There's a Cannabis Grow Kit for Kids Called 'My First Grow'
It can be hard to know exactly what your kids have a natural talent for or interest in without giving them the tools to develop their skills. Suspect you’ve got a musical prodigy on your hands? Enroll him in lessons and see where things go. Think you’re raising a budding choreographer? Dance classes it is! Believe your child has a green thumb? Find out just how green it is by gifting her with My First Grow, the cannabis grow kit for kids.
Yes, this a real thing, and no, it’s not a gateway to kindergarteners getting high. My First Grow is a hemp-growing kit. The UK-based company includes a message on its website assuring the weary that “hemp is part of the cannabis family but without the psychoactive properties; perfect for your child’s first grow.” Founder Greg Lonsdale is aware the kits will inspire outrage in some quarters, and he told Vice he developed My First Grow to pushback on misguided panic around all things pot-related.
“My First Grow simply sells hemp seeds,” Lonsdale told the magazine. “Hemp...cannot get you high. Hemp can be used for paper, cardboard, rope, fabrics, paints, oils, varnishes, cosmetics, building materials, and even renewable plastics. It's abundant in nutrients, too. Put simply: It's good for you. It's no more harmful than basil or mint. The problem, however, is fear. Hemp belongs to the cannabis genus, alongside its psychoactive relatives. It is guilty only by association. To me, this is as nonsensical as locking away an innocent person for a crime committed by a family member.
"I started My First Grow to creatively highlight this absurdity," Lonsdale continued. "It was my way of contributing to the recent UK legalization discussions that have been happening regarding cannabis. I understand that the larger debate is mainly concerned with hemp's psychoactive relatives, but it affects hemp, too... Children learn that 'cannabis is bad' at school from a young age—however, they are being denied the full spectrum of information. I believe that everyone, including children, deserves to know the truth about cannabis today if we want half a chance at a legalized tomorrow.”
Based in England, Lonsdale says he will ship My First Grow kits anywhere in the world. Each kit includes a growing cup, a packet of hemp seeds, compressed soil, instructions and a hemp information leaflet. (The kits sell for about $12, though you can get them for about half that if you share a post on Facebook or Twitter via the My First Grow website.) The site warns that growing hemp seeds is illegal in lots of places, and suggests that interested customers "seek legal advice before making a purchase."
Did I mention the kit includes two stickers, one featuring Leafy, the smiling cartoon mascot? That’s him beaming at you below.
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To up the entertainment ante, My First Grow has a page dedicated to telling the sad story of hemp, a sort of fairytale in which a few evildoers cause the many lovers of cannabis to live anything but happily ever after.
Once upon a time there was a wonderful plant called Cannabis. The plant had hundreds of brilliant uses and brought lots of joy and happiness to the millions of people who utilised it.
One day, a gang of nasty businessmen with briefcases and big cigars began spreading naughty rumors about the plant. The nasty businessmen began to use their influential status to frighten the people of the world into thinking that using the wonderful plant was evil and wrong. People started to become scared. [Read the rest of the tale.]
The My First Grow blog has posts illuminating the wonders of hemp and things hemp-related, including essential cannabis-focused readings. If you're in the market for a kit, you can order through the site.
