What if Prohibition Never Happened?

When humans first encountered cannabis millennia ago, perhaps growing along a riverside in Western China, Nepal, or Tibet, it was recognized for the value of its seed as food. The first time any human ever got high from cannabis, it was from eating the resin which coated the toasted seed. Smoking came later. Cannabis was with us, and I like to think it played some role in our decision making, when humans ceased roaming the plains as hunter-gatherers and began cultivating crops. Forming the first settlements. Cities. Written language. Culture. The things which form the basis of our modern life and our understanding of ourselves. I like to think that these things are a direct result of the strange communion we share with this very special plant, that over the years we have been answering its call, just as it has answered ours. Cannabis is asking something of us now, something of vital importance to us as a species, and it is up to us to decipher the substance of that call.

- Justin Logan, Toro Ma

We hope cannabis legalization is creating a pathway for positivity and ultimately consumer safety, not greed and over commercialization. In the wake of “vape gate” and copious media coverage of the unintended consequence of consuming through toxic vape cartridges, we wanted to examine the HOW and WHY we consume cannabis the ways we do.

There’s no question about it, even in this early stage, we need to flip the script. The most tragic outcome from cannabis legalization, so far, is the over commercialization, and copious packaging waste and garbage products as a result. People have a common misconception that because a consumer product is available for sale, it is safe. If the product packaging looks safe, and is sold in a safe location, why would you have any reason to doubt it is? Lucky for the majority of consumers, they are. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some bad actors in the bunch that are sending you off with some real poor quality shit.

This raised a lot of questions about consumption from a consumer point of view. How do you know the difference between good and poor when the end products look identical? We aren’t a culture who questions where everything comes from, most of the value is placed on the end result or point of sale. The more we researched, the more we found that the actual value is created in the origin of the product, the quality of ingredients and the ecosystem that fosters cultivation and production. We got to this conclusion by hitting the road to Southern Oregon where some of the finest cannabis in the world is cultivated…

...outdoors. Under the sun. As it has been for the 50 years since hippies migrating North from Summer of Love San Francisco laid their claim to their small piece of this rugged landscape, making Victory Gardens of their bagseed. Unbeknownst to them at the time, they’d chosen one of the world’s most ideal climates for this endeavor. I wonder if they would recognize the burgeoning craft industry they founded as their own?

“What are we doing here anyway…” Justin Logan from Toro Ma is always postulating. “Cannabis is legal here in Oregon, it’s normal for fuck sakes… how would we be living if prohibition never occurred?” Sometimes we meet in a city park, this time we’re on the road with his partner and super cool print artist Hibiki Miyazaki and Alisha, a buyer for Portland dispensary, Farma. Sure, we’re a motley crew of creative enthusiasts and each have our unique stake in this new frontier of legalized cannabis. Why does this matter though; legalization, sustainability, how we consume, what we consume and why?

We headed south from Portland to Grants Pass. Trying desperately to hang on to the last sunny days of summer, fall swept in bringing heavy storms and moisture into the region where most of our sunny outdoor cannabis comes from. At this time, the farmers are tending to a delicate balance of whether to harvest early or risk mold damage to the crops for some of the last weeks of pre-harvest sun and evening heat. It was time. The rains weren’t letting up and the dense colas were at risk of Botrytis damage. If you’re inexperienced with farm life, it is a complex orchestration of natural and industrial processes. There’s always something exciting happening in the soil, above the earth and in the hands of everyone involved. So when it’s go time, it’s go time.

All hands on deck over at Alter Farms, a regenerative farming practice where Cody and Jodi had been keeping long early and late, late evenings with staff. “The middle of the day, you can’t harvest.” Jodi tells us, the day has to be structured like this because the quality and flavor will not be as good if it is harvested under the sun. “This is the same for a cucumber too. If you cut it in the morning, it will have a great cucumber flavor. If you cut it mid-day, it will be almost flavorless.” Jodi is a chef and baker as well as a cultivator of some of the finest award winning cannabis.

When we walked into the entrance all we could see is a grip of happy folks harvesting sizeable cannabis plants from the earth and trimming up for drying. The energy was high and purpose driven, music played in the background and there were all kinds of flowers everywhere. Jodi’s house is on the property as well. The farm even uses water they filter from the Rogue River and rain to irrigate the crops. That water is then filtered through the ground goes into their well for drinking, the ecosystem begins to emerge.

Seeing these systems and what connects them is what makes farms like Alter work. As much attention placed on the things you put in your body, should also go into the systems that support the food, water and cannabis for industrial applications and consumption purposes. Why? Because if we don’t think holistically and systemically we start to acquire waste streams that foster their own set problems if left unconsidered. Though the industry hasn’t figured out a circular closed loop industrial economy without waste yet, doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be strived for or achieved eventually. This is great cannabis, this is where quality comes from. Try it, you will not be bummed out.

I suspect that the owner-occupied farmstead is showing us the path to the future, and cannabis is its lifeline. As Jodi and Cody from Alter Farms reiterate, it is the acre-over-acre return on investment that not only makes cannabis a viable crop for small-scale agriculture, it incentivizes research and experimentation with regenerative farming practices which are then adopted for all kinds of other crops. Small scale farming is creating a toolkit for dismantling the devastating carbon footprint of corporate agriculture and in Oregon, cannabis is its raison d’ etre.

So what do you think of when you picture a commercial cannabis farm? Is it a warehouse full of lights and plants, perhaps acreage upon rolling acreage of happy bushes in the sun? We hopped over the valley to visit Aaron at the uniquely positioned Liontree Farms. Aaron grew up in Maui, went to Southern Oregon University, and also studied cultivation techniques from KNF expert Master Cho. His passion with cannabis was inspired by his father’s guerrilla grow and allowed him to bring this skill set to his career when he linked up with some folks in college. At the time Aaron was going to school in Ashland for Environmental Science, which lead to purchasing the Liontree land in ‘07. The original intent was not cannabis, though. He started with a partner investing in grapes to make the best Cabernet Sauvignon in Oregon. When the original business model was facing some internal challenges, Aaron made a shift back to his original passion in cannabis cultivation.

At first glance, this land is extreme for a cannabis grow. The steep, wide, south facing slope is terraced out for an organic farming method inspired by agricultural academic William Albrecht. Albrecht, who was studying improving the quality of livestock came to the realization that the soil the feed was grown in was the biggest contributor to how healthy the livestock could be. Another regenerative practitioner, Liontree looks at the shape of the land, the quality of the soil and water that are nourishing the cannabis. Due to this unique land position, sun hits the plants all day long and heat travels the best through the canopy throughout the entire grow cycle on a slope. Turns out this is awesome for grapes and cannabis!

When I hear Aaron from Lion Tree Farms describe tearing tree stumps from that dusty hillside by hand with a Pulaski shovel, I think of pioneering Oregonians of a century ago building cabins on the site of their land claims, using only the tools they carried on the wagon out West, and the materials available on site. Folks like Aaron are doing what they are doing in spite of the prevailing attitude which values enormous carbon footprints, in spite of the corporate wisdom that says if you must cultivate outdoors, you must do so in proximity to the power grid, city water, the interstate highway system, the devastating misunderstanding of corporate science. It is the hardheaded contrarian nature of the pioneer which knows this is incorrect, and sets out to prove it incorrect simply by existing.

Each of these farmers live on the land, protect the earth, and cultivate wholesome, chemical free, terpene rich cannabis. Does it get any better than this? Does it need to? Cannabis is food in the way it interacts with our bodies. If William Albrecht were alive today he’d make the correlation between how humans nourish our bodies and minds with cannabis and cannabis cultivation practices. There are methods of wholesome consumption, through quality cannabis and cannabis products for desired effects and experiences. Some great signifiers for consumers to look for are Clean Green, Certified Kind or Solventless products and shops who support wholesome consumption in Oregon; like Jayne, Homegrown Apothecary, TJ’s Organics, Ground Up Farms, Fireside, Amazon Organics, Moss Crossing, Eugene OG, Tokyo Starfish, Oregon Coast Cannabis, Farma and Pakalolo.

What are your thoughts on cannabis consumption in the 21st century? Check out more pics in our harvest gallery.