The Vet Who Wants to Legalize Medical Marijuana for Dogs
Now that it’s possible to legally buy and smoke marijuana in many parts of the US, it’s safe to say that weed and its by-products will be ingested freely throughout the country in the next decade. But have you ever shotgunned a blunt into your dog’s face? If you have, you’re an asshole and should never do it again. But that doesn’t mean your pooch doesn’t like to get high, especially if it’s sick. Veterinarian Doug Kramer is among a small number of experts who believe THC could help canines cope with debilitating and chronic conditions just like it helps humans. I called Dr. Kramer to see how his crusade was going.
VICE: How did you first think to treat sick pups with pot? Dr. Kramer: A client first brought it to my attention. She was a bit eccentric, but she was a very intelligent woman. She had a pet that was not responding well to any of the pain medications or the steroids that we were giving it, and she wanted to talk about getting medical marijuana. The other vets at the practice were pretty dismissive, but she saw that I was willing to listen.
I read somewhere that at some point your dog, Nikita, was diagnosed with untreatable cancer. You had tried pretty much everything, right? She had gone through all of the traditional pain medications, even steroids. When it became clear that she was nearing the end, that’s when she had nothing to lose, as long as it didn’t hurt her. At the first dosage, she was up and around. I didn’t cure her. It was just a question of increasing her quality of life and putting off inevitably euthanizing her.
The capybara (which, according to google, is the world’s largest rodent) at Nagasaki Bio Park in Japan love to take dips in the park’s hot springs. The park allows visitors to get up close with the animals, so we tried our best to make friends with these shy little beasts. We interviewed Mr. Ito, the head of the park, and checked out the rodents in their element.
The incident: A guy drunkenly passed out on a couch. When he woke up, he discovered someone had drawn dicks on his face.
The appropriate response: Nothing. Them’s the rules.
The actual response: Dick-face went crazy and beat up the guy who drew on him.
Last Saturday night, James Watson (pictured above), got drunk and fell asleep on the couch of his home in Lyon Village, Virginia.
At some point, one of his housemates drew several penises on his face with a permanent marker.
Around 5 AM, James woke up and, discovering the facial etchings, flew into a rage. He ran upstairs to where his housemate was sleeping and jumped on top of him, repeatedly punching him, causing “extensive injuries to his face.”
The housemate had to go to hospital and James was arrested and charged with malicious wounding.
Police officers often get a bad rep, but I would like to take this opportunity to publicly congratulate whoever it was that decided James shouldn’t be allowed to properly wash the dicks off his face before taking his mugshot. You are an American hero.
Levi Mandel was born in Seattle in 1985. Aside from having the best CV I’ve ever read, Levi’s transparency is one that follows true in his body of work-—there’s no time for the typical. His approach to photography exemplifies the ‘hunter vs. gatherer’ mentality we’re stuck with as photographers in 2013: instead of jamming a frowning girl in front of a white wall, he spends his time searching for something worthwhile to photograph. The honest and democratic approach to photography is a seductive one, or so his list of clients would have one believe. Oh, and I guess he shot video for Ryan McGinley on one of his cross-country road trips. Not bad for someone who was suspended from school for graffiti in 1997.
Starring Lil Bub and Bub’s owner, Mike Bridavsky, along with Grumpy Cat, Nyan Cat, Keyboard Cat, and meme-manager supreme Ben Lashes, Lil Bub & Friendz follows the life and times of Bub and examines the internet-cat phenomenon, in general.
Lil Bub & Friendz will premiere worldwide at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.
The third episode in VICE’s cat series features Squirrel the Kitten, Rex the Cat, Vanessa, Kai + Ro, Whitney, Lucien, Artemis, and more.
These interviews were filmed during the making of VICE’s new film, Lil Bub & Friendz, directed and produced by Andy Capper and Juliette Eisner—premiering at the TriBeCa Film Festival.
The official Lil Bub & Friendz trailer will be available on VICE YouTube March 18.
Watch the new documentary Alone in the Zone, produced by VICE Japan for their YouTube channel
Interview and photos by Ivan Kovac and Jeffrey Jousan Article translated from the Japanese by Luke Baker
Today marks the second anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Japan and caused one of the most serious nuclear disasters in world history, when the Fukushima Daiichi power plant started leaking radiation. The surrounding towns were evacuated in a rush, leaving empty homes, silent streets, and uncared-for animals. In the small town of Tomioka, however, less than six miles away from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, one man refused to leave: Naoto Matsumura, a 53-year-old fifth-generation rice farmer who is surely the most stubborn man in Japan, if not the world.
“I was born and raised in this town,” he told us. “When I die, it’s going to be in Tomioka.” Naoto’s face is browned by the sun and wrinkled from smiling; his dark eyes peer out from under heavy lids—it’s not the face of someone you’d expect to defy the government by living in an area other people aren’t even allowed to visit, but Naoto wears his iconoclasm lightly.
Because he is being bombarded with as much as 17 times the amount of radiation a normal person is, and because for a while he was eating meat, vegetables, and fish that were contaminated by radiation, as well, some researchers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency wanted to run some tests on him. “When I went down and let them look me over, they told me I was the ‘champion,’” he said, meaning he had the highest level of radiation exposure in Japan. “But they also told me that I wouldn’t get sick for 30 or 40 years. I’ll most likely be dead by then anyway, so I couldn’t care less.”
We are proud to announce that our new documentary, Lil Bub & Friendz, the story of the world’s cutest internet cat, will premiere at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.
Starring Lil Bub and Bub’s owner, Mike Bridavsky, along with Grumpy Cat, Nyan Cat, Keyboard Cat, and meme manager supreme Ben Lashes, the movie follows the life and times of Bub and examines the internet cat phenomenon with an amazing soundtrack that features Spiritualized, Vernon Elliott, Mort Garson, Steve Reich, and Integrity. The film is directed and produced by Andy Capper (Reincarnated) and Julilette Eisner.
The official trailer for Lil Bub & Friendz will be available to watch here and on youtube.com/vice on March 18th. In the meantime, watch our teaser trailer below.
Details of screenings and the premiere at the TriBeCa Film Festival to follow!
