The people who talk about the cannabis problem are the cannabis problem.
Whether it is Holland, Spain or Jamaica, herb quality is something that one can hopefully count on as being good-to-excellent as regards dank buds that are glistening with trichomes and a pleasure to indulge in however you consume your herbs and hash. One would hope no head work is involved except for getting stoned!
But the reality in the pre-legal black market areas in the UK like Wales that are without a decent cannabis club and access to a quality grow is that the flowers are not dried and manicured properly and this sometimes manifests itself as wet weed. Purely a money making endeavor in an illegal market on the streets. The underground proliferates good and bad with 12 year old Billy Caldwell making the news with cannabis oil being given for his epilepsy and the UK Government capitulating and now looking into the medical side of the wondrous plant. Parents of ill children, however, are still being let down by the State and negative cannabis rhetoric meaning that medical cannabis oil scammers who are out there can play on people’s the misinformation. Ultimately, the system still lets everybody down when it comes to cannabis whether it is a medical issue or a question of recreational use.
People are now selling ‘smelly’, ‘skunk’ and ‘green’ by text, swapping accumulated Prescription pain-killers for bud. Cheese is on the menu as if it is the only choice! Little, plastic, leaf-emblazoned baggies with a wet part-gram of weed in for a ‘tenner’ are freely available through Instagram and the Web, as people provide up-to-the-minute info offering buds sold in plastic pots with Medical Cannabis Welsh420 stickers on the side (people are even paying up to £15 per gram for more premium bud) with ratings giving an idea of service and quality as it does vary.
The flagrant disregard for the cannabis community and the scene being let down by our political leaders means that people’s health is compromised. Growing your own is the only answer. There are so many strains now to choose from in terms of seeds, both feminized and regular, that there should be a choice with clones being made easily accessible so that good quality can be locally sourced.
This has prompted the Welsh Assembly Government to receive a 20 page Cannabis document a year or so ago, outlining Wales’ use of Cannabis and its legitimization and many uses to tax and put marijuana on a legal footing. It was ignored by all 80 Assembly members and the only person to comment on it was Paul Flynn (MP for Newport, Wales – home of the rappers GLC) who is not even an Assembly member but a UK Member of Parliament. His response made him seem like a sensible drug advocate floating alone in a sea of disinformation.
In my own local community, the same weekend as my last Weed World magazine dropped my local pub was raided by the boys in blue in relation to a professional illegal grow set up that was in the heart of the neighborhood. However, this had modern day slavery implications and links to aggravated theft which, when combined with the fact that it was next to a school, makes the situation even more disheartening in terms of the negative impact it had on the perception of cannabis. I know of numerous personal grow rooms in the area, they seem to be everywhere, with little grow set ups receiving only a caution if busted. The police having more pressing crimes to deal with and are short staffed, so, in reality, the War on Drugs has been lost and prohibition is proven not to work by those on the front-line. So what do people do?
When you speak to people around the country, Shatter is going for up to £100 per gram at some Social clubs in the cities with the chance of reputably buying buds from the United States for up to £35/ gram in vac-packed, tamper-proof containers just like they do in Spanish Social Clubs! Real or otherwise, with the advent of Terpene-sprayed buds one should always get green that tastes good, but there is still no legitimate quality control or import licenses granted! Access to good hash is fraught with supply issues and prone to contaminants as with ‘soap bar’ or at best it could be ‘00’ or charas.
When one looks at cannabis grow experts such as Jorge Cervantes, Subcool or Ed Rosenthal with images in their calendars and books, one has to drool over the pictures and wish for scratch and sniff! Trichomes and terpenoids rule! The system here in the UK is a far cry from what the cannabis reality is in their informative literature and with what is online.
With maverick Welshman and counter-culture hero Howard Marks gone and a memory now, he is still a modern cannabis icon and aficionado and part of Welsh History, who will be used in the forefront of legalization in Wales for the future. Mr Nice was right about so many things linked to cannabis! I’ll never forget him looking like a Rolling Stone and sounding like Richard Burton when supporting THC4NHS back in 2011.
The West Wales area of Tepee Valley, where people are growing all year round with acclimatized plants and extolling the virtues of laid-back-living in the unconventional sense, makes you wonder if it would be better to kick back and chill and get out of the rat race altogether. To be fair though, it seems that Wales could do better than the current situation, though Yurts and peaceful scenery are the norm with its abundance of history too. Wales should be bold and go for a literal green and pleasant land with independence and aim to encourage the Welsh to grow more weed as an ethos to raise us out of poverty. Isn’t it time to legalize, regulate and tax to tap into an estimated £1-2 billion in revenue? I guess we’ll just carry on regardless until then.
The Welsh Politicians (apart from Paul Flynn MP) have their heads in the sand when it comes to cannabis. Some members of Plaid Cymru have expressed that they think that letting the scene self-regulate and having the Police step back from busting ordinary cannabis users and small-scale growers is a step in the right direction. The current reality is that if you have a previous conviction you are far more likely to be charged with an offence again. Empty Factories could revitalize communities as they could be used for the growing of medical and recreational cannabis products and traded legally if one applies the principles that Transform espouse and get drugs under control. www.tdpf.org.uk (1)
Social clubs with a Member-only clientele and groups with good attitude and behavior when dealing with minors is the way forward and this helps to keep the negativity away and the black-market at arm’s length. However, the Cannabis Social Club needs a Constitution to work toward sustainability, consistency and credibility. With ‘tagged plants’ to prove joint ownership within the group.
In the past friends of mine have challenged the law and took their cases to the Crown Court for a compassionate jury to find them not guilty. That shows a lot of bottle to cope with the pressure while demonstrating perseverance to stand up for your rights! Respect!
Having a drug conviction on your record can seriously blight your future and exclude you from many jobs and social engagements. Drug laws are often more harmful than the drugs themselves and you can end up with your liberty being compromised. I was refused entry into Canada at Toronto Airport in 2010 because of previous drug convictions and the thought I was just going there to smoke pot!
If one continues to get into trouble, one can go to jail and if you challenge the system and try to stand up for what is right and good you may find yourself in even more trouble. Judges do not like to be told drug truths in their courts, as I found out when in Crown Court extolling the virtues of LSD and cannabis back in 1992. No matter though, you should always stand up for what you believe in!
There is so much disparity from court to court and person to person that it seems very unfair if you are caught up in the wrong side of the law in some areas. It is a daunting frightening experience and not something to be wished on anybody! Thankfully we do not have a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ system in the UK like the US, as I would have been on a long sentence in prison due to misdemeanors and snitches getting involved in my life in the past, due to my use of narcotics and the pursuit of an alternative lifestyle.
The people who talk about the cannabis problem are the cannabis problem. But, as we all know, cannabis will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no cannabis (to quote the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers by Gilbert Shelton RIP – the classic stoner comic books).
So, what have I seen recently that has inspired me to look into this current state of affairs? Well, quite a few things actually. Let’s have a run-down of a few of them:
- The local drinking hostelry gets burned down in an arson attack a few days after the property was busted as a cannabis factory with tens of thousands of pounds worth of plants inside a day or so earlier. It seems like an insurance job to recuperate the loss. The building is now a blot on the landscape.
- My small local Valleys town has its public houses serving alcohol and one can smoke if careful outside as the smoking ban has altered the dynamics of smoking dope out of the house since 2007. Vaping is now the best option – and more discreet – although the CCTV cameras are off as the Council cannot afford to run them now. The smell of buds still pervades the air as you stroll about.
- One of our independent shops starts selling Cannabis CBD oil and capsules in direct competition to the Holland and Barrett Health Food Shops. It sets peoples tongues wagging in a most positive way. Rise and shine, its cannabis time- says the ad outside the premises! Getting RSO is still a problem.
- There is loads of cannabis/ marijuana stuff online from You Tube, Facebook, Instagram to Weed Tube, CannabisTVision, iSmoke, GrowHD, WeedMaps & Leafly, all providing info for the discerning grower and cannabis enthusiast. Just Google Cannabis/ Marijuana and see where it leads. Read testimonials and use trusted sites, but not the computers in your local library as there is a Firewall preventing cannabis info from being accessed due to Censorship!
- There is my local Grow Shop providing info and local knowledge in a positive way for the right reasons. Look for your nearest shop in the annual High Life Guide for specialist advice or go to a garden center for general needs. Educate yourself, get information and get a cannabis lifestyle! Positive cannabis choices for health issues- boost your immune system with THC and/ or CBD oil. Prevention is better than cure! We’ve all got an Endocannabinoid system.
- Cannabis cures cancer…we’re hoping. Google it! It inhibits cancer growth! Fact! Governments have known since the 1970’s. The UN is wrong to think that cannabis is a problem drug! Prohibition causes misery- free drugs! Freedom to Farm, freedom to choose, the mantra!
- Make your own RSO- Rick Simpson Oil (2), high THC healing oil made from Iso Propyl alcohol and Fuck Cancer!
- Break the blackmarket illegality and avoid criminal gangs and GYO- grow your own! Do not tell anyone! You can get into trouble. Be sensible! Prohibition sucks! Help support legalization for a cleaner, healthier and safer Society.
The area is going to pot. Lots more people are at it- from bankers to buskers to benefit claimants, it seems that every one does it. Smoking, growing, toking and vaping…I even put seeds which germinated outside our local Police Station back in the day and put it on YouTube! Perhaps Heddlu Gwent Police would take the lead and install growboxes outside every station, providing free weed and seeds for a more peaceful environment.
It is a small world when I am in Barcelona in StrainHunters Social Club just after Spannabis 2018 and I speak to an anonymous man heading back to Wales and going to my local train station. Turns out he is a man who is into shatter and seeds and is apparently from the next valley over, or so I’ve been told.
It is a little daunting, but trying to get a sustainable cannabis compassion club off the ground is rewarding work. The logistics are problematic at the moment but there are ways and means and the offering of knowledge and experience must be something that can help and heal if only in a small way. Tagged and owned plants are a more communal effort as long as there is a sensible club manifesto offering solutions if there are legal problems. No one wants to be ill, breaking the law and in need of relief with no access to quality cannabis medicine, so the HOT-VW CC was founded (Heads of the Valleys Wales CC). I’ve been looking at ideas from around the world to make it more impactful:
- One CC I am aware of in the UK just asks for donations for a variety of medi-canna products made from 150Kg of legally grown cannabis in Spain. I do not grow anywhere near that much!
- Cannabis Cup competitions happen around the world, there are now many…from Nimbin, Australia to the Rastafari Rootz Fest in Jamaica to Spain- judging the quality! Improving the scene! Take a trip!
- Read CHI –Cannabis Health Index (3) and research the topic of healing medicinal cannabis/ marijuana and its many benefits. Help promote the planet to a healthy cannabis/ marijuana society instead of an oil run nightmare and get to know Jack Herer’s Legacy.
- Forget synthetic cannabinoids like JWH-18 or Spice! Or you will be ‘rattling’.
- Until Prohibition ends- Fuck the system, the SNAFU principle rules, situation normal all fucked up!
If you need any more encouragement then just remember the following:
“By any of the major criteria of harm – mortality, morbidity, toxicity, addictiveness and relationship with crime – cannabis is less harmful than any of the other major illicit drugs, or than alcohol or tobacco.”
– Report of the British Police Foundation March 2000
If you would like to know more, here is some information about what we believe and what we do.
HOT-VW CC
Creation of an Association, in this case HOT-VW CSC or CC (Cannapreciation Club, 11 September 2009) with Shannon as the co-founder on the initial night with the invitation to humanoids, aliens, mutoids, asteroids and cannabinoids welcome… The criteria for joining are that you are a user of cannabis or in medical need to access its many derivatives (4) and usually you should be over eighteen.*
The Logistics/ Model is based a Non-Profit run partisan group with a professional attitude to take care of things and the Here, Now, There + Then Café!
It operates on an ‘I consume- therefore I produce’ ethic
Knowledge will win the war!
Life is a state of mind…an altered state…
I am a drug partaker…using cannabis holistically…mindfully…
I utilize drugs…and regulate therapeutically, medically and recreationally…I am human…with a happy sense of wellbeing and mindfulness…no guilt, no victim, no crime…!
HOT-VW CC (17/3/2011)
* I am writing to make a suggestion for galvanizing people to help each other by the ‘Adopt a Bud’ scheme…Whereby someone who has access to grown cannabis would befriend an ill individual and help them in any way with providing them with medi-weed in all its forms…thanks!
Anyone who finds solace with the use of Cannauana in its many forms should have access to it as soon as possible…help to declare peace, end the war on drugs and stop criminalizing the cannabis user- No victim: No Crime!
- How to Regulate Cannabis: A Practical Guide Transform . tdpf.org.uk
- Phoenix Tears: The Rick Simpson Story 2013 self published PhoenixTears.ca
- Cannabis Health Index, The 2013 Blesching, Uwe PhD North Atlantic Books California
- The Medical Cannabis Guidebook 2014 Ditchfield/ Thomas Green Candy Press China
Peace, pot, prosperity!
By Jason Rice former member of www.ENCOD.org
Originally published in Weed World Magazine Issue 136
