Cannabis Chronicles

Not long ago we “discovered” a book by the name of “Bud Inc.“, that was written by Ian Mulgrew, an award winning business reporter from the Vancouver Sun.  It’s a fascinating read about the business side of Marijuanas, and we hope to review it soon here at the Cannabis Chronicles. 

One of the things that makes the book so interesting to the3LB, is that we’ve had the opportunity to personally meet a number of the individuals who Mulgrew profiles.  Bud Inc. features in depth looks at Marc Emery, Reeferman, and AdvancedNutrients, as well as the former owners of “Da Kine Cafe”, an abortive attempt to bring an Amsterdam style coffee shop to the lower mainland. 

Tweedy Bird has had supper, and even shared 3LB full melt bubble hash, with the Don Briere and Carol Gwilt, the individuals who attempted to bring the full Dutch experience to Vansterdam.  Lucas (of the “Lucas formula” fame) was there too, as was another good friend of the 3LB, DandyDon, who sadly, has now passed away. 

Certainly, living in the lower mainland and being a Cannabis activist herself, it would have been impossible for Tweedy to have not encountered Marc Emery at some point.  Marc does everything he possible can to be ubiquitous,  he’s a cordial enough fellow in person, and he’s certainly gregarious and easy enough to meet too.  

Tweedy would have to consciously choose to avoid Emery in order to not run into him on occasion.  Whether we approve of his antics or not, he’s certainly a memorable character, and it can’t be denied that Emery has earned a prominent place in the history of the Canadian Marijuana movement.

Reeferman we never met in person, but certainly we had a fair bit of interaction with him, both public and private, at CannabisWorld.  Actually, we first encountered him before the cartoon superhero in green was even conceived,  when his seed company had an entirely different name. 

And, on a few occasions we’ve told more than a bit of the story behind meeting the owners of Advanced Nutrient and touring their Abbotsford production facility.  We won’t belabor any of that experience here at the Cannabis Chronicles because we simply cannot maintain any kind of journalistic detachment when discussing that experience.  Convienetly, Hemp World features a lengthy excerpt prominently featuring AN.  That excerpt is from the original newspaper series that later led to the creation of the book.

With no further ado, we’ll simply give our readers a short section of that more extensive excerpt here.  Here Mulgrew begins to describe Advanced Nutrients as it appeared to his eyes a few years back.

an excerpt from Pot Inc. Part 1
Big businesses have sprung up around fuzzy legal boundaries Are some crossing the line?
Part one of an exclusive Vancouver Sun investigation by Ian Mulgrew. © Vancouver Sun, January 21, 2005.

They make millions helping pot growers

The owners of Advanced Nutrients beat back legal challenges even as they improve yields for B.C. bud

Robert Higgins was juggling a dozen headaches. One partner was ill, the other was exiled indefinitely, a new bottling plant was about to come on line, the Australian market was heating up, and those goddamn lawyers . . . .

Unfortunately, in his view, Higgins has to deal with too many lawyers far too often.

“Hey, the cops accused me of having 300 grow-ops — I said, Come on, what do you think I am small time? It’s got to be well over 700!”

He laughed.

But it is easy to understand why police, or anyone for that matter, would be scratching their head about Advanced Nutrients and the lucrative market niche it has created from a nondescript industrial building in Abbotsford.

Higgins and his two partners — Michael Straumietis and Eugene Yordanov — are the biggest, most visible players in the thriving B.C. marijuana industry.

Their company supplies specially designed fertilizers and growing aids for pot farmers. It is singularly responsible for the burgeoning B.C. bud crop — and can arguably take credit for much of the success enjoyed by North America’s domestic indoor dope industry.

Its researchers have created products that allow growers to increase the yield per 1,000-watt light to roughly a kilogram (two pounds) of pot (more if they’re punctilious) from the 340 grams (12 ounces) they harvested not so long ago.

As well, the feeding and fertilizing regimes they have pioneered allow gardeners to increase the levels of THC and other substances in the plant to produce higher potency pot and designer strains of marijuana.

The company provides anyone with a medical licence from Health Canada the equipment, expertise, nutrients and clones to grow their own supply of marijuana; it provides medical marijuana to those who can’t afford their own; it provides in-home help and it has a toll-free hot-line for growers, offering free trouble-shooting advice.

“The people we employ are doing a lot of testing on cannabis, our products are designed and built for the medical marijuana user and it’s an absolutely massive market,” Higgins said. “People are only beginning to realize the overwhelming size of the industry and that is why laws are changing and people’s views are changing.”