The Cannabis community is mourning the loss of yet another of its greatest icons — breeder and entrepreneur David Watson (better known as Sam the Skunk Man), who passed into the great beyond on Monday, January 27, 2025 (the same day that medical marijuana activist Dennis Peron died seven years earlier), at the age of 76.
Watson — aka Skunkman Sam, aka Sam Selezny, aka Sadu Sam — was, by most accounts, the most influential Cannabis breeder in history. Starting out in Santa Cruz County in the early 1970s, he began collecting, cataloging and crossing Cannabis cultivars from around the globe, eventually creating several classic strains, including — as his nickname suggests — the legendary Skunk #1, whose genetic fingerprints can be found within many of the popular varieties enjoyed today.
Watson shared the unique genetics he’d procured and produced with the public through the seed company he founded, Sacred Seeds (America’s first commercial seed bank). Then, in 1984, he brought around a quarter million seeds to Amsterdam, where, under the new name of Cultivator’s Choice, he sold his genetics (including Skunk #1, Afghan #1, Durban Poison, Hindu Kush and the original Haze) to all of the Dutch growers, who then used them to help create the iconic strains and seed companies we know today. It’s not overstating things to say that every Cannabis breeder operating over the past 40 years owes a debt of gratitude to the Skunkman.
Beyond breeding, Watson made numerous other groundbreaking contributions to Cannabis culture and science. In the late 1980s, he published the first pamphlet explaining how to make water hash and is credited with coining the phrase, “If it don’t bubble, it ain’t worth the trouble.”
He later went on to co-host the infamous Legends of Hashish dinner party and competition (held in Amsterdam each November during the Cannabis Cup) with his lifelong friend, botanist Robert Connell Clarke, and Marcus “Bubbleman” Richardson. He and Clarke also co-founded the International Hemp Association, as well as the genetics company Hortilab, and Hortapharm, the world’s first privately funded pharmaceutical cannabinoid research company.
Regarded by many as a kind-hearted curmudgeon, Watson was almost universally beloved by growers around the world. But despite his revered status in the community, he eschewed all accolades and recognition, preferring to live a very private life as an ex-pat in Amsterdam (where he resided with his wife and partner Diana since the 1980s) and forbidding photos of himself to be made public. It’s only now, after his death, that friends have begun posting images of him.
As part of his final wishes, Watson’s ashes have been portioned out into small, custom-blown glass vials to be shared with his friends and other prominent growers around the world, with the intention that they be sprinkled into the soil of their next crops so that his remains can nourish the sacred plant he so loved and devoted his life to.
Rest easy, Skunk Man, in the knowledge that your legendary legacy will live on for many generations to come.
