For the Culture By The Culture
Reefer Report Card Vol. 17 grades the latest moves in cannabis policy. California brings intoxicating hemp under regulated sales, Nebraska misses its medical deadline, a Florida court curbs police search powers, Oregon challenges the interstate commerce ban, and the FDA starts tracking hemp events. Thailand offers a rare global bright spot. Better than last week but still a mess.
Every year, millions of pounds of perfectly good cannabis are destroyed under “safety” rules that do little but feed landfills. From testing failures to expiration laws, the system burns medicine while patients go without. Dead Flowers: The Waste of American Weed follows the regulators, the waste, and the absurd logic behind America’s most profitable destruction ritual.
A German biotech is pushing a cannabis pill called VER 01 and calling it a breakthrough for pain relief. Beneath the pharmaceutical polish is a deeper story about control, money, and culture. Pot Culture Magazine asks if Vertanical’s lab born weed is progress or just another corporate grab for the plant the people built.
In Part Two of our exclusive interview with former High Times Magazine Editor-in-Chief Chris Simunek, the conversation turns raw. From outlaw growers and underground legends to lost friends and a culture gutted by greed, Simunek reflects on the rise and fall of cannabis journalism. This is not nostalgia. This is what the movement lost when legalization cashed in.
Massachusetts health officials report a surge in pediatric cannabis ER visits, but the real culprit is the unregulated hemp gray market. Candy-lookalike edibles and weak enforcement fuel fear while licensed operators take the blame. Pot Culture Magazine cuts through the panic to expose how prohibitionist loopholes and corporate spin create the danger.
Hemp may have been ripped from the Controlled Substances Act in 2018, but freedom was only on paper. Farmers are still shackled by THC math, the DEA’s shadow rules, and FDA’s silence on CBD. The loopholes gave rise to delta-8 and other lab-born cannabinoids, sparking a new prohibition panic. The truth is simple: hemp didn’t escape the drug war, it just exposed the absurdity of it all.
