CANNABIS CULTURE – The Treating Yourself Expo, Canada’s largest medical marijuana and hemp trade show, will return to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from June 3-5, 
2011.
The 2nd-Annual installment of the TY Expo will feature over 100 vendor and information booths, live music and DJs, a roster of high-profile speakers, contests and cannabis competitions, the “Worlds Largest Vapor Lounge”, and much more.
“I see this year being so much bigger and better than last year,” Expo organizer Marco Renda told Cannabis Culture. “We’ve sold about $30,000 in advance tickets so far, so the number of attendees will likely be much higher. The number of vendors this year is phenomenal: 108 so far, with at least 33 seed companies. There are a lot of new vendors, but major players like RooR, Greenhouse Seeds, Paradise Seeds, and many others will be back once again.”
Renda, publisher of Treating Yourself Magazine, Canada’s bi-monthly medical marijuana publication, has secured the massive Metro Toronto Convention Centre for a second year in a row. As part of the exclusive contract with Convention Centre, marijuana seed-selling will be permitted.
The event is sure to be a Who’s Who of the Canadian cannabis community – with vendor booths featuring head shops, media companies, activist groups, glass makers, seed companies, hydroponic and growing stores and other marijuana-friendly products.
On-site relaxation services include chair and table massages, Ganja Yoga, and Reiki practitioners.
Renda says there will be some impressive booths and displays this year, including a custom-made 52-foot growroom trailer with an $80,000 price-tag, which will offer walk-throughs and tours.
Read the TY Expo 2011 Confirmed Exhibitors list.
If it’s information about cannabis you are interested in, the three-day event will feature lectures and speeches from guests including Dr. Robert Melamede, Dr. Juan Sanchez–Ramos, Dr. Paul Hornby, Mary Lynn Mathre, Irvin Rosenfeld, and more.
The Expo will also play host to live music from bands like Los Marijuanos, Northern Lights, DJ Slim and more.
Read the TY Expo 2011 Confirmed Entertainers and Speakers list.
“The TY Expo had been in the making for several years,” Renda said. “The movement here in Canada really needed something like this, and to have it in a facility like the Convention Centre was important for it to be taken seriously. It’s not in a nightclub or a bar where people could say ‘it’s just a bunch of stoners getting together and saying its a medical thing’”. Here we have a first-class venue, we have the worldwide mainstream media in attendance. I just wanted to show people that we could utilize this herb and organize something responsible, respectable and professional.”
The first TY expo was labeled a success by organizers, vendors and the press, though Renda said “attendance could have been higher”.
The TY team has generously donated a booth to the Free Marc campaign again this year, and CC will be there to take part in the fun, test the competing strains, and cover the event from all angles.
“The show of unity is the number-one thing,” Renda said. “This is what matters the most. Putting aside differences is important in our fight to achieve our similar goals. We all want the same thing. If we can keep the unity together, Stephen Harper is going to have one hell of a fight on his hands.”
This 2011 Expo includes the “The Worlds Largest Vapor Lounge”, which boasts over 4,200 square feet of floor space and vaporizer units from Volcano, herbalAire and others, and is open to anyone with an MMAR card, US State medical marijuana card or compassion club membership.
“This year we have the Vapor Lounge and the stage on the same floor as the vending hall,” Renda said, “so it’s going to make it that much more intimate, and I think the aroma is going to be quite nice.”
Prizes will be drawn daily for an assortment of contests including Best Booth and Best Glass Artist.
V.I.P ticket-holders will judge competitions for a Seed Company Indica Cup, a Seed Company Sativa Cup, a Private Grower Cup and a Compassion Club Cup and be treated to a night’s dinner and entertainment.
On Friday, Renda appeared on Cannabis Culture News LIVE to discuss the upcoming event. Watch the episode on the Pot TV Network Livestream channel or in the window below.