Treating Yourself Expo - Canada, July 2010
On 15th July 2010 I set off from Seedsman Headquarters on mission across the Atlantic to The Treating Yourself Medical Marijuana & Hemp Expo in Toronto. At the start of the journey I was both apprehensive and excited. It was going to be my first visit to Canada and my first Cannabis Expo outside Europe. Annoyingly though things went downhill as soon as I got to Heathrow airport not only was my flight delayed 8 hours but also neither of the numbers that I had been given for Reeferman worked. Would I see him in Toronto? Would I even get there myself?
After an 8 hour wait and a meal in almost all the restaurants available in Terminal 3 we finally boarded our plane and Canada became another, not too distant, 8 hours away. A good sleep later and a grilling at Canadian customs and I was in. I headed straight to the hotel and went straight to sleep again.
I woke up on the Friday morning to my mobile phone ringing in the corner of the room where it was charging, it was a local number, Reeferman had called to find where I was. Things were falling into place. After a good breakfast I hooked up with Reeferman and headed to the show hall that was conveniently located in the same building as the hotel. We set up the two banners I had with me, one with my company logo and the other with his, and stuck out a few promotional cards that I had brought over with me.
Just before 10.00 and the hall started to fill up with people putting the finishing touches to their stands and waiting for the public to enter. I quickly met Reeferman’s other business partners who had a booth on each side of us. One was selling nutrients developed by Reeferman aptly named Love Potion, after this excellent cup winning strain of the same name. These products are the best of the best and will soon be available in organic formula. They are commonly available in Canada and the US and will hopefully be with us in Europe in the next 12 months.
On our other side was the team from MedicalMarjuna.ca (www.medicalmarijuana.ca) an organisation set up to link patients that need to be prescribed cannabis, with doctors that can and will prescribe it to them and growers who can get permits to grow for medical patients. They were highly professional and after long discussions made me see how behind we were in the UK with looking after people that really would benefit from using marijuana as a medicine. The guys were what the show was all about – medical marijuana.
The show was mighty impressive in all respects. The show was organised by Marco Renda of Treating Yourself Magazine (www.treatingyourself.com). I could see, before even going, from the exhibitors’ manual that he had put the utmost effort into organising the show and making sure that it went by glitch free and he impressed on every level. The venue was clean, friendly, well organised very easy to get to for the public. They had a vapour lounge in another room in the hall where anyone with a medical card could go to medicate, and many people did. There must have been around 50 stalls selling everything from seeds, pipes, vaporisers to legalisation organisations, nutrient companies, hemp clothing etc. Although most people were selling seeds we were not as we suspected that it was probably best not to. Although this caused quite a few disappointed people we were there to answer any questions on the Reeferman strains and on all the other strains we sold and we had a lot of interest.
On the Sunday night before running back to the airport I caught a little of the Marijuana Music Awards a show and award ceremony put on every year, that had joined up with the Treating Yourself Expo for 2010. Some interesting acts but I was really only there because it was interspersed with the Expo cannabis cup. Reeferman had won a first and a third place for his strain Early Purple Kush. This wasn’t even his best strain, just the one he had most weed to enter and still a winner. We are both greatly looking forward to entering Harmony in cups in the future. This strain is what Reeferman calls ‘The best ever’ and this is a man who was worked with the most amazing varieties we have even seen.
All in all we got the feeling that it would have been better for door sales if more of the public had shown up but the show was a great base to build from and I am greatly look forward to going back again in 2011. Many thanks to all the wonderfully friendly people we met whilst in Toronto, it was a memorable trip.
