GAME CHANGER
TODAY, IT’S COOL TO KNOW who grew your veggies, who brewed your beer and even who knit your socks. But do you ever think about where your weed really comes from? That joint that had you up all night writing songs and walking around the neighborhood, that left you dizzy with expansive energy and thoughts of universal love—who created that? Who collaborated with nature to take the best of many worlds, through selection and patience, to breed that buzz? These things don’t just happen. It takes the hand of a master.
The cannabis community recently lost a true visionary. Nevil Schoenmakers was known for creating some of the most potent and genetically influential marijuana in history. He was an enigmatic and mythical figure with almost no public profile, whose story was revealed for the first (and basically only) time in a memorable article written by Steven Hager in the March 1987 issue of High Times. Today it’s hard to imagine that, with so little fanfare, the work of this innovative breeder played a role in much of what we now smoke—especially award-winning strains. Specifically, Schoenmakers is known for his Haze genetics, the celebrated F1 crosses that are considered unique in their psychedelic highs. He passed away on March 30, 2019, at the age of 63, struck down by a cancer that had been diagnosed just 14 months earlier.
In this age of legalization, cannabusiness tradeshows and Instagram influencers, it is important to remember that, not long ago, cannabis breeding or growing was a dangerous and clandestine occupation, conducted by people who rarely
