Locals Snatch Jamaica Cannabis Cup From High Times
September 1, 2016It looks official. High Times is out from the Jamaica Cannabis Cup after a short one year stint.
After the big hoopla last year about the first-ever Jamaica Cannabis Cup replacing Amsterdam, High Times has lost its Jamaican Cup.
Rastafari In Inity in Jamaica teamed up with High times last year to stage the inaugural Jamaica Cannabis Cup.
The Jamaica Cannabis Cup was dubbed by High Times as continuation of its "World Cannabis Cup" - a newly coined term in 2015.
It meant that, shockingly, Jamaica was replacing Amsterdam.
High Times ran the Amsterdam Cannabis Cup for 27 consecutive years prior to forming the new Jamaica Cannabis Cup in 2015.
2015 was a pivotal year for Jamaica, because that's also when cannabis became legalized on the island nation. And High Times pounced on the opportunity to capitalize.
With legalization completed in Jamaica, and with their recent problems in Amsterdam, High Times made a big move.
They quietly canceled the 2015 Amsterdam Cannabis Cup (quite late too), and then touted the brand new Jamaica Cannabis Cup as replacement for their so-called "World Cannabis Cup". Later they began referring to the event as the "Jamaican World Cannabis Cup" and the "Jamaican World Medical Cannabis Cup."
Regardless of what you call it (High Times has a history of changing descriptions), 2015 marked the year High Times left Amsterdam for Jamaica.
Legalization in Jamaica didn't mean it was now a free-for-all however.
Public consumption events - which is currently the bane of High Times in the USA too - are only legal in Jamaica for religious groups.
So High Times needed a local partner in order to hold a proper smoking event in the land of sunshine. And they found one in Rastafari In Inity.
The co-hosted event was billed as the Rastafari Rootzfest High Times Jamaica Cannabis Cup.
But apparently the locals weren't too keen on the High Times/high powered marketing style, so they gave 'em the boot after the inaugural event.
That means High Times is out of luck with another venue (yet again) in their continual pursuit to find friendly confines to host their Cannabis Cups.
The highly popular Denver Cannabis Cup was canceled in 2016 (as well as numerous other Cannabis Cups in prior months) due to permit issues.
With High Times out of the picture, new organizers in Jamaica - and most importantly, in Amsterdam - have taken over the shows and are breathing new life into them.
As in Amsterdam, the 2016 Jamaica Cannabis Cup will NOT involve High Times. Instead they will be run by the locals. In Jamaica, they're calling it the "Rastafari Rootzfest Jamaica Ganja Cup" and it's scheduled for December 9-11 in Negril Jamaica
Read more about it by CLICKING HERE
