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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Homegrown Gourmet Pot on the rise in Mexico

Lucio R. Borderland Beat-Republished from AP by  Peter Orsi with Alberto Arce

 AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo In this March 3, 2015 photo, Homero Fernandez warms a pipe with one hand as he holds in the other a small amount of marijuana which he'll introduce into the heated tube and cover.

Once upon a time, Mexican marijuana was the gold standard for U.S. pot smokers. But in the new world of legal markets and gourmet weed, aficionados here are looking to the United States and Europe for the good stuff.

Instead of Acapulco Gold, Mexican smokers want strains like Liberty Haze and Moby Dick — either importing high-potency boutique pot from the United States, or growing it here in secret gardens that use techniques perfected abroad.

It's a small but growing market in a country where marijuana is largely illegal, unlike the U.S. states of Colorado and Washington that have legalized recreational use, and others where medicinal pot is available.

A text message will bring a Mexico City dealer to the customer's doorstep with a menu of high-end buds for sale at the swipe of a credit card through a smartphone reader. Hydroponic shops have sprung up that supply equipment to those who want to cultivate potent strains in sophisticated home-grown operations. Some even are setting up pot cooperatives to share costs like high electrical bills and swap what they grow with each other.

"I know people who are architects, executives, lawyers ... who went to the United States or Europe," said Antoine Robbe, the 35-year-old, French-born proprietor of Hydrocultivos, one of the shops. They say, "'Man, why don't we have this in my country?'"

So far, reports of U.S.-grown marijuana making its way south have been only anecdotal but enough to raise concern, according to Alejandro Mohar, a Mexican physician and member of the U.N. International Narcotics Control Board.

A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official told NPR in December that Mexican cartel operatives were smuggling in high-end U.S. marijuana to sell to wealthy customers, though there's no sign so far of a massive southward trade. The DEA declined to comment further in response to a request from the AP.


In Mexico City, several people said they have seen freezer-size bags of marijuana here labeled as being for medicinal use in Los Angeles.


Mexico allows people to carry up to 5 grams of pot for personal use but bans sale and growing. Historically, there has been little social tolerance for pot use, with "marijuanos" stigmatized as slackers or supporters of the deadly drug trade.

Mexico growers say their home-cultivation phenomenon is removed from the grisly narco-wars that have wracked the country. In fact, growing and swapping among themselves, they contend, allows them to avoid supporting the cartels.

"I'm not a narco, dude. I just like to smoke," said Daniel, a goateed 32-year-old living in the bohemian Roma neighborhood. He spoke on condition that his last name not be used because, he said, his home-grow operation is "super-illegal" despite being for personal use only.

Mexican law provides for prison sentences of up to 25 years for people convicted of producing, trafficking or selling drugs.

Home growers say they are forming cooperatives to share the costs of the indoor-gardening gear and high electric bills and swap harvests with each other, many building their club model with skills first imported by foreigners.

Last year, Homero Fernandez, a 29-year-old event promoter, teamed up with about a dozen people to form a pot club, each paying about $200 to buy a hydroponic grow kit now tended to by one of the members.

Today the club has about 50 to 60 plants that produce enough sativa buds to satisfy the members, some of them heavy smokers, who are able to purchase an ounce of high-end pot for between $95 and $130, less than half of what they'd pay a dealer.

The end result is pot with around 15 to 20 percent THC, the high-generating component of marijuana, compared to 3 to 8 percent in the Mexican "brick weed" more commonly sold here and north of the border. Some people are also producing concentrates with 60 to 99.6 percent THC, the strongest of which are too powerful to be smoked in a pipe or joint.

"It comes out much cheaper than paying for even regular pot ... and the quality is much higher," said Fernandez, who wore his Ray-Ban shades indoors and sported a white T-shirt emblazoned with the letters "THC." ''What gets produced is exclusively for us. Nothing more, and it doesn't get sold outside" the club.

The market for gourmet weed is still minuscule next to the multibillion-dollar marijuana export trade dominated by the cartels. According to DEA statistics, seizures along the border last year accounted for more than 2.2 million pounds (1 million kilograms) of pot.

The hydroponic shops don't sell seeds or pot and thus stay on the right side of the law. Like others, Daniel ordered seeds online from a company in Spain, opting for a U.K-originated strain known as Exodus Cheese. The precious cargo arrived by mail nine days later in envelopes resembling teabags inside a tiny, discreetly labeled tin.

Just as seeds increasingly are crossing borders, Fernandez said, wider acceptance abroad is reshaping attitudes in Mexico.

"The United States, with this boom of regularization and this boom of legal marijuana, all that arrives here and has an impact on cannabis culture."

52 comments:

  1. 50 shades of pink rainbow grifa operation...
    --Far are the days when two young friends of mine were caught sleeping in a bag after smoking their grifa and were sent to prison for two years...
    --the police found a few grifa seeds on them,

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    1. 50 shades of marihuana aka cannabis aka indica. sativa. hybrid. ... arriva la cannabis putos!!!

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  2. Legal pot is the best

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    1. hope it works for u Cartels cannot be wrong

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  3. I was popped with shatter, bud and a vape pen last month while on vacation in Michoacan. The stupid Fuerzas wanted to screw me over for Chiva and sayin I sold. Had to school them on it. After a fee my boy and I were let go. I'm sure they smoked it because one of the fuerzas the next day told us "you should of smoked me out with it. It smelled so good." They never seen the GSC before. Lol. But now a few of them got nice genetics now .

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    1. Yeah man I was at a party out in mx n some people from Veracruz had some nasty pata...put those boys on some Gsc, cherry pie and 415 daaaam did I rock there world! Not to mention the pineapple chunk crumbled I smoked them out the day after haha.. Them Bay Area boys don't play when it comes to POWER

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    2. Hahahaha...I just had a nice bowl of GSC. Hands down one of the loudest strains out there

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    3. Bullshit, you don't school no fuerzas or police in mexico, you pay cash or you die, on occasion you die anyway, or get out from jail walking funny, but. What. Do. We. Know. Right?

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    4. Its because of you pot head assholes that the 43 students are missing and everyone in mexico has a deathwish. Maybe if your life didnt depend on weed and you quit that shit after highschool the cartel world wouldnt be feeding your addiction and slaying everyone competing to fuel your addiction.

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  4. The best of the best-selling is still in Northern California. They are harvesting outdoor strains with 30% thc. The European s are not there yet,Canada is wack,and Colorado is catching up because some growers from California sell to them. Just because you have a hydroponic set up does not mean you have the best. You need the right clone or seedlings, correct lighting for different periods, 10 plus nutrients, water schedule,ect. If you are lucky to grow Kush, The n you have to harvest @ it's peak. Too soon and you get panic attacks, too late you get couch lock. After that you have to manicure it,no leaves only buds.Then you have to cure it for at least 3 months. Also different strains required different techniques. Los Angeles is the second place in the world...

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    1. Cash buys people that grow that in california i my self have seen cali growers in texas bringing them skills mexicans put them to teach there guys and bag we got mexican dro cheaper than in CA and CO la raza is always a step ahead belive me when i tell u this game is gona change in mexico when they start shipping that dro to the fuck im high

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    2. Never heard of a strain that is 30% Thc, the highest ones I've heard of is 25%. Must be a new strain or something. Amsterdam is 1st place they are the kings of cannabis... L.A. is last after Oakland and others... Lol

      But you are right about the science behind it. Most ppl think that growing medicinal marihuana is as easy as 1. 2. 3. but the fact is there are lots of steps growers need to follow to create some good stuff. What strain of kush needs 3 months for the curing process?

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    3. That's what ppl don't get!! I know a lot of ppl growing. Its funny with some cuz the left the plants to flower way to long in let it fill in but the end result they got good looking weed but didn't get u high. Most ppl other than good growers don't realizes that u have to pick the buds at the perfect time. Too early ur thc hasn't matured enough n pick too late n ur thc levels will have dropped

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    4. The emerald triangle northern cali

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    5. 707 emerald triangle

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    6. Oregon and Washington kicks Cali ass now. Get with the game. I'm from Cali and know this. Bud from Seattle portland cascades in general be sold in LA and that's going thru "northern Cali". I zzzzzzzZZ at your statement.

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    7. Smoke that moon rocks

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    8. I got Gorrilla Glue #4 on 12/12. It's testing at 31.9% thc. Smells super kushy. I seen Chiquita Bannana go up to 33.8%.

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    9. True connoisseurs know great kind buds! Most growers want their product out as soon as possible and they do quick drying techniques. . Great buds are grown outdoors organically without any herbicide and pesticide. Ask anybody that knows how to grow and 99% of the time they will pick outdoor vs indoor. The sun, natural humidity and organic fertilizers make the buds taste better. There is no rush with nature. Sure you can grow indoor from clone to finish product in 10 weeks, and they look really tight and manicured. The outdoor is planted in early March and harvested in October- takes a lot of work and patience. Sure you can smoke it in a couple of weeks, but a true cure takes months. You have to burp the jars to prevent mold for 4 weeks. After the humidity is 60%, you can just burp it once a week. The longer the cure, the less harsh the smoke and their terpenes come out, like a fine wine. A 3 month cure is perfect. Try it; the proof is in the beholder. As for 30% TCH, it’s a Master Yoda cut crossed with Monster cookies. Don’t hate, Just Congratulate- Deuces.

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    10. @ 12:26 True. nothing can't compare with Nature.

      But just because of that doesn't make you a Master yoda... look at 11:23 with its Gorilla Glue, Chiquita Banana hiting the 31.9%, 33.8% Htc supposedly... 'obviously' some gorillas on here know "alot" the higher the Thc the better right???? .... Lol

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  5. I have been watching friends use this stuff for 40 plus years. They have no ambition, scared all the time, and loss of memory. I am not judging them,. Just something I wanted to share. Hey, maybe it does not effect other people the same. I am not a doctor. I am a job were they drug test,

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    1. I also noticed a change in people. I do not want my kids smoking

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    2. Children of grifa smokers usually pay for their "parents" vice, some are geniuses, but not the majority, not by any means...
      --Also, many yerberos and other drug merchantzz, conquer their women with drugs, or invite them over to smoke a joint to get in their panties, this kind of Don Juan makes me puke to be frank, but stupid should come with a warning...

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  6. Gourmet weed? if i smoke it it makes me a fancy person. I guess i got to quit smoking cheap weed .

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    1. fancy may make u rich

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    2. 6:10 most often fancy makes you a bitch in prison, then you walk funny and can't find a job unless sinking deeper on your knees, have fun

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  7. We used to run hundreds of keys of great outdoor from mascota to Mexico df to supply Mexico city. Leftist liberals doing drugs in Mexico city? No mames

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    1. Mascota Jalisco? I just passed theu there on my way back to GDL from puerto Vallarta. Looked pretty dead to me.

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    2. It's a closed community, the growers are further up in the hills. 60 dollars a kilo and you can sell them for 200 in mexico df, during the season we had a farmer who grew great outdoor, no seeds. It's run by cjng mostly but with our grower they were "independent" sort of Jajaja. Good times though, take the bus from vallarta to Mexico City, 11 hours. Drop off 10-25 kilos and then go look at Diego riveras amazing art work. Those were good times. But our boss got arrested with an Ak 47 and 200 kilos of mota. He would've got off if he didn't have the AK. Now he is in puente grande, and they may review his case in 3-5 years. If you are not well connected in Mexico you will do time regardless mas o menos of the severity of the crime

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  8. Canada is wack lol. Maybe for outdoor growing Canada's climate isn't exactly Cali, but people getting their outdoor game fine tuned in Canada despite the weather they have to work with. Also Canada got mad indoor, that's definitely way better than any of the indoor you guys got. You really must not speak when you have no clue of what your talking about.

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    1. Yea you Canadians might have a better time keeping your indoor gardens cold but don't talk shit about NorCal indoor. We got it down for decades

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    2. Canada can keep its m39 strain shits weak maybe 15 years ago canada had better pot but now its the US for sure

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  9. Im almost 29 years old and i have never smoked weed in my life ever but i have abused a much worst drug called beer aka donkys pee

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  10. To all the haters out there,once again Northern California is still the King of it all. Who do you think is better? Hippies started to cross breed kush with Acapulco gold and Columbia red back in the 60s. They have mastered the gegenetics and growing techniques. it takes years to create and once they master it ,they keep the recipe. Amsterdam is wack because they sell over priced strains that are over 20 years old. Whites widow was the shit In the 90s. Canada has the bc rider, 10 years ago. Nobody can compete with California. Currently in Los Angeles,there are 1;000 plus dispensary. Who supplies them.? Amsterdam,Canada,Mexico,hell no..The good supplies are still hippies from Northern California.The wack dispensary are supplied by locals I in L.a county. If you don't know,you never Will. Also,there is no such thing as Medical Marijuana. If you smoke it,you messing upon your lungs.If you eat it or vape it,you build upon a tolerance. If you have a terminal deasease by Allen means do it. The only medical about is the price. Cbd is be it research foundation pain,but marihuana has 400 plus chemicals,plus cancer causing herbicide and pesticides.Wax is making people dumb and slow. If you do it,grow your own organic. I'm not a doctor,but I play one on Tv.

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  11. This is soooo 10-15 years ago... for some of us at least.

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  12. I got my med card in michigan and we get strains that test 25%-26%....results are still on the site. A lot of people sleep on michigan....we got a lot of dispensaries poppin up in detroit and it's amazing. all the suburban ones get shut down though.

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    1. And im suppose to be impressed?

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  13. and amsterdamn is highly overrated from what I hear....the united states is growing the best in the world...hands down without question.

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  14. as a former med grower and current smoker from nor cal now living and surfing the fine waves of Mex I can safely say that Ive smoked killer Bud grown every where from Afghanistan to the mountains of AZ .BC to columbia to the stuff grown locally. the trick is in the harvest and curing.. personally I prefer Out door my self a good sativa indica hybrid works for me. the other day some one dropped off some purple cush for me to enjoy it was as good as any thing grown back home... the problem around here is the cartels are coming down on the growers charging piso so every thing is very low key. but there is and has been good bud and hash around ,any where there's gringos there's usually good bud around...

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    1. The good news is you are all going to hell pinchis mariguanos, and instead of burning las patas del chamuco you will be smoking the devil's tail out of his ass.

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    2. Este guey. Like one of the 10 cammandments is "You won't some weed" GTFO

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    3. Caman, repent, it's easy,, you can easily even fake it...

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    4. 11:20 The first says you shall have no other lord, then there is the shall not covet thy neighbor's...you'll find out, you pinchi mariguano you...

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    5. That purple kush might be barney's caca, or raisin...

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    6. No wonder ISIS is fed up with you jackasses. You guys think that not having weed is a freakin crisis when theres people being kdinapped,extortioned, raped, killed, starving, etc.. Oh wait wait i might be violating your political rights duuudddeee

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  15. My friends and I always talked, who are the users who start with weed and stay with weed? Kodos to them, weed is not harmless but it is the least harmful of all drugs. Finally the world and the Americans have come to their senses. And maybe in 10-15 years los gringos will take a look at decriminalizing all drugs. Treatment for a disease instead of jail time! It worked in Portugal, Switzerland and Amsterdam. I'm aware that all 3 countries have not legalized it all completely but they have set up programs for users and the stats show a drop in drug use. People use drugs for a reason usually, a bad experience in life, and or family issues. Treat the patients don't jail them!

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    1. There is medicinal marihuana without THC...
      --why would somebody perfectly sane need medicinal mariguana loaded with 30% thc and get a medical card, is beyond me, unless it is all a scam for the benefit of make money republic of stupid cocksuckers mariguana traffickers, and that is before they even get their first toke!!!

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  16. Kind of weird the cartels are not into selling medical grade weed already. Everbody I know that smokes weed smoke medical weed. Who are they selling their cartel weed to anyway? Los Morenos?

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  17. the very best is grown in field some where in peru in small town called nazka smoked the s American way.half a small smoke. heaven.you could sit in shit and smile.
    el nazka

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    1. And you think doing that shit everyday is gonna accomplish things in your life. Having sex is better than weed.

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  18. Todos los mariguanillos son jotos

    ReplyDelete

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