Column Dr. Dee

bloom. With this mixed feed program I can sometimes flush for up to 10days before harvest to cleanse the plants of any toxins.

I borrow some of my supper-cropping technique from Soma. This involves me squeezing and crushing the fleshier top nodes to thicken them up and removing some of the lower wispy branches while in veg cycle. This allows for nice air circulation beneath the canopy. I like to think that plants suck-up energy as they grow, so all focus is placed into the main branches with the most potential for growth. Using this technique I find that the buds have better form and the plants generally grow bigger in bloom. Another trick that helped me to reduce my maximum temperature, (something I originally struggled with in summer) was to use a light-rail. This produces a more even amount of light in a confined area. When combined with yo-yos to hold down stray branches and a proper ventilation system I’m now possible to get a much more even canopy in the same space as before, and it produces thicker buds. I also like my gadgets like my EC truncheon and pH meter. More recently, I also decided to invest in a laser thermometer to gage specific temperature on individual flowers and leaf parts. Point the red-dot at something (shades/bulbs/soil/plant) press the button and it gives an exact reading. It allows me to then make alterations in my garden to try and get temps evened-out over the canopy of the plants.

During the last year I’ve started to turn my trash into stash. After watching several downloads and videos, I went out and invested in the equipment needed, and oh my god what stash I’ve made so far! Harvesting bubble-hash has become a bit of a ritual. All trim minus the fan-leaf and the stalks are placed onto a large clean plastic sheet in a dust-free environment when trimming. When dry, the trim waste is frozen and plenty of ice is prepared. I used a x2 sac system with an extra catching sac to produce two grades of hash. Fine and Ultra Fine. Once collected the hash is squeezed dry through the sac in a tea towel to extract extra moisture. Then the kif is placed onto card and chopped to fine sand. It’s important to keep the bubblehash clean at all times. As it dries the appearance darkens and the natural smells develop. Left in this crumbly state, my personal stash I like to call “mumble crumble”. If possible I cure this hash for 7days before use. I often smoke this exclusively on pipe in season, the rest of the time I smoke weed spliffs from my bud jars. The first sampling of the season is always an exciting event. My friends usually test smoke some buds and a cocktail spliff with the “mumble crumble” mixed in. Different types of strains produce a different type of mumble, in different people. Heavy Duty Fruity makes really nice bubblehash. If left to mature the buds are full of resin, which makes nice “mumble”. Californian Orange plants make very nice bubblehash also with a unique high and smell not found in other plants. The Californian Orange Bubble we made from whole live/fresh plants, harvested early, was like fudge in consistency with a sweet orange oil scent. Until you’ve tried “bubbling” your own waste into hash you won’t believe how valuable the throwaway leaf and buds can become. Like the rainwater I feed my flytraps, I suppose its about using something you’d think is waste. This is one reason why I now like to leave every plant to fully mature these days, to make better bubblehash. It allows for a much fuller flavour in the end product, which is always better for smoking.

At this moment in time in the UK we’re looking at the prospect of two major “reforms” to two particular domains of enjoyment and recreation. We’re soon to have 24 hour licensing for alcohol consumption, and 24 hour gambling in the shape of super casinos (there is a cannabis-related point to all of this, so do please bear with me).

The reasons given for these are roughly as follows: it all boils down to consumer choice. People should be able to go for a nice quiet drink in a bar in the wee small hours if they so choose. This is bringing European-style drinking culture to the UK and it has to be a good thing as with restrictions lifted on when bars can and can’t open, then there won’t be any need for people to drink to excess, binge drink and so forth.

Similarly, the new casinos are also about consumer choice. People, so we’re told, want to basically just hand over their hard earned money to multinationals, again, if they so choose. This is bringing Las Vegas-style gambling culture to the UK and this has to be a good thing because…well, the argument from this point on becomes a bit hazy, but that’s getting away from the basic point of this. dismissing evidence which may obstruct questionable ‘reforms’.

So one of the principal justifications for 24/7 gambling and drinking (other than that they’ll apparently bring with them lots of minimum-wage-slave jobs) is that ‘they open up consumer choice’.

Any concerns regarding the (potentially massive) negative outcomes are dismissed with the argument that this too comes down to personal choice: nobody is forced to drink alcohol and nobody is forced to waste a weeks’ salary looking for that lucky streak in the casino. It’s all about personal choice.

And to a degree, this is true, but if it’s true of drinking and gambling, it must also be true of cannabis use. Very few people are forced to do it; people do so because they choose to. And of course it’s widely accepted that, while cannabis is far from the benign substance it used to be regarded as, the end results of ‘chaotic dope use’ are still a world away from the end results of chaotic drinking. One doesn’t, for example, associate street brawls involving dozens of people and police with cannabis users.

Similarly, one doesn’t usually associate betting on roulette wheels or whatever to the point of bankruptcy (and past that point, in many cases) with cannabis users either.

So, the bottom line is that we’re told that both of the above are a response to market demand and to some vague notion of consumer choice.

If we ignore the obvious contradictions and stumbling blocks, the arguments for making these reforms would actually carry some water. Unfortunately, I’m at a loss as to how 24 hour drinking and gambling in the UK can be reconciled with issues such as huge upsurges in problematic drinking patterns, booze-related antisocial behaviour, massive increases in personal debt, more people declaring themselves bankrupt, etc. Let’s be quite clear about this. In spite of all the excuses and justifications, these ‘reforms’ are being considered primarily as a way of filling the coffers of the Exchequer. And it can only be done with booze and gambling because they’re legal and are therefore controllable from a fiscal point of view. It’s all about the Government screwing people out of their money and lining the pockets of their big business cronies under the guise of choice.

If it’s good enough for two potentially highly harmful pastimes, it’s good enough for a less harmful one, so legalise cannabis. After all, as the Government says, it’s all about personal choice.