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fight4rights

Taking Packaging to a Higherplane
Shelly Leachmand | Santa Barbara News Press | 1/29/06

{'rights says: This was a fun little event the NORML Chapter at University of California Santa Babara (of which I'm a part of) throws each year. It was held in a park in Isla Vista, a little community right next to UCSB's campus. If anyone has any questions about it, please ask!}

Isla Vista's Anisq O'Yo' Park went to pot on Saturday, when locals lazed on the lawn to raise awareness of grass.

Some 400 people showed up at the second annual Joint Rolling Competition, sponsored by UCSB's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws -- a group that seeks to legalize weed.

Participants used sponsor-provided rolling papers and a non-pot "herb alternative" to compete in categories such as "fastest," "fattest," "primo" and "freestyle," crafting both cigarette-sized joints and cigar-sized blunts.

Among them was Brian Yoo, 22, a UCSB political science major who won last year's inaugural contest by smoking his competition in the "fastest blunt" category.

He rolled a one-gram fatty in 19 seconds, he said.

"After last year, people recognized me out of the blue," said Mr. Yoo. "They'd come up and ask, 'Weren't you rolling blunts at the park?' So it's my claim to fame, I guess -- come to college and win a blunt contest."

Mr. Yoo returned to defend his title, with his good bud Obed Zamora, 19, in tow. The latter man said he was attending as his friend's coach.

"He's been anxious about (the contest) so I thought he needed some discipline," said Mr. Zamora. "I push him a lot. I'll shout at him, 'Four more seconds!' The past two weeks I've been training him a lot using the timer on the microwave. He's been real consistent. I'm expecting a good result.

"You better get 16 seconds, man," Mr. Zamora warned his friend. "Sixteen seconds."

UCSB freshman BJ Fulton, 18, got high marks for his handiwork in the "primo joint" category, wherein rollers are graded on the shape or form, consistency, seal, and appearance of their creations, according to posted rules.

"In my mind, a primo joint means straight lines, a clean crutch (that twisty, filter-like part at the end), packed evenly and about cigarette-size," said Mr. Fulton, a still-green reefer roller competing for the first time.

"I think joint rolling is an art form that is not appreciated by enough people," he added.

Plenty of people showed their appreciation Saturday, inhaling the festivities by crowding around competition tables, clapping for the requisite jam band -- the Kotton Mouth Kings -- playing throughout the day and indulging in the baked goods being sold nearby.

{'rights says: The press got this wrong. One member of the Kottonmouth Kings was supposed to be judging this event. They ended up flaking out and not showing up at all. Local bands were playing throughout the day, but not Kottonmouth Kings.}

"Everybody loves NORML baked goods on campus," said chapter president Jacob Roland.

"I can't say this factually," he added, "but I'm pretty sure we do better than all the other clubs with our bake sales."

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"Those who do no harm to others should not be harmed by others..." Ethan Nadelmann
"Revolution is not a right, it is an obligation." John Locke
"Do SOMETHING besides argue emotions against the law, because it simply isn't a rational way to affect any type of change whatsoever. No offense intended, but your opinion on things is a moot point unless you take actions to change the law, rather than ramble about how unfair or injust it is." troublemaker_42
"'Just say no' to drugs, except those marketed by big pharmaceutical companies." Ignorant Politicians