For the Culture By The Culture
Every October, the machine cranks up the same show. New slogans, old fear. This year’s “October surprise” is quieter Red Ribbon Week, a vape bust, and a shrinking drug war pretending to roar. Pot Culture Magazine cuts through the noise and exposes how America’s favorite crusade still feeds itself on panic and nostalgia.
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.
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.
Minnesota has finally joined the adult-use cannabis market, with dispensaries opening their doors despite years of political stalling and supply fights. While headlines celebrate the moment, the deeper story is about who benefits, who’s still boxed out, and whether legalization delivers more than ribbon cuttings. Pot Culture Magazine cuts through the spin with hard-edge reporting.
California just bragged about hauling in over half a billion dollars in cannabis tax revenue this year. Behind the headlines, growers are bleeding out under crushing taxes, defaults, and broken promises. The state pockets the cash while farms fold and the underground market thrives. Outlaw cannabis journalism tells the story others won’t.
A new UC San Diego study shreds the myth that regular cannabis users are impaired days after smoking. Yet cops, lawmakers, and courts keep pushing THC blood limits that have no science behind them. This isn’t public safety, it’s prohibition by another name, and it’s nailing sober drivers to the wall.
