Watching Snoop Dogg deliver a weed-themed weather report on The Today Show was like watching a circus sideshow. What should have been a moment of real representation, even a small nod to cannabis culture’s legitimacy, turned into a tired punchline. Al Roker and the audience chuckled like they’d just heard the joke of the year. But for those of us actually living in this community, those laughs weren’t just hollow—they were insulting. It felt like they weren’t laughing with us; they were laughing at us. And that shit gets old.
Cannabis culture isn’t just about rolling a joint and cracking stoner jokes. It’s a movement that has been fighting for legalization, regulation, and destigmatization for decades. But when the mainstream media touches cannabis, it’s still treated as some quirky novelty. What they don’t seem to get—or don’t care about—is that this is a real community with real struggles. People are still in jail for minor cannabis offenses in states where weed is now legal. Lives have been destroyed. Meanwhile, you’ve got Snoop Dogg on national television making cannabis a punchline for the amusement of an audience that has no real connection to what’s happening in this space.
While Snoop plays up his weed-loving persona for easy laughs, many people in the cannabis community are fighting for access to something that goes far beyond recreation—medical marijuana. Some people depend on cannabis for chronic pain, PTSD, cancer treatment, and epilepsy. Yet in many states, they’re still fighting for the right to legally access the medicine they desperately need. Meanwhile, Snoop is out there doing The Today Show’s bidding, turning the culture we’ve built into a punchline for people who will never understand the fight. It’s a slap in the face to the millions of patients still waiting on real cannabis reform.
Let’s talk about Snoop for a minute. There was a time when Snoop represented the counterculture, a defiant figure against the establishment. But lately? He’s just a mascot for mainstream media, cashing in while the cannabis community is left to fend for itself. Remember the Olympics? He strutted around like a caricature, dressed up in a suit that screamed “corporate sellout.” He’s become less of an advocate and more of a court jester for the same establishment we’re fighting against. It’s pitiful.
The real issue here isn’t just the humor—cannabis can and should be fun. But there’s a huge difference between celebrating cannabis culture and turning it into a tired stereotype. The Today Show and networks like it keep bringing on personalities like Snoop not to advance the conversation about cannabis but to reduce it to a laughable sideshow. And the worst part? They’re doing it at a time when real issues in cannabis reform—like medical marijuana access, social equity, and the release of those incarcerated for minor cannabis offenses—are being sidelined.
Some people have risked their freedom and their lives for cannabis legalization. We’ve fought through the War on Drugs, which disproportionately criminalized Black and Brown communities. We’re still seeing the effects today, with racial disparities in cannabis arrests and the ongoing struggle to get cannabis decriminalized in many parts of the country. Yet while real issues like this continue to plague the community, Snoop is out there playing the role of America’s “friendly stoner,” laughing along with an audience that has no idea how serious this fight is.
Cannabis is more than just a joke. It’s a plant that has helped millions of people, both medically and recreationally. It’s a source of relief for veterans with PTSD, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, and countless others who use it to manage chronic pain and other conditions. But the conversation around medical marijuana is constantly overshadowed by segments like this that reduce the entire movement to a punchline.
If The Today Show and other mainstream media outlets want to talk about cannabis, let’s start with the real conversation. How about we talk about the states where medical marijuana is still illegal? Or the veterans who are fighting for access to cannabis while the government continues to push pharmaceutical solutions that often come with worse side effects? How about discussing the ongoing battle to release those incarcerated for non-violent cannabis offenses?
It’s time to stop trivializing cannabis culture and start taking the conversation seriously. We deserve better than this tired stereotype, and Snoop needs to stop playing the role of the corporate stoner. The cannabis community is strong, and we’re not going anywhere. We’re not your punchline. We are the culture, and it’s about time we get the respect we’ve earned.
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