Let’s take a look at the legendary strain Dr Grinspoon as well as the history of Lester Grinspoon himself. Grinspoon was a pioneer in the cannabis world. It’s safe to say he had a huge impact changing the stigma surrounding cannabis. As a Harvard educated advocate his opinion and research holds a lot of weight.

This post will look into:

• Who is Dr Lester Grinspoon?
• Why was what he did so important?
• How the work he did still impacts today
• The evolution of high THC strains following Dr Grinspoon
• Strain breakdown & history of Dr Grinspoon from Barney’s Farm Seeds

Who is Dr Lester Grinspoon?

Dr Lester Grinspoon was a researcher, professor, psychiatrist & author who studied and worked at Harvard University. He initially set out on a study to prove the dangers of cannabis compared to other drugs.

As you may have guessed his agenda quickly changed as the study picked up some traction.

Throughout his life growing up in America, Grinspoon would have been warned of the dangers of cannabis consumption following the lobbying from Harry Aislinger.

Aislinger cast a dim and degrading light onto cannabis with many of the stigmas still sticking nearly 100 years on.

The early stages of the studies made him realise that cannabis was in fact not a harmful drug. If anything it was actually a legitimate medicine.

Grinspoon soon changed his focus and began trying to promote the research into the benefits of what cannabis can do.

Although it is noted that Grinspoon wasn’t saying “everyone should just smoke weed” he still has a big role in the de-stigmatisation of cannabis as well as the progression in legal medical cannabis.

Why was what he did so important?

The world was used to the cannabis legalisation stand points from free living hippies and youngsters but the support of someone like Grinspoon was a real game changer.

Dr Grinspoon was Harvard educated, so for someone of his stature & education to be saying the positive things about cannabis was almost unheard of.

His first book in 1971 was titled “Marihuana Reconsidered” and had interviews & research regarding active functional cannabis users.

As well as this it looked into the previous studies on cannabis. With this he could draw his own conclusion without the biased view that drove the studies when they were first conducted. He used his findings as a basis of the argument to get cannabis legalised.

Another thing noted in the book were the chapters Grinspoon included to highlight the government propaganda being used to encourage fear of cannabis across the country.

It’s worth noting at this point that Grinspoon had quite a personal motivation for the work he was carrying out.

His son had leukaemia – as with most cases he often suffered from vomiting and nausea while going through his treatment.

The Grinspoon’s safely medicate their son with cannabis before his next treatment. This made a tremendous difference in how he was feeling after treatments and also his general well-being. This can be argued as one of the influential reasons for Grinspoon to push his efforts with cannabis legalisation as well as trying to remove the stigmas associated with it.

How the work he did still impacts today

When Grinspoon released his second book  “Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine” the focus was really on how cannabis can help as a medicine.

When looking at what cannabis can help with with it’s amazing to see the numerous illnesses & conditions that are noted.

It’s believed this book played a key role in the 1996 legalisation of cannabis for medical purposes in California, just 3 years after the book was released in 1993.

The book is nearly 300 pages & it outlines the basis of a lot of the research that is done in America today.

It’s amazing the amount of work & progress that has come from what Grinspoon did back in the day. And even more so when you think that then nobody really wanted to listen!

The evolution of high THC strains following Dr Grinspoon

Dr Grinspoon was one of the first very high THC strains. This is partly why it holds its legendary status today.

This was the first super strong strain we had seen. So whenever we would visit Dam Dr Grinspoon would be top priority.

When you think of strains with over 20% THC now it’s no big deal. Back when Dr Grinspoon was released and boasted up to 25% THC this really was a huge deal!

We believe, the strain & the work Dr Grinspoon did really helped to push forward the production of high THC & medical cannabis.

Today there are plenty of strains which hit 25% plus for THC – you can check some of them out here.

Dr Grinspoon (the strain & the man) still to this day remain an absolute legend within the world of cannabis. There is even an award in his name for achievements in legal reform regarding cannabis.

Strain breakdown of Dr Grinspoon from Barney’s Farm Seeds – Available at A B Seedy!

Dr Grinspoon was always a strain we had our eyes on with every trip to Amsterdam we have taken! It always had a legendary status when you ask any of the budtenders carrying the strain.

Although it didn’t look like most buds in coffeeshops, it certainly lived up to legend with the taste and effect it had.

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Straight from the words of Barney’s Farm; “A strain named in honour of an amazing Cannabis advocate, researcher and author, Dr Lester Grinspoon. This is a pure heirloom Sativa which grows tall and thin.

This plant requires a longer flowering time, but when mature the colas resemble compact green and reddish brown beads. These loosely hang on thin stems, the buds give a lemon and sumac scent and produce a light smoke with tangy tropical fruit aromas.

DR GRINSPOON™ offers an old school Sativa of the highest order, which gives a strong, long lasting, energetic and cerebral high.”

Barney’s Farm

VARIETY – Sativa

FLOWERING TIME – 12+ Weeks

THC CONTENT – Very High (20% +)

CBD CONTENT – Low (0-1%)

YIELD – Medium

FLOWERING TYPE – Feminised