As contributing editor of Hippyland , I jumped at the chance to cover the 10th Annual High Times Cannabis Cup in my favorite city, Amsterdam. Monday we showed up at the Pax Party House, a haven for us hippies that also served as Cup headquarters, banquet hall and exhibit hall. Chaos and confusion ruled the morning as the variously stoned representatives of High Times struggled to get out of the fog, and into some sort of control over the masses of hippies, wannabes and others trying to register for the judging ceremonies. The schedules all seemed wrong, but everyone stayed cheerfully stoned, and there was remarkably little grumbling. So we decided to explore the exhibits, but the exhibitors were struggling with the same fog factor, so we decided to go out for bagels and coffee.
Bagels are hard to find in Amsterdam, so that took a while.
Hemp Hall is also a cool place to hang, roll a joint and relax. The Cannabis Cathedral is the larger hall, where the music, fashion show and awards happen. Finally met with some of the cooler exhibitors at the Pax Party House and had fun discussing the wares they were showing off. Lots of hemp clothing and jewelry, hemp oils and cosmetics, hemp hats, hemp bong bags, you name it, they make it in hemp. However, the best exhibit, attracting the most interest, was the display case of entries in the ground floor exhibit hall.