A Grower's Code of Ethics... Love, Stinky

[stinkyattic]

Hello friends, growers, aspiring growers, and fans of the sacred Herb!

I wanted to take some time and put together a collection of my thoughts on various ethical questions that have come up during the time Iâ??ve been here at canncom.

This is only the first installmentâ?¦ more to follow.

It is by no means meant to be a holier-than-thou sermon, just my feelings on a few subjectsâ?¦ growing in your parentsâ?? home, taking othersâ?? outdoor crops, helping out a med user in need, selling, scrounging street lights, intellectual property of breeders, to name a few.

Some issues were addressed in old threads, and some are just out of my grow journal; I wanted to collect them all in one place to be both a personal manifesto and serve as a reminder that we are NOT criminals, we are honest people with morals and a sense of community.

When we all stand together peacefully and cooperatively with the common mission of showing our respective governments what we REALLY believe in, thereâ??s no force that can repress us.

stinkyattic Reviewed by stinkyattic on 01-26-2007. A Grower's Code of Ethics... Love, Stinky Hello friends, growers, aspiring growers, and fans of the sacred Herb! I wanted to take some time and put together a collection of my thoughts on various ethical questions that have come up during the time Iâ??ve been here at canncom. This is only the first installmentâ?¦ more to follow. It is by no means meant to be a holier-than-thou sermon, just my feelings on a few subjectsâ?¦ growing in your parentsâ?? home, taking othersâ?? outdoor crops, helping out a med user in need, selling, Rating: 5

[stinkyattic]

For the guerilla farmerâ?¦

Since cannabis cultivation is generally illegal, if you want to hold yourself to a higher standard, it is important to remember not to put anyone else in danger, not to harm the environment, and not to break any other laws while cultivating your outdoor crop.

Where is it appropriate to grow cannabis?

That is a simple question!

You should pick your spot to avoid trespassing on private property and potentially endangering the owner of the land you plan to use. A homeowner could be in danger of legal problems if your crop is found by the police, even if the homeowner is not aware of it. He could still face having to pay outrageous legal bills to prove his innocence.

Places to look for are land owned by very large entities, who are far better protected from legal action, as they can reasonably well say that no representative of that entity is responsible for the plants.

The railroad company, the power company, and the government all own large tracts of land that are fantastic for growing cannabis. Beneath power lines and along the edges of a railroad cut are classic spots. Parks are good too if you are very careful. Land owned by a logging company can provide wonderful opportunities, as the roads are easy to ride on a mountain bike and the parts of the land suitable for cannabis cultivation are generally NOT suitable for timber harvesting.

What about the environment?

Take only pictures (and buds, lol) and leave only footprints, right?

Donâ??t leave your used fert bags or empty pots at the siteâ?¦ not just because of the risk of someone noticing them, but because of a respect for the earth. Notice the vegetation near your grow, and try to fit your plants into a logical spot where you arenâ??t going to need excessive irrigation or to cause a disruption in the ecosystem. Know what local plants are rare or endangered, and donâ??t interfere with them.

[stinkyattic]

For everyoneâ?¦

This is an excerpt from a thread dated October 2006.


New Thread
Oct-03-2006, 12:55
stinkyattic
What do I do if I find cannabis plants growing in the wild?

This question comes up every year about this time.

You might be out hiking and stumble across a single cannabis plant, or a whole bunch of them.

Your first reaction might be, "wow, that's a lot of pot, I can't wait to get it home and smoke it! That's enough for the whole winter!", or even "I bet I can sell that stuff and pay off my car loan!"

But please stop and think for a moment.

Someone has put those plants there, taken risks, and worked hard caring for them since June. They aren't just growing there by themselves and someone is going to be heartbroken that they're gone.

Think about the grower as another person.

Maybe they would like to have some smoke for the winter, but can't afford the prices that dealers charge.

Maybe they are growing a few plants to sell.

Maybe they are counting on that income to help buy food and fuel for the coming winter.

Remember too that one of the obstacles to the legalization of cannabis is the theft, violence, and general dishonesty that can spin off of it. When tokers can be ethical and all get along without stealing each others' stashes, and then having the snots beat out of them for it, the case becomes stronger that it is a relaxing and peaceful way to alter your perceptions.

So when you stumble on a plant in the woods, remember that as a toker, you are part of this community. Just leave it there for the person who grew it.

[stinkyattic]

Intellectual Property

An original strain is intellectual property of the breeder, the way a book is property of a writer and should not be reproduced without permission.

Since we are growing in a real legal grey area, we need to be a self policing community. The breeder often does not have the legal recourse to prevent knockoffs from being sold, as many breeders have to remain anonymous for fear of arrest.

Refuse to buy knockoffs! Itâ??s like the difference between burning a mix CD for a friend, and buying bootlegged videos off the street. If you want to make a few F2s and keep them as backup, or even give them to your best growing buddy, you have a reasonable right to do thatâ?¦ but to distribute them on a larger scale, or God forbid sell them for profit, is wrong.

This came from a thread that SubCool (an American breeder) started.

New Threadâ?¦ Part of Subcoolâ??s threadâ?¦
Jan-12-2007, 11:24
stinkyattic

Well I believe that ethically you should make every attempt to credit the original breeder if you are going to make a cross using his or her strain... for example, if I were to give you some seeds from a cross that I recently did with a really nice Afghani Dream that I got from a friend, and a Plan B Smashberry, I would give them to you with the heritage listed properly, just like the references in a scientific journal article, when you build upon previous research.

Now if I were to take those same Plan B Smashberry plants and just cross them to each other, that would be an F2, and I would not THINK of selling those seeds without the written permission of the original breeders, and would actually hesitate to even give them to friends since that strain is still on the market and I would be guilty of basically bootlegging their work.

I think that once the strain is off the market for whatever reason, such as the retirement of the breeder (which is the case with MasterGrown seeds selling BOG Bogglegum F2's recently on seedbay), if I had the original genetics I'd be happy to give them to friends at that point since the strain is unavailable, and to keep it alive, but it should be easier to convince the original breeder to allow production of the strain, again, WITH CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE, and selling knockoffs without permission is STILL highly unethical. Remember that bitch 420Mory? mm hmm....

See what I mean?

[Psycho4Bud]

MUCH RESPECT your way stinkyattic! Good karma always finds its way home and I'm sure you have plenty coming.

With all due respect to Latewood and Zandor I'm going to put a sticky on this.....I feel it's justified.:smokin:

Have a VERY good one!:jointsmile:

[stinkyattic]

Thank you Psycho4Bud.
I appreciate the support.

[latewood]

Hey..OK with me. Nice post...

I don't totally agree with the seed breeding post though. I agree with not buying crap...like mory420 sold, or never delivered. All seeds came from somewhere, before they were bred. So if a grower decides to breed, and produces a quality product...In the name of free enterprise...If said grower turned breeder wants to take the risk of selling his bred creations...He shouldn't be chastized for it. However; I feel that in these cases; credit should be given to the origin of the seeds. peace. Sorry for the rant, but that is how feel. Keep in mind, I said "If" and "Quality".

a note: Skunk, and Haze...etc. were originally bred somewhere, but then the breeders discussed sell them, after making crosses...NO difference IMO. What makes one breeder favored over the other...Time? I think not. Quality and delivery of said quality product after purchase is my only concern. Maybe I'm wrong, and I am sure someone will bring it up. LOL peace

Great sticky though, peace

[stinkyattic]

a note: Skunk, and Haze...etc. were originally bred somewhere, but then the breeders discussed sell them, after making crosses...NO difference IMO.
.

Well of course that's true! I just think that effort should be made to cite genetic background.. the way dog breeders list pedigrees...
But Skunk and Haze are also so common as to be prey to the same sorts of reproduction as store-brand snack foods... the Doritos of the pot world, as it were!

What makes one breeder favored over the other...Time? I think not. Quality and delivery of said quality product after purchase is my only concern.

Actually TIME is a neat point! Like the difference between Irish folk music and something that was written by a KNOWN composer and something that was written by a KNOWN, LIVING composer... So for strains that would fall into similar categories, the way I see it... Durban Poison would be like folk music... Skunk #1 would be like the work of a classical composer... something bred last year would fall into the final category... the newer the strain and its parent strains, the more effort should be made to track that information.
I think the legalization of cannabis will really allow that to happen more efficiently.
Of course though I agree that quality is of prime importance and that a breeder risks mockery for releasing a crap strain!
Oh and re-reading the original post, Mastergrown had express permission to make and sell F2s... just so there is no confusion... he was acting with the consent of the original breeder, who had retired.

[Volker]

LOL! I can't wait till you get to the part about scrounging street lights & security lights. (guilty!)

[Chronisseur]

[QUOTE][TIME is a neat point! Like the difference between Irish folk music and something that was written by a KNOWN composer and something that was written by a KNOWN, LIVING composer... So for strains that would fall into similar categories, the way I see it... Durban Poison would be like folk music... Skunk #1 would be like the work of a classical composer... something bred last year would fall into the final category... the newer the strain and its parent strains, the more effort should be made to track that information.
I think the legalization of cannabis will really allow that to happen more efficiently.
/QUOTE]
Another intelligent explanation from the stinkfactor!