High Times, (DEA) Operation Green Merchant & the Cannabis Cup

Written by Joseph R. Pietri - Wednesday, November 24, 2010

SOURCE:
http://dankglassworks.com/HighTimesOperationGreenMerchantCannabisCup.aspx

On March 20th 1985 David Watson was busted for growing in Santa Cruz, California, Watson a junior member of the Sacred Seed collective. The Sacred Seed bank collective was created in the 1940’s, most original members long gone or well into there 70’s, a generation or more older than I, I’m 63, and have been in Cannabis trade 50 years and I can only speak from my 50 years experience of fighting the drug war.


A month later, Watson, now traveling as Sam Selezny arrived in Amsterdam in the company of Ed Rosenthal. In his baggage, were the research from the sacred seed collective, and 250,000 cannabis seeds. Ed Rosenthal introduced Sam Selezny as David Watson to everyone who was anyone at the time on the Dutch scene. Which was very small compared to what it is today.


Surviving members still question how Watson managed to pull this off? A collective member states that Watson was a junior member, had nothing to do with creating Skunk or`haze strains attributed to Skunk-man as he is now known. Original Skunk had the real skunk spray smell, impossible to mask.


The first time I met Skunk-man at the 2007 cup his first comment to me was that I blew his cover due to a chapter in my book King of Nepal The Ice Wars edition? He even put up wanted posters for me at the cup calling me a snitch. On the scenes I came from if was a snitch I’d be dead long ago.


By the time you finish this article you may realize that Sam Selezny aka David Watson aka Skunk-man started as a DEA undercover agent, whose undercover career makes Donnie Brasco pale when compared, since he finally became a DEA licensee and ”private contractor” with the power to make the agency move against competitors and anybody in his way and to cut deals with Bayer, Monsanto, and the Dutch and English Government. Ed Rosenthal’s duped by Watson as well? Rosenthal was the cultivation expert at High Times at that time.


Was Watson/Selezny working undercover to bring Sacred Seed collective down? Then used Ed Rosenthal to develop his Skunk-man cover and go deeper undercover in Amsterdam?


Did Rosenthal make his fortune from selling our scene to the Dutch due to Reagan drug war policy, which shut down ol skool, and any High Times competitor upstart? At what point did Ed Rosenthal realize that Skunk-man was DEA undercover?


Neiderweit went from shit to shineola with the introduction of the sacred seed collective’s seed bank, now renamed Cultivator’s Choice.


In 1987 Steven Hager was named the new editor for High Times. Operation Green Merchant was also created in 1987 the brainchild of DEA agent Jim Stewart. The target being High Times, and Sensimilla Tips, as well as the blossoming Indoor grow industry. Sensimilla Tips, the all time best grow magazine was put out of business. In 1989, raids were conducted in 46 states on grow shops and wholesalers. The only one to remain unscathed was High Times, amazingly?


Operation Green Merchant worked many angles. One that they pulled off in Hawaii was they opened a grow store in Kona, partied, smoked and got to know some growers,. They offered growers a deal, we will give you seeds, nutrients, what ever you need, you grow the product and bring it here where we will ship it to your people, you collect the money and pay us a share. Only a few went for the deal at first, that went super smooth, all packages arrived safely, monies paid, and the share given to grow shop. 2nd year everyone jumped on board, they busted people from Kona to Brooklyn, You can only imagine the numbers, 100’s of folks lost everything, many went to prison.. Nearly all busted in 46 States came from information seized from High Times and Sensimilla tips, hell all they needed to do was read the magazine, which is how DEA Jim Stewart came up with the idea for Green Merchant, shooting fish in a barrel. At this point was High Times compromised? Or?


In 1987 Hager went to Amsterdam to interview Nevil of the Seed Bank, while there he meets the Skunk-man, who relates tales to him about harvest festivals in Santa Cruz and suggests having a Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam as a yearly event. The Skunk-man spins his web and Hager is taken in, from this point on everything stated by either Skunk-man or his partner Robert C Clarke is taken as fact, Remember Rosenthal is cultivation editor, and Clarke used to write under R. Connoisseur at High Times as well. Hager being a newbie was enthralled by the lies coming from this trio. At this point cannabis history starts to be rewritten by High Times.


In 1988 the first Cannabis Cup was held and lo and behold Cultivators Choice wins for Skunk #1. Imagine what an intelligence bonanza the Cannabis Cup, where every grower comes to judge the best strains and buy seeds. The database created a DEA agent’s wet dream. Funny things started to happen around Amsterdam, seems as if a lot of Cultivators Choice competition were being busted, and even Skunk-man’s own warehouse grows are busted as well but he remained untouched, took his money to Luxemburg and returned to go on, while everyone else went to jail.


In 1990, Nevil Shoenmakers who was also targeted by Green Merchant for his seed bank, was not extradited by Holland but was arrested in Australia, where his lawyer in court records noted that the police had dossier on Nevil as well as everyone who was anyone on the Dutch scene, and that they were complied by Sam Selezny, now known as David Watson AKA Skunk-man. This is public knowledge in Amsterdam, noted by Dutch crime investigator Mario Lap. Lap investigated Selezny/ Watson as well as Ed Rosenthal. Skunkman according to Hager in High Times article sold seeds to Nevil.


You have to wonder if the Cannabis Cup an idea the Skunk-man proposed, had been an operation of Green Merchant? How best for DEA to get information on growers than to open a seed bank in Holland, create a cannabis cup, and even win the 1st cup awarded?



Every top grower in the world goes to Amsterdam for the Cannabis Cup, a bonanza of information for DEA and law enforcement around the globe. One has to wonder when Rosenthal and Hager realized that Skunk-man was DEA undercover? Without a doubt Skunk-man had his claws in High Times, who printed his every word as if gospel.


Everyone busted but High Times, the smell of sulfur coming to my nose, certainly not true skunk. Had a deal been struck between Government and High Times and so they could remain in business? Since this time much of what has been written by High Times is in fact fantasy made up by the Skunk-man to build up his mystique as well as his cover. The Haze brothers a figment of Skunk-mans imagination, a play created for stoners in order to hype their products. Frankly I shouldn’t blame the Dutch so much for fraud as Skunk-man was the one who taught the Dutch the ropes and they fear him, as we fear DEA here. It’s beyond question that the Skunk-man has been a source of information to police agencies around the globe.


1994 David Watson/ Selezny was issued a cannabis research license for Hortapharm R & D along with his partner Robert C. Clarke aka R. Connisseur, above legitimate Universities and PHD’s due to the strong endorsement of DEA, instead of extraditing him back to Santa Cruz for that grow bust in 1985? To this day he is one of two companies allowed to import cannabis products into US, and the only supplier licensed by DEA to supply seeds of predictable quality for research. In a 1998 interview in UK Journal, he stated that Hortapharm only wants to produce sterile females, to protect the genetic copyright? He has sent botanist’s around the globe to contaminate and collect inbred landrace strains, in order to confuse origin in order to claim intellectual copyright. Now he claims to have the largest library of medicinal cannabis seeds in the world. In other words he patented the munchie effect amongst others. Wherever you go on the planet you will find skunk gene pool, this is a war crime, to contaminate the original medical strains so as to be able to call them your intellectual property is obscene. Just as the making of Mother Nature’s healing plants illegal is a war crime, so is the research Hortapharm is doing. Instead of extraditing Watson back to Santa Cruz for his 1985 grow bust, he was praised and supported by DEA.


In 1997 the inventor, Reinhard Delp introduced the Ice Water Method at the 97 Cannabis cup and it was off to the races, the most copied and ripped off formula in Cannabis history, and who designed and created the fraud? Skunk-man with Clarke, Mel Frank and High Times. He did this in order to confuse the origin of the patent.

During the 97 Cup Reinhard had offers promising the world for an exclusive license for the method patent pending by “an English Pharmaceutical outfit”, he did a comparison test for them with a bigger machine, where he trashed a Pollinator as to quality and quality, but finally refused the “exclusive” and insisted on real “publishing”, for immediate use for everybody.


At the end of the 97 Cup Hortapharm set up a meeting with Reinhard where Clarke demanded “we can’t publish that” and asked why, responded “the people can not handle it, it is too strong.” Unaware of the “powers” of Hortapharm, the inventor told Clarke that he was full of it and they had a “fall out”. Reinhard never wanted to play monopoly with characters like Hortapharm, Bayer or Monsanto.


The meeting happened at Bill Barth’s place, a much liked, very outspoken fellow, equally unimpressed by Clarke at the meeting. The inventor was later told that Bill passed away in his sleep.



Crazed by their money and the power they had due to their DEA connection, High Times and most European Cannabis publications in their pocket, Hortapharm’s Watson and Clarke set out to erase the introduction of the Xtractor 420 and the Ice-Water-Method on the 97 Cannabis Cup from Cannabis history. One year later Mila, who just broke a license contract with Reinhard was now the proud owner of the Hemp Hotel, received a government grant to develop her invention and Clarke was marketing Mila and her new invention: the Ice-O-lator. But Mila was stupid enough to sell her “new creation” with the instructions she received with the XTR 420.


Another glitch in the scam: some journalistic conscience managed to record the event from 1997, simply explaining the new Method in High Times May 98 issue.

In his book Clarke spins the Ice-Water-Method back to the old unsuccessful “Sadu Sam Secret” Recipe, which Ed Rosenthal did not mention anymore in a 96 High-Times article about Hash, even though he was selling the recipe on a 900 fax years earlier. Clarke streamlined the recipe for his book, cold water became “chilled”, Mila was introduced as the Lady Of Hash and the 1997 XTR 420 was otherwise blacked out of the Media. “No limit”- Skunkman approaches the inventor in e-mails, boasting about 10 000 square meter grows, claimed to have designed Mila’s and the Canadian “Bubble man’s”, Mark Richardson’s inventions and threatens legal action, “prior artwork” and “what have you”.


In May 2009 Reinhard’s financial lifelines grobots.com and icecold.org got busted by the DEA, the company and home vandalized, company inventory destroyed, all private and company money taken. (treatingyourself.com, issue 19 “Update”) He does not stop to sue them for patent infringement. Also taken was the Cannabis Collective’s seedbank, ten pounds high quality Cannabis seeds from landrace strains -sounds familiar?


Skunkman stole the method like the strains he had stolen, created GW Pharmaceuticals on the promise of the Ice-Water-Method and hoped to control all cannabis based medicines. In fact Sativex was created from Thai genetics, I wonder how the Thai government feels about that since cannabis has 8400year history as medicine in Thailand?


Watson due to his control of information has been able to pull scam after scam as an endorsement from High Times is all you used to need in this business. He knows that young stoners and medical patients have no cannabis knowledge and that he can sell anything he wants, the frauds have had a tremendous effect on the quality of medicine produced. At the same time he has been a mentor to the Dutch who now play from the same deck of control of information.


I know by now you have reached the WTF moment in this article, how much more stinky is this going to get? Let’s face it no corporation has more at stake that cannabis continues to be illegal, so that only they can produce cannabis based medicine than GW Pharmaceuticals, now part of Bayer. GW not only bought strains from Hortapharm but also funds botanical research. They paid to collect medicinal strains around the globe while contaminating them with skunk strain to confuse origin. By doing this they legally could shut down all medical grows for infringing on intellectual property of GW and Hortapharm. Does the GW stand for Guy &Watson? When asked now, that GW made it, they inform that Watson and Clarke are no longer with them.


WTF, talk about quantum leap, from being wanted for a grow bust in Santa Cruz, to being the CEO of Hortapharm, with 5 DEA licenses and partners with GW and Bayer.


Dude, not only did the the DEA seedbank win the 1st cannabis cup, but last year Danny Don’t Know, the new cultivation expert at High Times, named the DEA seed-bank Cultivators Choice as the all time greatest seed-bank. Then went on to state that Skunk-man was the founder of Sacred seeds, when that collective can be traced back to shortly after prohibition in 1937. There is no foundation of truth from Danny Don’t Know nor from High Times when it comes to Skunk-man, they were duped, hoodwinked, bamboozled, led down a trail of tears.


From setting up grow shops to operating seed banks in Holland is no quantum leap in information gathering during Operation Green Harvest. Or that some of their assets from that time, continue to provide information to this day.


Worse thing of all is that for the past 22 years or more everything written on cannabis is written in support of frauds these people created. So they have you spending more for growing less. That the quality of cannabis and cannabis seed has gone down from what ol skool medical imports were originally is without doubt. The best cannabis was grown during the golden age of Cannabis 1840-1940, when it was legally farmed for medicinal use, Sacred Seeds sought to preserve those strains.


September 2010, Danny Don’t Know states that High Times has no connection to Skunk-man. Wow has he changed his tune, but is it the truth? No, Robert C Clarke, partner of David Watson - Skunk-man in Hortapharm and GW Pharmaceuticals, continues to promote fraud.


In a special issue of High Times that basically introduces new products to consumers. Clarke brought the bubble bag fraud full circle again, calling it a new innovative technique, basically using the same information they used when they introduced these frauds in 1998-2000. They have a new generation of young stoners and medical patients with no cannabis knowledge to cheat.


Here are 3 photographs that show the fraud for what it is:

(SEE: http://dankglassworks.com/HighTimesOperationGreenMerchantCannabisCup.aspx)

1.Here you see resins glands at bottom of glass, valuable oils and terpenes floating on top, and on top of that water floating, clear separation seen. You lose immediately 30-40% using either 25 or 33 micron catch bag. From this point you should have gone to coffee filter 5 micron, but you don’t make money selling paper coffee filters. Everything about bags works against and retards the Ice Water technique, the US patent was granted in 2000, but for Europe and Canada only in 2006 (!). Every time you add a bag on top of the 2 bag system you can add a dilution, in a 9 bag system you have diluted formula a dozen times. What they neglected to tell you is that Mother Nature does all the work for you. The ice method made sieving and all forms of processing cannabis obsolete.

2.In Clarke’s article he states nylon sieving bags as new innovative technique. Well thank Soumi La Valle for leaving us his great work on Hashish. Here circa 1979 you see a Lebanese cannabis worker holding her 70- micron sieve. This is the final sieve used in making the finest Lebanese hashish, they started with metal window screen to remove seeds and stems and that material they processed threw 3 sizes of nylon sieves the 1st being 150 micron –120 micron-70 micro being the last sieve used to make 00 hashish the finest. . They attached this Lebanese technique to the Ice Method and called it new innovative technique, when reality the Ice method made sieving obsolete. They told you to grind up your material, why? As in the ice water environment leaves become flexible, fiber matter stays intact, and resin glands fall off with simple agitation. What they don’t tell you is that the method releases the oils in trichomes, and that the bags have no way of collecting them, flavor, taste, aroma lost. Clarke calls it a new innovative technique, when sieving of Hashish goes back to Alexander the Great in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, and is one of the oldest techniques used by Chinese farmers in Asia going back 1000’s of years, before nylon they used silk, metal sieves were introduced in the 19th century and are still in use in Afghanistan to this day. What’s funny is that all the grow gurus never show you the Lebanese technique, as that would expose the fraud.

3.This is a photo of the back of a Lebanese hash factory and those mounds are leftover cannabis from the hash making process. I can reprocess that left over material, and give you more and better hashish than you made to begin with, because everything under 70 micron was left behind. I can do the same with any material run threw any bag system, flavor, aroma, taste I will recapture using correct technique.

All these years the same people have profited enormously due to the illegality of cannabis.. The very people who claim to be Free Da Weed are actually working to keep it illegal so only they can profit. The learning curves and misinformation these people have put out never ceases to amaze me.


Treating Yourself recently did an interview with Nevil, who is now living in Perth. Navil stated that not only had Skunkman written a dossier on him for DEA, but was recently offered a deal from his bail jumping charge from 1990, stemming from Operation Green Merchant. Auzzies would drop charges if Nevil would allow Skunkman access to his genetics, so that he could get their DNA and track crops around the globe. He refused.


The Cannabis Cup has the stink of Skunkman and operation Green Merchant, who knows how many folks have been arrested and sent to prison due to intelligence gathered at the High Times Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam.


By Joe Pietri


Editor's Note: This article was originally written for Treating Yourself Magazine. It was pulled from publication, however for various alleged reasons. Treating Yourself takes the position that the article brought "serious legal risk". Author Joseph Peitri claims the Publication has fallen prey to "Dutch Marketing Fraud". Peitri published the article on his Facebook page, referenced below, for the education of others, and later asked it to be published by this editor and others. It has raised a lot more questions about the origins about some of the deepest Drug War Criminals, as well as, some of the most respected cannabis industry Proponents, and their connections claimed above. There is no doubt that additional research needs to be completed on many of the issues contained within. Below is a list of references that will help you get started on your search for the truth. Feed your mind, and don't be selfish. Please share your discoveries and help educate others about the evermore secret plant, cannabis.


References:


Article Prop 19 Monsanto and GMO Terminator Cannabis

The Octopus Conspiracy , S. Hager

Investigative Reports by
Bas Barkman and Gert Hage, Holland
Mario Lap, Dutch Alcohol and Drug Institute

www.Icecold.org archives


http://www.facebook.com/search.php?q=Nevil%20Shoenmakers&init=quick&tas=0.6211888465684465#!/note.php?note_id=151508324895363


http://www.facebook.com/search.php?q=Nevil%20Shoenmakers&init=quick&tas=0.6211888465684465#!/jpietri

SOURCE:
http://dankglassworks.com/Documents/High%20Times%20Operation%20Green%20Merchant.pdf

http://www.facebook.com/#!/note.php?note_id=151508324895363&id=1155882610

http://www.facebook.com/jpietri