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FEATURE: ROLL BRITANNIA Pt 1. -- Let The Good Times Roll | POLICY STATEMENT: Anti-Drugs Policy Pt. 1
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And in the UK it looks like they might be just about to
LTHOUGH IT IS ONLY a handful of years ago that the UK discovered
what Amsterdam had done with grass, it is hard to recall how it used
to be. Looking back to the Sixties if your vision stretches that far it is a
long and dusty road relieved by only the occasional oasis. There were the
bad years and there were the really bad years. Sure, once every seven years
or so there would be a few brief weeks lit up by something spectacular and,
as frequently as every three or four years, there would be other things that
were better than the mediocre standard. But that was as good as it got. That
such events were high points for the smoking community cannot be doubted;
until recently we still talked about the Bombay Grass from 69, the Kashmir
Twist from 1975 or 6 and the rum-rich early Jamaican from the 80s.
ALSuch high points, as you will have gathered, were great and notable rarit-
ies. The standard fare was much less exciting. In the best of the bog-
standard years there was a fairly constant
supply of straggly OK Jamaican or
Things have changed and are still
changing in that bastion (is that
the right word?) of anal
retentiveness, the UK. And it is
all down to Amsterdam. In a
phase transition, the UK's dope
smoking community has
discovered what being high is
all about. And, to the chagrin of
the authorities, things will never
be the same again. In the first
part of a major three-part
examination of what has
happened in the UK, we tread
those green and pleasant hills in
search of the past, the present
and the future.
(and didn't those specks of hot
sand burn?), Red Seal, Leb or
Rocky. But it wasn't often that
good. You bought what you could
get even if, in the many bad years,
it was only dodgy home-grown.
All leaf and no buds. It was bad.
ALBut also it was stupid. We had
the grow books. We'd seen the
pictures. We knew about sinse-
milla. But, somehow, no one
seemed to take notice. Although
there must have been some
people doing it the Amsterdam
way, for most growers anything
that actually reached flowering
constituted a successful crop.
Sparse and pathetic growing tips,
mainly young leaves but with a
few white pistils, were gathered,
cherished and prized. They were
the growers' reserve and the leaf
was the saleable crop.
ALIf that makes it sound anything
like a commercial enterprise,
don't be fooled. It was never pro-
fessional, never commercial,
never anything other than amat-
eur night. Hobbyists rule, OK!
ALBut it was better (probably)
than nothing.
ALAs if things could not get any
worse, as the Eighties drew to a
close the droughts grew more
frequent and the quality of the
hash declined. Soap Bar made
its debut and unadulterated hash
exited stage left. And we were all
lost to mediocrity. Ever predomin-
antly a hash market, the UK
looked destined to hard times.
ALThen something happened.
Suddenly everyone seemed to
discover Amsterdam. There was
a year, maybe four or five or six
years ago, when everyone seem-
ed to be about to visit or to have
just come back from visiting
Amsterdam. And the talk was,
of course, all of the grass. For
seasoned smokers it was a
revelation. All of us old
hippies (there must have been
some exceptions but I do not know
of any) had merely gone with the
status quo, kept our heads down
and wished. It took a whole new
generation of smokers to drag us
into a heaven of which we had
only previously dreamed.
ALAlong with their tales of liberat-
ing freedom and what we used
to call 'hipness', some of those
naughty children brought back
samples. And . . . . Well . . . . What
can we say? Except, far out, man.
That was enough for many of us. We
booked our tickets and came for
some first hand experience.
ALAnd a very nice time was had by
all. Marred only by the fact that it was
back to the desert after only a few
days. The desert, however, was
somehow being transformed.
Although no grass, as it were, yet
grew on it, there were clearly
changes going on.
ALLike us, the kids came back
to the same wilderness. To the
Soap Bar and the straggly grass.
And, although we still bought them,
we knew what we wanted.
ALWhere there is a market, there
will always be someone who is
prepared to supply it. Thus it was
with England. We wanted Skunk
and we knew where it was easily
available. And it was only a
comparatively short distance away.
Free enterprise being what it is,
what started as a trickle soon
became a torrent.
ALIf you are an Amsterdammer it
must be hard to imagine what all
the fuss was about. Having lived
with Skunk, it is just 'part of the
scenery'. But for us it was some-
thing much more significant. In
discovering the real meaning of the
word 'sinsemilla', we also discov-
ered the real meaning of the word
'high'. It was a bit like suddenly
discovering, after years of marriage,
that marital sex involves more than
mutual masturbation. It was, as I
have said, revelationary. And all
along we'd thought we'd been
high. Hmm.
ALIt would not do to underestim-
ate what exactly happened here.
This was not much less than a
social revolution. Actually, it was
a lot less than a social revolution
but it certainly changed things. It
was one of those things where it
seems that one moment no one
knows and the next everyone
knows. Phase transition or
what? Whatever it was it certainly became rapidly and fully inte-
grated into the hearts and minds
of those in the UK's dope
smoking community. So much
so that, as I said at the start of
this article, it is hard to remem-
ber how it was.
ALIn itself such a sharing of
knowledge can have some far
reaching repercussions. How-
ever to bring about significant change it needs a little help.
ALIn the case of the UK's dope
smoking status quo, the help
came from an unlikely source
the UK Customs & Excise (or is
that Excess?) and their 'Whoops,
no borders' xenophobic paran-
oia. When 'the borders came
down' the xenophobes came
out of the closet. Suddenly
nothing got in.Dry. Dry as a
bone. Dry as a summer
drought.
ALLike prohibition always does
this produced some rather
unexpected and (from the
Customs & Excise point of view)
unfortunate effects. Although this
zealous action had severely neg-
ative social repercussions, these
do not come into the scope of
this article. (They will, however,
be examined in Part Three, when
we look at the way in which the
UK authorities have conspired
against themselves and those
they are supposed to be serving
to produce the very situation they
most wished to avoid.) It also
had some very positive effects.
Not, of course, so far as the
Police were concerned. But certainly
for dope smokers.
ALThe main effect was to drive
Skunk supply sources inwards.
The market was still there but,
suddenly, there was nothing to fill it.
Continued on next page
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MISTAKE, SURELY?
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and self-interested manipulation
that has been applied in placing
and keeping cannabis use outside
of the law is too big a subject for
they fall about laughing? All right, so we know. But . . . . Ever felt misunder-
stood? We know that it looks ludicrous (not to say, hypocritical) for a publication
called Coffeehouse Culture to say that it is 'anti-drugs'. How can it possibly be,
when the whole coffeehouse thing is based around cannabis? So, if you could
just stop laughing for a moment, we'll explain.
CoCoffeehouse Culture is opposed to all drugs that have the potential to
produce negative effects in the individual and society. Cannabis, however, is
not such a ' drug'. At the heart of our anti-drugs policy is the belief that cannabis
is a unique substance that should not be regarded as a drug. Compared with
many more easily available substances, it is not only harmless but produces
many positive effects.
CoDue to small-minded, misinformed, megalomanic control freaks, cannabis
has been forced into bad company. And, as was intended, its reputation has been
tarnished by this association. Cannabis is not a harmful or particularly strong
intoxicant, let alone a Class A Drug (as it is in England), so what is it doing in
the company of such drugs as smack and speed?
CoEven grouping it with alcohol would seem to be treating it too harshly. Let us
remember that nobody ever went out for a night of smoking dope 'with the boys'
and then went home and beat up his wife. Alcohol equals violence, crime,
permanent physical damage and nasty stains on your clothes. With dope,
however, you might need to lie down but you won't be wreaking much havoc or
doing much retching.
CoEveryone accepts that smack, speed, alcohol and tobacco lead to physical and
mental degeneration and eventually death. Any inevitability about the end
result is merely a reflection of the addictiveness of these substances. Stand that
alongside the fact that there are NO recorded cannabis deaths. Well?
CoThe worst you'll get from dope smoking is a little short-term memory
loss and a dry cough that can be cured by giving up the stuff for a few days.
CoBut still it is up there with the demons of 20th century society. The
not, however, a subject that
Coffeehouse Culture will be hesitating to explore over the
coming issues.) Except that . . .
There is one aspect of this
history that is overwhelmingly
relevant here. And that is the
way in which society has consist-
ently chosen to ignore the many
positive effects of cannabis use.
CoWe all know that cannabis is a
good thing. Not only does it have
many medical uses but it can turn
animals into people and people
into saints. Indeed, it produces so
many effects that are generally
considered socially desirable that
it is incredible that it has not been
made legal. But that brings us
back to prejudice and hypocrisy.
CoIt is time for society to realign
its views on cannabis so that they
are more compatible with the
truth. And, with its anti-drugs
policy, Coffeehouse Culture is
about to start that process off.
For more conflicts and confusion, see
our Anti-Drugs Policy Statement No 2
CoTOP OF PAGE
Our Personal Recommendations
in association with Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
It is hard to come up with books that go with Let the Good Times Roll. But as it is historical(ish) and
general(ish), we have gone for books that present an overview of the subject.
HASHISHBy
Robert Cornell
Clarke
Another one
from the
shelves of the
Coffeehouse
Culture library,
this must be the definitive guide
to hashish. Perhaps not as lush to
browse as Laurence Cherniak's
beautiful 'Great Books of Hashish'
(unfortunately not available
through Amazon) but certainly
a lot more detailed and
informative. Containing an excell-
ent history, a penetrating review of
hash manufacture today and
very detailed descriptions of
hashmaking techniques this is a
'must have' addition to every dope
aficionado's library. Recommended.
UK READERS SAVE £11.62
US READERS SAVE $5.99
THE EMPERORWEARS NO
CLOTHES
By
Jack Herer
At the 1998
Cannabis Cup Jack
Herer sat on a bale
of HempFlax in the
lobby of the Pax Party Centre and
lamented the fact that to most of
the people there he was 'just a
bud.' But, hey man, what a bud!
This book, however, is his main
claim to fame --- the definitive
account of the history of cannabis
suppression. In what amounts to
an indictment of political chicanery
in all its forms, Herer tells it all.
After reading this you'll never
wonder again where the conspiracy
theories came from. Every home
should have a copy. Highly
Recommended.
UK READERS CLICK HERE
NEW US EDITION SOON
CANNABISCULTURE
By
Patrick
Matthews
This is another
one we haven't
read but the
editor thinks he
was interviewed
by Patrick Matthews when he
researching the book or maybe it
was another one or maybe he is
just having one of his pipe dreams.
All he can remember is being
asked about short-term memory
loss and replying that with all that
increased consciousness there is a
lot more going on in a dope
smokers brain and it is, therefore,
hardly surprising that we some-
times lose our thread. Whatever.
It is nice to see someone recognis-
ing that this is a culture.
UK READERS CLICK HERE
US READERS SAVE $3.59
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