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Jamaican Cannabis Rundown: Laws and Culture Explained

Jamaican Cannabis Rundown: Laws and Culture Explained

It’s likely the most well known cannabis culture in the world. But it wasn’t always that way.

Jamaican cannabis has always been notorious. The stereotypes of the “Rasta Man” puffing on his joint with a beanie and long dreadlocks probably come to most people’s minds when you mention Jamaica. But why?

Jamaica has an interesting and relatively brief history with cannabis compared to other countries in the Middle East and Asia. Yet other than it’s clear water and beautiful beaches, cannabis is one of Jamaica’s biggest attractions.

Jamaican Cannabis Quick History

Cannabis has been in Jamaica since the mid 1800s, brought to the island by indentured servants from India while both Jamaica and India were under British rule. In fact, the word ganja used by most in Jamaica to describe cannabis stems from Hindu origins.

Believe it or not, cannabis was actually banned in Jamaica under the 1913 Ganja Law, which was supported by the European elites and Council of Evangelical Churches in Jamaica (side note, Jamaica has more churches per square mile than any other country). This law would be made even more strict over time, especially during times of civil unrest during the 1940s and 60s.

Despite the laws in place, cannabis was still a customary herb in Jamaica for over 100 years. After the 1960s, farmers in Jamaica saw opportunity to take advantage of the growing demand for cannabis in Europe and North America. This resulted in even more enforcement from police, but the resulting trafficking industry made enough money for many in the political and legal systems to look the other way.

It wouldn’t be until February 2015 that Jamaica actually moved to change their cannabis laws for the better.

Cannabis Decriminalization/Legalization in Jamaica

Taking the same name from the oppressive original law, the Ganja Law of 2015 reversed the rules of the 1913 law, and added new, more progressive amendments in their place. To start, Jamaica decriminalized small amounts of cannabis for personal use, if you consider two ounces to be a small amount.

The new Ganja Law also allowed the cultivation of up to five plants, both only resulting in a petty offense instead of a criminal record. Practitioners of the Rastafari religion were also given permission to use cannabis for religious purposes. All of these amendments were put in place not only to reduce harsh punishments for cannabis use, but to pave the way for a new, legal, medical cannabis industry.

Most notably, the 2015 Ganja Law included special amendments that aimed to help indigenous farmers get a step up in the new medical industry, including government subsidies for land and equipment, plus assistance with licensing to enter the medical industry from the private market.

While these new amendments were passed in 2015, it wouldn’t be until early 2018 that the first medical cannabis dispensary opened in Jamaica. Now while the medical industry is slowly growing, the private market has exploded, especially when it comes to cannabis tourism.

ganja culture in Jamaica

Jamaican Cannabis Culture

It only takes one visit to Jamaica to recognize that “decriminalization” means two different things in Jamaica and the United States. While the applications of decriminalization are the same — getting caught with small amounts of cannabis results in a fine and no criminal record — the degree of enforcement is vastly different.

In other words, there is almost no enforcement on the private cannabis market in Jamaica compared to the United States. While it is extremely uncommon to see someone smoking cannabis publicly in a decriminalized state of the U.S., it is much more normalized in Jamaica.

The vast difference in acceptance of cannabis all has to do with the culture surrounding cannabis. While Jamaica may have banned cannabis for some time, it never had the massive propaganda machine that the United States had to push the drug war agenda, turning millions of people against cannabis for decades.

Also having cannabis as part of the island’s main religious sacrament exposed many more to the plant from a young age where it became more normalized, and seen more as a potentially useful plant than a dangerous narcotic like how it was viewed in the states.

Due to the country’s overall embrace of cannabis since its arrival in Jamaica, the industry is thriving, and is only going to continue to grow, both legally and illicitly.

Hear more about what smoking Jamaican ganja is actually like right here.

Colorado Cannabis Delivery and Social Consumption Makes Big Moves

Colorado Cannabis Delivery and Social Consumption Makes Big Moves

Cannabis has been legal in Colorado since 2012. But it’s been hard to figure out where it’s safe to consume it.

Unless you owned a home or had a cool landlord, you would be at a loss trying to find a safe place to consume the cannabis you just bought. Since legalization, it has been illegal to consume cannabis in a public setting in Colorado. 

The only place that was legal to consume was a private residence. As mentioned before, if you’re renting and your landlord puts a “no cannabis” rule in the lease, you’re out of luck (as someone in that situation I can vouch for the inconvenience).

But finally, that’s all about the change.

House Bill 1230

Under this new bill, dispensaries will be able to apply for a tasting room license similar to the one used for breweries in this state, while businesses such as hotels, restaurants, music venues, art galleries and yoga studios can apply for private consumption licenses and limited cannabis sales.

Mobile cannabis lounges such as tour buses and limousines would also be licensed but could not sell cannabis. Social consumption businesses would have to apply for a license through the state Marijuana Enforcement Division, and would be exempt from the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act, a state law that bans public indoor smoking.

“In expanding access to regulated spaces for adults to consume cannabis, we are taking the responsible approach to cannabis consumption in a safe environment,” says Senator Vicki Marble, one of the bill’s prime sponsors, in a statement about the bill. “HB 1230 protects the will of voters who asked for the freedom to choose marijuana as an alternative and to curb dealing and use in parks and on the street.”

Nothing is Final

There are still some hurdles before cannabis cafes can open in your town. Governor Jared Polis still needs to sign the bill into law, which appears to be pretty likely at this point.

However, even if Polis signs the bill, local governments would have to opt in to the new licensing program, and could modify it to ban certain forms of consumption, such as indoor smoking. And the City of Denver’s social marijuana consumption licensing program, which already has its own location qualifications and bans indoor smoking, would remain unaffected by new stipulations in the bill, unless Denver City Council or the mayoral administration decide to alter it.

Baby Steps are Still Steps

If there’s anything the members of the cannabis community have learned through the years, it is that cannabis regulation moves slow. While counties in Colorado will be able to begin the application process in January of 2020, should Polis sign the bill, counties can still make their own regulations.

It’s likely that many places will still ban indoor smoking even with the new law permitting this with the proper licensing. However a big driving force behind this bill specifically was the cannabis tourism industry in the state. With current laws, out-of-state visitors who legally purchase cannabis cannot consume it in hotels.

With House Bill 1230, hotels and other local businesses could gain additional tourism revenue by getting on board and applying for a public consumption license.

cannabis delivery in colorado could soon be legal

Dispensaries in Colorado could start using free delivery as a sell point if the new cannabis delivery bill passes.

Cannabis Delivery in Colorado

The day before the passing of House Bill 1230, House Bill 2019-1234 passed the state Senate with a vote of 20-14, and the state House with a vote of 38-27. The bill allows for “marijuana delivery permits” for licensed medical marijuana dispensaries and “transporters” to deliver their products to private residences once a day only.

Should the bill get the final signature from Polis, medical cannabis delivery would start in 2020, with recreational delivery following soon after in 2021. A $1 surcharge would be tacked on to each delivery made and would then be funneled back into local law enforcement for the sole purpose of administering local marijuana laws. 

Those licensed to make such deliveries would also be protected from criminal prosecution while on the job. Similarly to the other bill, local county governments and city councils could still restrict deliveries.

Proponents of cannabis delivery in Colorado site those medical patients that cannot make it to a dispensary due to immobility or other issues and a desire to eliminate the illegal delivery market currently operating in the state, while opponents worry that cannabis delivery could damage in-person dispensary sales and even open the opportunity for big players like Amazon to eventually take over.

Nevertheless it looks like a bright future lies ahead for cannabis consumption in Colorado, and it’s about time. For over 6 years cannabis consumers in the state have had to hide or find somewhere secluded enough that they wouldn’t get caught.

Hopefully these bills will get the final signature from Polis and we can begin to move forward into the next phase of legal cannabis in Colorado.

Cannabis Dispensary Jobs: Tips for success

Cannabis Dispensary Jobs: Tips for success

Cannabis dispensary jobs are more available today than ever before.

The cannabis industry isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. Several states have legalized cannabis for medical or recreational use just this year, and it’s only May. With legalization comes a brand new industry, with a completely different infrastructure, and a unique product at its core.

One of the most popular and essential jobs of any cannabis industry is that of the cannabis dispensary budtender. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, think of the name literally. Tenders of bud, or cannabis products.

Cannabis Dispensary Jobs

This article is going to focus on the budtender dispensary jobs specifically, but there are other dispensary jobs outside of budtending.

You can also become a grower for a dispensary and manage a dispensary, among other opportunities. Remember that if you are in a medical marijuana state, you will need some type of certification and medical licensing prior to applying for dispensary jobs to even be considered in most cases.

When it comes to budtending specifically, we have some tips for being prepared for the job, and doing the job better once you’re hired.

Budtender Tips

The first thing to know about budtending dispensary jobs, is that being a recreational budtender and medical budtender are two different things. As a recreational budtender, you can think of yourself as a sommelier of cannabis. As a medical budtender, you are helping patients with potentially serious health conditions find the right medicine for them.

It can be hard to take this difference seriously as in most cases, other than different regulatory requirements, medical and recreational cannabis is identical. However, while there is still a separation between the two, there is also a difference in experience required.

Know Your Cannabis

To save us all from more redundancies, apply the following advice to a more extreme extent for medical cannabis dispensary jobs. The most important being to know your shit.

Any inexperienced wine drinker will find it more difficult to tell the difference between a red wine from Northern California, and a red wine from Georgia. But an experienced wine drinker or sommelier can notice the intricate differences in smells, flavors and even effects that different wines have.

Cannabis is no different. Even more so, compared to wine, cannabis has been more genetically modified and tampered with by humans than wine ever has, despite wine’s higher popularity throughout history. This means there’s a good chance that the dispensary you’re applying to could have more than a dozen different cannabis strains on their shelves, if not more, all with unique profiles.

Know Your Terpenes and Cannabinoids

A table of the most common terpenes found in cannabis and their effects. Photo by Pot Guide.

The smells, flavors and effects of each cannabis strain are different, and knowing these differences will help you get the best product in the customer’s hand. Now, we all know what they say about assuming, but it’s pretty safe to assume that if you’re applying to work at a cannabis dispensary, you probably consume cannabis yourself.

What I’m saying is, you have experience consuming cannabis to the point you think you can suggest to other people the best strains for them. But it’s another level of dedication to consistently pay attention to the cannabis you are consuming and noting its terpene profile, and how it affects you. To be an effective budtender, you need a similar understanding of the cannabis you are selling.

When it comes to cannabinoids, you will have some customers that just want the highest THC content possible. More experienced consumers may want something with more CBD, or even CBG and CBN among other cannabinoids. Depending on your state, there might be labels already on the cannabis that tells you its cannabinoid content, but in a lot of cases there won’t be. If this labelling isn’t a requirement in your market, you most likely don’t need to worry about it as much.

Go Above and Beyond for Your Customers

As mentioned above, a lot of new cannabis consumers will come into a cannabis dispensary and look for whatever strain has the highest THC content because it’s the only cannabinoid they know. For most of our lives we have been led to believe that THC is everything, but as an experienced budtender and cannabis connoisseur, you know that’s not the case.

Think about that one time you had a waiter at a restaurant that just blew you away. They were polite, knew the menu like the back of their hand, and helped your whole table decide on what to order just by having a conversation. That waiter helped guide you to your own decision, with some suggestions (based on his assumed experience) to get you there. Budtending is no different.

You should never just be standing there waiting for the customer decide on what they want, especially if you can tell they aren’t sure. Ask if they like specific smells, flavors and effects. Through your knowledge, guide your customers to an educated decision, that you can both feel confident in.

Not only does this make the customer more likely to come back to the dispensary, it makes you more likely to excel in your position. With experience, knowledge and commitment, you can excel in a budtending job at any cannabis dispensary. After some time working in a dispensary, you could eventually decide that you want to transition into the grow.

We’ll dive into getting those dispensary grow jobs in the next article.

The Real Dirt 420 Events Etiquette Guide

The Real Dirt 420 Events Etiquette Guide

With 4/20 happening on a Saturday this year, it’s bound to be a good holiday. But there’s some general rules of etiquette you should follow so you don’t ruin it for others.

4/20 is a great day. It’s one of the only days out of the year where cannabis is not only tolerated by the masses, but celebrated by the cannabis community.

With 420 events happening on a Saturday this year (compared to Friday last year when most people had to work until the evening), theres bound to be more people celebrating than last year. It also means there’s a higher likelihood of something stupid happening that could easily be avoided.

Here’s a few tips for making sure you have a safe and awesome time at your 420 events.

Pick Up After Yourself

When cannabis was first legalized in Colorado, the 420 events that happened that year were massive. However, with the new legalization came a new crowd of cannabis consumers excited to celebrate the plant throughout the city of Denver.

Unfortunately with so many people getting baked across the city, at a wide range of events in both private and public spaces, there was a huge buildup of trash. Not just trash, but also litter.

The event spaces were filled with trash once the festivities were over, with very limited crew to clean it all up. This led a lot of non-celebrators blaming “stoners” for leaving a mess around the city. Suffice to say, it didn’t make the community look good.

With that said, the community has stepped it up, starting 420 events cleanup initiatives to clean up event spaces. But you can still do your part. Don’t leave your roaches all around town, throw them in a trash can.

Recycle that water bottle that you just finished. Yes, it’s annoying getting all the little handouts from businesses at these events, but you can easily so no thanks, or just throw it out instead of onto the ground.

Pace Yourself

You might be thinking that 420 is basically the holiday of smoking as much weed as possible in one day. At least, that’s what I did in college. But as it becomes more accepted in broader society, it isn’t necessary to be so excessive for the sake of celebration at this year’s 420 events.

If you’re in a legal state like Colorado, there’s a ton of events going on across Denver. If you burn through a half ounce at 10 AM, it might make it more difficult to go out later in the day. But if you’re smart and plan it out, you’ll be fine.

Stay away from anything hybrid or indica before lunch. Stick with a straight sativa if you can (even though those labels are really just a myth), until you go out. Once you’re at the Mile High Festival or wherever you decide to go, you can transition to a hybrid. You can relax and enjoy the music without feeling too bogged down at your 420 events.

You should stick with hybrids or sativas as long as you want to be active during the day, and only switch to an indica when you’re winding down for the evening. Most of all, pace yourself.

Don’t pop a bunch of edibles then chase it down with a gram joint. Treat it like alcohol, and just be responsible.

The Smoke Circle

The smoke circle is a delicate ecosystem with unspoken laws especially at 420 events with potential strangers. As long as you know the rules, you have nothing to worry about. Even if you don’t, you don’t really have anything to worry about except for the glares you might get when you put half the joint in your mouth to hit it. Which brings us to the first rule.

Don’t slobber all over whatever you’re smoking, whether it’s a pipe, joint or blunt. A good technique to try with a joint or blunt if you just happen to be a slobbery individual is to hold the joint or blunt between your middle and ring finger and cup both hands to your mouth and pull, and you can hit it without even touching it with your lips.

This can take some practice if your new, but make sure you don’t crush the joint between your fingers when you cup your hands.

Second, and probably the most well-known (and enforced) is the “puff-puff-pass” rule. This rule has been interpreted through the times to mean one of two things. When your passed the joint or blunt, you can either puff-inhale, puff-inhale, or puff-puff-inhale. In close circles, you can get away with two puff-puff-inhales, but in most cases it’s one or the other.

Though to this day, it’s still up for debate among scholars.

The main purpose of the puff-puff-pass rule is to avoid breaking the last rule in the smoke circle, which is commonly referred to as “Bogarting”. Given this unique name from a man named Humphrey Bogart, it refers to holding onto the blunt or joint longer than your turn. Whether you puff-puff-puff-pass on accident or you hold it too long while you tell a rambling story, bogarting has many forms, all of which should be avoided.

Just Have Fun

Let’s get real now. 420 is just a simple holiday to celebrate how far we have come as a cannabis community, how much we have grown. Just look at how the industry is thriving; the boom of legal hemp and CBD, the expanding recreational and medical industries across the US with over half the country now legal in some form.

When I was a freshman in college (6 years ago) I remember saying that cannabis would be federally legal in 5 years. I’ve learned that progress is slow, and the only way to keep this industry thriving and growing is to keep the same enthusiasm we had when we were pushing for state legalization.

But more importantly, we need to appreciate how far we’ve come.

In that spirit, this weekend’s 420 events are about celebrating cannabis however you want. The connection is different for everybody, that’s what makes cannabis, and 420, so incredible. 

60 Nuggets Explained: how to know your cannabis

60 Nuggets Explained: how to know your cannabis

In this episode of The Real Dirt Chip talks about the Cultivate Showdown, a secret cannabis competition hosted by The Real Dirt. The best of the best growers from all over came to showcase their cannabis, with only one winner being chosen.

Check out the entries below as Chip and his guests analyze them on this episode!

You walk into the dispensary. There are a dozen different strains on the shelf, some are labeled as the “bottom shelf” strain choices, others are the supposed “top shelf” strain options.

You ask to see one of the bottom shelf strains — because let’s be real, if you can get solid cannabis at a cheap price, why not? — and they bring the jar closer for inspection. The bud might not look super frosty or appealing, but when they open the jar, you’re hit with a wave of smells that linger in your nose. Fruitiness, gassiness, dankness. All the smells you want.

Then you ask to see one of the top shelf strain options. It looks great; the bud structure is what you look for, it has a nice crystal to hair ratio. It’s everything you would look for in a top shelf bud. The keyword being “look”.

The budtender brings the top shelf jar over and cracks it open. You aren’t smacked in the face with the same smell explosion as before. In fact, this strain seems to be very mild in smell compared to the bottom shelf option. It might even smell a little bit like hay. This is where the average cannabis consumer gets lost.

The top shelf bud should be better. It looks way better, but most importantly, there has to be a reason it is priced higher than the bottom shelf stuff, right? Not always. One of the most important things to remember about cannabis, especially when it comes to dispensary cannabis, is that looks are not all that matters.

Dispensaries do not allow customers to touch the cannabis. Obviously this is due to contamination concerns, but an added benefit of this rule is just that; you aren’t allowed to touch the cannabis. An essential way of being able to judge the quality of cannabis is through touch.

A bud could look super dense and sticky in the jar, but once you get home you find out it was just a fluffy bud that looked dense, and it’s dry to the point you don’t even need a grinder. Since it’s unlikely that you’ll ever be able to touch the cannabis at a dispensary, you must utilize your other senses, sight and smell, for the majority of your judgement. So you better make sure they are fine tuned!

In this episode of The Real Dirt, Chip sits down with Jess Baker, Jacob Sarabia and Travis Crane to go through a dozen different strains to analyze them all. Learn what to look for, what to smell for, and what to avoid before you decide to light up that next strain you see at the dispensary or in your smoke circle.

The History of Hemp

The History of Hemp

The history of hemp isn’t pleasant. When we look back at its story, we see one of greed and poor intent.

You have probably heard before that hemp has been around for a long time. You might have even learned about it in history class and its various uses. What you don’t learn in class, however, is the dark history of hemp and where the ancient cash crop sits today.

The oldest known traces of hemp go back to 8,000 B.C. in Mesopotamia (now Iran and Iraq). The plant had a vast history in eastern Europe and Asia, where the majority of hemp was produced. China is known to have the longest relationship with hemp, dating back over 6,000 years. In fact, the Chinese were known as the original inventors of paper, made with hemp.

The history of hemp

Around 1,200 B.C. hemp would make its way to Europe. Here, it became an essential crop grown throughout the continent. It became a common fabric used in ship canvases and rope for its durability. In 1535 King Henry VIII passed an act that “encouraged” farmers to sow at least 1/4 acre of their land for growing hemp, or get fined.

From this time all the way up until the 1920s, over 80% of clothing was made from hemp. There is a history of hemp in the Americas dating back to the 16th century, and it is known that by the time the Puritans landed on Plymouth Rock, hemp had already been there. During the early days of the country’s development, almost every state in the US at the time grew hemp.

The end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th would result in the history of hemp taking a dark turn.

The downfall of hemp

Hemp was essential in the building of the United States as it stands today, but would eventually be pushed out by the rise of cotton. While hemp was more durable and cheaper to produce, cotton was much easier to produce and process. With the introduction of the cotton gin, the end of the potential billion-dollar hemp industry had all but arrived.

With the rise in cotton production and new, petroleum based synthetic textiles along with growing newspaper and lumber conglomerates, the propaganda against hemp began to grow. In a last ditch effort to save the industry, a man named George Schlichten created a machine similar to the cotton gin for hemp.

However by this point the larger companies already had their hands in the pockets of lawmakers, leading the eventual forced taxation and banning of hemp production in the 1930s.

The future of hemp

The history of hemp all but faded after this point. It had a brief rise back to popularity during WWII, when the government gave out seeds to farmers and even released a propaganda film called “Hemp for Victory”. Unfortunately, after the war the ban continued, and the hemp industry in America was dead.

As for Europe however, hemp production continued throughout the continent in numerous countries, mainly Russia, China and France who is currently the largest hemp producer in the world. In Europe, the production of hemp with less than .02% THC is permitted by the EU. This allows large-scale commercial production of hemp. Similar bills have been introduced in the US in recent months, with no success.

It is hard to look at hemp and cannabis and not see the difference between the two. With the already known vast economic benefits of a legal hemp industry, it is baffling that the US has not lifted its ban on the cash crop.

Hear more about the history of hemp in Europe and what the future holds for this incredible plant on The Real Dirt Podcast!

Listen to the episode HERE