Yesterday, High Times announced a Medical Marijuana Cannabis Cup will be held this year in San Francisco.  Today, concerns that the June date might be handicapping outdoor growers spread throughout Humboldt.  In an effort to answer these concerns I contacted David Bienenstock the new West Coast editor at High Times. Bienenstock has proved to be exceptionally friendly to outdoor growers in the past year and has written several pieces about the movement. He responded quickly:

I share everyone’s concerns about supporting outdoor growers. Unfortunately, our already existing cannabis cup in Amsterdam takes place in November, and we’re a very small staff, so we can’t have two events at the same time of year — at least not this year….

We considered having a separate Cup category for outdoor cannabis, and would definitely consider that in the future as well, but I thought that might play into the “outdoor is less potent” mind frame and reinforce the whole indoor stereotype we’re trying to avoid.

The Medical Cannabis Cup will be judged by a small group of experts (about 5) led by Jorge Cervantes, and I will personally instruct them to keep this issue in mind when judging…

I have also spoken to some outdoor growers who think they can cure and store enough from last year to make a great showing….

He asked what people think about whether an cup exclusive for Outdoor pot would be a good idea.  Feel free to put in your two cents.  Mine is that I know indoor growers who buy or grow a bit of outdoor for their own consumption.  I don’t know anybody who does the reverse.  Ergo,  Outdoor is the Kind and will do just fine.