The premier American Medical Cannabis Cup, sponsored by High Times magazine, was held this past weekend in San Francisco. Photos by Luke Thomas.
By Luke Thomas
June 21, 2010
Following more than twenty-years hosting the world renown Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, High Times magazine sponsored a uniquely American version of the competition held for the first time this past weekend in San Francisco.
The two-day expo event attracted as many as four-thousand medical marijuana users to the confab which included cultivators, activists and cannabusiness entrepreneurs, all eager to test new cannabis strains, consume edibles, attend seminars and parties and to examine the latest cannabusiness products in a growing market segment with revenues outstripping the US automobile industry.
Fourteen US states have legalized marijuana consumption for medicinal use since 1996 and while marijuana distribution and consumption remains illegal under Federal law, the Obama administration has officially informed US attorneys not to expend resources investigating and prosecuting medical marijuana patients and their caregivers in states that permit medical marijuana use.
Efforts are underway in California to legalize and regulate the sale and use of marijuana. A measure on the November ballot sponsored by Oaksterdam University Executive Director Richard Lee aims to provide the beleaguered state treasury a source of new tax revenues to help balance a $40 billion budget deficit. Opponents of the measure within the medical marijuana community fear legalization will shift focus away from patient medicinal use to one of social and recreational use and in the process upend all the gains made for patient advocacy.
“It’s going to kill all the organizations that support medical cannabis use and demean patients,” said Green Cross founder Kevin Reed, an activist committed to providing safe and affordable access to medical marijuana patients. “The 2010 High Times Medical Cannabis Cup could very well be a first and last of its kind if California voters decide to embark on the social experiment of legalizing cannabis for adults in the November election. For now, it’s been an incredible opportunity for the medical cannabis community to come together collectively from all around the country to learn and grow from one another.”
Green Cross medical cannabis dispenser Kevin Reed.
At 4:20 pm, Sunday, a quarter-pound, meticulously rolled joint that took 40-minutes to prepare was ceremoniously lit and passed around to attendees under clear blue skies.
Medical Marijuana activist Wayne Justmann (right) lit a cermonial 1/4 pound joint at 4:20 pm at the premier 2010 Medical Cannabis Cup expo in San Francisco.
The event concluded Sunday evening with the announcement of the winners of several cup award categories.
Luke Thomas
Luke Thomas is a former software developer and computer consultant who proudly hails from London, England. In 2001, Thomas took a yearlong sabbatical to travel and develop a photographic portfolio. Upon his return to the US, Thomas studied photojournalism to pursue a career in journalism. In 2004, Thomas worked for several neighborhood newspapers in San Francisco before accepting a partnership agreement with the SanFranciscoSentinel.com, a news website formerly covering local, state and national politics. In September 2006, Thomas launched FogCityJournal.com. The BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, New York Times, Der Spiegel, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Weekly, among other publications and news outlets, have published his work. Thomas is a member of the Freelance Unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521 and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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April 18, 2012 at 8:07 am
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