PDA Volume 2, Issue1

Meet James Bong and Cannabis Emojis Exclusive smokeout in his first Seattle visit A secret world of concentrate production

HIGHTOONS @REFINE_SEATTLE

A$AP ROCKS

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 1 - PEACEFUL DAYS AHEAD

PUBLI -

Also: DJ Supreme, Richard Neville, Israeli Collectives, Choklate, Russell Brand, Reverend L .D. Braxton, Sa f e E x t r a c t A l l i a n c e , P G H O, M a d e l i n e M a r t i n e z , H a s h H i s t o r y, Ed e n H a s h i s h C e n t r e , 7 : 1 0 , S h a t t e r

CATION

MAG “

”

Alive & Well in-store appearance.

Raekwon meet and greet for ticketholders.

Begins at 7:30 pm w/ wrap party of “Evergreen” - The Washington State legalization documentary

L O U N G E

ON THE ROOFTOP DECK

TACOMA

H E A R E V T A S R B ALL MEDICATED BAKED GOODS ARE $3/ea.

TACOMA'S ONLY $6/gram MEDICAL GRADE STRAINS OPEN EARLIER, OPEN LATER THAN THE COMPETITION EVERY PATIENT, EVERY TIME, GETS A FREE GIFT w/ DONATION Featuring a unique packaging and display system that ensures quality and accuracy in true medical fashion. Dried buds are manicured by hand and are stripped of excess shake, stem and fluff. Mylar heat sealable bags protect the perishable flower during your journey home. They can be resealed as well.

FIND US ON:

7 0 4 8 PA C I F I C AV E N U E , T A C O M A , W A 9 8 4 0 8 T A C O M A B R AV E H E A R T S . C O M 253.302.4192 O P E N 9 A M T O 9 P M E V E R Y D AY

YESTERDAY HAD A BETTER WAY “Amsterdam gets some 7 million tourists per year, of whom it is estimated that 1.5 million visit one of the city’s coffeeshops.

The one-and-a-half million tourists will not say, ‘then no more marijuana.’ They will swarm all over the city looking for drugs. This would lead, to more robberies, quarrels about fake drugs, and no control of the quality of drugs on the market.”

“Compared to alcohol, which makes people take more risks on the road, marijuana made drivers slow down and drive more carefully... Cannabis is good for driving skills, as people tend to overcompensate for a perceived impairment.”

OLAF DRUMMER

AND LOOK WHO AGREES...

(FORENSIC SCIENTIST AT THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SOURCES IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA)

“Is marijuana addictive?

Yes, in the sense that most of the really pleasant things in life are worth endlessly repeating.”

EBERHARD VAN DER LAAN (AMSTERDAM MAYOR)

RICHARD NEVILLE (AUTHOR AND FUTURIST)

“That’s the fun of all this. If it was Snoop Dogg, it would be one thing. But it’s Rick Steves. He’s a nice guy. A businessman. We’re saying this is not for kids. This is about civil liberties.”

RICK STEVES

(FAMOUS

TRAVEL WRITER)

“We all need something to help us unwind at the end of the day. You might have a glass of wine, or a joint, or a big delicious blob of heroin to silence your silly brainbox of its witterings but there has to be some form of punctuation, or life just seems utterly relentless.”

“Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction.”

BOB MARLEY

RUSSELL BRAND (ACTOR)

(REGGAE MUSICIAN AND REVOLUTIONARY)

HUG A LEAF. SMOKE A TREE. 4E+

Creative Director: CHERNSICLE

@Huffingtonpost The Huffington Post

@King5Seattle King 5 News

@TIME.COM Time Magazine Will Washington State pioneer in legalizing marijuana? via ti.me/SXsrjJ

Lady Gaga dressed as “Princess High” the Queen of Cannabis.

Check out her crazy costume. huff.to/Y8Upg4

@JimJonesCapo Jim Jones First person shows me 3 blunts rolled up get a high vamp follow and make sure it’s loud put the weed u rolled next to the blunt.

#Growth

“What Kentucky did for bourbon, Washington can do for weed,” grower says

@therealjuicyj Juicy J Calgary was soooo wild! Smoking weed in front of police ya bish via MobileWeb

@iKendrickLamar Kendrick Lamar @CThaGod

#HipHop

Charlamagne The God #AmericaRules

Wiz = Weed . Jcole = life struggles . Drake = relationships .

Young Jeezy = the hood . Lil Wayne = random fuckery

via Web

@LisaLampanelli Lisa Lampanelli

A marijuana arrest happens every 42 seconds in the U.S.! Thank God every 43 seconds a Mexican sneaks across the border w fresh bud to replenish!.

2d ago via web

Design: KIERAN ARCHER

via kng5.tv/YpTkta

via Mobile

If they legalize polygamy, weed, and start segregating based on IQ level America would be a better place.

Editorial: LISA DANK ELISA BEALL CHERNSICLE

Photography: ASHLEY GENEVIEVE NIKKI GRAZIANO LISA DANK CHERNSICLE *some unnattributed photos were acquired from the Creative Commons think tank, others are publicity photos or were provided by the artists directly.

via web

@HuffPostWorld The Huffington Post #MMJ #Israel

Israel may allow pharmacies to sell marijuana. huff.to/QZKKhJ via HuffpostWorld

@TheEconomist #DrugTrafficking

Legalizing marijuana in America could deal a huge blow to Mexico’s drug traffickers econ.st/SHOU0a

Sales: NATE ‘DIGGITY’ JOHNSON FOR SALES INQUIRIES Nate@4evergreengroup.com

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 1

Executive Directors: J. BERMAN R. WILLIAMS

Thanks: Teairrau Mason | Amber Berman-Ortiz | Casey Carter | Tony Sosa | GKPR | Anna Charlton | Consildated Press | Reign City | Rob Hodge | @Refine_Seattle | Meli Darby

1-800-414-2202 4EVERGREENGROUP.COM

via economist.com

© 2013 4E Group Inc. All Rights Reserved

Leslie David Braxton Reverend, New Beginnings Christian Fellowship “Cannabis’ medical value has been established since biblical days, and long before that. I am for marijuana as medicine, I am not crazy about the abuse of it for recreational use, but I am more tired of a broken system. Even if we make it legal, there will always be a large group who frown upon it. But people must understand that 502, does not mean you can smoke outdoors!”

Do you follow the news hoopla in WA State about this issue?

“I do and I offer up my voice whenever or wherever it is needed in the defense of marijuana. It is an argued issue, however I strongly believe that this State’s war on drugs, has been a war on black and brown people. If they as aggressively enforced marijuana laws on frat row here at the University of Washington, or in Bellevue, [then] by the time they got to MLK or Rainier Avenue, the jails would be full.”

thenbcf.org

Madeline Martinez

Owner of the United States’ first cannabis cafe S.E. Portland, OR “Many times we’re deemed as criminals rather than patients. The medical necessity of marijuana is indisputable. It ’s nice to be around people who understand your medicine. Not just partake and agree with your usage, but understand its role in your life. Not everyone in my circle of family and friends are understanding. I have faith they will come around. And if not, that’s their right as well. The Puget Sound area has stayed in a place where, the population has been split down the middle. Half for, half against marijuana. It’s been this way for quite sometime. H owever, with the uprising of marijuana education, you see more people against it changing their tune.

Education is power!”

Is it socially acceptable to smoke cannabis these days in your opinion?

“More and more with each passing year, yes.

Having a place where one can medicate around like minded individuals, like our cafe, helps diminish the negative stigmas.

We don’t have to hide in our homes, or duck in between street corners anymore.”

usaworldfamouscannabiscafe.com

SUPREME LA ROCK DJ, Collector, and Massive Selector

Notable Projects Conception Records, Sharpshooters, Hot Peas & Butta Parties, Wheedles Groove, Status Breaks

“I’ll be honest in saying that I do not follow the news about cannabis. I don’t believe any media. It sure seems like it has medicinal value though. Almost all my friends and family use it. Doesn’t bother me. It’s completely acceptable these days. Shoot, cats are smoking crack at 3PM in Chinatown in front of the post office. They don’t even bother to go in the alley any more.”

Have you had a humorous or telling experience with cannabis that you would like to share?

“I traded some once for a mint original copy of a Skull Snaps album...”

supremelarock.blogspot.com

CHOKLATE International Singer, Songwriter, Performer “ I fe e l th at a s lo n g a s th ey a re a ble to f u n c tio n in th e ir d a ily live s a n d a re n ’ t s t i f l e d b y t h e i r h a b i t t h a t i t ’s n o b i g deal. I think the problem resides in men, wo m e n a n d c h i l d r e n w h o a r e n o t a t a place in life where they c an af ford the h a b it re s p o n s i b l y a n d p ro g re s s i n l if e simultaneously. By using the word “afford” I mean literally and otherwise. Successfully managing family, personal, career goals and having the habit of smokin’ fat blunts, can coexist. If you ’re over whelmed , stressed or depressed, depending on what you’re specific set of challenges , tasks or responsibilities are, you may need a downer or an upper strain to ke ep the boat afloat.”

Is it socially acceptable to smoke cannabis these days in your opinion?

“It ’s socially acceptable to do what the hell you want to do so long as you aren’t harming another human being or breaking any of the laws of the land. We live in a p l a c e c a l l e d A m e r i c a . T h e f re e d o m i s yours. If it works for you and your people, it’s not my right to judge or condemn you.”

reverbnation.com/choklate

4E gets blindfolded, and secretly guided through the cannabis extract underworld. With the threat of federal prison for producing even a small amount of concentrated cannabis oil hanging over local chemist’s heads, it’s hard to get straight talk on the subject. But the risks are as high as the rewards, and 4E is here to help patients protect themselves.

“I’ve got to concentrate, concentrate, concentrate. I’ve got to concentrate, concentrate, concentrate.”

This oft-quoted line from “Airplane” the movie actually reflects the thoughts of a growing cannabis demographic.

Call it what you will — Rick Simpson Oil, Honey Oil, Hash Oil, Peanut Butter, Wax, Earwax, Shatter — it all means the same thing (kinda). Through combined processes usually with the addition of a variety of solvents, modern day alchemists are turning green into gold. And patients are getting higher dosages in a smaller package.

This homemade cannabis concentrate is damn near worth its weight in gold, literally. What? Sounds ludicrous, right?

Well, when you think of the average market value of an ounce of dried flowers and how many ounces of the sacred herb have been compacted, extracted, condensed, and cleaned to get you that wee pot o’ gold, the numbers make sense for a wide-range of patients.

So why pay the higher price tag?

“There is nothing else that provides instant relief,” says ‘Mr. R,’ one of our guides in our concentrate conquest that will be referred to using a nickname to protect his freedom.

When a loved one of ours was complaining about kidney pains, one dab of oil literally brought him back to frolicking full function. This is a testament to the power of the oil, consider those with daily regiments of combusting cannabis and how this option can be the fast-acting boost that can chase away even some of the most debilitating symptoms.

‘Mr. R’ told us that his insomnia used to be so bad, he would be up for days not sleeping. Now, just a few oil dabs right before his desired bed time leaves our extraction savant in a deep, undisturbed sleep. Mornings arrive and he awakes refreshed rather than in a groggy haze that can often accompany using medicated edibles to treat sleeping disorders.

Why is ingesting concentrated cannabis so effective?

Just consider the multiplicity factor of all the healing benefits of the plant delivered 16-times as densely concentrated (16x), landing softly in your blood stream. Levels of anti-proliferative, anti-spasmodic, ant-psychotic, anti-diabetic, analgesic THC, CBD, CBCs, CBN, CBG molecules previously unattainable because “you just can’t smoke 16 joints in one minute,” as another local extractor pointed out.

But before we go any further, we have to warn the 4E patient network that when you are concentrating and compounding the good elements you are also doing the same for any pesticides, improperly flushed nutrients, or residual solvents.

The popularity of BHO has skyrocketed, and for many, we are the human trials.

approach of these extractors shows a real sense of creativity when building these make-shift production facilities.

In our learning process we have found out that what many have been conditioned to believe is some “super dank” wax or peanut butter, is actually improperly purged BHO laden with extremely dangerous residual fatty lipids (a byproduct of butane extraction).

Most importantly, this pump allows them to birth “Pharmaceutical Grade Hash Oil” (PGHO). Not to be confused with Honey Oil or BHO, this process uses extreme pressures to liquify the sweet leaf that has been ground up fine and treated with a secret solvent to emulsify the herb. Then it is vacuum purged at pressures of -30 Bar.

This pliability is to be avoided at all costs and patients should look for a BHO in “shatter” form or a dry, granulated form that literally needs to be scooped and dropped onto the metal applicator. Smoking fat deposits that won’t dissipate upon contact, means it is vaporized and inhaled into your lungs.

Yummy. Unlike the active compounds, your body literally does NOTHING with these fats, so in turn, they start to cake up in your lungs much like another crusty devil caking our arteries when we eat — cholesterol.

But you can’t start taking Lipozene to lower these levels.

Once inhaled, these harmful agents stay inside your lungs indefinitely. The result can be irreversible lung damage, specifically lung necrosis, a condition where fluid gets trapped in your lungs and can’t get out. It’s like having mild pneumonia. Forever. Serious stuff, not to be taken lightly.

So why would we encourage anyone to risk their future for rapid relief? Well, because when it is properly extracted concentrates provide healing unmatched by any other vehicle for cannabis consumption. And it’s not too difficult to make it correctly, you just have to be committed to taking the longer, more expensive road during production.

So what we are focused on for this issue of PDA are safe extracts. How to find them, what to look for, and why protecting yourself is extremely important.

The “Safe Extract Alliance” (S.E.A) is a collective group of extractors, protecting each other, sharing advice and helping one another improve their products. S.E.A. also acts as a central intelligence for the network of extractors, which we found to be vital. The smoking gun on this topic is concentrating and extracting cannabis is an automatic 20 years in Federal Prison, no different than those cooking Meth.

So extractor safety and anonymity are paramount. We have made sure to respect that code here, and are disgusted at this legal tidbit from the Drug War which again treats cannabis the same as synthetic street drugs made in bathtubs. Alliance members take no risks — when visiting the lab, we had to leave our car downtown and turn off our phones. We were driven to a very confusing location that we couldn’t relocate if we tried.

Inside a normal-looking garage was a very clean lab without many frills. No giant vats or massive machines — just two vacuuming purgers double boiling a small silicone cup of dark goop, attached to a Platinum 3 stage pump. This pump is designed specifically for ongoing, uninterrupted use. You may recognize these mechanisms from a hospital bedside keeping a premature infant alive in an incubator. The utilitarian

“Sky PGHO” has become popular with cancer patients, many administering it orally or directly to the tumor sight, so infusions are welcomed to make the medication more easily deliverable. Members of the Safe Extract Alliance have teamed up to bring “Sky PGHO” and “Fire Absolute BHO.” Sky is an extremely therapeutic Hash Oil perfect for your hash oil vape pen, or sealing a joint for an added medicated punch. In many cases applying directly to the source of the problem is the preferred method of application.

“Fire Absolute BHO” is more reminiscent of what we have come to call “Hash Oil” or “Honey Oil.” This BHO, or Absolute BHO is made only from the “C” buds supplied by a very select number of collective gardens in the state. It comes out either borderline powder fine or in shatter form, which is the only way you should have your BHO. The solvents used to wash and extract the residual butane from the hash are imperative as well. We recommend that you never get Hexane or Isopropyl Alcohol washed BHO, and be extremely leery of anything labeled CO2 oil.

“It’s easy to mix good BHO with Propylene Glycol (a fatty acid) and call it CO2 oil.” ‘Mr. R,’ explains.

Many supposed CO2 oils are far from that, some even going as far as adding food coloring to make the product look more legitimate. It’s like “stepping” on street drugs to simulate potency at the expense of the patient. This is the shit that has got to go. True CO2 extraction requires a pressurizer that goes down to -30,000 Bar, which would cost as much as most people’s car. If such extreme levels of barometric pressure can be reached, then CO2 oil is in-fact extremely pure, for the CO2 destroys everything that is not the essential oil, providing the cleanest dab around.

‘Mr. R’ and the folks at S.E.A. use a secret combination of safe solvents (NOT ETHANOL) and super chilling called “winterizing” that results in their snowy, or glassy extraction.

The cough is how you can tell the difference. The lower grade BHOs will leave a wet, mucusy cough — an early indicator of lung lock. Winterized, clean BHO will have a dry cough, a good indicator of little to no residual fats or solvents.

Only the medical cannabis community would find a way to make pharmaceutical grade extractions in a simple residential garage. Imagine if these people could operate on-the-grid and establish industrial labs where their expertise could be applied to producing a higher volume of this much needed oil? But until that day you will be responsible for determining what’s tainted, and what is safe. Protecting yourself starts with asking the right questions.

7:10 PM

Going Domeless

We all know that 4:20 is the universal code for marijuana and a reference time for anyone looking to meet up for an afternoon medication moment.

Advances in concentrate technology are some of the most thrilling aspects of modern cannabis culture. Our recent favorite is the dawning of the “Domeless Ti Nail.”

However, the world of concentrates has their own time for a global rendezvous: 7:10.

7:10 on a digital clock upside down spells “OIL.” So now that you know, make sure to use this top-secret code correctly.

Available in a variety of styles nowadays, these little beauties simplify the “dab” process by removing any moving parts or unneeded glass elements. The result?

Money saved by not having to replace broken domes, nail, or fragile parts. A little pricier at first, these will ultimately be your lifeline and save you countless trips to your local head shop for replacement parts.

—L.D.

—L.D.

Kush Creams has a deep local connection in WA State, and an even deeper concern for topical applications of cannabis that can heal you in ways you never thought possible.

O

n the banks of the salty Sound, the Schwartings took up residency in what is now Gig Harbor before the state was even ratified. They established the first ferry system in the South Sound, catering to Seattle elites as an escape from the busy city. Local entrepreneurs “Kush Creams” have given this small stop-over community more notoriety recently for what they export — what can only be described as the most luxurious, effective, and wide ranging cannabis infused topical treatment line we’ve ever used.

below the surface of the skin (directly to the epidermal l aye r ) to b e m o re e a s i l y a b s o r b e d by t h e b l o o d stream. Purity is key when administering such highly concentrated extracts to a patient, so Kush Creams has made it routine to have all their products tested.

When releasing a product (and their selection varies widely) Kush Creams offers a full aspectrometer reading of terpine levels, residual pesticides, and improperly flushed nutrients, alongside the standard active THC and CBD count.

Arthur Schwarting, father of “The Schwarting Approach” — the science of perfect botanical extraction — is in Kush Creams’ genes quite literally. His direct decedents started the company. The approach is recognized worldwide in the field of pharmacology as a method of identifying the exact chemical compound within a plant that provides the sought relief and extracting that compound, to then be concentrated and transformed into an easy to administer, easy to regulate dosage.

The result is a product that can regenerate skin cells, heal scar tissue, treat excema, stimulate hair growth in cancer patients, or control pain from an achy tooth — all using the same basic ingredients. What many don’t realize, is that the secret to THC-laden infusion is a byproduct of extraction. Knowing the Kush Creamsters have been making BHO and RSO for over 20 years, patients can rest assured that they are experiencing the most considerate concentrates at work.

Using this same process, Kush Creams isolates and extracts THC’s and CBD’s — so that they might be transformed and absorbed into the body without any unwanted additional components. Coupled with an unwavering dedication to using only the purest essential oils and a complex blend of the most beneficial herbs available in our lush climate. The patient is left with a rich, artisan, apothecary concoction that permeates the dermis to deliver optimal healing benefits.

Available in over 125 collective gardens across the state, many of their products, like the face & eye cream (a staple for our female staff members), are back ordered for months at a time. Every run is still done in small batches by the Schwartings themselves. Meg Schwarting’s mom comes over and helps label the signature black jars. Her cousin recently moved to Gig Harbor from Denver specifically to help with the extractions.

Through the incorporation of Emu oil, specifically, the cream is able to deliver the active ingredients deep

Their connection to the community extends well beyond their presence in the co-ops. It wasn’t long ago that

the Kush Creams team brought a medicated shower to a Phish concert at The Gorge Amphitheater. The “shower” was actually their toner (cannabis hydrosole) sprayed onto weary show goers. So refreshed and revitalized were the music lovers, that when Kush Creams had a booth but no shower at the Grateful Dead reunion, even though it was miserable and pouring rain, there was considerable belly aching over the absence.

The effect is unlike anything we had tried before.

Beyond removing any pains from the site of the application, the cream heals and seals the dermis, clearing up red spots or de-puffing our sleep derived eye s . S c a r s a re h e a l e d w i t h re co rd s p e e d . Th e naturally anti-microbial, anti-fungal properties as derived from the cannabis plant act as the ultimate acne-fighting moisturizer.

The product line has expanded to include over 40 different scents, shampoo & conditioner, throat spray, sun screen, topical anti-septic pain spray, cough suppressants, and so on. The list is ever expanding and changes seasonally.

We suggest you try a sample when you visit the collective, that is usually fair game. Ask for it before you start your consultation with the budtender. When it comes time for you to give your donation, you will notice the wonderful effects of the cream seeping in before you are out the door.

@REFINE_SEATTLE There is a right way to create these dabs of goodness, and that matters most for patients with compromised immune systems

I

n an industry where anonymity is the name of the game — it’s common to find many power players in the extract and concentrate community keeping low profiles and dodging unneeded attention — some even going so far as going phoneless to avoid being tapped and tracked.

Not Nolan Foster (or @Nolan_Robert as he his known on Instagram). This guy is doing the exact opposite.

Using social media and blogging Nolan communicates instantly, casually and directly with the patients consuming his products: “Seattle’s Best Cannabis Concentrates” and “Refine Seattle N-Tane Hash Oil.” Through tweets and “@” replies he is utilizing new media as a medium for promoting graduate level medical marijuana understanding.

Nolan is no stranger to the internet. He spent years and dollars out of pocket building up his own website SeattleCannabisJournal.com for product reviews and general public information. Paying close attention to California and Colorado, Nolan followed specific gardens to get the best genetics and the most ingenuity in the concentrate industry.

The movement finally started to take root in Washington, but due to “the clandestine nature of the industry” there was little promotion from producers. Nolan used his acquired knowledge and expertise in the field and began to serve as a middle man for the gardens, the extractors of the concentrates and the people who need them most.

Shortly thereafter, Nolan came into contact with his business partner to be, an ex-snow and skateboarder who had been making extremely advanced, extremely pure concentrates for over 10 years, without any knowledge or concern for what was taking place congruously in California and Colorado. Using Nolan’s promotional maneuverability and his partner’s advanced production techniques, the pair set out to build a rock-solid reputation.

Soon “Refine Seattle” began producing shatter from more than 15 gardens. Even though there were so many contributors, each garden met the standards of the duo, and the highest quality “N-Tane Shatter” was created. Notice we say N-Tane, not Butane. Most extractions are injecting canisters of butane (hopefully Vector or better) directly over the cannabis using an extractor tube or an extractor dome. This works fine for extraction purposes, but store grade butane is only 95% butane, the other 5% consisting of Propane and mercaterpines (smell agents so users can detect a leak).

These are NOT prime for ingesting, so switching to N-Tane, a 99.5% pure, odorless butane, was a natural progression for this bunch. Temperature controlled and vacuum purged in an industrial grade desiccator, the team at “Refine Seattle” spare no expense when it comes to perfecting their passion.

“We work with patients with compromised immune systems,” Nolan tells us.

So having the cleanest, most consistent product is necessary for them. Developing the perfect product is no overnight success either. It took countless lab tests on different controlled variables of each batch to determine the perfect ratio of fragrant, delicious terpines to residual parts per million of butane. Always using the same special cannon, the team would carefully monitor at what temperature it was purged and for how long.

Heat kills the flavor, but we need heat to evaporate the residual butane, so finding that perfect balance of maximum flavor to minimum residual butane is essential.

Fortunately for “Refine Seattle,” a little testing company in Seattle called “Northwest Botanical Analysis” popped up and decided to become the first cannabis testing lab to offer residual butane testing for concentrates. NWBA and SBC used each other as guinea pigs. SBC got all the concentrates tested while NWBA got to forge ahead and perfect the science of residual butane testing. Now, the test is offered to anyone who desires it and comes standard on all SBC represented shatter.

The result is an extremely potent stained glass patients can depend on. Like taking any other prescribed medication, the dosage is now quantifiable and divisible. This is paramount for effective treatment.

Using the world’s most omnipotent billboard, the World Wide Web, Nolan has built up a network of thousands. They immediately see the latest “Refine Seattle” super extraction and know exactly where that exclusive strain is available. The patients seem to be appreciating it — the 1/2 grams of labeled and tested shatter fly off the shelves.

Nolan attributes much of his success to the advent of the perfectly packaged 1/2 gram too, allowing for individuals to take home a couple different flavors and potencies.

Despite the advances in science, Nolan proudly states that the industry is still in a phase fueled by passion, not profits.

While recent election results surely will court a more profit driven market, “Seattle’s Best Cannabis Concentrates” and “Refine Seattle” are a shining example of true Northwest pioneering. Cutting through thick trees and trim, they assure the future of cannabis will be presented in a fashion as shining and transparent as the product itself.

—L.D.

—L.D.

Early 20th Century: Hashish smoking becomes very popular throughout the Middle East.

1920s: In Greece, an increasingly authoritarian parliament led by P.M. Ioannis Metaxas begins to crack down on hashish culture.

1920s: Hashish is smuggled into Egypt from Greece, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and parts of Central Asia.

1926: Production of Lebanese hashish peaks after World War I until it is prohibited in 1926.

1920s - 1930s: High-quality hashish is produced in Turkey near the Greek border.

1 93 0 : T h e Ya r ka n d re g i o n o f China exports 91,471 kilograms of hashish, known locally as ‘Charas,’ legally into the NW Frontier and Punjab regions of India.

1930s: Legal taxed imports of hashish continue into India from Central Asia.

1934 - 1935: The Chinese government moves to end all Cannabis cultivation and traffic in the Yarkand region. Both licit and illicit hashish production is now illegal in Chinese Turkestan.

1938: Supply of hashish from Chinese Turkestan nearly ceases.

Early 1940s: The Greek hashish smoking tradition begins to fade.

1941: The Indian government

1950s: The Moroccan monarchy strikes a deal with hash farmers in the Ketama region of the Rif Mountains allowing for kif production.

considers cultivation in Kashmir to fill void of hashish no longer produced in Chinese Turkestan.

1962: The first legal hashish is culti-

1941-1942: Hand-rubbed Charas

1963: Turkish police seize 2.5 tons

from Nepal is choicest hashish in India during World War II.

1945: Legal Charas consumption continues in India.

vated and produced in Morocco. of hashish from N. Africa.

1965: The first reports of C. Afghanica strains are used for hashish production in Northern Afghanistan.

1945 - 1955: Hashish use begins to flourish again in Greece.

1965: Ketamese hash dominantes the

1950s: Hashish continues to be

1966: The new Moroccan government

smuggled into India from China

attempts to regain control of hash.

North African market.

years that truly great Afghani hashish is available.

for sieved hashish production.

1987: The Moroccan government

1980s: The quality of Lebanese

1973: Nepal bans the Cannabis shops

hashish continues to decline.

Early 1970s: Lebanese made

and Charas export.

red and blonde hashish of very high quality exported. The highest q ualit y Tu rk i s h h a s h i s h fro m Gaziantep appears in W. Europe.

1973: The Afghan government makes

1980s: Morocco becomes one of the largest hashish producing and exporting nations.

continues to crack down upon cannabis cultivation in lower elevations of Rif Mountains. Ketama remains a hash stronghold.

Late 1960s - Early 1970s: The Islamic Brotherhood popularizes Afghani hashish in Eygpt.

Early 1970s: Afghani hashish varieties introduced to North America for sinsemilla production.

Westerners bring metal sieve cloths to Afghanistan. Law enforcement efforts against hashish use begin in Afghanistan.

1970 - 1973: Huge fields of cannabis cultivated for hashish production in Afghanistan. These are the last

hashish production and sales illegal.

The Afghani harvest this year is pitifully small.

1976 - 1977: Quality of Lebanese hashish reaches its zenith.

1978: Westerners begin to make sieved hashish in Nepal from wild growing cannabis plants.

Late 1970s: The manufacturing of “modern” Afghani hashish increases. Cannabis varieties from Afghanistan imported into Kashmir

1980s: “Border” hashish produced in NW Pakistan along the Afghan border to avoid Soviet-Afghan war.

1983 - 1984: Production of small

1993: Eradication efforts resume in Morocco.

1994: Heavy disturbance between rival Muslim sects continues to upset hashish trade in Afghanistan.

amounts of the last high-quality Turkish hashish appear.

1994: Border hashish continues to be produced in Pakistan.

1985: Hashish is still produced by Muslims of Kashgar and in Yarkand.

1995: Hashish making equipment a n d l o c a l l y p ro d u ce d h a s h i s h products begin to make their first appearances at the coffee shops in Amsterdam.

1986: Most private stashes of prewar Afghani hashish in Amsterdam, Goa, and America are nearly finished.

HASH

COAST

S p a n i s h f i s h i n g t ow n g e t s by o n M o r o cc a n h a s h i m p o r t i n g , b u t a l a r g e r p r o b l e m i s r eve a l e d

L

ike many distressed rural towns employment opportunities dried up in Barbate, Spain. Some collected pine cones, others caught squid and most joined the local hashish racket. Smuggling rings travel by boat north from Morocco.

“Several people are needed to safeguard the load,” a man named Antonio said in the news blog NRC (Netherlands). “The price is determined based on the risk someone takes. For every transport, five to ten ‘bushmen’ are needed. The informers on the look-out earn half a kilo, so 3,000 euros. The runners who bring the load to a safe place get three kilos. And there are the people who guard the stash, they get five kilos. That’s how it works.”

Small vessels avoid detection by moving during periods of busy sea traffic in the narrow Straits of Gibraltar. Unloading the cargo used to be done right out in the open, earning foreboding nicknames like “Lawless City” and “City of Crime.” New radar systems being used by “Guardia Civil,” the Spanish national police, have dispersed the drop-off points around the southern tip of the country, mainly to the Cádiz region.

Many resort towns on the coast have tourism revenue, so the drug trade isn’t the only growth sector. Barbate, and its 24,000 residents, don’t have that luxury.

The unemployment rate there is 36 percent.

“This is why drug trafficking is very popular amongst youngsters,” José Cagigas, a local high school gym teacher told NRC. “Many of my students drop out. The only way to keep them in school is to threaten their parents with losing their welfare. I would tell (the students) they are ruining their future. They would answer: ‘I can always go into hash.’

I would reply: ‘I don’t know anyone over 30 who has not been in jail because of trafficking.’ But they would start bragging in class how they had an uncle who was 45 and had never been caught.”

“It may seem like that, with the media attention and the quick money that is being flashed around,” reasons Elisa Cid, a defense attorney that works with many of the poorer clients in town. “But I believe no more than 20 percent of the population depends on drug money. Everyone with any potential should leave to work or study. No one is stopping them.”

We present this as just one example of the despair in equatorial countries, and smaller port cities the world over, that have no future.

The vulnerability of the economy, the leaders of the next generation leaving for the urban centers, it leaves the door wide open to cartels.

To heal these places is to fix the problem. It begins with legalization, as it has here, because the industrial revolution isn’t coming around a second time. If work is impossible to come by why not acknowledge the history of cannabis in the community and make it a legitimate industry?

Small shifts in consciousness can give rise to solutions for third-world poverty. Cannabis can be that great equalizer. We believe it at 4E, and we’re rooting for a better day for all the Barbates.

Excerpted from Merijn de Waal’s storyin NRC (Netherlands) news archive www.vorige.nrc.nl

NOTE: This ushers in a period of non-conflict hash that continues to this day in the Western World.

Cartels and crooked regimes are no longer relied upon for the production and distribution of the original cannabis concentrate. The popularity of this product has not fallen off even with the introduction of higher concentration oils around the year 2000. Small batch growers producing their own hashish has weakened dictatorships that controlled this trade for a century. Profits from the state-sponsored operations throughout the Fertile Crescent have dwindled dramatically. So while the “War on Drugs” would have you believe that ANY use of cannabis is sponsoring terrorist sects around the world, the reality is more simplistic. By doing what Washington State aims to do, mainly growing and processing all cannabis and extracts that reaches the population locally, you can be confident that history will not repeat itself.

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A$AP’s RAP IS HARLEM’S

COMEBACK On his first trip to the Northwest, PDA gets exclusive about rare kush and clearing samples when recording for a major label

T

he last time a rapper stirred up as much buzz as A$AP Rocky, which began before his album “Live. Love. A$AP” released, it was a guy named Drake. Now whether you like Drake’s contribution to the music industry is irrelevant, but his overflowing bank account has the same pre-album buzz to thank. Rocky is proving to not only to be a capable MC, but a smart business man. His acronym stands for “Always Strive And Prosper,” and he is living up to the name.

A dash of Houston’s chopped and screwed beats, a pinch of west coast vocal delivery and a spoonful of Kanye West’s fashion sense constitutes his make-up. He has successfully become what most up-an-coming rappers are trying to be — everything. And he has done it by doing what few of the aspiring can do — pull it off.

Not long ago he graced the Showbox SODO stage with his Uptown NYC crew “A$AP Mob.” He emerged from the wings wearing an A$AP RSVP Letterman jacket with opera sonatas playing. Jimi Hendrix blasted during spoken word interludes.

For the man who spent most of his childhood hustling Harlem streets to survive, it was fitting that his first trip to the Northwest was spent surrounded by familiar faces.

“It means a lot to be a part of my crew, I didn’t have that growing up,” A$AP tells PDA during our exclusive chat. “It was just me and my moms, ya know. I had to do what a little nigga had to do at a young age. Shit, I hustled. Now I get to relax and all that, I’m loving life. I’m still hustling, just hustling music and bitches now [LAUGHTER].”

Rocky recently signed to Sony-RCA for an estimated $3 million, but he seemed just as hyped about the quality cannabis he encountered when touching down in the Emerald City.

“I had some Bubblegum Kush when I got here. Had me on tilt,” A$AP said on stage to a packed house. “Give it up for yourselves. I’ve never been here before.”

An inspiring backstory, charisma, stage presence and witty songs left the industry intrigued. But the usage of unlicensed beats on his debut album left Rocky in some hot water.

“Listen, finding new beats is hard,” A$AP explains. “The people who give them to you don’t have to clear samples. It was never my intention, but I learned a good lesson. I ain’t even stressing it, I just smoked a blunt and got over it, ya know? That’s all you need to get over dumb shit, some weed. My Seattle fans understand that. I couldn’t wait to go on stage, I knew the crowd was gonna be under one big-ass cloud. It might rain like a bitch here, but its great weather for growing.”

“Yeah I like Seattle.”

—E.B.

A$AP ROCKY PLAYS WORD VOMIT WITH PDA Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Danny Brown or Too Short?

“All of them, and me, on one track.”

Boxers of Briefs?

“Depends on the chick I’m taking home.”

Granddaddy Purp, Dutch Treat or Pineapple Express?

“Grandaddy Purp.”

American fashion or Tokyo?

“Blend them both into one, dig?”

FOUND FUNCTIONS FOR ALL Nikki Graziano makes math majestic, expanding minds of all kinds

Reimann’s Zeta Function is a math problem that has never been solved, even in this period of discovery where folks claim there are no original ideas left. Since it was first postulated in 1859 it has been debated endlessly.

Most agree it’s true, but proof seems lost to the galaxies.

It is this equation that Brooklyn-based artist Nikki Graziano has tattooed inside her wrist. There are still answers to find, adventures of the human spirit that have yet to be endeavored. Graziano stumbled into the great find of her creative life while walking out of a lecture hall one day.

Graziano took on a minor in math while in college, because she “hated math, but couldn’t deny being good at it.” She needed a student project for an art class, and was wrestling with a trig problem in her head as she stepped outside. The trigonometry shape mulling about in her cranium looked exactly like the tree top line outside the building.

That was the first function Graziano found.

She writes the math equations out, and presents them with a naturally occurring example present in the world around her. This innovation made the technical seem beautiful. It took a functional series of letters and symbols and twisted them into art. We were reminded that math is everywhere. It’s not just a pain-in-the-ass subject in school; it is a constant in life alongside death and taxes. Graziano’s work makes math more approachable, less intimidating and lends personality to cold calculations.

“The program I was using would spit out the designs at 72 DPI, and I work at 64,000 DPI,” Graziano mentions in describing her process. “So I would use hand strokes between two and three pixels wide to render it. Some would take weeks to finish. Now I can do them in hours.”

She has tried the 3D topography technology but feels it cheapens the art. All the photos that capture the shape and form of her functions are taken using film, with her own two hands. Graziano hits the darkroom and develops the latent images by controlling the stop bath, fixer and silver halide salts while dodging and burning massive prints.

The original intention was to only present the work as large format pieces to be viewed in a gallery setting. Fine art all the way. She sourced a Fuji Clear printing option that applies the images to transparent plastic, and planned to light the works from behind. Limited budgets meant her vision would have to stay in the abstract, but she never could have imagined the reception to these works as low-res digital images online where they could be re-blogged and pinned across the social stratum.

A popular band even tried to pass off one of her functions as its album artwork without her consent. But her work is so unique she had no problem convincing them she was the rightful owner; thus ceasing and desisting would be the appropriate course of action. Graziano’s tenacity extends to her personal life just as easily, as she is a die hard Liverpool soccer fan that shows support with the best of them. Northwest soccer fanaticism played a major role in her moving to Seattle for a year.

“I freaked out and came here for a year,” she recalls. “It was the best mistake I ever made. I drove all the way out here, didn’t know anyone and figured it’ll be fine. Then I went kinda crazy. I loved that people gave a shit about soccer. And the coffee...in Seattle it’s hard to find bad coffee. It’s not like that in New York. Dunkin Donuts coffee is awful.”

Cannabis makes very rare appearances in her day-to-day. Once a month at the most, but when the mood strikes she is willing to dabble. The abstinence is because as she puts it: “I don’t want to use it as an excuse, smoke too much and not do shit.”

As a New Yorker she has had a front row seat for the stop-and-frisk harassment of minorities suspected of cannabis consumption. Like most residents, the policy of the NYPD pisses her off.

“There is so much racial tension because of it. Cops see white kids on a stoop smoking and shoo them away. They tell them to go back inside.

New York voted the soda ban through but decriminalization to stop this treatment was passed up. What the fuck?”

“I freaked out and came to Seattle for a year. It was the best mistake I ever made.

I drove all the way out here, didn’t know anyone and figured it’ll be fine.

Then I went kinda crazy.

I loved that people gave a shit about soccer. And the coffee... in Seattle it’s hard to find bad coffee. It’s not like that in New York.

Dunkin Donuts coffee is awful.”

-Nikki Graziano

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