28 • Treating Yourself, Issue 26 – 2010On March 20th 1985
David Watson was busted for growing in Santa Cruz, California, Watson a junior member of the Sacred Seed collective. The Sacred Seedbank collective was created in the 1940’s, most originalmembers 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 EdRosenthal. In his baggage, were the research from the sacred seed collective, and 250,000 cannabis seeds. EdRosenthal introduced Sam Selezny as David Watson to everyone who was anyone at the time on the Dutchscene. Which was very small compared to what it istoday.
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 Skunkman as he is now known.
Original Skunk had the reals kunk 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 achapter 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 I werea 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 undercovercareer makes Donnie Brasco pale when compared, since he finally became a DEA licensee and ”privatecontractor” with the power to make the agency moveagainst competitors and anybody in his way and to cutdeals with Bayer, Monsanto, and the Dutch andEnglish Government.
Ed Rosenthal’s duped by Watsonas well? Rosenthal was the cultivation expert at HighTimes at that time. Was Watson/Selezny working undercover to bring Sacred Seed collective down? Then used Ed Rosenthal to develop his Skunk-man cove rand go deeper undercover in Amsterdam? Did Rosenthal make his fortune from selling our scene to the Dutch due to Reagan drug war policy, which shutdown old school, and any High Times competitor upstart? At what point did Ed Rosenthal realize thatSkunk-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 createdin 1987 the brainchild of DEA agent Jim Stewart.The target being High Times, and Sensimilla Tips, aswell as the blossoming Indoor grow industry. Sensimilla Tips, the all time best grow magazine wasput out of business. In 1989, raids were conducted in 46 states on grow shops and wholesalers. The onlyone to remain unscathed was High Times, amazingly?
Operation Green Merchant worked many angles. Onethat they pulled off in Hawaii was they opened a growstore in Kona, partied, smoked and got to know somegrowers. They offered growers a deal, we will give youseeds, nutrients, what ever you need, you grow theproduct and bring it here where we will ship it to yourpeople, you collect the money and pay us a share. Onlya few went for the deal at first, that went supersmooth, all packages arrived safely, monies paid, andthe share given to grow shop. 2nd year everyonejumped on board, they busted people from Kona toBrooklyn, You can only imagine the numbers, 100’s offolks lost everything, many went to prison.. Nearly allbusted in 46 States came from information seized fromHigh Times and Sensimilla tips, hell all they needed todo was read the magazine, which is how DEA JimStewart 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 himabout harvest festivals in Santa Cruz and suggests having a CannabisCup in Amsterdam as a yearly event. The Skunkman spins his web and Hager is taken in, from this point on everything stated by either Skunk-man or his partner Robert CClarke 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 comingfrom 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 CannabisCup, where every grower comes to judge the beststrains and buy seeds. The database created a DEAagent’s wet dream. Funny things started to happenaround Amsterdam, seems as if a lot of CultivatorsChoice competition were being busted, and evenSkunk-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 elsewent to jail.
In 1990, Nevil Shoenmakers who was also targeted byGreen Merchant for his seed bank, was not extraditedby Holland but was arrested in Australia, where hislawyer in court records noted that the police had dossier on Nevil as well as everyone who was anyoneon 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 articlesold seeds to Nevil..You have to wonder if the Cannabis Cup was an idea the Skunk-man proposed, had been an operation ofGreen Merchant? How best for DEA to get informationon growers than to open a seed bank in Holland,create a cannabis cup, and even win the 1st cupawarded? Every top grower in the world goes to Amsterdam for a bonanza of information for DEAand law enforcement around the globe. One has towonder when Rosenthal and Hager realized thatSkunk-man was DEA undercover? Without a doubtSkunk-man had his claws in High Times, who printedhis every word as if gospel.Everyone busted but High Times, the smell of sulfurcoming to my nose, certainly not true skunk. Had adeal been struck between Government and HighTimes and so they could remain in business? Since thistime much of what has been written by High Times isin fact fantasy made up by the Skunk-man to build uphis mystique as well as his cover. The Haze brothers afigment of Skunk-mans imagination, a play created forstoners in order to hype their products.
Frankly Ishouldn’t blame the Dutch so much for fraud asSkunk-man was the one who taught the Dutch theropes and they fear him, as we fear DEA here.It’s beyond question that the Skunk-man has been asource of information to police agencies around theglobe.
1994 David Watson/ Selezny was issued a cannabisresearch license for Hortapharm R & D along with hispartner Robert C. Clarke aka R. Connisseur, ...legitimate Universities and PHD’s dueto the strong endorsement ofDEA, instead of extraditing himback to Santa Cruz for thatgrow bust in 1985? To thisday he is one of two companiesallowed to importcannabis products into US, and the only supplier licensed by DEA to supply seeds of predictable qualityfor research. In a 1998interview in UK Journal, hestated 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 ofmedicinal cannabis seeds in the world. In other wordshe patented the munchie effect amongst others. Wherever you go on the planet you will find skunk gene pool, this isa war crime, to contaminate the original medical strains so as to beable to call them yourintellectual property is obscene. Just as the making of MotherNature’s healing plants illegal is a war crime, so is the research Hortapharm is doing.
Instead of extraditingWatson back to SantaCruz for his 1985 growbust, he was praisedand supported by DEA.In 1997 the inventor, Reinhard Delp introduced the IceWater Method at the 97 Cannabis cup and it was offto the races, the most copied and ripped off formula inCannabis history, and who designed and created thefraud? Skunk-man with Clarke, Mel Frank and HighTimes. He did this in order to confuse the origin of thepatent.During the 97 Cup Reinhard had offers promising theworld for an exclusive license for the method patentpending by “an English Pharmaceutical outfit”, he dida 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 onreal “publishing”, for immediate usefor everybody.At the end of the 97 CupHortapharm set up a meetingwith Reinhard where Clarkedemanded “we can’t publishthat” and asked why,responded “the people cannot handle it, it is toostrong.” Unaware of the“powers” of Hortapharm,the inventor told Clarkethat he was full of it and theyhad a “fall out”. Reinhardnever wanted to play monopolywith characters like Hortapharm,Bayer or Monsanto.The meeting happened at Bill Barth’s place, a muchliked, very outspoken fellow, equally unimpressed byClarke at the meeting. The inventor was later told thatBill passed away in his sleep.
Crazed by their moneyand the power they haddue to their DEA connection,High Times andmost European Cannabispublications in theirpocket, Hortapharm’sWatson and Clarke setout to erase the introductionof the Xtractor 420and the Ice-Water-Method on the 97Cannabis Cup fromCannabis history. Oneyear later Mila, who justbroke a license contractwith Reinhard was nowthe proud owner of the Hemp Hotel, received a governmentgrant to develop her invention and Clarkewas marketing Mila and her new invention: the Ice-Olator.But Mila was stupid enough to sell her “newcreation” with the instructions she received with theXTR 420 .
Another glitch in the scam: some journalistic consciencemanaged to record the event from 1997, simplyexplaining the new Method in High Times May 98issue. In his book Clarke spins the Ice-Water-Methodback to the old unsuccessful “Sadu Sam Secret”Recipe, which Ed Rosenthal did not mention anymorein a 96 High-Times article about Hash, even though he was selling the recipe on a 900 fax years earlier.
Clarkestreamlined the recipe for his book, cold water became ...chilled”, Mila was introduced as theLady Of Hash and the 1997 XTR 420was otherwise blacked out of theMedia. “No limit”- Skunkmanapproaches the inventor in e-mails,boasting about 10 000 square metergrows, claimed to have designed Mila’sand the Canadian “Bubble man’s” ,Mark Richardson’s inventions andthreatens legal action, “prior artwork”and “what have you”.In May 2009 Reinhard’s financial lifelinesgrobots.com and icecold.org got busted by theDEA, the company and home vandalized, companyinventory destroyed, all private and company moneytaken. (treatingyourself.com, issue 19 “Update”
Hedoes not stop to sue them for patent infringement.Also taken was the Cannabis Collective’s seedbank,ten pounds high qualityCannabis seeds from landracestrains – soundsfamiliar? Skunkman stole themethod like the strains hehad stolen, created GWPharmaceuticals on thepromise 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 thatsince cannabis has 8400year history as medicine inThailand? Watson due to his control of information has beenable to pull scam after scam as an endorsement fromHigh Times is all you used to need in this business. Heknows that young stoners and medical patients haveno cannabis knowledge and that he can sell anythinghe wants, the frauds have had a tremendous effect onthe quality of medicine produced.
At the same time hehas been a mentor to the Dutch who now play fromthe same deck of control of information.I know by now you have reached the WTF moment inthis article, how much more stinky is this going to get?
Let’s face it no corporation has more at stake thatcannabis continues to be illegal, so that only they canproduce cannabis based medicine than GWPharmaceuticals, now part of Bayer. GW not onlybought strains from Hortapharm but also fundsbotanical research. They paid to collect medicinalstrains around the globe while contaminating themwith skunk strain to confuse origin. By doing this theylegally could shut down all medical grows for infringingon 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 areno longer with them.WTF, talk about quantumleap, from being wanted fora grow bust in Santa Cruz,to being the CEO ofHortapharm, with 5 DEAlicenses and partners withGW and Bayer.Dude, not only did the the DEA seedbank win the 1stcannabis cup, but last year Danny Don’t Know, thenew cultivation expert at High Times, named the DEAseed-bank Cultivators Choice as the all time greatestseed-bank. Then went on to state that Skunk-man wasthe founder of Sacred seeds, when that collective can betraced back to shortly after prohibition in 1937. Thereis no foundation of truth from Danny Don’t Know norfrom High Times when it comes to Skunk-man, theywere duped, hoodwinked, bamboozled, led down atrail of tears.
From setting up grow shops to operating seed banks inHolland is no quantum leap in information gatheringduring Operation Green Harvest. Or that some of theirassets from that time, continue to provide informationto this day.Worse thing of all is that for the past 22 years or moreeverything written on cannabis is written in support offrauds these people created. So they have you spendingmore for growing less. That the quality of cannabis andcannabis seed has gone down from what ol skool medicalimports were originally is without doubt. The bestcannabis was grown during the golden age of Cannabis1840-1940, when it was legally farmed for medicinaluse, Sacred Seeds sought to preserve those strains.
September 2010, Danny Don’t Know states that HighTimes has no connection to Skunk-man. Wow has hechanged his tune, but is it the truth? No, Robert CClarke, partner of David Watson – Skunk-man inHortapharm and GW Pharmaceuticals, continues topromote fraud.In a special issue of High Times that basically introducesnew products to consumers. Clarke broughtthe bubble bag fraud full circle again, calling it a newinnovative technique, basically using the same informationthey used when they introduced these fraudsin 1998-2000. They have a new generation of youngstoners and medical patients with no cannabisknowledge to cheat. Here are 3 photographs that show the fraud for what it is:1. Here you see resins glands atbottom of glass, valuable oilsand terpenes floating on top,and on top of that water floating,clear separation seen. Youlose immediately 30-40%using either 25 or 33 microncatch bag. From this point youshould have gone to coffee filter5 micron, but you don’tmake money selling paper coffeefilters. Everything aboutbags works against and retardsthe Ice Water technique, theUS patent was granted in2000, but for Europe andCanada only in 2006 (!). Everytime you add a bag on top ofthe 2 bag system you can adda dilution, in a 9 bag systemyou have diluted formula adozen times. What they neglectedto tell you is thatMother Nature does all thework for you. The ice methodmade sieving and all forms ofprocessing cannabis obsolete. In Clarke’s article he states nylon sieving bags as new innovative technique. Well thank Soumi La Valle for leaving ushis great work on Hashish. Here circa 1979 you see a Lebanese cannabis worker holding her 70- micron sieve. This is thefinal sieve used in making the finest Lebanese hashish, they started with metal window screen to remove seeds and stemsand that material they processed threw 3 sizes of nylon sieves the 1st being 150 micron –120 micron-70 micro being thelast sieve used to make 00 hashish the finest. They attached this Lebanese technique to the Ice Method and called it newinnovative 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 simpleagitation. What they don’t tell you is that the method releases the oils in trichomes, and that the bags have no way ofcollecting them, flavor, taste, aroma lost. Clarke calls it a new innovative technique, when sieving of Hashish goes backto Alexander the Great in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, and is one of the oldest techniques used by Chinese farmers inAsia going back 1000’s of years, before nylon they used silk, metal sieves were introduced in the 19th century and arestill 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 makingprocess. 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 enormouslydue to the illegality of cannabis. The very peoplewho claim to be Free Da Weed are actually workingto keep it illegal so only they can profit. The learningcurves and misinformation these people have putout never ceases to amaze me.
My pal Mark Heinrich who recently did a 2 hour interviewwith Nevil, who is now living in Perth. This interviewwill appear in TY. Stated that not only hadSkunkman written a dossier on him for DEA, but wasrecently offered a deal from his bail jumping chargefrom 1990, stemming from Operation GreenMerchant. Auzzies would drop charges if Nevil wouldallow Skunkman access to his genetics, so that he couldget their DNA and track crops around the globe. Herefused.The Cannabis Cup has the stink of Skunkman andoperation Green Merchant, who knows how manyfolks have been arrested and sent to prison due tointelligence gathered at the High Times CannabisCup in Amsterdam.
. It's like finding out there is no Santa!
lmao. I mean I kinda started figuring it out several years ago, but most of the time I hold onto lofty notions for far too long!
gonna get a nice bag set and split the yeild one will dry as bubble the other becomes my fav goop