Cannabisbevrijdingsdag Joins the Highlife Cup, 2013

The 2013 Highlife Cannabis Cup and Cannabisbevrijdingsdag combined to create a mega-festival for activists, patients, growers and smokers.

The fifth edition of the Cannabisbevrijdingsdag was perhaps the largest and most elaborate ever.

For the first time ever, the Highlife Cannabis Cup - generally regarded as the most accurate and fairly-judged Cannabis competition in the Netherlands - occurred on the main stage of this year's Cannabisbevrijdingsdag (Cannabis Liberation Day) celebrations in Westerpark, Amsterdam.

Cannabisbevrijdingsdag, 2013

The free-of-charge event lasted from two until ten P.M., during which were presented the Highlife Cups for weed and hash, plus the Cannabis Film Festival and varied stage entertainment that have come to represent Cannabisbevrijdingsdag. Started in 2009, the festival is hosted annually by the VOC or Verbond voor Opheffing van het Cannabisverbod (Association for the Abolition of Cannabis Prohibition), a national coalition of Cannabis-related people and organizations. The Cannabisbevrijdingsdag presents speakers, musical acts, vendors and the annual Film Festival to a crowd of locals and tourists of all generations, and this year's addition of the Highlife Cup enhanced both the excitement and the visitor numbers.

Amber from Sensi Seeds educates a visitor about the various hemp products on offer.

The fifth edition of the Cannabisbevrijdingsdag was perhaps the largest and most elaborate ever, surpassing last year's estimates of around 6,000 attendees, and presenting a much wider variety of vendors at its annual 'hemp marketplace'. Emceed by DC Lama, with the legendary Dutch Passion seed company as the main sponsor, this year's Liberation Day festival managed to congeal all the various facets of the Dutch Cannabis scene: growers, smokers, patients, advocates and activists, hemp warriors, entrepreneurs - and the requisite dance-a-holics.

The sun-drenched, grassy area behind the Westergasfabriek allowed for a ring-like setup of market stalls, stage, food vendors and sound systems, with an abundance of attendees lounging on blankets and beach towels while picnicking, smoking and enjoying the performers and ambiance. Old hippies reunited with long-lost friends, while the junior generations entertained sometimes heated debates about changing drug policies around the world. The youngest of visitors were treated to a bouncy castle, located next to the swanky backstage tent provided by Highlife and Soft Secrets, where VIPs could enjoy free Highlife Cup samples, drinks and food - plus a cozy hookah lounge and garden-style seating, where locals from the Dutch industry converged to catch up and network.

Ben Dronkers: “The Tree of Life is Cannabis!”

Cannabis Liberation Day 2013 Speakers

While the marketplace is a huge bonus for many attendees, the main draw of the festival tends to be its appeal to the activist in all of us. Local speakers included Ben Dronkers, founder of Sensi Seeds, The Hash, Marijuana & Hemp Museum, Cannabis Culture Awards and HempFlax; Henk van Dalen, founder and owner of Dutch Passion, one of the original Dutch seed companies; Chris Garrit, the Night Mayor of Groningen; and Doede de Jong, perhaps best known for his involvement in the Dutch documentary, Nederwiet (2011).

Craig Reinarman, Ph.D., a professor of sociology and legal studies at the University of California, lent an American voice to the day's rousing speeches. Examining drug policy for over forty years, Professor Reinarman has authored and published countless books and studies - for example, a comparison of Cannabis policies between San Francisco, Bremen and Amsterdam. In 1999 he received the prestigious Lindesmith Award, presented by the Drug Policy Foundation in the United States.

Cannabis Film Festival 2013

Hans Plomp and Gerben Hellinga presented the fifth edition of the Cannabis Film Festival, which this year was a collection of documentaries, animation and even a time-lapse video of growing and flowering ganja plants. Situated in a centrally-located tent that can accommodate 120 viewers, the film festival typically has a legislative theme that promotes advocacy, activism and an end to the War on Drugs.

Dutch film De Achterdeur ('The Back Door'; 2012) reveals the 'schizophrenic Cannabis policies' in the Netherlands - the title refers to the illegal and unregulated 'back door' through which legitimate coffeeshops must source their pot products. Later in the day, the 2011 documentary Nederwiet continued the theme with its clarification of the bizarre dance between growers, coffeeshop owners, law enforcement and those in the judicial system with regards to the gray area of the Dutch 'back door' Cannabis policy - effectively, how an illegally-grown and sourced product becomes a tolerated, taxed one.

From across the Atlantic, popular films Breaking the Taboo (2012) and Clearing the Smoke: The Science of Cannabis (2011) from America, plus Canadian documentary The Union: The Business Behind Getting High (2007), were also screened and well received by their audiences.

And the Winners Are... Highlife Cup Results, 2013

(Each winning strain is followed by its relevant seed company or coffeeshop. For judges who missed the scoring, the strain is followed by its point total and blind competition code.)

Highlife Cup Winner, 2013:

Royal Kush Blend - Royal Queen Seeds (443 points; G2)

Best Bio:
1) Jorge's Diamonds - Dutch Passion (405 points; A19)
2) Serious 6 - Serious Seeds (402 points; A9)
3) OG Kush - Coffeeshop Blue Bird, Amsterdam (398 points; A17)

Best Hydro:
1) Chocolope - Coffeeshop Blue Bird, Amsterdam (390.5 points; B9)
2) Magic Mango - Dizzy Duck Seeds (388 points; B14)
3) Jacky O. - Gout (383.5 points; B7)

Best Auto-Flowering Strain:
1) Cheese Automatic - Senzimilla Seeds (400.5 points; C8)
2) Purple Orange - Dizzy Duck Seeds (389 points; C12)
3) Power Haze Automatic - Bio-G-Power (387 points; C5)

Best Haze (Bio):
1) Amnesia Haze - Senzimilla Seeds (413.5 points; D14)
2) Liquid Gold - Cremers, Den Haag (405 points; D3)
3) Power Haze - Bio-G-Power (398 points; D1)

Best Haze (Hydro):
1) Delahaze - Paradise Seeds (402 points; E8)
2) Mexican Haze - WeedSeedShop.com (400.5 points; E9)
3) AMG - Coffeeshop Kosbor, Maastricht (399 points; E2)

Best Hash (Traditional):
1) Skunkberry Gold - Dizzy Duck Seeds (404 points; F7)
2) Tidghine - Coffeeshop Roxy, Amsterdam (383 points; F2)
3) Pure White Cheese - Coffeeshop Missouri, Maastricht (381 points; F6)

Best Hash (Extracts/Nederhasj):
1) Royal Kush Blend - Royal Queen Seeds (443 points; G2)
2) White Russian Ice-o-Lator - Serious Seeds (439.5 points; G4)
3) Amnesia Glass - Senzimilla Seeds (407.5 points; G5)

[Images courtesy of David at Sensi Seeds]