Mentioned it in a poem.
• Robert 'King' Carter. Grower.
• Robert Anton Wilson. Author.
• Robert Mitchum. Jailed 90 days for possession of marijuana, 1949.
• Roger McGough. 60's liverpool poet.
• Rolling Stones. Rock band.
• Ronnie Scot. Jazz club owner, musician, busted on stage 1958, at his club in Soho, London.
• S Club 7. 'Super clean' pop band, busted in Soho, very embarrassing.
• Salvador Dali. Artist.
• Samuel Beckett.
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Poet.
• Shen Nung. One of the fathers of Chinese medicine. 2700 B.C .
• Sinead O'Connor. Singer.
• Sidi-Hidi.
• Sigmun Freud. Shrink.
• Sonny Bono.
• Super Furry Animals. Welsh band who wrote a song about Howard Marks.
• Stephen King.
• Sting/Gordon Sumners.
• Tariq Ali. Activist Writer.
• Tenessee Williams. Author.
• Terence McKenna. Author.
• Terry Gilliam. Actor, comedian;Monty Python.
• The Who. Rock band.
• Thelonius Monk.
• Thomas Jefferson.
• Timothy Leary.
• Tom Lehrer.
• Top Tories. Senior members of the shadow cabinet.
• Tony Elliot. Publisher, 'Time Out.
• Tracy Blevins. Artist.
• Tuppy Gore.
• UB40. Band.
• Victor Hugo.
• Vincent Van Gogh. Artist.
• Walt Disney. Cartoonist.
• Walter Benjamin.
• Whitney Houstonn. Busted at Hawaii airport but ran away.
• William Burroughs. Author, poet, artist.
• Will Self. Author. Did smack on Blairs plane.
• William Shakespeare. Playwright.
• William Straw. UK Home Sec Jack Straw's son. Cautioned for supplying undercover journalists in pub 'shocker'.
• Willie Nelson.
• Winston Churchill. British Prime Minister, poet, artist & multi drug user.
• Woody Harrelson. Actor. Features in a book on growing medical marijuana .
• Zoroaster. Persian prophet.
10-27-2009 @ 9:54PM
THJ said...
We have assistance for you here:
http://www.learntospell.org.uk/
Reply
10-28-2009 @ 8:21AM
don said...
its refreshing to find a pothead so anal
10-27-2009 @ 11:04PM
jen said...
So I will have to breathe that stinky weed walking around SF. To me the smell is nauseating, far worse than cigarette smoke, so if my barf bothers you, sorry in advance.
Reply