"LA is very spread out, it's hard to get a big crowd for anything. "
Er... you ever been to Canada?
Localism is an unfortunate reality of good surf spots everywhere. When I gt into hemp and cannabis activism, I began to loose that aspect of myself and open up.

"LA is very spread out, it's hard to get a big crowd for anything. "
Er... you ever been to Canada?

I've been to Vancouver. That is a real city. LA is not a real city. It's a car kingdom, it's a strange land ruled by the automobile.

I spent quite a bit of time surfing in socal last year, I found the surfers quite nice and accepting, although they do have a bit of an elitest culture surrounding the sport.

I know why people don't show up for protests in LA. Everyone is so sketched about the police there. All activities that involve smoking pot must be done with the utmost secerecy and carefullness. Most people there are not willing to out themselves in such a harsh environment, its not like BC where you can toke at city hall or on main street, people feel the heat quite often, and are constantly getting nailed for bullshit possesion charges. One kid i met down there was about 18, his parents were ultra, ultra rich, and the local cops caught him with some pot one day. They arrested him, then worked out a deal with his parents in which he had to go to drug rehab almost every single day for his whole summer vacation.

Older people are even more sketched out, the culture among non pot smokers calls for isolation and persecution of non drug users. Everyone pretends to be real laid back in cali, until you break the social contract, people treat pot like it is anthrax. People don't want to be seen at a pot rally, because they are afraid it may get back to there employers, friends, peers or even the police.

Its complete paranoia thier, and being a pot smoker in cali is not worth it, you loose your scholarships, you get kicked out of school, you loose your job, even your family. People in Canada have these problems, but not like they do, its 24/7 look behind your back, no time to relax, always on the lookout, thats why they don't get the turnouts like they should, I don't think it has much to do with urban sprawl, its still dense with housing in areas like hermosa and redondo.

just my two cents...

Marijuana possession under an ounce is a ticket and a fine in California, you don't get arrested. And people aren't showing up in droves even for events where there is not smoking weed involved.

The laws are the same all over California but there is a high turnout for anti-DEA events in the SF Bay Area and a low turnout in LA..

There's a legendarily high flake factor for all kinds of organizing here in LA, even just party organizing.

But the public is great at expressing their sympathy from their cars during rush hour.

If only we could find a way to get them to send letters to their political leaders from their cars during rush hour.

Modern technology would find a way.

That story about the guy saying he can grow in three months, I don't know if that was supposed to be funny, because in the context of a cancer patient it was not, but picturing the event as I read it I had to laugh, it was pretty funny.