poledriver
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King of cannabis Nevil Schoenmakers stages a quiet comeback
In the hazy halls of marijuana folklore, one name reigns supreme: Nevil Schoenmakers.
The reclusive Australian/Dutch dual national's work breeding and improving the genetics of plants made him a legend among cannabis users in the 1980s, as his potent and hardy varieties become the basis for most of the strains widely used around the world today.
But after fleeing United States government attempts to extradite him from Australia to face a raft of drug-related charges, Schoenmakers vanished - until now.
As the Federal Parliament considers a Bill to regulate the medicinal use of cannabis and states and territories including the ACT and NSW explore ways of allowing gravely ill patients access to the drug legally, the man known as the King of Cannabis is staging a quiet comeback, more than two decades after his dramatic escape from authorities.
Schoenmakers, who set up one of the world's largest cannabis seed distribution businesses from Holland and used it as a base to send seeds to American customers through the post, has joined Australian medicinal cannabis company AusCann, headed by former Liberal MP Mal Washer and businessmen Troy Langman and Harry Karelis.
Following failed attempts to establish cannabis growing operations in Tasmania and Norfolk Island, AusCann (formerly known as Tasman Health Cannabinoids, or TasCann) is positioning itself to become a licensed provider of cannabis products to Australian and overseas markets, including Canada, as soon as the laws allow it to operate, with Schoenmakers their secret weapon.
With a potential domestic market estimated at $1 billion a year (and a global market 100 times that size), AusCann is just one of several companies eyeing the opportunities in Australia and positioning themselves for a possible change to the local cannabis laws.
"The demand is huge, no one company can service it all," says AusCann founder and ceo Troy Langman.
"We have people in Canada right now. Canada says they will buy everything we can produce."
Schoenmakers, who was one of the major targets of the Bush administration's largely unsuccessful attack on the underground marijuana trade in the late 1980s and early '90s known as Operation Green Merchant, was arrested in Perth in July 1990 to face extradition to the US, where he was to face 44 charges including illegally growing and distributing cannabis.
An affidavit from a man claiming to have acted as Schoenmakers' US distributor told the US District Court of Louisiana that on a trip to Holland he had seen a duffel bag full of envelopes containing hundreds of dollars in cash and orders for marijuana seeds.
"Schoenmakers would cause the seeds to be shipped to me in bulk, wrapped in packets and labelled according to to the quantity and type of seeds involved, which packets were shipped in sealed soup cans that were packaged in a box full with food items. The soup cans contained lead inserts … and would weigh what the label on the soup can said the can should weigh," Raymond Anthony Cogo told the court.
After agreeing to the US Justice Department's extradition request, West Australian police arrested Schoenmakers in July 1990. After 11 months detained in WA's Canning Vale Prison while appealing his extradition, Schoenmakers was granted bail of $100,000 and disappeared.
The August 2, 1991, edition of the West Australian newspaper reported that he had failed to report to Midland police station in Perth, and his mother and de facto wife had not heard from him, predicting he had left the country.
But Fairfax Media can reveal that Schoenmakers has not only returned to Australia, but is preparing to take up his former trade, breeding high quality cannabis, targeted at the medicinal market.
Despite trumpeting its success in apprehending him, the US Justice Department never succeeded in arresting Schoenmakers and eventually dropped its pursuit of him. Neither the West Australian Police who originally arrested him, the Australian Federal Police nor Interpol have any active warrants for his arrest and Schoenmakers is adamant he has not broken Australian laws. A spokesman for the Australian Attorney-General's department said extradition proceedings could be dropped if withdrawn by the foreign country.
Cont -
http://www.smh.com.au/national/king...-stages-a-quiet-comeback-20150220-13iazv.html
In the hazy halls of marijuana folklore, one name reigns supreme: Nevil Schoenmakers.
The reclusive Australian/Dutch dual national's work breeding and improving the genetics of plants made him a legend among cannabis users in the 1980s, as his potent and hardy varieties become the basis for most of the strains widely used around the world today.
But after fleeing United States government attempts to extradite him from Australia to face a raft of drug-related charges, Schoenmakers vanished - until now.
As the Federal Parliament considers a Bill to regulate the medicinal use of cannabis and states and territories including the ACT and NSW explore ways of allowing gravely ill patients access to the drug legally, the man known as the King of Cannabis is staging a quiet comeback, more than two decades after his dramatic escape from authorities.
Schoenmakers, who set up one of the world's largest cannabis seed distribution businesses from Holland and used it as a base to send seeds to American customers through the post, has joined Australian medicinal cannabis company AusCann, headed by former Liberal MP Mal Washer and businessmen Troy Langman and Harry Karelis.
Following failed attempts to establish cannabis growing operations in Tasmania and Norfolk Island, AusCann (formerly known as Tasman Health Cannabinoids, or TasCann) is positioning itself to become a licensed provider of cannabis products to Australian and overseas markets, including Canada, as soon as the laws allow it to operate, with Schoenmakers their secret weapon.
With a potential domestic market estimated at $1 billion a year (and a global market 100 times that size), AusCann is just one of several companies eyeing the opportunities in Australia and positioning themselves for a possible change to the local cannabis laws.
"The demand is huge, no one company can service it all," says AusCann founder and ceo Troy Langman.
"We have people in Canada right now. Canada says they will buy everything we can produce."
Schoenmakers, who was one of the major targets of the Bush administration's largely unsuccessful attack on the underground marijuana trade in the late 1980s and early '90s known as Operation Green Merchant, was arrested in Perth in July 1990 to face extradition to the US, where he was to face 44 charges including illegally growing and distributing cannabis.
An affidavit from a man claiming to have acted as Schoenmakers' US distributor told the US District Court of Louisiana that on a trip to Holland he had seen a duffel bag full of envelopes containing hundreds of dollars in cash and orders for marijuana seeds.
"Schoenmakers would cause the seeds to be shipped to me in bulk, wrapped in packets and labelled according to to the quantity and type of seeds involved, which packets were shipped in sealed soup cans that were packaged in a box full with food items. The soup cans contained lead inserts … and would weigh what the label on the soup can said the can should weigh," Raymond Anthony Cogo told the court.
After agreeing to the US Justice Department's extradition request, West Australian police arrested Schoenmakers in July 1990. After 11 months detained in WA's Canning Vale Prison while appealing his extradition, Schoenmakers was granted bail of $100,000 and disappeared.
The August 2, 1991, edition of the West Australian newspaper reported that he had failed to report to Midland police station in Perth, and his mother and de facto wife had not heard from him, predicting he had left the country.
But Fairfax Media can reveal that Schoenmakers has not only returned to Australia, but is preparing to take up his former trade, breeding high quality cannabis, targeted at the medicinal market.
Despite trumpeting its success in apprehending him, the US Justice Department never succeeded in arresting Schoenmakers and eventually dropped its pursuit of him. Neither the West Australian Police who originally arrested him, the Australian Federal Police nor Interpol have any active warrants for his arrest and Schoenmakers is adamant he has not broken Australian laws. A spokesman for the Australian Attorney-General's department said extradition proceedings could be dropped if withdrawn by the foreign country.
Cont -
http://www.smh.com.au/national/king...-stages-a-quiet-comeback-20150220-13iazv.html
