1106

ISSUE 6 2011

ESTABLISHED IN AMSTERDAM, 1985

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

Take California You’ve heard the news, read the headlines: the apparently utopian Californian dispensary approach has not impressed the Federal government. With more and more US states deciding to adopt medical Cannabis laws, California has until now acted as a sort of trailblazer with regards to implementation. Growers were licensed and restricted to certain amounts of plants; collectives were established and taxed to provide a variety of choice and locations for card-carrying patients across the state.

Even though the people of this republic have voted to approve medi-weed for its inhabitants, the Feds are (again) upholding the national ban on the substance.

In This Issue: WHY POT GETS US HIGH Explore the human endocannabinoid system in this brief explanation of the science behind getting high. ›› 7

Alabama 3

›› 12

WEED IN THE ANIMAL WORLD Why do deer always eat your outdoor plants? Find out more about creatures and weed. ›› 13

The Schizophrenia ›› 16 Debate DIY COMPOSTING What to do with those piles of yard clippings and grow room refuse? Why not compost it? ›› 25

Dispensaries have been raided and closed, and others are on their way out of business as their proprietors receive letters warning of reprisal from the DEA. Considering the current economy, and the fact that these are tax-paying, job creating businesses (never mind the fact that they are providing non-chemical therapy to ill patients) is this really the best time to green-light more DEA raids? While there are a few unscrupulous owners or poorly-run businesses, some shops are just located in overpopulated areas, due to the rapid rise of the industry over the past few years. Others are too close to schools or are simply being taxed to death. Back taxes and retro-active fees, revoking their non-profit status... ugly tactics are currently in place to shut down these collectives.

Another former bastion of hope in the dream of legalization, Amsterdam, is currently faring no better. If the Californian dispensary policies were modeled after the Dutch coffeeshop approach, let’s hope the Feds active in California don’t do the same. In October the Dutch government voted in measures that would ban the sales of Cannabis containing above 15% THC. In addition, the southern portion of the Netherlands will begin enforcing a ban

on foreign customers in their local coffeeshops as early as January, 2012. Exactly one year later the rest of the country is expected to follow. Read more about the 15% rule in this issue.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a grower, medical user, dispensary worker or just plain recreational smoker. What’s happening in California is foreshadowing for a potential downturn in tolerance around the country. As quickly as the industry is able to build itself up, it’s torn down again by Federal means. As much as an example as the ‘left’ coast state has been – many dispensary owners have almost become legal experts in

their attempts to operate ‘by the book’ – California may also serve to show us what’s in store if more people don’t get out and speak their minds.

It’s almost 2012, after all.

3 Gardening Disasters

FROM THE EDITOR

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.

the carnage are welcome, but not necessary. The more humorous your anecdotes, the better chance they have of being published, so let’s hear it.

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

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!

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.

‘LIKE’ OUR NEW FACEBOOK PAGE

AND JOIN IN THE DISCUSSION

Now there’s a new auto-flowering version of Black Jack from Sweet Seeds – a result of the crossbreeding of the S.A.D. Auto with the Jack Herer Auto. An auto-flowering strain of superior quality – with dense buds and big resin production – Black Jack has a sweet and musky, intense aroma and a strong effect. She is quick flowering and a big, strong hybrid.

Technical Data: 100% Auto-flowering THC: 19% CBD: 1.1% CBN: 0.3% Indoor Yield: 400 - 550 g. / m2 Outdoor Yield: 40 - 250 g. / plant Indoor Blooming: 6 weeks Indoor/Outdoor Harvest : 9 weeks from germination Height: 16 - 43 in. (40 - 110 cm.)

Photo by Sweet Seeds www.sweetseeds.es

BLACK JACK AUTO

facebook.com/softsecrets.usa

IN THIS ISSUE: Take California Page 3 Girl: Black Jack Auto Cannabis Quality Control Why Pot Gets Us High Cannabis Legalization Steep Hill Lab Reports Alabama 3 Weed in the Animal World The Schizophrenia Debate Pot for Amateurs Dutch 15% Rule A Winter in Rosales (Part II) Pitch Your Tent!

DIY Composting Green Style Consulting www.Cannabis.info Hy’s Deli by oz.

Happy Buds Cannabis Indica Growing for Dummies Growing in Laos Grubbycup’s First Grow Cannabis Cup 2011 Future Food Gut Smugglers Stoned Selection Now for Something Completely Different Oaxacan, Angola Red and Red Lebanon Weed and Making Love Winter Cleaning

1 3 5 7 9 10 12 13 16 18 20 21 23 25 26 26 26 28 28 29 30 33 35 36 37 38 40 42 44 46

FROM THE EDITOR STRAIN REPORT LAB REVIEW SCIENCE OF CANNABIS CALI-RANT TEST LAB BAND INTERVIEW SCIENCE OF CANNABIS SCIENCE OF CANNABIS WEED 101 AMSTER-RANT LOCKED UP SERIOUS GARDENING ORGANIC CULTIVATION DISPENSARY REVIEW WEBSITE REVIEW COMIC BOOK REVIEW BOOK REVIEW CAUTIONARY TALES CULTIVATION ABROAD GROWING 101 FESTIVALS & EXPOS HEMP KITCHEN SMUGGLER’S TALES MUSIC REVIEWS SERIOUS GARDENING ENDANGERED STRAINS BUDS IN THE BEDROOM ORGANIC CULTIVATION

5

INTERVIEW CALIFORNIA LAB RESEARCHES “ONE SAMPLE AT A TIME...”

Cannabis Quality Control

Sativa Diva

Despite that fact that many people choose to use Cannabis as a natural alternative to other recreational drugs or prescription pharmaceuticals, not much can be done to regulate the quality of said products. Until now, that is.

Recently SSUSA caught up with Wilson Linker of Steep Hill Cannabis Analysis Laboratory. Located in Oakland, CA since 2008, Steep Hill not only tests the local Cannabis supply for mold, pesticides and other toxins but also offers official medical Cannabis laboratory certification, known as SafeCannabis™.

So what sets Steep Hill apart from other testing facilities? “We are dedicated to

“We use USP61 method fungal and yeast detection, and we follow the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) guidelines for contamination levels. Some California Cannabis labs employ a visible mold inspection; we plate an actual sample, in agar.

“Most labs in California use only one method or one instrument; we use GCMS, HPLC – and we are working on

WE ARE A REFERENCE LABORATORY AND WE WILL CONDUCT ANY ANALYSIS THE CLIENT WANTS exploring faster, safer, more efficient methods. We’re the first and most trusted Cannabis analysis lab in California,” says Wilson.

This lab is also unique in their attention to detail and open-mindedness towards the research they do, both evident in their scientific processes.

new detection instruments. The GC (gas chromatograph) uses heat and gases to analyze the Cannabis. The HPLC (high performance/pressure liquid chromatograph) uses solvents in polarity to separate the cannabinoids.”

“We use the GC for testing anything that is to be combusted (burned) because it

MOLD SAMPLES ARE PLATED ON AGAR TO ENSURE ACCURATE RESULTS

ANNARAE GRABSTEIN, CEO OF STEEP HILL LAB

uses heat to analyze the product; anything that is to be applied topically or eaten is run through the HPLC, because it does not destroy – or decarboxylate – the THC acid.”

Wilson reveals why Steep Hill thoroughly researches multiple methods of consumption: “Basically, we are a reference laboratory and we will conduct any analysis the client wants. We don’t

prefer any methodology or instrumentation – we just have more instruments than any other lab, and we offer more flexibility.”

With a burgeoning medical Cannabis industry, CA is the perfect location for Steep Hill, although someday they hope to expand into neighboring pro-weed states – and even internationally. “In California we’re lucky to have the Patient

6 our minds, but we don’t take an official stance for or against any sort of cultivation method.”

Steep Hill has found THC ranging from two- to just above twenty-four percent on the GC. “The highest THC numbers consistently have come from people who use very high tech – but organic – methods.

The actual cannabinoids seem to respond to organic methods, or ‘New Age organics’, shall we say? You know, this isn’t just ‘throw it into the dirt in the yard.’”

Unlike other Cannabis research facilities worldwide Steep Hill is accessible to the public, creating an unusually large database. Thus far the lab has tested over 20,000 samples (beginning in late 2007) and discovered over 25 strains of high CBD (cannabidiol) Cannabis.

OVER 20,000 SAMPLES HAVE ALREADY BEEN TESTED

The folks at Steep Hill also seize opportunities to maintain a proactive, visual role in their local community. “We try to get a booth at every major event. We do community clean-ups – we cleaned up a San Jose park with a group of our clients and

patients recently, as a community project.

“We test for all the High Times Cannabis Cups – we’re the official tester – and we’re going to continue to do that.” This means that if you visit the Cup in Amsterdam this November, you might get to meet the team. So growers, you’ve been warned: let’s keep the green clean from now on, okay?

Finally, after all of these years, conscientious Cannabis consumers (in CA, at least) have access to people who will happily test their products for signs of either quality or contamination. “‘True activism is a science’ is one of the things we say here,” Wilson informs me, “and true activism is self-regulation. What we do is an extended form of activism; we believe that regulating this industry is going to speed up the process towards legalization and give more people access to this wonderful plant.”

Photos courtesy of Steep Hill Lab » www.steephilllab.com

Provider system, so we can certify the growers’ products (before they go into the dispensary) with our SafeCannabis™ packaging program.

“We are a discreet company, and we understand the need for discretion in the industry. We are more than happy to promote our clients – or not – depending on their desires. They come in and give us their doctors’ recommendations; we verify that they are legal to transport Cannabis in California. We complete an analysis for them, and then they take their products to the dispensaries. We’ll also take the products straight from the dispensary and do the analysis – we’ve worked with both models.”

Steep Hill only requires a small amount of product for testing: two grams of bud, one gram for concentrates (hash/hash oil), and one serving size for edibles. The product is carefully packaged and sealed with Steep Hill’s own technology.

“The SafeCannabis™ certification was started in November 2010 and involves a screening for quantitation of cannabinoids, total fungal and yeast count – and an analysis for the major pesticides in the Cannabis industry.

THE LAB IS THE OFFICIAL TESTER FOR MANY CANNABIS COMPETITIONS

“It’s also coupled with a standardized packaging program, a Mylar® bag with a nitrogen-enriched environment that keeps the product up to two years. The bag blocks light; it is Mylar® but it does have a clear window for viewing so it still needs to be stored in a dark place.

Light and oxygen degrade THC into CBN. We also equip each grower with sealed sample bags so the purchasers can open and smell a sealed unit without opening the full unit.

“Some of the highest [cannabinoid] numbers we see come from the finest organic products. Organic is a sign of quality in

SAFECANNABIS™ CERTIFICATION AND PACKAGING

7

SCIENCE OF CANNABIS

Why Cannabis Gets Us High

Buddy Kush

A BRIEF GLIMPSE INTO THE HUMAN ENDOCANNABINOID SYSTEM Following recent developments in the medical field, it is important to remember that modern research into Cannabis is still in its infancy, though it has been advancing at a rapid rate since THC was first isolated in Israel in 1964. The subsequent discovery of cannabinoid receptors in the human body and the endocannabinoid system (ECS) have led us to better understand the role endocannabinoids have in regulating our bodies and, of course, of the medical potential Cannabis has in helping us treat all manner of ailments.

Dr. Raphael Mechoulam identified two cannabinoid receptors in the human body back in the 1980s. The CB-1 recep-

high. What is clear is that the human body produces chemicals that connect to these receptors: these are endocannabinoids. Five have so far been identified – arachidonylethanolamide (AEA; anandamide), 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG), 2-arachidonyl glyceryl ether (noladin ether), virodhamine, and N-arachidonoyl-dopamine (NADA).

Anandamide affects both cannabinoid receptors in the human body, and is quite similar to THC. This endocannabinoid has been shown to impair working memory in rats, and to be a key element in stimulating appetite and regulating our moods. We now also know that it has the potential to inhibit the prolif-

CANNABINOID RECEPTORS ARE ALSO TO BE FOUND IN MOST ANIMAL LIFE FORMS, INCLUDING THE SEA CUCUMBER tor, found predominantly in the brain, is also located in other parts of the body such as various fat and muscle cells, the liver, lungs, digestive tract and kidneys. It has various functions, including the conversion of fats in the liver. The CB-2 receptor is primarily located in the immune system, and is widely distributed in the brain and the digestive system, where it is thought to moderate inflammation.

While it has been suggested that the presence of these receptors is a clear sign that humans are meant to use

eration of human breast cancer. 2-AG is a CB-1 receptor ‘agonist’ (meaning that it provokes a biological reaction upon binding to the receptor) and is present in high levels in the central nervous system. The compound has been shown to be an analgesic produced in relationship to stress-related pain (such as a sport injury) in order to protect the body temporarily. Noladin ether’s function in humans is not yet known. Similarly, virodhamine is found within the brain but is relatively underresearched thus far. NADA is an agonist of the CB-1 receptor.

THUS FAR, 421 CHEMICAL ELEMENTS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED – INCLUDING 85 DIFFERENT CANNABINOIDS Cannabis, these same receptors are also found in most animal life forms, including the sea cucumber – demonstrating that they play a wider role in our organism than just allowing us to get

HEMP SEEDS AND STALKS: SOLUTIONS TO THE FOOD AND OIL CRISES (PHOTO: DEEDEE)

Today, an increasing amount of interest is paid to the study of the ECS, not only to understand the role it plays in the regulation of the metabolism but also to understand the psychoactive effects of individual cannabinoids and how they work in combination.

Despite strong restrictions limiting the amount of research into Cannabis, we have gained a fair understanding of the way the elements contained in the plant can affect the human body. Thus far, 421 chemical elements have been identified – including 85 different cannabinoids whose exact effects on the body are still being investigated.

Through focusing on the most prevalent natural cannabinoids – THC, CBD and CBN – we have a good understanding of the interaction between them and our own ECS. THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the primary psychoactive element in Cannabis, responsible for the high you can experience from ingesting it. It has been shown to be efficient in moderat-

ing pain and connects equally to the CB-1 and CB-2 receptors in the body.

CBD (cannabidiol) is a non-psychoactive compound that does not connect to the cannabinoid receptors but rather influences the ability of other compounds to connect to the receptors. This compound is rich in medical properties: an anti-psychotic, an anxiolitic (tranquilizer) and anti-depressant; it also helps to relieve convulsions, inflammation and nausea and is structurally very similar to THC. CBN (cannabinol), on the other hand, is the main product of THC degradation: there is little in a fresh plant but levels increase when stored. One can observe this reaction occurring on Cannabis flowers subjected to lengthy exposure to light and air, as the resin glands turn from milky white to amber.

Interestingly, CBD and CBN were discovered in the 1940s, decades before THC was first isolated.

The advances we have seen in the medical applications of C. sativa have been spreading in waves in recent years.

Worldwide debates about the necessary end to the plant’s prohibition has reached the level of groups such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and groundbreaking work, including this first publication of an entire Cannabis genome, continues to fuel hope. From chronic pain to muscle spasticity, lack of appetite to sleeping disorders, psychosis and schizophrenia: the medical value of Cannabis has been shown to be vast and controversial, and still far from entirely understood.

Understanding the reasons behind this could lead to developments not only for the medical field but also in enhancing strains for other sectors such as textiles and nutrition. Industrially, we could develop more efficient industrial hemp strains, concerning both fiber production for the textile industry; and to enhance hurd/shive production (woody, fibrous core of hemp stalks) in order to provide even more efficient alternatives to petroleum products such as plastics.

The possibilities are endless.

We are now beginning to understand how different chemicals combine in Cannabis to produce its various compounds. More specifically, we understand the pathways undergone to produce some of the cannabinoids upon which scientists are focusing today – not just THC, CBD and CBN but also the less famous cannabinoids, including CBC (cannabichromene). THC, CBD and CBC are the result of bio-synthesis from the same substrate: cannabigerolic acid (CBGA). This substrate synthesizes into three enzymes: tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), cannabidiolic acid (CBDA)

420+ CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS... JUST A COINCIDENCE, RIGHT? (PHOTO: DEEDEE)

EVEN THIS CUDDLY KOALA CAN GET HIGH (PHOTO: YENHOON)

and cannabichromenic acid (CBCA), which in turn synthesize into THC, CBD and CBC, respectively.

Identifying these pathways and the permutations undergone to produce the resulting cannabinoid compounds gives us the first insight into how genetic manipulation could enable the development of ailment-specific strains, through directing these permutations.

Tailor made strains for tailored needs... fiction seems one step closer to becoming reality.

9

CALIRANT

Cannabis Legalization:

Grubbycup

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE VS. THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

To understand the difficulty posed by having states where Cannabis is locally legal under some circumstances (and the Federal government claiming that it has the right to deny the democraticallyagreed will of the local citizenry at the same time) it is helpful to start by taking a closer look at the two governments – both of which have a legal right to permit or prescribe actions of the people.

The United States is a republic of fifty individual states. Each state has its own government, and the Federal government is the bridging force to prevent, for example, a state like Texas from invading a neigh-

Proponents of states’ rights tend to see the states more as individual countries that just have really, really good relations with each other and act as a unit on things like foreign affairs.

Humans have been growing Cannabis for at least 10,000 years, and the plant wasn’t illegal in the US until the 1930s. Why not just allow an exception for these states, as certain Californian wineries received during the American alcohol prohibition debacle?

It’s about the money, power, and the current culture that controls the stockpiles of weed in America. Who knows why the ‘I

of the country – the same one they are ripping to shreds by each trying to amass the greatest pile for themselves.

Federal agents armed with machine guns invaded and seized both property and uprooted plants.

American pharmaceutical and medical health corporations have the ultimate capitalistic dream position: Pay them whatever they want to extort from you, or suffer and die. It’s no wonder that they have established such a massive power base that they can pressure the Federal government to defy the will of the citizenry with impunity – American ‘democracy’ or not. So blatant is this culture that one major health corporation in California even takes its name from a man legend-

One has to wonder if the cost of permits and such that were purchased from the county will be refunded, since the county knowingly failed to protect the citizen’s legal property from an invading outside force. If a group demands money from businesses in exchange for the service of ‘protection’ against the collecting group but no other value is offered, under any other circumstances that would be labeled ‘racketeering’.

AMERICAN PHARMACEUTICAL AND MEDICAL HEALTH CORPORATIONS HAVE THE ULTIMATE CAPITALISTIC DREAM POSITION: PAY THEM WHATEVER THEY WANT TO EXTORT FROM YOU, OR SUFFER AND DIE boring state and annexing it. It also has authority over events like a crime being committed in one state, and then the criminal fleeing to a neighboring state.

Certain major works such as interstate freeways, etc. are also under the domain of the Federal government.

From the perspective of the Federal government, since the states where this sentiment has been legally ratified is in the minority, they should be allowed to continue to deny Cannabis use – regardless of the opinion of the people living in the state. Proponents of a strong Federal government are generally of the position that we are a single country, and should follow a unified set of laws in such matters.

From the perspective of the legal weed states, they have followed due process, and have determined that their population of Americans agree that Cannabis use is acceptable under certain circumstances.

got mine so I don’t have to care about you’ business mentality is so embraced and rewarded in America? It is normally just a self-centered egocentric phase commonly known as the ‘terrible twos’ in small children, but inexplicably our society rewards those that are very successful at implementing it with lavish lifestyles and more resources than the rest of the population.

It isn’t that these people contribute more to society, it’s that they have the skill of acquiring and hoarding resources.

If all adult Americans were free to grow and smoke Cannabis, that would mean that there would be resources out of the control of the greedy people who feel that they have the right to ‘get theirs’, even at the expense of others not getting any.

One truly impressive feat by the American rich is convincing so many of those that they take from that any correction in the current inequities would be so devastating that it would threaten the very fabric

ary for his lust, greed for gold and using natives as slave labor. They should take note that in the end he died broke.

The drain on resources by the rich in America is among the highest in the world proportionately. General Electric managed to manipulate the system with such skill that out of $14.2 billion in profits, it paid less in US taxes than the average working private American citizen did.

The feds say ‘no’, and some of the states say ‘yes’. The corporate welfare and criminal elements make more money if Cannabis is illegal, so they have exerted enough pressure on the Feds to get them to send in armed people in uniforms to force compliance in locations such as Ukiah’s Northstone Organics in Mendocino County. Despite working with local law enforcement to ensure proper and permitted compliance, and going so far as to purchase tags to mark approved plants,

Another tactic being used is for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to deny standard business deductions such as payroll costs from companies and dispensaries, like San Francisco’s Harborside Health Center. Again, despite obvious efforts to operate in a responsible fashion by filing business taxes, they are exorbitantly penalized for doing so.

The street price of Cannabis has fallen in California since the medical marijuana movement has taken hold. In an outdoor field environment, it is both cheap and easy to grow – as long as the pest that walks on two legs doesn’t infest your garden.

I advocate to the man on the street to avoid connecting money and pot when possible. ‘Don’t mix greens.’ As soon as money gets involved, people tend to get greedy and stupid. Situations where someone is just growing enough to keep themselves (and maybe a friend or two) in smoke tend to be the safest, as long as they are kept discrete. It takes a lot of the greed-powered stupid out of the equation. If you happen to have a bountiful harvest, consider sharing the bounty with a friend of yours, or someone else in need.

Peace, love and puka shells, Grubbycup

10

STRAIN LAB REPORTS

SHL Strain Reviews: California Sun-Grown 2011 California has long been the undisputed king of outdoor Cannabis production.

Recent trends in dispensary purchasing have shown a dominance of indoor flowers on California shelves. However, with the emergence of ultra efficient

Hawaiian Hybrid

Congolese x Congolese SATIVA

Ingrid HYBRID

greenhouses and adaptation of indoor techniques, the upper echelon of ‘sungrown’ Cannabis is now competing with indoor flowers. The sun-grown Ingrid provided by the Leonard Moore Collective in Mendocino is grown with the same

SHL Strain Bank Grassy, licorice 4.5% THC 6% CBD

SHL Strain Bank Grassy, peppery 15% THC

Leonard Moore Collective, Magnolia Wellness, Harborside Health Center Floral, sweet, cream 19% THC

nutrients, medium (cocos) and techniques as the indoor flowers. This season, new sun-grown hybrids like the Boost and rarities like the Congolese x Congolese are taking the place of lower grade indoor.

This should equate to a savings per mil-

Congolese Hybrid HYBRID

ligram of THC to patient. The flavors are as diverse and pungent as indoor material; they just come with a more reasonable price tag and no global warming guilt.

Enjoy the outdoors!

SHL Strain Bank Sour, peppery 14.5% THC

Boost (Blueberry x Sweet Tooth) HYBRID

Presidential Kush PURE KUSH HYBRID

Curated by: Wilson Linker

Harborside Health Center Blueberry, slate 19.5% THC

Indica Kush Organics Earthy, cleaner, Kush 19.5% THC

12

BAND INTERVIEW

Alabama 3: An Army of Love In a fairly inconspicuous building (only a stone’s throw away from an epicenter of the August riots that took place across the UK) in Brixton, South London, can be found the home of the Alabama 3. The band’s recording studios, pressing plant, offices and club venue are all within these walls.

Police sirens screeched relentlessly through the night, as forces arrived from all over the country. Meanwhile, the studio was alive with the sound of a hot new album being recorded. It is here that SSUSA spoke to front man, Larry Love, about the gospel according to Alabama 3 and Shoplifting 4 Jesus, their latest sermon.

Half-consciously muttered, late one night, the title is provocatively anarchic and twisted in a typical Alabama 3 kind of way. It sets the tone for the album, and as Larry begins to illuminate, “We believe that the culture

in which we now live permits a license to thievery. The bankers and the global financiers of the planet deem it acceptable to liberate, uncontrollably, the hard-earned incomes of many poor people – hence the current recession.

“Couple that with the concept in the music industry that people no longer buy records.

So, I think that there is a whole kind of culture within society, both economically and aesthetically, whereby thievery is acceptable. Alabama 3 has made no secret of the fact that, as T.S. Elliot said, amateurs plagiarize, true artists steal, and Alabama 3 are the biggest motherfuckin’ thieves on the block. The album is very much comprised of ideas, snippets and melodies from hundreds of other people’s songs. We make no claim for originality; what we do claim is that whatever we’ve stolen, we’ve stolen in the name of the Lord.

“As we all know, if you put the name of the Lord behind anything, you can get away with murder. That is the theme behind the album. We are on the zeitgeist, with the current occupations in New York and London a very beautiful thing to see in terms of young people being energized – people are sussed to the fact that everything is being stolen. The crisis in capitalism is waking people up to the fact that stealing is believing.”

REV. D. WAYNE LOVE

Kaz Peet

While the distinctive Alabama 3 sound is clear throughout the album, there is a strong feeling of a hugely increased passion injected into this, making it stand out from being ‘just a new Alabama 3 album’. Appreciating the compliment and

ALABAMA 3

ALABAMA 3, ARMY OF LOVE 2010

“Our fans know that we know how to party,” smiles Larry. “There’s nothing more boring than soap box preaching rock ‘n’ roll. I think that the most important thing is to get a room full of people from loads of different backgrounds together, dancing and asking questions: why are you talking about Mao Tse Tung and Che Guevara? Who was Sister Rosetta Tharpe and who is John Sinclair?

The last thing we want to do is give people boring politics. We are very political in our

waiting to be discovered by those who don’t already know him. In terms of Soft Secrets, he’s probably one of the biggest advocates; he smokes dope 24/7 and has the mind of Einstein. He doesn’t drop a stitch; he’s brilliant.”

Larry Love also smokes 24/7, including throughout this interview. Musing over how the band’s support for the legalization campaign may have had a detrimen-

WE ARE ON THE ZEITGEIST, WITH THE CURRENT OCCUPATIONS IN NEW YORK AND LONDON A VERY BEAUTIFUL THING TO SEE IN TERMS OF YOUNG PEOPLE BEING ENERGIZED

AURORA DAWN

LARRY LOVE

with enthusiasm gathering, Larry agrees and explains, “This is a culmination of the last four or five years of us becoming a completely independent and autonomous organization. Consequently, this album very much reflects that energy. In this time of recession people need music, a bit of glamor and a bit of funk; it makes people think outside the box and our record reflects that.”

Never exploiting the global success of the Sopranos theme tune and never selling out, the band is certainly known for their commitment to aiding outlaw causes. But they are equally notorious for their hedonistic attitude, something that is strongly transmitted through the music. The crowd will always leave an Alabama 3 gig on a massive high. It seems that it is more important to have fun than to be angry, and to laugh in the face of adversity.

In this church, grooving to funky chords and harmonic melodies can transport the soul to a beautiful place, transcending the discordant racket of the morally-lacking organization.

nature, but if you ain’t got the ladies’ asses moving to the left and the right, and the gangsters in the back feeling whack all night, then you ain’t got a party going on and people won’t ask the questions.”

Indeed the band is fond of asking questions itself, as in the track entitled Who the Fuck is John Sinclair? Why is the 1960s jazz poet, beatnik and political activist, entrapped and imprisoned for the possession of Cannabis, relevant to this album?

“Well, John Lennon and Yoko Ono did the Free John Sinclair rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1972 and I recognize the fact that John Sinclair was the manager of MC5 – kick out the jams, motherfuckers – and he set up the White Panther Party, which ran in tandem with the Black Panther Party.

Basically, he was a counter-cultural figure who Alabama 3 was lucky enough to meet recently and do some recording. We made music and we got high together; he told me about all the new strains of weed in Amsterdam and he invited me to appear on his new album. He’s a cool operator

tal effect on their career, he nonetheless appears undeterred.

Although Alabama 3 are probably best known in the US for the Sopranos theme tune, Larry believes they have always maintained their integrity – that the American audience are becoming more wise to the band. As he describes them: “A band coming out of Brixton with a Welshman and a Scotsman, pretending they’re from Alabama, talking in American accents and mixing country and techno is a shit idea.

It’s taken a while even for a British audience to realize that there is a serious agenda behind this and I think the American audience recognizes that these boys can play the blues and they respect the quality of the music. Hopefully they will love it and dig it and we will be out there soon – hopefully April [or] May next year.”

After offering a final blessing of “Peace out ‘n’ keep on smoking,” Larry asks the growers out there if they can “have some Willy Weed when the band visits New Orleans next year, please?”

13 YOUNG CANNABIS SEEDLINGS ARE FAVORED BY MANY ANIMAL- AND BIRD SPECIES (PHOTO: STOREBUKKEBRUS)

Cannabis in the Animal World Most growers have had to deal with competition from other species that seem to love weed as much as we do – bugs, worms, and mites for the indoor grower; and all those plus deer, squirrels, birds and a whole range of fauna for the outdoor grower! But while we get understandably protective of our crops, to the extent of waging all-out biological warfare against these ‘invaders’, we should remember for a moment just how important Cannabis is to the wider ecosystem. In its natural environment, it provides food – and Kali Mist potentially medicine – to many species, not just us.

The relationship between Cannabis and humankind has been documented over millennia – wherever it has been found it has been cultivated, and humans happily assisted its spread across the planet.

The plant is found in various forms in every continent except Antarctica, and it is sometimes difficult to ascertain what escaped from cultivation and what is indigenous. There is little doubt that out of all vertebrates our own species has the strongest affiliation with the Cannabis plant, and while we don’t understand everything about the nature of our interaction with it we are certainly pouring a lot of money and resources into finding out more. However, the use of Cannabis for other animals is an under-explored aspect and one that deserves further attention from modern medical science.

There is a little-studied field of medicine (‘zoopharmacognosy’) which investigates animals’ intentional use of natural resources, such as plants as medicine. Several of these observed interactions have led to discoveries in human medicine – in a very clear cut example, sick chimpanzees were observed traveling outside of their normal range in the Mahale Mountains National Park of Tanzania to self-medicate with the leaves of the Vernonia amygdalana or bitter-leaf shrub, a plant that is poisonous in part, apparently unpleasant in taste, and definitely not in the normal diet of the chimpanzee. When researching fur-

ther, scientists discovered that the plant had also long been in use by indigenous groups of humans as a traditional treatment for parasites, and contains several previously unknown anti-tumor and antibacterial compounds. It is possible that our first medicinal uses of the plant were inspired by observing these chimps – perhaps we were given the clues to the uses of Cannabis through similar means?

Certain animals have long been known to repeatedly use specific plants for their psychoactive effect – horses eat locoweed, reindeer seek out psychedelic mushrooms, cats love catnip and several species regularly consume rotting fruit for the alcohol content. However, little evidence suggests that any wild animal species routinely consumes Cannabis to get ‘high’. Outdoor cultivators cite recurrent problems from deer, raccoons and monkeys (in South America) eating fresh growth. However, this appears to be for nutritional purposes as it often occurs in areas with little vegetation other than lush cultivated stands of Cannabis, and young growth is preferred.

Hemp has also been used as cattle feed in numerous locations – recently, the small European principality of Liechtenstein has banned hemp fodder for livestock due to fears that THC will become concentrated in milk or meat intended for human consumption. For this reason it is

also banned in Switzerland – and interestingly, many farmers protest the ban as they feel the animals thrive on hemp and are more relaxed than when on other diets. It has also been reported that mice and hamsters exhibit preference for the seeds over other types, and numerous wild and captive bird species adore them.

Some bird seed vendors even claim that hemp seed can cause increased copulation! It does appear, therefore, that some species may enjoy a benefit from consuming Cannabis or hemp that passes beyond the strictly nutritional, although its primary use for most species does seem to be as a food source.

these animals, unlike the bitter-leaf shrub by chimpanzees – which does not preclude them having medicinal properties, but makes it somewhat difficult to be sure if there is any zoopharmacognosy at work or whether any benefits are merely coincidental. The mature, dark leaves of the Cannabis plant are thought to taste very bitter to most grazers; yet many livestock animals are known to eat them, perhaps for their qualities in stimulating production of saliva, preventing vomiting or cleansing the digestive tract.

Alongside this cognizance of its nutritional qualities by wild animals, there is a great number of anecdotal reports of domestic cats, dogs and even rabbits repeatedly eating potent Cannabis left unattended by humans. There can be an intoxicating effect on cats and dogs, with the severity depending on dosage – sideeffects of overdose include loss of coordination, convulsions, coma, slowed heart rate and vomiting. It is notoriously difficult to regulate the effects of Cannabis once eaten, and some similar symptoms can occur with human over-indulgence on ‘space’ products.

It would seem that pets who experience the less extreme effects are more likely to repeatedly consume Cannabis, which implies that there is a level of ‘safe’, or at least pleasant, intoxication for these animals. Rabbits are herbivorous (unlike cats and dogs) and have been known to eat Cannabis in the wild, apparently suffering no ill effects. Wild or outdoor strains, usually lower in cannabinoid content, are perhaps more tolerable to pets and other smaller animals, presenting less risk of overdose.

The reason these animals repeatedly consume Cannabis is unclear – studies that have shown a tendency for lab animals to repeatedly self-administer Cannabis have been held up as evidence that Cannabis is dangerously addictive and subject to abuse; however, there is no clear evidence that it is in fact harmful if administered in correct dosages. Catnip is not thought to be harmful to cats, despite their repeated usage of it – conversely, locoweed is thought to be not only addictive but highly dangerous to horses, proving that an animal’s response to a substance may not always be to their long-term advantage.

LACTATING RABBITS PASS ON VITAL ENDOCANNABINOIDS IN MILK THAT STIMULATE APPETITE IN THEIR OFFSPRING Livestock such as cows and goats have been known to regularly eat flowering tops in Hawaii, which are cultivated for recreational or religious purposes and contain a significant percentage of cannabinoids. It is thought that the plant may aid digestion and prevent parasites in these animals, which could be an example of zoopharmacognosy.

A handful of livestock deaths have been attributed to Cannabis, usually after massive consumption. This would suggest that the flowers are considered tasty by

However, tests on mice have shown that tolerance of THC can be rapidly acquired via repeated exposure (also true of cats with catnip), which may imply that it is not inherently toxic. It is worth noting that, while there are a few reported pet fatalities through Cannabis overdose, none have been definitively proven. With further investigation it may well be found that certain dosages have a medicinal effect.

Currently it seems that the only products available for animals in the US are Canna-Pets™ (a pure seed oil, containing

14 little to no THC, ‘specifically designed for small animals’) and a handful of hemp seed fodder products. Canna-Pets™, produced by the Canadian company Med Marijuana™, ensures its products remain below the legal Canadian maximum of 10 parts of THC per million, and is primarily a dietary supplement. Apparently, no product that will provide an intentional neurological effect is available.

Perhaps modern veterinary medicine has yet to determine a valid use for Cannabis, but historic sources attest to its past importance – the ancient Greeks used it on their animals as an anti-inflammatory, to soothe wounds, and to prevent intestinal parasites. More recently, in the years preceding the 1937 prohibition of Cannabis, hundreds of different remedies containing psychoactive Cannabis

Post-1937, little evidence points to continued use of Cannabis in veterinary medicine anywhere in the world. A 1957 report on Indian Cannabis usage states that although Cannabis preparations were still being used on livestock at that time, prevalence was decreasing. The reason postulated for this was short shelf-life rather than lack of efficacy, as local preparations had long been acknowledged to have many beneficial properties including: as a sedative or anti-anxiety drug, as an aphrodisiac, in preventing gastrointestinal problems including parasites, and in treating sores of the feet.

HORSES CAN BECOME ADDICTED TO CERTAIN VARIETIES OF LOCOWEED (PHOTO: MIKE BAIRD)

On the other hand, modern pharmaceutical animal testing of Cannabis and cannabinoids has led to several advances in human medicine over the last few dec-

CANNABIS PREPARATIONS FOR ANIMALS WERE USED TO TREAT SIMILAR AILMENTS AS THOSE AFFLICTING PEOPLE oil were available for farm animals, right here in the US. As separate research to develop animal-specific products was rare at that time, Cannabis preparations for animals were used to treat similar ailments as those afflicting people: as an anti-spasmodic, analgesic, sedative, and general panacea for gastrointestinal complaints such as colic. Medicines for cattle and horses were often simply higher-strength doses of their human-specific counterparts. Most products contained other active ingredients but simple alcohol tinctures and pure extracts (such as Parke-Davis’s fluid extract Cannabis Americana) were also available, often sold as an effective substitute for opium – and allegedly effective against neuralgia, hysteria, and genitourinary complaints, amongst many others. It seemed to be firmly established in the pharmacopeia, and appeared in a wide range of preparations.

ades. As an example, research into mice at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel led to discovery in 2001 of the anti-inflammatory cannabinoid 2-AG that occurs naturally in the brain and prevents swelling after cranial trauma.

This encouraged further research into medical use of Cannabis to limit effects of Alzheimer’s in humans.

At the same university, it was discovered that lactating rabbits pass on vital endocannabinoids in milk that stimulate appetite in their offspring. This enhanced understanding of certain cannabinoids’ function as an appetite stimulant in humans. Similar research led to discovery of the CB-1 and CB-2 cannabinoid receptors, which are found in most (if not all) placental mammals, and even in invertebrates. These facts point as much to the potential efficacy of Cannabis drugs for pets – and milkand meat-producing livestock – as it does to their efficacy for humans.

As awareness of potentially harmful pharmaceuticals grows, alternative foods and medicines are increasingly sought for our animals as well as for ourselves.

Not only does the public wish to ensure their pets’ well-being; safety of farmed animal products is currently very much in question. The ban on hemp fodder in Switzerland and Liechtenstein surely deserves further investigation before it can be stated with confidence that trace cannabinoids in food are in fact harmful. Traces of cannabinoids may actually benefit us, as suggested with the aforementioned research on rabbits; the prohibition of such a cheap and available fodder may be a wholly unnecessary, and expensive, restriction on an already cashstrapped European farming sector.

PARKE, DAVIS & CO. FLUID EXTRACT OF AMERICAN CANNABIS, FROM 1928 (PHOTO: ANTIQUECANNABISBOOK.COM)

As the amount of research into the effects of Cannabis increases, more will be learned about its specific effects on animals. As we continue to study what remains of the wilderness we may uncover more zoopharmacognosy at work as

MICE HAVE EXHIBITED TOLERANCE TO THC; CATS

PETS SUCH AS CATS, DOGS AND

CAN DEVELOP TOLERANCE TO

RABBITS HAVE ALL BEEN KNOWN TO EAT

CATNIP (PHOTO: CYGNUS921)

UNATTENDED POT (PHOTO: TINE72)

A VERY CONTENTED THAI COW SNACKS ON WILD CANNABIS (PHOTO: TIMMOK)

we investigate the relationship between wild animals and Cannabis. It seems likely that a plant with such obvious medicinal properties for humans would at some point have attracted the attention of other species similarly able to recognize its potential. In the many countries where the current trend is warming to the concept of hemp as fodder, more will be

learned about its nutritional benefits for animals. As Cannabis and hemp continue to increase in importance for humans (the former for its known psychoactive properties and the latter for the environmental and nutritional advantages it boasts) the convenience and benefit of applying the same rules to our animals will become even more obvious.

16

The Schizophrenia Debate

Kali Mist

ONE PLUS ONE DOES NOT ALWAYS EQUAL SCHIZOPHRENIA! There has been an abundance of research in recent years into the link between Cannabis and psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia. However, the need to make sensational headlines, coupled with an almost willful lack of understanding of the key points of the science involved, has led to media coverage of this very significant work to be woefully inadequate. There are now hundreds of studies to read, and while we will not exhaust you with the details of them all, we aim to get you up to speed on the real science behind the claims of the mainstream media.

One study from 2007, which has been cited innumerable times by the tabloid press, suggested that Cannabis-using participants (who were selected on the basis of having no signs of mental illness) were 41% more likely to experience onset of psychosis than the general population. In this case, whereas many reports claimed an increased risk even for those who had only ever smoked one joint, the 40% increase was derived from an assessment of people who had smoked Cannabis once or more. This makes it factually incorrect to state that one joint increases the risk by 40%, as the risk increase for heavier smokers wildly skews the overall figure.

A small mistake, one might think, but in practice the difference is huge – and such errors of interpretation could be making countless Cannabis users wrongly fear for their sanity.

There has been no increase (and indeed no real variation) in absolute rates of schizophrenia in the population over time, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) – even while Cannabis usage rates have fluctuated substantially. The lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia in the general population is believed to be around 0.4%.

Throughout time, records suggest that at no time has more than 1% of the population been schizophrenic. With 25% of schizophrenics regularly using Cannabis, this equates to a maximum of around 0.25% (and an average of 0.1%) of the population potentially being a schizophrenic, habitual Cannabis user.

On the other hand, rates of Cannabis usage vary between ten- and fifteen percent of the population – so numbers of non-schizophrenic (and non-susceptible) Cannabis users always far exceed schizophrenic users. As this is common knowledge, available to anyone, it is misleading to argue that any one individual is 40% more likely to become schizophrenic from smoking just one joint; even if that were the case, an increase in the absolute number of schizophrenics would be tiny.

Alongside this, false positives may be made due to the intoxicating effects of Cannabis, which may have certain points of similarity to psychotic symptoms.

Furthermore, while results may imply that Cannabis leads to schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis, they may simply show that those with latent psychotic tendencies are more likely to use drugs.

The aforementioned study looked only at those who had no existing psychosis, as it is known that diagnosed sufferers of mental illness are more likely to use drugs – but it was not possible to ascertain that no undiagnosed or future schizophrenics were included.

Schizophrenics particularly are known to be around twice as susceptible to habitual substance abuse than non-schizophrenics – in fact, almost 90% of schizophrenics smoke cigarettes; of those, 68% smoke heavily (in the general population, percentage of smokers varies between approximately 20 - 30%, with only 11% considered heavy smokers). Most schizophrenics begin smoking cigarettes before the onset of their illness, yet cigarettes are not blamed for the schizophrenia when it appears. If an undiagnosed schizophrenic begins to smoke Cannabis before the onset of their

UP TO 90% OF SCHIZOPHRENICS SMOKE CIGARETTES, AND AROUND 25% SMOKE CANNABIS (PHOTO: JOSHUA RAPPENEKER)

SMOKING CANNABIS WHEN THE BRAIN IS STILL DEVELOPING COULD INCREASE RISK OF PSYCHOSIS EVEN WITHOUT GENETIC PREDISPOSITION (PHOTO: VALENTIN OTTONE)

schizophrenia than Cannabis. Conversely, one can view it more realistically: 90% of schizophrenia sufferers smoke cigarettes and, as could be interpreted from the 2007 study, are 41% more likely to use Cannabis (a Canadian study states that 25% of schizophrenics are habitual Cannabis users, compared to around 14% of the general population, which is indeed a little over 40% more). People suffering from schizophrenia are statistically around twice as likely to use all drugs habitually, and in fact Cannabis is fairly low on the list of the average substanceusing schizophrenic.

It is believed that schizophrenia and related illnesses are caused by developmental factors, including during gestation, and that there may be a genetic propensity

use of Cannabis leads to early onset of schizophrenic symptoms – as much as two-and-a-half years earlier than average, according to some.

However, male schizophrenics typically experience onset by around age 19, compared to age 22 in females. Male are also around four times more likely to use Cannabis than females. This fact alone could be enough to explain the apparent role of Cannabis in early-onset cases – at the very least it demonstrates the need for further studies that are a little more precise in how their controls are established, and able to prove a link that clearly goes beyond the gender difference.

The process of chemical intoxication from Cannabis is in some ways reminis-

PURE Δ9-THC CAN HAVE EFFECTS REMARKABLY SIMILAR TO PSYCHOSIS illness, Cannabis is likely to be blamed – yet there is no proven causal link.

By the logic of the tabloid press, one would surmise that smoking tobacco was in fact a far more significant trigger for

CANNABIDIOL (CBD) MAY COUNTERACT THE EFFECTS OF THC (PHOTO: AYACOP)

for the disease. If this is the case then Cannabis may well be a trigger for acute episodes in certain individuals, but is unlikely to be an independent cause. It is likely that those who have become schizophrenic after smoking Cannabis would have become so without using the drug, but the implication in the reactionary press is, of course, that they would not.

However, there is indeed some link between habitual drug use, including Cannabis, and schizophrenic illnesses.

The compulsion to regularly get high, or in some way intoxicated, seems to be a tenet of the schizoid behavioral pattern.

This does not mean that all habitual users are schizophrenics, or vice versa; yet the processes at work seem to be very similar. It also appears to be the case that in a significant number of ‘prodromal’ individuals (those exhibiting early signs of the disease, before onset of full symptoms),

cent of the chemical processes at work during an acute schizophrenic episode.

There is also evidence to suggest that the endocannabinoid system is affected by schizophrenia: CB-1 receptors are found in greater abundance in the brains of schizophrenics than in the general population, and the endocannabinoid anandamide is present in increased levels in the cerebrospinal fluid of schizophrenics, including prodromal individuals. It is believed that increased anandamide levels may regulate psychotic tendencies and prevent acute symptoms. Some research suggests that a variation of the COMT gene, which may play a part in CB-1 receptor activity, is the true cause of schizophrenia.

While genetics may play a part, some research suggests that while the brain is in its developmental stage it can be adversely affected by habitual usage of Cannabis, with the risk of schizophrenia later in life

17

CONVENTIONAL SCHIZOPHRENIA MEDICATIONS PURE THC CAN HAVE EFFECTS SIMILAR TO

SUCH AS THORAZINE CAN HAVE LIFE-THREATENING

PSYCHOSIS (PHOTO: BENJAH-BBM27)

increasing with the amount and regularity of consumption during development.

Even with no known genetic predisposition, early Cannabis users may be more likely to experience psychosis – for this reason Cannabis is viewed by some as a truly independent risk factor. It is believed that the presence of introduced cannabinoids can alter the development of neural pathways that are vital to normal adult functioning, and that symptoms of psychosis could develop as a result.

However, far from being an independent cause of adult-onset schizophrenia,

SIDE-EFFECTS (PHOTO: JAMES VAUGHAN)

and schizophrenia, further research would not only provide further insight into the nature of schizophrenia itself, but may well demonstrate that some schizophrenics could benefit from an individuallytailored course of cannabinoids, avoiding the serious side-effects of many conventional medications.

Again, it is important to remember that each individual is different, and the genetic expression of schizophrenia can vary wildly between sufferers. Recent research demonstrated that 44 individuals in a sample of 190 schizophrenia patients

latter group, 43% exhibited the Val-Met, and 26% the Met-Met genotypes).

If the Val-Val genotype is truly responsible for addiction, the fact that almost twice as many schizophrenics exhibit it could very well be relevant to the fact that twice as many schizophrenics are likely to become habitual substance-users. Accordingly to an Australian study from 2005, those with the Met-Met genotype showed no susceptibility to Cannabis, and carriers of the Val allele showed increased rates of onset of schizophrenic symptoms subsequent to Cannabis use.

SOME RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT WHILE THE BRAIN IS IN ITS DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE IT CAN BE ADVERSELY AFFECTED BY HABITUAL USAGE OF CANNABIS Cannabis is simply part of a complex system of interactions between humans and our environment. In susceptible adults, it may act as a trigger for psychosis; or, it may in essence provide a precedent for future similar psychotic episodes without the need for any chemical trigger.

When injected into the bloodstream of healthy human subjects, pure Δ9-THC can have effects remarkably similar to psychosis – including delusions, hallucinations and social withdrawal. The long-term ‘demotivational’ effect experienced by some regular Cannabis users is also seen with many schizophrenics. In fact, the effects of Cannabis ‘psychosis’ more closely resemble those experienced by schizophrenics than the psychosis caused by abuse of other drugs, such as amphetamine and cocaine. For this reason, Cannabis is used as a model when studying the pattern of schizophrenia and its onset.

However, much remains still to be ascertained: for example, it has long been thought that CBD (cannabidiol) has antipsychotic qualities that counteract the effect of THC. Given the close association between the endocannabinoid system

had a strikingly increased susceptibility to Cannabis, which equates to around 23%.

This figure, although very close to the figure of 25% of schizophrenics who habitually use Cannabis, is made up of a range of individuals with different usage rates.

Therefore it is possible to be a schizophrenic, habitual user of Cannabis, but to still be free of the increased susceptibility factor – and therefore potentially at no further psychological or physical risk from the drug.

Interestingly, this study demonstrated that the individuals who were most susceptible to Cannabis were far more likely to have close family members who also suffer from psychotic illnesses – suggesting a genetic cause. The COMT gene occasionally expresses the Val allele instead of the ‘normal’ Met allele: in those with one Val allele and one Met allele (Val-Met), there is a slightly increased risk of psychosis; those with two instances of Val alleles (Val-Val) have a significantly increased risk.

It is thought that the Val-Val genotype is present in around 47% of schizophrenics (35% have the Val-Met genotype, and 18% display the Met-Met variant), compared with 30% of non-schizophrenics (for the

Again and again, what the research really shows is that for a small number of susceptible individuals, Cannabis may have consequences unlike those experienced by the average user. More specifically, people with particular genetic variations affecting the endocannabinoid system may find that their response to Cannabis is unusual – a conclusion that seems almost laughably obvious, given that the active constitu-

ents of Cannabis evidently affect the endocannabinoid system! While it is of course immeasurably important to learn whatever possible about this link – not only for sufferers themselves but as a potential key to unlocking the absolute fundamentals of human brain function – it is highly questionable to conclude, at this stage of our overall level of knowledge, that Cannabis is inherently harmful to schizophrenics.

At this stage it is impossible to be clear on the precise link between Cannabis and schizophrenia. It is apparent that a link exists; we must expect that any such link, however tenuous, will be ferociously seized upon by the mainstream media as the basis for exaggerated and spurious scare-mongering.

As we discover more about the workings of the endocannabinoid system, and the nature of schizophrenia itself, we will doubtless gain far deeper insight into the actions of introduced cannabinoids on the human brain. Until then, these sensational articles must be taken with a very large pinch of salt, as there remains absolutely no evidence of an increase in the rate of schizophrenia, due to Cannabis or any other environmental factor.

IN THE FUTURE, IT MAY BE SHOWN THAT MEDICAL CANNABIS COULD BENEFIT SOME SCHIZOPHRENICS (PHOTO: MJ PRESSON)

18

WEED 101

Recent polls suggest that more Americans than ever before support the legalization of Cannabis – at least for medical use. Now that sixteen different states have enacted some form of propot legislation, folks from across the country are gaining access to the alternative medicine – many of whom have not smoked for years or have never even tried it before.

There are a few basic things that most Cannabis users know, either gleaning knowledge through exposure to likeminded individuals (albeit in a mostlyclandestine fashion) or from an active search for information that will enlighten them on their favorite subject. This ongoing quest for knowledge should be an integral part of your Cannabis education, as there are countless varieties (or ‘strains’) of weed out there, all supplying the consumer with a distinct flavor, aroma, effect and duration.

You should also keep in mind that each grower, while superficially adopting similar methods to others, can and will make mistakes, and not many people actually know what happens in the grow rooms of others. Not everyone who supplies the dispensaries, for example, is in this business just to help the sick and needy.

Greed or just plain ignorance often leads to low-quality products. If you are a medical user you need to be especially careful to seek out wellgrown, clean and high quality medicine from safe, trusted dispensaries or collectives.

Pot for Amateurs ANSWERING BEGINNER’S QUESTIONS THAT YOU’RE TOO ASHAMED TO ASK...

For the less savvy among our readers, we at SSUSA decided to begin penning articles aimed solely at the beginner. We present to you the ‘101’ series – an introductory approach aimed at educating lessSativa Diva experienced smokers and growers. ally explaining why people call these the ‘industrial’ plants.

and disposed of as soon as a grower is able to identify the gender of the plant.

Industrial hemp can produce over 20,000 different types of products, replacing fossil fuels and paper as major production components. While it can produce fabric, paper, rope, fuel; polishes, paints and varnishes, human- and animal food, medicine and much more, the cultivation of hemp is also incredibly beneficial to the environment. The only thing that hemp will not produce is the drug effect for which its cousin is famous.

Industrial hemp farms generally grow both genders of plant, especially if they are farming the hemp for seed. This, and the close proximity in which hemp plants are grown, is the easiest way to tell that you have stumbled upon an industrial farm – and not an illegal grow-op. (Although, the nationwide absence of hemp farms ensures that you are in America, as hemp cultivation remains illegal here; it is promoted in many other countries.) You can smoke hemp flowers, but all you’ll get is a headache.

Male and female plants look pretty much the same – until the days get shorter and the plants begin to flower. Male plants are decorated with tiny round pollen sacs; female flowers begin as little white V-shaped hairs known as pistils, which continue to appear and mature, eventu-

Smoke-able Cannabis – also known as pot, marijuana, ganja, weed, chronic, grass, dope, herb, kind, dank – or even ‘the reefer’ – does not lend itself to any industrial applications. The plant’s female

actually increase your anxiety. Conversely, many depression patients report that sativas help to ‘bring them up’ enough to go about their normal routines. Sativas can also be used to treat some types of pain.

Always consult your physician and ask for dispensary recommendations before attempting Cannabis therapy; self-medication can be detrimental by exacerbating other conditions. It is imperative that you choose the correct family of Cannabis for your particular ailment.

If you like the sativas, try the hazes. Haze plants (pure equatorial sativas) are the pride of old-school smokers, many of whom lament the extinction of the true ‘60s and ‘70s legends. This smoke, which some insist smells of cat urine, tends to

IN LATER ISSUES WE’LL EXPLORE HOW HASH IS MADE (PHOTO: DEVIL’S HARVEST SEED CO.)

deliver the absolute ‘highest’ effect of all the Cannabis varieties. Research into the positive effects of haze on ADHD has been pursued over the past decade or so.

While smokers love them, growers find these the most difficult to cultivate. Hazes tend to be tall, stringy and lithe plants, dotted with pointy flowers and sparse, thin leaves.

YOU CAN SMOKE HEMP FLOWERS, BUT ALL YOU’LL GET IS A HEADACHE

So, what does one look for in a good bud of weed? First you need to know some basic background information. We will get into more detail as this series progresses.

The Plant Itself: The Cannabis plant has thrived across our planet for thousands of years. It grows healthy and green in the springtime and flowers, seeds and dies in the autumn to early winter. Equatorial strains, known as the ‘haze’ family, have a slightly different growth pattern due to their location and genetics.

ally developing into the buds with which many are familiar. It is only the flower of the female that is smoked – not the leaves, male flowers, stems or roots.

Male plants pollinate the females, fertilizing them and resulting in the plant producing seed – the next generation from that combination of parentage, which will sprout the following springtime.

This actually changes the drug effect of smoke-able Cannabis, so most growers strive to keep any males out of their gardens, indoors or out-. They are producing buds known as ‘sinsemilla’, or ‘without seeds’. Usually male plants are cut down

flowers contain varying amounts of cannabinoids, the unique ratio and combination of which makes every strain deliver its own blend of strength, smell, taste and effect. Generally you can achieve one of two feelings from pot: uplifted, energized and ‘high’, or relaxed, sedated and ‘stoned’.

If you don’t want to feel either of these effects, don’t use Cannabis.

For your higher moods, the sativa family (tall, graceful plants with slender leaves and delicate flowers) will generally deliver a ‘buzzed’ feeling; if you are a very highstrung or tense person this family might

Indica plants tend to be short, bushy and darker green, with wide leaves. The dense, compact buds deliver a full-body ‘stoned’ feeling, great for relaxing muscles and easing tension. Ailments such as multiple sclerosis and insomnia are often treated with these strains. Too much indica and you won’t leave your couch!

Stay tuned for future installments of our new 101 series. We’ll explore hemp, hash, medicinal applications, cannabinoids, and much more.

The flowers often present dazzling color displays: silvery white to copper orange, to deep crimsons and amethyst purple varieties. Those are good colors; musty browns and dull, limp gray-green buds might be moldy or covered in pests, mildew, etc. If it smells or looks ‘spoiled’, discard it (in a tightly-sealed plastic bag to prevent cross-contamination).

While there are countless varieties of Cannabis, both wild and cultivated, most people think of two distinct subsets: ‘marijuana’ and hemp. Hemp generally refers to Cannabis plants whose flowering tops contain only trace amounts of the drugs, or cannabinoids, that are responsible for intoxicating the consumer. Instead, each part of the hemp plant may be used in a myriad of ways, gener-

SATIVA FLOWERS TEND TO BE LONG, AIRY AND ‘FLUFFIER’ THAN INDICAS

THESE INDICA BUDS ARE DENSE AND COMPACT

20

AMSTERRANT

The Dutch

Rule

Kali Mist

HOW WOULD IT BE ENFORCED? The government of the Netherlands recently announced the proposal of a new law that would redefine any Cannabis product containing more than 15% THC as a hard drug. It would preclude sales of most hashish, especially the ice- or cold water extracted varieties the Netherlands is so famous for – and according to some, up to 80% of the herbal Cannabis varieties currently sold in coffeeshops. Any establishment found during routine checks to be stocking illegally potent strains would be subject to fines, and upon repeated violations, potential closure and loss of license.

The passing of the new law would involve the modification of the existing Opium Act, a procedure that has often been claimed to be nigh on impossible to achieve. In the past this argument has been used as a way to explain previous governments’ reluctance to legalize Cannabis; that legislating against Cannabis would be so easily accomplished is extremely telling of the political direction the nation is taking. Although the proposal is ostensibly made with the

really do is show the existence of different cannabinoids and give a rough idea of the ratios in which they are present.

On top of all this, DIY testing programs would likely be liable to a higher margin of error than those conducted in a controlled environment by trained technicians. This fact remains even if one considers the possibility of regulating the cultivation of Cannabis, rather than its sale, to retail establishments – although in some respects it would make a little more sense as an option. Ideally, if the law must be implemented, the grower will know which strains will fall within the legal limit before even attempting to cultivate anything, and will be able to assess the levels of THC throughout the grow in order to ensure no loss of earnings from growing unusable crops. A stable lineage can usually be expected to produce offspring that will be similar in cannabinoid profile to its parents, so buying good quality strains from reputable seed companies should provide some guarantee

TO ENSURE VALID RESULTS, SPECIALIZED CONDITIONS AND EQUIPMENT MUST BE USED (PHOTO: TOUNOTOUJI)

THE GOVERNMENT’S ARGUMENT FAILS TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CANNABINOID RATIO developing youth, the unwary tourist and the hopeless addict in mind, it seems that it is truly intended to further frustrate and hinder the beleaguered ranks of the coffeeshop owners – as part of the ongoing campaign to make business so full of red tape and taxes as to be unappealing, and indeed nonviable.

Opponents of the law have pointed out several fairly glaring errors of judgment inherent in the proposal. Perhaps most pressingly: while a very slim selection of at-home THC testing kits is available, it is very difficult to test THC levels in Cannabis at point-of-sale. Most kits work on the basis of thin layer chromatography (TLC) and require a control specimen (of which the THC percentage is confirmed) for purposes of comparison.

If these control specimens were to be acquired through liaising with a lab, specimens would then need to be kept in a state where the THC would not degrade (unless specimens were sent out to all coffeeshops every few days – which would be ridiculous, not to mention costly.) Providing such optimum conditions may not be possible for most coffeeshops, who are by their very nature not laboratories. Just sticking it in the deep freeze is not quite what is meant by a scientific approach, after all. Without a control specimen, the most a TLC test can

to the grower. However, in practice one can never be entirely certain of what one is purchasing, and the possibility for anomalous potency may also lead to the potential for laws to be broken entirely unintentionally.

THE DUTCH COFFEESHOPS ARE NOT HAVING The common preference for clones is a double-edged sword: while one can be sure the genetic profile of the clone is identical to the mother’s, clones are only available through the black market and the likelihood of such genetics to be rigorously tested and reliable is low. Potential THC percentage may in the future be discoverable through genomic testing of young clones or seedlings; however, such technology is in its infancy and is unlikely to be available for some years. It is also very unlikely that growers or coffeeshops

AN EASY TIME OF LATE (PHOTO: LIBER)

these effects. Firstly, it is far from clear how much blame can truly be laid on Cannabis for many of these occurrences in humans.

Secondly, the argument fails to take into account the importance of the cannabinoid ratio, which includes myriad different compounds whose individual effects on humans are yet to be determined

It remains to be seen what methods would be used by growers and wholesalers to circumvent the rule. As many have found out (after purchasing a bud that turned out to be coated in weightincreasing substances) those behind the scenes in a criminalized industry seldom have the best interests of the end-user at heart, preferring to prioritize profit. If safety was truly paramount, the

IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO TEST THC LEVELS IN CANNABIS AT POINT-OF-SALE would be able to accurately implement such exacting procedures.

Even if proponents were crystal clear about how they intend to enforce the rule, the thinking behind it remains dubious. The main argument seems to be: if THC causes developmental problems in young adults, schizophrenia, and depression, then products higher in THC will therefore be even more likely to produce

– let alone the effects of their countless different combinations. Specimens of Cannabis that fall within the 15% THC limit may contain ratios of other cannabinoids that moderate the overall effect in particularly harmful or undesirable ways.

Until we know more about this vastly complex interaction between our two species, an arbitrary rule such as this makes no sense and may well do more harm than good.

Netherlands would have a legalized and regulated industry. Passing a law in the name of safety that in no way ensures it is at best hypocritical and at worst highly dangerous. However, it has not yet passed the final stages of the legislative procedure – many such proposals have not, in the past – and the fervent hope that it will not is shared by many, both in the Netherlands and in the wider international community.

21

A Winter in Rosales (Part II) Jim Brown continues his account of his stay at Prison Penitentiary Rosales in Ceuta, the duty-free Spanish enclave that stands opposite the Rock of Gibraltar on the North coast of Morocco.

Harry and I had been in Rosales for some days with no word from the outside world. We were wondering if anybody even knew where we were, when we were called out of the yard to the visitors cell. The British Consul had come to see us. He was a tall, smartly dressed Spaniard in a gray suit. He wore thick black glasses and introduced himself as Señor Rodriguez. He handed us a couple of cartons of cigarettes and two books: Robinson Crusoe and Kidnapped. I wondered about his sense of humor. He explained that strict censorship was in force in Spain.

He said he had paid for and erected signs on either side of the border, warning of the severe penalties for drug trafficking, and lectured us about the gravity of our position. However, there was one thing going for us, he said: corruption – something that most people condemn as a tool of the wealthy. Well here we were wealthy. But we were destined to stay in jail for three years if we could not raise the fine for the contraband. Plus there was the question of bail money for the more serious charge of ‘Offenses Against Health and Public Order’ – one that carried a 15-year sentence.

Señor Rodriquez had a plan. The main prosecutor, a man totally opposed to

nothing for himself, would settle for ‘a present for his wife’. For such a token gesture he was sure the Deputy Prosecutor would drop the charges against one of us, leaving the other free to return home and set about raising his bail money. It was my vehicle. The Consul already had the paperwork prepared. I signed an admission of guilt.

The Ceutans were the Establishment. They were in for murder, rape, armed robbery – real crimes in their eyes. They looked down on us two-bit smugglers and happily charged for everything.

There had been trouble in the Spanish North African territories. The Sahara was under threat from the Moroccan activists.

The Spanish Legion was put in to quell any disturbances, and three of them were in Rosales. They had been arrested entering Ceuta with hashish concealed in fake relief paintings. These guys were super-fit rock

In the North African yard things were different. The prisoners were made up mainly of Berber tribesmen who spoke, dressed and considered themselves

Cash took a long time to clear the banking system in mainland Spain. To shorten this delay he advised Harry that on returning to England he should raise the bail money for me, about £2000 ($3,168 USD), and take it directly to the Foreign Office in London. The Foreign Office would then inform him of its arrival, and sufficient funds to complete the transaction in Ceuta would be released bypassing the complicated banking process.

We agreed: Harry full of hope, me full of uncertainty. Could we trust the Consul to do what he claimed he could do? Could I trust Harry to get home and raise the money to get me out and to not get home and forget about me? A few days later Harry was released.

There were 28 of us in the European Brigada, though the clientele changed almost daily. Trials and transfers to mainland jails shuffled with a waiting population of drifters, travelers and easy to

music fans, tough as bullets but awaiting the fearsome justice of a military tribunal.

Jose Luis came from Salamanca. He was in his early twenties and spoke pop

HE WAS SURE THE DEPUTY PROSECUTOR WOULD DROP THE CHARGES AGAINST ONE OF US, LEAVING THE OTHER FREE TO RETURN HOME AND SET ABOUT RAISING HIS BAIL drugs and rebellious youth culture, was preparing to go on an extended Christmas break. His deputy, a personal friend of Señor Rodriquez, was a younger, more understanding man. The consul suggested that the deputy, who wanted

coat and rarely smiled. Wherever he was going after Rosales, he knew it was going to be for a while. Charlie was older than the other Legionnaires and was married, with two sons in Barcelona. He had been a conscientious soldier before he discovered hashish. He was very quiet. He read books, played the flute and guitar and seemed gentle, but he wasn’t.

catch smugglers. Our crimes ranged from a few grams of hashish secreted about the person to the use of a vehicle and an attempt at concealment. A couple seemed to have had a plan, but we were mainly amateur league.

music English. He wore a green corduroy military-style coat and well-worn Spanish boots. Kiki was from Madrid, the youngest of the three, not yet twenty. He was a troubled youth not long out of a military prison. He wore a long black leather

different in every way from the coastal dwelling Moroccans. The villages around the growing areas in the Riff Mountains had an efficient human mule service – the young and not-so-young men of the villages, carrying 20-kilo loads down the mountain using tracks and paths known only to a few. Under cover of night they crossed illegally into Spanish Ceuta.

The men were part of a two-way trade, bringing hashish down the mountains and returning to their villages with cigarettes, alcohol and battery-operated radios. In Rosales they sold food and other useful items, which were brought into the jail by their friends and families. For them

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22 Rosales was a lucrative place of employment. These were the people to see about extra food or hashish.

The air in the Moroccan yard was sweet with the aroma of soups, stews, lamb kebabs and scented couscous. Cooking was an art form, a restaurant experience unknown to most. The Berbers prepared their meals on stoves made out of tin cans, one tin soldered on top of the other, the bottom tin fired by charcoal.

Selling mint tea was a coveted profession.

Whoever had the franchise was allowed to wander freely around the jail selling the brew in stained plastic thermos cups.

Saturday was compulsory television viewing day. We shifted restlessly on hard wooden benches – puffing away on marijuana – watching General Franco’s weekly address to the nation, followed by a bullfight, a football match or a badlydubbed John Wayne movie. Franco was a dictator who had come to power after the Fascists had triumphed in the Spanish Civil war of 1939. Although in his eighties and limping he was still brutal, executing dissidents and political opponents (real or imagined) while the rest of Europe looked on.

He was regularly wheeled out so that all could see that he was still alive and in control of the country. We all speculated about how long the old dictator could survive. Some thought that his demise would bring an amnesty for all. Some were convinced that he was already dead, the weekend apparition a ploy to

been in and out of Rosales many times.

He had a liking for alcohol, which was frowned upon by his folks back home.

After dropping off his shipment he could not resist the temptations of the permissive Western ways: cheap whiskey, wine, cigarettes and fancy women. He kept his eye on me as a customer and sold me hashish and food brought in by his devoted family. He explained that there were well-established routes for the drug traffickers to get their product to market. I had chosen the most dangerous.

Moroccan children earned money by sitting at the side of the road taking down foreign vehicle registration numbers and selling them to the police.

Dadi accepted that he would be in and out of Rosales, sorting out business on both sides of jail until something better turned up. “You have freedom to travel, opportunity to work and make money.

Why do this?” He questioned. “We have nothing; this is our only chance.”

The evenings in the Brigada were spent smoking, talking and playing games. We bet on anything, using our wine allocation as stake money. The next day the loser would spit the contents of their mouth into the winner’s aluminum food bowl. One evening the Capo, a prisoner appointed by the inmates to act as a spokesman for the Brigada, came over to speak to me.

He was an older man, a Spanish Ceutan; small, dark and thumb-less. Somebody had cut them off many years ago. When

his departure we would have to elect another Capo.

The old Capo warned me not to become involved in the election process; I had too much to lose. He explained the system. Those who did not want to participate, the abstainers, simply had to remain on their bunks. The election was sometimes democratic, but usually more a show of strength.

Dadi was my link with the Moroccan yard. He was a morose man who had

the civil war ended in 1939 he had married a beautiful young girl. An officer of Franco’s army had raped his young bride.

He shot the officer dead. The normal sentence for killing an officer was execution by a firing squad but he was shown leniency and given life imprisonment.

He had been in Rosales for 30 years and was to be released for Christmas. With

The prison regime became less tense upon the removal of Casablanca and the days passed easier. Kiki, who was des-

Carlos, backed by his crazy henchman Casablanca, thought himself the natural successor. Casablanca had gained his name and fame – and a possible death sentence – by chopping up a couple of Dutch tourists in Casablanca. If you caught his eye he would smile at you till you nearly pissed yourself with fear.

The next evening the warden came up to the Brigada and asked for the Machanalia rota. The old Capo handed over the list, his last official duty. The guard looked around the cell-block, aware of the tension. He switched off the lights and left without a word. Carlos stood up and unilaterally declared himself the new Capo.

He paraded through the Brigada looking for opposition, Casablanca sneering behind him. I lay on down my bunk.

Kiki stood up and pulled on his boots, stamping them into shape. Charlie carefully dismantled his flute and stowed it in his army rucksack. Jose Luis walked to the center of the room; the two others Legionnaires joined him. He stood stock still, staring down Carlos. Then with the

THE VILLAGES AROUND THE GROWING AREAS IN THE RIFF MOUNTAINS HAD AN EFFICIENT HUMAN MULE SERVICE – THE YOUNG AND NOT-SO-YOUNG MEN OF THE VILLAGES keep the country under control until the new regime was put in place. Spain was planning to go from a military dictatorship to a constitutional monarchy. There was going to be much adjusting for the Spanish people.

Brigada at the other prisoners and asked if anybody else wanted to be considered for the job. Nobody spoke. That was it, election over. Jose Luis was the new Capo.

swiftness of a striking cobra he headbutted Carlos, and at the same time Kiki and Charlie jumped on Casablanca. The attack was swift, efficient and brutal.

Carlos squealed for mercy but none was shown. The Moroccans in the adjacent Brigada began chanting and drumming, raw rhythms echoing into the night. Then it was over. Jose Luis looked around the

THE ONLINE CANNABIS ENCYCLOPEDIA

tined for a long haul through the Spanish penal system, pushed for access to books and music. We were allocated the chapel area of the prison and under the scrutiny of a couple of guards, lessons began.

Charlie started music classes. We bought a tape machine from Dadi and enjoyed listening to British- and American rock and folk. One of the more enlightened guards started to bring in the latest albums. I tried to teach English to the Legionnaires who were keen to learn the meaning of the obscure lyrics of Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd and other favorites.

Mike was a mathematical wizard and things I had never grasped at school suddenly became clear and fun.

At last I was called from the yard during one breakfast and told that my bail money had come through and I was to be released. Harry had done it – he had raised the money! The Consul met me outside the prison and drove me to the Customs post to pick up my Morris traveler. It was half buried in sand. The engine started, first turn of the ignition.

Jim Brown is now 65, retired and living in Edinburgh. He’s been back to Morocco, but has avoided all Spanish territories for more than 30 years, as instructed by Señor Rodriquez.

23

Pitch Your Tent!

Go into any decent grow shop these days and you will usually be faced with a variety of ‘tents’ in different shapes and sizes. If you’re new to indoor gardening and have wondered about the benefits of a grow tent and what type of gardener they’re suitable for, read on…

requirements of a 31.5 by 31.5 inch tent space. There is no need to use an additional fan for the air intake, as the passive intakes in the tent will suffice.

Put simply, a grow tent is a portable room in which a light and fan/ filter unit can be hung above the plants. Historically, many growers created their own room within a room’ by putting together a simple wooden frame and fixing reflective sheeting (either white or silver) to the walls, floor and ceiling. The grow tent follows this concept, but is easier and quicker to put together, is light proof and waterproof, and can be easily dismantled and hidden away between grows.

Growers who would prefer a hydro setup in their small tent have a decent amount of systems to choose from: a small GroTank 205 is the choice for NFT; a Wilma Four, Flo-Gro or Waterfarm are the drip irrigation options, and small ‘ebb and flow’ systems are also available for that tent size. Any of these options will help to increase yields and cut down on growing times, allowing you to get more crops in per year. The small tent can be used to propagate, grow and then dry your crop – very handy if you do not have the space to set up a separate propagation and drying area.

Grow tents create a semi-sealed environment that uses negative pressure to prevent the smell of your crop from escaping. Negative pressure occurs when the amount of air being moved out of the tent is greater than the amount of air being moved in. Provided the extraction

The Domestic Producer: for the grower looking for a continuous production line that guarantees a decent-sized yield (providing some smoke for themselves and some surplus for the bank) a two-tent setup is the way forward – ideally, a propagation tent and a main tent.

SILVER INTERIOR GROW TENT

An eight-inch fan and filter will handle the air exchange; an additional fan for the air intake can be an optional extra for the warmer summer months.

THE SMALL TENT CAN BE USED TO PROPAGATE, GROW AND THEN DRY YOUR CROP fan is constantly on, the only way the ‘smelly’ air can leave the tent is through the filter and fan.

Regarding extraction, it’s always a good idea to upscale your fan and filter size. For example, if a five-inch extraction is sufficient for your grow tent, then go for a sixinch setup. This way, you can use a speed controller to run the larger fan at around two-thirds capacity, which will reduce the amount of noise that the fan makes. Also, having the extra power in reserve allows you to increase the air exchange during the warmer summer months and keep growing all year round.

A propagation tent offers a compact environment for bringing on seeds or cuttings. Most good propagation tents are supplied with shelving, on which several propagators can be placed, and are large enough to house a big T5 propagation light unit. Young plants are brought on in this tent and then transferred into the main growing tent.

Once the plants are mature and harvest time is three to four weeks away, it is time to fire up the propagation tent again.

Plant your seeds or root your cuttings at

A 94.5 by 47.5 inch (2.4 by 1.2 m) tent offers enough space to pull some serious yield, but is still compact enough to fit into most spare bedrooms, attics or

this time and you’ll have young plants potted up and ready to transplant into the main tent as soon as the main crop is harvested. This crop can then be dried

Four 600-watt lamps will provide light coverage. For similar coverage and less heat output, try two 1000-watt lamps on light movers. These motorized mov-

FOR QUIETER RUNNING, OVER-SPEC YOUR FAN BEAUTIFUL CROPS IN A SMALL TENT SETUP

A five-inch fan and filter will easily be able to handle the extraction and air exchange

A 94.5 by 94.5 inch (2.4 by 2.4 m) tent is a popular size for commercial setups. A ten-inch extraction kit will handle the air exchange and will need to be coupled with a six-inch fan for the air intake.

MORE AND MORE COMMERCIAL PRODUCERS ARE OPTING FOR MULTIPLE LARGE TENT SETUPS

Not sure if a grow tent is for you? Here are a few examples of tent set-ups: The Closet Grower: for the smoker looking to keep trips to the dealer to a minimum, but with little space to spare for an indoor garden; a small, 31.5 by 31.5 inch (80 by 80 cm) grow tent offers the ideal environment for around four or five plants. This size of setup can be easily hidden away in the corner of a bedroom, ideal for a small-scale, covert grow-op. With a bit of experience, you could pull seven to eight ounces per grow from this space.

The equipment can be kept simple. A basic 250-watt lamp with a euro reflector will take care of the lighting duties; it’s not necessary to invest in an expensive reflector to direct light on the plants – in a tent of that size there is nowhere for the light to escape.

keeping plants in the same room, but within multiple sealed units, reduces the risk of pests or disease spreading through the entire crop, it also allows heat to be vented out of each unit into different areas, which reduces the heat signature of the grow.

basements. Two 600-watt lighting units will cover that amount of space without the need for air cooling. If you’re feeling adventurous go for two 1,000-watts, but be prepared to increase the size of your extraction fan or buy some air-cooled shades in order to cope with the additional heat.

AND FILTER AND INVEST IN A SPEED CONTROLLER

on the shelves in the propagation tent. A continuous production line!

The Commercial Producer: there are now several tent sizes available for the large scale grower, and more and more commercial producers are opting for multiple large tent setups. The benefits are clear to see:

ers operate on a rail that is fixed onto the cross members of the tent roof and slowly track the lamp from one side of the tent to the other. A lower power consumption and less heat output per unit is a major plus point in multiple tent setups.

Happy growing!

25

The good news is that, as long as only things that should go into the compost pile do, eventually it will work. Grubbycup

It would also be messy, and the neighbors would likely complain if you made a habit of it. A simple answer to this is to put the material in a pile instead. This not only keeps things neater around the garden, but helps with the composting process.

This mound of decomposing vegetation can be referred to as a ‘cold’ compost pile, and depending on what’s included, in anywhere from a few months to a couple of years it will become compost. Nature will do all the work if given enough time and some occasional rain. One very simple form of composting involves taking the leftover leaves, stems and roots after a fall harvest, putting them in a pile, and then digging out the compost that develops over the winter for use in the spring.

Depending on the local conditions this method may have to be modified to utilize a few different piles. Each pile can then be allowed to sit for a year or longer.

Ideally, compost piles should be about a yard (meter-ish) or slightly larger to a side.

Piles that are too small don’t heat up as well. Piles too large are both hard to stir, and require more stirring, as the material at the core needs to be rotated with the material on the outside.

There are ways to make the process faster and to avoid unpleasant aromas. While decomposing material in the forest can stink and few people will complain; stink up the back yard, and it can dull the fun of being out in it. If too much green material is added, the pile can start to smell. If too much brown material is added, decomposition slows and the process takes longer.

A MIX OF BOTH GREEN AND BROWN MATERIALS IS USED TO MAKE GOOD COMPOST

In an untended forest or jungle, leaves and other plant materials fall to the ground and decompose. This creates a rich and fertile layer of cold compost and humus for future growth – no human intervention required. It isn’t neat, fast or necessarily pretty, but it has worked in nature for an incredibly long time.

If you took a bag of leaves, lawn clippings, ripped newspapers, etc. and spread it out on the ground, eventually it will decompose much like it would on a forest floor.

‘Brown’ materials generally have a carbon to nitrogen ratio of greater than thirty to one. That is to say, they have a lot of carbon for their amount of nitrogen. Leaves, newspaper, cardboard, sawdust, straw – anything tree or sugar related is usually a brown. These will all take a long time to decompose if left in a pile without green materials. If too much brown material is added, composting will slow, but browns help with structure and odor control. If the compost pile starts to smell, add more browns and stir the pile.

‘Green’ materials generally have a carbon to nitrogen ratio of less than thirty to one. In other words, they contribute more nitrogen for the amount of carbon that they contain than browns do. Grass clippings, vegetable or fruit food scraps, and green leafy material are all greens.

These will decompose quickly if left in a pile without brown materials, but they also tend to stink and rot in the process.

Putting a layer of browns over a new layer of greens will help keep the pile from smelling unpleasant. The compost pile should have a light earthy aroma; foul odors are an indication that something isn’t right. Add browns and stir to help correct the imbalance.

To speed up the composting of browns (and keep the greens from stinking) use approximately equal amounts of each, and mix well. Smaller pieces compost faster than large pieces do, in part because of the increase in surface area for the bacteria and other tiny friends to work on. This is why, even though a log and sawdust are made from the same material, sawdust can be composted in weeks or months; a decomposing log can take years or decades.

A pile of 50/50 brown to green material will compost faster and more pleasantly than a mix of too much of one or the other. The biological agents involved need air and moisture as well as this mix. To give the bacteria air, stir the compost pile occasionally. The pile should be kept damp – but not wet. Both lightly watering and stirring can speed the process.

If the pile doesn’t start to heat up in the next couple of days, it is an indication that something is off. It could be that there isn’t enough material in the pile, the composition of the pile is off, it isn’t moist enough, it’s too moist, or it needs stirring. A compost pile that doesn’t heat up is called a ‘cold’ compost pile. It will still make compost, but will take longer than a ‘hot’ one will. When in doubt, stir the pile – stirring corrects a multitude of problems and is an easy fix.

If the mix, moisture and air are correct (or at least close), a new pile will start to heat up and become a ‘hot’ compost pile.

A pile with an internal temperature of between 120º F (49º C) and 140º F (60º C) is ideal, but temperatures can reach as high as 160º F (71º C). As composting continues, the temperature will drop as more of the material converts into compost. Hot composting has benefits over cold composting: it’s faster, and seeds and some pathogens are killed from the heat generated.

Once the compost is ready it should be a dark, earthy-smelling material. To remove any debris (or walnuts; my compost pile is a favorite burying spot for the local squirrel population) the compost can be run through a piece of grating.

The finished product should be very similar to commercially bagged compost.

Making compost is not difficult – nature does it all the time. By helping the process along using a properly aerated and moist mix of the correct proportions, composting can be done in back yards, saving money on purchasing and transporting bags of store-bought product.

Peace, love and puka shells, Grubbycup

THE OUTER LAYER OF THIS COLD DARK, RICH, HEALTHY COMPOST CAN

COMPOST WAS REMOVED TO SHOW

BE INEXPENSIVELY MADE AT HOME

THE MATURE COMPOST BENEATH

‘BROWNS’ ARE CARBON RICH MATERIALS

26

LAB REVIEW / ONLINE / COMIC

Green Style Consulting With so many new Cannabis test facilities popping up across California, Green Style Consulting sets itself apart by

bringing their lab to you – whether you’re a patient, grower, dealer or dispensary owner. Their little Chevy, crammed with lab equipment, will quite literally provide door-todoor service, testing your samples and giving you a real education.

Partners Catherine and Edward began their project this past March, and have already tested over 1,350 samples. You can read all about their testing process online, and find out when the Green Style-mobile will be rolling through the streets of your

neighborhood in Cali. Or, since the ethos behind the business is enabling patients to medicate in the safest way possible, simply give them a call and they will make the time (and the trip) to visit you and test your products.

Cannabinoid panels and contamination levels are indexed, but that’s where the service ends with many labs. If you are a Green Style customer, remember that they are consultants – what good is providing people with such detailed info if they don’t understand what it means?

You will be fully-educated as to the exact implications of each and every marking on your status report, not to mention any other questions that you feel compelled to ask.

Green Style customers will feel more as if they’ve just made two really good friends, visited a science lab! This team presents a more personalized, compassionate and healing approach rather than the typical, clinical lab approach.

You will learn not only what the numbers represent, but also how they can help you – and if you’re even using the correct medicine in the first place. An emphasis on naturally-grown products (but a willingness to test everything) makes Green Style open-minded and trustworthy.

At Green Style consulting, you won’t feel like just another number. » www.greenstyleconsulting.com Catherine Emond cemond@greenstyleconsulting.com Phone: (916) 471-9943

www.Cannabis.info NEW CANNABIS SITE HANDLES ALL YOUR WEED NEEDS The ‘web just got even easier to navigate regarding Cannabis news, growing information, medical- and legal updates, hemp innovations – and all those extra bits and pieces from the weed world that are often difficult to track down. Now you can find it all in one place, at www. cannabis.info!

Each news section will keep you informed of the latest local legal developments, trade shows, competitions and more, thanks to our international team of online editors. Sign up for a free account, keep track of your research, comment on news articles and join in the global discussion.

Or, simply browse the site anonymously and refresh your Cannabis education

when you need a quick reference point.

The new website also provides visitors with a one-stop location for the entire Soft Secrets archives, from nine different international perspectives: the US, UK, Holland, Spain, Italy, France, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Germany. You can brush up on your foreign languages and find out what’s happening across the ganja globe, or search the archives for previously published issues of any edition of Soft Secrets – how easy is that?

Each complete edition is still available as a free PDF download; readers may also employ the search function or browse our suggested topics to locate individ-

ual articles that specifically address your needs.

Fans of the Dutch Highlife Guide, a sort of ‘green pages’ indexing the international Cannabis industry, will be glad to see that its wealth of information is now also accessible through the new site. Find a seed label in Spain, a grow shop in the UK, an Amsterdam coffeeshop, or a hemp cosmetics company in the Czech Republic

within the virtual pages of this handy and essential guide.

Expand your marijuana horizons – check out www.cannabis.info!

28

BOOK REVIEWS

Happy Buds Ed Rosenthal and crew have put together over 80 situational strain selections and an assortment of helpful tips in this fun, gift-sized book. For this venture he’s teamed up with Anna Foster and

Grubbycup

Mamakind, two lovely ladies well-versed in Cannabis consumption.

Different strains of Cannabis have different effects when smoked. Indicas tend have a ‘couch lock’ or ‘stoned’ effect; sativas offer a more ‘cerebral’ or ‘heady’ high.

Although the exact reasons behind this are not well understood (read Why Cannabis Gets Us High, p. 7) the differing levels of THC or CBD, plus other trace differences between strains make some better for sitting around and watching movies, and others more appropriate for smoking right before a walk or jog in the woods.

To help the reader make informed choices as to what to smoke when, Happy Buds breaks down suggestions into ten broad chapters. The chapter names are descriptive of the activities that the suggested strains are well suited for. Turn to ‘Blues Busting’ to raise spirits, ‘Night Out’ for partying, and ‘Hittin’ the Sack’ for relaxing and unwinding. Waking and baking with an uplifting joint can help your day start well, but choosing something too relaxing can result in a day that starts in the afternoon. This book advises on what sort of morning weed to look for so you can still get your day started.

Each chapter is broken down into specific recommendations for certain activities, such as ‘Getting-it-on Buds’, and ‘Blissful Buds’. For each activity, a few strains are suggested, and each strain has a brief description to accompany it.

Sprinkled throughout the book are tips and hints that give practical advice.

Knowing to roll joints at home before you leave for a party is a lesson many have learned the hard way. Instructions are included on how making shoe hash can help take some of the sting out of hours of working while standing or walking. Recipes for tasty delights such as

Budderscotch Sauce and Ed Rosenthal’s ‘Iced Ask Ed-puccino’ add flavor. I fully intend on trying a couple of the suggestions listed under the Cinco de Mayo tip, as they sound like my kind of tacos.

Suggested stoner activities include an art project roach clip and lavender sachets. Either would make for a simple but entertaining impaired crafting afternoon. The list of movies to watch under the influence included a lot of movies I had seen, and a couple I haven’t yet, but plan on watching.

For those interested in locating seeds, in the back of the book is the website information for seed banks carrying these featured strains.

Over all it’s a light, fun book, with lots of pretty pictures and chock full of simple ideas to try. It has a very laid back and easy going vibe to it – mandalas, manifestation boards, yoga poses and all. A nice choice for a coffee table book for friends to flip through while joints are rolled and pipes are packed.

Peace, love and puka shells, Grubbycup

Cannabis Indica: The Essential Guide to the World’s Finest Marijuana Strains

S.T. Oner and Green Candy Press have collected photos and information on onehundred indica-dominant Cannabis strains for Cannabis Indica: The Essential Guide to the World’s Finest Marijuana Strains.

The book starts with a nicely written dedication that acknowledges the men and women who have both stood up for, and bred, marijuana cultivars. A few pages from Greg Green describe what indicas are, and how they differ from sativas.

The text continues though its dizzying array of descriptions and photos. The

strains are arranged in alphabetical order, starting with Adonai Kush by Shiloh Massive and ending with Zombie Virus

by OGA Seeds. The pages are formatted with the name and information about the strain on the left hand page, with a nice full page photo of a bud on the right.

Repeat one hundred times. The next variety is just a page turn away.

page. I now know that it is a Blueberry and White Widow cross. I also know that personally I like Blue Widow, Berry White, White Berry, and pretty much every decently grown Blueberry x White Widow I’ve tried. So chances are quite high that I’d like Dready Berry as well. I also like Blueberry x White Rhino crosses, so I’d probably enjoy the Blue Rhino shown on page 30.

It is no surprise that classic and well known strains are included, such as Northern Lights, Lowryder and Mendo Purp. However, it was a very nice surprise to find many ‘real world’ cultivars represented. Strains grown and developed by smaller breeders from around the world are featured as well. For example, Pennsylvania Purple is a US East Coast variety (I’ve only tried it once, but I thought it was nice). Since that isn’t a commercial strain, it wouldn’t be included in a book that just sold its pages to the highest bidder. It is nice to see some credit going to the lesser known men and women who are working hard to improve the quality of available smoke.

Knowing what strains are in the lineage can help growers select the ones that may be right for their individual tastes – for

Readers will appreciate the amount of parentage information included with several of the varieties. This can be helpful when choosing new strains or finding ones that you may want to try, if given the chance.

I had not heard of Dready Berry (p. 70) before, but even without smoking it I would be willing to bet that it would be enjoyable based on the information included on its

Grubbycup example, Afghani and Skunk varieties are well suited for vipers with a taste for more savory notes.

The book is a nice collection of strains with photos and information about each.

Flip through it to find varieties to add to your wish list, learn about some of the current strains available today, or just drool over the nice bud porn.

Peace, love and puka shells, Grubbycup

29

GARDENING DISASTERS

Growing for Dummies A while back I was smoking a joint with a friend. We were sampling a crop that was drying in the next room – something I don’t normally do, but it was a moment of weakness. Feet up, we were wistfully savoring the flavor and sharing a few chuckles when there was a knock at the door. We froze like rabbits. The knock came again, this time more insistent. I crept over and listened.

last place anyone would look, they were actually correct – for a while. However, the guys started ordering pizza from the same restaurant as the cops. One night after a delivery to the growers, the money (stinking of weed) was given as change to the police next door. Bingo!

The bust, and the extreme embarrassment it caused, became the next day’s headline.

DANGEROUS MUNCHIES: “PIZZA LEADS TO GROW ROOM NEXT DOOR”

Outside a group of people were talking, some of them neighbors. “He must be home,” said one of them, “that’s his car.” There was more knocking. I crept to a window and peeked outside.

There were two policemen at the door – one of them was trying the handle!

Fortunately, it was locked.

“Maybe he’s out on his bike,” said the neighbor. The policemen moved away and spoke into a radio. “I’ll check the roof,” said the workman accompanying them. My blood ran cold; behind me I heard a hissing sound and the word ‘shit’. My friend was running around like a deranged baboon and spraying air freshener everywhere. Jolted into action, I joined in and gathered up the evidence, but there was nothing I could do about the plants in the next room. Shit, the air outlet was on the roof! I dove for the extractor switch; there followed more intense spraying. Through the frosted skylight I could see the silhouette of the workman on the roof. We trembled like hobbits below.

It turned out that a broken drainage pipe had flooded the property next door and the plumber had called the police to provide access, but we didn’t know that.

A simple thing beyond my control had almost gotten me busted.

Some essential gardener’s guidelines: When growing, it’s best to expect the unexpected. Sometimes the smallest thing can land you in trouble, like the growers who moved in next door to a police station. Thinking it would be the

“WHY POT GETS US HIGH” 7

There’s also the clever idea, carried out by an idiot. Growing ‘on the move’ was such an idea. A tractor trailer housing a complete grow installation, always moving, always one step ahead. Now

Despite detection on flyovers, ground investigation found nothing, O’Riodon

tion; all the bases have to be covered. If the knock comes, you’d better have the answers. Pay attention to everything – if power consumption’s the problem, buy a ceramic kiln and have a few badly made pots lying around; with the latest filters and ozone equipment, there’s just no excuse for smell leakage.

If the great outdoors is your garden, there’s the threat of the infrared photo followed by the eventual posse in all terrain vehicles. The ‘tree walkers’ solved that problem, growing above, up in the trees. As crazy as it sounds, it works, but first you need a forest – the bigger the better. Selected trees are scaled and grow bags secured (with ropes) in the top branches. Five plants are placed in a bag hooked to a camouflaged water pipe running to the lower branches.

Throughout the summer backpackers would show up, uncoil the pipe and pump water and nutrients up to the plants. Spread throughout a forest, there could be a hundred dope-laden trees, safe and undetected. Should ‘they’ come looking, it’s usually at ground level and they’d find nothing. A great idea, now introduce it to idiots.

A time back, in a certain mid-west state, a group of amateur growers heard

Then, only days from harvest, a grow bag complete with five mature plants dropped out of a tree and flattened a hiker. Despite being a nearly ‘lethal dose’ of marijuana, the hiker survived. The local police, however, didn’t see the joke and staked out the place. Days later they watched the crop being harvested and simply busted them when they’d finished. Total haul: 1,200 plants. With a few more brain cells and a bit of anticipation you wouldn’t be reading this story, and they wouldn’t be doing time.

Some things you just can’t anticipate.

One day a letter arrived from the local authorities – usually it would go straight into the recycling bin, but luckily this one was opened. It informed me that in five days they were going to inspect the building. The fact that there were a hundred flowering plants upstairs in a back room was going to be a problem.

In a flurry of deranged nocturnal activity the crop was removed, along with 1,500 lbs. of soil. In the daytime and behind locked doors, all evidence was removed and the spaces turned into hobby rooms. From the moment the letter arrived until the very last possible minute, someone was working on this transformation. On inspection day they arrived late and then only inspected the neighbor. It was lunchtime and they didn’t inspect any further!

THE STONED DRIVER TOOK THE UNIT UNDER A LOW BRIDGE, RIPPING OFF THE TRAILER ROOF AND EXPOSING THE FIVE HUNDRED PLANTS INSIDE introduce an idiot into the equation.

In this case, the stoned driver that took the unit under a low bridge, ripping off the trailer roof and exposing the five hundred plants inside.

A good grow operation is more than just gardening, plumbing and a bit of equipment. You need a load of anticipa-

about the tree idea. Extremely lazy, they used 4x4s to reach the trees, leaving a clear trail through the forest. They also placed so many plants in a tree that feeding them took time, so they’d smoke a cigarette. After a few months, the trees were growing out of ashtrays.

How they made it through the summer without being busted is a miracle.

For this a crop was trashed and cost five days of back-breaking work, only for me to find out it could have been left alone. On a positive note, as a training exercise it was a success and with what was learned, a better grow could be built next time.

Peace to all growers.

PROTECT YOUR INVESTMENT, LIKE THESE 100 PLANTS IN AN UPSTAIRS BACK ROOM

POT-FILLED TRUCK, PLUS IDIOT, PLUS LOW BRIDGE, EQUALS PRISON TIME

“THE AMERICAN PEOPLE VS. THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT” 9

GANJA GROWING IN A TREETOP

“NEW CANNABIS SITE HANDLES ALL YOUR WEED NEEDS” 26

30

INTERNATIONAL GROWERS

Growing in Laos: Mr. Don and the Wild Man Part I

The first piece of advice I was given by a fellow traveler before I went to Laos was “make sure you leave enough time to go to the south.”

From Vientiane northwards is a well-traveled path, and worthy of a visit; but, he assured me, the south is far more beautiful and a lot mellower. Like most travelers though, I had such a good time in the northern half of the country that I short-changed myself and didn’t The Professor leave enough time to explore the south.

The first piece of advice I was given by a fellow traveler before I went to Laos was “make sure you leave enough time to go to the south.” From Vientiane northwards is a well-traveled path, and worthy of a visit; but, he assured me, the south is far more beautiful and a lot mellower. Like most travelers though, I had such a good time in the northern half of the country that I short-changed myself and didn’t leave enough time to explore the south.

Even so, Laos had been my favorite country in South East Asia. When I was back in the region again I got myself a 30-day visa and made my way into the country via the southern border crossing between Mukdahan and Savannakhet. I didn’t stop in Savannakhet though – I got a motorbike taxi to the bus station and caught a truck straight down to the 4,000 Islands. These islands are in the middle of the Mekong river and right on Laos’s southern border with Cambodia – they’re called the 4,000 Islands because there are about that many of them, and in the rainy season the river can be up to four kilometers (2.5 miles) wide.

Not wanting to smuggle between Thailand and Laos, I hadn’t taken any weed with me on this trip – Laos weed is known to be the best in the region, and there’s plenty of it, so I didn’t expect to have empty pockets for any longer than 24 hours. No worries, I thought; the best way to get hold of a bit of smoke is to

make friends with a couple of the local guys. It’ll be sure to come out sooner rather than later. I wasn’t wrong.

When I arrived on my chosen island I was hungry, so I dumped my bags at the first restaurant I saw and ordered some food.

There was elephant on the menu but I avoided that and settled for some good old chicken and rice. I was still waiting for my food when a couple of rough looking, sun-scorched middle aged Laotian guys sat down with me. They were obviously checking me out, but they had big smiles and an old plastic water bottle full of Lao Lao (a local spirit made from rice). The three of us got tucked into the Lao Lao; we all shared one glass and I was given the first shot.

“Bloody hell mate, how strong is that?”

“Strong?” He laughed….

He poured some of it out on to the wooden table and sparked it with his lighter. It caught instantly; he looked at me and we both laughed.

I was well on the way to getting drunk before I made my excuses, rented a bicycle and had a little exploratory ride around the island – it was stunning; I was riding along thin dirt tracks, through people’s yards and took a few detours round some dry paddy fields. There wasn’t an engine to be heard on the island. The few houses dotted around were big and spacious; they were made

from blackened wooden planks and raised up on old wooden stilts. People and animals were all lazing about under the houses, hiding from the heat of the midday sun – that famous domain of ‘mad dogs and Englishmen’!

There were big, old fruit trees, and everywhere there were clumps of bamboo seven- or eight meters (23 - 26 ft.) tall. Small bamboo shelters were dotted around the yards and paddy fields, and there was no hint of a television or radio

to spend that entire 30-day visa on these islands. The longer I stayed the more friendly I got with the locals; and I scored dope with no trouble at all – all the men on the island were smoking it quite openly. It was after about ten days that Mr. Don (one of the guys who I’d gotten drunk with on the first day) took me into his confidence and told me about a crop he had, growing on one of the other islands. He asked if I’d like to go out on a boat with him to have a look at his crop – bloody right, mate! When can we go?

The next day he came and knocked on the back ‘window’ of my bamboo hut; he was grinning a shifty grin, gave me a nod and I knew we were ready to go.

I followed him down to the river bank where we hopped into a small longboat and motored our way through the maze of islands that filled the river. After about 15 minutes we pulled into the side of one of the islands and he tied the boat up to an old bush. He told me to get off the boat and on to the island through the bush; I climbed through it, jumped to the river bank and found myself face to face with a wild looking, nearly naked, wiry little Laotian man squatting right in front of me.

He was grinning from ear to ear, holding a big machete, and had a crude picture of a tiger tattooed on his chest – he burst out laughing at the shock that must have been plastered all over my face! Mr. Don followed me through the bush and we trotted through the jungle island, dodging the nests and highways of giant ants as we made our

LAOS WEED IS KNOWN TO BE THE BEST IN THE REGION AND THERE’S PLENTY OF IT AROUND anywhere. A few bits of corrugated iron, the odd bicycle and some nearly-dead stereos seemed to be the only things separating this island from the days of the agricultural revolution! It was a proper trip out; a real escape from everything, even time.

I was comfortable, peaceful and a little bit drunk when I made up my mind

way into a clearing in the center – all the while being led by the grinning little machete-wielding wild man.

When a clearing opened up in front of us I saw several very healthy-looking female plants which, I estimated, were already about a month into their flowering cycle.

In the very middle of the crop stood a spindly-looking male whose swollen pol-

31

len sacks were on the verge of popping – the crop was set out as if they were actually trying to seed all the females!

I asked the wild man for his machete; he looked a bit puzzled but Mr. Don told him to give it up and I went over and cut the male out of the ground. They looked a bit confused. I spent the next

a totally new concept to them. I told him I thought the plants, being pure sativas, should be left for another six- to eight weeks at least – this length of time surprised him as well.

Mr. Don didn’t want to draw attention to the plants by going out to see them very often, especially with a white guy,

ELEPHANT WAS ON THE MENU, BUT I AVOIDED THAT AND SETTLED FOR SOME GOOD OLD CHICKEN AND RICE ten minutes explaining the difference between male and female plants, why the man plants are bad because they make boom-boom with the lady plants and then the lady makes babies – seed is baby and baby no good for smoking! Using a stick, I drew pictures in the dirt to help explain the technicalities of pollination. They never realized that plants could be male or female – it was

so we kept it our little secret. My visa wasn’t going to last as long as I would need to see the flowering through, so I went back to Thailand after about three weeks to eat some decent grub and do a bit of shopping. I bought a few luxuries: cans of baked beans, three boxes of king sized rolling papers – and some pens, pencils, paper and solar-powered calculators for the school on the island.

After a few busy days in Bangkok I was on my way back to the islands again with an incredibly heavy rucksack and a fresh 30-day visa.

guys were a bit disappointed but we had a good laugh getting ourselves into and out of trouble on the rocks of the river bed. Well, I did, anyway!

The duration of my next visa was all about chilling out and waiting. I’d gotten to know the island quite well and acted as an unofficial guide for a few other travelers who had arrived – most of them showed up planning to stay for a couple of days, but almost everyone ended up staying as long as they could because the place was so chilled out – the only technology around was cell phones, the car battery that generated electricity, the nearly dead stereos, and the engines on the back of the boats. It was an incredibly easy place to let days and weeks drift by while chilling out in hammocks and exploring the nooks and crannies of the island on an old bicycle.

Despite the lack of clocks, time was still ticking and I had to go back to Thailand for one more visa run before the plants were ready – it was a good chance to stock up with some more baked beans, rolling papers, and pens, pencils, paper and calculators again. Back amongst old friends in Bangkok, I couldn’t help telling a few of them about what I was getting up to in Laos – we were all like-minded folk and I was hoping a few of them would come out and join me for a week or two, especially as I promised them some of the best smoke they could dream of! One of my friends told me she was up for it but she had to wait a couple of weeks before she could come out.

During this stay Mr. Don asked me if I’d go and check on the plants for him; he told me he wanted me to take a couple of other travelers he’d made friends with – with pleasure my friend! The three of us borrowed an old boat and some paddles. We told the others we were just going out for an afternoon on the river.

The river had changed in the weeks since I’d been there before, though – the level had dropped and the vegetation on the islands was browning off in the heat and dryness of the hot season.

The changing scenery and my cloudy memory managed to get us hopelessly lost amongst the maze of islands and we grounded the boat several times. We never found the plants again; the other

THE ONLINE CANNABIS ENCYCLOPEDIA

Back on the island, things were starting to get exciting – the big Cambodian crops were already finding their way across the border and it wasn’t uncommon to bump into little Cambodian men walking around with sacks slung over their shoulder – their weed was going for $21 (USD) per kilo; it was still damp and seeded, but $21 a key! We bought a kilo from one of them, separated all the still-wet buds that had been squashed together, dried them in the shade for a few days and then separated all the seeds – so we had plenty of good quality smoke while we were waiting for our crop to come through.

Stay tuned for part two...

33

CULTIVATION 101

will work, it is cheap, and to start with, just try to get ‘around the block’. It’s likely the lights will be the first thing you will want to upgrade as you get more experienced and adventuresome.

Grubbycup’s First Grow two legs, and secrecy is the best defense against them.

The Plant

BE SURE TO CREATE DRAINAGE HOLES IN THE BOTTOM OF THE ‘POTS’

Learning the art of indoor gardening is a lot like learning to drive – your first goal is just to make it around the block.

Only as you learn more, become more experienced and start feeling comfortable should you worry about the finer points and complicated techniques. This article is intended to describe a cheap, workable method that will produce some smoke.

This is not the only way, and it isn’t the optimum way, but hopefully it will help you get ‘around the block’.

If you first learned to drive in a Ferrari (and money is no object) then walk into your nearest hydroponic store and find a likely looking employee, announce that you want to grow tomatoes in your closet, conspicuously whip out your credit card – and ask them to pick out an entire system for you. With a little luck you will wind up with an excellent set-up.

If on the other hand, you first learned to drive in an ugly, second-hand, barely running, beat up clunker of a car like the rest of us, then keep reading. Don’t just read this article – read everything you can get your hands on. There are a lot of opinions out there, and some of them are even correct!

an area large enough to fit a couple (or a few) fluorescent lights. You must be able to control the amount of light in the space so that during the dark periods, it’s dark. Not sorta dark, or dark with interruptions, but completely dark, and exposed to no more light than moonlight.

This may mean hanging a blanket inside a closet to keep light from getting under the door, etc.

Other things to consider are possible water damage in the area (mistakes do happen, and ruining your wife’s wedding dress isn’t going to help your image), how accessible the space is to visitors, how inconvenient it may be to stay away during the dark periods, proximity to water and electrical outlets, etc. If you have frequent guests, make sure your garden is safe from the “I was looking for the bathroom” sort of faux pas that could lead to uncomfortable conversations. The biggest threat to your garden walks on

Optimally you should start with some cheap or free seeds. While it may be tempting to start with expensive highend seeds, things do occasionally go wrong – especially when you are first learning – so start with seeds that you won’t cry over if it doesn’t work the first time. For the same reason don’t use up all your available seeds on the first try; save some for at least a second try. On the other hand, keep in mind that about half of the plants will be male, with male flowers, so try to start twice as many seedlings as lady plants you want to wind up with.

Start the seeds by placing them in a damp paper towel for a few days until they start to sprout. The key is to keep them moist.

Not soggy, not dry, but moist. When they send out a root, it’s time to plant them.

Once you know that you have a fair chance of harvesting something from them, you

Start pricing and saving up for the light upgrade well in advance, which will most likely be a high intensity discharge (HID) light, either metal halide (MH) or high pressure sodium (HPS). There are other lighting options to choose from so research the different choices before spending your money. Lighting is the most expensive part of indoor gardening, both in cost of equipment and cost in electricity to run. The reason that outdoor growing is so much cheaper than indoor growing is that sunlight is free.

You want the cool running fluorescent light bulbs to be within a few inches of the plants. Since the plants will be getting taller, you should set things up so you can either move the lights closer to the plants, or move the plants closer to the lights. Set your timer to light the plants for 18 hours for the vegetative stage, 12 hours for flowering. Keep in mind that the plants will grow an additional 50 - 150% in height during the flowering stage, so leave some

THE BIGGEST THREAT TO YOUR GARDEN WALKS ON TWO LEGS, AND SECRECY IS THE BEST DEFENSE AGAINST THEM are ready to start being pickier about what seeds you use. The finest and most expensive Cannabis seeds in the world won’t be of use if they die before harvest.

room when you make the switch. If height is an issue due to cramped quarters, growing tips pinched off during vegetative growth encourage a shorter, bushier plant.

Light Incandescent lights (normal house lights) generate way too much heat, for the amount of light they give off, to be used.

Get a couple of cheap fluorescent lights, bulbs, a timer, and a tray to put your plants on. Are a couple of cheap lights the best way to light your plants? No but it

Containers Save a bunch of two-liter (or better yet three-liter) soda bottles. Cut the tops off the bottles, and punch a couple of holes into the bottom. A heated soldering iron can be used to make the holes neat and round. I like soda bottles because they

Past and present Soft Secrets articles are available online at www.Cannabis.info, an excellent resource available free of charge.

To grow a plant indoors, you should take the following into account: space, the plant, light, container, growing medium, water, fertilizer, air and temperature.

Space To start with, you need a place to grow your weed. A closet, a good sized cabinet, or an unused bathroom are all possibilities. You want a space large enough to be a little taller than your plants and lights are going to be, wide enough to hold the number of plants that you want, and preferably, someplace where you can section off a segment for a second space in the future (for cloning and/ or vegetative and flowering sections). I’d recommend

PLASTIC SODA BOTTLES MAKE GREAT PLANT POTS

34 are cheap; home gardeners tend to have a bunch of them around, and they have decent depth – which many plants care more about than width. The bottles go in a tray, which should catch the water that comes through the holes in the bottom. If outdoors or if a larger light is used, the plants can be grown large enough to need a bigger container. Five-gallon buckets are an inexpensive choice, and the soldering iron trick works to make drainage holes in them as well.

Growing Medium Get a nice clean pre-fertilized potting soil.

Growing in soil is more forgiving than hydroponics. Hydroponic media give you more control, but also more harshly punish mistakes. Get a fair-sized bag, as you will go through it faster than you think.

Homemade potting soil can be made by mixing compost (which can be made at home), and perlite with sand, dirt, or coir.

After a harvest or two in soil, you may want to change to a hydroponic medium such as coir or perlite. There are several media choices, each with their own characteristics. Coir is a hydroponic medium made from plant fibers that is very similar to growing in a soil environment. Perlite tends to dry out quicker than soil, but is less prone to over-watering or insect infestation. A plant can be grown in perlite even if the pot sits in a tray filled with water.

Rockwool tends to stay very wet and cannot sit in water for too long before getting soggy, and some media, like clay balls, need frequent watering to stay wet enough. For this reason rockwool and many other hydroponic medium choices

the water can sit, and any chlorine has a chance to dissipate. Eventually you may want to check the quality of the water as you fine tune things, but tap water will usually work well for an early run. Keep in mind that you are better off under-watering than over-watering. If you under-water, the plant will usually give you a sign (by getting droopy) before it is too late. If you drown your plants, don’t give up – just try to learn from the experience and try again. If your tap water is of a very poor quality, you may have to filter it before use, or use drinking water to water your plants.

Fertilizer Since the potting soil already has some fertilizer in it, don’t be in any rush to add more. Let the plants get started first, and when you do start to add, only use quarter- to half strength. Like water, too little is less likely to kill your plants than too much. Too little usually means the plant doesn’t grow to its potential; too much and you will burn your leaves, and possibly kill the plant. Stop using fertilizer a week or two before you plan to harvest, or it can leave a chemical taste to your products.

If using hydroponic media, care must be taken to supply the plants with the micronutrients that the plant would normally get from the soil. There are several hydroponic additives on the market designed to meet these micronutrient needs.

Air Plants need air to survive. The plant must be able to take up air from the roots,

IF YOU BRING A FRIEND, AND BOTH OF YOU DO SOME HEAVY BREATHING TOGETHER, ALL THE BETTER are better suited for ‘active’ (powered) hydroponic systems.

Water Fill your watering container each time just AFTER you have watered. That way

which is why over-watering can kill. The roots (or at least part of the roots) must be able to ‘breathe’ on a regular basis.

While you don’t want the plant to completely dry out between waterings, you do want it to be able to get some air.

SAVE MONEY BY MIXING YOUR OWN SOIL AT HOME

PLANTS SHOULD BE CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE LIGHT TO BENEFIT, NOT BURN

Plants need carbon dioxide (CO2). For the budding gardener, you are in luck, for you are a source of CO2. If you check your plants every day – which you should, so you can observe how they are doing – you will inhale some of the oxygen, and you will exhale CO2 for your plants. If you bring a friend, and both of you do some heavy breathing together, all the better.

Temperature Plants like a temperature a little warmer, but not much, than you do. Heat problems can start showing up after you pass 90º F (32º C). One reason I suggest you start with fluorescents is that they give off an okay amount of light for their heat. MH or HPS both give off more light but they also give out more heat, which has to be dealt with, usually with a ventilation fan to carry the excess heat away.

Wrapping It Up This article only scratches the surface of the possibilities of space, the plant, light, containers, growing medium, water, fertilizer, air and temperature. All aspects can be improved upon once you get bitten by the gardening bug. There are products on the market that can help your plants not only live, but also thrive. Once you are successful with the basics, you can take a look at improving your space, genetics, cloning, advanced lighting, hydroponics, pH metering, advanced fertilizers, fans and CO2 generation, climate control – and a host of other tweaks to make your garden one to be proud of. Start by making it ‘around the block’, and you will be salivating over new toys and techniques for your babies soon enough.

Peace, love and puka shells, Grubbycup

35

FESTIVALS & EXPOS

High Times Cannabis Cup 2011 AMSTERDAM POT, POLICE AND POLITICS The annual HT Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam was notable for several firsts: the expo was raided by police, one person was arrested, and visitors and judges were forcibly removed from the closing awards ceremony for ignoring posted warnings and smoking pot inside the Melkweg night club.

On Wednesday afternoon, the secondto-last day of the 2011 Cup, between 150 and 200 Dutch police officers converged upon the Borchland Sports Hall in Duivendrecht, a suburb of Amsterdam.

Dutch news sites incorrectly reported that possession of soft drugs was not permitted at the expo. Other reports claimed that the police had heard rumors of a ‘drug park’ being operated there, as certain vendors may have illegally sold weed from their stands. Industry insiders whispered that the mayor of Duivendrecht was annoyed at Amsterdam’s mayor for spreading the capital city’s ‘Cannabis problem’. Most agreed that event organizers had likely proceeded with the expo despite lacking completed permits.

These local cops – albeit quite a few of them – did not raid the expo; they simply entered it en masse. Since most of the Cup visitors are from countries where cops plus weed equals prison, the intrusion was startling and upsetting for a lot of international attendees. This was not expected in the renowned pot paradise that is (or used to be) Amsterdam. Notably, at least one cop had a floor plan of the exhibitors, with several stalls circled in red. Perhaps the result of a few days of prior undercover work? Such large numbers of cops would take weeks to assemble.

Cigarette smokers inhabiting the doorway were ignored as the police entered

had any Cannabis (weed or hash) in their possession. If you answered ‘yes’, your drugs were confiscated – even if you held below the tolerated five grams. A few people simply lied and were among a small amount of folks to successfully hang on to their ganja.

This confiscation (and rumored disposal, but we don’t believe that locally) of weed and hash from Cup attendees seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever – apparently many were erroneously informed by police that possession of Cannabis is not tolerated outside of coffee shops.

grams of Cannabis product. She explains: “It is not as if I had 700 grams of weed or hash. What we had was waste leaf that had already been turned for a day or two, to demonstrate my machines. I’m sure that most of any active ingredients were long gone. That was the whole ridiculousness of it all. It took several ‘experts’ to even determine if this was really to be classified as marijuana at all. I had a case in ‘98 when I got busted with 14 kilos and then there was no fine. Now it is different times so I’m expecting a fine maybe, who knows, but certainly nothing more serious than that.

“I even told the cops that the next time I do it again live on TV – like [I did eight]

Sativa Diva

entries through a vaporizer, bong, pipe or joint. Sampling on-site is, apparently, different from putting a free bud in someone’s hand.

Any stash from coffee shops that had been legitimately purchased and paid for was seized, abandoned or hurriedlyconsumed by its buyers – the floor of the expo was littered with bags of weed and hash. In a bizarre twist that should be filed under ‘Only in Amsterdam’, most participants were, however, permitted to keep their Cannabis seeds – which are legal in NL. Surely there are more pressing issues threatening Dutch society than a bunch

LIGHTERMATE PRODUCES MAGNETIZED THE 24TH INSTALLMENT WAS TITLED ‘CELEBRATING THE PSYCHEDELIC’ Even the people at the Cup who were not smoking their stash at the time still had it confiscated, quashing any idea that the drugs were taken because they were being consumed.

While the booths were being inspected by the authorities, including the tax police, the Cup competitors (and stray judges) rallied by smoking everything they had left. Huge joints were rolled, vaporizers were emptied and whatever could be

weeks ago – I will call them and they can stage a grand bust on live TV instead of busting me for bad trash in the back corner of Borchland. They made themselves [look] totally ridiculous, coming with 150 cops, 15 vans for criminals – and they left with one old lady!”

Most vendors or coffee shop owners do not transport 500 grams of product to the expo to hand out for free. Firstly, because it’s illegal (sales of small amounts of weed

LIGHTER-AND-GRINDER COMBOS of activists, patients, growers, stoners, hippies – and people with legitimate jobs who were just working their scheduled shift when the police decided to pay them a visit? And what of those poor judges and VIP attendees who, upon finally being released from the expo, escaped on the shuttle back to Amsterdam – only to be dropped off at Amstel Station and told they were on their own? This once was such a welcoming city.

A spokesman for the Association for the Abolition of Cannabis Prohibition (Vereniging voor Opheffing van het Cannabisverbod) reveals the growing frustration within our industry at the current conservative government: “The show of muscle [Wednesday] is sadly symptomatic of a climate in which Cannabis and coffee shops are being structurally demonized. The War on Cannabis is a reality in the Netherlands, and thus [is also] the criminalization of Cannabis consumers.”

THE GREENHOUSE MEGA-VAPORIZER BIG BUDDHA WAS AWARDED THREE CUPS the expo. A female officer eventually announced over the PA what was happening, citing the Dutch Opium Act (De Opiumwet), a national drug law. Visitors and judges were separated from the stand-holders; everyone was searched and those working the event had to present ID. Most people were patted down, while others were merely asked if they

FLOATED AROUND THE EXPO sucked out of bongs and pipes was then exhaled, forcibly, in the direction of the police teams.

The historic police raid at the Cup resulted in the first-ever public arrest during the event. Mila, the legendary Hash Queen of Amsterdam, was taken into custody for possessing more than the tolerated 500

and hash are tolerated in coffee shops only; for them to give away free dope is prohibited) and secondly, weed is quite expensive over here.

People pay huge amounts of money to compete or participate in the Cannabis Cup, and one of the main goals of the expo is to enable judges to sample

Despite the police intervention and to the relief of all attendees, the Cup continued as scheduled. (If you ignore the fact that, also for the first time ever, attendees of the awards ceremony were strong-armed out into the night when caught smoking inside the Melkweg at the awards ceremony.)

Barney’s won the over-all Cup; however, a final surprise this year was the fact that US seed companies almost swept the genetics competitions. Check out www. hightimes.com for a complete list of Cup winners.

36

HEMP KITCHEN

Future Food

O’Riodon

The year is 2024 and it’s election night. The Hemp Party’s candidate, Cheech Roosevelt, is up for re-election and favorite to win. Under his Presidency, the United States has become the largest producer of hemp in the world and is now energy self-sufficient. In recognition of this achievement, The World Carbon Bank has just awarded the US its highest award, the AAA carbon status.

This news will come as a blow to the shrinking Texaco Tea Party, which has been pushing for the invasion of Antarctica and a bill to give the army its guns back.

Wait, there’s something coming over Twitter. It’s the result and yes, it’s Cheech Roosevelt by a landslide. I’ll Tweet us over to the Keith Richards Life Extension Center so we can listen to the President’s acceptance speech.

“Thank you, thank you for helping me realize a dream. I want us to take a moment to remember the dark days at the beginning of our journey together, when greed almost brought us to our knees. Tonight I feel those times are finally behind us.

The hemp that helped build this country has now helped save it. We have put an end to world hunger and created millions of jobs in the bio-fuel and construction industries. Hemp has renewed our health and given us a sustainable future.

“To celebrate this new era of prosperity, I have decided to grant parole to the perpetrators of the banking fraud that brought about the great crash of 2012.”

Come on, I’ve heard enough. Let’s grab something to eat. I’ll call a cab and we can head down to the Happy Hemper and celebrate... bing, cab’s here. What do you think of our green and black cabs?

They’re 100% hemp, run on electricity and bio-fuel and they fly. Get in and check out the ‘Vapor Go’ vending machine behind the driver. Wow, this one has Hindu Kush – you got a buck? Oooweeee, that’s tasty.

“You boys watched the election?”

“Sure did, driver.”

HASHACCINO

“What about that Angelina Jolie for Secretary of State?”

“I hear Woody Harrelson is running the Bureau of Aviation and has switched all the oxygen masks with drop down vaporizers.”

“What a job. Hey, we’re here. Hope you’re hungry.”

“Welcome to the Happy Hemper.

Tonight’s featured vapors are Strawberry Haze and Lemon Skunk.”

“We’ll take the Haze and two Hemp-fu Burgers.”

What am I thinking? This is my fantasy.

“Just one burger, but I’ll take the Haze and the Skunk.”

Why don’t I just give you the burger recipe and you can make your own at home?

Here are the ingredients: t £ D H HSPVOE IFNQ TFFE t NM TPZ NJML t P[ H UPGV t £ D H DPPLFE DIJDLQFBT BE[VLJ or black-eyed peas will also do) t £ D H DIPQQFE POJPOT BOE celery t D H IFNQ GMPVS t U DIPQQFE QBSTMFZ t DMPWFT HBSMJD HSBUFE t 5 ZFBTU t 5 IVMMFE IFNQ TFFE t U UBNBSJ PS TPZ TBVDF t 5 UPNBUP QBTUF t 0MJWF PJM GPS GSZJOH

HEMP-FU BURGER Roast hemp seeds for five minutes at 390º F (200º C). Grind seeds and soak in the warming soy milk for ten to twelve minutes. Mash in the tofu and the remaining ingredients. Form into burger shapes and dip in hemp flour, then fry in olive oil, adding onions to taste. Serve on a warm roll with lettuce and cucumber; add cheese or condiments if you like.

Hmm, that was delicious – I might even have another. I’d share the Strawberry Haze with you, but it’s still my fantasy.

After a meal like that and on such a night, the only thing to drink now is a Hashaccino. While I’m drinking mine, I’ll tell you how to make one – it’s worth the effort.

You’ll definitely want the recipe for these.

This makes about 14.

Ingredients as follows: t £ D H TFTBNF TFFET t NM NBQMF TZSVQ PS SBX IPOFZ t 5 IVMMFE IFNQ TFFET t 5 TVOGMPXFS TFFET t 5 IFNQ TFFET t MBSHF EBUFT t 5 UBIJOJ PS VOTXFFUFOFE QFBOVU butter t U WBOJMMB FYUSBDU t D H TISFEEFE DPDPOVU GPS coating t H .BDB PQUJPOBM

Any coffeemaker works, but a cafetiere is best. Use a mild or medium coffee (I like Sumatra Volcanic), add freshly-grated ginger and ground up cardamom pods – use as much as you like. While the coffee’s brewing, warm up a pan of soy- or regular milk and mix in a gram of hash for each person; whisk until it’s dissolved.

Milk with hash in it won’t foam, so for a real Hashaccino, whisk up another batch of milk with cinnamon, just to top it off.

Serve in the biggest cup or bowl you can find with lots of foam. Maybe it’s the combination, but the effect is like a mild acid trip and lasts as long. Happy landings.

So while we drink our coffee, let me tell you about life in the future (or a possible future). For you the future has already begun with the banking crisis; soon you’ll realize it was all just bits of paper and lies, but there will come a time when people will turn away from greed and find a better way. It will come out of necessity as resources dwindle, but the re-discovery of hemp will help in the recovery. So, it’s up to you to consume as much hemp as possible, expanding the demand until governments can no longer ignore it. You can make it happen.

Grind the nuts and seeds together and slowly mix in all the other ingredients, except the coconut. Then roll the finished dough into balls and cover in coconut. I ate mine with fresh mint leaves and they were delicious.

I think it’s time for dessert. “Can I have an order of Hemptation Balls?”

Well, it was nice you visited; see you in the future!

HEMPTATION BALLS

37

SMUGGLER’S TALES

GOOD WRAPPING IS ESSENTIAL

Cannabis Gut-Smugglers: Reasons and Risks Drug mule-ing is a dirty way to earn money. Every year thousands of people around the world get locked up for it, and for every soul that gets busted humping drugs across a border there’s another ten desperados, outlaws or broke adventure seekers willing to The Professor step into their hooves.

There’s a multitude of different ways to get drugs across borders; the big-timers and the big stashes obviously have to be transported in vehicles of some description, but the smaller amounts are often smuggled in people’s stomachs. Most of these gut-smugglers are independents – people trying to make enough dough to make it through the next few months or pay for their plane ticket; very few of them are career criminals and even fewer of them are rich. SSUSA has managed to find a couple of Cannabis gut-smugglers willing to talk about the risks they take, the reasons they do it and the scams they face…

About twenty years after his first time, we bumped into Bill a very short distance from some big pot fields. These days he’s happily married with a couple of young kids, but times are tough so he packed his bags and headed for ‘the mountain’…

Bill, 47, from the UK:

Ben, 38, a traveler, also from the UK:

“I started smuggling in my belly about twenty years ago, after my first couple of trips to India. Loads of people around me were doing it and they were living the life I wanted; I was gutted to be going home to work in that bloody factory again. I’d been thinking about it then one day I just thought ‘fuck it, if they can do it and live to tell the tale then so can I.’”

DO THE BENEFITS OUTWEIGH THE RISKS?

“I can do half a key no worries; some people I know can do a whole [kilo], but they’re big guys! This is the first time I’ve done it in years though. You know how things are; I’ve got a mortgage, kids to feed and work is drying up badly… if I don’t do this then there’s gonna be another destitute family on the streets in a couple of months’ time.”

“I don’t need much money to live; I made it through last year on about five grand.

Being situated in the dope Mecca that we are (at the time of writing this) we’ve also been able to find someone who could supply dope ready to swallow: “These are five-gram eggs – some people like four grams, some people like six grams – but five is easy, good for counting and good for swallowing. Look….”

Our ‘man’ puts a plastic-wrapped, fivegram egg on the floor and stamps on it…

“See, if car drive over then no problem, no break – we test before, my eggs strong. I have one friend, he works [here] and then goes home every weekend. Every weekend he take one kilo in his stomach; he do this for one and half year but now he just start to have blood when it comes out, now he must to stop for six months.”

WHILE PROFITABLE, GUT-SMUGGLING CAN CAUSE

Blood coming out of the business end?

That doesn’t sound good.

Bill: “Getting it out of the other end can be a nightmare. You always count them in carefully, make a mental note of how many

HEALTH PROBLEMS

the bastard must have pulled a bag switch on me ‘cause he disappeared after that, that was an expensive lesson!”

OUT OF ALL THE THINGS PEOPLE SMUGGLE IN THEIR GUT, POT HAS TO BE ONE OF THE MOST INNOCUOUS, BUT IT’S STILL A RISK Whenever I fly I try and make my money back on tobacco, and when I’m away I buy anything I think I can sell back home; clothes, pipes, bongs, stones, jewelery... dope’s the easiest to get rid of and it’s the most profitable. I do a few hundred grams two or three times a year – I love the smoke, my mates love the smoke; so me doing this keeps us all happy!”

“Most of the risk is avoided by good wrapping. I always wrap my own and I double wrap it ‘cause it goes through me in about eighteen hours – if any of it comes out before it should then I can take the outer wrap off, re-wrap it and swallow it again.

I had to start doing that ‘cause I went to catch a plane once but there was a massive delay so I ended up losing a couple of ounces down a plane toilet! Some people take Imodium® to keep it all in but that stuff sticks to the dope like cement; I’d rather just re-swallow it.”

you’ve swallowed, check your [stools] after the first twelve hours... but they never all come out at once. The first time freaked me out a bit, I was still five eggs short two days after they started coming out. After about four or five days I was still one short.

I thought I must’ve miscounted or missed it somehow; I didn’t want to think it might’ve disappeared into me forever. Then it popped out. God knows where it was hiding but it always happens like that – you get used to carrying your little bowl around with you and poking through your poo for days at a time. It’s fucking disgusting. I never shit blood though.”

Ben: “It isn’t just getting it out the other end that can be a nightmare. I scored my stash once, went ‘round to check it out first and it was beautiful hash. We did the deal; I got it back to the hotel and opened one to have a celebratory smoke, but it was different to what I thought I’d bought, very average...

Out of all the things people smuggle in their gut, pot has to be one of the most innocuous, but it’s still a risk if you don’t know what you’re doing – maybe you’ll get ripped off when you buy it, maybe you’ll get caught out by a delayed flight, maybe you’ll get busted at the airport, maybe maybe maybe….

The real issue here is that as long as drugs are ‘illegal’ then they will be smuggled, and as long as there are people who are desperate for cash then there will be people who smuggle drugs in their stomachs – whether it’s someone like Bill, risking his freedom to keep a roof over his family’s heads; or Ben, using his smuggling proceeds to avoid dealing with life’s responsibilities... or the guy who risked his health for riches by smuggling a kilo a week for a year-and-a-half. This is but another angle that must be considered in the on-going debate about legalization.

38

MUSIC REVIEWS

Alabama 3: Shoplifting 4 Jesus HOSTAGE MUSIC That formidable band of outlaws, Alabama 3, together (or perhaps more aptly described as ‘untogether’), for nearly fifteen years now, has produced one of their best albums ever.

This latest emission, provocatively entitled Shoplifting 4 Jesus, shines out like a lighthouse standing firmly on its rock, ensuring safety in dangerous and troubled waters. Nobody seems quite sure whether this is the seventh, eighth or ninth album, but it has been carved with a fresh creative passion and musical profundity that yields this cut with a definitely sharpened edge.

Dealing with some of the issues of today in a typical Alabama 3 kind of way – using humor and ridicule, rather than ranting politics to slander the injustices of the system – the work is a voice of the zeitgeist: a clarion call to the people to stand firm in the name of the Lord.

For as front man, Larry Love says, “If you do it in the name of the Lord, you can get away with murder!” Originally, funking up dance-floors with a quirky mix of country music, acid house and pure unadulterated rock ‘n’ roll; while perhaps to non-contenders, a novelty act, musical dogma was never the intention. Now key, signature elements of catchy melodies and a booty-shaking groove provide an anchor for vocoder-warped vocals, riot-torn rap and, totally out there, weird shit.

A dazzling host of guests were invited, or just serendipitously arrived, to become part of the recording process. From a globally respected gangster actor, to a best selling novelist and a twelve-year-old human beat-boxer, their inclusion allows us all to be involved. It gives us the feeling that we are an intrinsic part of the flow; that we each add our individual character to become part of a whole, and that this band is not about featuring names on tracks and selling more records. This voyage into anarchic détournement begins with a Biblical passage read by Ray Winstone in ‘Nightmare’, closely followed by the dulcet tones of Bez (Happy Mondays) in ‘We Stole the Moon’. Marina Cole brings ‘Who the Fuck is John Sinclair?’ to life.

THIS IS A SONIC MISSILE THAT WILL BLOW THE MINDS OF THE MASSES. OR AT THE VERY LEAST, IT WILL ADD WOOD TO THE FIRE THAT ALREADY BLAZES, DEEP DOWN AND LOW, WITHIN THE CHALICE OF THE CONGREGATION.

Tom Waits: Bad As Me ANTI/EPITAPH “I’m the boat that won’t sink/ I won’t sleep a wink,” declares Tom Waits, perhaps explaining the roller coasting urgency that runs through his seventeenth album, and the first of completely new material in seven years. Now 61, with Keith Richards in his band, and his voice sounding like an American Shane MacGowan with a heavy cold after a night spent in a grave, Waits’s songs hurtle past in waves of blistering energy and imagery. Demented New Orleans- and Depression-era blues, Elvis-type tearjerkers, accordion laments, rollicking Birthday Party punk and madcap T Rex distortions of rock ‘n’ roll are delivered with fire, brimstone and recordings of machine guns and horses. Waits’s lyrics are as unpredictable and inspired as ever, whether drawing political parallels between the 1930s and now (“Someone makes money when there’s blood in the streets”) or comically grumbling about “Big fuckin’ ditches in the middle of the road.” AS EVER, HE’S DOING THINGS HIS OWN WAY, WITH SONGS CATCHY ENOUGH TO SUGGEST EVERYONE SHOULD ACCOMPANY HIM FOR THE RIDE.

By Kaz Peet

Caravan of Thieves: Mischief of the Night UNITED FOR OPPORTUNITY For the past four years, the irresistible ensemble of gypsy swinging, fire-breathing circus freaks, known as Caravan of Thieves, has roamed the North American continent recruiting a family of avid thrill seekers at their high-energy shows. Driving, gypsy jazz rhythms, acoustic guitars, upright bass and violin lay the foundation for mesmerizing vocal harmonies and fantastic stories. It’s theatrical and humorous. It’s musical and intense. It entertains, dazzles and defies classification while welcoming the spectator to join the band throughout the performance in momentary fits of claps, snaps and sing-alongs. If Django Reinhardt, the cast of Stomp and the Beatles all had a party at Tim Burton’s house, Caravan of Thieves would be the band they hired.

THIS LIVE ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS THE BAND’S MOST OUTRAGEOUS ANTICS FROM THE PAST TWO YEARS.

2000DS: K-137 Live Musik from Kopinecker Strasse – Berlin ’91 SCRAP RECORDS/ RABID RECORDS Recently released by LA-based label Rabid Records, this album features a new digital mix of shows performed in 1991 at the infamous Berlin squat on Kopinecker Strasse by one of punk’s most irrepressible bands ever, the one and only 2000DS. Following a horrific road accident just a couple of months ago in Trelawny, Jamaica (in which Gary, the band’s instigator and front man, his daughter, and other family members and close friends were all killed) records like this have become precious time capsules containing a musical fervor that will never be repeated.

This amazing bunch of renegades, first meeting through the traveler’s scene, were held together along their extremely chaotic journey by the mutual determination that nothing could ever stop them.

They were not punk; they were not hardcore, but were, as Gary described: “punk-as-fuck, hard-to-thecore motherfuckers”.

2000DS, short for 2000 Dirty Squatters, comprised of musicians and artists from Wales, England, Germany, Spain, Italy and the US. Freely they roamed in brightly painted trucks, wagons and buses, often having to siphon diesel in order to complete their journey, only ever stopping where there was a stage for them to thrash out their electrifying and faster-than-the-speed-of-light performances.

THIS ALBUM PROVIDES A RARE GLIMPSE INTO ONE OF THE LESSER-KNOWN, BUT NONETHELESS KEY ELEMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF UNDERGROUND MUSIC. Gary and the others will be forever, very sadly, missed. R.I.P.

Compilation: Greensleeves Dubstep: Chapter 1 GREENSLEEVES RECORDS The shackles have come off as reggae giant Greensleeves Records opens its vaults to launch a pivotal series in dubstep. The first album, aptly entitled Greensleeves Dubstep: Chapter 1, has an awe-inspiring list of the genre’s finest producers, with the likes of The Bug, Coki and Mala of Digital Mystikz, Goth-Trad, Horsepower Productions and Terror Danjah. They mix up some of dancehall’s most popular anthems from leading contemporaries Vybz Kartel, Mavado, Busy Signal and Gyptian, as well as icons Yellowman, Barrington Levy and Admiral Bailey – for the ultimate sound clash.

Dubstep – which converges the different branches of dance music, including garage, drum ‘n’ bass, dancehall, dub and techno – always has a strong emphasis on production, and is known for its experimental headiness, wobbling bass-lines, atmospheric ambiance and often murky undertones. This release captures the essence of this signature sound and also charts new water by equally emphasizing the vocalist’s side.

WITH EVERY TRACK A GEM, THIS IS SURELY A MUST-HAVE COMPILATION FOR DJS, LONG-TIME FANS AND NEW LISTENERS ALIKE.

40

ADVANCED INDOOR GROWING

Now for Something Completely Different GROW WITH LITTLE LEBOWSKI Have you been growing for a while? Are you at the stage where no matter which new nutrient, additive or growing method you try, you just can’t seem to better your last yield? Think you’ve got the most out of your growing environment? Maybe it’s time to try something completely different.

In this installment of ‘Grow with Little Lebowski’, we look at a few techniques for the advanced gardener. By advanced gardener I don’t just necessarily mean those of you who have grown for years, tried different methods of cultivation – from handwatering to hydro – and can consistently get good yields from your environment.

I’m talking about those of you who have your grow room ‘dialed in’ and are willing to try something a little bit new; those of you willing to take a risk or two in pursuit of the highest possible yield and, most importantly, because you are curious to see what will happen if you push your plants (and yourself).

So, all the growers out there who are reliant on the grow room to pay your bills may want to look away now, or just read on and get a friend to try out these techniques.

Only the risk takers and thrill seekers out there – with a spare lamp just crying out to be used – need apply.

For those of you who are still with me, keep an open mind. We’ll start with simple (as in relatively easy to understand and achieve) concepts and work our way up to the more challenging stuff. Fire up a fun stick, something clear and uplifting, and read on….

Play at Nature In an indoor garden, you control and manipulate every element that your plants need to develop (if ever there was an ideal hobby for someone with a god complex, it’s home growing) and this level of control can, in theory, extend to taking charge of the seasons. To an extent if you are growing now you are already doing this. Think about it: when you switch your lighting to 12/12 you force your plants to flower by reducing the amount of ‘daylight’ hours they receive, fooling them into thinking the colder weather is on the way and it is time for them to reproduce.

What happens when you take this one step further? What happens if you do

bring on the ‘cold weather’? There are two possibilities here: one relates to increasing the yield and the other relates to bringing the crop to an early finish, without reducing quality.

Nighttime Temperatures The difference between day- and nighttime temperatures is referred to as the DIF and it is widely agreed that increasing the DIF has a positive effect in steering most plants towards flowering. When growing indoors it is pretty straightforward to record day and night temperatures using a simple max./ min. thermometer. It is also straightforward to drop the night temperature, because the biggest source of heat – the lamp – is off during the night period.

During the veg stage, you will achieve optimum growth by keeping the DIF constant. Use a fan heater, or similar, to raise the night temperature once the lamp is off. Measure your minimum night temperatures and set the heater on a timer to warm the grow room throughout the ‘lights off’ period.

a period of cold temperatures to induce flowering; for example, strawberries in the garden will only start to produce fruit after the cold ‘snap’ in winter. However, for the majority of plants – the good lady, Cannabis, included – cold periods will cause pigments (green-colored chlorophyll) in the leaves to retract; this is why certain strains of Cannabis will turn purple or blue if grown in colder conditions.

During the flowering period, buds require more and more sugars to develop properly and reach full potential. These are created via the pigments in the leaves trapping light and converting it to sugar (photosynthesis). If the temperature in the environment is deliberately lowered, the pigments retract and the plant’s metabolism will begin to shut down. You will literally be simulating the natural onset of the cold weather; this will trigger a release of hormones within the plant, which will ‘finish’ the crop early and the plant will then begin to die back. Obviously yield will be compromised, but the actual quality of the end product will be far superior to just chopping the plant early – a helpful technique for commercial situations.

Stress to Impress This is perhaps the most challenging concept of all and one that is only recommended for those willing to take a risk, throw caution to the wind and try something completely different.

Topping and FIMming (Fuck, I Missed) This is a very common stress technique used to force the plant to bush out and grow laterally, developing additional flowering sites as it does so. Topping simply involves removing the growing tip of the plant to make it more productive; rather than developing just one main cola, more side shoots develop and more bud sites are formed. FIMming involves leaving on slightly more of the new growth when topping.

Thinning This technique involves removing branches and leaves that are superfluous to requirements. Usually leafy foliage that sits under the main canopy is removed, as it no longer receives much light and is therefore unproductive. By removing this foliage during the start of the flowering period, energy is diverted to bud production. While this undoubtedly stresses the plant, it will result in faster bud development and, ultimately, improved yields.

Root Pruning Any grower who has ever vegged using rock wool cubes on a ridged tray, or grown their plants in an air pot or fabric pot has utilized the root pruning technique. This involves allowing the very tip of the root to come into contact with the air, which dries it out until it eventually dies back.

This stressful occurrence forces the root to

IF EVER THERE WAS AN IDEAL HOBBY FOR SOMEONE WITH A GOD COMPLEX, IT’S HOME GROWING Over- and under feeding, too much heat or humidity, pest attack, cold roots – a stressed plant is an unhappy plant, right?

To an extent, yes; however there is a school of thought out there believing that some stress can be good for the plant and can be utilized by the grower to steer the plant in the right direction.

Most growers will already be deliberately stressing their plants to their own advantage. Don’t believe me? How many of you employ the following tactics?

put out a secondary root branch, which in turn is pruned by the air and puts out its own secondary root. Root pruning causes the plant to develop an increased root mass, resulting in an increased level of nutrient uptake and faster growth.

These deliberate stress inducement techniques are helpful tools for every grower and it’s pretty clear how they affect growth rates and yield. But what about inflicting deliberate harm on the plant?

This is where things get a bit risky.

For the flowering stage, the optimum DIF is around 46.4º - 50º F (8º - 10º C), so if your maximum day temp is around 82.4º F (28º C), aim for a night temperature of around 64.4º F (18º C).

This drop in temperature forces sugars held in the plant towards the buds. This is because as the air temperature cools, the plant will cool with it. The leaves hold less mass than the buds and therefore cool at a quicker pace, causing the sugars held in them (which they have been producing all day) to be moved to the flowering sites, where they advance bud growth.

Bring on the Autumn Otherwise known as ‘vernalization’, this technique can be utilized to deliberately finish a crop early without compromising too much on the quality of the end product. Certain plant species actually require

INCREASE THE DIF; LOWER NIGHTTIME TEMPERATURES CAN STIMULATE PRODUCTION

41

EXPLOIT PLANT STRESS TO INCREASE FLOWERING SITES

From my own experience, I can recall an example where stressing plants through drought appeared to spur on a spell of rapid growth: Once, when bringing on eight clones in an aeroponic propagator, I accidentally (and soberly, which is even more embarrassing) turned off the pump that was running the sprinklers and left the grow room for the day. When I returned, the clones – which had only gone into the prop the day before – had wilted to the extent that they now lay flat on the tray of the propagator! Thinking there was nothing to lose, I

room record yield with them and says, to this day, that they were the most ferocious growers he has ever encountered.

Now, I’m not recommending that you bring your plants close to death, then try and bring them back from the brink – far from it. But there are a couple of techniques that are fairly well documented in steering plants towards the flowering – or generative – phase. Note that during the vegetative phase the way to attain the best results (keep the veg period as productive and short as possible) is to water frequently at a low EC, ensure the root zone doesn’t

MOST GROWERS WILL ALREADY BE DELIBERATELY STRESSING THEIR PLANTS TO THEIR OWN ADVANTAGE turned the pump back on and kept my fingers crossed. Within three hours they were upright; within four days they had rooted out and then went on to become some of the strongest and biggest-yielding plants that I have grown.

Could it be that a dose of stress in their early stages boosted them to become stronger later in their development? Maybe.

A friend of mine had a similar experience when he was unexpectedly kept away from home over a weekend. When he returned, his four young seedlings (at that point in three-inch soil pots) were wilted and the edge of the leaves had started to crisp. Eleven weeks later he set his grow

dry out and keep day- and night temperatures as constant as possible.

For those brave enough to embark on something new – and already have 100% confidence that all of your environmental factors are correct – give these a try once you have switched to 12/12: Raise the Nutrient Strength This is best experimented on a strain that you have grown before and one with which you are familiar regarding its tolerance to nutrients. When entering the flowering period, raise the level of feed to just under the upper tolerance of the strain. The higher concentration of nutrient around the roots restricts the uptake

of water and stresses the plant, steering it towards flowering. Note: this technique is more straightforward in recirculating hydro than soil or coco, as you can easily measure nutrient uptake and strength using an EC meter.

Dry Out the Root Zone Despite my earlier anecdote, we are not talking about letting your plants completely dry out to the extent that they wilt.

Instead, reduce the frequency of feeding so that the roots begin to dehydrate slightly; this will stress the plant, encouraging earlier flower development. There is no need to change the actual volume of nutrient solution that you feed the plant; just alter the times that you feed – increase the duration between feed periods by ten- to twenty percent. This allows the media to dry without causing irreversible damage to the roots themselves.

Note: this technique should only be attempted when using a growing method where the roots are surrounded by a growing medium. It should not be utilized in ‘bare root’ hydro techniques, such as NFT and aeroponics, where turning off the supply of nutrient solution to the roots can quickly cause damage. The technique is, however, well-suited to drip irrigation, where it is easy to control the number and duration of feeds per day.

For example, if you’re growing using drips and clay pebbles and feeding six times a day for ten minutes, adjust the irrigation to three times a day for twenty minutes. Same

volume of feed, but the longer duration between each irrigation period will dry out the root zone and stress the plant.

Not only should these techniques force your plants into earlier flowering, but the application of this stress should also divert energy into bud production, resulting in a higher overall yield.

Good luck... and don’t say I didn’t warn you!

ROOT PRUNING POTS INVOLVES A COMMONLY USED STRESS TECHNIQUE: AIR PRUNING

WORTH THE RISK? DEFINITELY!

42

ENDANGERED STRAINS

Oaxacan, Angola Red and Red Lebanon In this issue’s guide to Endangered Strains we’ll take a look at two landrace sativas, the Angola Red and the Oaxacan Highland of Mexico – and for the first time, we’ll talk about a renowned type of hashish, the Red Lebanese. All hail from parts of the world thrown into turmoil in recent years by the War on Drugs, with the traditional means of cultivation disrupted and distorted until the original and sought-after varieties have Kali Mist been all but lost.

The Oaxacan Highland pot – often known as Gold despite the beige hue to the buds (and the red calyx tips!) – used to appear fairly regularly in the US market.

It was known for its strong, psychedelic high and sharp-sweet taste and smell, as well as its tall, conical growth pattern and tendency to go hermaphrodite. While the pot has all but disappeared here in the domestic market, specimens still grow in Mexico, dotted around the landscape of the hills surrounding Oaxaca City. It usually grows to around twelve

feet – quite tall for a highland variety – and its propensity to grow long, strong lower branches gives it its characteristic Christmas tree shape. The leaves are somewhat wider than many other Mexican strains, such as the Guerrera or Michoaca varieties, and the flowers are often densely surrounded by small, resinous leaves. The seeds of these and many other Mexican strains are larger, lighter in color and less mottled than most sativas of the central and south American regions.

Occasionally a few seeds thought to be original Oaxacan Highland sativa make it through, and as a result a handful of hybrid strains have been created and are available currently, such as the Eldorado from the Sativa Seed Bank and Niagara from Dr. Greenthumb. However, the likelihood of new seed stock getting through in future is ever decreasing. The level of drug-related violence in the Oaxaca region is so high that strain-hunting forays are not undertaken too often – to say the least. Added to this, the introduction of new hybrid genetics to the region has led to dilution of the lineage, as with so many other great strains, and pure examples are ever scarcer. The increase in seeds with a greater degree of surface mottling, perhaps due to introduction of Colombian genetics, is thought to be evidence of this ongoing hybridization.

In Lebanon, much of the nation’s hashish production occurs in the Bekaa Valley region, which has long been controlled by cartels operating in open defiance of the law. Cannabis has been cultivated in the valley for centuries if not longer, and production often peaks at times of war and civil unrest – such as the years of civil war

between 1975 and 1990, when many poor farmers made fortunes in a few short harvests. In peacetime the police and army routinely join forces, confronting the issue (and sometimes, hostile and well-armed militias) by destroying crops en masse – which is not only damaging to the local economy and the livelihoods of many, but is incredibly destructive to the landscape, often left sparse and barren after the raids. One persistent issue is the need to invest heavily in the region’s rural development: the initial programs began in the

1990s, with the aid of the United Nations Development Program, and the intent to pour hundreds of millions into replacing the Cannabis plantations with legal cash crops. When the promised funds did not turn up, many ordinary farmers were left with no choice but to attempt to grow more Cannabis.

This has been the pattern for many years – there was again some respite for the farmers in the three years following the 2006 Lebanon-Israel conflict, as authorities dealt with the more pressing matter of the war’s aftermath, but in September

2009 the eradication recommenced, and have continued every summer since.

Many Lebanese support legalization of the industry, believing that a regulated industry would be safer and economically beneficial; others feel that levels of violence and corruption are so entrenched that a heavy-handed approach is needed to eliminate such problems once and for all. The powerful families and gangs that make up the cartels constitute a powerful political voice in their own right, and many politicians resist implementing tooharsh policies in the fear of losing office, or worse, personal safety.

The hash itself comes in two forms – Yellow, which is from younger plants and has a cerebral effect due to the high THC and low CBN characteristic of harvesting at this stage; and Red, which is from more mature plants, has a higher CBN content, and closely resembles Moroccan hashish (but produces a more ‘stoney’ effect).

The plants are usually stretched out to dry in the sun before being shaken over fine mesh to catch the trichomes, and the resulting powder is sealed in bags and stored until winter, when pressing will begin. The yellow form is traditionally much rarer than the red; varying qualities of both are produced, with the highest grades being extremely potent.

Since the war with Israel, border controls have been very tight, and much Lebanese hash has been absorbed into the domestic market – albeit with prices suffering due to the surplus. Internationally, it is difficult to source even small quantities of good, fresh Lebanese hashish, although poor imitations abound – often from Turkey, which produces similar hashish from related varieties of Cannabis, but is generally considered to be inferior.

“WHY POT GETS US HIGH” 7

“THE AMERICAN PEOPLE VS. THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT” 9

“NEW CANNABIS SITE HANDLES ALL YOUR WEED NEEDS” 26

43 try is largely deemed insignificant by the authorities, the nation’s importance as a drop-off point for cocaine has led to a crackdown on the drugs trade in general. Due to the lack of surplus harvest for export, not much Angolan Cannabis gets through to other countries (except occasional small quantities to Namibia), and the original Red is in grave danger of being truly and irreversibly lost – if it isn’t already!

Another country where cultivation of Cannabis has been a means of subsist-

Despite the illegality of Cannabis in Angola, farmers have managed to pro-

However, anecdotes suggest that green phenotypes pervade, and no-one really

IT IS HIGHLY POSSIBLE THAT MANY OF THE FAMOUS RED STRAINS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA ARE IN FACT DESCENDED FROM THE ANGOLA RED ence for centuries is Angola in southwest Africa. The sativa landraces that grow here are widespread in the central highlands and the north-east of the country and were established prior to the Portuguese occupation, which began in 1575 and officially ended in 1975. Prior to independence (and the subsequent civil war) ships that came to the harbor at Luanda, the nation’s capital and an important trading port, could freely buy Cannabis from local traders.

It seems that early Portuguese settlers may have assisted its rise to fame by transporting it to the New World; the Angolan slaves uprooted and transported to the plantations in this time may also have taken covert supplies with them. It is highly possible that many of the famous Red strains of central and south America are in fact descended from the Angola Red.

duce crops quite consistently over the years, although here, as in Lebanon, they face the constant possibility of their crop being discovered and burned by armyand police forces. Balombo district, on the north-eastern coast of Angola, recently saw seizures of 3,500 plants in a small village called Ngolo – a significant blow for a country whose total production is rarely large enough to satisfy anything more than the domestic market. It has been noted that the occurrence of red phenotypes has massively decreased and perhaps ceased entirely, as genetics begin to be introduced from elsewhere to supplement the losses suffered during police actions. Farmers in nearby areas, such as the Huíla province, where traditional knowledge of the properties of Cannabis has been documented among the local tribes, have been able to so far ensure that some cultivation still occurs.

seems to know if the Red still exists.

Although Angola’s small Cannabis indus-

The Cannabis trade in southern and central Africa is often violent and steeped in politics. As factions in the nearby countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo continue to war over control of production, Angolan authorities do not wish to appear lax as they fear the violence will begin to encroach on home ground. Although production of Cannabis is unlikely to cease altogether, the ongoing difficulties experienced by Angolan growers are so great that a historic strain may have become extinct. Without question, if any specimens of this strain are found in the future they must be preserved to ensure the lineage does not die out. Yet again, the international pot community must wait to see whether or not the powers-that-be – in Mexico, Lebanon, Angola and in the world in general – will finally wake up and realize that the continual interference in these age-old Cannabis industries is pointless and damaging, and ultimately destined to fail.

44

BUDS IN THE BEDROOM

Weed and Making Love BUDS IN THE BEDROOM Weed and making love can be a beautiful pairing. By weed, I mean bud, hash, tincture, magic brownies or any Cannabis product that people ingest to get high.

By making love, I mean just that. I don’t mean it just as a euphemism for the act of sexual intercourse; I mean doing things that bring people closer together. Taking care of a mate with the flu may not be sexy, but it is one way to make love.

Sexual preferences and orientation are only important to you, your partner, and potential partners; to anyone else it’s a bit of trivia about you that doesn’t make any real difference to anyone else but the nosy and the close minded. This article is written from a heterosexual male point of view, but only because that is what I happen to be. I also happen to prefer sweet weed over savory weed, and manage to do so without looking down on people who like a harsher smoke.

Things to do with your loved one: Spend time together. Split a bowl, tend to your closet-ful of marijuana plants together, trim up together at harvest

time, roll joints together, watch TV, or make love together. Making time for each other is an important way to keep connected.

Let them know that you think of them when you are apart. With today’s technology, there is no reason not to slip in the occasional “just because I love you” email, text, or phone call into your busy schedule.

Talk about anything together. Serious talk, silly talk, talking about nothing and everything. Being able to sit and talk about mundane things in day-to-day life bodes well for being able to talk about secret fantasies and sexual wants later.

Touch just to touch. Hold hands, put hands on shoulders, scoot together on the couch. It’s a natural tendency; even a well-loved pet tends to want to be near and touch their favorite human. There is no reason why you shouldn’t do the same with your own favorite human as well, and ask any cat owner, curling up together sometimes leads to purring.

Be friends. Just because you are sleeping together, there is no reason not to be best friends as well. Share hopes, dreams, disappointments and sorrows together. It helps build trust, and trust is essential to opening up together in bed.

CHOCOLATE MELTS AT BODY HEAT TEMPERATURE, A PROPERTY THAT MAKES IT VERY SUITABLE FOR SHARING

Drive-by kisses... even a moment together passing in the hall can be a way to nurture each other. Even if you are both busy, a minute or two spent together can lift both your spirits, and help bolster each other against the difficulties of the world.

Shotgunning... this tends to work better if the other person is expecting it. Take a hit, and kiss, gently passing the smoke to your lover. If one of you coughs, try not to cough in your lover’s face. Keep in mind that sometimes the need to cough is sudden and without warning. The most appropriate response to getting accidentally coughed on is to giggle uncontrollably at the other person.

Which weed to get wild with?

Sativas: Fun, adventuresome Sativas tend to have a more uplifting, mental high. A nice choice for unwinding with before letting your hair down with something fun, or trying something new. It can make for an energetic – if occasionally giggly – experience.

Indica: Relaxing People frequently mention that a strong indica can have an effect known as ‘couch lock’, where one tends to sit and fixate

Grubbycup

45

upon watching movies or playing video games. Indicas are an excellent adjunct to slow, sensuous, touchy lovemaking. Watch your partner’s body instead of the screen, and give your attention to fun that gives you attention, and fun, back.

However, to really get it right, try a variety at different times and find what works best for you and your partner. I have a female friend who becomes very aroused every time she smokes Super Critical Haze, and swears by it. Experiment with different types until you find your best match. As in older versions of the story, just keep looking for Cinderella’s fur slipper until you find the perfect match for you.

Smell Cannabis to some can be a very erotic aroma, and can heighten olfactory attention. Fresh buds can be sniffed and savored before lighting. Gently-blown smoke across skin can be worn as a perfume. For a sensual experience, get high with your love, and then take turns closing eyes, smelling jars from the spice rack in the kitchen, and guessing at the contents. Remember to inhale lightly however, since snorting a snoot-full of pepper may be something of a mood killer. Just remember to move any stray jars out of harm’s way if the two of you decide to do some ‘cooking’ of your own in the kitchen.

Inhale your love’s scent. Before you wrinkle your nose, I’m not talking about sticking your nose in someone’s armpit – unless that is something that sounds good to you.

Just hold your love close, kiss them along their neck below one of their earlobes, and inhale. Smell is a memory trigger; memories and particular smells are often linked.

Taking the time to learn your love’s scent will help the memories of your intimate times together last. When apart and missing the other, scent on a pillowcase can sometimes offer solace by assisting in wishful thinking or fantasizing.

Your love is not the only sexy scent that can be used to help set the tone and make memories; scented candles, incense, perfumes, colognes and oils can all add to experiences. To strengthen the sexual association, consider keeping certain scents just for lovemaking. Perhaps you could make a pre-foreplay trip to pick out perfume or cologne used just for making love together.

Letting your mate pick out the fragrance that they like best on you can be very sexy, since you’ll be wearing it just for being close with them. These days, you can even purchase a variety of Cannabis perfumes.

Learning your lover’s favorite nonsexual aromas can be used to heighten romance as well.

The smell of freshly-baked bread or hot peach cobbler may not be overtly sexual, but they are very nice. For others, bacon, lavender or cinnamon might be favorites. Pleasant aromas encourage the occasional sniff, and prepare the nose to be receptive to some of the muskier scents of lovemaking.

Sight Sight can be a powerful aphrodisiac.

A gentle curve of skin, pretty lingerie, and a well packed bowl of kind bud can turn a viper’s head and keep it turned.

Moistened lips pursed and drawing on a pipe can be a suggestive sight. As a tip for the guys, if she primps and dresses in a way that you like, make sure she knows you appreciate the effort; unless you show

Listen to your love; not only to their words, but to their body language, and how their body reacts. If you listen closely, you can learn their likes, dislikes, hopes and dreams.

How a person breathes changes as passion builds, and gives cues as to the level of excitement your partner is feeling. A couple’s moans and grunts are a language of their own, and a worthwhile one for them both to become fluent in. Find ways to communicate to your love that work for the two of you, and listen to what they have to say. It is a wise couple that cares and is supportive the other, and is cared for and supported in return.

For some, whispered words of love and sexuality can be very arousing. Pillow talk before, after, and for some couples during, can help bring the two of you closer together.

Tasting Marijuana can have a variety of subtle flavors when smoked. Some are fruity and

become sticky, and may be a prudent activity to reserve for bathtub fun.

Skin also has taste – as do intimate parts – and clean parts tend to taste better than when they are less fresh, so be considerate of your partner. Kisses are a nice way to taste each other.

Touching A flame gently touching the edge of a wellcured nugget can bring out the delights hidden within. . A similar gentle touching behind the ear, and down the curve of a neck can have a similar effect between lovers. There are nerves dedicated to sensing touch over most of our bodies, take some time to explore some on your partner besides just the favorites.

There are many different sorts of touches, find the ones that work best for you and your love. Simple touches during the day can communicate connection, and affection. Touches that are more intimate can

Indicas are an excellent adjunct to slow, sensuous, touchy lovemaking. you care, she won’t know you do.

Since heavy breathing around growing plants is good for the plants (extra CO2), it might be of use to note that Metal Halide (MH) bulbs give off a bluer light than High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lights, and human skin tends to look more natural and attractive under them.

Watch your love: how they move, how they react. Flushes, blushes and twinkling eyes are all signs of how your partner is feeling. Memorize the face of your love, so you can bring it to mind to comfort you in times of absence. Let them see your love and desire for them in your eyes and body movement, inside the bedroom and out.

Sunlight, grow lights, candles, and moonlight can all supply differing intensities of light. One nice thing about making love is that it works well under a much wider range of suitable lighting conditions than when growing marijuana plants. Try a variety, and repeat the ones that work the best for you two.

Hearing Hearing can be very evocative. Imagine the sound of a lighter, followed by bubbles rising out of water; a pause, and a cough.

Since, my gentle reader, you are reading something titled Weed and Making Love, I’d bet that the image that forms in your head thinking of those sounds involved a water pipe (bong), even though no mention of it was made directly. Sounds can evoke memories, and romantic music in the background, low enough to still hear each other, is a time honored tradition for many couples.

sweet, others savory and sharp. It isn’t a matter of one being ‘right’ and one being ‘wrong’, it’s about finding the right match for your taste.

Cannabis is known to elicit a response known as ‘the munchies’; an increased appetite where eating is a more pleasurable experience than normal. Feeding each other a variety of crunchy, chewy, sweet and salty snacks could be the start of a very sexy evening.

The foods that a person finds sensuous are often decadent favorites, savored and enjoyed. For some, suggestively shaped foods like oysters and bananas can excite; for others, sliced fruit dipped in caramel sauce can lead to an interesting dessert.

Chocolate and honey are two traditional favorites. Chocolate slowly melts when exposed to body heat. Honey drizzled and licked from various places can be exciting for both lovers. Keep in mind, a little goes a surprisingly long way – a couple pieces of chocolate can provide a lot of flavor over a pretty fair-sized area; too much can

be a stronger statement of these feelings.

A touch that raises goose bumps is an indication of a sensitive spot, a touch on the shoulder can be reassuring and tender.

In the throes of passion touching can be fevered and urgent.

Skin to skin contact can lead to holding each other as closely as is physically possible, and is a perfect time to connect emotionally with the person inside.

Wrapping it up What is right for you and your love isn’t necessarily what’s right for other couples, and vice versa. There are many different people in the world, and many different tastes. Just as there is more than one type of weed to enjoy and explore, so are there different ways to show love for each other.

Find the ones that the two of you enjoy, and share them with each other. As long as it helps the two of you be close, it’s making love.

Peace, love and puka shells, Grubbycup

A JOINT MADE FOR TWO, THIS ‘CUPID’S ARROW’ IS A DUTCH TULIP VARIANT

46

INDEX OF ADS / COLOPHON Index of ads

Winter Cleaning You’ve heard of ‘spring cleaning’, but winter is an essential time for cleaning and protecting your Sativa Diva grow space.

Winter is a great time to relax and hang out indoors. However, it’s also a good idea to do some garden maintenance at this time of year. For indoor growers, perhaps you can sterilize your space between cycles. Doing this thoroughly each time the seasons change is a good way to keep to an annual schedule. Outdoor growers (weather notwithstanding) will find their spring garden chores a little easier if a few simple tasks are completed during the colder months.

Name

months. Some species of pests hibernate over the winter, so don’t assume that they aren’t there just because you can’t see them. These beasties can hide in the corners, cracks and crevices of any grow space, so do your best to avoid using porous surfaces during construction.

When purchasing equipment be sure to ask how and with what to clean it; the choices you make in grow room technology may help or hurt your process later on.

Colophon Page

Advanced Seeds

1

Apothecary 420

8

Attitude the

2

Attitude the

4

Dinafem Seeds

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Green Style Consulting

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Hemcy

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Hydroasis.com

39

Letgrow.net

1

Mountain High

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MWW Stealth Led

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PREVENTS MOLD AND INFESTATION,

Plastic flower pots, plant tags, pH meters, shelving units – everything should be sanitized and disinfected, if possible. If nothing else, scrub off all the layers of nutrients and other products that build up over the months. While some swear by bleach and other hard-core chemicals to truly sanitize their space, others realize that harm that is done to the environment as a result of releasing these substances into the water supply. If whatever you are using is burning your eyes, it’s probably bad news. Try researching recipes for household cleaning agents made from natural ingredients such as baking soda, lemon juice, or vinegar.

PROMOTES SPRING GROWTH

Outdoors

CUTTING BACK DEAD AREAS

Indoors The most important thing you can do as a grower is to keep your room(s) as clean as possible. Starting with a dirty space will only ensure that you will encounter problems along the way – even the best growers occasionally experience gardening tragedies, so it’s better to do what you can to prevent these problems from arising. That is, don’t tempt fate.

Surfaces such as black/white plastic are better replaced than cleaned; if you truly cannot afford to do so, you run the risk of harboring fugitives during the cold, dusty

Paradise Seeds

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Plagron

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Pollinator Company

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RAW

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Royal Queen Seeds

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Sensible Seeds

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Serious Seeds

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Steep Hill Labs

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Sweet Seeds

1

Sweet Seeds

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Vapors

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Any brick or patio surfaces may be cleaned with a wire- or hard plastic brush. Decking can be washed to remove any traces of contamination from your last harvest.

Choices abound in terms of disinfectant products, although even those among you not concerned about the environment should be well informed about the choices you make regarding these chemicals. There is always the possibility that you can disturb or ruin the progress of your plants by contaminating them with these substances. Rinse everything thoroughly after washing.

implements and other gardening equipment all at once. It’s not just the area, pots and tools that need to be cleaned up: cutting back the dead, dry growth on your other garden plants is a good way to prevent infestations, mold, or mildew.

These brown dusty clumps of dead vegetation are the perfect breeding ground for certain parasites, which inhabit the soil and incubate until nicer breeding weather comes along.

As with indoor grows, now is the perfect opportunity to clean all of your pots,

A bit of hard work now goes a long way towards the success of your next crop.

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: Grubbycup, Kali Mist, Buddy Kush, Sativa Diva, O’Riodon, The Professor, Little Lebowski, Kaz Peet, et al.

Cover Photo: California State Capitol in Sacramento (Grubbycup) 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.

SCRUB AND STERILIZE POTS, WATERING CANS AND POTTING SURFACES, INDOORS OR OUT-

Soft Secrets USA #1/2012 out: February 17th, 2012