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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 profess-
ional, never commercial, never
anything other than amateur 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 predominantly 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 seemed 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 underestimate
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
integrated 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 remember how it
was.
ALIn itself such a sharing of know-
ledge can have some far reaching
repercussions. However 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 paranoia.
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 negative 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, sudden-
ly, there was nothing to fill it. The
Continued on next page
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FURTHER READING
MISTAKE, SURELY?
READ THIS STORY IN
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self-interested manipulation that has
been applied in placing and keeping
cannabis use outside of the law is too
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
explanation. (It is not, however, a
subject that Coffeehouse Culture
will be hesitating to explore over the
coming months.) Except that . . .
There is one aspect of this history
that is overwhelmingly relevant here.
And that is the way in which society
has consistently 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, Coffee-
house 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' (unfort-
unately not available through
Amazon) but certainly a lot more
detailed and informative. Contain-
ing an excellent history, a
penetrating review of the hash
manufacture today and very
detailed descriptions of
hashmaking techniques this is a
'must have' addition to every dope
aficionado's library. Thoroughly
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 this 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 sometimes lose
our thread. Whatever. It is nice to
see someone recognising that this
is a culture.
UK READERS CLICK HERE
US READERS SAVE $3.59
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