The New Day of Medical Cannabis Cultivation By skunk X dawg

I have seen the future and it is in an industrial park somewhere on the outskirts of North Boulder. There you will find Bagi Mechanicals which is in a sprawling building which is a labyrinth of cannabis growing rooms. This humble journalist must confess it is by far the largest scale cannabis cultivation that he's ever beheld. The cannabis grow rooms in this sprawling industrial park campus supply about 10 Boulder County dispensaries, and until it's recent demise, the Grateful Meds dispensary was also supplied from here. The campus employs dozen of people, many of whom are Nederland residents. As I walked amidst this fragrant, flowering beauty I couldn't help but to be ferklempted thinking of all the hippies who died in prison with their faces in the mud so this day could be. And yet, I walked, in awe, amidst these varied and most spectacular strains of cannabis. Among the strains that are grown are OG Kush, Tangerine Dream, Ghost Train Haze, Golden Goat, Durbin Poison, Primus, Strawberry Limonaid, Buba Kush, 303 Kush, Ski Patrol, L.A. Confidential, Lemon Sweet Skunk, Romulan Kush, Jah Kush, Grape Ape, Shaman, Head Band, Bruce Banner, Cindy 99, N.Y. Diesel, Cheese Quake, and Connie Chung. The recently enacted law regulating dispensaries, 1284, changed everything, says master grower, Chris, of Nederland. In the immediate aftermath of the Ogden Memo during the summer of 2009 the first dispensaries were being supplied with the best of the locally available cannabis, he said. The first Colorado dispensaries could pick and choose the best that was available to them. Then 1284 became the law which required dispensaries to grow 70 per cent of their cannabis. Many of the dispensaries just couldn't do it right, says Chris. Many of these small grows failed. The dispensaries are now transferring their grows to establishments like this one, he said. These facilities can grow the 70 percent of the cannabis that dispensaries are required to make arrangements for the growing of, and also the 30 percent they can buy wholesale from outside sources. Among the local dispensaries that have transfered their cannabis cultivation to this facility are the two Green Trees (one on 55th Street in Boulder, the other in Longmont) and People's Choice in Boulder. A lot of cannabis is being grown, said Grower Erin. And yet if you grow bud that is the highest quality, most highly medicinal in the relief of pain, that has the beautiful taste and fragance that is possible with pure organically grown cannabis - they will come, he said. In this new world of cannabis it's all about the genetics, said Chris. It's about having the strains that not only have high levels of THC but also the strains that have the other molecules that have the most powerful, beneficial medicinal effects, the CBD's, the CBN's, the Turpins. Strains are grown here that have as much as 30 percent THC and as much as 6% CBD's and 6% CBN's. It's about having the most potent, strong, vigorous, and vibrant plants, he said. The facility also makes concentrates, and salves. In November Colorado voters will be able to decide on whether cannabis should be regulated in the same way that alcohol is presently regulated. If approved by Colorado voters, the law will allow for the cannabis equivalent of bars and liquor stores. "If this law is passed we'll crush it," said Chris. "We are already planing the construction of large green houses," he said. "We'll be able to hire a lot more people, many from Nederland," he said. Facilities such as this one could meet the demand of the cannabis stores and coffee houses that could be the post-medicinal-cannabis-reality if Colorado voters choose this new paradigm in November, he said. "This job is a living dream," said Chris. "Five years ago who would ever have thought this would be possible," he said. "Who knows what things will be possible in another five years?"