Cannabis Culture Awards
Cannabis Culture Awards 2008
Cannabis Culture Award 2008
Dutch Poet Laureate Simon Vinkenoog accepted the 2008 Cannabis Culture Award from Ben Dronkers during the opening ceremony of the Hemp Gallery. He was a lifelong advocate of cannabis legalization and many of his poems mention the plant. His impassioned readings and performances stirred and inspired his audiences wherever he appeared. He was a contemporary of Allen Ginsburg and William Burroughs, with whom he performed at the International Poetry Incarnation at London’s Royal Albert Hall in front of 7000 people on June 11th, 1965.
Simon Vinkenoog (b. July 18, 1928, Amsterdam July 12, 2009) was a Dutch poet and writer.
He was the editor of the anthology Atonaal (Atonal), which launched the Dutch "Fifties Movement". In 2004 he was chosen as Dichter des Vaderlands, or "Poet Laureate", for the Netherlands.
Vinkenoog is also Holland's best known advocate for the legalization of marijuana.
Using cannabis for fun really didn't come about in the Netherlands until after the Second World War. After jazz, and later the hippie influences, marijuana smoking blew over from America. In 1962, Vinkenoog, the Dutch liberated poët, wrote: 'In ten years, this will be as common as drinking whiskey or beer, or just as normal as an ordinary cigarette. And it doesn't give you lung cancer'.
In November 2008, Simon Vinkenoog recieved the Dutch 'Cannabis Cultuur Prijs' from the hands of Ben Dronkers of the Marijuana Museum in Amsterdam. He was presented with the award in the newly opened wing of the museum, the Hemp Gallery in the heart of the city's Red Light District
Cannabis Culture Awards 2005
During the ceremony the 2005 Cannabis Culture Award was awarded to Jack Herer.
Jack Herer (June 18, 1939 - April 15, 2010) is the author of 'The Emperor Wears No Clothes' (among other books) and tireless activist for cannabis and hemp. Twice nominated for the Presidency of the U.S., Jack Herer is also the only person to have been inducted into the Counter Culture Hall of Fame in 2003 and to have been presented with a Cannabis Culture Award.
The Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum Amsterdam confers the Cannabis Culture Awards to those who have distinguished themselves in the struggle for acceptance of Cannabis in all of its forms, working to ensure that this extraordinary plant has a future where it is fully utilized and a history that is fully known.
A committed counter-movement has existed for decades and has steadily been gaining in strength and authority in recent years. These influential individuals and groups in the Netherlands and abroad argue that reason, justice and humanity must prevail over political objectives.
The Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum Amsterdam confers the Cannabis Culture Awards to those who have taken a place - whether high or low profile - at the frontline of this struggle, nobly working to ensure that this extraordinary plant has a future where it is fully utilized and a history that is fully known. A certificate and a token monetary award of €3000 are also presented at the Cannabis Culture Awards Ceremony.