Taxes went up in California again this July. Operators are dropping like flies, turning gray or going back to the full legacy market to survive. And it’s not just California. In New York, regulators can’t seem to get out of their own way. In Michigan and Oregon, prices have cratered. In Florida, people are still getting arrested for possession while the state licenses vertical giants to dominate the market.
Federal rescheduling? Still stuck in a bureaucratic holding pattern while the Drug Enforcement Administration dithers. People are celebrating headlines like “Cannabis might be reclassified someday,” while folks like Daniel Muessig are just now getting out after serving federal time for selling weed. The only difference is paperwork and some fees — same plant, different system, depending on your ZIP code, skin color or capitalization table.
Mainstream media has mostly bounced. Too broke and bored to keep covering a slow-motion crisis. But as always, when the fair-weather folks dip out, the real ones step in.
What we’re seeing now is a Cannabis cultural correction. A hard one. A necessary one. Big players are collapsing under their own bloat. Small brands, the ones that never took shortcuts, are finally finding breathing room. People are getting creative again. Events are fewer in number, but better. More DIY, more intentional and more us. The market may be punishing, but it’s starting to reward authenticity.
This shift isn’t limited to one region. It’s happening in pockets everywhere — from sesh spots in Detroit to community grows in Maine to backyard pop-ups in the Inland Empire. Cannabis culture, the real kind, was never confined to dispensary walls. It’s in smoke circles, kitchens, underground shows, WhatsApp and Discord groups and living room bag drops. Always has been.
The people still in the culture are not here because it’s trendy. They’re here because they never left. Because they fought to get in and stayed when things got worse. Because they believe in the plant and the culture that grew up around it. The culture that’s been raided, taxed, arrested, ghosted and gaslit. But if you’re reading this, chances are, you’re still standing.
This next chapter, whatever’s coming, might not be easier. But Cannabis culture is resilient and well-suited for this moment. It’s essential to hold on to what’s ours.
