There was a time when a pound of “B.C. bud” — high-quality cannabis grown in British Columbia — could go for USD$3000, hustled across the border by backpack-toting smugglers and delivered into the hands of “ganjapreneurs.” To some, these were the good ol’ days — before 9/11 changed border security; before the police caught on, and before legalization and corporate entities got into the game.

Those days are long gone, but the legacy of B.C. bud has endured. So much so that in December, B.C. Premier John Horgan lamented that the culture, created underground, had been negatively impacted by legalization.

“I remember being in Amsterdam and seeing all of the B.C. bud awards that were being given out at the time when the product was illegal, and it’s ironic we seem to be having more Ontario product being distributed in B.C. through the legal market,” Horgan said at a recent news conference. “We in B.C. have a legendary product and that’s not making its way to the legal market.”

At Vancouver’s Lift & Co. cannabis conference from Jan. 9 to 11, government players, industry members, consumers and legacy growers gathered to talk about the future of the industry. And everyone seemed to agree that a thriving cultivation community, alongside robust retail and the potential for cannabis tourism is the dream: And B.C. bud, with its award-winning craft and micro-cultivators should play a major role. The question is, how?

The origins of B.C. bud

The mayor of Grand Forks, Brian Taylor, has been involved in the cannabis scene since the very early days. It’s a tiny town at the foot of the Rockies that sits on the Canadian-U.S border He recalls the origin story of BC Bud with great affection.

“Sinsemillia seeds had come up from Mexico and the U.S. with cannabis that was then being imported into Canada,” he says. “Basically that was how folks started growing their own in those days. It wasn’t an organized or deliberate effort so much as a by-product of seedy weed.”

The independent spirits of the 60s and 70s formed a cottage industry of cannabis excellence in their mostly remote homesteads in the mountains and on the rugged islands off mainland British Columbia. The trek across the border, into Vancouver and “out East” was their market, and times were good for the farmers. Most were growing small plots, because although they were hidden, the long arm of the law was a going concern and expansive gardens would be easier to detect. But at $3000/pound with a healthy annual yield of 10 lbs., you could support a family.

FILE – Activist Dana Larsen, founder of the Vancouver Dispensary Society, celebrates the opening of The Dispensary at Thurlow and Davie in Vancouver, B.C. on Friday, July 9, 2010. Photo: Glenn Baglo, PNG/Jes Abeita, VANCOUVER SUN

Medical cannabis becomes legal

In the late 90s, Sita von Windheim opened The Amsterdam Hemporium and Café on Cordova St. in Vancouver. She says it was around the time medical cannabis was just starting to be taken seriously, and she says it was an inspiring, simpler time.

“It was exciting and fun and new,” she says. “Medical marijuana was just starting to be a thing; hundreds of basement gardens were starting up; seed companies were sprouting up like weeds; people gathered in the café to smoke bud and share stories and grow techniques. They came from all over the world and gathered at the café; writers, movie makers, actors, lawyers, doctors, hash smugglers, cannabis growers, hemp farmers, celebrities and office workers.”

It sounds romantic and idealistic and it probably was. The culture was thriving in urban centres, but according to Mayor Taylor, the legalization of medical cannabis had a negative impact on the legacy outdoor rural market — both price-wise and culturally. Everyone and their brother started growing “B.C. bud.” and it wasn’t just Mom and Pops on a small scale. Larger, organized entities set up mostly indoor grows and the market was getting flooded. Prices dropped and the once-thriving market for seasonal, small-batch cannabis dried up.

From left: Attorney General Mike Farnworth, Grand Forks Mayor Brian Taylor, Nelson city councillor Brittny Anderson meet at the Craft Cannabis Association of BC reception in 2019. Photo: Craft Cannabis Association of British Columbia

The distribution of cannabis has evolved, too.

If you weren’t growing your own buds in B.C. you knew “a guy.” But in the late ’90s and early 2000s, distributors got bolder. Medical cannabis compassion clubs, bolstered by constitutional proceedings that protected Canadians’ access to medical products, began springing up in Victoria and Vancouver.

As the normalization of cannabis as medicine grew, so did the demand, and by late 2016 there were well over 100 “dispensaries” in Vancouver. They all seemed to be doing well according to Dana Larsen, a long time advocate and dispensary owner serving Vancouver and surrounding communities.

Since legalization, the Community Safety Unit has targeted these stores, and today less than 10 are currently operating outside the legal system. It is believed that many have gone to online sales, but Larsen hopes for the future though and believes “things are only going to get better over time, even though it could take years.”

Ted Smith of the Victoria Cannabis Buyers’ Club, another compassion club, is also hopeful for the future.

“The members and staff of the VCBC are elated the city council has unanimously supported us to gain a temporary exemption from the B.C. Cabinet and we hope John Horgan can see the wisdom in this approach. We have always hoped to transition into the legal system, but only when it is in the best interest of our patients.”

Post-legalization optimism

“There has been a unique growing culture in B.C. since the years of the draft dodgers,” said Sarah Campbell of the Craft Cannabis Association of British Columbia. “There is an opportunity now with legalization in Canada for the treasures of our valuable genetics and experience to be brought forward and shared with consumers. Farmgate will be especially exciting when consumers can visit the farms, hear the stories, see the plants in the fields and meet the farmers for the first time.”

Up until recently, the market wasn’t as hospitable to the smaller batch, artisanal and craft growers so beloved in the past. But the efforts to regain a thriving, regulated micro-cultivator community are giving supporters optimism.

Some British Columbia community groups plan to tackle regional issues with government-funded programs designed to help legacy farmers navigate the cultivation application process. Community Futures Central Kootenay’s Cannabis Business Transition Initiative is the first of its kind in Canada, and will likely be replicated in other regions such as the Cowichan Valley, Gulf Islands, and Okanogan Valley to start.

Representatives of Health Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency are also actively engaging stakeholders to help. At the Lift conference, they listened to feedback and questions from members of the legacy market, which were broad in scope: There were complaints about delays obtaining security clearances and shifting, uncertain regulations. And there were broader suggestions, including expanding the maximum canopy size for seasonal cultivators and adjusting for beneficial microbial testing for organic farmers. Health Canada’s reps appeared to want to help farmers transition, and also to alleviate the distrust that exists between government and typically anti-government civilians and citizens.

“BC bud is not facing the end; in fact, this is only the end of the beginning,” said Allan Rewak, former executive director of Cannabis Council of Canada, the primary lobby group for corporate cannabis in Canada. “The province stands to harness the unique mix of organic, large scale and micro production to make the west coast a cannabis hub of innovation and tourism. To do this, the province should allow producers of all sizes to conduct farm gate sales, which could create a cannabis tourism sector that is lateral in impact to the wine industry. Allowing individuals from around the world to explore and sample, in an organized fashion, the best BC has to offer.”