Every summer counties across the country look forward to their respective state fairs to get the best look at blue ribbon cattle and various crops. Families face their fears on some of the most thrilling rides while people play the various (nearly impossible to win) carnival games and eating a plethora of fried foods. Oregon is making an unprecedented move by displaying some of the best legal cannabis crops at this year’s fair festivities.
Oregon has a medical marijuana program put in place since 1998 and the Beaver State successfully legalized the plant for recreational purposes in 2014. It took some time to tweak the laws in order for a contest to be enacted and residents will now be able to see, first hand, what it takes to grow the medicine they hold so dear.
The Oregon Cannabis Business Council will make the award-winning plants available for viewing in one of the exhibition halls. Due to Oregon law, the plants will not be flowering due to the temptation of some fairgoers to sneak a bud or two, and will only be displayed by some of the state’s 70,000 medical users.
“You can’t display plants out in the open,” says Don Morse, head of the council, “because there are kids around. So the plants will be in a greenhouse, manned by security guards.”
Oregon will be the first state to hold a marijuana growers competition on site. The Denver County Fair held a contest in 2014, however the plants were kept on another site and photos were used at the fair in lieu of the real thing.
Many marijuana smokers have never seen live cannabis prior to its harvest and Morse says the exhibition is not meant to promote the plants use in any way but rather to educate the public on the details of the state’s new agricultural product.
Growing cannabis is practically a religious experience. It takes more than just routine watering to yield a high quality strain. Only after almost 2 months of dedicated clipping, trimming, adding of the right amount of nutrients, careful harvesting and curing are you left with the buds you see in the dispensary.
This will hopefully start a new precedent for state’s who have legalized cannabis to show appreciation for their state’s quality growers to help people understand the time and care it takes into mastering the art of growing.
