Weed, And The Feds

I cannot believe the federal government is this stupid:

WEED – The federal government has said no to Weed.

Or at least to the bottle caps on beer brewed at a popular local brewery in this small Siskiyou County town, which has a name that no doubt would have kept 1970s pot-smoking duo Cheech and Chong giggling.

Weed brewer Vaune Dillmann faces possible sanctions or fines from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau if he continues to brew and sell beer with bottle caps printed with the label "Try Legal Weed."

Bureau spokesman Art Resnick said Monday that the bottle caps tell consumers to support an illegal drug – a policy that violates rules of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau as well as the agency's predecessor, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.

Dillmann, who says his bottle caps promote both his beers and the community in which he brews them, has appealed the decision.

After all, he said, the labels on his beers have a picture of the Weed arch and the city's founding father, Abner Weed, on the label.

Dillmann's bottle caps also say a "A Friend in Weed is a Friend Indeed."

"We're dealing with a surname that's been used for hundreds of years," Dillmann said.

The owner of Mount Shasta Brewing Co. said he's also outraged that his beer is being singled out for using a possible pot play on words when Anheuser-Busch has used "Bud" – another name for marijuana – to promote its Budweiser line of beers.

"What's the difference here?" Dillmann said. "They sell Bud – we sell Weed."