Cannabis Cup 2012 San Francisco in Richmond CA

Yellow Short Bus from BART to Craneway Pavilion

Arriving at the Craneway Pavilion

San Francisco Skyline from Craneway Pavilion - Richmond, CA

Patients Panel

Medication Area Wirstband

Inside the Prop 215 Patient Area

Hills Farmacy Strains on Display

Steve DeAngelo of Harborside Talking with Patients

Harborside Hash Bar

Henry Hemp Entertaining the Masses

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We finally made it to a High Times Cannabis Cup this year!

The weather was beautiful in that Bay Area kind-of-way, 62 degrees, warm sunshine and a crisp breeze (which feels like natural air conditioning coming off of 6,000 miles of Pacific Ocean).  Everyone in our group was a qualified California Proposition 215 patient and we each brought our medication along for the festivities, so no one was willing to drive.  So onto the BART we went… two trains, one transfer and a handful of stops later and we arrived in Richmond.  Between the HT Cup and the Gay Pride Parade there was no shortage of commuting entertainment!  Climbing out of the BART station, we thought we might catch a taxi to get to the Craneway Pavilion, then looking around at the multiple bus lanes we saw our chariot, a yellow school bus with a hand written note in the front window that read “High Times Craneway Pavilion” and it was free… score.  To add to the irony, it was a short-bus, quite fitting foreshadowing for our mental state on the way home!

Arriving at the Craneway Pavilion, San Francisco was visible in the distance across the Bay, though getting to SF would be quite a swim.  Next year, High Times should call this event the Bay Area Medical Cannabis Cup.  After admiring the view we headed into the event.  In the indoor pavilion, open to everyone (including people not holding medical recommendations), exhibitors seemed to be either paraphernalia vendors or activism groups.  All good, but we decided to find the Prop 215 area and see what that looked like. After showing the registration staff our medical marijuana ID cards and filling out some basic paperwork, we received our red “Medication Area” wrist band and headed into the Prop 215 area, which was a different planet.  The music was pumping, samples of edibles, dabs, and hash were everywhere and weed was in the air.  Even though we came prepared with our own medical supplies, we couldn’t pass up 2 pre-rolled Blue Dream joints for $5!  The sweet smell of burning bud brought back memories of our many trips to Amsterdam… but this was better, way better, amazing weather, better weed and this was our backyard.  Almost 20 years after California Proposition 215 passed (which I voted for), we have a relatively accepted outdoor festival that celebrates weed.  With that we sparked up a joint and with no rush to be anywhere, cruised through the scene.

People were friendly, the booth babes were hot (just like any trade show), and the toys and cannabis derived products were abundant.  Over at the Harborside Health Center booth, we ran into Steve DeAngelo (Weed Wars) who was chatting it up with patients.  Harborside was also running a great hash bar, where you could sample various kinds of hash cooked charcoal and inhaled with a glass funnel (see the photos).  I tried some Hawaiian Sativa hash that hit so hard I lost the name of it, but needless to say very tasty and smooth indeed!  I’ll definitely be picking up some hash very soon.  Later in the day we saw Henry Hemp entertained his fans.  That guy is having a great time being who he is.  If there was a downside to The Cup, it was that there wasn’t quite enough space to hang out and enjoy your medication with other patients.  WeedMaps.com had the largest space available, but with the amount of people there, they were always packed.  Next year, Weedist will have to sponsor a couple of booths to add to the social areas!

All in, this was definitely worth the trip.  My suggestion is that if you are in or near Michigan, Ohio, New York, Illinois, or Toronto, Canada make plans to get to the Detroit Medical Cannabis Cup on October 15th & 16th in Bert’s Warehouse Theater.  It’ll be worth the trip.