Grow!

grow!
description	Trade journal
publishing company	Hanf Verlag Darmstadt GmbH
First edition	1995
Frequency of publication	6 times a year
Sold edition	23,430 copies
( Media data 2015 )
Editor-in-chief	Winni Fleckner
editor	Winni Fleckner
Web link	www.grow.de

Grow ( spelling : grow! ) Is the oldest German-language magazine for cannabis users and appears every two months.

distribution

Sold Grow through newspaper kiosks, railway station bookstores and specialty stores like scene near head shops and newspaper distribution. In addition to Germany , the distribution area is also Switzerland , Austria , the Balearic Islands and the Benelux countries . The publisher is Hanf Verlag Darmstadt GmbH in Liebenau .

Most of the articles in the magazine deal with cannabis and the legalization of cannabis use, but there are also reports on current political events, music and leisure culture. Other drugs are also provided.

history

At the beginning of the nineties, the debate about the use of hemp experienced a renaissance, in particular through the so-called " hashish judgment " of the German Federal Constitutional Court of 1994. The proceedings were based on a constitutional complaint from the Lübeck Regional Court . The BVerfG spoke out against the general release of cannabis as an intoxicant , but demanded impunity for possession of small quantities.

In 1994 Hanf AG was founded by students in Darmstadt in order to raise awareness about the use of cannabis and to reduce prejudices with leaflets and various events such as parties, exhibitions, lectures and discussion platforms. As early as May 1994, Hanf AG was preparing a major event in Darmstadt under the title “Cannabis Weekend”; concerts and parties should be combined with exhibitions, lectures and discussions. Shortly before the planned date, however, the Lord Mayor of Darmstadt issued a ban, which resulted in a large police operation, as hundreds of festival visitors arrived anyway.

At this point in time, monthly free circulars (in the form of four DIN A5 pages) were already being distributed and sent to hundreds of subscribers. Since there were no hemp magazines to buy in 1994, it made sense to turn it into a magazine to provide a medium for hemp consumers. Six people, including Bela B. von Die Ärzte , founded Hanf Verlag Darmstadt GmbH . In the early days, the magazine covers were still printed on hemp paper to promote hemp paper companies; but this was not economically viable, since the costs were four times that of comparable wood-containing paper.

Almost simultaneously with the first edition of 60,000 copies of the first issue of Grow in March 1995, “ Hanf! “Magazine at the kiosk. Hemp! was discontinued at the end of 2002 after the publisher was investigated in Switzerland and he was in custody.

The first Grow magazines were published until, at the end of 1996, proceedings were opened before the Federal Testing Office for writings harmful to minors , with the charge that the magazine encouraged young people to consume drugs and played down drugs. There was a threat that the magazine would be indexed and its public sale prohibited. Drug experts commented on Grow and its possible effects. Radio stations, newspaper editors and television stations became aware of the proceedings and reported. Eventually, all indexing requests were rejected.

In 2005, the Jena Youth Welfare Office again applied for indexing to the Federal Inspectorate because - according to the accusation - the consumption of cannabis was glorified in the magazine. The application for a ban was rejected, but the Grow editorial team was required to pay more attention to content in letters to the editor and personals that were harmful to minors.

Web links

• Homepage of Grow magazine
• Doctors newspaper on April 28, 2004: Cautious liberalization ten years after the hashish ruling

literature

• Stephan Quensel, Birgitta Kolte, Frank Nolte: On the cannabis situation in the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Peter Cohen, Arjan Sas (Hrsg.): Cannabisbeleid in Duitsland, Frankrijk en de Verenigde Staten. Centrum voor Drugsonderzoek, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1996, pp. 17–78, full text (PDF; 295 kB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Greta Taubert: Hashish on a high gloss. Berliner Zeitung , October 4, 2006, accessed on January 6, 2013 . 
2. ↑ Media data 2008  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF)  
3. ↑ The changes in case law using the example of the Narcotics Act in connection with the landmark judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court of March 9, 1994
4. ↑ ^{a b c} grow.de 50th edition  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ Stephan Quensel, Birgitta Kolte, Frank Nolte: On the cannabis situation in the Federal Republic of Germany. Bremen, 1995. ( Memento of the original from June 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ Magazines on hemp and cannabis on cannabislegal.de
7. ↑ "Grow" legally for everyone. In: taz , January 8, 2005