A Networked And Interconnected World
Owsley Stanley, who produced more LSD than any other human, participated in alt.drugs discussions, as did Bob Wallace, Microsoft's ninth employee and Barry Smith, founder of bluesky.com. Other subgroups like alt.drugs.psychedelics and alt.drugs.chemistry were formed, going through the standard Usenet RFD (request for discussion) process. Then a new group appeared called alt.drugs.pot.cultivation and it didn't go through the RFD process. The word "pot" didn't mean a thing to anyone outside the U.S. and Usenet was very much of an international forum, so the name sucked. I digress
The alt.drugs.pot.cultivation (adpc) newsgroup became an international forum for sharing info, uniting people in BC with those in the NL, with those in GB, with those in OZ, with those in the US. For the first time in history, people from all over the world were sharing their knowledge of growing and developing cannabis. That's not all they were sharing. A participant by the anonymous name (nym) of Jock lived in Amsterdam and was willing to send seeds to the U.S., something no NL based seed bank was willing to do. Quality seeds were available in BC but everyone knew the best seeds came from the NL. With Jock, it wasn't like ordering online is now; you sent cash and waited, and waited, and waited. You gave him preferences and he tried his best but you pretty much had to take what he sent. My only requirement is that the seeds come from Sensi. I wanted Hashplant but got Jack Herrer.
Another invaluable resource in the late 90's was the website of the British Columbia Growers Association. Someone by the nym of Vic High established a website to bring together local people who were interested in growing, cultivating and developing cannabis. It didn't stay local for long. Soon people found out about it via adpc and fantastic information, as well as seeds, were doing the cross border shuffle. This of course drew the attention of law enforcement organizations (LEO) and soon they were sniffing around trying to identify who was doing what and where they were doing it. Lots of BC busts starting filtering down to the U.S. about the time overgrow, cannabisworld and other sites began gaining momentum.
In 1999, my wife (met the love of my life after the divorce) and I decide to take a cruise to Alaska. I had heard about a place called the Blunt Brothers from the BCGA forum, so I made plans to visit. I walked into the store, lurked around for a while then went up to the counter and asked if he'd seen Vic High around. He gave me a wft look but someone else asked how I knew Vic. I told them via the BCGA site and I was hoping he could hook me up with some BC bud I'd heard so much about. The guy gave me a skeptical look, so I said, "Look, I didn't want to be the first dumbass American to get caught smuggling buds _into_ BC, so I didn't bring any of my own." He started laughing and told me where to go.
A couple of streets down, I go into a basement area of a store, ask "What do you have for sale?" and the guy uncovers a display area with different kinds of buds and hash. Holy fucking moly! I'll take some Skunk, a couple of grams of hash and what was my second choice from Jock, Northern Lights. After we get onboard, my wife and I completely agree, the Skunk smells better but the Northern Lights _is_ better. Both of them are better than the hash, what a supreme disappointment. Tasted like it did in high school but didn't have the same effect. Buds better than hash, imagine that.
After we got back, I began to research everything I could find about Northern Lights. Now in 1999, that wasn't real easy. The only thing I trusted about High Times was the photography but there seemed to be a lot of Cannabis Cup winners in Northern Lights history. I was convinced Sensi was the best seed bank and when I discovered Nevil sold his interest to Ben when he had to bail, I knew what I had to do.
I was going to get Northern Lights seeds from Sensi Seeds.
