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16th Cannabis Cup After Thoughts
First of all I’m left wondering how Todd is. He was the poor guy in Amsterdam that actually did all the leg work, organization & arrangements. I was just looking at the first issue of the new Grow America which features lots of Cannabis Cup coverage. Todd doesn’t even get a mention.
But why should I be surprised ? At the event the folk from New York took over & shafted Todd good & proper, along with the majority of stall holders. Punters weren’t all that happy either. I myself was charged twice for the same Judge Pass.
Now High Times has two magazines where one was ample. The new lifestyle magazine has bombed so completely on Merseyside that as a distribution agent I’ve ceased handling it. None of the shops want it. They all think it’s shite. The new Grow America looks like it might sell, but at somewhere around the £6-00 mark on the shelves I can’t see many copies going out the door. The title of the Magazine will not help sales in the U.K. either.
But back to the Cup. I had a long chat to Gypsy Nirvana about distributing his new magazine. I even rang him when I got home & followed it with an E-mail. I’m still waiting to see this literary masterpiece, but I’m not holding my breath.
The folks from Cannabis Culture impressed me much more although I nearly overlooked them. Cannabis Culture magazine is now available on Mereyside from select Headshops.
Then there was the Jelly hash.
What is ‘jelly’ ?
Information received indicates that it is a combination of Ice-O-later produced trichiomes mixed/pressed with honey oil made via the butane extraction method. I’m not sure you could really call it hash anymore. This is a processed chemical amalgamation. Under present legislation its legality is very doubtful. It can be considered Class A & as a processed substance may come under the Opium laws.
Its effects are noticed immediately. It is so strong that I heard many seasoned smokers declare that it should come with a warning on it. I found the hit unpleasantly strong. I was also unconvinced that I was just hit from the hash content of the substance I was smoking. It was not really a feeling I ordinarily associated with being stoned on hashish. Consider the stuff has been broken down by butane, collected & pressed into pure resin.
At what point can it be said that all the butane has been removed from the Honey Oil ?
When you can’t smell gas anymore ?
What about residues ?
This was a subject of concern among some. It seems that trace residuals from the butane do exist in the ‘jelly’ hashes. It also seems that these residuals are loaded up with heavy metals. Poisons in other words. Highly toxic poisons.
Personally I’d like to see some studies conducted on these substances to determine their safety. As it is there are a number of companies now selling butane extraction devices which means there are ever growing numbers of people smoking potentially highly toxic substances. All because of the direct result of Prohibitionist policies.
If this sort of thing was going on or happening to any other section of society there would be a national/international media outcry.
I was also taken aback this year by the bald lies told to punters. I felt pity for all those that were here for their first visit to Amsterdam. Everybody seemed to have a story, a way to part you from your cash. Everybody’s weed was better than everybody else’s. Everybody’s hash was better than that hash. Our product is better than that one. They rip you off – buy from us.
Like Cannabis College trying to pass off Pot Of Gold & Thaitanic as new strains. That really got to me did that. I’d always taken the information supplied by Can Col as solid, well researched & free of mis-representation. Yet here they were telling punters that those two strains were new. I had my photo taken with Pot Of Gold in the old Can Col Garden by Lorna Clay in the Summer of 1998 so I know its bullshit.
Thing is if they are prepared to do that it makes me question the reliability of other information that they provide. My faith & trust have been broken. It seems like everybody else all they are really interested in is making money.
This brings us to the idea of unity within the Cannabis Community. You’d think that the fact that they all use weed would help unite & foster good relationships. Nothing could be further than the truth. They are all so busy slagging each other off & stealing each others ideas there is neither time nor room for any unity of spirit. Competition between vendors is not just fierce but cutthroat. Some vendors going out of their way to sabotage other vendors efforts or spread untrue stories.
I was told that Laughing Budda does not exist as a strain itself but is in fact several differing Buddah’s swept into the same box. I have no idea if that is so or not, but it won a prize for Barney’s.
On balance I have to say that I came away from the Cup more disillusioned than I have ever been before. In fact it’s making me wonder if I really want to be doing business with a lot of these folks. It’s even making me wonder, after thirteen years, if I want to go to Amsterdam again.
Viper 16/2/2004 ________________________________________________________
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First Published 16/2/2004 by Viperslair.co.uk Re-published 26/9/2004 Re-published 1/1/2006
Re-formatted and edited for Disc 12/10/2006
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