Boss OG Kush Wins 4th S.F. Medical Cannabis Competition

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Photo: Jack Rikess
Our guy gets the story: Toke of the Town Northern California Correspondent Jack Rikess hard at work doing his research at the 4th Annual S.F. Medical Cannabis Competition on Sunday. By the way, Jack reports there was half a pound of pot in that joint.

​San Francisco’s 4th Annual S.F. Medical Cannabis Competition, The Patient’s Choice, was held Sunday.
Now that Toke of the Town‘s Northern California correspondent, Jack Rikess, has sufficiently recovered from the festivities, here’s his report.
Don’t be too hard on Mr. Rikess. Judges at the competition — including our hard-working correspondent — had to sample more than 50 cannabis strains and products.
Way to take one for the team, Jack! ~ Steve Elliott, Editor
…….
By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent
It’s always a good sign when you can smell the party from blocks away.
The day and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect for San Francisco’s 4th Annual S.F. Medical Cannabis Competition, The Patient’s Choice. After some delays including moving the cannabis flavored festivities to a new location at the last moment (due to law enforcement objections), the Bacchanal of Buds went off without a hitch for the red-eyed competition goers.


Photo: Jack Rikess

​The event never felt too crowded; there might have been a couple of thousand of people spread out through the day. Inside there were vendor booths, a chance to spin the wheel for free stoner gifts like a digital scale or a jeweler’s loupe with tiny flashlight, or the kewpie dolls of swag, a lighter.
A huge dance floor catered to live bands playing tastefully great music, not overwhelming, almost like a soundtrack to the party while free food and drink was being served on the sides.
Americans for Safe Access (ASA), one of the cosponsors, and Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), also had booths and were answering questions and handing out literature. It was hard not to be impressed with the spirit and enthusiasm of the students talking and educating the revelers about the movement and what’s happening now.
Outside on the patio was where the real party was going on. Smoking was only allowed outside, so most people after doing a quick tour of the operations, found their base camps and stayed.
Like most parties, there was a VIP section where one could enjoy a free cocktail and slightly better food that the average stoner was getting for their eighteen dollar entrance fee. In the VIP area, film-makers and venture capitalists talked of the future of California post-Prop 19 over multiple joints and large glass smoking devices. 
It could easily be said that there wasn’t a part of the roughly 1,000 square feet of fun space that wasn’t overtaken with the promise of weed and getting high.

Photo: The Green Door
Boss OG Kush took the “highest” honors at the competition.

​Green Cross kept the party going by having incredibly hospitable young men bring around balloons of vaped smoke to their guests. Samples of edibles were available and for the most part groups shared their herb with strangers, you really had to be in AA or be wearing a gas mask not to get a whiff of the second-hand fumes or catch a small buzz.
There was food and drink all around. The goal of host Kevin Reed was to make sure no one passed out due to dehydration and not having a little something-something in the belly besides laced peanut treats.
The highlight for the munchie-ridden group had to be the chocolate fountain. A three-tier fountain of chocolate with crème-filled éclairs, strawberries, and other fruit to be plunged and dunked like a French king, would have brought a gigantic smile to anyone’s face, whether doped-infused or not.
But the real crowd pleaser of the day happened at 4:20, of course. A moose of a fellow pulled out the largest joint I’ve ever seen. Mind you I was a roadie for reggae bands in the Eighties, so I know of what I speak. This rather happy fellow had a monstrous blunt about two-feet long and probably the width of a weight-lifter’s arm.
The big guy got it started after a few ceremonious coughs and then passed it out through the crowd. Men and women of all nationalities and backgrounds step up to hit off that Hindenburg of a joint. The amazing thing was that the joint really did hit, it worked. It wasn’t for show. For this story, I made sure it was a working joint.

Photo: Jack Rikess
Outside is where the action was — because that’s where you were allowed to blaze buds.

​Good vibes and smiles were the orders of the day.
I spoke to a first-time attendee, Butch, a 51-year-old real estate agent who drove up for the Competition from San Jose.
“I can’t believe something like this exists,” Butch says grinning over the tops of his glasses smoking a triangular shaped spliff. “Down in San Jose, the cops are busting us. Raiding dispensaries. Legitimate dispensaries who have all their paperwork together and everything.”
“One of the reasons I’m here is because ASA picketed in front of some dispensaries bringing awareness to what’s happening,” Butch said. “They’re good people.”
As darkness came, so did more people. Being a Sunday night, as more entered, others left, complaining of work Monday morning and dragging their feet as they had to leave. 
I was asked by some young dudes who most likely came through a tunnel or over a bridge, if I had some weed for sale. One of them told me he “didn’t have his card but wanted to score.”
I told him it wasn’t that kind of party. No one had weed for sale here. It was against the rules to sell or buy, and no one did. But if you couldn’t get someone to give you a joint or a hit, it was on you.
Just like last year, some growers were down from the North Country with product not only to be shown and displayed, if you knew how to ask correctly, but to celebrate another year of bringing in a harvest.
A gentleman behind a green New Orleans-style party mask had the most incredible organic Sour Diesel that I’ve ever tasted. Thank you Masked Man.
Dennis Peron made an appearance to most people’s delight in the early evening. After his busts and sickness, whatever you think of the man, it was nice to see him out and about.
At around 8:30, the ballots were taken from their official perch and brought to an inner sanctum to be tabulated. To be sure of fairness, Reed had representatives from three of the city’s top dispensaries, besides his own, count the ballots for transparency. 
Just like the drama of the 2004 election, there was a recount because the voting was too damn
close. The whole competition thing was taken very serious and when it was announced there would be a recount, most people, except the nervous and pacing growers and collectives who had skin in the game, went back to their groups of industrial smokers.
Around 9:30, vendors started to take down their booths and folks started streaming towards the exits. Being Sunday night, the South of Market club we were in had very little street traffic. That was a blessing for many who forgot to look both ways as they stumbled across the street as the party-goers tried to remember where they’d parked their cars. 
I fell in with an elite bunch. Many of us had been judges for the competition. We adjourned to another party in the Haight. The talk was about the party and the 42 strains that were up for the competition.
About an hour into our after-hours bash, we realized we left before knowing the winning strain. As joint after joint was passed throughout the gathering, we laughed about what we saw and heard throughout the night. Actually, by that point, George Bush could have come in and told a joke and we would have cracked up.
Knowing the hoops that Kevin Reed had to jump through to get this legal pot party off the ground, everyone agreed it was a success. There were tales of High Times having lawyers on the scene to gather information for a lawsuit.
People speculated whether there were undercover cops there ready to bust the fool who would sell bud. I thought about the bridge and tunnel kids who wanted to buy some weed from me. Was it a set-up?
Some said “After 2012, this is how it’s going to be in California. Soon we will be legally able to smoke pot freely in bars, outside like we did tonight.
Then someone asked, “Isn’t it legal already?” We laughed some more.
I don’t know what the future holds for California and pot. My bet is Colorado gets to legalization before Cali. But these pot competitions and parties are the start.
As long as so many people can come together without anyone getting hurt or harmed, maybe those scare tactics that played out the months before the election will fall on deaf ears next time.
Maybe we can show the world that we can party and get home safe. Sunday night, we all came together over our collected passion. And it was nice…
The winner of 4th Annual S.F. Medical Cannabis Competition, The Patient’s Choice is…
Boss OG Kush, Indoor Organic Hybrid. Collective/Grower: Boss
​…….

Photo: Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town correspondent Jack Rikess blogs from the Haight in San Francisco.

Jack Rikess, a former stand-up comic, writes a regular column most directly found at jackrikess.com.

Jack delivers real-time coverage following the cannabis community, focusing on politics and culture.

His beat includes San Francisco, the Bay Area and Mendocino-Humboldt counties.

He has been quoted by the national media and is known for his unique view with thoughtful, insightful perspective.





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