C’MON, MAN……Steve Deangelo is Rewriting History….Posted by Mickey Martin on October 22nd, 2011

I cannot help but wonder who Stevie-D thinks he is fooling with his latest rhetoric and the “it is all everyone else’s fault” bullshit. I just do not get it. Who is this type of shit helping? In an article from the Bay Citizen it seems as if the Master of Ceremonies Stevie-D, star of the new hit series WEED WARS, is looking down his nose and wondering how everyone else let things get so bad. His rewriting of history would be comical if there were not so much on the internets that prove otherwise. Here is an excerpt from the Bay Citizen piece:

Source: http://www.baycitizen.org/marijuana/story/feds-target-oakland-dispensary-richard/

Coffeeshop Blue Sky is one of four dispensaries permitted to operate in Oakland. Earlier this month, the Internal Revenue Service ruled that Oakland’s Harborside Health Center, the largest dispensary in the Bay Area, could not deduct standard business expenses because it was involved in ”the trafficking of controlled substances.” As a result of the ruling, Harborside owes millions of dollars in back taxes.

To some, the backlash against Oakland’s dispensaries seems like retribution for its lenient attitude towards marijuana dispensaries. Last year, the city backed off on a plan to permit four enormous pot farms only after Haag issued a stern warning. Lee’s Oaksterdam was also the headquarters the Prop. 19 campaign.

“I warned everybody from the City Council on down who was pushing for those four huge farms that there would be consequences,” said Steve DeAngelo, who runs Harborside. “And I warned people who were pushing Prop. 19 that losing elections would have consequences.”

“In large part what we’re seeing is the consequences of an overreach by our community,” DeAngelo said.

Seriously? You warned everyone…while you were still applying for a permit? Huh? You are accusing others of overreaching? On the real? No shit? Now is not the time to turn tail and run from your convictions, Steve. You are the overreaching-est of us all with glossy pinups of yourself in oodles of magazines discussing how “successful” your McDonalds of marijuana model was going to be. If I recall, you were one of the proponents of the mega-grows in the beginning. The East Bay Express wrote in 2010:

As traditional market forces begin to exert themselves on the once-marginalized illicit drug, a spectrum of reformers has emerged, from pragmatic capitalists on one end, to idealistic, longtime radicals on another. This spread is evident in the once-close relationship between Wilcox and DeAngelo, who are now estranged. The two worked together for months devising a plan for large commercial grows in Oakland, but had a falling out over control of the facility and have begun airing their differences in public.

Steve then goes on to say some nice things about Richard, after kind of shitting on his efforts with Prop. 19, even after being a contributor to the campaign and supporting it.

Although DeAngelo and Lee have had their differences, DeAngelo denounced the attack on Lee’s dispensary.

“Richard Lee is an absolute pillar of the medical cannabis movement — he paved the way for a lot of us,” he said. “It’s absolutely critical that the community stand up and support Coffeeshop Blue Sky.”

Not quite sure what the point is of taking this “head down- do what your told” approach, but if that is your answer Steve….to forget legalization because you do not believe the world is ready and try to pull the 98% of all cannabis use is medical shit like you wrote about in the last O’shaugnessy’s and try to convince the world of your health and wellness model then fine. I will be with the California Medical Association and other groups who see the need for more lenient cannabis laws- not a plan to scale everything back in hopes of not getting whacked.

But I suppose I have less to lose than you, so maybe I just cannot understand your position. I do know you sound like the Mitt Romney of medical cannabis right now as you pander to the Feds and denounce the “overreaching” by some in our community. Let me know how that Discovery Channel WEED WARS thing works out while you are out there judging everyone…..Geez. Your arrogance and failure to understand your role in the problem is beyond me. The next time you want to run around calling yourself the “World’s Largest Cannabis Dispensary,” while at the same time accusing others of overreaching, do us all a favor. Just keep your petty half-truth quotes to yourself…..It helps no one. Not even you this time.

UPDATE:

Let me be the first to stand up and point out the obvious in this story……Stevie-D is full of shit.

For the cannabis messiah to stand up and act as if everyone else but him caused this mess and to go as far as saying he “warned everybody” is just disingenuous. Steve and Harborside have long been at the forefront of “overreaching” and have been at the forefront of most of the issues facing the community. To look down one’s nose at others in some effort to say, “I warned you of consequences” just does not square up with me.

I have been fairly tame in my criticisms of Harborside’s Chief Executive, mostly because I think they have a good model and besides the constant barrage of “the world’s largest 22-million dollar McDonald’s of marijuana dispensary” rhetoric that has been plastered all over the press since late 2009, I think they provide a great service. But let us call a spade a spade, and let me be the first to say that the most “overreaching” of them all has been Steve Deangelo and his Weed Wars crew, and for him to make public statements to the contrary is weak.

What is also disturbing is his blaming the crackdown on Prop. 19 and legalization. His piece in the latest O’shaughnessy’s kills me. So now he is against legalization and only wants a “health and wellness” model for cannabis? Good….well at least I know where you stand this week. I guess we can “flip the switch” some other decade……Your hypocrisy is disturbing. I for one will not stand by and let you take zero responsibility and cast stones at other in some self-centered attempt to paint yourself as a hero…..You clearly are not, and it helps no one for you to do interviews where you demean the efforts of others and act as if you condemned efforts that you clearly once championed. It is a sad day when Steve Deangelo accuses our community of overreaching, as many I know believe it was clearly his overreaching “look at me bullshit” that created a lot of the current backlash.

The next time the star of Weed Wars wants to step up and look down his nose at the rest of us, politely tell him I said to STFU…..