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Here’s How CBD Helps My 19yo Cat Battle Old Age

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Pet owners all around the globe are giving their pets CBD, claiming it can help them deal with pain, anxiety, old age, and much more. I’m one of those pet owners. Here’s how CBD is helping my 19-year-old cat live a better, healthier life. 

Meet Moses, The Cat That Crossed The Ocean

I didn’t have a lot of friends when I was 8.  My family and I had just moved from Switzerland to Australia and, before settling down in Melbourne, we spent 6 months drifting through the Australian desert in a 4WD campervan.  We didn’t speak the language, understand the culture, or have a stable enough life for me to make any real friends. That all changed, however, when my sister came to visit us at the end of 2000 and got me a small, black and white cat for my birthday.  My Dad took one look at the little guy, stared into his big, yellow-green eyes and decided we should call him “Moses.”

He also made it crystal-clear that the cat was mine and, therefore, I would be responsible for anything it destroyed or shat on.  Having just turned 8, I somehow didn’t feel quite ready to take on that kind of responsibility. I’m kinda glad I did, though. Little did I know that, on my 8th birthday, I’d meet my closest, most loyal companion. 

Fast-forward 19 years and I’m writing this post from my apartment in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I moved here 5 years ago with Moses packed away in an airline-safe carrier in the cargo hold of a Boeing 747.   As I’m typing, he’s fast asleep beside me on the couch, having just devoured half a can of tuna with a healthy dash of CBD oil. I started giving Moses CBD about a year ago after I noticed his old-age starting to take a toll on him. 

His appetite died down, he started having trouble jumping up on the couch and bed, and he seemed to have pain in his hips and back.Moses also showed some signs of dementia (such as howling at night, regularly returning to his bowl after eating, etc). And just to top things off, he tumbled off my 4th story balcony less than a week ago. 

My vet couldn’t believe that my 19yo cat not only survived the fall but also got off with nothing more than a fractured jaw. Now, CBD definitely didn’t save my cat. It has, however, greatly improved Moses’ quality of life ever since he started taking it.  That’s because, like humans, cats, dogs, and other mammals have an endocannabinoid system that helps regulate a plethora of their bodily functions. This system comprises of 3 main components (endocannabinoids, receptor cells, and enzymes that synthesize, transport, and metabolize cannabinoids) and has been shown to regulate:  Pain, Stress, Inflammation, and Sleep.

And while there’s a lack of research into how CBD affects pets, the fact that most cannabis research is conducted on lab rats suggests it’ll likely have similar effects on Fido.  In fact, the entire pet CBD industry (which is expected to be worth close to $2 billion by 2023) is based on the theory that, by stimulating their endocannabinoid system, CBD can help pets by: Relieving pain and inflammation, Reducing anxiety, Stimulating appetite, Improving sleep, Calming digestive issues, … and much, much more. 

Now, remember; I’m no vet or doctor. However, I have seen great results using CBD with my cat.  Ever since I started giving Moses CBD oil, he’s been eating better, has less trouble getting up on the couch/bed, and seems to be in noticeably less pain.  And while my vets here in Argentina aren’t very informed about CBD, they’ve consistently told me to keep using it based on the effects it’s having on Moses. 

Not All CBD Is Created Equal 

Unfortunately, finding good-quality, reliable CBD oil in Argentina (or any other country where cannabis remains illegal and unregulated) is difficult. Fortunately, I was able to find a seller on Mercado Libre (a South American version of eBay) with a limited stock of Hemp Bomb’s 125mg Pet CBD tincture. And while I knew that the brand had its limitations, I trusted it a hell of a lot more than the homemade, unlabeled tinctures I’d occasionally find people selling on Facebook.
Unfortunately, if, like me, you live in a country where cannabis is still illegal, you’ll likely run into similar problems trying to find a CBD supplement for your pet. 

If not, enjoy your freedom and consider looking into CBD pet products to help your pet live a better, healthier life.  Trust me, Moses swears by it!

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor or a veterinarian. None of the information in this article should be taken as medical or veterinary advice. 

Steve Voser

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Arjan Roskam, the weed king.

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In 2001 Arjan Roskam became the self-proclaimed « King of Cannabis » – a title no-one ever tried to take from this 38 Cannabis Cup winner. Whereas 40 years ago he was homeless, nowadays, he is a Ganja business multimillionaire and is also known as the creator of the last three decades’ most remarkable weed strains. The path has made his very respected, even by his critics. Here’s the portrait of the dutch Weed giant

Arjan is 16 years old when he smokes his first joint. We are in 1981, in an Amsterdam that counts only 10 coffee shops. « We used to smoke anything we could find because we were young and we didn’t know any better. Anyway, there was only Morrocan or Afghan (hash) available on the menu. From time to time, some Jamaican or red-threads Thai (grass), but it was way too expensive », Roskam remembers.

In 1983, Arjan is travelling to Thailand with some friends. For some reason, the young man ends up in a small village near the Burmese border. « When I was there, I met a 78 year old man who treated heroin addicts with Ganja. There was a serious issue with heroin in Thailand, I myself tried some. This doctor had me try Indica infusions that were made to treat junkies’ withdrawal. »

« Seven days later, while I was packing to leave, he took my hand and placed five seeds in my palm. Then he looked into my eyes, and said solemnly : « keep those seeds. A few years from now, they will make governments fall apart. »
The Thai episode and the shaman’s prophecy would haunt Arjan until he got back to the Netherlands, two years later. Back in Holland, Arjan starts growing different marijuana strains, some donated by his friends, others gathered while travelling (in Thailand, Nepal or other south-est Asian regions). Bad call. Whenever they buy weed, coffee-shops are exclusively interested in imported strains such as Thai, Mexican Sensemilla or Jamaican grass. Indoor strains are only at their beginning and at best considered as a saturday night eccentricity. With quite a low THC content compared to hash and a considerably higher price, Weed only represents 10% of cannabis sales. Without worry, Arjan kept seeing the city in green despite Amsterdam’s people only smoking hash. He continues to frantically grow his Haze in a godforsaken greenhouse out of town, enhancing its quality by the harvests.

Between 1987 and 1989, Roskam keeps adding Coffeeshop owners to his phonebook. He gives them samples, then comes back the next morning… Quickly coming to understand that he’s not welcome there. « I showed up with something new, but they called it cat-piss. People weren’t used to it ». No-one being prescient in the Netherlands, Arjan had to deal with rejection and humiliation for two years.

« Long story short, I had no money, I had nothing. My wife and I were poor. Very poor. At some points, we were so broke that we lived in the street », confesses Roskam, whereas he is now a multimillionaire. The soon-to-be entrepreneur and his wife, Celeste, end up cruising all over Amsterdam’s center, going from petty jobs to petty jobs.« I had a good friend whose sister, Martha, owned four bars. Fancy places where all the thespians, musicians, members of the gay community, artists, and painters from Amsterdam used to hang out. » Thanks to Martha’s financial support, Roskam, still without a dime, opens The Green House in January 1992. A Coffee shop doomed to stay clientele-free for more than a year.

From 9am to 1am, Roskam spends his days lying on the store’s couch, smoking, depressed, and waiting for customers that still wouldn’t come. « On high days, I would sell maybe the equivalent of 25 dollars of beers and coffees », Roskam remembers. We are in spring 1992. Worried that no- one would ever walk through the Green House Coffee shop’s door, his partner-investor Martha gives up only three month after opening the business. « I had more than 120 000€ debts that I couldn’t pay, and a rent that I couldn’t pay as well. So I had to borrow a shitload of money from a friend in order to keep going ».

Things continue like this until a day in January 1993 when a big limo parked in front of the Green House’s door. Inside the limo a now deceased Kennedy family member was intrigued by the place. « I had no idea who he was or who those people were. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know about the High Times’ very existence. » (the title had been redeemed by the Kennedy family). « They told me that they had heard about an unusual weed I sold, and asked if I wanted to participate to a contest happening in early November. I answered – sure, why not ? I had nothing to lose. And then, the limo went on its way ». That November, one afternoon, Arjan got a big surprise : without any obvious cause, a crowd of roughly 500 people gradually show up at Arjan’s Coffee shop. « I couldn’t understand, I hadn’t advertised in any way nor had I offered any type of discount, I even thought it was some kind of scam or a bad joke from other bud-tenders ». The next day, 700 customers came, 800 the day after…

« As a matter of fact, I had won the Cannabis Cup. But I was so out of my mind with my Ganja farming and my money issues that I had completely forgotten about the contest. And to be honest, at first when the Kennedys told me about it, I thought this whole thing was kind of a joke and a quite dodgy one at that. Anyway, long story short, there were 7 rewards to win, and I won all 7 ! Of course, with so many international TV stations looking, it was my glory day. And I wasn’t even there, I was on my sofa, in my coffee shop, freaking out. »

« En fait, j’avais  gagné la Cannabis Cup. Mais j’étais tellement à côté de mes pompes, dans mes cultures de ganja et mes problèmes de fric,  que j’avais complètement oublié cette compétition. Et pour tout dire, au début quand les Kennedy m’en ont parlé,  je croyais que c’était un peu bidon et louche, cette affaire. Bref, pour faire court, il y avait en fait 7 récompenses en lice et j’ai gagné 7 trophées! Évidemment, avec autant de télés internationales, c’était mon heure de gloire. Et je n’étais même  pas là, j’étais sur mon sofa,  dans mon café,  en train de flipper. »

« King of Cannabis »
Three years later, given this dazzling success and after Arjan won three more Cannabis cups, the High Times magazine select him for its July cover. Seeing her husband breaking into the Ganja- aficionados’ bible, Celeste says laughing that he became the « king of cannabis ». Arjan himself would adopt this silly nickname a few years later. To this day, nobody has tried to claim his crown or his title. The reason for this is that, in addition to his 38 Cannabis cup wins, he has also won 20 Highlife trophies and plenty other awards. Amongst the most hailed strains he found during his botanic journeys were the Super Silver Haze, the Hawaiian Snow, the Arjan’s Ultra Haze, the Super Lemon Haze, the Himalayan Gold, the White Rhino, the White Widow, the Great White Shark, the Doctor, the Trainwreck, the Church, and the latest Flowerbomb Kush.

High Times 237 May 1995

From 1995 to 2005, Roskam works in the education field, giving classes that bring attention to canna-business related issues. « I was training policemen, public officials, judges, prosecutors,… people who would have put me in jail twenty years ago » says Roskam with amusement. This Ganja-entrepreneur deeply cares about getting rid of the numerous wrong judgements about cannabis. Simply because Arjan Roskam is, in spite of what his critics and rivals say, passionate about Weed and gives himself the duty of evangelizing Weed’s benefits to the world as well as the necessity to legalize its consumption.

While in the Congo, where he went to shoot « Strain Hunters », Roskam, unfortunately, had the opportunity to make his point: « you have kids there who have malnutrition. Hemp oil and seeds are very, very important to these kids who often have nothing else to eat… It’s the ignorance, the idiocy of those politicians who live only by electoral deadlines, of narrow-minded Christians, of stuck-up catholics, of the pharmaceutical lobby, of alcohol industry – they are responsible for the wrong ideas people have about cannabis » Roskam says with intensity, affirming that in Vietnam, they use hemp to clean up soils contaminated with agent orange.

Reading this, we may understand why this dutchman doesn’t only make friends. But so far, after researching, we found out that indeed, hemp does absorb and filter the toxic defoliant spread by the American army during the Vietnam war and allows the land, at the end of its cycle (2 to 6 months), to be workable and harmless to humans and animals.

Roskam also built a charitable foundation (his critics and sore losers would say only for taxation purposes), in order to help the most deprived people in Africa and Asia, and in such an elegant way : on Arjan’s demand, this charity work is barely mentioned over his website or anywhere in general. Two years ago, Roskam’s team also created a factory in the Congo to feed 250 families and about 700 kids. The King declared : « We are going to produce medicine for the Congolese population, since the government seems to fail to do so ».

At the beginning of the year, Roskam teamed up with Canopy Growth and Organa Brands to introduce his brand, Green House, into the retail trade’s landscape in Canada. Now that autumn is

settling, Roskam and his team are completing a large factory in Canada. « We just acquired the first open-air licence in Ontario’s history, in Canada », he explains. « We are extending our factory and will produce 12 tons of premium Ganja over the next year, growing in the sun, as it should ». For it is the dutch expertise that the Canadians are looking for. And who could train them better than the King of Cannabis ?

Arjan’s goal in Canada is to offer the public quality and quantity at the same time, and therefore Weed at more reasonable prices than it currently is. « I am 54 years old, and will only retire on my death bed. If everything goes right, you will keep seeing me for 30 years. Now that legalization is being discussed in Europe, the adventure may really begin ».

Long live the King !

Alexis

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Switzerland: a country up ahead on the sale of cannabis.

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In Switzerland, it has been possible to buy « cannabis » since 2016. Last month Belgium and Italy followed its example by authorizing the sale of CBD. Our journalist went to Switzerland in order to better understand this new business.

When you arrive in Geneva by train, right after customs, you have to take an exit that leads to a shopping mall. You’ll find an escalator that will lead you to the small train station mall. This shopping center looks like an airport terminal’s duty free, without the planes nor the duty free. There you can find bureaux de change and shops that sell perfumes, alcohol, chocolate and tons of watches. We are in April, I go willy-nilly through this small shopping center, looking for a wine bottle for my brother who is having me over for a few days. He is coming to fetch me with his car, and I have about five minutes to find my liquid gift. I have just walked fifty meters and gone past four stores when, between a Western Union and a Sephora, right in front of me, appears a shining sign lit with a shameless Marijuana leaf. The store, with its explicit name and an inviting tagline (Mary Jane « finest Swiss cannabis »), is open. Suddenly cheered up, I go straight into this dream store. Under the neon lights and past my amazed eyes, there are jars of Lemon Haze, Master Kush, Northern Light, White Widow, etc. « I love Geneva » grinders, Edelweiss ornate bongs, ready-made organic joints, chocolate bars with a big Ganja leaf on them… This country is once and for all full of resources as well as well-kept secrets. Feeling like a kid buying cigarettes for the first time, I head shyly toward the only employee there.


« – Hello… Is this really cannabis ?
– Yes it is, legal cannabis obviously.
– Yes, legal cannabis obviously. » I find myself repeating as a complete moron. The good-looking red-haired girl opens a Lemon Haze jar that I indicate to her. No mistake, it’s weed. The buds are compacts, well cut and without seeds. Regarding the smell and the taste: it’s not as good as in Amsterdam, but totally suitable. Although I am in a fevered hurry, I still buy 25 grams total (White Widow 10g, Silver Haze 10g, Kush 5g). The bill is expensive : 240 CHF which is about 230 euros. I thank the girl as if some kind of miracle has happened to me and cruise to the exit, feeling over the moon.

You bought Tourtel  !
About five minutes after I arrive at my brother’s apartment in Geneva, I proudly take out the precious material I just acquired – I was soon to learn how delusional I was. My brother bursts out laughing. « Bro ! You just bought Tourtel, there’s no THC in your weed. It’s just hay. Do you want a carrot juice to go with it ? »
Explanations : In Switzerland, all cannabis with a THC content over 1% is considered a narcotic. Therefore, according to the Swiss federal law regarding narcotics (RS 812.121), cannabis possession, growing, processing and selling are strictly forbidden and considered as a criminal offense, liable to three years imprisonment and/or a fine. On the other hand, growing and distributing cannabis containing less than 1% THC has been authorized since 2011. This untapped legal opportunity has been taken by the start-up company Bio Can AG which obtained the commercial licence for a « hemp tobacco substitute », provided that the cannabis sold wouldn’t contain more than 1% of THC. Their success was immediate and raised a lot of enthusiasm, to the extent that there is nowadays about 420 companies producing and distributing legal cannabis in the country.
This legal windfall is quite different from France’s regulations, where the sale of those type of products are forbidden when their THC rate exceeds 0.2%. This 0.8% difference is a game changer : growing a weed that is under 0.2% THC is way too expensive to be profitable. When I read the label of one of the bags I bought more precisely, I finally find : « CBD 18%, THC 0.5% ». It is known that in Switzerland, you shouldn’t try to hurry things.

The Kiss Cool effect
But I wondered how Swiss people managed to sell that much hay at the best ganja’s rate. I had no other choice at this stage but to make up my own mind by testing this green material myself. My brother made a L joint out of it and we started smoking it with consideration.
Indeed, we didn’t notice any psychoactive effect. Nothing close to any perception or thinking alteration. However, we felt some pleasant muscle relaxation. It was a bit like we had just had a long walk outside or as if we had just had a sauna. This nice relaxing effect can be attributed to a simple cause : whereas there is almost no THC in this weed, there is on the other hand a high rate of cannabinol (CBD). Cannabinol is an alkaloid which has numerous properties, but which provides no high. This weed’s ratio was highly superior to other classical weeds, grown outdoors or in professional greenhouses. Its rate goes between 8 and 35% in Switzerland, whereas it is 0.5 to 12% in Dutch Ganja. CBD is the second noteworthy alkaloid in cannabis (behind THC), and has proven anti-inflammatoriy, painkilling, relaxing and antioxidant effects. Those properties are perfectly suitable for quite a decent part of the Swiss population: senior citizens.

Senior’s Ganja
Despite what you might expected on this matter, legal cannabis is not a success with party-teens or mid-forty’s, but thanks to a generation born between 1950 and 1960. This is to say baby- boomers who nowadays are between 60 and 90 years old and are representing more than half of legal cannabis consumers. Those soft-weed enthusiasts value CBD for its relaxing effects on long-term health issues. Those effects allow them to reduce or avoid taking other types of meds such as opioids, benzodiazepines (sedatives), sleeping-pills, (steroidal or nonsteroidal) anti- inflammatory drugs or antidepressants. For example, 60% of Kahna Queen’s customers are over 60 year old, thanks to the explanations and advice given by the store’s employees, although many drugstores in Switzerland are also selling legal cannabis. This dialogue allows the stoner’s image to expand over the idea of some loser confined to his couch, only living on state benefits. The legal-cannabis sellers also provide information about oils, chocolate bars, cookies, moisturizers or CBD infusions. Those precise infusions represents 15% of legal cannabis sales. This trend is confirmed by the Swiss Weed store, for which smokable CBD only represents 34% of its global sales. Grandpa’s camomille has become seriously out of fashion.

Is CBD THC’s Trojan horse ?
On the Green matter, many people think that this success may help with french legislation on psycho-active Weed (which is deemed « recreational » there), all the more because THC is increasingly acknowledged for its medical virtues. For the Swiss, this hold represents a business which has earned over one billion euros in Switzerland alone. To this day, the Swiss produce a surplus that allows suppliers to export their neutral Ganja to Belgium, Greece and Italy. This prosperous initiative, beyond the windfall it represents for many entrepreneurs, may promote CBD’s effects on the European scene and make cannabis consumption in a joint sound less diabolical.

Odds are, according to many people, that this legal softening may evolve in favour of legalization in Holland no later than 2022. Comparing most country’s politics on the continent regarding cannabis, the Swiss are not applying any sluggish regulations here, but rather serving as an example, given that last month Belgium and Italy authorized the sale of natural cannabis. As for me, I went back to Paname [Paris] broke (Swiss is quite a money hole), but happy. I had learned a lot, and because of, or thanks to – my lack of THC intake, those memories stayed close.

Alexis.

 

 

 

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What would Paris be like if weed were legalized in France ?

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We are in July 2020, a long time since from L’Obs magazine’s open-letter signed by more than 70 pubic figures and pushing for cannabis legalization in France; a long time since the ultra- repressive system which couldn’t deal with the fact that France is one of the biggest cannabis consumer in the whole of Europe, notably amongst underage kids. We can no longer argue with the fact that it’s been 50 years of useless and wasteful prohibition.

Nowadays, its European neighbors have nothing to envy France for. The economy there is rising above the ceiling. Cannabis costed the state billions of euros, but its legalization ended up bringing a lot of money into the state’s funds including taxation proceeds as well as economic savings on prohibition.

From Le Monde [France’s national newspaper]

The state isn’t the only one taking economic benefits from the legalization of cannabis. Big brands are also surfing the wave. Hemp shirts are trendy, Evian commercialized its « canna-water », for us to stay forever young and more importantly laughing.
Many summer-job opportunities are offered, and students mostly work in coffee shops. Each month, a new facility opens and we can often see homeless people asking for some easy-given weed. Charity is practiced with red eyes and given with a bit of a smile in that way.

There’s not a single day when an underage kid doesn’t ask me if I can buy some cannabis for him. Our coffeeshops are adamant: no cannabis for you, unless you’re an adult. There’s no way we can see young kids breaking up a piece of hash on a sidewalk with a cigarette stuck behind their ear. An adult in France is someone who can buy alcohol, vote, drive a car and roll their joint with the greatest freedom. Now, we can feel genuinely calm in the streets where paranoia reined.

It is in the Montmartre neighborhood, on summer afternoons at dusk, on Sacré-Coeur’s grass, that I like to smoke my joint. On the hill, we can find the « Dumas » : a coffee shop made of stone in which people can read books on cosy couches with a joint in their mouths. It is there that I buy my Lemon Haze before my meeting with the sunset. When I get out of there, the manager gives me a paper where I can read :
Since cannabis legalization, you can kiss goodbye to: resistant neuropathic pains, severe pharmacy-resistant epilepsy, some cancer palliative cares, painful spasticity (squeezing and shaking), multiple sclerosis and other central nervous system pathologies.

We can now thank Paris’s council which approved this legalization, because without it, none of this could have happened.

Jacob

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There are cannabinoids in breast milk.

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We now have a new explanation as to why newborn infants look that blissful while resting in their mother’s arms after ingesting their milk.

We now know for a fact that breast milk contains endo-cannabinoids which are necessary for the child’s growth. There a studies to prove it right there (here), but don’t rush right away to your mothers for another hit.

Young mothers, listen to us. Even though you don’t smoke or have never smoked a single joint in your life, your body will still, in its own way and without your consent, produce endo-cannabinoids (which are cannabinoids, but produced by your own body). Does that make sense? This very fact does not reduce you to a cannabis plantation, but relies on human’s genetic mystery, which keeps being quite surprising. Humans are born with cannabinoid receptors (which are called CB1 and CB2), and your endo-canabinoids have a great influence on ante- and post-natal development. The first endo-cannabinoids show up after the 14th week of pregnancy (je ne crois pas que ca soit possible d’être en gestation dans le ventre de la mère, parce que la gestation désigne l’état d’être enceinte, non du foetus qui se développe). During the critical phase when the newborn takes in the essential milk, your child’s CB1 receptors will be activated for the first time. The key thing here, is that those receptors allow the child to know if they’re still hungry. We could call that early munchies: the baby will cry to ask for more food. Therefore, a satiation rhythm will set itself naturally, allowing the kid’s body to know when it needs to be fed and consequently when to ask for food.

Nature is doing such a good job that the cannabinoids role goes far beyond the benefits previously mentioned. Starting from the 20th week of pregnancy (when the concentration of cannabinoids is at its highest), a cannabinoid by-product appears in the body : anandamide. Its role is to take care of the immune system by making natural pain-killers, anti-inflammatories, etc.

This goes to show that, even if we’re not all smoking the same plant, we are still cut from the same cloth.

Jacob

 

 

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In a dark brothel in The Hague.

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On his way to Amsterdam, our journalist became interested by the Hague, located on the North sea coast, in the west part of Netherlands, and its brothels.

The Hague is a fairly wealthy city in which numerous diplomats live. It is there, remarkably, that the international court is situated. In this city, the Weed is organic. People move around by tram and so much money flows that you can buy a gram of coke for 30 bucks. Since 2000, prostitution had been legal in the Netherlands. My Canadian friend, Scott, who has been living there for 14 years sees it as a logical course of action. He says: « Dutch people have the most practical minds in the whole of Europe ». They like money, stuffed pastries, and established rules.

While I’m toking on a « Thaï joint » (a ready-made spliff that would be the equivalent of cider for an alcoholic), I get a call form our Canadian editor : « Mike, it would be great if you visited a brothel for our readers ». Still with a joint in my mouth and sunglasses on, I went straight to the red light district. Although there are no brothels there, it is the most known prostitution-related area. The showcases are filled with women bathed in a red light, and are quite intimidating. In contrast to Amsterdam, the street is calm. There are no tourists around to take selfies. The men passing by keep their eyes low and go quietly to the woman of their choice.

After a day researching over the internet, I learn that brothels in the Hague are all very different. Their price is ranged from 80 euros to nearly 300 for half an hour. I choose « Diane’s Secret » because it’s operated by women. Part of me hopes that the girls there are taken better care of than in the red light district. I arrive to the address that was indicated on the website. One would never guess that it’s a brothel. It is an elegant dutch house covered with ivy. I realized that I’m at the right place because of two bald men (maybe from excess testosterone) who are speaking in english about their experience :

« – She’s really hot, Alex.
– Yeah, but her blowjobs aren’t as good as Julia’s »

On the balcony, two women are smoking a cigar and summon me. I explain that I’m looking for Diane’s secret. They let me in.

A good-looking brunette wearing a skinny mini-dress helps me to the first floor. I end up in an haussmanian lounge styled in a bourgeois way.
The Madame is behind a leather Chesterfield type desk, she is blond and is quite curvy. Her 30 year old assistant (who helped me in) has glasses on and I can’t figure out if she’s wearing those to look like a sexy secretary or if they were prescription. On the boss’ desk, there is a sign indicating that they take VISAs and Mastercards. A girl comes back from her shift and they seem to discuss her rendez-vous, reporting how it went (the brothel being run by women, the Madame is likely to be a former prostitute).

On the low table in front of me, there is a bowl full of vagina shaped candies and steamy card decks.
On the right, there is a giant screen playing hardcore porn, showing only penetration close-ups. Even though I am a porn enthusiast, it is a little bit too hardcore for my tastes. There are two other guys around the table : a guy who looks like he’s from a PNL video clip [a french rap group] (polarized glasses included), a guy noticeably high and myself. The secretary comes to get our drink orders and without thinking, I ask for a Fanta. I feel like I need sugar after the Skunk joint I smoked earlier. I decide to chat with the guy who’s high given that we obviously have something in common :

« – Do you often come to such places ?
– As often as I have cash » he answers salaciously.
The Madame’s disapproving look makes me think that now is not the time for talking – it’s time for choosing. I take a piece of paper and write my WhatsApp number on it in order to chat with the stoner later. The guy with the polarized glasses goes with a small asian girl half his height. As if he

was at the hairdresser, he insists on having his favorite, even if that means she has to come straight from her previous client.
The Madame claps hers hands and three young women come in. The first is tall with large boobs and blue eyes. The second is mixed race with pear shaped boobs and green eyes. The third is a small indian girl with strong features, but a teenager’s body.

I choose Sandy, she says hi with a small voice and a shy smile. I can relate to her discomfort. According to her page on the website, she is 27yo, but in reality she is clearly over 30. I’m paying 80 bucks for thirty minutes, but I’ll be granted with fifty « to make me comfortable », because I’m a first-timer. On the walls, a fuschia wallpaper matches the cheap perfume and the lube smells. She asks if it’s my first time and I tell her that it is, but that I’m working on a article and I’m not here to fuck. Her surprise is tangible. She explains that it is forbidden to film. I ask her if she would be okay with us just talking. She agrees, as long as I don’t tell the boss.

Sandy « not her real name » has been living in the Netherlands since the age of 5 and has been working as a prostitute for 4 years. Living costs are very high in this diplomatic city. She tried to find something else, but because she isn’t educated enough, she could only get cashier jobs. « I have a child » she confesses after I make up a family back in France to make her feel comfortable. Her child is the main reason why she came back at Diane’s secret after two months of actively seeking employment. The dutch law is very clear: an unemployed foreigner must leave within 3 months.

She pays rent to the brothel, then it doesn’t matter if she gets 15 or only 2 clients at the end of the month, the bill always comes. However, she adds that she feels way more secure now than she felt back when she worked in one of Amsterdam’s windows.
Most prostitutes there have pimps who, whether their business is legit or not, are no angels. She tells me an episode about a Turkish army pounding the glass doors after a night spent getting high on hash. I can hear the fear in Sandy’s voice when she speaks about it.

There is a small courtyard, I take a ready-made joint out of my pocket and start lighting it while pursuing the conversation. She whispers: « if you want to keep chatting, do not leave the door open ». Sandy seems way too soft for this environment, and I struggle to keep my composure while she asks frequently « if I don’t want to go for it anyway ».

Sandy doesn’t smoke, but she takes CBD capsules to « chill out ». She doesn’t mind about cannabis being smoked around her, but I understand through her words that she needs to stay clean in order to « play her part ». Long story short, if she’s not sober she can’t « act ». There’s 5 minutes left. I finally ask her if she has a lot of married men coming to see her. She smiles and tell me that « adultery is way less commonly accepted here than in France, so the standard is to take off one’s wedding ring ».

I end the session by asking her if she often has stoners amongst her clients. Sandy’s face lights up slightly : « they are often the nicest clients ». My time is up, I cruise back to the boss’ office to ask for a bill before I leave. Then I meet the stoner from earlier at the Cremers which is the only bar in The Hague where smoking is allowed. I ask him if he’s used going to brothels. He takes a huge toke on a pure Jack Herrer blunt before handing it to me and saying : « every single week, I have my favorite. I even give her a facial ». I ask him what it means, and he translates : « I get to come on her face ». Thus, the holly Grail seems to be coming on girl’s faces.

To him, it was obvious because he spends his days between work and Coffeeshop, smoking. He hasn’t had a girlfriend for 5 years. I end up thinking again about what my friend Scott told me : « It is only a transaction. Yet another service industry ».

 

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Mais pourquoi 4/20 ?

Le 4/20, c’est la grande fête annuelle des enthousiastes du cannabis, tout le monde en conviendra, surtout au Canada. Mais

ZE ARTIST OF THE MONTH : Jay-T.

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Every month, the redaction of Zeweed meets with an upcoming artist that we feel acts as an ambassador of weed culture. This month it’s Jay-t, a young Italian graphic artist working on visual puns around weed.

Can you give us a quick introduction to your work ?
I’m a graphic designer, or rather I studied graphic design. Jay-t is my “most artistic” alter ego, I really enjoy manipulating images, I almost always tend to create a visual association that can directly refer to the image you are looking at or visually create a totally new one.

How would you say weed has impacted your creative work ?
Certainly marijuana was not a predominant theme in the beginning, I am a fan of design, graphics, streetwear, art, music and whatever derives from it. I have been smoking marijuana for over 15 years, it is a “constant” element in my life, so it came very naturally to use weed as the main element in my work.

Where are you from and what’s the law regarding cannabis there ?
I am Italian, born and raised in Sicily, I now live in Milan. Well, the laws in Italy are tough for those who consume marijuana. Obviously in Italy smoking, selling and growing marijuana is illegal. It is really difficult even today to make people understand the potential of this plant.

What is your opinion on the matter ? What’s your personnal favorite ? 
I believe that here in Italy there is a strong desire by politics and the mafia to keep this business illegal for obvious economic interests. Legalization brought so many positive aspects, as seen in other nations, I think the best thing would be to legalize it and regulate the sale and cultivation.

Tell us about your best (weed) trip ?
I don’t know, I don’t have one in particular, but once when I was 17, I really smoked a lot, I don’t know how but I searched for more than half an hour the TV remote control until I found it inside the fridge!

When did you find and how would you define your personal touch ?
I don’t know if I’ve already found a personal touch, I still don’t want to identify myself with a style. I honestly cannot give an exact definition, it might seem very simple since the typographic part is missing, flat colors on the background, no background, but it is a direct style, many works do not even need typography, they express themselves.

Where do you draw your inspiration from ? 
To be honest I take inspiration from everything that I see, that I feel and that happens around me. Sometimes just a word is enough to illuminate me to create something, or often by listening to music or watching movies, to me everything can be an inspiration.

Who are the artists that influenced you the most ? 
The ones that influenced me the most were surely Tony Futura, SuckerTom, Paul Fuentes, Les Creatonautes and even Salvador Dalì with his surrealism. Obviously, as far as graphic works are concerned, I am influenced by totally different characters.

Do other forms of arts collide with yours ?
Yes, I really like working with wood, I have always helped my father work in the countryside. He transmitted his passion for bricolage and manual work to me. I tried to to paint with my girlfriend but unlike me she actuaklly knows how to paint, it seems that only strange abstractionisms come out when I try to paint.

Are you planning on having an exhibition soon ?
No, I’m not planning on it, but I’d love to be able to exhibit my work to the public, I hope one day to get the chance, for now Instagram is my gallery.

 

For more info follow Jay-T on Instagram.

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The Love affair: Music & Cannabis

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Music and cannabis share a common history, an ever-growing union of powerful creativity. 

Since the end of the 19th century, Jazz has been one the greatest ambassador of this union.

Louis Armstrong was one of the main icons of the pro-weed movement and he publicly admitted that smoking marijuana helped him to create his music, smoking while he composed or even when he played live. So did Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Bob Marley of course and year after year this phenomenon has expanded to the entire music industry.

Nowadays the cannabis culture is inherently present in the music, and nobody hides it anymore, from the lyrics to the titles, it’s all about the green.

A few examples of our personnal favorites for the road : Manu Chao (Me gusta marijuana, me gustas tu), Gabriel o Pensador (Cachimbo da Paz), Jimmy Hendrix (Purple Haze), Skap (Cannabis), Animal Collective (For Reverend Green), Ray Charles (Let’s go get stoned), Panda Bear (Marijuana makes my day), Tash Sultana (Cigarettes), Nas (Smokin), M.I.A (Paper Planes), Tame Impala (Kevin Parker, the singer, admitted that almost all the songs were written under the effects of cannabis, as well as other psychedelics).

This list being a very small appendix of the reality of the impact of weed culture in music, Zeweed can only invite you to discover more.

There seems to be a direct connection between musical creativity and cannabis, and the results of that connection are, for many songs, undeniably striking. Maybe, just maybe, one could say that cannabis opens doors to a universal feeling of grace. At least Zeweed can say that music without its love affair with weed would much less interesting.

Manuel Chau

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The world’s best home vaporizers.

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If during your childhood Alice in Wonderland’s smoking caterpillar was a source of fascination, rejoice! Today’s technology is making sure that your dream comes true, thanks to the home vaporizers.

A vaporizer is a device that uses hot air at high temperature to create a cannabis infused steam. No tobacco, no combustion, quite an ideal choice for sensitive lungs, athletes, or just for every enthusiast wishing to make the most out of his cannabis.  After all, there is no better way to enjoy a premium weed than having it with no interferences and little or no loss.

The Classic. The Volcano classic (€319, for dry weed only).
The Volcano is a high quality grade vaporizer manufactured by Storz and Bickel, a top notch brand that owns a well deserved reputation on this market. As a fun trivia, on HBO’s « bored   to death », the characters are using a Volcano.  Which doesn’t come as a surprise, since it’s so easy to use and clean. It works the following way: the steam (which is fresh and abundant with this model) is contained in a plastic balloon. Once the balloon filled, you take it out and inhale the steam contained in it.

Several balloons can be filled with just one bowl, which turns out to be quite convenient if you to party with a few friends in your living room. Topping on the cake: even the clumsiest dude will manage to take a drag out of those funky steam filled balloons. It’s fun, approachable and definitely legendary.

The most powerful:  The FlowerPot Vprod (€519, works with weed and any concentrated cannabis products such as hashish, oil etc.)
If the Volcano was to be the grandpa of all indoor vaporizers, the FlowerPot would be its offspring. To begin with, it’s the first “Twax vaporizer”. Meaning that it can vape oil (or wax, for instance) as dry weed. Making it easy for you to try various combinations for various sensations.

The FlowerPot is an upmarket/high grade model made out of titanium (which explains the price) that delivers a constant stream of hot air filtered of any impurities. This process allows the FlowerPot to bring you a full flavored steam with numerous hits on any chosen cannabis product.  Unfortunately, it is also one of the most complex and hard to operate desktop vaporizers. For the real players only.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5X13XYbxxc

The Best value/ Best buy. The plenty (€219, for dry weed only) is a mid range vaporizer by Storz and Bickel (the very same company that brought us the Volcano Classic) that comes with a three years warrantee.
This vaporizer is designed to deliver a direct inhalation through a hose… just like Alice’s smoking caterpillar. Easy to use, the Plenty has a wide range of heating temperature (130° to 202° Celsius). The temperature can be set through a thin scow wheel.

Once the desired temperature is reached, the heating process stops. A cool feature that will prevent you from setting your apartment on fire. The steam is of course fabulous (courtesy Storz ansd Bickel) and the machine is as noiseless as it gets. The only downside is its looks, clearly not as posh as the legendary Volcano Classic with its triangular design. Yet, for such a low budget, one can’t complain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qX1puUInWc

The water friendly. At last but not least, The Vapehale Cloud Evo (€414, for weed only) is the most innovative vaporizer of this selection. Each EVO is equipped with a “PerpetuHeat Thermal”. A technology that automatically adjusts the heating to a person’s inhalation rate, ensuring smooth, rich, and consistent vapor. As you inhale, the air flows past the heater, warms up to your set temperature and then glides through to vaporize your chosen herb or concentrate.

This vaporizer utilizes convection heating technology, which provides superior heating and vaporization when compared to conduction heating.(Most vaporizers utilize conduction heating, which consists of a hot surface that actually kind of chars the herb, leading to that all too common burnt taste). The Vapehale Cloud’s all glass air path delivers pure vapor and enables you to taste full spectrum flavor. Traveling from the glass enclosed heater core to the customized glass mouthpiece, your herb hits your airways as rich, clean, moisture conditioned vapor, cooled to perfection.  Probably the most sophisticated of them all… See it in action here:

 

Mike Teeve

 

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Tripoli Express #3

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Ariel, our correspondent in Lebanon, divided in 4 parts the account of his latest fascinating adventure on Beirut land. Here is the penultimate episode of Tripoli Express:

“Wake up French man!” These are the early screams I could make out from the man who was guarding my cell. I jumped to my feet, simultaneously with my friends Antoine and Karim, we were looking forward to getting out. The guard slid the gate open and escorted us through the long corridor.

I wasn’t dreaming: natural daylight was illuminating the detention facility, we had spent the night here, we did it. I was pushed into a small study where there was nothing apart from a man, a new one, sat in front of two big mysterious devices. He told me to have a seat and started another interrogation. It was only then that I discovered the purpose of the two machines: one of them was used to track my retina, the other was used to record the movement of my fingers.

The Lebanese authorities were now in possession of more information about me than my own country.

After the interrogation, my belongings were returned to me, yet I was in no rush to turn on my phone. I left the detention facility. It was a hot Sunday morning, dry and sunny. Two guards that I had seen the night before had suddenly decided to be friendly.

They offered coffee and cigarettes, and asked me if I liked Lebanon. Their question made me chuckle. I stretched and breathed the air as if I had been in custody for all my life. I thought about the fact that this Sunday morning felt like the worst hungover of my life, and that luckily, I had only seen a small part of the horror that you see in prison.

I shook Antoine and Karim’s fathers hands. I was not looking for the explanation of how we got out and why, the only thing that mattered to me was to return to my room in Beirut. I hoped in Antoine’s parents’ car and they took me back home. As we were driving for an hour, no one spoke. I turned my phone one: nobody was worried of my absence. From an outsider’s perspective, my Saturday evening was like any other, I could have done anything.

All the better. My energy and emotions had been drained, making it difficult to recount my mishaps. I was not even recovering from this meditative state in which I had fallen. I was able to sleep, but I was having lucid dreams relating to my night in custody. The worst of all, a genuine nightmare, was when I could see the soldiers violently packing my stuff and bringing me to the airport of Beirut. Looking back at this dream, I laughed nervously. I had not smoke a single joint the night before, and not only had I slept terribly, but I was dreaming about it a lot.

I tried to have a nice Sunday, but in the afternoon, my phone kept on ringing. My colleagues, my relatives, my boss: all of them called me to ask how I was doing and what had happened. But how did they know? I did not understand a thing. I slowly discovered that during that night, my friends’ parents who were worried about their sons’ absence and their phones being turned off, had issued wanted notices in Lebanon. They thought that we had been caught in an avalanche during our mountain excursion, or victims of a car accident. They had travelled throughout the country for the whole night looking for us. A picture of us three which Karim had posted on Instagram started going viral on social media. I received screenshots of articles written in Arabic with a picture of me. I had been warned: Lebanon is a small world, everybody knows one another. I was even mentioned in an article in one of the major newspapers of the country the next day, referring to me by my initials.

That same day, I returned to the office where I work and I was welcomed by a guard of honour, between laughs and applause. “Now you have fully experienced Lebanon! Nearly more than we have!” my colleagues were telling me (I am the only foreigner of the company). Nobody worked on that morning, everyone was listening to my accounts of my stay in a prison in Tripoli. That story was absurd and comic. However, the good mood and the general excitement were interrupted by Antoine’s phone call. “We need to return to Tripoli. They are annoyed. They needed to do a urinal test which they forgot. They want us to go back.” I left the office instantly and felt like vomiting. It seemed like the worst hangover of my life was not over as of yet.

 

Ariel

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