What does it mean to be a criminal?

I've been doing some thinking lately. What, with the passage of HB 1284 and all the mess it will be creating, as well as the extradition order signed by Canadian Conservative politicians that will extradite Marc Emery to the United States to do a 5 year prison for committing what amounts to a misdemeanor by Canadian laws (Canada is now apparently outsourcing justice for it's citizens), it's hard not to think.

Our standards as a society are failing. We value almost all the wrong things in the new century, and I sometimes worry that there is no turning back from this mess. Allow me to paint an example: Somewhere off the shore of Louisiana tonight British Petroleum, a company not even founded or run here in the United States, is cleaning up an epic mess of oil that is destroying habitat at an alarming rate. New information is coming up every day that suggests they were not following proper procedures leading up to this tragedy, though that never seems to matter, does it?

I highly doubt that any of the multi-millionaire executives from BP will ever be charged, much less extradited, for this very serious destruction of tangible American property. Our values have gone to shit when we import a man into our prison system for selling marijuana seeds (made by God), but there isn't even so much as a mention of prosecuting men who regularly rape the resources of this country for their own selfish thirst for riches. These men should be shot by a firing squad on national television--instead, they're civic leaders in their communities--senators, judges, mayors.....

God help us now. The greed heads have given up trying to take the ship, and now they're just sinking it instead. Non-violent drug offenders are sitting in cells across this country trying to collect the pieces of their shattered lives--oil executives are at home riding out the storm while someone else cleans up their mess. If that's justice then I'm a duckbill platypus.

Welcome to the land of the disturbed, population 300 million. Colorado politicians have demonstrated recently how far the finger can fall from the pulse (I'll give you a hint, in their case the finger is lodged deep within the collective ass). They spent nearly an entire legislative session pandering over a bill to regulate medical marijuana, and the legislation that came of this pandering to each other will serve to do nothing but deregulate the market--in fact by most counts it will push as much as 80% of the market back underground, foregoing our budget strapped state of millions of tax dollars in the process.

But the idiots in our society can sleep well again now, knowing that productive, decent people are being treated like criminals. MEDICAL Marijuana Dispensaries are now more regulated than child molesters, pornography, cigarettes, alcohol, and traffic. Lawmakers are making every effort to subvert the wishes of Colorado's citizens, as per Amendment 20 to our Constitution. If that doesn't scare you then you are absolutely not thinking of the big picture.--- Shorty Smallz

Treating your condition with specific strains and sub-species

The weather has turned rancid here in Colorado, it's snowing in the middle of May, which is very unusual in Denver. Powdery Mildew is running rampant, I'd be willing to bet the grow stores are selling out of sulfur burners right about now.

Incidentally, for those of you having similar problems, try Safergro Mildew Cure, it smells awful but is OMRI certified, and safe to use in my opinion up until two weeks before harvest or so, without effecting quality or taste. Two applications one week apart will solve your problem for good with most powdery mildew (follow the instructions on the label, and you may want to add a surficant to increase effect).

You also need extra healthy airflow during this moist time, (cut out the infected leaves and trim the bottoms up of your plants, discarding these outside the grow space, and then spray the mildew cure all on the walls, all over the floor, and drench your ladies as well, spraying the top layer of the soil also to kill spores.

I recommend that you do this right when your lights come on, manually turning the lights off of course so as not to burn the plants, and working using an overhead light or portable lamp so that you can see to work and the plants are still exposed to light so as not to confuse them. Let them dry completely before turning lights back on. I like to turn my intake off during this treatment time.

But enough about that--I wanted to take time today to talk a little bit about the different sub-species of marijuana, and what their effects are that can be utilized for specific conditions.

There is some debate as to whether Cannabis exists in two or in three sub-species. Personally I think that there are really three, though one that is not so useful for medical applications, beyond creating faster-flowering varieties.

The three sub-species are Cannabis Indica, Cannabis Sativa, and Cannabis Ruderalis. I don't want to get into too much detail about the Ruderalis, which is a sub species that flowers independent of the light cycle, and is much lower in concentration of cannabinoids as compared to the other two sub-sets. Breeders have tried to harness this autoflowering characteristic with some success in recent years, resulting in strains that can be grown to completion in colder climates with extremely short growing seasons outdoors.

but let's focus on the two sub-species we're all most familiar with as medicine for our purposes today.

Cannabis Indica originates from cooler climated regions of the world, most specifically it is often attributed to climates bordering the Hindu Kush Region around Afghanistan, India, and other countries in that region. It is characterized by a fairly short flowering period, ranging from 6-9 weeks outdoors from the time the light cycle falls below 14 hours of daylight each day.


Pictured here is a pure Indica plant of a strain simply titled Maui-- beyond this the genetic lineage of the strain is unkonwn to me, but it is obviously a textbook indica in growth pattern. the pictured plant is about three weeks into it's 56 day bloom cycle.

Indica strains are short, stocky plants with stubby, fat leaves, are often highly resinous (thus the popularity of hash in the above mentioned regions of the world). They tend to produce fairly dense flowers and their thc tends to have a very narcotic, couch-lock effect when ingested.

Indica Marijuana has excellent pain relief properties, and is excellent for insomnia as well. It tends to stimulate appetite, and has a cumulative anti-inflamatory effect over time that cuts pain off at the root in some cases.


Cannabis Sativa originates from the more tropical areas of the world, such as Thailand, Cambodia, Regions of Africa, India, and, yes, California and Central America. Cannabis Sativa plants tend to be long lanky plants (they can reach 15 feet tall outdoors), with long, thin, stretched leaves, lots of space between node sites, and a much longer flowering period (from the time light cycle falls below 14 hours a day they can take up to 14 weeks to produce mature flowers).


Pictured above is a Sour Diesel plant. Sour Diesel is a mostly sativa cross taking 75 days to flower. This plant is about 3 weeks into bloom in the picture.

When ingested, Cannabis Sativa often creates a more racy, heady effect, often making the user feel highly engergetic and have racing thoughts or ideas. It can also have much stronger psychoacivity associated with it's use, effecting vision and hearing in extreme cases (though some milder sativas are really just more energizing without the physical impairments).

Cannabis Sativa is excellent for treating nausea, as well as managing pain during daytime scenarios where you cannot afford to be too sedated.

Most strains on the market today fall somewhere in the middle of Indica and Sativa, as most are crossbreeds of various combinations of the two. These hybrid strains can often have a blend of the effects of their parents, so it may take some experimenting to find the hybrid that is right for your condition.

Some people call me crazy, but I tend to prefer Indicas or Mostly Indica hybrids. I'm an extremely energetic person, so racy sativas sometimes cause me to be anxious if I have a lot on my plate. I have found that a good 50/50 hybrid that is bred for flavor over potency is the most effective option for me personally when medicating. At night I really prefer a good, pure Indica to anything else, to be honest. Strains like Afghani #1, Super Skunk, and Lamb's Breath are always flavorful and powerful for pain.

I'd love to hear from you guys out there--what do you prefer for your condition, what helps, what does not, what method do you prefer to ingest your medicine with? HC3 welcomes any and all comments and suggestions to the content displayed on this blog, so speak up people!

The Greed Screed--Dispensaries and $$$, rather than care.

I was in a dispensary on Saturday to visit a friend of mine who is one of the owners. I won't say which one, other than to point out that they're in a rather run down location in the 5 points. Although my friend was absent, I stayed around to speak to one of his partners for a bit. The opinions he espoused to me were horrifying for Medical Marijuana patients across the state.

Now, obviously I didn't have a tape recorder (although I'm thinking about going back and trying to get him to go on record with his silly opinion.) But his statements were something along the lines of, I'm ecstatic about HB1284 (he kept calling it HB 1186 or something like that, which shows you just how much he cares about sick people), it's gonna give us complete control of the market, we're gonna mass produce our product in warehouses, drive the price below $10 a gram, and run all the private caregivers out of the business, collecting their patients all the while.

Now, obviously this guy's a jackass. First of all, I have rarely seen medicine in his shop that is either organic or up to my personal standards. In fact, the few times that they do take in quality product, their own workers almost always buy it all up before the patients even get a shot at it. I don't think for a second that patients will pass on quality in the name of price, they've had that option on the black market for years. But that's not the point.

I will admit that I'm all for making medicine more affordable to the average patient. What I'm not for is the narrowing of variety and the mass produced lack of quality that these dispensaries will surely turn to, and the suffering that patients will experience as a result. If these guys weren't producing quality medicine in their basement (he informed me that currently he, too, is a basement grower, the exact type of grower he then informed me they were going to "run over"), then someone please tell me how their quality will improve in a warehouse?

I think this guys motives were the same as a lot of dispensaries motives--$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, rather than helping sick people. I will not be doing any business with this particular dispensary, nor will I recommend that my patients do so. In fact I think that guy is a selfish, self serving prick, if you want to know the truth. He's extremely unprofessional and rude anyway, hardly the kind of person I'd want working in my own business. If the legislature had any morals or sense, it's this guy they'd be regulating out of the market. Instead, they have decided to hand it over to people like him, and to kill the private caregiver in the process, who actually cares.

That's why I'm recommending that each of you go to the dispensary you most often purchase medicine from, and have a conversation with the owners or managers. Get their stance on this, and if you don't like what they have to say, don't shop there ever again. Let them know that you're not interested in making them millionaires at the expense of suffering or dying people. Tell them that now they have become the ones oppressing marijuana for their own benefit. Tell them to get some class and some ideals.

I will warn you that most owners aren't as big of idiots as the guy I spoke to--they probably won't just come out and say the things that this guys said--he obviously has no common sense or social skills. He's been a jerk to me every single time I've walked into their shop, as a matter of fact.

I haven't had a chance to speak with my friend at the dispensary in question, but when I do, it will only be to tell him that I hope his business fails, and fails miserably, and that they disgust me. His partner informed me of his intention to take over the market, So I plan to inform him of my decision, to boycott greedy dispensaries. I hope you will do the same. Peace!