The second annual Oregon Medical Cannabis Awards was a success despite last minute attempts by the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) to prevent it!

Trophies for this year's Awards were custom-made, hand-blown glass, vase-like cups by a well-known local glass artist.

Following a few moments of silence in respect for all the prisoners of the War On Some Drugs & Drug Users, Organizing Committee Chair Steven M. Cooper awarded a special trophy for efforts above and beyond the call of duty to Oregon NORML Legal Director Paul Loney, for his successful efforts to muster support for the continuation of the OMCA 2003 event.

The Awards

The Oregon Medical Cannabis Awards the only such event known to be held in the United States has been organized to gather data on strains available in Oregon and which symptoms each strain is most effective relieving.

Stoney Girl was also the first place winner in the first OMCA, in 2002.
Her winning strain last year was Northern Lights #5.

The Awards began in 2002 when patients in the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP) complained about the lack of information from the program about how to grow marijuana and which strains would be best for their medical conditions. "It's not like a pharmaceutical drug where a patient can run down to the pharmacy and choose from lots of different brands and ask a pharmacist or a doctor for suggestions," said Oregon NORML Executive Director Madeline Martinez. "Since the federal government won't allow scientists and doctors to really study medical marijuana and since the state of Oregon can't give this information to patients, we decided to step in and help any way we can." Martinez claims the event is the only blind-sample medical marijuana evaluation in the country, perhaps the world. "There are other 'cannabis cup'-type events," Martinez continues, "but they are primarily concerned with the recreational use of cannabis and do not track the medical conditions of the judges or the medical effectiveness of the marijuana as it relates to specific medical conditions."

2002 Cannabis Culture's Tokers Bowl