For the Culture By The Culture
A new Supreme Court ruling just cracked the door for civil RICO lawsuits in legal cannabis. If you think this won’t hit your dispensary, think again. Here’s what every grower, brand, and budtender needs to know.
Legacy growers fought for legalization, only to be pushed aside by the system they helped create. This feature exposes how red tape, taxes, and policy failures are locking out the real pioneers while corporate weed cashes in. It’s not just exclusion—it’s cultural erasure. And if we’re not careful, the soul of cannabis will vanish under glossy branding and mediocre bud.
Weed is getting cheaper but it’s not a win. Behind those $49 ounces and $2 prerolls is an industry bleeding out. Overproduction, bad policy, and corporate greed are killing quality, crushing independents, and leaving consumers with less than they bargained for. This isn’t a correction. It’s collapse.
As THC drinks crash the party, are we witnessing the slow death of booze or just another dispensary fad in a pretty can? From barstools to backyard hangs, this feature sizes up the growing rivalry between cannabis beverages and alcohol. Are weed drinks the next wave—or just liquid hype?
Before weed went corporate and clean, it was kept alive by outlaws in flannel and flip-flops who risked prison to protect a plant. These weren’t boardroom visionaries or brand ambassadors—they were underground botanists, seed smugglers, and clone-hustling legends. From Nevil’s skunky Dutch castles to the hills of Kentucky and the grow rooms of California, this is the real origin story of cannabis culture one built with grit, guts, and a middle finger to the system.
New York’s $10 million vape quarantine just put the legal market in a chokehold. Brands are sidelined, dispensaries are stuck, and regulators are fumbling a rollout already on thin ice. Here’s what happened, who’s hurting, and why trust in the system keeps going up in smoke.
