Interview: Tim Blake on the New Rules of Cannabis
The founder of The Emerald Cup discusses the legalization of Cannabis and how it will play a major role in our daily lives.
November 29, 2016 | Source: Magnetic Magazine | by Saxe Coulson
Tim Blake is the producer of The Emerald Cup – the world’s largest organic, outdoor cannabis competition. The Emerald Cup started out as a small event and competition for local farmers and has now grown into an event that attracts well over twenty thousand people and has over 700 entries.
He went from growing his first outdoor plant in 1975 to co-founding Healing Harvest Farms and multiple product cannabis product companies under the name, Emerald Cup products. He is also the founder of California Cannabis Policy Reform and The Mendocino Cannabis Policy Council and published a book entitled “The Cannabis Crusader”.
His personal goal is to help the world integrate cannabis, spirituality, organic food, and living into a holistic lifestyle. His dispensary, Healing Harvest Farms is located on an old campground he purchased in 1998 in which he coined “Area 101” that first served as a spiritual sanctuary and event center for all faiths. Tim has owned property in Northern California since the late seventies and has lived there since 1992. He has become an expert in the growth, cultivation, and innovation of the cannabis industry.
Magnetic Mag spoke with Tim on the recent approval of legalization of recreational marijuana in 4 states including California as well as the future of the cannabis industry.
In 2016, cannabis is now legalized for recreational use in 8 states and medicinal use in 26 states. Some growers and activists have shown opposition to Proposition 64 that was just passed in California recently. Can you explain why some would be opposed to what seems like a move in the right direction?
Fear. The small farmers and the people who have been doing this out here all these years fear the products they make are going to be taken over by the big boys and there is a legitimate reason to feel that way. But at the end of the day you have to move forward and end criminalization. I’m already hearing about all the cases being dropped in the courts and expunged everywhere. People will be able to turn back their felonies and be reintegrated into society – things are going keep being pushed forward. Patients are going to get better and have cheaper access to medicine – products are going to be regulated, tested, and made really clean.
Farmers who have been cultivating marijuana since 1964 are going to be able to come out and pay taxes and be part of the real world. They do want to pay taxes and they do want to be part of the real world and they feel like black sheep. For those reasons, there is no way you can go against it – it’s just time to move forward.