p2pnet - rss feed: Globe and Mail highlights BC Bud
p2pnet news view | Cool Stuff:- The Globe and Mail proudly calls itself Canada’s national newspaper, so it’s appropriate it should be giving prominence to one of the country’s most famous agricultural products which, not all incidentally, also qualifies as a growth industry in British Columbia, from whence it hails
“Beer, BBQ and B.C. Bud: A music festival is born,” says a headline in today’s online edition, with “Long lineups, heavy traffic and pricey concessions can’t keep music fans away from giant festival taking over B.C. mountain village,” as the sub-head.
Ah, BC Bud.
No, it’s not a rock legend.
Well, not that kind of rock legend, anyway
It’s a euphemism for the highly potent marijuana grown illegally in British Columbia.
“This is not to be confused with ‘Beasters’ commonly found in the Northeast, which is low grade, seedless cannabis often contaminated with mold,” says the Wikipedia.
“The term has almost become a brand name, especially in California, Oregon, Alaska and Washington, to where most of the province’s cannabis is exported.”
But it’s not all illegal.
Wendy and Eric Nash, friends of mine on Vancouver Island, grow medicinal marijuana. It’s invaluable for people suffering from a wide range of complaints, particularly cancer and muscular dystrophy.
“Medical cannabis refers to the use of the Cannabis plant as a physician-recommended herbal therapy as well as synthetic THC and cannabinoids,” says the Wikipedia.
“So far, the medical use of cannabis is legal only in a limited number of territories, including Canada, Belgium, Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, and some U.S. states. This usage generally requires a prescription, and distribution is usually done within a framework defined by local laws.”
In a post on their Vancouver Island web site, “The Vancouver Sun ran a piece recently about how BC Hydro and local police are working together to target addresses with suspiciously high electricity use as potential marijuana grow-ops,” says Eric, going on »»»
It’s just the latest in a regular stream of stories about B.C.’s unofficial third-largest industry by GDP. Pot has become almost a regular ‘beat’ in Vancouver newsrooms, in the same way that papers in Winnipeg, and I speak from experience here, assign a reporter to the mosquito beat each summer.
Until recently, I believed tales of drug busts and the legalization debate were news stories, and didn’t belong in a business magazine. Then a few experts attached numbers to the illegal business. Forestry added $10 billion to B.C.’s GDP in 2005, the construction industry another $7.9 billion and according to police sources, the marijuana trade claims third spot, boasting annual sales of $7.5 billion.
Big business indeed.
No kidding.
Perfected through indoor growing, “under virtual laboratory conditions,” it’s, “twice as potent as competing varieties from Northern California and Oregon and six times as strong as the most common Colombian and Mexican product,” says Time magazine.
So maybe the G & M is right to be promoting it, in effect, although US and Canadian law enforcement authorities, with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and DEA way out front, probably wouldn’t agree.
“The United States Drug Enforcement Administration considers BC production to be a major problem, given the porous United States-Canada border, and has launched several major initiatives to cut down on its flow, including collaborative operations targeting marijuana activists such as Marc Emery,” says the Wikipedia, adding, “a high tolerance for cannabis use in BC and an awareness of the role of it as an export cash crop (worth an estimated $6 billion annually[4]) has tended to make it difficult for Canadian or American authorities to interfere effectively. This remains a significant point of contention between the US and Canada, and is one of many US-Canada border problems driving changes to both nations’ policies.”
No kidding 
There’s even a trademark fight over BC Bud with, big surprise, Budweiser laying claim to it, says Eric.
Ah, BC Bud!
Cheers!
Jon Newton - p2pnet / Gate Radio
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New York Times - New worm transcodes MP3s to try to infect PCs, July 18, 2008
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July 27th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
that looks so good.
July 27th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
aahhhh bc bud, i hear its actually much larger than our biggest legal export- for more information check out the documentary on BC’s biggest export- The Union: The Business Behind Getting High
i have actually yet to see it but i hear its phenomenal… cant find a torrent
July 28th, 2008 at 2:29 am
as lame as this may sound like its coming from a 12 year olds mouth i wish the earth was one big pot friendly place
and yes a good news article never had b.c. but heard its nice
July 28th, 2008 at 10:34 am
” It’s invaluable for people suffering from a wide range of complaints, particularly cancer and muscular dystrophy.”
It’s good for them, and THEY can have it,
so why shouldn’t EVERYBODY be able to have it since it’s so good.