An Analysis and Review of the 2006 Oregon Medical Cannabis Awards

By "Radical" Russ Belville -
Associate Director, Oregon NORML

On December 9, 2006, the Oregon affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Oregon NORML) held the fifth annual Oregon Medical Cannabis Awards at the Ambridge Events Center in Portland, Oregon. (See photos from the awards in our Gallery.)

The awards began in 2002 when patients in the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP) complained about the lack of information from the program about how to grow marijuana and which strains would be best for their medical conditions.  "It's not like a pharmaceutical drug where a patient can run down to the pharmacy and choose from lots of different brands and ask a pharmacist or a doctor for suggestions," said Oregon NORML Executive Director Madeline Martinez.  "Since the federal government won't allow scientists and doctors to really study medical marijuana and since the state of Oregon can't give this information to patients, we decided to step in and help any way we can."

Martinez claims the event is the only blind-sample medical marijuana evaluation in the country, perhaps the world.  "There are other 'cannabis cup'-type events," Martinez continues, "but they are primarily concerned with the recreational use of cannabis and do not track the medical conditions of the judges or the medical effectiveness of the marijuana as it relates to specific medical conditions."

The event began early in the morning as vendors arrived to setup their wares.  It was open to the public; however, Oregon medical marijuana patients with proper ID and OMMP cards were given a private outdoor courtyard out of public view where they could medicate with cannabis.

Prior to the event, OMMP patients register as an Entrant, a Judge, or both.  An Entrant will supply one to four strains of medical marijuana that they have grown themselves within the state of Oregon.  Entrants are given detailed entry forms to track the genetics of the strain grown, the growth medium (soil, hydro, or aero), the lighting cycle, the types of lights (if indoor), harvesting details and much more.

The strains are divided into 28 1-gram samples and labeled anonymously.  A sample of each strain is then given to the Judges.  Judges are given a comprehensive journal to record their use of the medical strain - how much they use, how they ingest the medicine (smoking, vaporizing, or eating), time to onset and duration of relief. 

The strains are also rated in six categories -- appearance, aroma, smoothness, taste, potency, and medical efficacy -- which judges rate on a scale of 1 (poor) to 10 (superior).  (Judges who are also Entrants receive their own samples, but do not know which samples are theirs, and their votes for their own samples do not count toward the overall scores.)

The event culminates with an awards banquet where the best strains in each category are recognized.  Trophies are given to the top three finishers in the Overall Category, which averages the scores from the six categories with twice the weight given to the Medical Efficacy category.

During the day the OMCA is a convention hall filled with vendors and demonstrations.  Vendors of glass, hemp clothing, jewelry, confections (medical and otherwise), vaporizers, and alternative-fuel vehicles were there, as well as non-profit organizations like NORML, Voter Power, and the Pacific Green Party of Oregon.  The news media were there to record the event, with reporters from the daily Oregonian and weekly Willamette Week newspapers in attendance.

The theme of the convention this year was "More Than Medicine".  According to Oregon NORML Founder and volunteer Anna Diaz, "We wanted to show that marijuana is more than just a plant you use for medical purposes.  The Hemp Fashion Show demonstrates that, as do all these great food vendors and the biodiesel guys."

The Hemp Fashion Show was a new addition to the event.  Designers from Portland and the Pacific Northwest showcased their clothing and jewelry made from hemp cloth or with hemp dyes.  Models volunteered their time to walk the runway as conventioneers cheered the fashions.  The styles ran the gamut from practical hemp t-shirts and trousers to futuristic couture suited best for the fashionistas.

The "biodiesel guys" referred to by Diaz are a company called EnvioFuel of Corvallis, Oregon, (www.enviofuel.com), which converts regular diesel engines to run on straight vegetable oil and biodiesel.  Company spokesmen gave a demonstration on the technology, which allows a driver to fill his tank with used fryer oil from a fast-food joint or other restaurant.  They also took attendees outside to demonstrate their working model - a GMC Suburban that smells a lot like hot french fries when it is idling.

Other demonstrations featured Oregon NORML's Legal Counsel, Paul Loney, recapping the national and Oregon court cases that made news on the subject of marijuana, and myself, Russ Belville, Oregon NORML's Associate Director and Webmaster, presenting a year-end retrospective on the cannabis community events and news of 2006.

At the end of the convention time, Loney and Technical Administrator David Bram performed the data entry of the Judge's Journals.  The votes were tallied live on a big projection screen and onlookers watched the graphs of the winners and losers, waiting to learn the overall champion.

This year's overall winner was a strain called "Medicine Woman" and was grown indoors in soil by David V. of Long Creek, Oregon.  It was David's 2nd straight overall win, having taken the top prize last year for "Dynamite".  Second place went to "Sweet Blu" by Patrick K., and Third place went to "Lollipop" by Mike R.

The category awards were given to the strains that placed highest in the individual categories without placing in the top three overall.  The winner for Appearance and Smoothness was "TX" by Mark A.; for Taste and Aroma it was “Trainwreck” by Paul S.; for Potency it was "Green Queen" by Chris I.; for Medicinal Effect it was “Phaght Betty” by Chris D.

When we break down the voting by medical conditions, we find that different strains place higher for treating different conditions.  This year's awards featured judges who use marijuana to treat the following conditions (totals will equal more than 28 since some judges indicate more than one condition):

Table 1 - Medical Conditions of OMCA 2006 Judges

* Not recognized under Oregon's medical marijuana law as a qualifying condition for the use of medical marijuana. Tracked here as a secondary condition in addition to a qualifying condition.

At least one of the top three finishers overall ("Medicine Woman", "Sweet Blu", & "Lollipop") placed in the top five in every medical category, except for reproductive conditions (which was bested by "Catalyst" by Ali N. and "Snow White" by Chris C.)  Other notable strains include:

• "Original Mystic" by Mike R. worked well for chronic pain conditions,
• "Dynamite" by Andrew H. for gastro-intestinal conditions,
• "White Widow" by Paul S. for immunodeficiency conditions,
• "Jack Herer" by Susan S. for psychological conditions,
• "Afghooie x Haze" by Smoke Dogg for reproductive conditions,
• "Claudia" by Linda M. for respiratory conditions,
• "East Coast Sour Diesel" by David V. for seizure disorders,
• "Blue Fruit" by Mike R. for spastic disorders,
• And "Phaght Betty" by Chris D. for vision impairments.

The following table shows some of the OMCA Strains that finished in the Top 3 by judges with certain medical conditions. 

Table 2 - Strain Recommendations by exact Medical Condition

We found other interesting trends when analyzing the data.  The method used to ingest the marijuana, for example, can have a great effect on the scores for Taste and Smoothness.  A strain like "Dynamite" or "Northern Lights" finishes on top with 9s for those categories when rated by people who use vaporizers, but drops to mid 7s & 6s when evaluated by smokers.

Overall scores seemed to be affected even by the method of smoking the judge preferred.  The overall winner "Medicine Woman" fared in the top two with scores near 8 when smoked from a bong or pipe, but dropped to the middle of the pack with 6s when smoked in a joint.

The sample size of only 28 strains and 28 judges is recognized to be too small to provide statistically reliable data.  Plus, there are few controls on the methods of ingestion and evaluation of effect - the judging is subjective and controlled by the judge.  Still, this anecdotal evidence provides patients and researchers with a start to understanding the variety of medical conditions for which marijuana is an effective treatment.

Data from past OMCAs is being combined with this years information, and future OMCAs will be added every year.  Oregon NORML will post this information online at ornorml.org as an interactive queryable database for patients and caregivers in the OMMP.

Oregon NORML also recognized people who have done extraordinary work in the service of the cannabis community of Oregon in 2006.  As part of the awards banquet and before presentation of ribbons and trophies to the medical marijuana strains, Oregon NORML presented the following two awards:

The Freedom Fighter of the Year - presented to Peter & Laura Stark for their countless hours of volunteer work in creating and donating "Ma the All-Cannabis Dragon".

Ma is the Mandarin word for "hemp".  It was chosen as the name for the All-Cannabis Dragon, which is a backpack-mounted dragon's head made almost entirely from cannabis stalks.  The eyes glow and the jaws move and her trailing 40-foot body is made out of hemp cloth.

Ma was used with great success at the Million Marijuana March in May and the Portland Hempstalk in September.  Curious crowds gathered around the huge spectacle of Ma being toted twelve feet above the ground by six Oregon NORML volunteers.  Questions about her construction led to discussions about industrial hemp, much to the surprise of most of the public that thought marijuana was only good for smoking.

The other award was the Dr. Richard Bayer Award.  This award is presented to the top legal, medical, or political professional who makes the most courageous stand in support of the cannabis community.

The award is named for Dr. Rick Bayer, who was one of chief petitioners of Oregon's Medical Marijuana Act which passed in 1998.

This year's recipient was Dr. David Dodge, who was selected for his tireless work at the Hemp & Cannabis Foundation medical marijuana clinic.  Dr. Dodge helps many sick and disabled Oregonians find relief through the medical use of cannabis.  This year Dr. Dodge helped to expand the mission of the foundation and is now helping more citizens legally use marijuana in Oregon than ever before.

To close out the evening's festivities, local artist Tim Pate played guitar and sang his own music. Tim performs regularly as part of Tim Pate & The Trichomes, Oregon NORML's house band, and also as a solo artist opening up such cannabis-friendly events as Seattle Hempfest, Portland Hempstalk, and the Cannabis Cup in Amstersdam.

A great time was had by all the participants, attendees, and vendors. Growers are already preparing their best strains for the 2007 OMCA.