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This Bud's For All Of Us
Pubdate: Thu, 27 Oct 2005
Source: Ottawa X Press (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005 Ottawa X Press
Contact: http://www.ottawaxpress.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/330
Author: John Akpata
THIS BUD'S FOR ALL OF US
Bud Inc., by Ian Mulgrew (Random House Canada, 304 pages, $35)
When House of Trouble is missing from XPress, some of my friends assume the
worst. A few wonder if I have finally been canned due to controversial
writing; others fear that I have been arrested for some nefarious marijuana
activity, abducted by tactical police on a DEA-inspired raid. No such luck.
I was in Vancouver participating in the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word
with Ottawa's slam team. I travelled with Steve Sauve, Kevin Matthews and
D.J. Morales to the West Coast. The team placed third. Aside from poetry, I
also did some research into Bud Inc.: Inside the Marijuana Industry, a
forthcoming book by Ian Mulgrew. Mulgrew is a journalist who works for The
Vancouver Sun and has an inside perspective on marijuana cultivation on the
West Coast. While on the plane I read chapters about how Marc Emery became
the Prince of Pot. Sure he made his money selling seeds, but where did all
of those seeds come from? Mulgrew describes some of the massive commercial
grow operations that supply bud by the ton, and seeds by the thousands.
One such operation was an underground growing facility that was powered by
an oil-run electricity generator, and was completely off the grid. The
generator guzzled 10,000 litres of oil per month to power the lights, fans
and ventilation systems. In order to cover their tracks and hide their
large oil purchases, the owners bought two gas stations in the Vancouver
area. They were making $1.5-million in profit a year and then just quit.
They shut everything down and walked away after eight years of undetected
cultivation.
I walked into the B.C. Marijuana Party Bookstore with the advance release
of Mulgrew's book. I spoke with Marc Emery and Jodie Giesz-Ramsay, the
assistant editor of Cannabis Culture Magazine. Both laughed nostalgically
as Emery flipped the pages and strolled down memory lane. I asked about the
gas station growers. "Oh yeah, that was a good one," Emery said. "It was a
really good operation." Emery made millions on the sale of seeds-the
greyest of grey areas in Canadian law. After being raided in the summer and
arrested by request of U.S. authorities, the Prince of Pot is still
defiant, and pretty optimistic. "I am still here," he said. "I have an
upcoming interview with 60 Minutes, we're still running the store, and the
magazine is looking good too." In the grand scheme of things, the marijuana
industry is a lot bigger than Marc Emery.
Mike Straumietis was a marijuana cultivator for 25 years before he came to
Canada. He marketed his knowledge of plant nutrients to maximize yield and
potency. A few years later he was the driving force behind Advanced
Nutrients, a 100 per cent Canadian operation that sells specialty
fertilizers to specialty gardeners. In 2004, Advanced Nutrients had 65
employees and revenues of over $30-million. They also had a flight school,
eight laboratories, a lobbyist, an image archive, a genetics bank, a
newspaper, a documentary unit, and more than 100 different products
designed for cannabis cultivation by five Ph.D. chemists who spend $500,000
per year on research and development.
No wonder wholesale marijuana is worth about $2.2-billion to the B.C.
economy-$7.7-billion if consumers paid top dollar. Across the country, the
industry is worth $5.7-billion wholesale and $19.5-billion if high-end
retail pricing is assumed. The Canadian cattle industry is about $5.2-billion.
For people on the consuming end, the marijuana industry is a part of B.C.
culture and it is not going to go away. There are about a half-dozen
businesses in Vancouver where a stranger can walk in, make a selection of
marijuana from a few different strains, have it weighed on a digital scale,
pay cash and leave. You will pay $10 to $15 per gram, $60 to $80 per seven
grams and $220 to $240 per 28 grams. Some people I spoke to have no problem
with this setup. "If you want weed, and you don't have a connection, these
guys are always available," one person told me. "Their stuff is usually all
right."
In Vancouver, the connection usually finds you. One person I spoke with was
approached by a total stranger who gave him a beautiful bud (about three
grams) and a business card. "If you want more, just call the number." The
stranger continued happily on his bicycle. Very West Coast. Another person
I spoke with told me that their connection was also a delivery service. "I
call a number, a very nice person comes to my house, I select, I buy, and
it's great."
After a week in Vancouver I realized that Mulgrew's new book will open the
eyes of quite a few people when it comes out next month. Prohibition has
failed. The police and courts are overwhelmed. The cultivators are laughing
all the way to an offshore account. The only hope is that Uncle Paul and
some of his colleagues will come to the glaringly obvious conclusion that
Ian Mulgrew spells out again and again. Legalize it.
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