April 20th marks the relaunch of Hotbox Magazine, both in form and content. Here's what's new and what we're planning for the next few months:

• To begin, the lovely Andi von Doom is posting a new photo set later today from her travels to Ontario. Stay tuned!
• Secondly, Hotbox is pleased to present our newly-redesigned and updated website! Ever wished you had a place to freely and openly talk about cannabis, in a supportive, community-driven environment? Hotboxmagazine.com is working to become the Facebook of the cannabis community, helping activists connect with supporters in their area while also being a place for anyone wanting to write about the Drug War to be able to do so.
• We're also relaunching TokinHotChicks.com, our alternative beauty modeling site. The new website has a redesigned gallery, community content, info about our various projects and more strong, intelligent, cannabis-smoking women than you can shake a bong at. If you have an account at Hotbox Magazine, it also works there. Click "Models" above to check it out!
• As well, please say Hello to Johnny Elbow, our new Entertainment Editor! Johnny has some mad plans for Entertainment coverage this summer; if you want to be involved, might I suggest logging in and adding yourself to the Entertainment mailing list...?
• The Hotbox Tokenomics project is now functional, and very much in need of data. If you want to contribute to a broader scientific discussion on the economic impact of cannabis and recently bought an ounce, please check it out!

Intelligent discussion is needed about drug policy, and Hotbox Magazine believes that citizen experts have some of the most intelligent and nuanced opinions on the topic, opinions that deserve to be heard.

Cannabis legalization shouldn't just happen, it will within a decade. One statician has analyzed the current upward trend in the U.S. and predicts support with reach supermajority status by 2022. Managing Editor Ændrew Rininsland has predicted legalization will be a possibility by 2010 and argues from a political science perspective why he thinks we're still on track in an expansive paper released on Hotbox later this month. Meanwhile, Current Affairs Xander Harding looks at the recent media discussion of cannabis legalization in a piece later for today—quite suiting for 4/20 in what may perhaps be remembered as the year when cannabis legalization finally became a topic on politicians' lips.

This is a discussion that has always been led and continues to be led by concerned citizens, on both sides of the argument. However,the cannabis legalization movement has desperate need for its multifarious multitude of citizen experts to finally step forward. We are beginning to see the end of social stigmatization of cannabis users in the U.S., and if ever there was a time to be brave, now is it. It is imperative that—together—we destroy the stereotype of cannabis users as ineffective, socially-illiterate lazy stoners. As we wake up as a global phenomenon and become involved in the legalization process as not only stakeholders, but citizen experts on a topic that both science and polticians have failed to adequately addres.

Getting involved is easy. Create an account on the website, login and go to Mailing Lists, and add yourself to one or more of the section mailing lists. Our editorial staff will contact you with story ideas and help you create your story, while our art department will help make it look ballin'. Once we have all of our advertiser spaces filled, we will be begin production on the release version of Hotbox Magazine, with the best community-contributed content being released to wider distribution.

As well, creating a free account on Hotbox Magazine gives you a blog on our website and lets you write when you want to. Integration into the forum and community allows feedback from a wide audience and potential for expansion Content gets regularly fed into Smokkr, our community news aggregator site.

Come join us and let's end the War on Drugs—together.

-Janus Jones
Web Editor, Hotbox Magazine