Interesting characters and colorful entrepreneurs like David Jablinske (grower and dispensary owner) and Wes Abney (publisher) are cannabis heroes, at least to us here at nwbud.com. So are the growers at NW Green Thumb. We love most (small scale) pot growers – they are usually very smart and very low key types who avoid controversy and are doing the right thing while facing a serious risk of being busted by the Feds. Real grown-ups with lives outside the drug world who are supporting legalization efforts like travel host Rick Steves and very rich businessman Peter Lewis also qualify as heroes.

Steve Sarich opposes I-502, which will legalize recreational cannabis in Washington.

Even hack carpetbagging journalists who suck, like Steve Elliott, are heroes to us. They are fellow weed enthusiasts, after all. But one man in Washington stands above the rest as a cannabis zero – someone who has done more damage to the integrity of the marijuana community than anyone else with his dumb behavior. A person who vigorously opposed a previous bill designed to modernize the State’s medical pot laws, SB 5073. This whacko pot grower and girlie photographer Steve Sarich!

Steve wants to defeat I-502 because Steve likes the status quo of the medical marijuana world right now and he’s worried that new laws might cut into his cash flow. The concept of recreational pot does not sit well with an aging, decrepit baby boomer who makes a great living growing and selling “medical” pot. Duh.

In March 2011 Steve convinced the staff of pot industry trade magazine Northwest Leaf to print a cover story called “Kill Bill” about how bad the law was going to be. And now he’s going after I-502, harping about the DUI provisions. Steve has a good thing going with this medical marijuana scheme – he was an early pioneer in the business and I say “business” because although there are sick people who benefit, Steve benefits even more with the cold hard cash he harvests from his exploits. We don’t have access to his tax returns, but we can guess that his accountants are busy. Pot is the biggest cash crop is Washington State, after all – and Steve grows a hell of a lot of it! (His Mango strains are excellent, by the way – and their odor is so strong that simply opening a jar of the stuff could fill a stadium with thick stank).

I’m happy that Steve is our first cannabis zero because Steve shot a guy. A kid forty years his junior who used to work for him on his medical marijuana plantation. Seriously wounded the poor dumbass* – but here’s the thing: like a psychopath, Steve has never expressed any remorse whatsoever for this, or at least none that we can find on the Internet. Oh, but there is plenty of other juicy dish about Steve floating around the web – really sleazy stuff. The man is, in our opinion, misguided at best and at worst a dangerous loon who gives the marijuana business a bad name. We urge our readers to do an online search for “Steve Sarich” before deciding for themselves whether Steve is a cannabis hero or a cannabis zero.

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Update: Steve is doing his best to both destroy the I-502 movement AND destroy the anti-I-502 movement. Wow – this guy is a piece of work!
I-502 Opposition Leader Philip Dawdy Fired at His Own Press Event!

*Most pot growers have guns, so don’t try to rob them.