 | NORML News: Pauly Paul's Amsterdam Chronicles Pt.1 |
 NORML NEWS SUMMER 2008. BY PAULY PAUL.
Amsterdam, mecca to ganga worshippers, world capital of sin and
the crossroads of Europe. Many avid followers of marijuana culture
will make the pilgrimage to the Dam, and I am no exception. It did not
disappoint. In fact it far exceeded expectations!
We stepped of the shuttle from Eindhoven
airport at 1am and I was instantly struck by
the sheer amount of people still out, and all
different types too. It’s the sort of thing you
can never grasp in New Zealand with our
population of 4 million or so. In Holland there are 16.5 million people
in a country 6 times smaller - how’s that
for population mass! Now we weren’t
there to just lose ourselves in a cloud of
smoke. We had a mission, several in fact.
The first mission was to interview a couple
of kiwis that are currently sitting on top of
the whole marijuana growing game here
in Amsterdam. That’s right folks, in the
ganga capital of Europe, New Zealand is the
current title holders of the prestigious High
Times Cannabis Cup.
We had orders from the boss to smoke
ourselves into a stupor, so first port of call
was hooking up with our host and hitting
the town. Dave from Kiwiseeds took us
straight to the red light district where we
were staying, introduced us to the mainly
Kiwi crew that they have and voila, a
stupor was quickly achieved. These boys
really know how to party, and showed us
an awesome time, for which I can’t thank
them enough. It was real nice to kick it with
some kiwis after two months of hopping
around Europe.
The red light district is a real
eye opener, with open windows displaying
scantily clad females of all varieties - and
they actually have real red lights above all the windows! Sex shops are everywhere, with inebriated tourists and locals milling about, and
the righteous smell of high grade everywhere.
It’s a sinners paradise and truly a spectacle
not to be missed. So after several days
of experiencing the wonders of this adult
playground, we locked in the interview with
Tim, the driving force behind Kiwiseeds, at
a lovely seaside cafe just out of the Dam’.
Pauly: So Tim, give me a bit of a breakdown
of how you came to Amsterdam from New
Zealand.
Tim: Well my brother and I grew up in
Whangarei and there we were mainly
involved in the cannabis trade because its
the only trade that was worth anything
when we were kids, and we were
also involved in the family business
of horticulture. Then when we were
teenagers we moved to the Hawkes
Bay and realised that there was a
market bringing things down from
the north to the Bay. So we ended
up making some deals with the local
gangsters to bring down kilos of
marijuana from Whangarei...
Whoa wait a minute, can we
publish this stuff? Ok we’ll censor it
according to our laws dude, continue...
Haha! Anyway we were getting in so much
trouble at home that we decided to head
off to Europe. Fortunately our parents were
born in England so we came back and stayed in London for a year and then
was visiting for a weekend in
Amsterdam and had always
thought it was nice but never
thought we’d have a chance.
But a chance came up and we
took it and have been here ever
since.
Nice, there’s been a bit of
a process from getting to
Amsterdam to where you are
now as well, I mean things
have been changing a lot for
you guys, especially of late
right?
Yeah for sure. Our story
in Amsterdam started off
doing menial jobs in the hotel
industry, but still always
interested in the cannabis
scene, very much still a grower
for the whole time, and by
that stage using genetics that we’d brought from
New Zealand and crossing them with plants from
Holland, and trying to stabilise things that we
thought captured the taste of the Kiwi bush weed
with the indoor strains from here. So one thing led
to another and we started Kiwiseeds. The owner of
the Dampkring coffeeshop was very interested and
we joined together and started the growshop and
the Kiwiseeds thing has really launched it into the
public eye.
On that note the boys have been really
cleaning up over here with a
couple of their new strains, could
you give me a brief breakdown of
the competitions that you’ve won
so far?
OK the first and probably best
win we’ll ever have is the High
Times Sativa Cup, a competition
held every year in Amsterdam. We
were very pleased to come away
with what’s recognised between
growers and breeders as the best
cup at that particular festival. So
we did really well and its had a
snowball effect. We’ve entered
Mako Haze in other competitions,
and it is still now a year later more
popular than ever.
Which leads nicely into the next
question, how was Mako Haze
produced?
We had a plant in the north
that we grew very successfully
that every year would produce
consistently top quality, sticky,
golden nuggets, which is what we
were after in those days. So we named this plant
‘Mako’, and when we came to Holland we decided
to bring it over. We brought it over as a clone and
here we crossed it with the Haze and the crossing
was just perfect. It became a very manageable
plant, not super tall, huge yield and its got that
lovely taste, and so that was the Mako Haze.
Yep, it definitely has a lovely taste, it was
meant to be... Do you think New Zealand weed
is better than Dutch weed? Could that be why
your strain came through so strong?
Holland doesn’t have an outdoor climate,
and I think we always had a really good
outdoor growing scene. We were lucky that
we were in the right place at the right time
in Holland where for the last 15 years or so
they have been developing a lot of indica
strains under lights that were fast flowering,
and very crystally, but bred for thousands of
years for hash making, not smoking. But the
thing was this weed tasted like rubbish so
it was only a matter of time before people
started looking back to the old sativa strains
and realising they were the best genetics
when it came to good tasting marijuana and there was a scramble to get back all these old genetics
from the days of old. When we started up Kiwiseeds we developed the perfect mix with a good yield but with the quality taste of the sativa and kiwi bush weed, with a much longer high and a nicer taste, obviously made for smoking.
Can you give me a brief breakdown
of the laws in regards to growing and
distributing in the Dam’?
Well these laws apply to the whole of
Holland. Even though it seems all free
when you come here, its actually illegal to
grow on a commercial scale like we do. It
is however the second biggest commercial
crop in Holland, right behind cheese. The
industry is huge, for tourists as well as a lot
of marijuana that is grown is
exported to Germany, France,
and the UK. The government
on one hand really likes the
money, so they just really
want a way to tax it. The
coffeeshops were a nice idea
to give the stoners somewhere
to go. But the other side to that
idea is that by putting a licence
on the shop then they can make
their money on it
through taxes, as
well as keeping an
eye on the youth
on the steets.
The problem is
that its all legal
from that side of
it, but the backdoor as we call
it is illegal, so there’s no way
for the marijuana to get to the
coffeeshops, because no one is
allowed to carry more than 5
grams of marijuana on them at
any time, and it is not legal to grow under
lights. When the system asks where it came
from, the answer is ‘I don’t know’. That’s
the hypocrisy of the system.
You can have up to 5 grams on you at
any time, you can have no more than a
kilo behind the counter at any coffeeshop,
and you can smoke anywhere in Holland
without arrest. The government tolerates
the coffeeshops even though there is no
legal way of the ganga to get there, which
is known as the grey area. But there is no
greenhouses pumping out hundred’s of kilos
of marijuana, that is a myth.
We’re looking for some serious
competition for the reigning 3 times NZ
champion Te Kakariki, any possibility
you’ll step up to the plate and slap down
the gauntlet?
Well I’m not sure if I’ll be allowed back
with the past I have! Haha if a way could
be found to enter the cup in New Zealand
though I would consider it an honour, I’m
not sure when its held?
Late may, on a boat...
Haha, you guys paranoid over there or
something?
No, its a lovely 7 hour boat cruise
through the harbour...
It sounds fantastic and I would be more
than proud to come compete in the New
Zealand Cannabis Cup, I don’t know about
this year but maybe next year
I could be up for it.
Te Kakariki vs Mako Haze!
Sounds like a showdown.
Yeah its like the Godzilla vs Mothra of the weed world!
Haha, we’ll see how we go, we’ve got the cannabis cup this year and maybe we’ll bring whatever we win with this time, test it out on you fulla’s...
Which sounds like a definite possibility to me. Cheers Tim, appreciate you taking the time mate.
No wuckers mate.
So that’s the current world Cannabis Cup
champ and you couldn’t meet a nicer guy, doing us Kiwis proud on the international
circuit. Thanks also to Dave, Dave, Rob and
Danny for the great time, see you guys again
soon.
Kiwiseeds have picked up a
few prizes along the way,
including:
 MAKO HAZE:
1st prize - best sativa - High Times Cannabis
Cup 2006;
3rd prize Seed Company Bio - High Life Cup
2007;
3rd prize - IC magazine 420 - Amsterdam 2007.
ALEGRIA:
1st prize - best biological weed - Highlife Cup
2007;
3rd prize - IC magazine 420 - Amsterdam 2007
SOUTH STAR:
3rd prize - best bio outdoor weed - Spannabiz
Barcelona 2007
More info: see kiwiseeds.com and cannabiscup.com
Coming up next issue: In part 2, Pauly talks to Mila at
the Pollinator Company and Adam at T.H.Seeds.
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