Swazi Gold
With a temperate climate, majestic waterfalls, and an abundance of playful monkeys, the Kingdom of Swaziland would appear to be heaven on Earth, yet Swaziland has the highest prevalence of HIV in the world and only one doctor for every 6,000 people.
Ruled by King Mswati III, Sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch, the citizens of Swaziland are taunted by the King's $200 million bank account and numerous palaces occupied by his 15 wives. Although over 2/3 of the population lives under the poverty line King Mswati taxes the meager income Swazi farmers earned from their crops. But one crop remains exempt because it was never approved.
"Swazi Gold" is a pure sativa strain that is said to take six months to mature and can grow over ten feet in height. Additionally the plants are rumored to be completely devoid of the cannabinoid CBD, but Hamilton wanted to test this for himself. So he began collecting samples... for "analysis." Contrary to the popular image of cannabis growers as stoners and hippies, the growers of Swaziland are predominantly drug naive grandmothers who grow the plant out of pure economic necessity.
With the country in fiscal crisis and its former wood pulp and mining industries exhausting the last of Swaziland's natural resources, Doctor Ben Dlamini has a few remaining solutions to attract foreign investors and protect the country from economic collapse. But the market is no longer dominated by the original six-months Swazi Gold and there's now a demand for fast-growing hybrids imported from Europe.
Africa produces more cannabis than any other continent in the world and Swaziland, despite its small size, dedicates more hectares of land to cannabis cultivation than all of India. One interesting thing about cannabis growers in Swaziland is they never get high on their own supply. Farmers report, the iron rich soil is ideal for growing cannabis without the use of synthetic fertilizers.
I cannot believe this man would go to Swaziland and exploit these people. He quite possibly put these people's livelihood and lives in danger by just trying to get the scoop.
NO CLUE!!
I read here in the comments that alcohol dissolves THC?? Really??
docoman that is untrue.
Alcohol is the best method of extraction.
This film shouldn't be labeled as a documentary. This guy took advantage of some Southern Africans to gather some weeds and laugh in front of a camera. Disappointing.
A documentary used to be something based on facts and
something you could learn from, now documentary means any jackass with a camera
shooting amateur videos.
r u serious -- ? u didn't delay plane ? or mail it back home or direct to a lab ?
He didn't want to show his claims are BS I'd suggest.
I think it's fitting that it didn't all come together. Much like plans when one gets stoned! Good work Hamilton!
the geezer seems to be the dope expert for vice as seen in other vice drug related doc's....but in the end just a drug traveller opposed to journalism,imo...which explains a lot!
What? He didn't get the data he was looking for in the end? The whole point of the documentary was to test the legitimacy of the claims that that Swazi Gold strain is a pure THC strain with no CBDs. In the end, he doesn't get to analyze the plant samples because their gear didn't arrive until about 30 mins before they left? Sounds like a lame excuse, I mean, if you're going to to a study why don't you have that stuff ready? This was very disappointing to be honest. Aside from that it's an ok documentary, there's a lot of weed for sure and I am a stoner so I enjoy a good weed doco, but this one was so-so.
He had the gear to do his analysis yet didn't delay his flight in order to complete it. Indeed a very lame excuse, I think he might have been too high to do the correct procedure and came up with that cop out.
I agree mate, proper testing would have killed his main 'claim to fame' and proved his 100% THC claim wrong. A weak effort, very lame.
looking at the sites that sell Swazi Gold seeds, it doesn't appear that anyone in the know is claiming above 20% thc for the strain (which is still good, 10/15% seems to be the average in my experience)...I think i'm going to have to agree with the general concencus that either he did do the test but realised it was so far below his initial claims that he would look like an i*iot if he showed them, or he just didn't bother because he figured out that the 100% claim was dumb and going through with it would make him look like an idiot...so he opted to just leave without doing it...and look like an i*iot. he couldn't really win. he'd set himself up for a fall whatever the results.
My understanding is that his claim was not that it contained a higher concentration of thc but that the ratio of cannabinols contained was 100% thc and 0% other cannabinols. Maybe I got it wrong though.
ah as a ratio...yes that makes a lot more sense, but still doesn't sound very likely.
hmm...to be honest I think it may be that weed doesn't work the way the introduction claims.
Pure THC is what hashish is, for a plant to be 100% TCH it would have to produce no green matter whatsoever, the buds would have to be pure trichomes...So bearing that in mind I don't really see how buds could have no cbd, and i also don't understand why that would be a desirable thing...cbd's are good!
I think maybe he took the claims of someone selling it a bit too seriously...unfortunatly drug dealers aren't the best people to try and get reliable evidence from...best bet would be to see if the strain has been entered into the cannabis cup in Amsterdam...it would have been properly analysed if it has.
No mate, hash isn't 100% THC. Straight up, the trichomes themselves are not THC. Fresh hash still has some plant %, also THC (delta 9) oxidises over time with exposure to light and air into other cannabinoids. The closest you'll get to 100 % without laboratory refining is a properly made hash-oil, maybe around 90% if fresh.
yeah fair enough...looking at the batch of bubble hash I made earlier in the year i'm going to concede to you on that...however aren't the trichs glands the bits that produce the thc?
mmm, bubbles!! :) VERY nice a_, ice-water method? Good % ya would've had there mate.
Yeah mate, the tric's are where most of the THC is produced and where you'll find the most concentrated cannabinoids for sure. There is some in the leaf, if you pick a plant even before it flowers there is small amounts in the leaves. None in the roots or seeds.
I agree with you about CBD, depending on what one is after, CBD is the 'body stone' and is what is most medicinally useful to me. The 'sofa lock' part :) Good for pain relief.
Alcohol dissolves THC. A few years back now, I brought a nice bottle of scotch, 'necked' it to make some room, and stuffed about 1/2 an oz into it, then sat it up in the dark for 6 months. A cap-full in a coffee was a nice start to the day, tasted like an irish coffee, about 1/2 hour later it kicked in as a mellow painkiller, and made the morning quite cruisey. :)
An easy way one can improve leaf, is by water-curing. THC doesn't dissolve in water, so if you soak leaf in room temp. water, (hot water will release the oils and make them float) it will dissolve parts of the leaf (up to a third by volume) leaving a higher % THC per volume then earlier after its dried again. If one was going to use leaf to cook with, its good to do that first as it removes a lot of the chlorophyll and bad taste that is there. Same can be done with buds, but it's not worth it with decent gear.
I'd love to share a couple 'bubbles' with ya one time mate... if you ever come over to Aus for a holiday, let me know you're coming. :)
nice to see you know your stuff,doco....a good 'trick' to raise THC in self grown plants is to leave the plant in complete darkness for 2 days before harvest as it makes the plant push more THC(?) into the buds....worked well with mine......thanks for the insight (tips),doco!always great to read your comments,mate.
A good tip dmxi, thanks. Same to you mate, I always enjoy your inputs too. Same too mate, if you're ever coming over my way... ;)
i can only return the invitation....always welcome!
i've started experimenting with this, apparantly giving it a couple days in the dark also forces the plant to use up all of it's stored sugars and water making curing a much smoother process.
I've tried the same, also no nutrients and a good flush a few days beforehand I've found helped with the flavor, as you say, much smoother. I don't grow at the moment, the damned laws here. I miss the hobby part of it almost as much as the harvest results. I grow veggies instead.. not as much fun but useful.
cheers for adding the 'flush' part as that is good to wash out all excess 'crap' & stop watering before placing into the dark.......
If we were neighbours, I'd be over every morning for coffee:)
How did this guy get to make this doc? It is beyond my comprehension.
And also this doc could actually endanger some lifes out there, it is illegal and they do not pay tax on it. I don't think these peasants knew what they were in for, no one told them that the entire world would see them in action including any officials of their own country.
i could smack that smug face (oviously) grinning in the still caption but who couldn't grin besides that large quantity of dope?ah,the problems surrounding the topic would wipe my smile from my face!
What a joke and waste of
time
I agree dmxi, smiling even though his '15 minutes of fame' probably had a very real, negative impact on the people forced to try to survive that way. He didn't deserve their hospitality I believe, as oQ said above.