Das Hemp-Kapital

I'd like to start by thanking my Higher Ground co-host, friend and colleague Larry Gabriel for his fine column on hemp farming last week. As it happens, I'm staying this week at a splendid guest apartment above the Hash Marihuana and Hemp Museum in Amsterdam's Green Row on the Achterburgwal Canal as the guest of Sensi Seeds and its progenitor, Ben Dronkers, who's also responsible for establishing the booming hemp industry in the Netherlands.

Ben's a very sweet cat and what they used to call a "mild and unassuming" character — someone who probably wouldn't want to hear me sing his praises too loudly — but he was a leader in the Rotterdam branch of the original movement that succeeded in eliminating criminalization as a public approach to marijuana use in Holland in the early 1970s.

Ben Dronkers established the Sensi Coffeeshop in Rotterdam as one of the first public cannabis outlets, then starting in 1985 built Sensi Seeds as a major developer and distributor of top-grade marijuana seeds for the burgeoning growing industry in Holland. He opened Sensi Seed Bank in Amsterdam and founded the Hash Marihuana and Hemp Museum next door as a means of educating the public about the wonders of hemp and its products, both smokable and industrial.

In 1993, Ben began his intensive venture into hemp production and product development with a company called HempFlex. He developed and manufactured specialized hemp harvesting machinery and started growing hemp in a big way — now covering about 6,000 acres — to supply hemp fiber to major manufacturers such as BMW, market hemp products like HempFlax animal bedding, and harness oils and other agricultural products.

Dronkers started the industrial hemp revolution in the Netherlands, and geared his entire operation from growing to distribution toward maximum ecological and social benefit. At the same time, he's continued to grow the Sensi Seed Bank as one of the primary sources of first-quality seeds for growers all over the world.

I met Ben on my first visit to Amsterdam when I was honored as the High Priest of the Cannabis Cup in 1998. In fact, I smoked my first joint in a coffeeshop at the Sensi outlet in Rotterdam on my initial visit to Holland earlier that year, and in the early 2000s spent a lot of time hanging out with all the characters at the late, lamented Sensi Museum Coffeeshop on the Damstraat.

The more I learned about Ben Dronkers, the more I liked him. He created important pioneering businesses based on his principles and his love for cannabis, helped open up a vast new industry for cannabis entrepreneurs, and made a lot of money himself. At the same time, he paid close attention to the civic component and devoted considerable resources to furthering the cause of cultivation, hemp production and the mental health of the marijuana smoking population through the establishment of the Hash Marihuana and Hemp Museum.

The museum has grown into a significant institution and has recently taken on the support and administration of the Cannabis College, a storefront academy next door to the museum that boasts Holland's only legal cannabis growing operation in its basement.

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