From Stone(d) To Spaceship: part 2

From bone to joint, a tongue-in-cheek series exploring the notion that the All Good pre-roll might just be the pinnacle of evolution
Glad to see you back for more! Let’s start with a brief timeline of how cannabis has played a role in recent history.

Evolution of Cannabis Use

– Cannabis consumption is assumed to predate written history, especially through our food chain

– 1600’s: Hemp is used for fibre

– 1800’s: Tinctures freely sold throughout North America, psychoactive sand medicinal properties explored

– Early 1900’s: “Reefer Madness” propaganda, leading to prohibition in 1923

– Counterculture years, post WW2

– Draft dodgers carrying cannabis seeds into BC, Kootenays became first major illicit production farm

– 1972 Le Dain Commission speaks to the values of cannabis use, but the findings go unheeded for decades

– 1971 Gastown Smoke-in leads to riots between authorities and anti-prohibitionists

– 1990’s War on drugs: from Ronald Regan to Bill Clinton, popular media campaigns discourage experimentation

– BC Bud development of hydroponic grow ops skyrocket the underground reputation of Canadian cannabis

– Rebagliati Olympic snowboarding incident: Canada’s cannabis culture in the world’s spotlight

– 2015 Justin Trudeau legalization platform and election

– 2018 Canadian legalization (yay!)

Evolution of Delivery Methods 

Hookahs and bongs and pipes, oh my!

For hundreds of years, delivery methods for enjoying cannabis were made of glass and metal. The first recorded use of joint-style delivery was in Mexico. Since then, rolling papers have boomed as a mini-industry, rolling out cool, psychedelic patterns on the packaging, sourcing natural fibres and tasty flavours for the papers, developing safer-to-smoke glue, and including wires and other implements to render the last little bit—“the roach”—easier to smoke without burning your fingers. Randy’s Roach Papers were one such brand. And filters—once made by ripping bits of the packaging from your pack—became available either as perforations in the packaging or as a separate retail item.

There were also incognito accessories for cannabis users—like necklaces and belt buckles that would conceal your roach clip. If you knew, you knew, and the counterculture thrived on their wink-winks and nudge-nudges.

Evolution of Cannabis Retail

A stigma has followed THC users like a bad smell, so it’s refreshing that some of that cloud has lifted since the end of prohibition here in Canada. And it seems the entire THC industry has picked itself up, brushed itself off, and rebranded. Just walk into any bud bar and you’ll see bright, shiny, beautiful displays—a far cry from the dank dinginess of head shops from days past.

And it’s certainly nothing like your uncle’s basement, or your dealer’s car, either of which always had something weird in the back that you didn’t want to ask about.

But you still had to spin up that bud into a joint, right? Or put it in your pipe to smoke it.

With the end of prohibition came the advent of new and exciting delivery methods: edibles, vapes, beverages, and so much more. We are smack dab in the middle of a most special moment in the evolution of cannabis, and we’re just about to meet the monolith!

Stay tuned for our next instalment of Stone(d) to Spaceship, where we tell you everything you need to know about the pinnacle of cannabis evolution.

 

– Words by Kasia Gorski