Someone here have stories about creating a local cannabis community in an illegal place?

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I live in Europe and unfortunately in a country that did not legalize our lovely - sacred - plant yet.

I’m know a lot of stoners that like to hang out and talk about weed, politics to promote the legalisation, cannabis culture in general.

I want to host some public events with music, skate material, round tables to talk about weed and a lot of underground and counterculture stuff.

Someone here knows someone who lived that or already lived something similar?

I mean, I wanna make a cannabis culture monthly meeting in a city where it is illegal, we need to face the legal restriction and be a presence of revolution here.

Peace :v:

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Good seeing you again. I don’t have experience with this. I wish you all the best luck for sure though. Id love to watch the progression of this!

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Hi @chrysneto

Welcome back to GN. I have a fair amount of experience in what you are suggesting and further to that eventhough people say weed is legal in South Africa, its still highly illegal. We also have a fair amount of people on here who have done things you are planning in your country.

Hosting an event is not illegal, and is the first step towards uniting your cannabis community. Shout if you have specific questions.

Have you considered starting an NGO or chapter of Norml.org ?

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Thanks for showing interest :rocket:

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Great initiative! We should talk more about this as we could use initiatives like this one in many (illegal) parts of the world. I’m in one too btw. So yeah, happy to hear and brainstorm more about this subject, I think it’s great.

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Hey, Chris!

Thanks a lot to oppenly receive me here. I have several questions :sweat_smile:

I have some ideas on my mind, for example:

  • It is mandatory to educate us and our community about cannabis, regulations and healthy relation, and to achieve it, some round tables sounds a good way to go
  • I want to fortify independent artists and brands that empower cannabis, therefore I want to have a minimal infrastructure to expose cannabis products and counterculture material (books, poetry, cds, photos exposition)
  • I also tought about launch some fun thing such as “Join for the Biggest Joint of Europe”, and we could have a huge jar to people cooperate with their 1g (or any amount) of weed then we can make a huge joint with a huge wheel of people smoking together (in this way people can integrate)
  • Provide music material to people, a big sound box and probably also a line of live shows
  • Cannabis based food would be really funnnn
  • Make some videos material, interview people to share it into social media
  • Some meetup app to organise stuff, instagram to promote
  • Propose partnership with local CBD stores
  • Some minor infrastructure for people that like skate (a portable pipe or that kind of stuff)

All of it trying to reach de border between the legal and illegal. Cannabis events are resitence!

Then, my questions are:

  • Have you ever made something similar?
  • I would love to read some stories
  • Even a virtual meet to chat would be crazy
  • Did you create a brand/NGO or something before? I’m also some have been working in a concept or this “collective of counterculture weed heads” (the new beatnicks??? :rofl:)

Again, love to see you all very warmfull reception :rocket:

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Hi @chrysneto

Thanks for the comprehensive reply, wow, a lot to digest. I have done some research on you, let me know if I must delete, but you based in Portugal? I have a numer uno contact for you, that is already working in the journalist, cannabis scene and travels between South America, portugal and South Africa. Journalists are a very good start to your vision, they get your word out and if on your side can be a world of good in the arsenal of weapons you will need to make this a success.

I like your style ( I will elaborate ), but just know that you cant do this all yourself. you need to build community!!!

Food + Music + Sport x effort - blood - sweat / tears = cannabis counter culture. I like the way you are thinking about this, but its like " eating an elephant with a teaspoon.

Personally I thought Portugal had liberal cannabis laws: " Medical cannabis was approved in 2018 and regulated in 2019 in Portugal - the first country in the world to decriminalise the recreational use of all drugs in 2001. Medicines, preparations and substances based on the cannabis plant for “medicinal purposes” are legal.21 Apr 2024"

Cannabis education and activism are vital to draw your community. Personally I would start with a ebook of sorts, a free book that could spark interest for your kind of people. Be careful of too much activism as everything above costs money, takes time and resources.

First and foremost, is to write a business plan, a plan that you can use and change as you go forward. Bottom-line is you need to make money to sustain this venture.

  • Have you ever made something similar?
    Yes sir, hosted activism events, cannabis cups, spoken in churches to conservative pensioner gardening clubs… lots more.
  • I would love to read some stories
    I can fire off several links, but lets get more information.
  • Even a virtual meet to chat would be crazy
    I would be happy to chat, but lets chat more on here and I want to see more from you.
  • Did you create a brand/NGO or something before? I’m also some have been working in a concept or this “collective of counterculture weed heads” (the new beatnicks??? :rofl:)
    Created several brands, businesses, lost more money than I have made, but glad to say as of two days ago, I smoked my first constitutionally legal joint. Our president signed the Cannabis bill, its not perfect, but its legal to smoke. Personally I would still consider looking at going the NORML international chapter route, its the oldest cannabis activism brand ( 52+ years ) in the world with several chapters worldwide, not always necessary to reinvent the wheel and you can immediately have access to a worldwide network of activists.
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Wow, very powerful answer :rocket:

I have done some research on you, let me know if I must delete, but you based in Portugal?

Yes, I live in Lisbon and I’m from Brazil. Actually I just tarted to follow your LinkedIn, thanks again for the support!

I have a numer uno contact for you, that is already working in the journalist, cannabis scene and travels between South America, portugal and South Africa. Journalists are a very good start to your vision, they get your word out and if on your side can be a world of good in the arsenal of weapons you will need to make this a success.

Please, if you can connect us, it would be a bless :pray:t4:

I like your style ( I will elaborate ), but just know that you cant do this all yourself. you need to build community!!!
Food + Music + Sport x effort - blood - sweat / tears = cannabis counter culture.

It just confirm to me that I thinking right. I only really see it happening if we can build a community interested to be together making cannabis reallity not a crime.

I like the way you are thinking about this, but its like " eating an elephant with a teaspoon.

Yeah, I need to face that. It kinda of freezes me, the process of create a cannabis brand that have a message behind it. And then be able to have a crew to dream big like that.

I’m from Amazonas, I’ve been personally trying to connect the dots between my ancestrality (indigenous, etc), my way of see life and cannabis. I feel that it can bee a good start to build a brand with personallity and authenticity.

But I’ll describe better in one of the next replies.

Personally I thought Portugal had liberal cannabis laws: " Medical cannabis was approved in 2018 and regulated in 2019 in Portugal - the first country in the world to decriminalise the recreational use of all drugs in 2001. Medicines, preparations and substances based on the cannabis plant for “medicinal purposes” are legal.21 Apr 2024"

Exactly. Culturaly Portugal is really open to cannabis, even the elder people. But the legislation still having a lot of conservative folks saying the word. And we still fighting to legalize it. IBut I feel that we can legalise during the next 5 years, certainly. It is a big “why” to be trying to put my love for cannabis in some movement now. Would I reach my dream of pay my bills totally from Cannabis?

Cannabis education and activism are vital to draw your community. Personally I would start with a ebook of sorts, a free book that could spark interest for your kind of people. Be careful of too much activism as everything above costs money, takes time and resources.
First and foremost, is to write a business plan, a plan that you can use and change as you go forward. Bottom-line is you need to make money to sustain this venture.

I never have built a brand/company etc. It has been my dream and now is the moment. My current status is strungling to start to grow my cannabis again (I have a complete set to plant hydroponic weed) and trying to create a brand into instagram to promote some events through the Meetup app.

  • Should I first create a brand or start to make the events even without a brand? I mean, sometimes is only necessary to call a couple of friends, make some photos/videos, bring it to instagram as content and repeat… Until I have a clearer vision of my brand (Identity, style, mission, etc). Any opinion?

  • I also considered to hire a Designer (friend of mine) to create the first concept of the brand but I’m really in doubt if I should already put money in something that I only see in my mind. Therefore, do you think that the branding is crucial to start to get traction?

  • [Other project but can have some connection] What do you think about cannabis in tech? 4 years ago I started an automation project with my friend (we are engineers) for hydroponic system enviosioning to create a growers social media based on data from your grows equipped by smart devices (that we were building to after create the social media). We never had the discipline to really finish a prototype, but we still having the desire to make it happens. Do you se any value on this kinda o techy stuff for growers as a business and to create a community?

  • Thinking on your experience, what would be a MVP for a cannabis event like this one that I shared? Pick only one theme a focus on that? Or go more as a party with music, informative session and a lot of cannabis stuff?

Created several brands, businesses, lost more money than I have made, but glad to say as of two days ago, I smoked my first constitutionally legal joint. Our president signed the Cannabis bill, its not perfect, but its legal to smoke. Personally I would still consider looking at going the NORML international chapter route, its the oldest cannabis activism brand ( 52+ years ) in the world with several chapters worldwide, not always necessary to reinvent the wheel and you can immediately have access to a worldwide network of activists.

I will verify it, thanks for sharing :facepunch:t4:

And again, thank you so much for being here also motivating me to embrace this project!

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I found a good article about cannabis in Portugal. I see you have very strange laws, e.g cultivation and seed sales are illegal, but CBD is legal. Portugal has a long history in hemp use and cultivation, looking at your stats recreational cannabis usage is a very small amongst the population.

I think before you look at designers etc, draw up a plan going ahead and consider investing money into getting legal advice. Its probably better to attack medical CBD side of cannabis, also maybe look at the hemp farming side of things. Because cannabis use is decriminalised you could consider aiming for a social club, similar to your neighbours Spain who revolutionized the social club scene. South Africans are adopting the same/similar models, eventhough its not legal.

Its a big project you are taking on. Personally and in hindsight you must be careful with the recreational side, it could cause you a lot of trouble. You could consider looking at a CBD brand first, hip, aimed at the younger generation, hip clothing, cool events, music, food ( something the Portuguese love ) and build your community legally from there. Looks like your hemp industry needs some support to with the inconsistent push for cannabis legalisation by your government.

Setup a brand focused as front company supporting CBD, promoting cannabis hemp, building your community through activism and education. Get legal assistance to see if you can setup a private social club so you can build the recreational side to.

To be honest the industry is very divided when it comes to CBD and THC. They are very different people. CBD is more for health and wellness people, while THC is more your stoner/grower type person, and they all come together when you talk medical, because cannabis is medical.

I know you have them there, you need to find YOUR PEOPLE. This will include lawyers, doctors, activists and people in large. There is so much to discuss starting a revolution, but it starts with taking the first step, finding a couple people who want to legalise cannabis. You cant do this alone, as suggested in posts above, consider using an already established activism brand like NORML, setup a country chapter for the activism side, do events through this brand, sharing information, hosting music events etc.

Also read into the history of portugal’s influence on cannabis, afterall your ancestors travelled and traded cannabis around the globe and has a long history of hemp. I think the Portoguese are responsible for taking cannabis to the america’s.

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Hi @chrysneto

Interesting times, I have just had a call from a Portuguese based cannabis company looking at breaking into the local South African cannabis market. Further to that I had a long call with a local source of mine about the market in Europe ( Portugal ) and South Africa. How your plans coming along, I have some ideas if you are interested.

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