For the Culture By The Culture
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.
The Netherlands is finally confronting its cannabis hypocrisy. After decades of letting coffee shops sell weed sourced from the black market, the Dutch government is expanding a state-run program that licenses legal growers. The plan could eliminate contamination, crush the illicit trade, and restore integrity to the nation that once sold the world on tolerance but never practiced it.
A hundred years after the 1925 International Opium Convention first outlawed cannabis, prohibition still stands as one of the biggest policy failures in modern history. From colonial fear and racist propaganda to Nixon’s drug war and global treaties, the cost has been human lives, stolen freedom, and wasted truth. The plant survived. The lies didn’t.
This week’s cannabis report card runs the gamut: Ohio hits $3B in sales while federal reform stays stuck, Connecticut raids smoke shops, and California wipes out 21,000 plants in public land raids. The lone bright spot comes from Thailand, where the new Prime Minister pledged support for reform. One win, too many failures.
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.
