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ISSUE 5 2011

ESTABLISHED IN AMSTERDAM, 1985

18+ For adults only. Soft Secrets is published six times a year by Discover Publishers USA, Inc.

In this Issue: MOJAVE MAMA The desert isn’t the easiest place to grow weed, but it can be done. Mojave Mama and her tales of triumph might even inspire you to go out and get involved within your own community... ›› 12

Harvest Season

›› 14

UNFRIENDLY INVADERS Despite all our best efforts, infestations are an unfortunate part of gardeners’ lives.

An organic expert teaches you how to deal with the most common pests in a safe and thorough manner.. ›› 17

Hemp Nutrition Double Feature

›› 21

DIY HEMP SKINCARE Hemp cosmetics and toiletries are so good for our skin, but often priced above many people’s budgets. Learn how to make your own! ›› 29

Mapping the Cannabis Genome On August 18th 2011, the Massachusettsbased company Medicinal Genomics released the raw sequence of the newly mapped Cannabis sativa genome, and is set to release the C. indica genome in a matter of weeks. This historic event is set to have far-reaching implications for the field of medicinal Cannabis research, as well as opening up the possibility of far more accurate quality control testing – and giving breeders a huge advantage in the drive to create new strains.

released for public use through Amazon’s EC2 cloud computing service. However, future funding is unlikely to be an issue as the interest in this project – and its results – has been phenomenal; the number of potential applications for various sectors is countless, and much more work must be done to interpret the raw data into a precise genomic structure. Having made such an initial impact, this energetic young company is sure to be making genomic headlines again in the future.

cies, DNA forms chromosomes containing both genes and non-coding DNA. A gene is a stretch of DNA that controls a hereditary trait in a species; an allele is the expression or variation of that gene in individuals of the species.

Non-coding DNA may represent a large proportion of the genome, but is not encoded as genes and not all of its functions are fully understood. The number of chromosomes in the genome differs between species: humans have fortysix, Cannabis just twenty; the number of genes within the chromosome also varies. DNA itself is a biological polymer or repeating macromolecule, made up of millions of sections called nucleotides.

These sections are comprised of a simple sugar, a group of phosphates, and a

The study of genetics is a complex business in itself, and at first glance appears incomprehensible for most. The majority of people vaguely remember the basics from high-school biology class, but would be hard-pressed to provide a decent explanation. SSUSA brings you up to speed, while going into a little more detail about the Cannabis genome project itself and why its impact on Cannabis research will be so great.

Kevin McKernan, CEO of Medicinal Genomics, has a strong background in the development and implementation of sequencing technology. He was involved with the Human Genome Project and was responsible for the design of a new bench-top SOLiD sequencing instrument during his time at Life Technologies, a highly regarded biotechnology company. With Medicinal Genomics, he was able to combine his own expertise and the unique opportunity presented by the emerging medical Cannabis market to begin his own concern.

It is estimated that the project cost around $200,000 in total, a cost that Kevin evidently does not seek to recoup through licensing use of the data, as it has been

It might be pertinent at this point to provide a short introduction to genomics. Put as succinctly as possible: genomics is the field of genome research, and is a highly specialized branch of genetic studies. The genome is the complete genetic code of which an individual is comprised, and is contained within the DNA. In most spe-

nitrogenous base (nucleobase). This base may be one of four different compounds – adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine. Through billions of permutations of these four bases, every living species has evolved its own unique genome.

Continues on page 5

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FROM THE EDITOR

Co

Gardening Disasters Almost everyone, whether beginners or professionals, has experienced some sort of gardening disaster. Perhaps you forgot to set the timers on your new lights, sending an almost-finished crop back into pre-flower... or maybe you just forgot to water your plants? Some folks have lost thousands of dollars as a result of a few simple errors; for others, the death of even a single plant is devastating. Whatever the case, we at SSUSA believe that one of the best ways to learn is from your own mistakes – as well as those of other growers.

Feminized Kaya 47 is a sativa-dominant plant with powerful physical and psychological effects and unique organoleptic properties. The rich, complex aromas and flavors of this variety alternate between sweet and woody/spicy.

Related to the legendary AK-47, she provides a shorter flowering period than most sativas, plus a higher yield, excellent resin production, and high levels of THC – easily exceeding 20%.

Easy to grow, resistant and suitable for novices, the good proportion of calyxes to leaves makes it easy to process. The strong flowering smell has been described as potentially ‘outrageous’.

Kaya 47’s compactness makes it ideal for tight spaces. Heavily-branched, she is easy to clone as a mother plant.

Genetics: Height: Harvest:

Yield:

Sativa Six- to nine feet (Outdoor) Five- to seven feet (Indoor) Early October (Northern hemisphere; highly adaptable) Nine weeks (Indoor) 400-600g/m2

Photo by Advanced Seeds

KAYA 47 FEMINIZED

If you have a story about a particularly traumatic grow room or garden episode, share it with us and help other SSUSA readers to prevent the same tragedies with their own plants. Photos (.jpg only) of the carnage are welcome, but not neces-

sary. The more humorous your anecdotes, the better chance they have of being published, so let’s hear it.

We also enjoy pot humor, so if you know of a good joke that will set off even the heaviest of indica smokers, feel free to share it with us as well.

Don’t forget to mention how you would like to be credited, such as (forum-) name, town, etc. All submitters’ email addresses and personal details will be kept confidential.

Email your submissions with the subject heading labeled either“Gardening Disasters” or “Tokers’ Jokes” to Kristie@softsecrets.nl and perhaps you’ll be featured in the next issue of Soft Secrets USA!

IN THIS ISSUE: Mapping the Cannabis Genome Page 3 Girl: Kaya 47 Feminized Gardening Disasters Amster-fornia Marijuana and Hemp (McCabe) Strain Awards Mojave Mama Harvest Season Importance of Drying and Curing Unfriendly Invaders Hemp Nutrition Food of the Gods MWW Inc. Steep Hill Lab Hy’s Deli by oz.

DIY Hemp Skincare Sexpot Sacramento Hempfest NJWEEDMAN.com Durban Poison & Kali Mist Altered States Grow Diary: Mataró Blue The Grey Ghost A Winter in Rosales Stoned Selection A Long, Deep Breath of Relief Rolling Papers Update Product Flash Colophon

1 3 3 7 9 10 12 14 15 17 21 25 26 26 26 29 31 31 33 34 36 37 38 41 44 45 46 46 46

SCIENCE OF CANNABIS STRAIN REPORT FROM THE EDITOR AMSTER-RANT BOOK REVIEW STRAIN REPORT INTERVIEW/MEDICAL SERIOUS GARDENING SERIOUS GARDENING ORGANIC CULTIVATION HEMP INNOVATIONS HEMP KITCHEN PRODUCT REVIEW LAB REVIEW COMIC HEMP INNOVATIONS BOOK REVIEW FESTIVALS & EXPOS GREEN PRISONERS ENDANGERED STRAINS HISTORY & CULTURE GENETICS/BREEDING SMUGGLER’S TALES LOCKED UP MUSIC REVIEWS MEDICAL TESTIMONIAL HEMP INNOVATIONS MADE IN HOLLAND FROM THE EDITOR

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Mapping the Cannabis Genome BRINGING YOU UP TO SPEED ON GENOMIC RESEARCH! Continued from front page - Sexually reproducing species, such as humans and C. sativa, usually have sets of chromosome pairs: one set inherited from the mother’s ovum (or ovule, in the case of flowering plants) and a corresponding set from the father’s sperm (angiosperm, or pollen). These sets are randomly recombined in the process of reproduction to form genetically distinct offspring. A human embryo will usually contain twenty-two pairs of non-sexual chromosomes (autosomes) and one pair of sexual chromosomes (allosomes).

C. sativa usually has ten autosome pairs and one allosome pair. To map the complete genome of a sexually reproducing species the full set of chromosomes, including both the male and the female version of the allosome, must be sequenced, or tested to determine the exact order of the four nucleobases along the polymer. The mitochondrial DNA that is contained within the chloroplast must also be mapped, as it differs from chromosomal DNA and has its own specific functions according to species.

Very few whole genomes of higher plant species have so far been mapped and published, and C. sativa is unique in being the first dioecious plant sequenced primarily for its medicinal value – other genomes mapped have either been of model plants or of oil and food crops. The medicinal plant Artemisia annua was previously sequenced to better understand the enzyme pathways that make the anti-malaria drug Arteminisin; however, plant growth cycle was much longer than Cannabis and it only had one medicinal compound of interest. Cannabis has 85 cannabinoids and potentially hundreds of terpenes of therapeutic interest, making it a potentially far more valuable medicinal plant.

Medicinal Genomics intends to map the genomes of many beneficial plants in the future – but why was Cannabis the first choice for them? Initially introduced to the subject through a 2003 publication in Nature Reviews, CEO Kevin McKernan soon recognized the potential for investment. Not only is the market for medical Cannabis growing at a rate of up to 50% per year in the US, but the wide range of syndromes that can be successfully treated by Cannabis and derivative preparations could well be unrivaled in nature.

In addition, its importance as a food crop is unquestioned, and will also increase as the market begins to expand. Furthermore, its potential as a biodiesel crop – in times when the US and other developed countries are expanding their bio-ethanol production at an unprecedented rate – may cement its role in future global trade.

Hemp varieties are genetically quite different and will require separate sequenc-

ing – although this is unlikely to be too far away given the rapidly growing global interest in the crop. The ability to create new varieties that are ever more suited to purpose would be highly advantageous, and knowledge of the genomic structure of the strains involved could provide the basis for selection of parents as more accurate predictions can be made about the nutrient and cannabinoid profile of the offspring.

Depending on the complexity of the genome and the extent of possible variation between individuals and varieties of the species in question, several techniques may be employed to sequence genomic data. The researchers at Medicinal Genomics started out using short-read technology, which analyzes short segments of DNA (around 200 base pairs) and collates the results to provide a complete picture. However, this method proved ineffectual at highlighting the true complexity of the genetic code, and longer reads were needed.

The technology used to obtain the eventual results, the GS-FLX+ platform, is a Next Generation Sequencing technology that reads the DNA in fragments up to 750 base pairs (bp) long. They performed 49.5 million sequences, each individual sequence approximately 630bp in

For the indica genome sequence, triple back-crossed L.A. Confidential was used.

A back-crossed specimen is the offspring of a plant and the plant’s parent, and is usually created to cement a characteristic within a strain, or possibly to breed out unwanted consequences of a previous cross. Double- or triple back-crossing misses generations to cross a specimen with its grandparent or great-grandparent. By triple back-crossing the L.A. strain, the breeders were able to create a phenotype that had great genetic similarity to its pure indica ancestors.

For the sativa genome, the sativa hybrid Chemdawg was used. It is a highly regarded medical strain which, although having some indica ancestry, has a very cerebral effect and many sativa characteristics.

Medicinal Genomics also worked with the Greenhouse Seed Company to investigate high CBD landraces and ruderalis varieties.

Sanger Sequencing is the method used for the Human Genome Project. To purify the DNA and remove the remaining organic material, the sample is broken down mechanically, and the chromosomes are then separated into their component strands through a process known as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Polymerase refers to various enzymes that

by Kali Mist and Buddy Kush

charge). The dyed nucleobases travel one by one through the gel, and pass through a laser beam, which is transformed into a different wavelength of light according to the type of base. The beam is then focused onto a spectrograph by lenses and read by a CCD camera system, and the order in which the different colors are recorded determines the original order of the nucleobases along the DNA polymer.

The chromosomes are thus reconstructed into their original form, and the genome is said to be assembled.

Two different Next Generation Sequencing methods, known as Sequencing by Synthesis, were employed in the mapping of the C. sativa genome.

PyroSequencing from Roche/454 uses PCR (like Sanger Sequencing above), but a massively parallel version called water-in-oil Emulsion PCR. The genome is fragmented into 700-1000 base fragments, which are modified to have the same DNA sequence on the ends, and whipped into an emulsion with other particles that contain sequences of the primer sequences. The salad dressing-like emulsion isolates one DNA molecule into a PCR-enabled water droplet surrounded by oil. This single molecule per droplet is achieved by simple dilution: most droplets are in fact empty, and a very rare few have a single DNA molecule in them.

IMAGES FROM A NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCER: BILLIONS OF THESE DNA CLUSTERS ARE IMAGED ON A GLASS SLIDE. COLORS INDICATE A,T,C,G AN L.A. CONFIDENTIAL TRIPLE BACK-CROSS IS THE FIRST CANNABIS GENOME TO HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED (PHOTO BY PISTILS) length. As little as three micrograms (μg) of genomic DNA, derived from any type of organism, is sufficient to perform a sequencing.

The DNA purification was performed at the company’s Amsterdam facility, and the sequencing itself was performed, using the latest high-throughput technology, by various research institutions – including Roche’s 454 Life Sciences sequencing laboratory. The varieties used were acquired through collaboration with DNA Genetics, the Amsterdam seed company, and required special breeding programs to develop.

assist the replication and repair of DNA, catalyzing the linking of nucleotides in a specific order, and using a single short strand of DNA (or primer) as a template.

The PCR combines polymerase with an artificial primer to create multiple instances of the same strand, each segment identical – but for one nucleotide’s difference in length.

The final base of each fragment is then fluorescently dyed for identification purposes, and the bases are separated and arranged through a process of gel electrophorosis (where dispersed particles in a fluid are forced to migrate by an electrical

Billions of droplets will each have a distinct DNA molecule and particles present in them. ‘Xerox’ copying the DNA molecules in these emulsion droplets effectively amplifies the signal one is looking at in the sequencing process. Once the DNA attaches to the particles, they can be put in a plate with millions of wells in them attached to a CCD camera. Luciferase (a firefly enzyme) is used to produce light that the camera can measure every time one of the four letters in solution runs across the chip.

As we flow adenosine across the chip, any droplet that has T as the next letter on the

6 strand of DNA will create light that the camera can measure. The chip is washed and the process is repeated with the other three bases. The strands of DNA are grown with polymerase and bases sequentially added. This process is repeated 500 times for each of the four bases to reach over 700 bases of sequence, and takes approximately 24 hours to complete.

The Illumina Sequencing by Synthesis is fundamentally very different and uses Bridge PCR, which results in fewer DNA

The publication of the genomic data will inevitably lead to ethical issues being raised. Genetic modification of crops remains a controversial issue – despite widespread implementation, there are still unanswered questions regarding their effect on the ecosystem to which they are introduced. For crops grown indoors, this is less of an issue, but for large-scale outdoor cultivation the impact on biodiversity is thought to be detrimental in some cases. When dealing with a subject as complex as organic chemistry, it is

in humans, shedding light on various disorders and their causes.

Once the genome is annotated, the data can be used in many ways – to determine the extent of similarity or to identify the genes responsible for similar functions (and how they differ) between species or varieties; to study the evolution of a species, its ancestry and developmental path, and how it fits into the taxonomic system; and ultimately to provide another piece to the unimaginably vast puzzle that is

IMPLICATIONS OF THE NEWLY RELEASED GENOMIC DATA ARE MORE WIDEREACHING THAN SIMPLY ASSISTING GENETIC MODIFICATION PROGRAMS molecules and hence shorter DNA Read length. It also requires different detection mechanisms, requiring lasers and fluorescent dyes, but offers better sequencing accuracy – especially in sequence stretches known as homopolymers (long runs of the same letter) like AAAAAAATTTGGG. The result was a sequence of 131 billion bases – far higher than the 157 million or so found in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, a species of flowering plant, although the data requires further interpretation to define the true size and scope of the entire genome. It is to be expected that C. sativa would show more genetic complexity than A. thaliana: the latter is from a genus of relatively simple plants; Cannabis on the other hand has highly developed systems in place, most obviously the system of cannabinoid production.

The genomic variation between the different samples tested was over 1%, which is ten times higher than that seen in humans – this ability to express hugely different genotypes while retaining the ability to interbreed is a large part of why Cannabis is such an adaptable species, and why it appears in so many different forms.

Although much interpretive research remains to be done, the sequencing of the entire genome, which will enable study of the plant with no need for physical specimens, should throw a great deal of light on questions that have remained incompletely answered thus far: the exact nature and function of the cannabinoid system, the genetic differences between varieties and subspecies such as indica and sativa, and the complexities of sexual reproduction, to name just a few.

For example, using the genomic data to determine the exact location and function of the genes that control eventual gender within the sex chromosomes could be determined, and the capability for selfexpression (for example when the females are left several weeks beyond normal harvest, and produce genetically identical seeds in an effort to sustain the genotype) could be pinpointed. Conversely, programs to entirely breed out hermaphroditic tendencies would be highly desirable for many traditional growers. But perhaps it is the question of the cannabinoid function, and how exactly it relates to our own endocannabinoid system, that is the most fundamental.

very difficult to predict the effect a single modification will have on normal interactions between different elements within an ecosystem.

The question of whether it is better to selectively breed or genetically modify for a desired trait is difficult to answer.

Breeding projects can generate quicker results via careful selection of specific phenotypes; developing strains by monitoring their genetic pathways may take longer, but should lead to a more controlled end result.

the evolutionary tree, whose roots are the protozoa of Earth’s early days and whose branches number millions. Comparative genomics specifically deals with the variation between different genomes, and is important in understanding how and in response to what pressures mutation occurs, and divergence established. It can also be used to study the adverse muta-

tions that can arise, which for humans is already providing much information regarding the nature of cancers and why they occur.

While advances in genetic research as a whole have provided much insight into the nature and importance of the Cannabis plant, the release of the C. sativa genome and the ongoing research it has engendered are set to sharply propel us into a much higher level of overall understanding. Not only this, but a clear message has been sent to the public: that Cannabis is a medicinal plant worthy of serious consideration, and that the academic community recognizes it as such. Eventually, reluctant governments across the world will be forced to follow suit. Support from credible and respected sources, such as Kevin McKernan and his team, is vital to the success of the movement, and they well deserve the plaudits they are receiving for their outstanding work.

Special thanks to Kevin McKernan for his input.

However, the implications of the newly released genomic data are more widereaching than simply assisting genetic modification programs, and the precedent set by the Medicinal Genomics team of making their data open-source will hopefully provide the incentive for others to do the same. Without doubt, the involvement of many will be needed to complete the next stage of this project, and if the team releases their planned iPhone app, which will allow users to add genomic annotations to the sequenced data, they will be providing huge support to the scientific community.

Functional genomics is the branch that uses genome project results to assess the interactions between specific genes and proteins and their expression in the phenotype. This is generally the part of the research that takes the longest – the raw genomic data for the Human Genome Project was first released in 2001 but it was not until 2003 that it was declared ‘complete’ (all chromosomes mapped and every gene within the chromosomes identified and located, without errors).

After assembly, the genome has to be annotated – that is, the regions that contain specific genes must be located and the relevant biological information attached to the electronically-stored data.

Genome annotation continues to this day for the human genome, as the total number of different expressions of the thousands of genes contained in it is staggeringly high and requires expert human input to describe. In order to assess the impact of a specific gene, genes can be deleted or disrupted in the genome and the effect observed in the resulting phenotype. This process has helped researchers identify several key genetic functions

TRICHOME-COVERED SEEDS IN THE L.A. (PHOTO BY DNA GENETICS)

GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CANNABIS? ONLY SIMPLE BREEDING FOR THIS SWISS ‘FRAISE’ (PHOTO BY DAVID DEE)

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AMSTERRANT

Why Amsterdam May be Doomed AND WHAT WE CAN DO TO AVOID THE SAME FATE FOR THE US SYSTEM Amsterdam seems to be in decline. I’ve spent a lot of time there and I’ve been noticing more and more how restricted everyday life is becoming. Although the Netherlands was not terribly affected by the various recent economic world crises, it has not been immune, and the result of this belt-tightening seems to have had the effect of Kali Mist causing growing right-wing, puritanical elements.

Despite the outward appearance of low crime rates and high social cohesion, there are deep-rooted social problems. Its singular laws have magnetic qualities for the constant wave of migrants seeking, in various ways, to become part of the game. As a result (and also because their legislation is inherently flawed) they have seen highly problematic levels of organized crime. This is usually conducted relatively discreetly, as drug and gang-related violence is seemingly quite rare, but still responsible for channeling hundreds of millions – if not billions – of euros in and out of the country in a vast network of illicit transactions, which lose the government millions in taxes. Coffeeshop sales are taxed – heavily – but wholesaling and production are not, as successive governments have long pandered to international pressure and preferred to perpetuate its criminal status.

What seems to be a factor in common between the US and Dutch systems is the necessity of adopting tactics almost akin to subterfuge to get the relevant legal status. The Dutch feel the need to prosecute the ‘dealers’ and producers to satisfy blood-lust and quell moral panic in this un-win-able global war, but allow the recreational user to smoke unhindered.

All production and wholesale must go on illicitly.

In America the recreational user is just as much the cause of moral panic as the street corner dealer, while all levels of the industry from production to retail are allowed to operate under the protection of the law – provided users are using the drug solely to get well. On both sides, the flaws in our respective systems are glaring and laughable – but we’ve had to make the best of the hand we’ve been dealt. The closer we get to legality in any form, the better... right? Not if the system is designed to self-destruct from the start.

The hypocrisy revealed by the deconstruction of the Dutch system is simply stunning. It’s legal to operate a coffeeshop, but not legal to produce Cannabis.

This leads to entirely unregulated production where toxic additives may be used, which will then be sold to the public with

compensated for an illegal activity? Never mind the fact that said criminal is supplying a ‘legal’ industry, one that suffers directly from such hiccups in the supply line – which then manifest as steadily creeping retail prices. Criminal is criminal, and not only does the grower lose the investment but they are then fined crippling amounts in an attempt to ‘recover lost tax revenue’.

grow-ops (upon which their business may depend) is another sinister turn in the saga. Overall, this pervasive catch-22 in which Dutch pot industry members find themselves leads to turmoil and the eventual disintegration of the weed scene in Holland. It is in no way a strong or well-structured industry. It is, I believe, inherently unsustainable.

So, legalize the production method! Most growers would happily pay taxes if they were given the choice, as they know it gets The Man off their backs. They can still fine growers; but it will be for infringing the strict quality and environmental guidelines that will, by this point, have been set up. It will happen. The fines can pay for these quality control checks, rather than for police operations.

In the US we have seen a gold rush, of course. The crucial difference between the Dutch system and our own emerging one is that we have a framework of full, structurally-integrated, top-tobottom legality to operate within; all we have to do is keep it medical. Fully-legal businesses that serve all aspects of the Cannabis industry are now in operation, from grow setup specialists in Colorado to publicly accessible quality testing facilities in California – something the Dutch system has never allowed.

Dutch growers have unfortunately lapsed into terribly bad practices (the spray problem of a few years ago has not yet been fully eradicated) and fines will not be thin on the ground at first as growers attempt to bring their practices in line with industry standards. Not to mention that, as with any legal business, some

As long as steps are taken to maintain its health and credibility, we can enjoy a sustainable and healthy weed industry here in the United States. The longer we sustain it, the more any residual moral panic will die down and the more we will be free to explore options such as total legalization – including for recreational

MOST GROWERS WOULD HAPPILY PAY TAXES, IF THEY WERE GIVEN THE CHOICE no regulation. In order for expensive illegal grows to prove economically viable, corners are often cut.

If the dreaded moment of discovery comes, the unhappy grower (who may have invested thousands of euros) risks losing everything: no chance of compensation, for why would a criminal be

practitioners will undoubtedly attempt to evade taxes. When they do, a fine will be an appropriate measure, not an empty gesture that does nothing but expose systematic hypocrisy and rather unethically fill government coffers.

The current trend of criminalizing coffeeshop owners for being involved in

purposes. It is vital that we do not make the same mistakes regarding regulation that the Dutch have made.

We have the luxury of learning from their mistakes, and while it may not be perfect right now, all signs point to the emergence of a far more sustainable economy than that of our Continental cousins.

THE INDUSTRY HERE IN THE US HAS TAKEN A MARKEDLY DIFFERENT ROUTE

CA ‘GREEN’ RUSH: EARLY MEDICAL VICTORIES DESPITE AN INDUSTRY DECLINE, MANY AMSTERDAM COFFEESHOPS THRIVE

PROMPTED AN INFLUX OF WEALTH-SEEKERS

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BOOK REVIEW

Marijuana & Hemp: History, Uses, Laws and Controversy

The Sativa Diva

As the title suggests, this is not a light read. However, John McCabe’s latest volume presents an easy to comprehend, yet difficult to put down text that spotlights the positive environmental impact of growing hemp, and how not being able to legally do so is putting US industries behind those around the world, yet again.

Hemp farmers everywhere are actually a scourge to outdoor marijuana growers, as the ganja flowers would be cross-pollinated by the low-THC hemp males. In short, hemp would destroy all the fun effects that pot smokers pursue when lighting up, enraging the local weed growers. The reason this fact is important is because the Feds and the DEA have, for years, continually argued against hemp farming in America, claiming that hemp fields would be the perfect place for weed growers to hide their illicit crops – and implying that all (hemp) farmers would willingly play a complicit role in the drug trade.

If this book or its contents appear familiar to you, perhaps it’s because you might have already read Hemp: What the World Needs Now (2010) by the same author.

This new, seemingly unabridged version includes, by McCabe’s own admission, even the material that the publishers had attempted to convince him to redact. The result is over 500 pages of observations regarding the botanical- cultural- and legal history of hemp, as well as its current state (or lack thereof) in America, what we should do to help and the ecological benefits of hemp farming.

In fact, mass-cultivation of industrial hemp could potentially revolutionize the textile industry, not to mention offsetting some of the environmental damage caused by mining, deforestation, cotton farming and mono-cropping. Hemp helps to prevent erosion and mudslides, aerates the soil, minimizes insect infestation as a border crop, prevents insect habitation in the soil – and even processes several times more CO2 than many other plants, exhaling oxygen for all of us to breathe. Hemp fuels are less damaging to the environment, regarding both production and emissions, than petroleum-based products.

The tone of McCabe’s book definitely lends itself to a wide audience; usually these topical tomes are beloved and praised by those ‘in the know’, while being overlooked by those who don’t know much at all – or flatly refuse to inform themselves.

Due to the stigma that still plagues the industry in the US, combined with the ignorant and often ridiculous Federal attitudes towards hemp, it’s no wonder that in 2011, US farmers are still prevented from legally cultivating a plant that has thrived for over 10,000 years on this planet.

The title may actually mislead potential readers, as the book takes a decidedly hemp-centric approach. Marijuana & Hemp dispels many myths to which our beloved plant has been subjected over the years; namely, the idea that cultivation of hemp would somehow be linked to the drug trade is an absurd and damaging leap. Absurd because, as any grower knows, recreational- and medical users only employ the effects of (female) smoke-able Cannabis flowers, to which many refer as ‘marijuana’. ‘Hemp’ actually encompasses all those plants that produce non-psychoactive flowers, meaning that not only will they not get the user ‘high’; rather, the plants of this type are full of the cannabinoid CBD (cannabidiol), which functions as a sort of anti-THC and effectively kills off any enjoyable buzz – leaving the smoker with a nasty headache.

The burning of hemp fuels does not contribute to the already high acid levels in the world’s oceans, and the processing of hemp ethanol does not require the tons of coal and other fossil fuels currently employed to extract, for example, corn ethanol. If US farmers were legally able to grow hemp on their own lands, the entire production cycle would benefit them, on their own premises – right down to the lack of purchasing and transporting fuel for their machinery.

McCabe reminds us that alternative fuel crops such as soy and corn are actually quite damaging to the environment, partially due to the copious amounts of energy and fertilizer needed to grow the plants, but also because of the damage these crops do to farmland, stripping away nutrients and sometimes leading to deforestation. Hemp can actually heal the land on which it’s farmed, and improve the air quality for those living in its environs.

It’s obvious that McCabe is not simply a hemp activist; rather, he is a planet activist. Other avenues of ecological relief are explored in the book, including solar power and the incredible untapped fuel potential of substances such as lawn clippings and industrial food waste – cluttering landfills nationwide. Regardless of the slightly rough delivery, this book presents a wide-ranging source of true hemp facts, warnings about dwindling US resources and dozens of helpful contacts through-

COLONIZATION OF THE US: MADE POSSIBLE AND MOTIVATED BY HEMP CULTIVATION (PHOTO BY DIANN)

out the hemp industry, so that you can begin networking on your own.

One negative regarding the format and length is that McCabe occasionally repeats himself, beyond attempting to drive home certain points. Another downside is that true hemp experts will find a few flaws in some of McCabe’s research (and not just because of the occasionally incorrectly attributed/-dated art work), including the oft-misreported fact that most hemp biodiesel is made from the woody hurds of the hemp stalk, not the seeds (food oil is extracted from hemp seeds). A strong editor would make this text exceptional, and slightly easier to navigate. However, the index is incredibly detailed and helpful, and will likely inspire you to continue to educate yourself as to how hemp truly is our future.

cations into new innovations. In order to succeed, we first need to legalize hemp cultivation in the US. Contact the author: » www.ignitingyourlife.com John McCabe c/o Carmania Books P.O. Box 1272 Santa Monica, CA 90406 USA ISBN: 978-1-884702-01-3

Perhaps the best result of this text is the countless hours of debate it will spark. In order to progress, achieve and survive, we as humans must constantly re-invent ourselves. As with so many other facets of our history on this planet, learning from our mistakes often, unfortunately, involves repeating them. If we take the lessons in McCabe’s book as examples, perhaps we can actually thrive by recreating old hemp technologies and appli-

IT CO

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STRAIN LAB REVIEWS Text and photos by Steep Hill Lab Team and Wilson Linker

TRUE OG: ELEMENTAL WELLNESS (San Jose, CA) The True OG’s scent is everything an OG should be: an intense blend of lemon, fuel and fresh pine. The sticky, aromatic buds are dense, easily pulling away and revealing a sea of trichomes. The True OG provides a quick head high, which then leads to total body relaxation. OG Kush is one of the most famous branches of the Chem Dawg tree, rumored a cross of Chem, Lemon Thai and old world Pakistani genetics. True OG entices the best palates in the business, winning back-to-back Cannabis Cup honors.

Reportedly purchased in Topanga Canyon nearly a decade ago for $50 per clone, this elusive cut consistently contains between 15% and 19% THC. The greatest thing about the True OG is that this terpene-rich flower is always available at Elemental Wellness in San Jose.

GREAT WHITE SHARK: SOUTH BAY HEALING CENTER (San Jose, CA) Green House Seed Company’s Great White Shark is a champion of their legendary catalog, winning top honors as far back as 1997. A very uniform and stable cross of Amsterdam classics Super Skunk and White Widow (Brazilian x Indian). The nose is a light green, musky, skunk and fruit, citrus and slight cream flavors of the Widow. The orange hairs that explode from tightly packed calyxes are a product of the Super Skunk; whereas the ocean of trichomes is evidence of the White Widow parentage. An eight-week flower time and a yield of 500 to 800 grams per square meter can be expected if you are lucky enough to cultivate this classic hybrid. South Bay Healing Center consistently provides extremely high-grade classics like the Great White.

CHERRY AK: HIGH STANDARDS MEDICAL COLLECTIVE (San Jose, CA) AK-47 from Serious Seeds is another monster Amsterdam classic. This historically potent mix of Colombian, Mexican, Thai and Afghani seed stock results in a 50:50 indica/sativa hybrid. Repeatedly bringing home top honors, this four-way cross pleases many educated palates. Growers the world over occasionally find a reeking red skunky fruit phenotype, aptly nicknamed “Cherry AK”. This elusive cut has been passed around the California dispensary scene, dazzling patients with its sweet taste and medicinal benefits. Under optimum conditions this elite cut can reach 20+% THC. Coming down in a respectable 53 to 63 days, these ripe red colas can reportedly yield the happy cultivator between 350 and 500 grams per meter squared. The juicy and aromatic sample, provided by High Standards Medical Collective, quickens the pulse at first, then brings on a clear, relaxing euphoric calm that is productive and enriching.

BOGGLEGUM: HARBORSIDE HEALTH CENTER (Oakland & San Jose, CA) Bringing home top honors, Delta 559’s offering of BoggleGum is a Clean Green Certified connoisseur pleaser that consistently tests 18-21% THC. At first glance, the BoggleGum that is routinely available at Harborside Health Centers Oakland and San Jose appears similar to Bubba Kush. The deep red and purple hues staining the trichome-coated calyxes do not immediately reveal the NL5 x BogBubble heritage. The crowning achievement of storied and revered breeder Bushy Old Grower, the BoggleGum has been stabilized and breeds true. When the tightly packed flower clusters are broken open the seduction begins: earthy, musk, stone and sweet notes with hints of grape – even subtle hints of citrus. Reportedly harvesting in under 50 days, this is a good choice for the premium producer on a schedule. The flowers provided by Delta 559 are free of salt-based nutrients and harmful pesticides, as required by the Clean Green Cannabis Certification program.

GOD’S GIFT: MAGNOLIA WELLNESS (Orangevale, CA) A Bay Area breeder (unknown at press time) took on the momentous task of combining California favorites OG Kush and Grand Daddy; he titled his work God’s Gift. From structure to nose, many of the OG characteristics dominate the phenotype provided

by Orangevale’s Magnolia Wellness Center. The musky, muted lime of Chem Dawg permeates the knobby, swollen resin-coated flower pods. However, the GDP is represented in lavender-tinged buds, gentle purple notes on the nose and the kiss of grape on the exhale. This indica-dominant hybrid expresses the best of its pedigree on both sides. This expert sample is favored by Sacramento care patients for providing clear mind pain relief, after an initially confusing infusion of psychoactive THC and terpenes. Few specimens of Cannabis contain the unique mix of citrus and dark fruity purple flavors that the God’s Gift produces.

JJ’S GREEN RIBBON: UNITY COLLECTIVE (Sacramento, CA) Green Ribbon is a cross of Nor Cal star hybrid Afwreck and the fast finishing but sativa stimulating South East Appalachian-bred Green Crack. A dense velvet green sea of THC-laden trichomes coats each bud. An East coast, West coast combination of genetics, the Chico-bred Green Ribbon displays award winning traits in every category. The trichome-dumping hash production from the Afgoo and the terpene-rich quality of the Trainwreck make Green Ribbon an excellent strain for concentrate production. The dry hit leaves a faint hint of mint overpowered by a mossy sweetness, or Green Crack with a sweet redwood punch. Green Ribbon repeatedly hits the high end of the THC spectrum, peeking into the 20th percentile when growing conditions are optimum. Green Ribbon is the house strain at Unity Collective in Sacramento, available in flower and concentrate form; do yourself a favor and pick up both.

» steephilllab.com

12

INTERVIEW

THE MOJAVE DESERT ALONG THE CALIFORNIANEVADA BORDER ISN’T THE EASIEST PLACE TO GROW CANNABIS, BUT THAT DOESN’T STOP SOFT SECRETS READER MOJAVE MAMA. ALL SHE ASKS FROM SOCIETY IS THE FREEDOM TO CONTINUE TO HELP HERSELF.

Mojave Mama Grubbycup

While still in her 20s, both her legs were amputated due to complications from a vascular disease. The only relief from unrelenting nerve pain offered to her by medical doctors was heavy prescription drugs. As the years passed, given her medical condition, she had little chance to avoid pain-reducing pharmaceuticals.

Narcotics were prescribed; however, she laments, “They just made my mind fuzzy and all I wanted to do was sleep. Then I discovered the power of Cannabis to ease my neuropathy and muscle spasms.”

Coming of age in the ‘60s, Mojave Mama was no stranger to recreational marijuana use, but was unaware of the health benefits until “once, when I ran out of pharmaceutical drugs, I smoked a joint with a friend visiting from out of state, and realized I was no longer in agony. It registered as pain, but not ‘my’ pain. It was as if I could hold the pain in the palm of my hand, observe it, but not be affected by it.

I marveled at this.”

In need but without a connection, she didn’t know how to obtain it. When someone finally gave her an introduction, she was shocked by the over-inflated black

market cost. On a fixed disability income, it was a pricey treatment. For the next year, her already thin household budget was stretched to the limit to pay for a way to endure the pain – a way that didn’t leave her “in a mental fog all day from the after-effects of narcotic pain relievers.”

Finally, unable to scrape up that much cash every month, and finding it impossible to make the eighth of an ounce she could afford stretch enough to last a whole month, she decided to try to educate herself and see if she could grow her own medicine.

“Starting out with just shop fluorescent lights, I germinated my first seeds, and had goosebumps when I saw the first set of leaves appear.”

Those first beans were just bag seed, from the eighths she’d purchased, and some donated from friends. She was able to veg them indoors under the fluoros, and take them outside during the day for natural sunlight.

“Living in the desert, we have sun most of the year. My first grow taught me a lot,

and I found support online in Cannabis gardening forums. That first harvest was seeded, but the cured buds were far better than those for which I’d been overpaying on the street.”

She caught the gardening bug and loved helping plants grow and getting soil under her fingernails. “I embraced organic gardening and marveled at the feel of worm castings as my hand reached into a new bag.”

Using organic aquatic turtle- and Koi sludge removed from her outdoor pond’s filter on her outdoor plants, she watched them thrive. Indoors, the odor was too overpowering to consider its use. Mojave Mama is an avid recycler, and does not use chemical pesticides. Even her pond fish and turtles are fed an organic diet.

“Because many nutrients on the market contain ‘allowable’ trace amounts of petrochemicals, I have been using Ubiogrow, an organic compost tea fertilizer... that has no added petrochemicals.”

PROUDLY CARRIES THE OLYMPIC TORCH

Learning about gardening is the key to successful growing: “I learned about adjusting the pH of de-ionized water, what N-P-K meant, and that a given amount of nutrients can burn the leaves of one strain and not others.”

“I came to understand how stress causes hermies, how to identify them, and how quickly one ‘stealth bomber’ (a ‘nanner hidden deep inside a thick bud) can pollinate every plant around it. I attempted successfully to grow plants using passive hydroponic techniques I read about in a booklet

by Grubbycup Stash. It worked, even in the extremely dry desert climate, where four percent relative humidity is the norm.”

She caught the gardening bug, enjoying the process of learning. Using auto-flowering strains, she could grow from seed to harvest in two months, giving her enough bud to tide her over until her regular strains had finished.

“Though not quite as potent of a painkiller as regular strains, I’ve found autos still have a place in my grow room. I grow only a few plants at a time, and auto-flowering strains still give me adequate pain relief until the regular strains mature.”

To Mojave Mama, mistakes are an important part of the process of learning. She considers them to be vital information, helping her enjoy more success in the next round. Her passion for growing and seeing plants come to life has bloomed. In the journey of acquiring knowledge and skill, some parts of the path are easier than others – and some lessons are best learned through mistakes.

CLEAR PLASTIC DRINKING CUPS RE-PURPOSED AS SPROUTING CHAMBERS

INSPIRATIONAL: MOJAVE MAMA

She recommends auto-flowering strains for novice growers: “During a long grow-

BRA GERMINATION PROVIDES PERFECT CONDITIONS TO ENCOURAGE SPROUTING ing season, there are so many ways to ruin a crop. Once, just a day before harvest, I had my plants outside getting their last suntan. Buds thick with sticky trichs attracted a swarm of aphids doing Kamikaze dives into the sticky goo. I tried to gently rinse them off, but they didn’t budge. I tried a more powerful spray of water, and the body parts sticking out broke off, leaving the rest of the aphid carcasses still deeply embedded in the sticky bud.

“Even worse, when I looked at what was left of the buds under my jeweler’s loupe, I saw that most of the mushroom-shaped trichome tops had been broken off from the force of the water spray.

“I’ve seen my plants tortured by bug invasions, languish or stretch under inadequate indoor light when it was too hot or too cold to take them outside to be under that giant HID in the sky, and take the brunt of my lack of experience. Helpful, experienced mentors encouraged me not to give up, that there was a big learning curve to producing top quality Cannabis.”

Over time Mojave Mama has updated her lighting and equipment. She’s learned from her mistakes, obtained better genetics and been able to narrow down strains

13 per in my career training service dogs – and mentoring people learning to train their own service dogs. I was back in the groove of life once more, and able to feel I could contribute to the world in positive ways while also earning a living wage.”

PLANTS IN CARTS ARE EASILY MOVED OR BROUGHT INDOORS TO CONTROL LIGHT EXPOSURE

“I was able to resume writing, and published dozens of articles and book chapters in fields of expertise. I could never have done this while taking prescribed narcotics to dull the pain. The medical benefits of Cannabis gave me my life back on a silver platter.”

SERVICE DOGS CAN IMPROVE HUMAN LIVES – AND EVEN HELP IN THE GARDEN

IS WHEN CANNABIS PLANTS ARE INVOLVED

Growing her own medicine gives her a cost-effective way to receive treatment.

As her gardening skills improved, not only did she have enough for pain relief, but enough trich-laden bud to make tinctures and cannabutter as well, options that allowed her to live a normal life free from the mind-numbing, zombie-like existence offered by pharmaceutical alternatives.

Even in times of illness when the pharmaceuticals were unavoidable, Cannabis used in conjunction allows her to keep

Unfortunately for Mojave Mama, and the rest of us, the greatest threat to a Cannabis garden walks on two legs. In uniform or not, there are those that would steal her hard work and then to add insult to injury, possibly even punish her for not wanting to live in excruciating pain, and not wanting to become one of the ‘walking dead’ that legal pharmaceuticals can too often create.

“It would be wonderful I could grow my medication in my backyard and inside my house without fear of getting ripped off or arrested – and losing everything I have worked a lifetime to gain. I’m so squeaky clean I’ve never had as much as a parking ticket, but I realize any day I could be hoping that the jail cell I end up in is wheelchair accessible.”

Despite the plant’s gender being much more important to the harvest than the gardener’s, in some places (both online and off-) female gardeners are still subjected to prejudice. There are those in online growing forums who rather derisively refer to female growers as ‘girlie growers’, ‘hens’, etc.

While it is legal to purchase lethally poisonous plants at garden centers, which don’t even have to be marked as toxic, Cannabis is still illegal in most areas of the country. “I think anyone who wants to grow Cannabis should be able to, without fear of losing their home, family, animals and jobs. As a child of the ‘60s counterculture, I’ve smoked Cannabis most of my adult life, whenever it was available to me.

Too often when a female enters a maledominated grower’s forum, she has to work harder to be taken seriously. “Don’t worry your pretty little head over it” and “What’s your bra size?” are not helpful responses to serious questions about how to attack root aphids or spider mites.

There are places where respect is given on merit and not gender, but not enough of them.

“It’s hard for me to accept that 40 years later, it’s still listed in the same category as heroin. I find it unconscionable that jails are full of people who never hurt anyone but were unfortunate enough to get busted with Cannabis. I rage that the DEA still targets medical marijuana patients and dispensaries in states where it’s legal for medical use. For a ‘60s activist, it seems like we are going backwards rather than forwards.”

“I could not have done it on my own.

When experienced growers take time to encourage and work with the problems novice growers encounter, I see it as ‘compassion in action’. There are no monetary rewards for mentoring and sharing expertise; it’s a gift from the heart.”

Mojave Mama pays a price in worry for the improved quality of life that Cannabis brings her. Her daily life has improved significantly with the reduction of intractable pain, but she lives in constant threat that one day closed minds may punish her for it.

Female growers are beginning to be taken seriously. In the last four years, Mojave Mama has met many knowledgeable, experienced female growers who have been role models for her, and have given her the courage to stand up in the boys’ club and say, “I’m a female grower, and I’m glad to be welcomed into your community. I’m here to learn.”

THE ONLY TIME GENDER SHOULD MATTER

that help relieve specific types of pain: “I live with multiple disabilities, so one strain doesn’t take care of all the different types of pain I live with on a daily basis.”

Cannabis allowed her to become a vital part of society again, and gave her back a social life. No longer a recluse due to intractable pain, she went on to win a national service dog of the year award, and to teach at international training conferences. She also carried the Olympic flame as a proud American with her service dog trotting at the side of her powerchair.

the seeds warm and natural cushioning reduces the worry of crushing them.

Being a female grower is not without its perks. One ‘female gardener’ trick she shared with me was her method of sprout-

“I take the chance and grow, because without Cannabis, I’d once again live life in a drug-induced fog. I’m not going back there again. Each day is a chance for me to help someone else, to make a difference in the world. I should not have to live in fear of going to jail because I grew and consumed medicine I did not purchase from a pharmaceutical company.”

Mojave Mama is a real person, with real problems, real hopes and real dreams.

Her difficult situation, unfortunately, isn’t that unusual in America, where healthcare

I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO LIVE IN FEAR OF GOING TO JAIL BECAUSE I GREW AND CONSUMED MEDICINE I DID NOT PURCHASE FROM A PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY dosages smaller, and has allowed her to keep more of “herself” awake and aware.

“I had a workable brain again, and I was able to sleep, restore my health and pros-

ing seeds. Women can easily give seeds an almost ideal environment for germination by putting them in a small plastic bag with a damp paper towel and slipping the bag inside their bra. Body heat keeps

choices are all too often more about profit than quality of life.

Peace, love and puka shells, Grubbycup

14

Harvest Season

canning jars. They come in a variety of nice sizes, but since the sides are transparent, they should be covered or stored in a dark place. Jars should be labeled, and can even be decorated if desired. If your stash starts to get a little too dry, a small clean piece of terracotta soaked in water can rehydrate it.

For the small-scale personal grower, harvest is where you can really shine. In your favor, herb grown for personal use tends to be superior to herb grown for sale.

Grams are easier to monitor closely and care for than kilograms. There is something to be said for genuine care, with just a dash of future use self-interest to add a special something to the final product. A well cared for and well cured bud is a very pleasant bit of smoke.

It is common to celebrate a successful harvest with a few good friends. Give thanks to the universe that such a nice plant exists in the world, and that you can enjoy it. Celebrate your hard work, and plan how you can improve next season.

Life should be lived, so between the hustle and bustle of everyday life remember to take time out and live a little.

Peace, love and puka shells, Grubbycup

Harvest time is also the time to finish any notes for the season. Some people are blessed with superior memories and are able to recall each plant grown for years on end. For the rest of us, notes can be invaluable, especially when the time comes to plant next year’s garden. Just make sure any notes you make don’t fall into the wrong hands.

MOBY DICK, BLUE WIDOW AND WHITE RHINO ON A PANTS HANGER

As fall arrives the nights get longer, the air gets colder, and perhaps best of all, outdoor grows ripen in the US. After the buds have swelled and tightened, most of the stigmas have changed color and the ratio of cloudy amber trichomes is deemed suitable, Grubbycup harvest begins.

Weed must be cut and dried before use, so while the exact details vary from gardener to gardener, harvest is usually some variation of the following: 1) The plants are cut down. Depending on preference and size of the plant, cut the branches into manageable-sized pieces.

2) Any and all remaining fan leaves are removed. It isn’t unusual for some or all of the fan leaves to have withered by harvest.

3) Any small leaves on the floral clusters (buds) are trimmed or removed. Take care to completely remove any brown or dead leaves, as these will harm the flavor of the finished product.

4) The buds are allowed to dry until just dry to the touch. A cool, dark location

with air circulation is ideal. Clothing hangers made to hold several pairs of slacks or a clothesline are both good choices from which to hang drying Cannabis. The weed will dry from the outside in, with the edges of the buds drying first. There should still be moisture left in the center of the buds, so it should not be completely dried through.

5) The buds are placed into glass jars, which are opened and closed as needed to control moisture content until ready for storage. Since only the outermost portion of the bud was dried, moisture from the inside of the bud will wick out to moisten the dried material. When the outside of the bud feels moist, or if condensation forms, the jar is opened and the buds are turned and allowed to dry off.

If the moisture in the jar is allowed to build too high the bud can be ruined; pay close attention, especially for the first few days. As the bud cures, the jar can be left closed for longer and longer periods until it is ready for use or storage. Mistakes in letting curing Cannabis get too dry are more forgiving than mistakes in letting it stay too wet.

6) Once ready, the marijuana can be stored in an airtight container (glass is a good choice) for short term storage, or vacuum sealed for long term. My personal preference is to store my smoke in home

To determine the efficiency of a grow, a simple formula can be used to determine the grams per day (GPD). If a Cannabis plant was started on 5/23/2011 and was ready for harvest on 9/23/2011, then the number of days between the two dates is 123. If 29 grams of dried of bud is collected, then the yield grown per day would be 0.24 grams (29 divided by 123). This value can come in handy when comparing seasons, or comparing the productivity of a particular cultivar.

If all other factors are similar, and using fertilizer ‘Brand A’ results in a 0.20 GPD, and using fertilizer ‘Brand B’ results in 0.30 GPD, then serious consideration should be given to using ‘Brand B’ on a regular basis. If one year a gardener uses soil pots, and the next a hydroponic system, the GPD gathered can help choose which system to use the following year.

HARVEST TIME IS A WONDERFUL TIME IN THE GARDEN

One nice thing about using this calculation, is that it will allow a gardener to compare plants started early with plants started late. Particularly in indoor gardens – where season length is artificially controlled – being able to compare seasons of differing lengths can be an asset in determining what conditions are the most productive.

By keeping track of expenses, you can also use a similar equation to calculate how much per gram it cost you to produce. Just track how much it cost to run the garden for the 123 days, and then divide by the number of grams of harvest produced. By comparing how plants from different grows perform, a gardener can fine tune and adjust his/her garden practices to be as efficient, productive and economical as possible.

After harvest make sure to clean up for winter. Spring planting is a lot easier when it doesn’t start out with last year’s mess.

THIS GRUBBYCUP’S STASH BUD IS READY TO START DRYING

15

The Importance of Drying and Curing A smoother smoke, a more even burn and an increase in potency: sounds too good to be true, right?

But, a little bit of hard work after you harvest carries big rewards.

Take a quick look at curing...

So, you have spent the last three months tending to your girls, lavishing them with tender loving care and the big day has finally arrived – it’s harvest time and your smoke will be ready within the next week.

But, hang on there, remember the whole reason that you grew your own in the first place was to have a stash of the finest weed possible? At harvest time your work is only 75% done. To get the ultimate from your weed, put in that little bit of extra effort and dry and cure it properly.

Commercially grown crops are usually harvested early; cut, trimmed and dried for about a week, often in a warm environment, before being sold. The idea of a commercial grow is to get your cash turned around in the quickest amount of time. Fair enough. However, quickly-dried bud can taste harsh and have low potency.

We’ve all been there: you buy a bag of weed that smells good and feels dry on the outside, but when you break the bud open it is still moist on the inside. The smoke is harsh and can taste a little like cut grass; this taste is the chlorophyll still present in the cells of the plant.

So why cure? The process of curing promotes the slow decarboxylation of oxygen molecules from the THC present in the bud; this will increase the psychoactive properties, making the weed more potent.

The curing process also means that mois-

we now un-affectionately call ‘radiator weed’ is no better; in fact it was a lot worse!

“After seven days of hanging and drying the transformation is incredible: it’s dry but sticky inside, the crystals are glistening and it smells delicious. The smoke is really good – easier to crumble than before, although it does stick in the grinder a little. It tastes much stronger and the lovely sweet taste of Widow is in full force. Plus it delivered a really nice high, not too heavy and a little bit lively – which is good if you still want to function after a chong!

“After the dry, it had a couple of weeks curing in jars and it’s transformed again.

It’s really pungent now and totally dry; the crystals are glistening away and it crumbles between the fingers perfectly.

In fact I’m sure if all weed was left this long you’d have twice as much to smoke – although it’s gone down in weight the dryness means you use less than before when building a joint. It tastes as good as it smells and is stronger than before, still gives a lovely high, a really good smoke. If only all weed was left this long!”

Proof, if proof were needed...

The first step to the smoothest smoke is to get the drying process right, so you should choose your drying area carefully.

Ideally you want somewhere that is dark, cool – around 64.4°F (18°C) – and has around 50% humidity. If your drying area is too cold, then drying will take forever. If it is too hot then you run the risk of drying your harvest too quickly, which will make it taste harsh – exactly what you don’t want!

The grow room is a great option for drying as it will be dark and well-sealed; it will also

yourself down to the shops and pick up some brown paper bags – like the ones you get from the supermarket – the larger ones if possible. A good local grocer or wholesaler is a good place to try, as you can normally pick them up in reams of 100 for very little money.

Put a handful of bud into each bag and fold down the top, the idea being that the buds will ‘sweat’ out the moisture contained in the center of them and this will be absorbed by the paper bag. Open the bags twice a day and shake the buds around to let any moisture out of the bag.

Once the buds have been in the paper bags for three or four days, you can check if they are completely dry by placing the paper bags in plastic zip lock bags and sealing them. Leave them in the zip lock

IF THE STEM BENDS WITHOUT SNAPPING, THEN THERE IS STILL SOME MOISTURE LEFT AND YOU SHOULD CONTINUE WITH THE PAPER BAGS ture levels will be consistent across the entire bud, giving you a much smoother smoke and a more even burn. When you grow your own, you want to get the maximum from your crop. You owe it to yourself to cure those buds!

have the benefit of having a carbon filter attached to stop any unwanted smells escaping. The drying and hanging process will take around two to three weeks, so if you can do without the grow room for that long, then do it.

To prove the point, I tried a little experiment with some recently harvested White Widow (from Pyramid Seeds) and a good friend of mine (Original G); here is the smoke report in his own words...

When you have harvested your plants, first remove any fan leaves that have no visible trichomes on them, then take the plants by the stem and hang them upside down using string or fishing line attached to clothes pegs, screws or nails. Make sure they don’t touch each other as this can cause mold. You can now manicure your buds by roughly cutting off the smallto medium-sized leaves; these should be saved for bubble hash.

“So after harvesting we were desperate for a try of the lovely green that had been produced and we dipped in way before it had time to dry – this was a big mistake! It still smelled way too fresh, almost like cut grass; the weed aroma was hardly there at all and, although it looked great, it was slimy and wet inside. It had to be trimmed with scissors to get it small enough to roll and the smoke was pretty terrible, sour and not very strong. It was really a waste of weed! Be aware that forced drying or what

Leave to hang for two to three weeks. You are now ready to cure.

One tried and tested way to start the curing process is the paper bag method.

While your harvest is hanging to dry, get

bags for a couple of days. If you can see moisture on the inside of the plastic, or the buds feel moist when you squeeze them, then they are not ready and should be removed from the zip lock bags and left in the brown paper bags for another two or three days.

The final test to see if the buds are completely dry is to take one of the larger pieces and bend it – the stem within the bud should snap. If the stem bends without snapping, then there is still some moisture left and you should continue with the paper bags for a final two or three days.

When you are confident that the buds are dry, then they can be placed into preserving jars – the kind with a rubber seal and latch on them – and sealed. The main factors in THC degradation are heat, light, oxygen and water. So the jars should be filled to the brim and kept in a cool, dark place where they are also safe – not the kitchen cupboard!

The paper bag method means that you should have some nicely dried bud, but the process does not stop there. You will need to open or ‘burp’ the jars to let out any excess moisture that has built up.

Otherwise, condensation can occur and moisture can build up, which can lead to mold developing. There would be nothing more heartbreaking then pulling out a jar that had been curing nicely for a few months, only to find that that your delicious harvest is covered in mold!

The jars should be ‘burped’ every other day: simply open the jar for around ten minutes and gently stir the buds around.

This allows the stale air and moisture to escape. The burping process should continue for around four to five weeks, after which the buds can literally be left for years.

If you do pull out a fine vintage and find it has gone too dry, you can add a little moisture by putting a fan leaf or a piece of orange or potato peel into the jar.

Happy curing!

17

ADVANCED INDOOR GROWING BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S “AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION IS WORTH A POUND OF CURE” REALLY PAYS OFF WHEN IT COMES TO PEST MANAGEMENT F.Red

Growing Cannabis indoors provides excellent conditions and abundant food for pests.

Protocols need to be set up for reducing invasions by these outdoor monsters. Once you let them in it can be very difficult to get them out. Be concerned with the damage done by feeding, as well as the potential havoc of a virus or disease introduced to your plants.

The most common invaders are fungus gnats, and spider mites. Their life cycles are affected by temperature – the warmer the environment, the quicker the life cycles and the faster they will reproduce.

Indoor environments lack the natural predators that keep these pests under control. Unchecked, infestations can develop rapidly, becoming severe and chronic problems. Many gardens have been destroyed by infestations getting out of control – especially during flowering. Early detection and diagnosis are as important as choice and application of treatments. Using multiple tactics to affect insects in all stages of their life cycles is a more effective strategy than relying on one solution. These are the principles of ‘Integrated Pest Management’ (IPM).

Fungus gnats (small, dark fly-like insects) are a small nuisance when compared to other intruders. Gnats love moist conditions; do not be surprised when you get one up your nose if they invade your garden. Gnats are encouraged by over-watering, so letting your soil dry out properly and eliminating any standing water will discourage them from developing into a problem in the first place.

A fungus gnat’s life cycle consists of four stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult. The larval stage is the most damaging to plants.

It is during this part of their life when they feed upon the tender roots of plants.

They are harmful to sprouts and clones as they are establishing new root systems.

Damage at this early stage of life can affect yield later on, although plants often outgrow it.

Even more catastrophic are the few hitchhikers fungus gnats can bring with them.

Pythium, a water mold, does not seem scary until the fourth day – when all your plants die! For a commercial greenhouse with several thousand plants hooked into the same hydroponic system this would be disastrous.

There’s no guaranteed safety in soil, either.

Phytophthora, another of the gnats’ buddies, is a terrestrial kind of water mold.

This insidious parasite was responsible for the Great Irish Famine, causing over one million deaths. Fusarium is a species of fungus that likes to ride along with gnats. A few of these species cause crop damage in the billions, but most are harmless. Fusarium oxysporum, often called the Panama Disease, wiped Gros Michel bananas (known as ‘Big Mikes’) off the commercial market in the 1950s.

An oscillating fan not only helps dry out topsoil, but it also makes it difficult for those buggers to fly around. Some friends have had great success spraying soil- or hydro systems with a dilution of Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Soap and water.

Others have used a dilution of hydrogen peroxide and water. Whichever method you choose, make sure your concentrations are not strong enough to damage the plants. Yellow sticky traps, commercial or homemade, are also a great non-toxic method for enticing and trapping these pests. The easy way to deal with a fungus gnat infestation in containers is by putting an inch of sand on top of your soil – this will prevent them from laying eggs.

are commonly used for whitefly eradication. Eretmocerus emericus tolerates warmer and dryer conditions and is best suited for high-density whitefly populations. Encarsia formosa does well in cooler conditions, higher humidity and low-density whitefly populations. Both of these wasps are excellent for pest management.

The mixture of both has successfully been applied for a number of years in largescale greenhouse operations. As with other treatments, budding is not a good time to be dealing with these critters. It is better to eliminate an infestation before flowering so there are no bug bits in your edibles and smoking products.

Spider mites are probably the worst of the indoor invaders. One female laying hundreds of eggs over her lifetime can, within a month, be responsible for hundreds of thousands of progeny. To help control populations, reduce room temperature. If these little devils get into your garden and if you do not work diligently to eliminate them they will destroy the plants.

Mites suck the juice out of your plants and poop all over them, producing a protective silk web within which they cocoon themselves as they devour your plants.

The damage these very tiny creatures cause is horrific. Blasting them off with a strong stream of water is probably a good place to start when dealing with them. If your plants are in a flowering stage the water blasting method is safe and effective, provided you are thorough.

Many people have success during vegetation using cold-pressed neem oil diluted with water and a little soap. Or a tea-

Whiteflies are a more serious invader.

Small, white moth-like creatures, they wreak damage by sucking out life fluids like small vegetarian vampires. If these bugs get in, they may bring a few of their over sixty viral plant disease friends with them. Then, as an extra insult, their excretions promote the growth of mold – and who would want to smoke or eat any of that?

Whiteflies lay eggs on the underside of leaves. Within a week the eggs hatch and the larvae find a nice spot to suck from.

The next week-and-a-half is spent in various nymph forms until the final metamorphosis into a flying adult – when they become easier to spot. A little shaking of the plants sends them flying around the room. Oscillating fans, combined with yellow sticky traps in each planter and around the grow space, can help prevent them from achieving a foothold.

Whiteflies are drawn to the yellow traps, making you aware of their presence in the grow room.

WHITEFLY ON CANNABIS (COURTESY OF BANANAMAN: WEEDPORTAL.COM)

If whiteflies are established yellow traps are not enough to get rid of them. A few small plants are easy to manage by physically removing eggs and vigorously spraying the underside of the leaves with a dilution of Dr. Bronner’s Soap, daily.

Large plants or lots of small plants can be difficult to manage.

Wasps can play a good part in prevention and control of whitefly infestations in large or small grows. Two types of wasps

SAND PREVENTS FUNGUS GNATS FROM LAYING EGGS IN THE SOIL

18 FUNGUS GNAT (COURTESY OF KIM FLEMING: MYRIORAMA FLICKR.COM)

spoon of Dr. Bronner’s liquid Citrus- or Peppermint Soap mixed with a teaspoon of oil (such as grapeseed or olive-) in a quart squirt bottle – kept in the fridge – has also been used to great effect. Make sure you shake the bottle before spraying the leaves, to mix the soap and oil together. There are also a few garlic, pepper and cinnamon recipes available online that people swear by.

Pyrethrum spray made from chrysanthemum flowers is another natural remedy to help keep down the numbers. With any sprays or dilutions try a test leaf first to make sure it does not damage them.

Too strong of a mix will burn your plants or, even worse, destroy your entire crop.

There are several predator mites also available. Predators are a great preventative and an effective control in sufficient numbers. With proper precaution, hopefully you will never need to use them.

Several simple steps can be taken to prevent infestation in your garden.

Prevention is the first consideration of IPM. For instance, do not wear outside clothes, shoes or bring outside tools and materials into an indoor garden. Quarantine all of your new plant acquisitions – two weeks is often enough time to determine whether your new plants have stowaways, provided you are inspecting both sides of the leaves. If you lack the space for this endeavor, it is of vital importance to monitor closely and constantly for any signs of infestation.

most commonly used inorganic insecticide, was once extracted nearly pure from salt domes. Now, sulfur is produced as the by-product of natural gas and petroleum refining.

Organic insecticides are carbon-based.

Made from hydrocarbons, these compounds are also produced from petroleum refining. Natural insecticides or botanics are extracted from plants. Plant chemicals are manufactured by nature for the specific purpose of defending against insects. ‘Natural’ does not mean they are good to smoke or eat either, so be aware when using any chemicals on your crops.

All insecticides tend to fall into two categories. ‘Systemic’ insecticides operate by the plant absorbing the toxin into itself and then the bugs ingest it by eating the plant. ‘Contact’ insecticides operate by using small grains or droplets of chemicals placed on the plant and into direct contact with these critters. Systemic insecticide residue has been found by the US Department of Agriculture in 74% of the lettuce crops tested.

In 2009, the State of California tested eucalyptus pollen and found levels at three times the amount needed to kill a honeybee. This class of pesticide can remain in soils for over 500 days. So plants will produce deadly pollen, nectar and guttation droplets (leaf juice) for several seasons. Seeds germinated after being coated in these pesticides will produce plants with this leaf juice, killing bees within minutes after exposure.

Contact insecticides are not without problems either. Many of these pesticides are considered persistent, which means they do not break down easily in the environment. Some of them take decades to break down, if at all. This causes seri-

SPIDER MITES DESTROYING A GANJA LEAF (COURTESY OF GROWERY.ORG)

YELLOW STICKY TRAPS CATCH – AND REVEAL – INVADERS

Cannabis will soon be added to the monoculture crops that promote pesticide use. Supporting biosustainable farming practices using natural methods is the only way we can protect future generations from this incredible toxic soup we are creating in our environment.

BIOLOGICAL PEST CONTROL IS A NATURAL METHOD USING THE ENEMIES OF INSECT PESTS AND MAY ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR INSECTICIDES Observation is the second principle of IPM. Some growers prefer to quarantine and dip or spray plants with chemical insecticides and miticides. This decision poses some serious ethical and moral concerns and brings us to... intervention, the third step on the escalator that is the IPM system.

Nearly all of these chemicals, even natural ones, have the potential to disrupt ecosystems. Insecticides are often toxic to humans and build up in the food chain and water supply. Smoking or eating these residues can pose serious health risks. Many Cannabis patients have severely compromised immune systems and any extra toxins can be detrimental to their health.

Insecticides are classed in several ways, as they are elements and compounds.

Resembling salts and silica, they do not contain carbon. Inorganics are very stable and usually water-soluble. Sulfur, the

ous risk to humans, as even low levels of these toxins bio-accumulate in body tissue. Exposure can create immediate problems, or manifest down the road with cancer, organ damage, respiratory- and reproductive problems and nervous system disorders.

These chemicals act as mutagens, causing horrific abnormalities in children of farmers and fieldworkers around the world.

Domesticated animals are affected, as well as millions of birds, bats, amphibians and

Biological pest control is a natural method using the enemies of insect pests. If caught early enough these enemies can eliminate the need for insecticides. ‘Controls’ are not always a quick fix, like chemicals. In a major infestation it is better to reduce the numbers of bugs infesting your garden, and then add these natural enemies. If you do it the other way around you will kill off the helpful insects. Predators are the first of several types of biological control agents. Predators like ladybugs, lacewings, pirate bugs and many nematodes

ately; their victims are hosts for offspring growing inside of their bodies and ultimately causing death. Some nematodes in this category can spring out of soil to catch low-flying insects.

Pathogens are the last type of biological control. These microbial insecticides, bacteria, viruses, fungi – or the toxins they create – are important agents that limit insect populations. There are many benefits to using these controls. Targets for these agents are narrow, unlike broadspectrum pesticides, which kill helpful insects indiscriminately. These methods are also very unlikely to damage water quality, the environment – or your crops.

The disadvantages are that it can take more time, planning, management and education. The best time to use biological controls (as with any other kind of intervention) is during vegetation, because if you are flowering with an infestation you are already too late.

Prevention, observation and intervention are the three stages of integrated pest

MITES SUCK THE JUICE OUT OF YOUR PLANTS AND POOP ALL OVER THEM fish that die every year from these pesticides. Application of these chemicals in powder and liquid aerosols guarantees a certain amount will be carried off by the wind and washed into our waterways by erosion. Government testing shows 80% of fresh water fish in the United States are now contaminated.

(worms) are hunters that kill and eat their prey. In larval stage some of these predators may eat more insects than they do while they are adults.

Parasitoids are the second type of biological control. Hunters, like the tiny assassinator wasp, do not kill their prey immedi-

management. If you are diligent this process can reduce or eliminate the need for pesticides. Take the right steps to stop infestations before they occur. Monitor incessantly to be aware of intruders. Deal with them in a commonsense way to eliminate damage to the environment and to protect the people you love.

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HEMP KITCHEN WE’VE EVOLVED TO EAT NUTS AND GRAINS. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DON’T?

Hemp Nutrition The health benefits of eating hemp seed and its derivatives have long been known to humanity, with the earliest Chinese records dating back to around 6500 BCE. It is widely believed that C. sativa was among the first crops to be domesticated due to its nutritional value, ubiquity and adaptability to a wide range of habitats, and that ancient humans and possibly even earlier hominids utilized its freely growing wild ancestors as a food source consistently through history. It is even suggested that the nature of the relationship between C. sativa and humankind is so deeply symbiotic that, while we have undoubtedly drastically altered the course of its evolution, it may also have altered our own.

Endo-cannabinoid systems in the body show signs of appearing on the human evolutionary map as long as 600 million years ago. It is as yet unclear whether these systems were in place prior to encountering C. sativa, and to what extent they began to evolve in response to it. It is however apparent that we are not alone in possessing an endo-cannabinoid system – in fact, almost all animal lifeforms have one. Our own rudimentary endo-cannabinoid systems most likely evolved in a manner synergistic to those of Cannabis, over time becoming less disparate until a point of optimum interaction or effective equilibrium was reached. As both species continue to co-evolve, the term ‘dynamic equilibrium’ is perhaps more appropriate (as both may undergo variation), but the sum of interdependence and level of overall interaction remains constant through time.

While the potent flowers of the female psychoactive strains are known for their remarkable curative effects, the ability of the hemp seed to prevent the need for many such cures has been oft-overlooked.

The nutritional profile of the seed (technically an achene, or nut) is without doubt remarkably well-suited to the requirements of humans. It may in fact be the most appropriate long-term dietary staple.

It is possible that this is the result of a long process: evolutionary studies suggest that after a period of mutualism – where mutual benefit is derived with neither species being considered dependent – coevolution between species occurs. During the period of mutualism, the two species experience an increase in evolutionarily ‘fit’ individuals, and genes that assist the relationship are favored. Natural selection favors those individuals who respond best to the most important food crops of the time by affording them better health, longer life and presumably more opportunities to procreate; the long-term effect on the gene pool involves a growing proportion of adapted individuals.

We select the varieties of Cannabis that bring most benefit to us, spreading their

Kali Mist

SHELLED HEMP SEED PROVIDES A NUTRIENT BALANCE FOR THE HUMAN BODY (LUDĚK KOVÁŘ)

seeds, ensuring their survival, and encouraging further evolution in a direction beneficial to ourselves. This mutualism has reached a point where, if C. sativa in its various forms was the only crop humans cultivated, we could theoretically provide ourselves with almost everything we need (except water and sunlight), not just in terms of food but also by clothing, medicating and even housing ourselves. We in turn can provide everything the plant needs (except water and sunlight), by assisting its reproduction, protecting it from predators and adverse conditions, and providing its nutrients. We don’t need it and it doesn’t need us but without the benefit of the other, it could be argued that neither species operates at optimum levels.

sources may provide the best balance – requiring little energy to digest, providing a complete and highly beneficial balance of amino acids and nutrients, and being widely bio-available.

The balance of essential dietary requirements is fairly close to that found in hemp – an adult human should receive 45-65% of calorie requirements from carbohydrates (although this is fiercely debated as carbohydrates are not an essential food group, and a human can ingest their total energy requirement in the form of fats and proteins), 20-35% from fats and 10-35%

from protein. Whole hemp seed provides around 40% of its energy from fat (which provides nine calories per gram) and 20% from protein (at 4 kcal/g), so it’s close, but can also be adjusted through processing to provide a balance even closer to the ideal. It is also somewhat high in insoluble fiber, which makes up most of its carbohydrate content and provides no calories, and removing the hull may be advantageous in many cases.

Few other crops come near to the remarkable nutritional profile of hemp seed, and when looking for an answer as to what

The size of the gut (and the percentage of energy that a human requires to maintain its function) is only around 60% of that which would be expected, by comparison with other similarly-sized higher primates.

The brain size and energy requirement is comparably higher than expected; while the size and requirements of the heart, liver and kidneys remain similar between primates. This suggests that in order to evolve greater brain size, the gut size needed to reduce.

As certain foodstuffs became more accessible, the greater nutrient content afforded by their consumption increased the efficiency of the digestive system, and enabled us to spend less of our energy intake on breaking down hard-to-digest foods – and more on increasing our brain function. The size of the gut was therefore able to decrease. To sustain brain size a highcalorie diet must be consumed, which explains the adoption of meat into the diet – however, the caloric content by weight of hemp seed (567 kcal/100 g) and many other grains and nuts exceeds the best meats (pork belly has around 400 kcal/100 g; sirloin has 313, and lamb just 246), and they usually require less energy to obtain, consume and break down.

The fats in meat are also much less beneficial, compared to the range available from hemp and other nuts, like peanuts. This strongly implies that high-protein, highcalorie grain and nut varieties are more important to the evolution of the human brain than meat. Hemp out of all protein

HEMP SEED HAS THE LOWEST FAT CONTENT AND HEALTHIEST BALANCE OF ALL HIGH-PROTEIN NUTS/SEEDS (WIKIPEDIA)

HEMP SEED OIL EXHIBITS FAR MORE

HEMP MILK IS BECOMING VERY

BENEFICIAL QUALITIES THAN MOST OTHER

POPULAR IN US HEALTH FOOD

SEED OILS (MIRAN RIJAVEC)

STORES (VEGANBAKING.NET)

22

HEMP SEED, WALNUT AND BANANA BREAD (VEGANBAKING.NET)

HEMP FOODS FROM MANITOBA HARVEST (UNCLEWEED)

HEMP FOODS FROM LIVING HARVEST (CHAD MAGIERA) enabled our sudden burst of brain growth, perhaps we should be looking at this humble grain a little closer. As it is so easy to digest and absorb, and as such a high percentage of the energy it provides is usable, a diet rich in hemp seed would be a perfect compliment to the increase in brain mass.

Hypothetically, as we began to incorporate more hemp into our diets and enjoyed the resulting increase in brain mass, we began to put the extra processing power to good use, exploring ways to extract even more from our diet such as cooking, milling and other forms of processing. It is suggested that the extra energy saving went to still higher brain mass gains. It is certainly true that many of the more important protein sources benefit from being cooked, as it begins the process of digestion prior to eating. The various ways that grains can be processed can all have various effects on health and digestion, for example refined wheat has

seed it is around 35%, and in hemp seed meal it is over 40% – higher than any meat.

Newer hemp protein powders on the market claim protein content as high as 50%.

The percentage of protein that is readily digestible is up to around 86% for whole seed, around 92% for hulled – and as high as 97% for hemp seed meal. It is clear that hemp seed meal contains a higher amount of readily digestible protein than any other form and that mastering the ability to process the seed represented a great step forward in terms of nutrition.

However, the industry standard for measuring protein efficiency since 1993 is the FDA/WHO-adopted Protein DigestibilityCorrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) system. PDCAAS is a measure that calculates the protein’s ability to supply the nutritional requirements of a human, corrected for its ability to be broken down into its constituent amino acids and related compounds. According to this system, whole hemp seed scores up to 0.53, hulled up to

Hemp protein isolates do not yet exist in the marketplace; instead simpler forms are tested, so there is no basis for true comparison. They are unlikely to exist unless the market becomes large enough to allow for mass-production, due to the nature of the process and the expensive machinery involved. Furthermore it is not necessarily better to ingest such refined proteins, unless for specific reasons, as many natural enzymes and other helpful organic compounds may be destroyed in processing.

Individuals seeking to gain muscle mass may find themselves better off using raw organic hemp protein powder, which is hypoallergenic, does not build up in the gut (as many isolates reportedly do), and contains many beneficial organic substances. Hemp seed also lacks the trypsininhibiting elements found in soy and other vegetable proteins – trypsin is an essential enzyme for digesting proteins and an inhibitor will reduce its effectiveness.

Hemp provides sufficient dietary protein to synthesize the body’s protein requirements, in a form that is highly digestible.

Proteins are long-chain organic molecules consisting of amino acids joined by a peptide bond, and are broken down during digestion and re-synthesized into related

Crude protein content in whole hemp seed is around 25%. In hulled or shelled

0.66, and hemp seed meal just 0.51. The highest possible score is one – soy, whey, egg and casein all apparently make the grade, and beef protein measures 0.92, so why is hemp so far behind?

One reason is that these proteins are tested in ‘isolate’ forms of up to 95% concentration, with most non-protein elements removed through heavy processing.

Albumin is the most abundant plasma (or serum) protein: it acts as carrier for numerous compounds including hormones and minerals and also helps to regulate blood pressure. The proteins found in hemp seed are also very high in arginine, a non-essential amino acid that may play an important role in immune function and healing of wounds, as well as synthesizing creatine (which repairs and rebuilds muscle tissue). However, arginine may also assist the reproduction of viruses such as herpes, so sufferers should seek medical advice before consuming hemp on a daily basis.

proteins needed by the body. Hemp protein is made up of edestin (around 66%) and also contains albumin (33%), and between the two the whole complement of essential amino acids, in a favorable ratio, is provided.

Protein is not the complete picture. In the human diet, a large quantity of lipids must be consumed to satisfy our high energy requirements, and it is important that these lipids are of the correct varieties. The balance of fatty acids in hemp seed is remarkably close to that needed by humans. In the modern, highly-processed diet, the polyunsaturated essential fatty acids (PUFAs) provided by many whole grains, vegetables and oily fish are negatively outweighed by the saturated fats and trans- fatty acids found in many meats, processed meals, and store-bought cakes and pastries. Many follow a diet that is far too low in whole foods and their intake of PUFAs and other natural compounds can be severely compromised.

Edestin is a globulin – a type of blood plasma protein – and is found only in hemp seeds and a handful of other sources, such

In severe cases, deficiencies of linolenic acid (omega-3) can cause growth retardation, behavioral changes and loss of motor

THOSE WISHING TO MEDICATE FOR A PARTICULAR CONDITION ARE ADVISED TO SEEK A FULL NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE OIL THEY USE infamously been implicated in a range of illnesses. However, there is support for the idea that refined and unrefined grains all have a part to play when used in conjunction in the diet, and one should not fear refined grains simply through ignorance of how best to use them.

as castor oil beans. Edestin is structurally close to our own blood plasma globulin and can be efficiently broken down and re-synthesized. It is rich in essential amino acids and has antioxidant properties.

Globulin protein in the blood fulfills many important functions including providing enzymes and acting both as an antibody and as a carrier for other important nutrients to the muscles and organs.

23 coordination. Deficiency of linoleic acid (omega-6) causes hair loss, arthritis, liver and kidney degeneration, miscarriage, and sterility – and is fatal if uncorrected.

Most Westerners are not malnourished in overall terms, but the long-term, low-level deficiencies of poor-quality diets are arguably what has led to the high incidences of heart disease, hypertension and cancer in our society.

More recently, it has been suggested that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children, as well as dyslexia and dyspraxia, can also be attributed to deficiencies of these vital micro-nutrients during development. The modern diet commonly contains omega-6 and omega-3 oils in ratios as unequal as 10:1, due to the high levels of omega-6 and lack of omega3 in most meats and common refined oils; while the true ratio should be around 4:1.

the body is unable to synthesize AA and conditions such as Alzheimer’s and bipolar disorder may result.

Conversely, an excess of AA (common in modern diets due to the surfeit of LA) can lead to thrombosis, immunosuppression and inflammation. LA is also

Soluble fiber is fermented in the large intestine to produce gases and certain short-chain fatty acids that have regulatory functions, including lowering blood cholesterol. Insoluble fiber absorbs water

the right ones – in combination with fruits, vegetables, fish and some meats. While many other nuts, seeds and pulses (such as lentils or beans) provide much of a human’s daily energy needs, hemp is the only crop that is truly able to replace the staple crops of today, not just due to the fact that it is better suited to the human

LINOLENIC ACID (OMEGA-3) DEFICIENCIES CAN CAUSE GROWTH RETARDATION, BEHAVIORAL CHANGES AND LOSS OF MOTOR COORDINATION responsible for synthesizing gamma-linoleic acid (GLA), which regulates blood sugar and provides nutrients to the brain.

Deficiency is implicated in many degenerative diseases, and GLA has even been shown to reverse the neurological damage caused by diabetes.

Even when the body is receiving the correct oils, the incorrect balance can have injurious consequences, such as diabetes, skin and mood disorders, and cardiovascular ill-health. With its 3:1 ratio, using hemp seed oil as a supplement can in fact correct omega-3 deficiencies in the diet as a whole, and as a dietary staple, is close enough to ideal to be used long-term with no significant imbalance. The overall percentage of PUFAs in the oil of the hemp seed is around 80%, higher than any other known vegetable source.

Linolenic acid (LNA) is responsible for the production of stearidonic acid (SDA) which has important catalytic properties and helps maintain metabolic rate. Eczema sufferers are commonly deficient in SDA. Hemp seed oil, as well as containing a healthy balance of LA/LNA, contains both SDA and GLA in quantities large enough to be useful but not so large as to be excessive – although the amounts may vary between hemp varieties, so those wishing to medicate for a particular condition are advised to seek a full nutritional analysis of the oil they use.

The interactions between essential fatty acids are an integral part of human metabolism. Linoleic acid (LA) is responsible for the production of omega-6 arachidonic acid (AA) in the body; the latter controls an array of functions – primarily those related to the central nervous system and brain function. In times of LA deficiency,

The remaining 35% of the hemp seed (the carbohydrates) also deserves some thought. Mostly made up of dietary fiber (both soluble and insoluble) and some sugars, much of the carbohydrate content is found in the bran or hull of the seed.

When the seed is hulled, the carbohydrate content drops dramatically to around 11%.

MODERN HEMP HARVESTING

While dietary fiber is not fully digestible, it plays several key roles.

and bulks up the stool. Whole hemp seed is very high in insoluble fiber, but by using hulled seed or a combination of different forms, it is possible to exactly meet one’s requirements while avoiding excess.

The low level of starch and other complex carbohydrates in hemp may also be very suitable for human diets – it is suggested that over-consumption of starchy foods such as maize, wheat and potatoes may cause a build-up in the intestines, leading to constipation and possibly bowel cancer. Perhaps more tellingly, most grains and starchy vegetables must be cooked to achieve digestibility, unlike hemp which can be eaten raw with no ill effect.

Raw starch is very difficult to digest and energy gains for humans not yet able to use fire would have been minimal.

Furthermore, while many carbohydrates can be digested and broken down into simpler forms (such as glucose), no carbohydrate is itself essential for life. Glucose, which is essential, can be produced from amino acids, and the body’s full energy requirements can be satisfied through intake of protein and fats.

The overall conclusion seems to be that we are designed to eat whole grains – but

diet, but also because it is fast-growing and high-yielding, requires little expertise or machinery to cultivate, and thrives in numerous different habitats.

Different varieties for different purposes can be easily bred: even within the category of food hemp crops, variation between strains can provide very different nutrient profiles. This suggests that it is possible to selectively breed strains that contain even more nutritious oils and proteins, and with advances in food science and genetic research we are sure to learn much more yet about just how good this plant is for the species.

In addition, the more we learn about our own genetic history and why our DNA seems to be programmed to work in tandem with Cannabis, the greater still will be the proof that we cannot really afford to do without it. And the more we uncover writings and relics of the ancient world, while developing our amazing resources to explore and learn from such artifacts, the more proof we will have that our ancestors lived in harmony with it; that we were and still should be fully mutualistic – and that we have taken a dangerous wrong turn by neglecting and restricting its use.

25

HEMP KITCHEN

Food of the Gods It is documented that the ancient Chinese were using hemp over 8,000 years ago, providing them with everything from good health to altered states of being. In India, Buddha is said to have eaten one hemp seed a day on his journey to O’Riodon enlightenment.

a body and provides it with a healthy immune system.

As a food source, hemp seed could easily feed the whole world – think about that.

History has shown us its potential and yet cultivation is banned (in the US) or heavily controlled worldwide... why? Sure you can buy hemp seed in a Los Angeles health food store at ten bucks a bag, but cultivating it as a food crop in Africa, forget it!

So you, the privileged, should take full advantage of this wonderful gift and make a change. Such is the structure of our society that market forces control the supply of a product, legal or illegal. So consume as many hemp products as you can and enjoy the benefits of a healthy body and balanced mind, knowing that your purchase will eventually help bring this gift to the masses. This article is way too short to go into all the benefits that hemp can provide mankind, so I suggest you research the subject and explore further. Suffice it to say, it also tastes good!

For thousands of years hemp has sustained mankind, kept him warm and even helped him build empires. The United States of America was founded on hemp commerce and (especially the government) shouldn’t forget this. Over a hundred years ago hemp was the biggest cash crop on the planet and a gift to humankind, which makes its betrayal by a few greedy men all the more despicable.

If this has been of interest to you, then I suggest you bring hemp into your diet in the form of hemp protein powder; this will give you quick results that you’ll definitely notice. Then you could try creating meals around it. I found Healthy Eating Made Possible by Paul Benhaim (Fusion Press, UK) to be a very useful source of recipes and information on the subject, but there are many other books out there.

Now that you’ve gotten this far, I suppose you deserve a little treat. Here is a tasty recipe that is a personal favorite. To make it easier, I’ve chosen a food with a familiar shape.

It’s kind of unfortunate that Cannabis gets you high, because without this effect, Anslinger and his friends would not have been able to make it illegal so easily. It was the industrial use they wanted to suppress back then and the fat corporations of today are still suppressing it.

Fortunately, in the 21st century things are changing. This generation is waking up to the fact that hemp can provide mankind with a sustainable lifestyle – and even a way we can all be friends.

Exploration on a molecular level has shown hemp seed to be an almost perfect food source. Besides being the only common seed source of gamma linolenic acid (GLA) it also contains the essential fatty acids (omega-3, omega-6) at a near perfect ratio – 3.38 to 1 – providing the eight essential amino acids the body can’t make by itself – and a few more besides.

Wake up at the back there; this is important!

What also makes it so special is that hemp oil is 65% globulin edestin, a vegetable protein. Globulin helps make up the building blocks of that thing you call

Hempalicious Pizza

Crash Brownies: 10-15 servings

Makes a 10 in. pizza Utensils: medium-sized mixing bowl, blender, 10 in. pan and oven!

Ingredients: 200 g (7 oz.) hemp seeds, ground 100 g (3.5 oz.) almonds, ground 50 g (1.75 oz.) sunflower seeds, ground 25 g (0.85 oz.) hemp butter (ghee) or non-hydrogenated margarine 2 T buttermilk 1 T water 1½ T baking powder Pinch of salt Pre-heat oven to 375ºF (Gas Mark 5 or 190ºC ). Mix seeds, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add melted butter or margarine to bowl. Add milk and water; use hands to make into moist dough. Place into 10 in. dish and bake for approximately 10 minutes. Check to ensure it doesn’t burn.

Topping Tasty Tomato Sauce: 6 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked until soft 2 fresh medium sized tomatoes (keep four slices for decoration) 1 clove garlic 2 t chopped basil (keep four whole leaves for decoration) 2 t miso of choice 2 T shelled hemp seed Blend until smooth. Spread out on pizza bottom and return to oven for another five minutes. Decorate with basil leaves or sliced tomato.

Now visualize a world free from hunger; where rainforests expand, all plastics are biodegradable and essentials like paper and fuel are grown at sustainable levels.

Hemp is already used in everything from tea bags to automobiles, but you’re just not hearing about it. I believe it’s time the food industries joined in, stopped pushing empty addictive calories and started feeding us foods that make us strong and healthy. Become the change; buy and eat hemp!

After a tasty, healthy meal that feeds the body, you should follow it with a dessert to feed the mind. I’d like to recommend a recipe (another one of my favorites) from The Cannabis Cookbook

by Tim Pilcher.

This is an original recipe by Alice B. Toklas from her 1954 cookbook.

You will need: 8 g (1/3 oz.) of Cannabis buds simmered in 175 g (6 oz.) of butter for an hour and strained 175 g (6 oz.) plain dark cooking chocolate 700 g (1½ lb.) clear honey 4 eggs, beaten 1 t salt 1 T vanilla extract 550 g (1 lb. 4 oz.) plain flour or a mix of hemp flour if available To prepare: Melt chocolate in a double-boiler saucepan and then mix in the Cannabis butter and honey. Add the eggs, followed quickly by the salt, vanilla and flour. Pour mix into greased oven tin, 9 x 12 inches, and bake for 35 minutes at Gas Mark 5/190ºC/375ºF. The trick is not to overcook them, so they remain moist.

When cooked remove from oven and allow to cool for one hour before cutting, then divide into 2 in. squares and enjoy. (Re-printed with kind permission)

26

PRODUCT REVIEW / LAB REVIEW

Lighting the Way California LightWorks are pushing the limits for indoor growing with their revolutionary new lighting Robert Michael systems.

With a company slogan of, “We’re looking for a few good growers,” it’s not surprising that MWW’s new California LightWorks subsidiary has become synonymous with the best grow lights in the business. With the greenhouse- and horticulture industries literally blossoming into a recession-proof business like no other, the latest advances that CLW has made in terms of lighting, controls technology and manufacturing is buzzing up and down the state.

Prescription drugs have the FDA. The environment has the EPA. Now, finally, the medical marijuana community has Steep Hill Lab to act as a safety filter between pharmacies and Robert Michael patients.

it’s vital to stay in direct contact with the end user – and apply their feedback to continuously improve their products.

Case in point: the new Solar Storm and Solar Flares products. “Solar Storm has been in R&D for three years,” Mekhtarian says.” And with 800 watts of nominal power, it’s one of the most powerful LEDbased grow lights on the market.”

Based in Canoga Park, California, CLA not only manufactures all their products in America (many companies simply import from China), they make a conscious effort to only work with US-based vendors whenever possible. With currently 20 employees on the payroll, George Mekhtarian, president of MWW, feels that

What makes it different? It’s got a switch to change the light spectrum between vegetative growth and bloom and has a built-in fluorescent-based UVB light source. And not to be outdone, the Solar Flares are manufactured using the highest quality, most powerful single-die LED

emitters that, amazingly, come with a two-year warranty. So, how does MWW see the ever expanding medical marijuana business fitting into their own growth plans?

“We see the medical marijuana industry as an important catalyst for pushing the technology envelope of indoor horticulture,” Mekhtarian says. “And by pushing the technologies that means we all will be ready when we see locally-grown food increase dramatically as the world population grows. And in this sense medical marijuana might indeed one day solve world hunger.”

MWW Inc. 7945 Deering Ave. Canoga Park, CA 91304 » www.californialightworks.com

Good Medicine

The mantra from California governor Jerry Brown to the medical marijuana community is simple: “A closed-loop safety plan from plant to patient model.” And that’s exactly what Steep Hill Cannabis Analysis Laboratory is doing.

While the machines and instruments they use sound like they are out of a Twilight Zone episode (Agilent 1100 Series High Performance Liquid Chromatograph, Spectramax 250 Microplate Reader and Binder BD-240 Incubator) their aims are quite clear: to make sure that the medical marijuana prescribed to patients is safe, clean, non-toxic – and is what it says it is.

“California’s medical Cannabis industry is currently deemed illegal by the Federal Government,” says Steep Hill co-founder and vice president Addison DeMoura.

Based in Oakland, CA, Steep Hill has gathered a so-called dream team of experts – doctors, Cannabis consultants, patients, legal experts – in an effort to close the safety loop Brown speaks of.

“The only Federal Regulatory Framework that exists is the Controlled Substances Act, which is currently enforced by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Cannabis is currently classified as a

Schedule I substance, and therefore one that has ‘no currently medically accepted use in the United States.’”

Steep Hill Cannabis Analysis Laboratory 1530 E. 12th St. Oakland, CA 94606

But what could be wrong with the medicine you are being prescribed, you ask? Lots, it seems. From potency questions to pesticide toxicity to mold and other microbes, good medical marijuana can be like playing Russian Roulette. All this makes Steep Hill’s job all that more crucial as the industry grows and develops. David Lampach, cofounder of Steep Hill Lab says, “We are honored and excited to sit down with our colleagues in a spirit of cooperation to encourage the betterment of our industry as a whole.” And so far so good: Steep Hill was voted the “Best Medical Marijuana Lab in the East Bay” in 2011 by the East Bay Express.

» www.steephilllab.com

29

HEMP COSMETICS

DIY Hemp Skincare: MAKE YOUR OWN PRODUCTS, AT HOME! The benefits of hemp seed oil for human skin may be unparalleled in nature. This fact has not gone unnoticed – many published studies compare hemp with other seed oil crops and strongly support its superiority.

Kali Mist There are hundreds, if not thousands of hemp-based skincare products on sale today; many are rigorously tested and may be a great asset to your skincare arsenal.

However, the price tag of these exclusive and still niche items can be off-putting – and for some (especially those with skin conditions or sensitivity) there may be uncertainty about what else is in the bottle. Although hemp seed oil itself is pricey, stocking up on a bulk deal and mixing up a few simple recipes may be a great way of achieving significant savings and ensuring that every single ingredient is beneficial – with no exceptions.

Hemp seed oil contains the essential fatty acids (EFAs) α-linolenic acid (omega-3) and linoleic acid (omega-6) in an approximate 3:1 ratio that is almost identical to that con-

tained within the stratum corneum (outer layer) of the epidermis. This ‘barrier’ layer is composed of skin cells held together by a blend of lipids, including EFAs, which retain moisture and prevent loss of elasticity.

Due to this similarity to epidermal lipids, hemp seed oil is uniquely able to penetrate, acting as a humectant, aiding the replenishment of EFAs and maintaining smoothness and suppleness. It is the only known natural oil to act in such a manner – most others merely coat it or are incompletely absorbed. Hemp seed also has a higher percentage of EFAs compared to other seed crops – potentially up to 80%.

The oil also contains around 10% oleic acid (omega-9), which although not classed as an EFA still provides moisture and is easily absorbed topically.

As shampoo, hemp seed oil can greatly benefit hair, too. It is highly lubricating and leaves the hair feeling soft, clean and healthy. It is able to penetrate into the follicle and promote rate and quality of new hair growth by replenishing EFAs, as well as providing protection from sun damage.

The scalp benefits from the moisturizing properties of the oil and, in the case of itchiness or dryness, will respond well to topical application of pure oil or shampoo.

Hemp oil can also be used as a base for conditioners and restorative treatments, such as masks and leave-in conditioner, providing deep moisturizing and rejuvenating effects. The overall effect on hair health is so great that it may even reduce the rate of hair loss in affected people when used long-term.

DR. BRONNER’S SOAP – ONE OF THOUSANDS OF CURRENT HEMP PRODUCTS (© FIREBALLSENDAI)

Refined hemp oil is the form that is most commonly used in skincare, due to its longer shelf-life and lack of fragrance or color. Manufacture involves intensive mechanical and chemical extraction processes that may remove natural compounds from the oil; the final product is also possibly more likely to oxidize into cancer-causing free radicals. To achieve maximum benefit for the skin it may be advisable to use unrefined hemp seed oil, but it is not always possible to ascertain from labeling exactly what a product contains.

FRAGRANT, DECORATIVE OR To avoid potentially harmful additives, those with specialized requirements can experiment with making their own products – with ingredients that should be easy to source online or in your local health food- or drugstore.

HEMP COSMETICS PROVIDE SKIN WITH A HEALTHY DOSE OF EFAs (© UNCLEWEED)

When making homemade products, great care must be taken to ensure safety at all times. Most home recipes are very safe but there is occasional use of harsh chemicals with more complex procedures.

Furthermore, when using natural oils and fragrances, some people find they are sensitive to certain organic compounds. If so, consult your doctor or dermatologist, and always perform skin tests before using their products.

Hemp soap can be made by simply adding hemp see-d oil to a melt-and-pour or glycerin base (ratio of two tablespoons oil to every four cups base. Fragrant essential oils can be added to achieve your desired aroma. This can be done on the stovetop – the base is almost liquefied using a double boiler before being removed from the heat; the desired oils are added and the mixture stirred until fully liquid. It can then be poured into soap molds and left to harden for 24 hours.

HEMP SOAP INGREDIENTS MAY BE PURCHASED AT YOUR LOCAL DRUGSTORE (© FOOT FINGERS)

“WHY AMSTERDAM MAY BE DOOMED”

7

For the truly adventurous, or those who wish to avoid unwanted ingredients in the pre-purchased base itself, a cold-pro-

“SEX POT: THE MARIJUANA LOVER’S GUIDE TO GETTIN’ IT ON”

31

EXFOLIATING? ROSE PETALS CAN BE ADDED TO SOAP (© MSHAMMA) cessed soap recipe can be made from hemp oil and a mixture of other natural fats. Soap made entirely from scratch requires further safety precautions as it involves working with lye or potash, both caustic and dangerous alkaline chemicals, to saponify the oils. ‘Saponification’ is the rendering of fats into soap (technically a salt), through hydrolysis by a strong alkali.

The Soap-Making Process: A recipe must be calculated, containing fats that will provide hardness and stability, along with those that lather and those that moisturize. The ratio depends on the type of soap required – hard soap (usually made with lye, or sodium hydroxide) is made from approximately 30% hard, stabilizing fat, 25% lathering fat and 45% moisturizer, by weight. Liquid soap is more commonly made with caustic potash (potassium hydroxide) and often has a lower percentage of hard fats.

Hemp oil is considered a moisturizer – a good recipe could therefore be 45% hemp oil, 25% coconut oil for lather, and 30% palm oil or tallow. It is important to remember that some oils may have other properties that will affect the overall consistency – coconut oil, for exam-

“SMUGGLER’S TALES”

38

30 ple, also has hard, stable characteristics.

Experimentation may be necessary! Once the recipe is ready, run the amounts through an online ‘lye calculator’ to give the required amount of liquid lye solution to saponify your oils. If using solid form lye, leave the lye to cool after mixing with water until it is around 98°F. Gloves and protective eye wear must be worn.

While the lye cools the solid fats are gently heated, also to around 98°F, and the liquid oils added. The lye solution can then be slowly added and blended with a hand-blender until it is fully mixed in; a chemical reaction begins to take place, causing the soap to thicken and opacify.

At this point fragrant oils, and dried flowers, pigments/dyes or other decorative items, can be added to the blend, as well as crushed seeds and kernels for exfoliating purposes.

The soap mixture is then poured into the mold and set aside in a warm place, covered if necessary to maintain temperature, and the saponification process begins. The soap will be hard enough

Hemp oil is suitable for sensitive skin, and boasts a long list of compounds that are highly beneficial when applied topically.

Some Components of Hemp Seed Oil: Carotene (Vitamin A): Acts as antioxidant; reduces wrinkles and repairs damage Vitamin B: Speeds the removal and renewal of the cells of the stratum corneum; retains moisture Vitamin C: Another antioxidant capable of preventing UV damage, reducing inflammation Vitamin D: Protects the skin from UVA radiation; limits the irritation and damage caused by eczema and psoriasis Vitamin E: Contains anti-aging and antioxidant properties seed oil. Fragrances can also be added. To make Castile soap, use pure non-virgin olive oil, mixed with lye solution in equal parts. It is possible to make Castile soap from hemp oil as it shares many characteristics of olive oil – however, purists maintain that olive oil is the correct choice.

The mixture must be stirred for around thirty minutes before being left to saponify for a few hours in a warm spot – this will create hard Castile soap. For liquid, keep the covered mixture on the heat for around six hours, stirring every half hour,

HEMP SOAP CAN BE MADE BY SIMPLY ADDING HEMP SEED OIL TO A MELT-AND-POUR OR GLYCERIN BASE to remove from the mold in around 24 hours, but saponification reactions will go on for two or three days and ‘curing’ the soap may take as much as four weeks. Once saponification is complete, the soap is safe to use as all traces of sodium hydroxide have been catalyzed, but curing evaporates remaining water and hardens the soap so that it can be safely stored for long periods.

Hemp shampoo can be simply made by using one cup of liquid Castile soap (a soap based on olive oil, originally from the Castile region of Spain) blended with one cup of water and two teaspoons of hemp

until the soap reaches a honey-like consistency. Remove from heat, add distilled water, and leave overnight to allow the soap to dissolve into the water. Liquid soaps should cure for a few weeks. The shampoos themselves should be bottled and left at least overnight to allow full admixture of the ingredients. Conditioner can be made by melting together three tablespoons of coconut oil with half a cup of hemp oil, then adding powdered white clay and distilled water and mixing until a thin paste is achieved.

Hemp shower gels and foaming bath soaks can be made in a very similar man-

ner to hemp shampoos, with distilled rose water being a common substitute for water due to its fragrant and astringent properties. Blend one cup of rose water with two cups of liquid Castile soap, and add hemp seed oil and essential oils.

Lavender- and geranium oils benefit dry skin, and chamomile is kind to sensitive skin – for those with oily skin, peppermint- and lemon oils help, and substituting orange blossom (neroli) water for ordinary water is another idea.

that final step in the daily routine for most, and the good news is they’re not too hard to make. A simple moisturizer can be made by combining one part hemp seed oil to two parts Shea butter or cocoa butter and heating the mixture until it becomes creamy. Fragrance, or nutritive ingredients such as royal jelly, honey or lemon juice can be added at this stage.

Heavier or lighter creams can be achieved by adjusting the ratio slightly, or by introducing other oils for different results.

A good bath oil could consist of a hemp seed base mixed with almond-, sesameand wheatgerm oils. For massage oils, hemp seed mixed with jojoba-, sweet almond-, coconut- and olive oils in various ratios will produce a range of great results. Fragrant oils such as rose hip, hyssop and fennel (among many others) have various effects on the skin, and should be researched and carefully experimented with to achieve optimum results.

For anyone with a beauty- or health conscious side, and the desire to make savings in both an economic and ecological sense, making homemade hemp skincare products can knock a substantial chunk off yearly expenditures that can otherwise easily reach into the thousands.

For men, many traditional masculine scents are accomplished using blends of patchouli, sandalwood, bay, cypress and vetiver. This is far from a complete list, however, and blends that achieve the earthy, spicy notes favored by men may contain many other ingredients.

For anyone who desires a complete homemade skincare range, body lotions, face creams and other moisturizers provide

Hemp skincare products benefit the environment too, as every individual who refuses to use products containing unnecessary chemicals and packaging represents a small reduction in the damage we continue to do to our planet. It may also benefit those around you, as every individual who refuses to contaminate the water supply with potentially harmful substances may be preventing as yet unknown consequences for wider public health and safety. While it is possible to source hemp products that contain no harmful ingredients, the truly dedicated play it safe and make their own.

SANDALWOOD ESSENTIAL OIL IS OFTEN BLENDED HEMP LOTIONS AND CREAMS: EASY TO MAKE AND GREAT FOR OVERALL SKIN HEALTH (© LDHREN)

INTO MASCULINE SCENTS (© MULLICA)

31

BOOK REVIEW / FESTIVALS & EXPOS

Sex Pot: The Marijuana Lover’s Guide to Gettin’ It On Advice columnist Mamakind’s autobiographical-ish book Sex Pot is a fun romp into the mind and sexuality of a lady viper of negotiable virtue – and somewhat indiscriminate affection.

Quizzes, Qs and As about what you can do with Ts and As, descriptions of kinks and new things to try – humorous answers to humorous questions adorn the 134 pages of wanton weed and stiletto sex. Be forewarned, this is not a book for those of delicate sensibilities or romantic hearts; this is an edgy book about sex and drugs.

Not big on foreplay, Mamakind plunges in right away, advocating the use of the lit-end of a joint on tender parts starting on page two. Make no mistake, this is not some vanilla couple’s book extolling the virtues of getting high and then using your love’s naked body as a serving tray for a variety of munchies. This is a book about encouraging you to find your limits, and then giving them a little herbal nudge.

Popular kinks are described, and often illustrated with stories from Mamakind’s color-

ful past. She shares herself with the reader openly, going so far as to share her sexual highlights’ Top Ten list. [On a personal note: her #9 is my #1, but her #1 sounds like a lot of fun to try. To make sense of that, you’ll just have to get a copy for yourself.]

The “Pussytoke” adventures were my favorite part of the book. The inspiring story of a woman on a mission to include her own sweet flower as part of a smoking apparatus. A heartfelt tale of not giving up in the face of setbacks and dangling bongs.

Mamakind writes for Skunk magazine, and several sections in the book use an advice column format where she answers questions about sex, relationships and pot.

Some questions are serious, and some silly, but each is answered in Mamakind’s unique style.

To be fair, some of Mamakind’s appetites may be a bit more exotic than erotic to me, but I’m more the romantic-foreplaywith-the-occasional-spice-for-fun sort.

Mamakind walks a slightly wilder path. No less valid; just a little different.

by Grubbycup

For sexy stoners thinking of expanding their sexual horizons with a willing partner or two, this book is filled with lots of encouragement for friendly fringe fantasy fornication.

Peace, love and puka shells, Grubbycup » www.quicktrading.com ISBN-13: 978-1-936807-00-0

Quizzes such as “Are You a Pot Pimp or a Pot Ho?” and “Are You a Pot Snob?” have a little good-natured fun with Cannabis culture.

These tests would be well suited as aftercircle conversation starters with friends. In more intimate settings, other parts of the book may make for more intimate conversation starters.

Leading by example, she takes the reader through her tale of fetishes and experimentation, recounting some of her past experiences with men and women in varying combinations and numbers. She is open and free with her own sexual wants and desires, and invites the reader to join her.

Sacramento Hempfest 2011 Sacramento’s first annual Hempfest was on August 19, 20 and 21 of 2011.

Sprawling along the bank of the Sacramento River, at the Rio Ramaza Marina Park, organizers held Sacramento’s version of Hempfest, attracting several thousand visitors and raising medical marijuana awareness in the area.

As is all too common with similar events, the line to enter was both long and slow.

Card-carrying medical marijuana patients were allowed to bring in a personal (eighth of an ounce or less) amount of Cannabis for use in the medical marijuana section.

Parking was odd, and generally included a $5 round trip shuttle fee. The chain link fence portion at the entrance that funneled the crowd into pat downs and detecting wands was a reminder of how complacent Americans have gotten about being touched and searched by strangers. I’m as guilty as any – I waited my turn and showed my papers like everybody else.

At least as far as such things go, it wasn’t particularly invasive or draconian.

Assorted vendors were hawking a variety of wares ranging from marital aids to handcrafted stash boxes. There were glassblowers on hand giving lessons, medical marijuana recommendations, dispensary tents and hydroponic booths to visit. Artisan stalls sold trinkets and gifts of art and function. The food available for sale was a dizzying assortment of each of the four major munchie food groups: chewy, crunchy, sweet and salty.

SEVERAL VENDORS SOLD SMOKING ACCESSORIES

The members of law enforcement on hand appeared to be genuinely more interested in keeping everyone safe than in hassling people. They were friendly,

smiling and even enjoyed a few ears of fresh roasted corn with attending citizens.

As public marijuana use becomes more frequent, it is important to maintain a courteous relationship with the members of society who do not smoke, including those who may not approve.

Something I appreciated as a visitor was that the large outdoor medical marijuana smoking section was popular, but not elbow-to-elbow crowded.

Miss Medical Marijuana 2011 Kati Jane attended, and was very gracious when I asked for a photo. I had the honor of speaking at the event on both Saturday and Sunday. I talked about basic marijuana growing and held a Cannabis gardening Q & A with the audience.

The theme of the festival might have been marijuana, but it was the music that I thought gave the best value for the admission price. A variety of musical acts took to the main stage and entertained the crowd.

Several musical groups, such as Ms. Lacy, Fiva in the Funk House and Real One, rapped and rocked the audience. The price of a ticked bought hours of solid musical entertainment. Some of the acts had more heart than skill, but I person-

MISS MEDICAL MARIJUANA 2011 KATI JANE ally prefer that to acts with more skill than heart. The variety of music played meant that there was appeal for more than one taste in music.

It was a fun festival to attend and I hope they continue for many years to come.

California’s capital is far behind places like L.A. and Oakland when it comes to medical marijuana acceptance; it is nice to see progress being made.

Peace, love and puka shells, Grubbycup

33

INTERVIEW

Allow Me to Introduce You to...

NJWEEDMAN.com?

A name is not just a name. Well, not like it used to be. In the age of the ubiquitous ‘domain’ name and the big bucks that can go with it (chocolate.com was bought for three million dollars by Hershey from a guy who just had it and was not using it in 2003), it was bound to happen that someone would want to seriously change their legal name – not just for the web – to, well, ‘somethingsomething dot Robert Michael com’. And that time has come.

Ed Forchion, a native of New Jersey who now lives in California (and is a long time Cannabis activist), is currently fighting to change his legal name to NJWEEDMAN.com. Almost ten years ago, while Forchion was in prison for so-called civil disobedience (lighting up a joint at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia), he had the epiphany to change his name and the long court battle began.

“When I decided to do this,” he says from Hollywood, “the Internet wasn’t nearly what it is now so the stakes are a lot, well, higher.”

Although his request has been denied many times over the years, these next few months he will be at it again – thanks to Craigslist.com. He allegedly posted a want ad asking for legal representation for his case – and got it. But then the case got even smokier and more hazy: He was arrested recently with a pound of Cannabis in his car and faces more than a decade in prison if convicted, although he is a legal, card-carrying medical marijuana patient and an owner of a dispensary called Liberty Bell Temple 11. Soft Secrets USA caught up with Forchion to discuss the uniqueness and progressive nature of his case.

attention. I’d say the one i’m most proud of is lighting the joint on the liberty bell monument in philadelphia. That was good.

Where does the case currently stand?

Well, the california appeals court ruled against me changing my name just recently, so, back to the drawing board. It was a charged debate but we lost... Next we will go to the california supreme court and fight there.

These days you are a business owner.

Does that change your approach to things?

No. I provide, everyday, the medicine that people prefer to use and it is legal. I think, for me, the whole thing about doing things publicly and trying to change my name is about freedom of expression. Two hundred years ago the founders couldn’t image a society with social security numbers or the internet and, well, internet identities. People today are more known by the names on their twitter or facebook pages. It seems to me these new judges are just oblivious to the new age concept of internet identities. See, the government gives us identities with things like social security numbers, fbi files, etc. Etc. – And we don’t control any of it. This i can (and should be able to) control.

Is all this part of your long history of being a radical Cannabis activist?

I’ve used civil disobedience as a means to put the issue in front of the press, yes.

I’ve always fought my cases publicly and staged numerous stunts to bring media

Why are the courts so afraid?

They are scared i will use that name and identity to promote what i want and express my thoughts. Funnily enough, this is the true freedom the founders were talking about.

so you looked for help on... Craigslist?

Yup. I placed the ad and one curtis edmondson answered it. He’s from beaverton, oregon. And he’s now representing me.

Obviously full-on legalization terrifies them. Do you see this happening in five years’ time?

No. Unless we have a roe v. Wade[like] case in the supreme court. Plus the church, big pharma and the alcohol industry are doing what they can to stamp it out, while the prison system is so terrified of losing 70% of their ‘slaves’ that pay their bills that they will do almost anything to keep it illegal.

Obviously, my biggest passion is to end this entire war on drugs.

Ever thought about going into politics?

I imagined, as a kid, running for office when i was 40 years old, but i got arrested at 33 – which pretty much would out an end to that for most people. I had actually run for congress in 1997 and have vowed to run every year until cannabis is legalized. I’ve even been on the glenn beck show!

Finally, what’s your advice to anyone out there looking to change their name to a dot com?

If you change your name to ILOVEJUDGES. com, you might get it!

When you were in prison, how did you decide to change your legal name to njweedman.com?

Well, that was 2001. I had been bamboozled into accepting a plea deal that was supposed to be three to six months in prison. But while I was in jail the state reneged on the deal. I was there for over a year and no matter how many times I tried to ask for help, or state my case, I was ignored, so I got a bright idea: bring media attention to my plight.

I had a buddy change the homepage of my website to tell the world what had happened to me and even listed the state officials and their numbers on there for my supporters to call and demand I be released. Then, as an added pressure, I petitioned the court to change my legal name to NJWEEDMAN.com and mailed that to the newspapers; it got picked up nationwide. Two months later I was released from prison.

The rumor is that you were sick of being denied the legal change by the courts

THIS WOULD-BE CONGRESSMAN IS PASSIONATE ABOUT LEGALIZATION

34

ENDANGERED STRAIN GUIDE

Durban Poison & Kali Mist still complained that it wasn’t the same.

Not long after this, a bust meant that all specimens of the new male were lost – this was to result in a total lack of availability of Kali seeds for almost a year while the damage to the library was repaired.

Fortunately for the Serious guys (and the whole stoner community, in fact!) several very closely related males were salvaged and the breeding line was re-established.

A third, more highly-sativa father was also introduced into the mix at around this point, and by the time the new millennium came around, the new Kali was back on cup-winning form – picking up the sativa prize in the 2000 High Life Cup. Kali Mist is known for its tendency to stretch indoors, and often will need to be tied down as her height easily reaches five feet or more. Outdoors, it’s a real hotclimate favorite, with heights up to ten feet and multiple branches laden with heavy buds. The loose and airy structure allows light to penetrate fully and even the lower branches are able to develop quality flowers. It’s also mostly humidity- and mold-resistant (although it can be susceptible to mildew) and produces a huge quantity of crystals.

A BEAUTIFUL STAND OF OUTDOOR KALI MIST Durban Poison is not extinct, according to many. It’s rare, but still possible to locate in California if you look for it. Others say that the form available from dispensaries today is not the original, and samples have been laboratory tested to be 90% indica and 10% sativa.

The Poison was originally sativa, as most South African landraces are, so while the new strain may be a descendent, it’s hugely different genetically. Rumor has it that a pair of breeders from the Bay Area introduced the indica lineage a few years back; by now it seems to have effectively replaced the old genotype, as it’s nowhere to be found.

The current incarnation is described as having an intense psychedelic high mixed with a full-on body experience – somewhat different from the clear, energetic effect its predecessor is described as having. Although it is a true inbred landrace, little- to no original seed stock is thought to exist. In the US at least, it’s believed the genetic is lost, and the surviving progeny heavily hybridized.

The pure-lineage descendents of the original, however (or at least some very closely related varieties), are still believed to persist in South Africa, so while that particular phenotype is lost there is potential to breed something very similar. Some dispensaries are selling a pure sativa called Durban Poison – while this may be excellent South African, it lacks some of the distinctive traits smokers of yesteryear remember so well.

The Durban Poison genetics were brought over to the US in the 1980s, where the unique high proved to be greatly popular, although it has always been rare due to its flowering time (originally around 12 weeks) and delicate nature. Various different hybrids appeared, usually bred

ers are adamant that they can’t get their hands on it these days!

Another strain that’s massively changed since the original, but still goes under the same name, is Kali Mist, queen of all sativas. First bred by Serious Seeds

It’s good for relieving pain and the effects of multiple sclerosis, and may be helpful in treating depression and fatigue. These days the sativa percentage is 80-90%, and while it may not be identical to the original form it has still become fully established as a strain, and known and loved by many. Of course it’s a shame that the prototype has been lost, but the modern form is without doubt one of the highest caliber sativa strains available

DURBAN POISON GENETICS WERE BROUGHT OVER TO THE USA IN THE ‘80s; THE UNIQUE HIGH PROVED TO BE GREATLY POPULAR with indica to enable more indoor success, and much shorter in flower time (usually 8-9 weeks from what I’ve seen).

Maintaining such a pure sativa in its original state for many years would be tricky even in optimum conditions, and most don’t have the dedication for sativas, so breeding programs inevitably went in an indica direction.

It wasn’t long before what was being sold as Durban just wasn’t what smokers remembered it to be. To many, any of a number of related South African landraces can be called Durban Poison. However, to some purists, they are merely related and not the real thing. The original strain is apparently very distinctive, with thin, dark leaves and a red-brown coloration to its stringy, sticky colas. It has an unmistakeable menthol and licorice aroma that can be somewhat putrid. The taste is very intense, both sour and earthy, but at the same time fresh and cool. If you’ve smoked it, you’ll remember it forever – that why so many of the old school ston-

in 1993, Kali Mist was a Cannabis Cupwinner by 1995. She was over 90% sativa, from secret parentage (though the South-East Asian landraces are believed to have been greatly influential), and had an unmatchable high. Then it was decided that increasing the indica influence by introducing an Afghan father would be a good idea, as the original 84-day flower time and low yield was thought to be off-putting to growers.

However, the reaction from the fan-base at losing their precious clear high made it obvious that many are prepared to go that extra mile to get results of such quality. Unfortunately, it is never easy to go back in time, genetically speaking.

Back-crossing can have almost miraculous effects but the complexity of gene expression is bound to mean that not all foreign new DNA is eliminated.

So, a new father was again selected, and while Serious Seeds managed to recapture the pure sativa high by 1998, many

today. Kali’s not the easiest strain to grow but your patience will be well-rewarded, so I’d urge anyone who can get their hands on some seeds or clones to try for themselves.

DURBAN’S LONG SUMMERS PROVIDE THE PERFECT HABITAT FOR LONGFLOWERING SATIVAS (© NORREBROGADE)

36

HISTORY & CULTURE

Altered States

O’Riodon

I have a question and it’s a big one. If recreational drugs are so bad, how come they make us so creative? Think about it: if it were not for the mind expanding substances used by musicians over the years your iPod would be pretty light. Art and literature would also be a bit patchy. Altered states have been responsible for some of mankind’s most amazing creations and could even be a reason why they’re illegal (but more about that later).

mber of Alexander Dumas, author and me Man by his very nature is an explorer, but the real frontier has always been within – and recreational drugs have been a means to take him there. We have always used psychoactive substances in search of creativity, from ancient cave paintings inspired by datura root, to the psychedelic art of the acid-soaked ’60s, though it’s something we just don’t talk about. Drugs have always been taboo; the drug use of artists is usually not mentioned in the historical record.

The Lakeland poets, revered by the establishment, were all avid users of laudanum, another name for opium.

Coleridge, for example, wrote his famous unfinished poem Kubla Khan under its influence as well as The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Sadly in later life he allowed the drug to take him over, so the lesson here is moderation.

Across the Channel in France, Alexander Dumas (author of The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers) was a member of the Club des Hashischins.

Club des Hashischins

more accepted during this period; even Queen Victoria was a Cannabis user.

Many philosophers and thinkers used psychoactive substances to access the ‘left-handed’ thinking that brings insight.

Aleister Crowley, the notorious magi, used an array of substances in his study of the occult and wrote many books on the subject. Aldous Huxley, another mind traveler, wrote the ground breaking Doors of Perception after his psychedelic experiments, a book well before its time.

The end of the last century gave us many writers who were considered outrageous for their indulgences, only later to be embraced as their genius was recognized.

This was particularly common in the United States where Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs were all dismissed and even persecuted, only later to receive the accolades they deserved. These are but a few of many.

The fact that drugs are illegal even helped create an art form, the Underground

ast! In Music; I saved the best for last! this field the use of substances ances to get the creative juices flowing goes back further than han you might think. Mozart and Beethoven were just wine ne and beer (ab)users, but ut Holst, Schumann, Berliozz and Mussorgsky all tookk creative substances at one point or another.

By the beginning of the last century, alcohol and marijuana were the main influences upon on music – particularly the he development of blues and nd jazz. Musicians were far more candid about their substance use. Louis Armstrong openly admitted to smoking a little reefer and wrote songs about it. Of all the art forms, drugs have had the most influence on music, although it didn’t always have a happy ending.

The intensely creative but sadly short life of Charlie Parker is an example. Many early musicians allowed themselves to o fall under the spell of harder,r, more dangerous drugs and paid d a high price. However, in their ir suffering they gave us music that at touched our souls.

Keith Rich all an ards, doing d surv iving it

From the 1920s onward musicians used drugs simply to keep up the long hours of their trade.

On the Chitlin’ Circuit they often traveled with a bag of weed in the bus to help grease the creative wheels. The following decades it was weed, speed, coke and smack that drove the sound.

Then came the ’60s and suddenly musicians not using some kind of drug were in the minority. LSD and marijuana were so common they opened a creative floodgate. We all know the names: The Doors, The ’Dead, the Airplane and many more too numerous to mention. Over in Europe, The Beatles and The ’Stones were very obviously influenced by the substances they used, and look at the amount of music they created. Keith Richards proves that some can do it all and still survive.

I also want to mention Lenny Bruce and Bill Hicks, comics with insight that made us think. All these people have one thing

“Many writers once considered outrageous for their indulgences were later embraced as their genius was recognized” Delacroix and Baudelaire were also members and their work is held in the highest esteem. Back in London, Conan Doyle was writing about a detective called Sherlock Holmes, who frequently used a seven percent solution of cocaine. Drug use was

Comic. The weirdness of Robert Crumb and the anarchistic mayhem of Gilbert Shelton’s Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers are only the tip of a drug-inspired iceberg.

Today hundreds of substance-fuelled comics fill the market.

in common; their use of psychoactive substances to access the source of creativity.

However, there’s a snake in the grass: responsible drug use entails education and moderation; excessive behavior

poet Jack Kerouac, beat

Samuel Taylor Coleri dge, an avid opium user always causes problems, whether it’s drugs, alcohol or even food.

Another interesting aspect to all this is that recent research has shown Cannabis has an effect on the pineal gland. This is the small pine cone-shaped gland seated between the two hemispheres of the brain, sometimes called ‘the third eye’. This is our connection to the universal consciousness and the source of our insight. The pineal gland also gives us the ability to ‘see through’ things (a sort of ‘bullshit detector’), which is why substances that activate this are not popular with the powers that be, who would prefer to keep us stupid and unquestioning.

Remember: more people die in one year alone from the legal drugs, tobacco and alcohol, than all the illicit drug deaths put together in the last hundred years. So, isn’t it about time we rehabilitated these substances – particularly Cannabis – and provide honest education that will allow us to make the right choice? Not all drugs are bad (‘mmm kay?’) and it’s time to recognize that fact.

37

GROW REPORT FROM SEA OF GREEN TO JUNGLE!

Grow Diary Mataró Blue: Part One It was that time again! The jars were getting empty and the summer getting closer, time to get the grow on before the hot weather really kicked in and made cultivating indoors a little trickier. After visiting the Spannabis Expo in Barcelona earlier in the year, I picked up a few different strains that I had heard about and I was keen to get some of

By Little Lebowski those Spanish seeds wet!

The Strain From the four or so packs that I picked up in Barca, the Mataró Blue from Kannabia was most tempting. A three way cross between one of the seed bank’s most indica rich blueberries, an original Afghan Mazar and a Black Domina – one of my personal favourites; I was expecting strong, resinous buds and a pretty big hit.

This would be one to look forward to!

Extraction: 8inch RVK fan and an 8inch Carbon Filter. A little bit overkill, but it was leftover from an earlier two light, 1200 watt grow. I used a speed controller to drop the fan speed down to about 70%, more to kill the noise than the actual rate of air exchange – I always thought the more air exchange, the better - but it

The MG and PK additives are even more concentrated than the nutes, with a starting dose of 0.25ml per litre and finishing at 0.5ml. They are much more concentrated than any other liquids I have used, so I would need to keep my wits about me. No smokes before feeding, I didn’t want to get these measurements wrong!!

From reading the Kannabia website, the Mat Blue can handle heavily fertilisation.

Sounded like a good match.

The compost used was Special Mix Light.

As the name suggests, this is the lighter, less fertilised version of Gold Label Special Mix – the well known, heavily fertilised compost – one that I have used a few times with nice results. The less fertilised

MASSIVE FAN LEAVES rates, but they are certainly not essential – so if you are just starting out and are a bit cash strapped, concentrate on a decent light and extraction set up.

LITTLE DID I KNOW THAT MY SEA OF GREEN WAS ABOUT TO TURN INTO A JUNGLE

The Set Up I decided on a sea of green grow as the shortened veg time would hopefully mean I would get my harvest in before the hot summer months arrived. For those that aren’t familiar, the sea of green technique is where you fill your grow room with plants spaced close together and flower them early (within one to three weeks), this theory being that you get a decent harvest from a lot of smallish plants – that’s the theory anyway!

The current grow room is towards the top of the house and the warmer temperatures can be a problem, this made me steer towards soil. I know that growing hydro in warmer temps is certainly possible, but I fancied less maintenance for this outing and it had been a while since I had a got my hands dirty!

The rest of the set up was as follows; Environment: HOMEbox Original Tent, one metre square size. I installed an 8inch oscillating fan to keep the air in the tent moving around.

sounds like a vacuum cleaner in the tent!

However, the good thing about it is that I could always up the air exchange if the weather turned warm.

Lighting: 600 watt dual spectrum HPS with a euro reflector and magnetic ballast – cheap and cheerful, but all you need really!

Nutrients and Compost: This one would be a full Gold Label soil grow as a good mate of mine passed me a few bottles from their new nutrient line to try. This comprises of; - Roots – concentrated root stimulator, looks like treacle and smells nice and organic.

- Soil A+B – the base nutes, pretty concentrated dosage rate that start at just 0.5ml per litre and finishes at 3ml per litre - Ultra MG – the growth stimulator, used at the end of the veg stage and continued into flowering.

- Ultra PK – the bloom stimulator, used for the last 5 to 7 weeks of flowering.

TUNE IN NEXT ISSUE FOR THE FLOWERING JUNGLE PICTURES

mix is certainly very light and fluffy and gave more control over the amounts of nutrient that the Mataró’s would be receiving – very handy considering the concentration levels of the liquids!

Propagation and Vegetative Period Ten feminised seeds went into some wet tissue paper and straight into the airing cupboard where they had the wet, warm and dark environment that they needed to germinate. Three days was all the girls needed to crack and from there they went into small - 3 inch - pots filled with the light mix and into an unheated propagator.

I kept things pretty simple with this grow; no propagation cubes, heated propagators or even a cfl propagation light, I just used the HPS lamp from the start and kept it around 30 inches from the top of the propagator.

There is no doubt that specific propagation equipment will improve your success

I let the seedlings get established for a couple of days then added some of the root stimulator on the first feed, there is some nutrient added to the light mix, so there was no need to add any additional until the first pot up. The Mat’s really seemed to like the root stim – and the amount of light they were getting from such a young age - they were sitting a good 6 inches tall a week after the first feed; time to be potted up into the larger square pots.

After two and a half weeks of vegging the Mat’s underwent some incredible lateral growth – we’re talking fan leaves the size of my forearm! They were only around 10 inches tall, but had just packed on girth and were ready to be switched to flower; all was going good, little did I know that my sea of green was about to turn into a jungle!

Keep an eye open for part 2 in the next Soft Secrets to check out the flowering, harvest and – most importantly – the smoke report!

THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS! THEY’RE ESCAPING FROM THE TENT

38

SMUGGLER’S TALES

THE GREY GHOST

fought wind and waves. The storm finally abated, but fuel was low and the nearest refueling port was Cadiz naval base.

Entering a naval port with a boat full of hash seems insane; nobody could be that stupid and that’s what the port authorities must have thought. The Ghost drew a few admirers, but little other attention.

Two hours later they were heading out to sea. Sam was still mad at Larry – it seemed most of his money was counterfeit, including some he’d given his wife back in Spain.

Crossing the Bay of Biscay an engine cut out. Larry wanted to continue on one engine; Sam said no and turned for the French coast. An argument broke out, and then the second engine started to smoke, so Larry gave in.

This story is as much about a boat as it is a smugglers tale. Built in the ‘50s, The Grey Ghost started life as a rescue launch for the British Air Force. Sixty-five feet of light weight plywood, her gas turbines made her the fastest thing on the water; but our story O’Riodon begins some thirty years later.

The aging Ghost, now painted creamy white, was lying neglected in a southern UK port. Her four previous owners had each painted her a different color and flecks showed through the dirty cream.

Her gas turbines had been replaced by

week later The Ghost left the harbor and headed toward Gibraltar with just Sam, Larry and his partner for crew.

It was a day’s sail to the pick-up on Morocco’s Atlantic coast; halfway there

“Hurry up,” he said. “The money’s counterfeit.”

Panicked, Sam jumped in the water and swam the boat out through the waves.

Then there was a yell from the beach and

THE TRIP TOOK A LONG TIME AND THEY LOST A HUNDRED KILOS IN THE WAVES a couple of diesel truck engines, but she could still reach 18 knots. The present owner had fallen on hard times and The Ghost was padlocked to a pier for unpaid mooring fees.

That was how Sam found her – and she was exactly what he was looking for. He was planning a year cruising the Mediterranean and needed a boat with lots of space, cheap. The owner was happy to oblige and a deal was struck.

Three months later and back in her original gray colors, she was motoring south to the hum of re-conditioned engines. Sam and his wife had turned the interior into comfortable living space and, despite the additional fuel tanks, there was still room enough. There needed to be; family and friends were planning a visit once they reached Spain.

The journey was uneventful and a week later they were lying in Marbella harbor.

Soon the boat was crawling with family.

For the next month life was idyllic; then the accident happened. Sam’s sister fell off the harbor wall and broke her spine. Big medical bills followed; with no insurance the boat was impounded and that’s how Larry found Sam. Larry, an American opportunist, had been circling the local bars for weeks looking for just such an opportunity. He offered to pay Sam’s bills in exchange for running a load of hash out of Morocco, with more money on delivery in the UK. Sam, broke as he was, had no choice but to accept. A

Sam received the co-ordinates. On the charts it was a military area and off limits.

Although this didn’t seem to bother Larry, it bothered Sam. The following evening they neared the pick-up. Larry produced a flashlight and made a series of flashes. A reply blinked back and Sam headed in toward it. In the heavy swell he came as close as he dared and dropped anchor; Larry and his partner launched the inflatable dinghy and disappeared into the darkness. Sometime later a signal announced their return. The trip took a long time and they lost a hundred kilos in the waves.

a shot. Luckily this time the engine fired and they escaped.

Sam was mad – back on board he punched Larry, but only once as they had to get underway. They headed northwest, away from the coast and into one of the worst storms of the year. For thirty hours they

Their last port of call being a naval base, there was no problem with the authorities. Sam decided he’d had enough of Larry; this was as far as he was going.

The boat needed parts, which would take time, so Larry would have to find another way back. Leaving an American on guard, Larry and the other American set off to arrange new transport.

The other American returned first, without Larry. Together they loaded the hash in a van and left, leaving Sam with a hundred kilos. The next day Larry arrived and exploded when he realized the hash was gone. The others had ripped him off. First he yelled at Sam, and then left to chase after the van.

Sam’s wife brought the engine parts a few days later in a camper from England and returned with Sam’s hash. A month later Larry was arrested in a shooting incident.

So, ‘to live outside the law, you must be honest’: Bob Dylan said that.

Larry asked Sam to help pick up the rest of the load and reluctantly he agreed.

The waves going in were big and scary – beaching even scarier. Two military jeeps were parked close by. Sam first thought it was a bust, until they started unloading bags. Larry greeted the Moroccans. An American appeared and helped Sam load.

“I’m coming with you,” he said, pushing the boat into the surf.

The journey back was dangerous, but they arrived intact. Sam then headed back for Larry and the last three hundred kilos. On the beach Sam loaded while Larry handed the Moroccans sealed plastic bags of money. Handing over the last one, he ran to the inflatable and pushed off. Sam fired the outboard, but it died. Larry was nervous and kept looking back at the Moroccans examining the money under a flashlight.

PICK-UP ON THE DESERTED ATLANTIC COAST

A NEGLECTED GREY GHOST

41

LOCKED UP

A Winter in Rosales Jim Brown’s account of over wintering in Ceuta, the duty free Spanish Enclave that stands opposite the Rock of Gibraltar on the North coast of Morocco. Although not on the normal tourist routes, P.P.Rosales is a great place to meet the locals, both Spanish and Moroccan.

Accommodation is cheap although not entirely free. The P.P. in front

By Jim Brown of Rosales stands for Prison Penitentiary.

High in the Riff Mountains of Morocco, green fields of Cannabis plants sway in the warm mountain breezes. The precious marijuana is protected from the winds by Lebanese cedars trees and guarded from thieves by Berber mountain men with sickles, swords and Uzi machine guns.

The growing of the Cannabis plants and the production of hashish is illegal; yet vanloads, busloads and truckloads of high quality hashish are ferried down the mountain day and night.

The police and the customs, aware that the smuggling is concentrated on the single-track highway, content themselves setting up roadblocks at intervals.

They know which way to look and which vehicles to stop.

It was Friday morning in early December 1974. We were stopped at customs as we attempted to cross the border into Ceuta from Morocco and funnelled into a warehouse-sized garage, the double doors closing behind us. I switched off the engine and looked at Harry. The armed border guards hustled us out of the van.

A grey haired man climbed into a set of white overalls. He smiled across at us. His assistant arrived carrying a bag containing torches and measuring rods, drills, spanners and other tools of their trade.

Their job was to catch drug smugglers.

Part 1

Harry and I had come to Morocco to buy hashish – an easy decision. We couldn’t afford to buy as much dope as we wanted in Britain. We didn’t care that much about it being illegal; it was the early 1970’s, love and peace and revolution.

We had taken the back seats out of a Morris Traveller van. The alterations were simple and, we thought, effective.

The missing seats were replaced with a plywood floor. A hatch was cut out to access a false bulkhead behind the spare wheel. The whole area was carpeted and tacked down.

After searching for a while, the grey haired man and his assistant had found nothing. They stopped and the elder man rested, he raised his eyebrows and looked towards us his eyes crinkling at the corners. I was beginning to think that we had gotten away with it. The assistant left the garage by a side door. A minute later he returned with a scrap of paper in his hand and checked the number plate of the van. “Si Si.” He confirmed. The search began again.

The customs men had already taken out the spare wheel and prodded about in the recess. The grey haired man walked around the vehicle slowly. He studied the interior of the van again. He took out a measuring stick and pushed it into the

FOLKSTONE, EARLY DAYS space for the spare wheel. He read out the measurements to the younger man who jotted them down on a scrap of paper. Then he did the same along the top of the carpeted floor. There was a discrepancy. He turned and smiled.

We were escorted to a waiting police van and taken to the Ceutan police station.

We were the first of the weekend visitors

to the jailhouse. There was a concrete block bed, a thin blanket and nothing else in the cell.

In the evening a shaven headed Moroccan was dragged into the jail, kicking and muttering. He lay where he was thrown and fell into a drunken stupor.

When he came to, he said his name was Dadi and smoked most of our cigarettes.

42 We were escorted from the police station cells where we had been held for the weekend, handcuffed, wild looking, unwashed and uncertain of what was going to happen. We were hustled into the waiting police van and taken to court to hear the charges against us. Apart from five kilos of zero-zero high quality hashish, what did they have? Easy pickings we soon discovered.

the Moroccan, was escorted to another part of the prison. There were no regulation prison clothes. Our money, we were advised, would be held at the reception area and could be changed at any time for prison’s paper token (5 and 10 peseta denominations) currency. With 225 pesetas to the British pound, it seemed that Rosales was going to be a cheap place to over winter.

The delousing centre was adjacent to the court. The guards un-cuffed us and left us at the entrance to a concrete shower block. We stripped and put our clothes into a fumigation box. The showers were switched on and we ran through the boiling spray. The man who ran the facility was a dark Spaniard with oily hair, styled like a cowboy rocker. He shaved off one side of Harry’s hair and beard, creating a Before-and-After mug shot: carefree hippy from one side, sinister looking skinhead convict from the other.

With a turn of the head and a scrape of the razor our lives were transformed.

There were two main cellblocks in the male section of the prison, called brigadas. One for Europeans, the other for North Africans. In the European brigada there were 14 double bunks. We were soon to realise that every time there was a spare bunk another person would be arrested at the customs post. We figured we would be out in a couple of days. The guard agreed, just as long as we could raise some money for bail.

Spain was a fascist regime controlled by the military. We were marched before a desk of army men outshone by their medals. Words were spoken and papers were passed around, signed, shuffled

He said we could expect 15 years. I smiled and tried to correct his English, explaining the difference between days, weeks, months and years. He was adamant. We had already been sentenced to three years for the contraband, he explained.

Fifteen years was to be expected for the more serious crime of Offences Against Health and Public Order.

HE SAID WE COULD EXPECT 15 YEARS. I SMILED AND TRIED TO CORRECT HIS ENGLISH, EXPLAINING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS AND YEARS. HE WAS ADAMANT. and handed back to the officials. In minutes we were out of the courtroom, loaded into a prison van and driven out to P.P. Rosales. The joke was over.

I strained to see out of the vehicle as we approached the Penitentiary on the outskirts of town. The big gates were opened and we disembarked in a courtyard and shuffled through a second set of doors and up to a circular glass reception area. The floor was tiled and gleaming. The police escort handed us over to be processed. We were dealt with by a warden who spoke a little English. Dadi,

Numbed, I looked into the cell. The bunks were arranged around the wall.

The only light came from the windows that were barred but not glazed. It was cold and damp. The guard indicated an empty double bunk next to a hole-inthe-ground toilet. A thin, stained mattress sagged through a few strands of wire. We threw down our bags and followed the guard back downstairs. He opened a gate to an enclosed cobbled yard, the stones shiny from feet going nowhere. Small groups huddled in corners with coats and blankets over their heads attempting to stay warm. One or two marched up and down military style. The winter sun did not reached the yard. The prison was built for maximum Summer shade.

I hunched my shoulders to the cold and tried to take in the scene. To the right was a covered walkway that led to an eating area. A large wooden trestle table and two benches were the only furnishings.

FRONT VIEW OF ROSALES PRISON

If it rained, the walkway and the dining area would be the only places to shelter.

At the bottom of the walkway and past the canteen the toilet block was situated: six holes in the ground.

We had arrived in time for lunch, the main meal of the day. A Yugoslavian approached us and introduced himself as Mike. He had been arrested with a few grams of hashish and was awaiting money from home. He only needed the equivalent of £60 to pay his fine and get out. His father, who had been a General in Tito’s revolutionary army, had left him in Rosales for six months figuring that the experience would do him good. He took us through the regime. We were given our only prison possessions: an aluminium bowl and a spoon.

First it was shopping time. Twice a day the shop opened for stamps, cards, toothpaste, sweets, cigarettes and most important for me, wine. The authorities treated all Europeans as being alcohol dependant and allowed a daily wine ration akin to the rum tots in the British navy. We were allowed to purchase two glasses of wine a day. One before the midday meal and one before we were

7

The guard rattled the brigada cage. I awoke in the freezing prison cell. It was a relief to get out of the sagging bunk.

Breakfast was a sweet cocoa drink and stale bread. After eating we were lined up in the cobbled yard for an official head count. Those important enough, mainly the Ceutans, set off for their privileged or created positions. Some Moroccans had low paid jobs weaving baskets in the prison workshop. The rest of us were set to work cleaning up the jail. Three Moroccans arrived with a washtub full of hot water, cloths and

WE WERE MARCHED BEFORE A DESK OF ARMY MEN OUTSHONE BY THEIR MEDALS returned to the Brigada for the night.

We could buy as many cigarettes as we could afford, a packet as cheap in the jail as on the outside. We bought a large glass of vinegar wine, choked it down and followed Mike back across the yard.

A small tough looking guy wearing a military style jacket was holding out his aluminium bowl like a beggar on the streets. He laughed with bleary eyes as a tall youth wearing a long black leather coat emptied the contents of his mouth into the awaiting bowl. “Legionnaires.”

Explained Mike.

We congregated with the others milling around the eating area. Two prison orderlies brought the midday meal in a large metal urn, taking great care not to disturb the contents. A dapper Spaniard dressed in flannels and blazer

“WHY AMSTERDAM MAY BE DOOMED”

and sporting a smart pair of baseball boots arrived to distribute the food.

Walking alongside him like a psychopathic presidential bodyguard was his minder. We were pushed to the front of the queue. We soon found out why.

The baseball booted Ceutan began to serve up the food. The ladle skimmed the surface of the soup. We were dished up a bowl of grey water and handed a baguette, a sardine and an orange: a three-course meal. There was a wellestablished hierarchy in this place, and soup-wise we were at the top. With luck maybe we could make it to the bottom where the nutrition was.

“SEX POT: THE MARIJUANA LOVER’S GUIDE TO GETTIN’ IT ON”

31

mops. One supervised as the other two young men dipped the cloths into the hot water, wrung them out and handed the steaming rags to the other prisoners.

This cloth rinsing had an obvious coveted perk, warm hands.

We hadn’t seen Dadi since arriving in Rosales before he sauntered up to the steaming tub and removed the three youths with a look. He nodded towards Harry and me. We stepped forward and plunged our cold hands into the hot soapy water and began our new job with vigour.

Next issue: Our heroes witness the violent election for brigada Capo.

Jim Brown is now 65, retired and living in Edinburgh.

“SMUGGLER’S TALES”

38

44

MUSIC REVIEWS

Tinariwen Tassili

V2 RECORDS The soundtrack of the Touareg revolution in Saharan North Africa was created by electric guitars. Plaintive rhythms produced a unique desert blues whose lyrics raged against world indifference and evoked a longing for disappearing freedoms. On their enthralling new album entitled Tassili, the renowned band Tinariwen have set down their electric guitars and returned to the very essence of their art. Recorded in a protected region of the Southeastern Algerian desert, the group returned to the roots of their music, with only acoustic guitars and non-amplified percussion. During recording, the band was joined by Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone of the band TV on the Radio. Later on, guitarist Nels Cline (Wilco) and the horns of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band contributed to create an album that reaches deep into the essence of Tinariwen’s sound, while simultaneously opening itself to the surrounding world.

THE MUSIC OF TINARIWEN IS AT ONCE EXOTIC AND FAMILIAR – THE SCALES AND ARRANGEMENTS ARE AS STRANGE TO OUR EARS AS THE LANGUAGE THEY SING IN, BUT THERE’S A FORCE OPERATING ON A MORE SUBLIMINAL LEVEL THAT UNITES IT TO SOMETHING RATTLING AROUND INSIDE ANYONE WHO WAS BROUGHT UP ON BLUES OR ROCK ‘N’ ROLL. IT’S MUSIC OF LONGING AND REBELLION, WEARY WISDOM AND RESTLESS ENERGY; AND IT SOUNDS SO, SO GOOD.

By Kaz Peet

Thievery Corporation Culture of Fear ESL MUSIC Trip-hop collective Thievery Corporation returns with their sixth original studio album Culture of Fear! Following up their incendiary and bombastic call to arms Radio Retaliation from 2008, this time around Eric Hilton and Rob Garza craft a simmering and hazy collection of atmospheric gems that recalls their early production work, but reflects a thoroughly contemporary zeitgeist of socio-political angst and unease.

UTILIZING A TEAM OF SKILLED SESSION PLAYERS FROM THEIR ACCLAIMED LIVE SHOW AND BEYOND, CULTURE OF FEAR FINDS THE DUO EASING INTO EXPANSIVE MULTI-PART SPACE-JAMS LIKE TOWER SEVEN AND JAZZY INSTRUMENTAL B-BOY BREAKS LIKE LIGHT FLARES. Not only are usual suspects, such as multilingual chanteuse Lou Lou and dancehall toaster Sleepy Wonder back to lend their haunting vocals, but several new contributors also join the Corporation.

Ry Cooder Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down NONESUCH RECORDS Inspired by a news headline about the Wall Street bailout, Ry Cooder began work on Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down with the track No Banker Left Behind, an ode to the corrupt few spared from the financial crisis while most were left to fend for themselves.

“Those scum-sucking dogs deserve to be shot,” he seethes.

Released to great critical acclaim, the album displays a return to form for this age-ripened minstrel, the sound being as refreshing, brave and original as his early recordings in the ’70s. Perfectly described in The Independent newspaper, he offers “the modern-day equivalent of the kind of dust bowl ballads with which Woody Guthrie once hymned the poor and skewered the wealthy.”

WHILE THESE ARE HARD-HITTING PROTEST SONGS OF A BROKEN, DIVIDED SOCIETY AND THE GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR, THE ANGER IS MATCHED AGAINST HUMOR – LAUGHING IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY. He’s a master at setting bleak or thoughtful lyrics against jaunty melodies. No Banker Left Behind is the story of bankers on a spree after they “robbed the nation blind,” set to a romping, country-edged tune; while Christmas Time This Year places a horrific story of war casualties against a cheerful Mexican dance melody, with accordion from Flaco Jimenez.

Cooder plays guitar, mandala, banjo, bass and keyboards, and constantly changes direction from the evocative portrait of a rich man and his maid in Dirty Chateau to the gospelinvigorated stomp of Lord Tell Me Why (“a white man ain’t worth nothing in this land no more”), which is quickly followed by the witty blues of John Lee Hooker for President. Closing gently with the finely sung ballad No Hard Feelings, an air of self-assured defiance breezes through, dispersing the seeming despair. For we shall overcome!

The Marketts Outer Space, Hot Rods & Superheroes ACE RECORDS You cannot help but admire the skill of a magician in fooling an audience with crafty misdirection.

When it comes to 1960s instrumentals, producer Joe Saraceno was just such a magician. He manufactured well-crafted records made by middle-aged jazz musicians and presented them to a young audience as though they were from the latest group of teenagers. The anonymity of the pop scene at the time lent a cloak behind which all manner of tricks could be worked. Unknown bands could appear in the charts and the title of the track and name of the band might be all you would ever know. This was the foggy background in which Saraceno routinely operated, including as producer of The Marketts.

Outer Space, Hot Rods & Superheroes collects together the very best of the tracks The Marketts recorded for Warner Brothers, including their smash hits Out of Limits and Batman.

Many of the band’s later 45s make their CD debut here. There’s even a previously unissued title in Makaha, an unissued gem from the Out of Limits session. The whole thing harks back to a time when magic came as part of the deal.

AS A LEADING REISSUE RECORD COMPANY, THE ACE RECORDS CATALOG IS LIKE A MUSICAL TREASURE TROVE OF THE FINEST ROCK ‘N’ ROLL, SOUL, FUNK, BLUES, FOLK, LOUISIANA AND NEW ORLEANS, PSYCH, SURF... AND THE LIST GOES ON.

Patti Smith Outside Society SONY MUSIC The first lady of punk turns sixty-five this year having maintained a prominence throughout her years, not only within that genre but as a rock ‘n’ roll star per se. That’s no mean feat in what remains a male-dominated industry, and her influence has been substantial.

Patti performs across a variety of art forms, too, as poet and author besides her day job – one that has spanned over thirty years and spawned ten studio albums. This collection cherry picks from all ten and stands as a concise collection for listeners who’ve only heard Because the Night. The early tracks, from 1975, predate the punk surge when, along with The Ramones, Smith was turning New York into the birthplace of a movement never matched since, spitting out many a tale of injustice with real venom.

She exited the ’70s having moved closer to the mainstream, meeting with the biggest commercial success of her career. Most of the ’80s were spent raising a family and so it wasn’t until 1988 that Dream of Life arrived; a solid set of songs tapping into everything she had created before. SINCE THEN, SHE HAS GENERATED A FURTHER FIVE ALBUMS, THE LATEST, TWELVE, BEING HER OWN UNIQUE SLANT ON OTHER ARTISTS’ WORK – AND THE SUPERB SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT IS INCLUDED ON THIS COLLECTION. THERE’S NOTHING HERE FOR THE EXISTING FAN BASE, BUT ENOUGH TO ENTICE NEW ARRIVALS AND STRONG ENOUGH TO FURNISH A FRESH INTEREST FROM THEM.

45

MEDICAL MARIJUANA ABROAD

A Long, Deep Breath of Relief

Davi Lenyo

A CALIFORNIAN STONER IS STRUCK WITH CANCER IN BARCELONA...

Cannabis use by chemotherapy patients in hospital settings is a serious yet controversial issue, depending on where you live.

Being in a Cannabis-tolerant country or US state doesn’t hurt.

Even when one may find themselves in such a society, there is not much written official hospital policy on the issue and selfmedicating operates in a kind of evolving gray area – where discretion is valued.

Here is one personal example from Spain, who, along with Holland, Germany, Israel and certain states in the US, formed an institutional set of vanguard treatment practices that permit the incorporation of in-patient (inhaled) Cannabis consumption.

Exhausted by Bush’s ongoing wars against the world (and his own country via the War on Drugs), and my non-profit organization disintegrating due to the souring economy in California, I decided:

There are few things more scary than receiving a cancer diagnosis, but the worst was yet to come. Fortunately, even though I was a foreigner, I proceeded quickly through the stellar socialist medical care system of Spain, but the surgery to remove the tumor was not enough.

When I was told I was going to need chemotherapy I was floored.

The CatSalut system and their doctors exuded professionalism while I was concerned about my new job at the polytechnic public university. When my 60-something administrative boss said, “You can find some personal aid for your time under chemo; you should try Cannabis,” I felt instantly supported by the entirety of Catalan society.

During and after chemotherapy I continued to socially smoke Cannabis, although lightly compared to when I would wake up in the cold mornings, knowing I had to eat something before going to work. The strong infusion of Cannabis smoke would send a signal to my body to go ahead and do normal things like take the metro back and forth from work, even though it was chilly in December in Barcelona.

Hybrid strains give you the motivation to go on with your day, in addition to stimulating appetite, fighting nausea and settling your stomach. I had heard about a program where the Catalan government (via its hospitals) was ‘giving away’

ORGANIC CANNABIS OFFERS A NATURAL ALTERNATIVE TO SOME HEAVY PHARMACEUTICALS

any substantial form. I myself medicated in public when my chemotherapy-related discomfort was too much to bear. This included public areas like in- and outside the metro, or just walking along the street.

After being released from the hospital I would continue my chemotherapy on an intensive outpatient basis (a week on; two weeks off). Since I was young and the tumor small but aggressive, they gave me a very potent regime of chemotherapy that killed what seemed like every cell,

HYBRIDS GIVE YOU MOTIVATION TO GO ON WITH YOUR DAY, STIMULATE APPETITE, FIGHT NAUSEA AND SETTLE YOUR STOMACH it’s now or never. I had always wanted my Master’s Degree, and after a tedious application process I was accepted to an International Relations program in Spain.

I had spent a long night in Barcelona in 1996 and knew that it was much more than a place to party: a place with history, hash and hips at every corner, it brought ‘street life’ to a whole new level.

Spanish society was in a Leftist, postFranco festive haze, and upon reaching my first apartment, I felt electrified.

Nothing would prepare me for what was coming next.

After the successful conclusion of my year-long intense Master’s in International Relations came the summer daze of mellow job-searching, working on the thesis at the library, barefoot soccer games and post-game spliffs on the beach. Siesta, shower, la cena (the 10PM dinner that would sometimes mutate into a life of its own); maybe a house party, bar-roaming, free street concerts... it was so dream-like.

Then, suddenly: a horrid pain so strong that it turned out to be cancer.

medical marijuana, but the program was stopped due to ‘legal issues’.

My first week of chemo was inpatient, and by day three I felt awful; fortunately I entered the hospital with about 30 grams of finely-manicured and -cultivated orange hair from Northern Catalonia. At first I medicated in the bathroom, but then I got so exhausted I would take long, slow glass pipe hits in bed. I continued this as needed during night three, days four and five – especially after meals. Only on my last day, upon smelling the Cannabis, the sweet youthful nurses said, “Andas de fiesta,” or, “You’re partying, huh?!” Of course they knew I needed it medically and they would say this in a non-judgmental and almost motherly way.

After my hair grew back and I got back to normal I encountered an open-minded attitude that is visible in public areas such as the squares – not just the private sphere – though officially the government sanctions public use of Cannabis with fines. It remains to be seen if these fines have been levied upon medical users in

good or bad, in my body – and nearly myself – in the process. The worst for me were the anti-nausea medications like Motilium, Loratadina, etc., but with the help of Cannabis I only took them for two

weeks or until I realized that Cannabis did what they were supposed to do (but better and with minimal or zero side-effects!)

I felt foolish for even taking one of those pills, but that is ‘medical protocol’, or what doctors are used to because all the other doctors prescribe it. Sativex was not accessible at the time, but is now used at Hospital Clinic (Barcelona). When I told my oncologist and general physician that I weaned myself off those toxic anti-emetic pills with Cannabis, they said, “Good for you.”

Stay away from those anti-nausea pills, please, that make you feel empty, exhausted and like a zombie without the grace of any euphoric moments whatsoever. Don’t let Big Pharma steal your soul, anywhere, in the name of profit or conventional treatment, because you might not be as lucky as I was. With the help of Cannabis and community, I got back my soul.

TERRACE CULTIVATION IN THE CITY WAS A HOUSEHOLD AFFAIR

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MADE IN HOLLAND / INDEX OF ADS / COLOFON

LED Spectra Unit POWER II 1200-watt Maximum Power = Maximum Harvest (Maximum Yield) A world first: in 2008, an exceptional harvest of 1.2 g/watt dry yield was achieved with an LED lamp from Dutch Green grow lights. This is possible because of the compound LED spectrum, wherein selfdeveloped LED colors are processed. This unique LED spectrum activates all plant processes required, from germination of the seeds through the final stages of flowering. After the Classic Series, the range of the LED Spectra Unit was expanded through the addition of the Special Series.

LED Spectra Unit Special has a compound spectrum with their own unique, selfdeveloped LED unit of 16 different LED colors, whereby the flowering range has been upgraded with three watts of LED. Due to the success of the series and the special requests of many professional growers worldwide, the most powerful LED grow light ever has been developed: the LED Spectra Unit POWER with 1200 watts. The LED Spectra Unit POWER II is a second-generation LED grow light with

the maximum yield for the professional grower. In in its unique bloom spectrum, a number of required flowering colors were changed from three watts to five watts of LED! The LED Spectra Unit POWER II is furnished with SSP and SCP. SSP technology ensures each LED is individually controlled. Because of this, the LED and the LED driver function optimally. SCP maintains stability in the power supply to the LED. In the event of an overload, the lamp remains completely functional and won’t even partially fail. In 2011, a dried harvest of 1075 g (> 1 kg!) was achieved under the 1200-watt LED Spectra Unit POWER II. » www.dutchgreengrowlights.eu

Index of ads Name Advanced Seeds Apothecary 420 Attitude the Attitude the Best Price Evaluations Dinafem Seeds Funky Skunk the Ganja Juice Green Door the Green Style Consulting Grow Grow International Hemcy Higher Level Hydroasis.com Intellibusiness Management Letgrow.net Mountain High MWW Stealth Led Paradise Seeds Plagron Pollinator Company RAW Royal Queen Seeds Sensible Seeds Serious Seeds Steep Hill Labs Sweet Seeds Sweet Seeds Vapors

Colophon Page 1 28 2 4 24 16 43 19 35 41 43 40 40 43 32 1 43 8 1 48 40 27 47 43 39 11 1 20 39

Rolling Papers Update: WHY ADDITIVEFREE PAPERS SHOULD BE THE ONLY CHOICE In the last edition of Soft Secrets USA we erroneously stated that RAW unbleached rolling papers were made from rice, rather than flax. Joshua from RAW was kind enough to put us right, and also tell us a little more about why the differences between papers is so crucial. For their RAW Original brand, the guys at RAW experimented with various blends of unbleached natural fiber, including ordinary paper pulp. This was found to be an off-putting dark brownish-gray color (and wood pulp papers should generally be avoided due to the chemical processing required, and the potential effect

on human health), so new fibers were put to the test. After much experimentation, a fine blend of hemp and flax was developed, which provided the optimum balance of minimal taste with the ideal burn rate and consistency. In addition, the natural wheat-like color of the finished paper is visually very appealing.

A long history of research and development has gone into the manufacture of rolling papers, especially in Europe where the trend originated, and the process has been refined at every step of the way.

Much care is usually taken to ensure qual-

RAW ORGANIC PAPERS HAVE A PERFECT CONSISTENCY AND BURN RATE

Kali Mist

ity and safety, and several standard practices of the rolling paper industry have been established, which good quality producers are careful to follow.

This is partly why it is unfortunate that the US Government introduced the blanket ban on flavored papers, as certain flavoring processes, such as for menthol and strawberry, were established over 100 years ago and have been shown to be safe (whereas some less legitimate companies use ingredients that are untested, have unpleasant characteristics, and may be harmful).

However, in a triumph for those companies that seek to provide a safer product, Joshua and his team actually sued the FDA and forced them to recognize the inappropriateness of their action, and as a result it is still possible to purchase the Juicy Jays brand (made with non-toxic soy ink). When choosing a brand of rolling papers, it is vital to consider what’s inside. It should be possible to obtain a full ingredient list from a reputable manufacturer, but if you’re careful and stick with reputable brands such as RAW or Juicy Jays, you won’t need to worry about toxic dyes and additives.

Soft Secrets USA is published six times per year

by Discover Publishers USA, Inc. Century Park Plaza 1801 Century Park East, 24th Floor, Suite 2400 Los Angeles, CA 90067 E-mail: usa@softsecrets.nl Editor-in-Chief: Kristie Szalanski Contributors: Kali Mist, Buddy Kush, Grubbycup, The Sativa Diva, O’Riodon, F.Red, Kaz Peet, et al.

Cover Text: Kali Mist Cover Photo: Whitehead factory floor, designed by Kevin McKernan for the Human Genome Project (c. MG) Comic: oz.

Editorial Address: E-mail: Kristie@softsecrets.nl Advertisements: Telephone: +1 661 333-3151 Email: jessica@softsecrets.nl A word from the publisher: To the chagrin of the US Federal Government, almost half of the states have embarked on a process of relative liberalization towards the use of Cannabis, and Cannabis activists are engaged in broadening this progression. Some townships, mayors and police chiefs – on a local level – now actively support a ‘compassion club’ distribution system as a way of separating recreational stoners from the people who legitimately need therapeutic help, simultaneously decreasing the number of unnecessary arrests.

Whether they are finding their way to the local medical distribution point or growing for personal stash, Cannabis users are a menace to no one and are causing no discernible social problem. Some politicians, and even more non-users than ever, are calling for the outright legalization of marijuana. Taxpayers are frustrated with funding the incarceration of first-time, non-violent drug offenders (read: pot smokers) as well as the social toll that high numbers of imprisonment brings to some towns and neighborhoods. Now we must be patient and see how the debate develops during a period of relative peace between both sides.

In the meantime, the publisher hopes Soft Secrets will expose the positive aspects of the normalization of Cannabis use to the public, and is excited to offer a forum to both proand anti-legalization advocates. Soft Secrets forums operate under the assumption that the publisher does not necessarily agree with the views and opinions expressed in articles and advertisements therein. The publisher therefore distances himself explicitly from statements or images that might give the impression that an endorsement is being made for the illicit use or production of Cannabis. Soft Secrets does not advocate breaking any laws, whether local-, state-, Federal or international.

Nothing from this publication may be copied or reproduced in any format without prior permission from the publisher and other copyright holders. The publisher is not responsible for the content and/or point of view of advertisements. The editors take no responsibility for unsolicited submissions.

Soft Secrets USA #6/2011 out: December 20th, 2011