Since 2004, the Cannabis Culture Awards have been given to people or organizations that have made an outstanding contribution to the world of cannabis. The presence of Howard Marks took some effort; after a cancelled flight, Mr Nice was eventually flown in from Manchester on a private jet. The ceremony began with an emotional contribution from Dan Skye, chief reporter of the American magazine High Times. Skye spoke of the problems that the High Times Cannabis Cup has faced this year, its 27th edition. Their exhibition had to be cancelled at the very last minute, under threat of a police raid.

Howard Marks, alias Mr Nice, was the world’s greatest hash smuggler throughout the seventies and eighties. Marks was no ordinary smuggler; he studied at Oxford, maintained contact with the British Secret Service and limited his activities strictly to cannabis. For years he evaded the police, but eventually he spent seven years in one of the most infamous prisons in America. . Following his release Marks wrote a highly successful autobiography, which was made into a film in 2010. He has given hundreds of interviews, lectures and speeches in which he argues eloquently and spiritedly for the legalisation of cannabis.