The Smuggler’s Journey – How Weed Changed in the 1970s
The history of cannabis in the United States can be told from various perspectives. We could drift all the way back to 1937 – when cannabis was imprisoned in an obscure tax law, or jump to WWII where hemp was legalized once more to help defeat the Nazis.
We could talk about the corruption, the racial injustice, the government overreach – but that side of cannabis history is typically the focal point.
Rather – let’s talk about outlaws. Let’s talk about the people who dared to go the distance and impact the way you and I smoke weed today. I’m talking about the unsung heroes that are considered “criminal” by government standards – but legends to the cannabis community.
To tell this story – we must go back to a time where long hair and long beards were ‘in’ – loose clothing or no clothing was the standard and “getting away from The Man” was the number one priority. We’re talking about the early 1970s – which, interestingly is also the time when the War on Drugs was first introduced to the American people.
Before the 1970s – the vast majority of cannabis consumed in the United States could have been tracked across the border to Mexico. Cartels weren’t really a major “thing” back then – but, there has been a long-standing cannabis trade with the US.
The problem with the “Mexican Brick” as people referred to it was that it had a lot of seeds & stems and usually required smoking half a joint to a full joint just to get high. This is the “weed your grandparents smoked” according to modern political lingo.
However – the potent shit you are smoking today was ALSO the things your grandparents spoke because it was in the early 1970s that the Hippies in Humboldt County started to separate the males from the females.
While this wasn’t anything new – Sinsemilla has been around for a while – it wasn’t something the general public was aware of. Since most people bought weed from the streets and didn’t grow it themselves – Seeds and stems were considered “standard”.
Yet when the hippies started to remove the males from their pot – the value of their cannabis went up from $300 a pound [back then] to anywhere between $600-$800 a pound.
This marked a significant shift in consumer preferences. People were far more willing to dish out more of their hard-earned cash to get a “better quality smoke” as opposed to the quantities they were buying on the streets.
Funny enough – if consumers simply would have planted the seeds they got with those shwaggy bags – they would have been able to harvest the same potency that the Humboldt Original Growers were achieving. However – one of the OG growers known as “The Smuggler” would venture off to the middle east to change the way Americans consume cannabis forever.
From Humboldt to Pakistan to the world
According to Netflix’s Murder Mountain, one of the guys up there and a buddy flew to Pakistan’s Hindu Kush Mountains and brought back a shit-ton of seeds.
Why?
Because the Hindu Kush mountains had eerily similar growing conditions to that of Humboldt County and so – the hippies of old thought, “Why not grow that shit here?” Why were they even interested in this specific spot in the first place?
Because hash was all the rage back then and a lot of good hash came from the Hindu Kush Mountains. With the OG growers already increasing the value of their crops – including new genetics seemed to be the rational next step.
And so a couple of young bearded dudes from California flew to Pakistan where they managed to procure seeds and smuggled it back into the US via “goods”. The Seeds were sewn into the goods, and so when the Hippies made it back to Humboldt – everything was about to change.
Why hello Indica!
Before the 1970s – most of the cannabis smoked came from the American Continent. What people call “Sativas” typically come from these regions. They were taller – lankier plants and some of the more sought after strains were Acapulco Gold, Michoacán, Columbian…and so forth.
However – with the introduction of the Pakistani and Afghani strains – suddenly there was completely different genetics in the mix. Suddenly these heavy body-high strains came into the marketplace and the value per pound skyrocketed at relatively the same time that the War on Drugs started to ramp up.
In fact – by the 1980s, the indica/Sativa and hybrid language was alive and well. Then Raegan militarized the police against cannabis which eventually drove the price of high-quality cannabis anywhere between $1200 - $3000+ per pound. These prices were also very dependent on “how strict prohibition was” within the state.
For example – cannabis per pound is more expensive in New York than in Oregon.
With an increase in demand and an increase in government resistance, things migrated away from the hippie mind-space and mingled into the world of organized crime. This doesn’t mean that the OG growers weren’t growing – it simply meant that things became infinitely more dangerous and more players became involved.
Over time enough people died in a place called Alderpoint – one of the communities in the Emerald Triangle – that they named it “Murder Mountain”. There’s a documentary on Netflix – check it out.
Medical Cannabis Saved Us All!
The War on Drugs was unstoppable until a handful of medical patients with terminal illnesses were able to convince enough people to vote YES on medical marijuana. Suddenly – the W.O.D could no longer simply blanket everyone under the category of “drug dealers/users” but now had to include “Medical patient”.
It’s one thing to raid “the farm of a notorious drug dealer” vs “the farm of a wellness collective”. The optics is not in your favor.
By this time – the genetics of cannabis in the United States was so diverse and support was so well-organized that an industry was born.
CANNABIS STRAIN DIVERSITY, READ MORE...
WHAT ARE LANDRACE STRAINS AND WHY ARE THEY BIG?
OR..
