Gloria Indica
Hi! Welcome to the 5th edition of Gloria Indica, our newsletter written and published for Wednesdays and Thursdays, where we train our eyes on cannabis, science, business and technology. If you’re reading this for the first time, then welcome. How’re you doing and how was Monday and Tuesday? Ours was okay, in a good way. We read a book called ‘The Future is Asian’, written by foreign policy expert, Mr. Parag Khanna over the last four days. When we understood the full extent to which Asia dominated the world and the how it is poised to do so again, we got goosebumps. Let’s see how things will actually pan out though.
Silver, Silver, Silver, Oh Silver, Silver
Silver is called the ‘poor man’s gold’ for some reason.
We politely disagree. Poor man’s gold? Such stereotypes ought to end. This term ought to have been definitely coined by an elitist, privileged set of people who probably wanted to hoard a lot of silver for themselves. The Hunt Brothers from United States attempted to do precisely that in 1980.
Below is an excerpt from Wikipedia’s page ‘Silver Thursday’
“Nelson Bunker Hunt, Lamar Hunt, and William Herbert Hunt, the sons of Texas oil billionaire Haroldson Lafayette Hunt, Jr., had for some time been attempting to corner the market in silver. In 1979, the price for silver (based on the London Fix) jumped from $6.08 per troy ounce ($0.195/g) on January 1, 1979, to a record high of $49.45 per troy ounce ($1.590/g) on January 18, 1980, an increase of 713%. The brothers were estimated to hold one third of the entire world supply of silver (other than that held by governments). The situation for other prospective purchasers of silver was so dire that on March 26, 1980, the jeweller Tiffany’s took out a full page ad in The New York Times, condemning the Hunt Brothers“
Apparently the brothers had borrowed heavily to finance their purchases based on the expectation that Silver’s prices in the future would help them make a huge profit, since Silver as a commodity is used in both the industrial and consumer markets and companies operating in these markets would continue to pay for Silver. However, as readers would no doubt read ahead, the plan didn’t materialize because Silver’s price crashed by 80% leaving the brothers with a $1.7 billion hole. Two of the brothers survived and moved on to other things while one of them went bankrupt.
Poor man’s gold indeed.
In other Silver stuff, here’s the Super Silver Haze cannabis strain we came across on Leafly. And why does this strain of cannabis deserve a mention here?
“Super Silver Haze, bred by Green House Seeds, was the first prize winner at the High Times Cannabis Cup in 1997, 1998, and 1999. Crossing genetics of Skunk, Northern Lights, and Haze creates a beautiful, sticky sativa that boasts an energetic, long-lasting body high. The uplifting effects are a great for high stress levels or when suffering from a lack of appetite or nausea”
Let’s keep blazing.
Brazilian Coffee and Brazilian Cannabis FTW
Thankfully, the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t halted Brazilian lawmakers’ and regulators’ efforts to use cannabis as a useful commodity and bring in their farmers, entrepreneurs and companies to research and get consumer products and medicines to the huge Brazilian market.
According to Hemp Industry Daily:
“Draft legislation that would allow Brazilian farmers to grow cannabis for medical and industrial purposes on domestic soil for the first time has been submitted to the country’s lower house of Congress. The bill was delivered to the House of Deputies speaker this week by lawmakers Paulo Teixeira and Luciano Ducci, co-sponsors of the bill who sit on the chamber’s special commission for the regulation of medicinal cannabis.
“Sponsors say that opening up Brazil for the cultivation and production of cannabis-derived products on the medical and industrial spaces represents a major opportunity for the country at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has triggered a global economic downturn”
It is important to note that the Brazilian cannabis cultivation will not take into account the use of cannabis for recreational purposes (like Canada, Uruguay, Portugal and several states of the USA), will also not take into account any provisions for self-cultivation and lastly, not even for religious purposes. These markets will remain unregulated for now. However, for Brazil to even take the first step for the medical and consumer markets is in itself a huge win-win for everyone, including the big pharmaceutical companies who behave as if THC and CBD would replace their synthetic medications overnight, when nothing could be further from the truth.
Let’s keep blazing and have cold coffee along with it. Coffee and Cannabis for the win.
Let’s Build Something Great. Or Let’s Not Do Anything.
It arrives in fits and starts but when it does it leaves us motionless, as if nothing more can be done by you, and that nothing more actually needs to be done, since congratulations, you’ve successfully managed to survive so far, and your limbic brain system is happy and sad at the same time. All you need to do, is just eat and drink the right amounts everyday, maybe sweat a little everyday to stay in shape, and maybe have a few romantic or well-meaning conversations everyday for the mental well-being of your brain.
And that’s it! You don’t need to do anything more. You’ll be assured of a constant monthly pay cheque, your reward for listening to orders and doing things as you’re told to do, and reporting and justifying your work in front of others. A cog in a system.
Sometimes you feel great. Sometimes you don’t. Sometimes, you want to run away from every emotional and professional responsibility and start all over again. Sometimes, you’re as alive as a panther, ready to guard your turf in this modern jungle disguised in the form of structures made of steel and cement, powered by electricity. We’re so lucky that other human beings thought about making steel, cement and electricity. And we do reward them with our wallets make no mistake, as they indeed deserve to be so. But, what do you want to do? Ever had the thought that maybe, you wanted to build something of your won? We feel you.
Let’s keep blazing. Have a great day 🙂
Marijuana Maharaj 