For the Culture By The Culture
The New York Times has finally admitted that legal cannabis is eating into alcohol consumption across the country, after years of fear mongering that painted the plant as a public threat. Anyone inside weed culture saw this shift long before the paper caught on. As people replace booze with a calmer, less punishing option, the old narrative collapses and the Times scrambles to catch up
A new Gallup poll shows overwhelming national support for legal cannabis, yet federal law still reflects the fears of a shrinking minority. Cultural acceptance keeps rising while political, religious, and emotional anxieties hold the country in place. This feature examines the gap between the public’s lived reality and the outdated beliefs that continue to delay national reform.
A Blacklight investigation into how celebrity cannabis branding has warped the meaning of icon and overshadowed the activists, caregivers, and families who carried the plant through criminalization. This feature exposes the cultural amnesia that elevates market-friendly faces while burying the movement’s real architects and the sacrifices that made modern legalization possible.
Canada’s cannabis boom hit the wall. Ontario now has over 1,700 authorized stores and Alberta’s total hovers around 700, with closures outpacing new licenses. Prices plunged from CA$10 to CA$3 a gram, excise floors squeeze profits, and strict promotion laws mute every brand. The result: churn, consolidation, and a cautionary tale for U.S. legalization.
Across Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, quiet legalization is replacing old fear. Dispensaries open, hemp farms thrive, and police turn away from small possession. Lawmakers who once preached prohibition now profit from regulation. The Bible Belt’s cannabis rebellion is alive and growing, and the South is no longer waiting for Washington to catch up.
Virginia legalized cannabis four years ago, then froze its own future. Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed retail sales, keeping weed legal to hold but illegal to buy. Now the 2025 governor’s race will decide if voters finally get what they approved. Virginia’s Legalization Lockdown exposes the hypocrisy, the politics, and the system that turned freedom into fine print.
