Imported Cali weed grown with Plant Growth Regulators (PGR's)

[tomster]

When you know what to look for - it's everywhere in the dispensaries now.

 

In general terms here is the difference visually:

 

 

And here is some info on the subject although if you Google "PGR weed" there is a pretty deep rabbit hole to explore:

 

https://leafwell.com/blog/pgr-weed/

 

There are now many, many dispensaries selling illegally imported Cali weed as it improves their bottom line. Prices are around 150-250 Baht per gram wholesale and there is an unlimited supply.

 

As far as I know, no dispensaries are testing this illegally imported weed for PRG before they sell it. This testing can be done fairly easily and is standard in the USA before you can sell into a dispensary:

 

https://www.moderncanna.com/cannabis-testing/plant-growth-regulator/

 

Not all imported Cali weed is grown with PGR's. But if it looks like the image above then it likely is.

 

Ask your dispensary to show you a lab report on their import weed to make sure you not smoking PGR's - if they can't then choose a Thai grown strain.

 

Cali weed with PGR's looks and smokes good, but will give you cancer or worse. PGR's are for ornamental plants, not for burning into human lungs or eating.

 

Buying Thai grown weed helps support Thai and expat growers alike - in these uncertain times your money is better spent in the local economy then sent overseas.

[LOWERCASEGUY]

No offense but few dispensaries have lab reports on anything in their shop.  
 

Second, what makes you think only Cali weed has PGR?  Are you assuming Thai growers are completely ignorant of this technique and wouldn’t use it in a heartbeat if they thought they could get away with it?  
 

I can appreciate the “buy local” sentiment but this is straight-up propaganda.  
 

I would love to see lab reports on some of this outdoor grown Thai weed.  How much of that bad is pesticides or laced with heavy metals?
 

Again, I agree that people should make an effort to buy locally, but Thai growers need to earn the business by producing a quality product at a fair price.   
 

It doesn’t do anybody any good if Thai products are not lab tested and 2x - 3x the price of illegally imported cannabis.  
 

I mean, how crazy is it that Thailand’s minimum wage is something like 300 baht a day and Cali minimum wage is 300 baht per hour and yet people can still produce weed in California, ship it illegally to Thailand, pay off whoever has to be paid off to get it into Thailand, and then sell it to a dispensary and Thai weed is double or triple the price?  
 

Until Thailand gets the price down to a similar level, consumers are being taken advantage of.  
 

Finding some illegally imported PGR buds and telling everyone to go out and only buy locally grown weed isn’t an answer to that.   
 

In fact it’s actually harmful to Thai growers because they can’t operate their businesses without charging 400k or 500k a kg they’ll eventually kill the market for themselves.  
 

If you want to support Thai growers, buy the best weed you can for the cheapest you can get it.  
 

Thai growers will figure out how to get the price down to that level.  
 

I mean, this is just so comical.  Do you drink Thai beer to support Thailand brewers?  Are you willing to pay 200 baht for a bottle of Chang if Heineken is 80 baht a bottle?  
 

I don’t know where people get it in their heads that there’s some farmer with his buffalo growing cannabis and barely putting food on the table.  
 

Many of these growers are rich Thais who have land or the cash to invest in setting up a large indoor hydroponic facility.  
 

I’ve met several growers around Thailand and I’ve yet to meet one without a university education.  Most are upper-middle class to semi-wealthy.  
 

Last grower I met with had us sampling their product from their 18,000 baht Storz and Bickle Mighty dry herb vape and drove a BMW.  
 

Oh, and their price was 550k per kg.  

[stoner]

36 minutes ago, LOWERCASEGUY said:

Last grower I met with had us sampling their product from their 18,000 baht Storz and Bickle Mighty dry herb vape and drove a BMW.  
 

Oh, and their price was 550k per kg.

how was smoking his mids ?

 

[tomster]

18 minutes ago, LOWERCASEGUY said:

I would love to see lab reports on some of this outdoor grown Thai weed.  How much of that bad is pesticides or laced with heavy metals?

Agreed - which is why I don't buy outdoor weed here. The Thai's spray everything but then do you honestly think the huge scale Cali growers that are pumping out PGR weed are following integrated pest management guidlines and not just spraying the exact same chemicals the Thai's use on their outdoor crops?

 

19 minutes ago, LOWERCASEGUY said:

I mean, this is just so comical.  Do you drink Thai beer to support Thailand brewers?  Are you willing to pay 200 baht for a bottle of Chang if Heineken is 80 baht a bottle?  

Glad you think consuming cancer causing weed is funny - personally I think it's a very serious issue and it has nothing to do with beer. Your beer analogy is not even comparing apples with apples, the beer here is controlled by very large corporations as you well know, not by small local brewers (although this is hopefully changing).

 

20 minutes ago, LOWERCASEGUY said:

Many of these growers are rich Thais who have land or the cash to invest in setting up a large indoor hydroponic facility.  

Agreed as obviously these are the guys that have the capitol to go big straight of the gate - it was the same in the USA when the green rush started there. But there are now ten's of thousands of not so well off Thai's experimenting with trying to grow high quality weed.

 

28 minutes ago, LOWERCASEGUY said:

I mean, how crazy is it that Thailand’s minimum wage is something like 300 baht a day and Cali minimum wage is 300 baht per hour and yet people can still produce weed in California, ship it illegally to Thailand, pay off whoever has to be paid off to get it into Thailand, and then sell it to a dispensary and Thai weed is double or triple the price?  

Well part, but not all of that, is that PGR's are used to up yields. And of course the sheer scale (hectres) of grow ops in California combined with the fact that the shipping costs of cannabis are tiny per gram mean it's possible to bring in the weed at competitive prices. Also, in California you have very low humidity levels that makes growing there much easier than here, again lowering production costs as the humidity here is very hard to deal with outdoors.

 

36 minutes ago, LOWERCASEGUY said:

Last grower I met with had us sampling their product from their 18,000 baht Storz and Bickle Mighty dry herb vape and drove a BMW.  

You meet with a few growers then - you don't own a dispensary by any chance do you?

 

[bamnutsak]

While everyone is entitled to their opinion, and that's all the OP is expressing - they provided zero facts - I think the OP is highly misinformed, and a bit hysterical. By their own admission they've gone down a "rabbit hole".

 

High volume, machine-trimmed, vacuum-packed buds have a particular appearance, which is not indicative of the use of chemical PGRs.

 

I've examined a decent amount of imported cannabis here in dispensaries, and none has had the look (lack of trichomes), preponderance of orange-ish calyxes, aroma/smell (lack thereof), or feel of what is puported to be PGR cannabis.

 

Most commercial cannabis is grown indoors in the U.S. due too factors like licensing, security, cleanliness, climate control, year-round growing.

 

I think this PGR scare-mongering was more of a "thing" ~ 5 years ago.

 

 

 

 

[tomster]

5 minutes ago, bamnutsak said:

While everyone is entitled to their opinion, and that's all the OP is expressing - they provided zero facts - I think the OP is highly misinformed, and a bit hysterical. By their own admission they've gone down a "rabbit hole".

 

High volume, machine-trimmed, vacuum-packed buds have a particular appearance, which is not indicative of the use of chemical PGRs.

 

I've examined a decent amount of imported cannabis here in dispensaries, and none has had the look (lack of trichomes), preponderance of orange-ish calyxes, aroma/smell (lack thereof), or feel of what is puported to be PGR cannabis.

 

Most commercial cannabis is grown indoors in the U.S. due too factors like licensing, security, cleanliness, climate control, year-round growing.

 

I think this PGR scare-mongering was more of a "thing" ~ 5 years ago.

 

 

 

 

Fair enough, as you say it's just opinion (until the test results prove it one way or another).

 

I clearly stated that not all imported Cali weed is grown with PGR - obviously it's not.

 

But there is a load of weed there grown with it, and some of that weed is finding it's way here.

 

The people that I know that know what is and is not PGR after decades of experience in the consumption side of things, are finding more and more of it.

 

It's here and it's not going away until the awareness is raised, as we did in the hydro industry when PGR products started appearing in 2004. It took about 2 years then nobody would use them, they were effectively killed by the consumers understanding what they are and their dangers.

 

This thread is just meant to raise awareness of a potential problem - just by doing that the problem will likely resolve itself and is a win win for consumers and growers alike in Thailand.

 

What isn't a good idea when faced by issues like this is to ignore them, that generally doesn't end well. ????

 

 

[bobbin]

I'm really glad that you have started this thread.. I was just thinking of doing that last night, after spending some time (more than an hour), reading the opinion of the people at Humboldtseed regarding PGR's. Their article was written in 2017. I also read more up to date articles by the Netherland Seed Co(?)Their opinion was that the issue is not cut and dried. There are concerns, natural with any agricultural product produced for human consumption, but they avoid outright condemnation, citing the many products we are already consuming that use PGRs.

 

As I noted in the cheap weed thread, I have never heard of this issue until a few days ago.. And this after smoking weed for 55 years and being quite knowledgeable (IMO) about weed. This issue came up in a back and forth between 2 posters who obviously are quite familiar with the domestic US market. I understand that some dispensaries inform customers if PGRs were used in a particular strain they are selling. 

 

I'm guessing it's the fact that I have been living in Thailand for the last 20 years that explains why I'm just hearing about PGRs now. You can bet, and see with your own eyes, that the people producing the Brick weed I've been smoking here are not using them..

 

So it's going to be good that we discuss this issue. Synthetic versus natural etc. Apparently, as one poster noted, natural PGRs are available. Chitosan was mentioned, that don't raise the same concerns, even though the synthetic versions are in wide use in food agriculture already.

 

I'm ready to learn..

[LOWERCASEGUY]

1 hour ago, tomster said:

Glad you think consuming cancer causing weed is funny - personally I think it's a very serious issue and it has nothing to do with beer. Your beer analogy is not even comparing apples with apples, the beer here is controlled by very large corporations as you well know, not by small local brewers (although this is hopefully changing).

First off, I didn't say cancer causing weed is funny and I know you know that.  I was referring to the logic that only Cali weed can be PGR and that the only way to avoid PGR weed is to buy locally grown weed.  

 

Here, let me help you out a bit.  Not all Cali weed is PGR and not all Thai weed is free from PGR.

 

It's a very simple concept.  The entire premise of your post that we need to buy Thai weed to avoid PGR is fundamentally flawed. 

 

1 hour ago, tomster said:

You meet with a few growers then - you don't own a dispensary by any chance do you?

Man, that would really be good for your argument if your ad hominem attack that I was a dispensary owner, was accurate, 

 

Unfortunately (for you), I am not.  I am working with a group of Thai and foreign private equity investors and the reason I've met so many growers and dispensary owners is for investment purposes.  

 

I would actually benefit if everyone only bought Thai grown weed since I have no financial interests in Cali weed but do have financial interests in Thai weed.  

 

So, maybe, keep your speculation about me to yourself and just address the facts.

 

1 hour ago, tomster said:

Well part, but not all of that, is that PGR's are used to up yields. And of course the sheer scale (hectres) of grow ops in California combined with the fact that the shipping costs of cannabis are tiny per gram mean it's possible to bring in the weed at competitive prices. Also, in California you have very low humidity levels that makes growing there much easier than here, again lowering production costs as the humidity here is very hard to deal with outdoors.

Please show me the economics of how legal Cali weed, even sold at retail shops in the US, at an average price of around $15 per gram can still be more expensive than Thai weed at retail.  

 

California, IIRC, is a seed to sale state meaning that the state requires monitoring and verification of every seed all the way through growing and ultimately to the point of sale.  

 

Also, dispensary and grow startup costs are astronomical.  If you're looking to start a dispensary in California, you might as well not even begin thinking about it unless you have at least $2 million for licensing fees, securing a location (which you have to lease before you can even apply for a license), price gouging by landlords that rent to weed businesses (rents are usually double than for any other use), legal fees, and, ahem, "lobbying fees" (yes, many dispensaries have to pay 'legal' bribes to get their applications approved).  

 

Labor at every step of production and sale in California is magnitudes higher than Thailand.  

 

And land is much cheaper.  California is one of the most expensive real estate markets in the world.  That means the growers or land owners are pricing the cost of the land into their pricing models.  

 

Plus the state taxes at every step.  

 

And, the retail price includes the cost of lab testing the weed.  

 

Yet, you can walk into any dispensary in Cali and easily find $15 (570 baht) grams, all day long.  In Thailand, the average price, across all dispensaries is closer to about 650 baht (there are still plenty of shops with 900+ baht weed out there to drive up the average price - and places like Kana Pure are charging almost 3,000 baht a gram for Thai grown weed, LOL).

 

I just don't see the economics of how Thai weed is more expensive.  

 

It's cheaper to illegally import and it sells for cheaper retail even with the massive amount of overhead costs that are a fraction of the cost in Thailand (labor, land, etc).  

 

1 hour ago, tomster said:

Agreed as obviously these are the guys that have the capitol to go big straight of the gate - it was the same in the USA when the green rush started there. But there are now ten's of thousands of not so well off Thai's experimenting with trying to grow high quality weed.

And many of those tens of thousands of small growers are:  

 

1.  The most likely growers to use pesticides, PGR, and other bad growing techniques because they're unable to achieve economies of scale required to get prices down so they need to juice their returns/yields a bit.  

 

2.  The most likely to grow <deleted> outdoor weed which even you won't buy.  

 

1 hour ago, tomster said:

Agreed - which is why I don't buy outdoor weed here.

So, they're growing the outdoor weed you won't buy but we're supposed to reward Thai growers that grow indoor weed, who are primarily more affluent Thais?  

 

Do you see the error in your own logic?  

 

That is why I disagree with your entire premise in this post.  

 

Nobody deserves your business.  It should be earned.  

 

I don't care about Thai growers and Thai growers don't care about me.  How capitalism works is that if Thai growers want my business they will offer a quality product at a fair price.  

 

Your logic is that because of this fake PGR propaganda we should just pay whatever Thai growers are asking because, for some reason, it's important to support Thai growers who are already affluent.  

 

Maybe you'll now better understand my beer analogy.  

 

You made it clear that you don't think we should buy Chang because it's owned by a huge Thai conglomerate.  

 

Yet, you won't buy outdoor weed in Thailand which is most likely grown by small growers which means that you indirectly advocate buying weed from rich Thais.  

 

So, you have a standard of quality that many small Thai growers can't meet yet this is exactly who you imply is benefitting if we buy Thai grown weed.  

 

But, in actuality, the type of weed that you buy is much more likely to be grown by affluent Thais.  

 

How is that radically different from my beer analogy?  

 

And, you adding in the stuff about microbreweries is the part that irrelevant because microbrewery beer is not a commodity the way weed is.  

 

At the end of the day, the vast, vast, vast majority of consumers only look at two things when buying weed, price and THC level (all other factors being equal like sativa, indica, etc).  

 

If you show someone a gram of OG Kush grown by an expert grower and a gram of OG Kush grown by an amateur grower, 90%+ of consumers can't tell the difference and wouldn't pay a premium for the better grown OG Kush.  

 

Beer is very different.  Chang, Leo, and Singha all pretty much taste similar.  They are the commodity end of the market.  

 

Microbrews are specialty crafted and people seek them out.  Thailand could have a similar industry but they don't currently and probably won't for awhile as it will take awhile to create the right genetics to produce a unique taste or experience.  

 

I would love to see some local Thai strains that are world class.  But right now, most of what is local Thai strains is the low end of the market (brick weed, green crack, Thai Stick - which isn't even really Thai Stick since those genetics were probably lost during the drug war).  It's like if a brewery made PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon) and called it a microbrew.  

 

But as long as Thais are selling OG Kush, Train Wreck, Do Si Dos, Purple Punch, etc, it's a commodity.  And, like any commodity, the only thing that separates one Purple Punch from another is price.  

 

Buying good Thai weed is simply making the rich richer for no apparent reason.  

 

Bottom line is that nobody should be selling PGR weed.  If a dispensary carries PGR weed, locally grown or imported, they should be shut down (or denied your business).  

 

Once that anti-PGR propaganda is off the table for discussion, what are we really talking about?  Giving Thai growers a reward for being inefficient or greedy?  

 

It reminds me of a conversation I had with one grower that was selling 500k+ for a kg (which means most dispensaries would be marking it up to 800 - 1,000 per gram), I asked him how he justified the price and he told me he didn't have to justify it, it's what dispensaries were willing to pay.  

 

BTW, I buy most of my personal stuff from a Thai dispensary over a thousand km from me that buys from a large Thai grower.  Why?  Because he offers great product at a fair price (the average price of all the strains he sells is less than 400 baht a gram) and I've met the guy and like him.  

 

That's all I ask for in a seller/buyer relationship.  

 

I'm not saying, "Oh, go buy Cali weed".  I'm saying nobody deserves your business unless they earn it and earning it means not price gouging your customers because the market allows you to.  

 

 

[LOWERCASEGUY]

2 hours ago, tomster said:

It's here and it's not going away until the awareness is raised, as we did in the hydro industry when PGR products started appearing in 2004. It took about 2 years then nobody would use them, they were effectively killed by the consumers understanding what they are and their dangers.

Then why not just say that and not jump on the "Buy Thai Weed" train?  Thai weed can use PGR too.  I've seen PGR weed that was grown here.  

 

I think you're losing people when you mix PGR with buy local.  

 

Buying local is preferred but not when it costs 2x - 3x what imported non-PGR weed sells for.   

[tomster]

4 minutes ago, LOWERCASEGUY said:

Here, let me help you out a bit.  Not all Cali weed is PGR and not all Thai weed is free from PGR.

 

13 hours ago, tomster said:

Not all imported Cali weed is grown with PGR's.

The rest of your post is just ramblings to be honest, I really have no idea what you are talking about.

 

Anyways, all the best with your investments in the cannabis industry.

[DumbFalang]

2 hours ago, tomster said:

This thread is just meant to raise awareness of a potential problem - just by doing that the problem will likely resolve itself and is a win win for consumers and growers alike in Thailand.

I had never heard of PGR prior to reading this post, so I for one appreciate you starting this thread ????

[tomster]

3 minutes ago, DumbFalang said:

I had never heard of PGR prior to reading this post, so I for one appreciate you starting this thread ????

Exactly the point of my post - to raise awareness for people that didn't know about it.

 

I think maybe I overdid it a bit though - there is some very good import out there as well. ????

 

My point is that there is PGR weed out there also and as customers it's the right thing to do to push the sellers to make sure they are not buying the PGR stuff.

 

The good import costs roughly 200-300 Baht per gram which is about what most local growers not taking the biscuit are asking for top shelf locally grown weed (wholesale), so it has it place although as I stated above I think that it would be better if people bought local first.

 

However, much of the locally grown top shelf doesn't actually get you that stoned even though it looks and smells great. So very understandable people actively seeking out the Cali, just make sure you check with the seller first that it is PGR free. If it's rock hard that is often a sign it has PGR, plus a weird, heavy high.

[DumbFalang]

4 minutes ago, tomster said:

So very understandable people actively seeking out the Cali, just make sure you check with the seller first that it is PGR free.

Growers and sellers will both lie to you. As someone mentioned above, if you are serious about getting a 'clean' product then you need to build trust with the grower/seller.

[bobbin]

So far, so good.. This is how we are going to learn, when knowledgeable people discuss the pros and cons..

 

Given my recent awareness of PGRs, I have not formed a solid opinion yet. But reading about reduced THC levels does not fill me with confidence. If that is a problem that is not solvable by growers, then it makes my decision easier. I've already mentioned to one dispensary owner that I got to know, that I'm a bit confused by the fact that a lot of premium priced weed that I've bought is not getting me that whacked. I put it down to inexperienced growers, but 90% of the almost 20 different strains I've tried fell into this category, despite looking very good, with good bud density. Bud density has always been a quality marker for me, But now that's in question..

 

I already know that this is a divisive topic but please let's not attack each other. Educate us, even with bias, and let us learn enough to make reasonable decisions.

Keeping in mind that the experts are not of one mind on this.. so I'm reading. But i want to learn as much as possible, because it looks to me like we are talking about GMO weed..

[bobbin]

Additionally, I have always been natively suspicious of feminized seeds. I'm very definitely old-school on this. Cannabis is a 2 sex plant. Deal with it. Plant the best seeds you've got and get rid of the males asap. Then clone. No need for feminized seed. Almost by definition they are GMO weed.

[BritManToo]

2 hours ago, bobbin said:

Additionally, I have always been natively suspicious of feminized seeds. I'm very definitely old-school on this. Cannabis is a 2 sex plant. Deal with it. Plant the best seeds you've got and get rid of the males asap. Then clone. No need for feminized seed. Almost by definition they are GMO weed.

Disagree!

[bobbin]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Disagree!

Short. Sweet. Tells me nothing. Why bother? I've already stated that I'm here to learn..

 

The plant is hormone treated to produce 99% female seed.

 

What's your definition of GMO?

 

I'm here to learn. Teach.

[BritManToo]

18 minutes ago, bobbin said:

The plant is hormone treated to produce 99% female seed.

Clones are also hormone treated. 

[bobbin]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Clones are also hormone treated. 

Agreed, but the topic being PGRs, rooting hormones are targeted only on the ability to root. Feminized seeds are treated to only produce female seeds. I'm not yet ready to deal with such a fundamental modification.

 

And I'm pretty happy with my decision to stick to the original plant blueprint regarding sex. It does no good to engage in semantics like a plant treated with rooting hormones is the equivalent of a plant that has had it's sexual identity bio-hacked...

 

But I think the more we understand the better it is for us.

[marcusb]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Clones are also hormone treated. 

true, but friendly hormones. Most growers are using colloidal silver to get fems. Of course no one smokes the plant or section of the plant but it is pretty icky stuff. 

 

That said, I prefer fems.  As an indoor grower its easier to plan. 

 

Interesting thread, growing for myself I prefer airy buds compared to those rock hard nugs, much easier to roll. 

[bobbin]

I'm not willing to die on the GMO hill, even though I've used the phrase a couple of times. Perhaps GMO only refers to a plant that has had genes from another source spliced into it's genetic code.

 

PGRs seem to obstruct internal pathways or otherwise influence the plants own genetic code. If that is the case, maybe I'm more comfortable with the "bio-hacking" tag..

[fuehrio]

20 hours ago, bobbin said:

So far, so good.. This is how we are going to learn, when knowledgeable people discuss the pros and cons..

 

Given my recent awareness of PGRs, I have not formed a solid opinion yet. But reading about reduced THC levels does not fill me with confidence. If that is a problem that is not solvable by growers, then it makes my decision easier. I've already mentioned to one dispensary owner that I got to know, that I'm a bit confused by the fact that a lot of premium priced weed that I've bought is not getting me that whacked. I put it down to inexperienced growers, but 90% of the almost 20 different strains I've tried fell into this category, despite looking very good, with good bud density. Bud density has always been a quality marker for me, But now that's in question..

 

I already know that this is a divisive topic but please let's not attack each other. Educate us, even with bias, and let us learn enough to make reasonable decisions.

Keeping in mind that the experts are not of one mind on this.. so I'm reading. But i want to learn as much as possible, because it looks to me like we are talking about GMO weed..

Really a good thread, I didn't know about PGR before. Just bought something from a shop yesterday and asked them about PGR, however sales staff never heard about it as well, or pretended so. Still difficult to figure out as most buds I have seen 500B or above are very dense. But when I snapped it, the scent was quite great so I hope it's non PGR....

[stoner]

15 hours ago, bobbin said:

I'm not willing to die on the GMO hill, even though I've used the phrase a couple of times. Perhaps GMO only refers to a plant that has had genes from another source spliced into it's genetic code.

technically all hybrid strains would be classified as gmo ? 

[bobbin]

4 minutes ago, stoner said:

technically all hybrid strains would be classified as gmo ? 

According to my newly acquired knowledge, no.

 

Hybrids in the case of Cannabis refers to crossbreeding between the two sub-species, Sativa and Indica. Traditional cross-breeding, selecting for desirable traits.

 

WHO's definition of GMO..

 

"According to the World Health Organization (WHO), GMOs, i.e., genetically modified organisms can be defined as organisms (i.e. plants, animals or microorganisms) in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination."

[ChaiyaTH]

The picture is a little bit tricky as there are strains that can look like the PGR example, while they are not. 

Having said that, in the shop I visited in holland (oldest in it's city), they always were very careful picking the growers they bought from. To support them they also had a grow shop which provided organic plant supplement and boosters, that you would also stop using in the last 4-6 weeks and clean out with water only. 

I guess it is a matter of time before this becomes more widely available, in fact, I might call a friend to ask the brand name and see if we can get. Could be a little niche to sell here on Lazada and Shopee for my wife i guess. 

[ChaiyaTH]

On 11/1/2022 at 9:31 PM, tomster said:

Cali weed with PGR's looks and smokes good

The article you refer to actually says it can be noticed when either using it as a edible as well when smoking it. Personally I would not be tricked with dodgy weed. I think most longer-term smokers agree.

I know my stuff too well for this but that would be harder for a random local or tourist, who does it for the first time / only does it rarely. So actually health impacts should be nominal for the ones who get victim of this too, as they rarely smoke anyway.

 

As long Thailand leaves it possible to have many home growers, the diversity and quality should be fine and dodgy weed will never really get the over hand. However when they would criminalize things again, similar to holland, you will get the big growers dominate the market and they will use pesticides, don't care for taste much, sometimes even dry weed with heaters or microwaves.

 

I think we should be more concerned about the amount of pesticides in Thai food and drinking water, to be honest.

[tomster]

3 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

The article you refer to actually says it can be noticed when either using it as a edible as well when smoking it. Personally I would not be tricked with dodgy weed. I think most longer-term smokers agree.

I know my stuff too well for this but that would be harder for a random local or tourist, who does it for the first time / only does it rarely. So actually health impacts should be nominal for the ones who get victim of this too, as they rarely smoke anyway.

 

As long Thailand leaves it possible to have many home growers, the diversity and quality should be fine and dodgy weed will never really get the over hand. However when they would criminalize things again, similar to holland, you will get the big growers dominate the market and they will use pesticides, don't care for taste much, sometimes even dry weed with heaters or microwaves.

 

I think we should be more concerned about the amount of pesticides in Thai food and drinking water, to be honest.

I only wanted to get it on buyers radars - which this thread is achieving. ????

 

 

[Smithson]

I would have said the buds on the were outdoor, due to the leaf, while the othe was indoor. Most of what is sold in dispensaries looks and smells nice but isn't strong.

Once I thought everything here was sprayed, but living in a rural area I've found farmers are quite wary of pesticides because of the dangers applying it.

 

Cannabis is a strong plant with good resistance to bugs and diseases. A healthy organic grown plant should be fine, if it's not safe products like EM and wood vinegar can be used.

[oldscool]

A very interesting topic Tomster.

 

I'm very much old school myself and I like mj to look like mj not rock crystals. Not just that, but if I wanted something stronger than good outdoor landraces I'd try a different dr*g, not an intensive factory farmed hormone-enhanced tent grow.

 

But the real issue for me on the intensive factory farmed methods is the carbon footprint - here's one example of many articles on the topic:

 

https://ideas.ted.com/whats-the-carbon-footprint-of-cannabis-surprisingly-high/

 

"Yet most people aren’t paying much attention to the environmental impacts of the cannabis industry. In Colorado, for example, the weed industry accounts for 1.3 percent of the state’s total annual carbon emissions, according to the state’s Department of Public Health and Environment. This is similar to emissions from coal mining and trash collection for the entire state.

Currently, there is little to no regulation on emissions for growing cannabis indoors, and as the industry continues to expand rapidly, it’s important to consider how it’s affecting our planet’s health."

 

Us oldschoolers used to be pretty attentive to such concerns, still are of course, but the ethos of many of the newer generation of enthusiasts seems to be very much narrower.

[Smithson]

I think eventually indoor set ups won't be profitable. Even greenhouse growers are struggling in the US. O can't see much of a future for the cannabis industry. Why go to the dispensary when could go to your next door neighbor?