JJ McRoach authored an article in High Times in the mid/late 1980's advocating a ban on indica. This was way before hybridizing took off and when grafting for particular traits was a just novelty. One grew pure indica for squat, big yielding, highly resinous plants that matured outdoors in 3 or so months. But he argued that growers and consumers were turning their backs on sativa strains that often grew to ginormous sizes, flowered when they wanted to and usually produced smaller yields. His point was that growers couldn't be bothered with the risk of a protracted growing period, and consumers were gradually losing sight of the longer-lasting cerebral qualities of classic sativa strains like Thai buddha, Viet sp., Durban Poison etc. From memory, I think he cited the disappearance of the fabled Acapulco Gold as an example
. The 'baseball bat between the eyes' hit from indica became all the rage and, according to him, was largely responsible for a decline in the popularity ne. near extinction of sativa. The spacey, tripped-out sativa high fell from favour. Nowadays, unless groweres have maintained their own pure breeding stock or have access to bonafide seed from authentic, uncontaminated sources it strikes me that he might have been right. Is there anyone out there still growing an old-fashioned, unadulterated sativa variety?
