Well yes friends, it’s already 20 years old Alchemy as one of the reference grow shops in Europe, and we are very happy about it! For this reason, and as some of you may have already seen, we have prepared many offers and promotions that you can enjoy throughout this year, as well as great gifts. And we want to share our happiness with all of you and make, in some way, this a special year for everyone!
To celebrate this new anniversary, so exciting for us, we did not want to do the classic post talking about our history. We have already done it before, for example in our article on the 15th anniversary of Alchimia Grow Shop, so we wanted to do something different and invite you to travel back in time to see what the situation in the sector was when our store opened its doors, just beginning the new millennium. As you can see, things have changed a lot in the Cannabis sector!
The cannabis sector in 2001
Although we know that many of you already had a lot of experience in the cannabis self-cultivation In the year 2000, it is no less true that some of our customers were literally not born when we opened our store. Today, new generations of growers have been born with practically everything at their fingertips, from the farming systems simpler to the most modern luminaires or climate controllers. However, things were very different “only” 20 years ago, with a sector clearly on the rise but, so to speak, still in its infancy.
To give you an example, it had been only a few years since feminized seeds had broken into the market at the hands of banks such as No Mercy Seeds, Dutch Passion o Green House Seeds. A short time later, Spanish banks such as Sweet Seeds or Dinafem They also began to offer their varieties in feminized format, which helped this type of seeds to establish itself in the cannabis sector and other banks also bet on feminizing their genetics.
Another clear example is their own grow shops and distributors; At that time there were very few stores dedicated to our activity, and even fewer distributors (Planeta Orgánico and Sinsemilla were constantly overflowing), to the despair of many of us who had constant problems to supply ourselves with material. To give you an idea, our first “order” for seeds was in February 2001 buying them at Holland in person, and we had to turn to wholesalers in the Garden and electrical sectors to get lighting systems and other material!
Spring of 2001, Alchimia Grow Shop was born
For us, we could almost say that it all started in 1997 with the founding of the Hemp Club Empordà. Inspired by our friends from ARSECWe decided to create a smoking club that, in later years, would allow us to organize events such as cannabis drinks, and at a time when they were not as common as today! After a while, and after several contacts with companies in the sector such as Kannabia or the InteriorWe traveled to Holland for seeds and in April we opened our store in a small square in the center of Figueres. Our adventure had begun!
Since the only way we had found to get seeds was by traveling to Holland, it is normal that the first banks in our catalog were all from these lands, companies such as KC brains, Homegrow Fantaseeds, Paradise Seeds, Sensi Seeds, Serious seeds o Dutch Passion. In fact, the first variety that we upload to our online store, later on, was Blueberry from Dutch Passion, a true classic. The first specific fertilizers for self-cultivation of marijuana that we had, to give another example, were the Bachumus from Ecobio … we finally had cannabis fertilizers!!
In addition, in 2001 we also collaborated, supported by the Generalitat, in the founding of the Gremi de Grow Shops (also including what would be Smartshops Y Headshops), in what represented a new twist to normalize our activity in all aspects, both social and economic. Also in that same year, visits to the fairs Cannabussiness (Castrop-Rauxel) y Cannatrade (Bern) they offered us, in addition to the opportunity to meet companies such as La Mota, Mr. Fantasy, Crash O Kulu Trading, a global vision of the sector and its possibilities, as it was clear that we were facing the birth of a new commercial sector with great potential: the cannabis industry.
Other cannabis events of 2001
As we have seen, at the beginning of the millennium we were in the middle of the cannabis maelstrom, with more and more companies, associations and activities dedicated to our beloved plant. For example, in the autumn of that same year the famous Internet forum Cannabiscafé, quarry of a good number of excellent growers and organizer of the Cannabis Parade, an annual gathering of lovers of good smoke.
Also in 2001 Ethan Russo y John McPartland They were already talking about the relationship between THC and the rest of the compounds found in Cannabis, pointing to the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, which years later we have known as the entourage effect (entourage effect). That same year, Shantibaba, founder of Mr. Nice Seed Bank, was imprisoned after having transferred his seed production facilities to Switzerland.
It was also a time when some characters celebrities and celebrities they began to openly acknowledge their cannabis use, as happened for example in an issue of the magazine Rolling Stone where the singer Joan Manel Serrat He acknowledged consuming it. 2001 was also the year in which the state of Colorado (USA) legalized medical marijuana, a first step that undoubtedly helped the evolution we have seen in recent years.
Of course, it should be mentioned that it was in 2001 the first time in Spain to appear a Association pro-legalization of Cannabis in the Congress of Deputies, defending the Regulation of this plant and its derivatives. At the associative level, the Clubs were no longer establishing themselves as “Cannabis study groups” to become “groups of people who use Cannabis”, with the Barcelona Cannabis Collectors Club (CCCB) as a pioneer in this regard.
You can see the series of events that we live related to the cannabis sector in that unforgettable 2001, and those that we have left! We can only thank you for your trust during these two decades, the truth is that it has been very fun to meet you, talk, advise you, receive your advice … after all, we have ended up making many friends along the way and treasuring many memories and anecdotes that encourage us to continue walking by your side. For two more decades of Alchemy!
A big hug for this 20th anniversary!
The articles published by Alchimiaweb, SL are reserved for adult clients. In France, the age of majority is 18 years. Check the legislation of your country and comply with it. Alchimiaweb, SL is a Spanish company that is governed by Spanish legislation and cannot, in any case, be held responsible for the misuse or non-compliance with the laws and regulations of each country in relation to the articles published on its Blog. We remind you that the cultivation of cannabis seeds on French territory is strictly prohibited by law. We advise our customers not to violate the law in any way and we are not responsible for its use.
