The Cannabis Cup

In the begining of the 20th Century the Netherlands was the largest producer of Cocaine. The US wanted to restrict the use/sale of this product and in 1911 during a conference in Shanghai the opium act was created, and Dutch Law regarding drugs still operates by this policy today. The Act criminalizes possession, cultivation, trafficking and importing or exporting. It seperates drugs into 2 catagories. Hard Drugs like heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and LSD. Then there are soft drugs like Marijana and Hash. Soft drugs are legal to buy but only in limited quantities. Basically everyone smokes weed here. It's weird. You see people sitting in bars or restaurants with weed on the table rolling joints. They buy the weed from "coffeeshops", I happen to live right next door to one. They have menus of different types of weed and hash, and I'm sorry I can't explain to you the differences between the different marijuana sold because i'm a non smoker. Different products put you in a different mood I guess. They tell tourists not to go into a coffee shop and try to order the strongest one, because the strains here are so much stronger that what most people are used to.
Now here is where my story begins. My co-worker scott was all excited lastweek because the Cannabis Cup was here. The High Times Cannabis Cup is the world’s preeminent Cannabis festival. The event allows judges from around the world to sample and vote for their favorite marijuana strains. These judges decide the best new product, best hash and of course the best marajuana. Scotts girlfriend Sandra works for a company called "Green House Company".They are the most successful cannabis company in the world. Since she works for Green House she was able to get a
hold of some VIP judges passes....and guess who got a pass to go? Yours truly...

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The judges can walk to any of the cannabis manufactures and get free weed, afterall they are responsible for judging it. Since i'm a non smoker, how the heck could I ever judge the quality of the marijuana...hello? I'd be like, oh, that one is pretty green, or that one looks nice and fluffy, or even oh, that one comes in really neat looking balls! Obviously I wasn't a real judge, I just had the credentials to get me into the parties in a VIP fashion. The last night was the awards ceremony where they handed out the winners. I was cheering for greenhouse (since sandra works for them). Greenhouse won the best hash, but the took 2nd and 3rd in the other catagories. I also saw the biggest joint i've ever seen!! It was for real, someone even smoked it I think. A real smoker would get excited at the thought of smoking it, for me I took it as a photo opportunity. The ceremony was nice, and filled with americans. I ran into these 5 mexican american guys at the bar, from chicago and they live blocks away from me!! Small world. Apparantly there are many americans in the growing business. There were guest speakers like the writer for the american medical marijuana journal, high times, and then there was this CRAZY stoner family that reminded us of the Osbourne family, only 100x crazier. See the video below.

The average smoking age here is 28. The country sees a decline in marijuana smokers every year. Making it legal is their way of controling it. Most of the smokers are young, and as they grow older they grow out of it. The people here are calm, and the smokers are peaceful. I will remain a non smoker because its not my thing. Now, If I happen to walk through a room of smokers and inhale the lingering smoke for temporary enjoyment, well I can't control that!