Shawn DeNae
CEO
Washington Bud Company
Smokey Point, WA
Each year, as a gift for our retail partners, we design a custom calendar that marks historical dates of cannabis events. We sprinkle it with pictures of our beautiful strains and staff. It has become a collector’s item for many of our fans.
We have memorialized dates including February 4, 1911, when Massachusetts became the first state to restrict cannabis by prohibiting the sale of “Indian hemp” without a prescription.
On February 19, 1925, the League of Nations signed a multilateral treaty restricting cannabis to scientific and medical use while also restricting its import and export. This was the first unilateral treaty on cannabis.
On March 5, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt adopted the Uniform State Drug Act, which made cannabis use illegal across the United States.
Our next anniversary is March 20, 1972, when President Richard Nixon rejected the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse’s recommendation on cannabis and created an all-out war on the plant and its consumers.
Washington Bud Company also marks March 25, 2012, as the beginning of our company paying business and occupation taxes on our medical marijuana sales.
May 4, 1937, was the date the American Medical Association opposed the proposed Marijuana Tax Act and supported research on medical cannabis. This effort obviously failed but further underlines the historical desire to use cannabis as medicine.
May 3, 1968, marks the first experimental plot of cannabis planted at the University of Mississippi with seeds from Mexico, Panama, Southeast Asia, Korea, India, Iran, Pakistan and Lebanon. (Damn, would I love to get my hands on that seed bank.)
The first time proper labeling of medicines containing cannabis became law was June 30, 1906, when President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Wiley Act.
Meanwhile, the legacy cannabis community In Washington state saw the medical cannabis bill we fought so hard to pass get gutted by our then-governor on July 22, 2011, who vetoed 36 sections of the bill, stripping out state oversight for fear of federal intervention and creating a Wild West of semi-legal medical marijuana through safe access points.
The Washington recreational cannabis law passed on November 6, 2012, followed by the Washington State Patient Protection Act on July 25, 2015, a ruse of a title used to shut down the hundreds of the safe access points the medical marijuana patients relied upon. It forces patients to register with the health department yet still requires them to pay the 37% tax at retail stores. So while consumers 21 and older can buy high-potency cannabis for the sole purpose of getting baked with no registration, patients are forced to comply with registration or find their needs elsewhere, spurring a robust underground medical marijuana market that thrives still.
I would be remiss to not acknowledge the original date for Hempfest, August 1, 1991. It all started in Seattle’s Volunteer Park produced by the Peace Heathens, led by Vivian McPeak and other supporters. The event soon became known as Hempfest and attracted worldwide audiences until advertising restrictions pulled the rug from under their sponsorship efforts in 2019.
In all, I think this year’s calendar is the best one we have produced. Hit me up if you want one.