Obama OG Marijuana Hits San Diego Dispensaries

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Photo: David Maass/San Diego CityBeat

​A new(ish) strain of medical marijuana named after President Barack Obama has hit San Diego dispensaries over the past few months.

The “Obama OG” strain seems to be different than the simple “Obama” pot that one shop was offering in February 2009, reports Dave Maass at San Diego CityBeat. The general consensus on that strain was that it was just a marketing ploy timed to take advantage of the inauguration.
There’s no birth certificate available, but Obama OG seems to actually be one of the latest of the OG Kush strains that have been popular in Southern California, with Skywalker OG being one of the most popular for the past year. The “OG” means it is a descendant of a particular strain of Kush, an indica. The debate still rages among cognoscenti whether “OG” stands for “Ocean Grown” or “Original Gangsta.”
“Call it what you like, Obama OG gives an outstanding and long-lasting therapeutic effect,” reader Paul Smalley of San Diego told Toke of the Town Thursday morning. “I highly recommend it.”
“There’s several schools of thought as to where ‘OG’ came from,’ ” San Diego medical marijuana activist Eugene Davidovich told CityBeat. “And there’s very little standardization or solid information you can find about where it comes from because of the fear a lot of people have of talking about it.”


Photo: David Maass/San Diego CityBeat
No birth certificate is available, but Obama OG seems to be a valid member of the Kush family.

​Davidovich said he understands why growers come up with creative names for the plants they work so hard on breeding, but he wishes that collectives and cultivators would agree to a standardized system that better reflects the medical nature of marijuana. But that’s not the only thing that bothers him about Obama OG.
“I don’t think Obama deserves a strain named after him,” Davidovich said. “Personally, I think Obama’s administration has failed the medical marijuana industry completely. They have not upheld a single campaign promise since his election.”
Davidovich referred to raids and prosecutions initiated by the feds, despite campaign promises and then the Ogden Memo that the administration would not go after collectives in compliance with state laws.
This weekend Davidovich and his group, the San Diego chapter of Americans for Safe Access, are hosting a seminar on “Raid Preparedness Training” at the Legal Cannabis Institute Campus,10459 Roselle Street, Suite A. The training is from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 15.
Obama OG is available from at least four dispensaries in San Diego, according to Weedmaps.com
Here’s a Nuggetry video review (from January, showing it’s been around a few months) of the Obama OG strain with a choice snark on President Obama: “This definitely does not over-promise and under-deliver, so the name really makes no sense.”
The video says no more Obama OG was planned for production back in January, but now the strain is in at least four San Diego shops. What changed? Not to be overly cynical about human nature, but the killing of Osama bin Laden could have something to do with the new prominence of Obama OG.
Marketing, people. Marketing!

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