I'm just getting ready to attend a big cannabis convention this weekend in Toronto, Ontario Canada.
It's called the Lift Cannabis Expo and this will be my second year attending.
This weekend there will be over 200 Exhibitors and Guest Speakers from around the globe.
It's a 2 day event starting on May 27 and concludes at 6pm on May 28th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
More information on the event and how you can buy tickets can be found from Lift's website: www.liftexpo.ca
Last year I was fortunate enough to meet Franco Loja and have my picture taken with this great Cannabis Icon.
Franco Loja is most well-known for his work as a Strain Hunter on Vice/HBO's Strain Hunters tv show. That, and the fact that he and his business partner and co-host, Arjan Roskam owned Green House Coffeehouse and Seed Company in Amsterdam.
Franco loved discovering land-race cannabis strains growing in their natural environments and as a result of his expertise, he ended up being in the Democratic Republic of Congo in January 2017.
As the story goes (and I have heard 2 different versions of it now) he was looking for a particular strain that he and Arjan had previously discovered. They'd brought it back to their lab to test the terpene profile of it and realized that it had a very high content of a particular cannabinoid.
(As I understand it from Franco, land-race strains are exceptionally valuable due to the process of botanical evolution. For a cannabis plant to survive in nature, subjected to the earth's rugged conditions and weather patterns, it has to have exceptionally strong genetics.)
No breeder's skills can touch the power of Mother Nature's own evolutionary process, a strategy based on "survival of the fittest".
So, it seems that Franco found himself back in the Congo searching for THE strain. I have heard that the strain was high in THCV (which is a well-known appetite suppressant) and the other story that I have heard suggests that they had found a strain that was efficient in treating malaria.
At any rate, Franco got bit by a mosquito in the Congo that was carrying malaria and he ended up contracting a form that attacks the brain. People who live there have some immunity to it, but sadly Franco did not.
He literally was posting on Facebook and 2 days later he was gone.
A beautiful person, whose smile could light up a room.
Franco Loja, you are greatly missed.
Bluntly speaking, there will be one big blaze for you tomorrow.
Franco Loja 1974-2017
Love to all.
~ Rebecca Ryan