17) Nevil : part 2 Inside Cannabis Castle

Nevil's first high

« J'avais un ami américain qui nous a proposé d’acheter de l’herbe »

“I remember thinking, ‘Okay. I am not afraid.' We both pretended we had tried it before, when in reality, neither of us had. After buying from someone at school, we returned to a cabin outside his house. I volunteered to roll joints, even though I had never done it before. There were three of us and I rolled three joints, one for each of us. It seemed logical at the time, and it still does in fact, even though normally we pass the joints. Puff Puff Pass... But we didn't know any better. It was Indonesian weed and we were completely stoned. I really liked the feeling of time distortion: everything was happening so slowly.“

In Australia, there was a lot of high-quality weed circulating, and to ensure a constant supply, Nevil went from consumer to dealer in a matter of weeks. At the same time, to satisfy his parents, he found a legitimate job.

“Since I couldn’t become pope, my mother wanted me to be a doctor or veterinarian”

he said.

“My father didn’t see it as a possibility and just wanted me to find a job. Luckily, I was offered a position as a lab assistant at a local university, which was semi-professional, right? And I was working, so they were both happy. »

Nevil excelled in his position. So well, in fact, that he was named acting head of the anatomy lab, with responsibility for the operating room, animal room and office. He was given the only set of keys to the medicine cabinet and responsibility for ordering drugs when supplies were low. For someone interested in experimenting with illicit substances, it seemed like the perfect job.

“Having heard horror stories about cannabis and how horrible it was for you, I decided that everyone in a position of authority was lying about drugs”

said Nevil.

“I knew cannabis was not harmful. I concluded that the harmful effects of other drugs should also be exaggerated. I started with barbiturates. I knew a lot of people used them as sleeping pills. Finally, I tried morphine. I was pretty good at giving injections. There is something very professional and medical about giving yourself an injection. I had to inject rabbits and mice all the time, and if you can find a vein in a rabbit's ear, you can find any human vein. I succeeded on the first try. The morphine made me feel good. I had friends who were already addicted to heroin and encouraged me. Soon I had a bag full of tablets, pills and chemicals of all kinds from the lab. »

Unfortunately for Nevil, this situation was not meant to last. Within months, he was arrested for drug possession. And it didn't take police long to figure out where the drugs were coming from.

The head of the anatomy department suggested that Nevil be sent to a treatment center. His parents agreed and had their son committed to a university psychiatric unit for six weeks..

“I wasn’t addicted at the time”

, said Nevil.

“I was using too many different substances to get addicted to just one. After my release, I had the option of working part-time at the university to rebuild my position. But, uh, I felt the stigma of being a known user. It was a little unbearable. So, I left college and started hanging out with people who supply heroin. Even though I started injecting heroin, I never sold it. I was just selling weed. »

One day, Nevil woke up with excruciating pain in his back. His hips and the base of his spine were in terrible pain. He went to the doctor who prescribed painkillers, but they proved useless. The doctor found nothing wrong. Nevil returned home, but the pain still wouldn't go away.

"Then I realized, 'Damn, I'm addicted'

he said.

“It was quite a shock even though I knew it would happen eventually. »

He enrolled in a methadone program, which proved to be an extremely dehumanizing experience.

“They made me beg for drugs”

he said.

“I didn’t like it. I was dealing weed in Melbourne and shipping it in huge compounds, telling people I was in a band. I was making what seemed like a huge amount of money: $5,000 a week. »

Unfortunately, Nevil gave a free sample to a girl who was later arrested by the police. The girl identified Nevil as her supplier, and what followed was a lengthy trial that eventually reached Australia's equivalent of the Supreme Court. Throughout the trial, Nevil was enrolled in a methadone program and under psychiatric supervision.

“I had the feeling that things were coming to an end,”

he said.

“My drug problem seemed quite insurmountable and the outcome of the trial did not seem promising. So I took a flight to Thailand. »

ESCAPE TO BANGKOK

For several weeks, Nevil lived in a cheap hotel in Bangkok, injecting heroin until his money ran out. He snuck out without paying the bill, checked into another hotel and began selling his valuables to get money.

“I found a taxi driver who took me to exclusive boutiques in the city,”

he said.

“The driver received a commission from the store for bringing Europeans in, whether they bought anything or not. After we left, the driver and I shared the commission. »

However, after visiting every shop in Bangkok (and no longer being welcome in any of them), Nevil called his parents and asked for a plane ticket home. Unfortunately, the police had already appeared at his house with an arrest warrant.

“It did not seem safe to return to Australia,”

Nevil said with his usual reserve. His parents sent him a ticket to the Netherlands and the address of an uncle living in the countryside.

After Thailand, Nevil's addiction was really out of control. Upon arriving in the Netherlands, he immediately enrolled in a methadone program and discovered he needed 24 pills a day to stay sober.

“I dealt with it for about six months”

he said.

“I was trying to reduce my consumption, trying to fit in. I had unemployment benefits, which was enough to survive in the Netherlands. But I felt quite alone. »

Six months later he moved to Tilburg, the center of the Netherlands' heroin scene.

Obviously, Tillberg was not a conducive environment to wean yourself off heroin. Drug addicts had taken over the city, turning pubs and hotels into injection rooms.

“My first day in town I went to a bar called the Lawyer's Purse”

said Nevil.

Heroin was sold all along the counter. It was pure chaos. Apparently the police couldn't do anything about it, or didn't want to. It lasted quite a while. When the police closed a place, everyone moved to another bar. It was a pretty rough town and I went through a tough time. I had no money except allowances. I had a strong addiction. I lived in a town known for its roughness and crime. I cost the state a lot of money by going through every rehab program available. After many failed attempts to quit, I decided no one could help me. It's true. No one can help a junkie. He can only help himself. So, I decided to wean myself off heroin on my own. I convinced a doctor to give me sleeping pills and a synthetic opioid, which probably didn't do anything. I stayed home and suffered for six weeks until I could handle drinking alcohol. I started drinking every day, half a bottle of Scotch in the morning, half a bottle in the evening. I used the pills to sleep, so part of the day was always a blur. Eventually, I got tired of hangovers and turned to weed. I decided it was probably the only acceptable drug.

In 1980, while still trying to wean himself off, Nevil came across a copy of “Marijuana Grower’s Guide” by Mel Frank and Ed Rosenthal.

“I grew some weed in the bushes in Australia” he said.

The book helped revive Nevil's interest in genetics. Why not combine his two favorite passions, breeding and drugs? Nevil applied for a loan to build an indoor cannabis grow room. Only in the Netherlands could such a request be taken seriously.

“The drug program I was enrolled in gave grants to addicts to help them start something useful”

explique-t-il.

“I told them I wanted to grow weed indoors. They weren't thrilled with the idea, but they gave me the money anyway.“

The installation included eight 5-foot fluorescent lamps.

“There was a vacant lot behind my apartment that I filled with weed. I had Nigerian, Colombian and Mexican seeds. The Mexican was the best. I still have this variety. My Dwarfs come from there. »

Although there wasn't much demand for home-grown weed in the Netherlands, hash oil was a valuable commodity and could be sold easily. Thus, Nevil became a professional hash oil producer.

The Fire

Nevil used petroleum ether, an extremely flammable liquid, for the distillation process.

“I heated it with electric hotplates with a thermostat” explain Nevil.

Unfortunately, Nevil didn't know that the heating thermostat should be placed in another room because it sparks when turned on. He had a sink filled with 40 liters of petroleum ether, as well as a box containing another 10 liters on the floor. One day he turned on the thermostat and it sparked. These quickly ignited a flame, which instantly turned into a violent fire.

With his eyes closed, Nevil rushed into the adjacent room and dove out of the window, bouncing onto a roof before rolling onto the sidewalk.

“My first thought after hitting the ground was to save my dope” he said laughing.

He went back inside, grabbed all the hash oil he could find and buried it in the garden. Then he returned to collect everything of value.

“Then I went to the neighbors to tell them”

he said.

“They were shocked by my appearance. I didn't realize that my hair was burned, my face blackened, my clothes torn. I had first and second degree burns and was covered in blisters. »

Twenty minutes later, the police arrived, followed by the fire department and an ambulance. At the hospital, the burn specialist told him he was lucky to have so much pain, because it meant the burns weren't first degree. He was given a morphine injection to relieve the pain. The next morning, however, Nevil refused any further injections.

“I knew I would get addicted again” dit-il.

Despite his doctors' horror stories of lifelong scarring, Nevil was released two weeks later without any visible damage. However, there was a permanent change. Nevil has decided to never make hash oil again.

Since Nevil read HIGH TIMES, he knew that revolutionary new indica strains were appearing in the United States, even though none were available in the Netherlands. If he could only grow weed that the Dutch would consider acceptable, he could go into business and sell marijuana instead of hash oil. He searched through copies of HIGH TIMES, hoping to find an indica seed supplier .

“I was looking for hidden meanings in all the ads”

he said.

“Of course, it was just a fantasy on my part. I knew how difficult it was to get good Nigerian and Indonesian seeds in America and wanted to barter with someone. »

Eventually, Nevil realized that there was only one way to get good seeds, and that was to become a seed merchant himself. He hired a lawyer to investigate the legal implications and discovered that it was possible to sell cannabis seeds in the Netherlands. In just a few months, he sent his first ad to HIGH TIMES.

Nevil spent a lot of money to obtain seeds, even traveling secretly to Afghanistan.

"There were probably thousands of people like me, and as soon as they saw the ad, I thought I was going to get a deal" remembre Nevil.

However, business was disappointingly slow in the first few months. Why? Probably because most readers found it hard to believe that high quality seeds could be obtained so easily. Nevil doesn't discuss his distribution system, but there's no doubt the seeds are getting where they need to go. Most of the money Nevil received was reinvested into improving his seed strains. Nevil spent a lot of money to obtain seeds, a commitment that is best illustrated by a secret trip to Mazar I Sharif in Afghanistan.

According to Muslim legend, one of Muhammad's sons died in this city, making it a very holy place. It is also renowned for its high quality hashish. Although hashish from the region was widely available in the Netherlands in the 1970s, the Soviet invasion of the country significantly reduced exports. In 1985, an Afghan refugee informed Nevil that the fields around Mazar I Sharif were being destroyed.

“That was all I needed to hear.”

said Nevil.

“I took the next plane to Pakistan to save the stump.”

The story of this adventure was first reported in the magazine written by former HIGH TIMES reporter A. Craig Copetas.

"After being smuggled into a refugee camp near Peshawar, lying on the floor of a car, Nevil made contact with a 30-year-old Muslim fanatic who had a pulsing vein running from the middle of his eye to his forehead "

wrote Copetas.

"The man took a piece of black hashish from his pocket and told Nevil that he had been treated by his uncle, a man known as Mr. Hashish. Surrounded by four men armed with machine guns, Nevil undertook to negotiate with Mr. Haschisch, a mujahideen commander, and eventually convinced him to send a team of his men 280 miles into Soviet-occupied territory to return with two kilos of healthy seeds from Mazar-i-Sharif ."

“He thought I was ridiculous because I didn’t want to buy hashish or opium”

remembre Nevil.

"No one had ever come there to buy seeds before, and at first he had no idea what I was talking about. I stood there trying to explain genetics to this tribal hash leader in the language of signs. When he finally understood what I wanted, he asked too high a price. I took a zero off his price and gave him ten percent up front. He called me a bandit, but I didn't. I received the seeds four days later."

Nevil also put a lot of effort into obtaining ruderalis seeds, a little-known cannabis strain that grows mainly in Russia. Although some American growers have sold so-called ruderalis strains in the past, Nevil made the necessary trip to the Russian-Hungarian border to authenticate the plant. Ruderalis is not known for its spectacular resin content, but it flowers automatically, regardless of photoperiod, making it an extremely useful hybrid, especially for outdoor growers. Nevil plans to cross ruderalis-indica hybrids with his Mexican Dwarfs.

The result ? The ultimate cannabis strain: a potent indoor/outdoor bonsai marijuana tree that reaches maturity in up to two months and never exceeds two feet in height. The plant would be virtually undetectable from the air and it could be years before the DEA figures out what it is. Nevil is close to perfecting this strain to the point where seeds could be available by the time this article is published. More miracles can be expected soon from Cannabis Castle.

“Since becoming a seed dealer, I have directed all my energies and money towards finding people with superior strains of cannabis and obtaining seeds from them”

said Nevil.

"And I can honestly say that I have never heard of a strain that I wanted and somehow failed to get. Theoretically, there is someone somewhere that grows something better than me using my seeds Why? Because tens of thousands of plants are grown with my stock. Selecting from tens of thousands gives phenomenal results, while I can only select. among a few hundred. I hold nothing back. Any grower in America can experiment with the same stock as me."

SSSC seeds, “Super Sativa Seed Club, were renowned for their quality and genetics before their disappearance. They have helped set high standards in the cannabis industry”.

The Super Sativa Seed Club (SSSC), founded by two Dutch nationals in 1984, has become another important source of cannabis seeds in the Netherlands, alongside the Nevil Seed Bank. The organization became known for its extensive seed catalog, which offered more than 30 varieties of cannabis seeds. Beyond simple seed listings, the catalog was filled with detailed information on all aspects of cannabis cultivation, with a particular emphasis on high-tech indoor growing techniques.

The SSSC catalog covered the scientific aspects of plant growth, explaining concepts such as photosynthesis, respiration, and sugar production in an accessible way. The organization aimed to incrementally improve growth, even if it was only 1% at a time, demonstrating their dedication to advancing cultivation practices.

Key sections of the catalog included practical guides such as "Making Cuttings", which details effective techniques for cloning successfully, and "The Hedging Method", a strategy for obtaining multiple harvests per year with ease. Additionally, there was coverage on rockwool use and nutrient management, providing growers with the essential tools to improve their yields and crop quality.

In summary, the SSSC catalog was essential reading for serious cannabis growers in the Netherlands at that time, offering valuable knowledge and methodologies for optimizing indoor cultivation.

DC (Dutch Passion) evaluates some of the strains coming from Cannabis Castle.

SKUNK #1

"First created around 1910, it is the Dom Pérignon of domestic cannabis and one of my favorites. Very pure, it offers a cerebral high. At first, the bud gives off a fine perfume aroma. If harvested late , it takes on a skunk smell. Ideal for the morning."

AFGHANI #1

"Narcotic. Paralyzing. Makes your heart beat wildly. Nothing pleasant about this high. Purely physical, it provides great bodily strength. No mental effects, only a body high. It’s not a connoisseur favorite.”

EARLY PEARL

“F1 Hybrid is without a doubt one of the best marijuana strains to ever pass this connoisseur's lips. Let it mature until the resin glands turn amber and it will produce a mild-tasting herb, with a wonderfully stoned high. I wish I had kilos of it on hand all the time.”

MAZAR I SHARIF

“Very good vigorous pure Afghan indica plant. The buds are a bit on the small side. Although it can be smoked like marijuana, it is best passed through a fine sieve to make hashish.”

NORTHERN LIGHTS

“Cutting-edge indoor indica. Native to the Pacific Northwest, it is the result of many years of indoor breeding - three to four harvests per year, for a total of approximately thirty to forty generations over the past ten years. The photo in Nevil's catalog is a cutting from a favorite stump, NL#5 F1. Unfortunately, no seeds of this variety are available, only cuttings. If anyone can find something more resinous than this, I'd love to see it. Doesn't have much taste. The breeder had a very specific goal in mind: high resin content. He certainly succeeded. The weed is a mild indica that gives you a pleasant stoned feeling - almost the opposite of Afghani #1. Although there are tastier varieties, I could smoke this one all day.”

NL5x8

“Very good strong indica with just a little sativa. Worth growing indoors for commercial production or for your own consumption. It will take another week or two, but it will be well worth the wait. After a few puffs, you'll be pleasantly stoned and hard to believe this plant was grown under HPS lights. The effect is powerful, less cerebral than that of #5, but it’s a good choice for the end of the evening.”

CALIFORNIA ORANGE

“Very pleasant, with a sweet taste. Some buds have a really lemony scent and taste. Very nice indica-sativa hybrid. The sativa kicks in first, you feel light and airy, then ten minutes later the indica starts to kick in and... "Oh boy, I'm stoner than I thought".

INDISAT

Raised and developed in New York State. It adapts very well to outdoor cultivation. The plant has the appearance of a sativa but the buds have an indica structure. The effect is a little closer to a sativa, more cerebral.

NEPALESE

Overwhelming sativa high. It's really too powerful, but some people are looking for it. The plant can grow over 20 feet tall and does not mature until late October.

To be continued… Part 2/3

Source: HERE