The history of Green Crack

Timeline

1. Late 1970sSkunk #1 first blooms; Sacred Seed Co. bred it from Afghani, Acapulco Gold and Colombian Gold genetics.⁸
2. 1989Year of the Super Sativa Seed Club Skunk #1 named as Green Crack’s parent by Humboldt Seed Organization and an early grower’s account; Weedmaps also names a 1989 Super Sativa Seed Club parent.^1,3,9
3. About 1990Cecil C. crosses that Skunk #1 with an unknown indica in Athens, Ohio, according to an account reproduced on SeedFinder; GreenState and MerryJane say the early 1990s. In these accounts, growers call it Cush.^1,2,7
4. Around 1994By the same account, a grower who had been buying pounds of Cush from suppliers the account links to Georgia pays $2,500 for a clone.¹
5. Early 2000sSnoop Dogg coins the name Green Crack, according to Humboldt Seed Organization, which says it had been known for years as the Mango.^3,4
6. 2014A Clone Only Strains cut wins 1st place in the People’s Cup category of the Santa Cruz Cup, according to SeedFinder.¹
7. Apr 20153rd place for Best US Sativa Flower at the High Times Cannabis Cup in Denver.^3,10
8. May 2017FastBuds says its autoflowering version won 1st prize in the autoflower category of the 2nd Copa Canábica Litoral de los Poetas in Chile.¹¹
9. Mar 2020Headset's strain sales report names Green Crack, with Blue Dream and Gorilla Glue, among the famous strains it says are holding their ground.¹²
10. Jul 2020#6 on Leafly’s list of the most popular strains in Washington, ranked by search volume.¹³
11. Aug 2022Ethos Cannabis publishes a guide to alternative cultivar names; the current version, updated in June 2025, lists GC for Green Crack and points to dispensaries in Pennsylvania and Ohio.¹⁴
12. Oct 3, 202688 stores within 50 miles of Los Angeles and 56 around New York list Green Crack flower on Weedmaps.¹⁵

How it got its name

Cecil C. and early growers called it Cush, spelled with a C and not to be confused with Kush, according to the account on SeedFinder.¹ Snoop Dogg is credited with the new name, usually with a hedge: Weedmaps says he reportedly chose it for what he saw as potent, sativa-like effects, GreenState tells the story as legend, and Humboldt Seed Organization dates the renaming to the early 2000s.^2,3,4

The name has drawn objections. A Sacramento News & Review columnist asked who besides the Drug Enforcement Administration would want to compare marijuana to crack, and some stores sell it under other names; Ethos Cannabis says some states recommend renaming cultivars that promote illicit drugs (see where to find it).^14,16

Why it spread

It was shared freely and finished fast. The account SeedFinder reproduces describes sending out many cuttings and says Cecil C. was against hoarding, so the plant “got spread around a bunch”; its author calls it the fastest-flowering of the roughly 200 strains the author had grown.¹

Later sources describe the same traits. Leafly's grow guide says its rapid flowering allows more harvests a year and rates it easy to grow, Humboldt Seed Organization calls its version fast-growing and high-yielding, and Leafly says many consumers prize it for its energizing effects.^9,17,18

The disputed parts of the story

• Place: Athens, Ohio, according to the account on SeedFinder and GreenState, and MerryJane says Cecil C. was based there; a Mission Dispensaries guide says it probably emerged in Athens, Georgia. The account on SeedFinder mentions early Cush suppliers it links to Georgia.^1,2,5,7
• Date: about 1990 (the account on SeedFinder) or the early 1990s (GreenState, MerryJane); DNA Genetics traces it to the 1970s and Mission Dispensaries says it probably emerged then, which would predate the 1989 Skunk #1 named as a parent.^1,2,5,6,7,9
• Second parent: an unknown indica or Afghani (see genetics).^3,18
• Which name came first: Weedmaps, DNA Genetics, GreenState and the account on SeedFinder say it was called Cush before Snoop Dogg named it Green Crack, and Humboldt Seed Organization says it was long known as the Mango; MerryJane notes other accounts in which sellers adopted Cush later as a gentler name, and Leafly and AllBud describe Cush as a name some people use instead of Green Crack.^{1,2,3,4,6,7,18,19}
• How Snoop Dogg came across it: GreenState passes on a legend that friends of Cecil C. handed him a joint backstage at one of his concerts; the account on SeedFinder relays a story that he named an unnamed plant from a Southern California grower who was selling to him, and says clones of that plant later proved identical to Cecil C.’s Cush.^1,2