Harvest day gets all the attention. There are pictures of enormous plants hanging upside down, bins overflowing with freshly cut branches and growers smiling like they just finished a marathon. It looks like the job is done. It isn't. In a lot of ways, cutting the plant is where one of the most important parts of the process begins. The next few weeks can determine whether beautiful genetics become aromatic, smooth-smoking flower or a dry bag of something that smells suspicio

If you follow cannabis news long enough, you learn pretty quickly that a headline can make something sound finished long before the government is actually finished doing it. Over the last couple of years, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard someone say, “So weed is federally legal now, right?” or “Didn’t they already move it to Schedule III?” Usually that conversation happens somewhere between a dispensary counter, a smoke session or somebody scrolling past a headlin

Cannabis has been used by humans for thousands of years as a botanical resource for wellness, traditional medicine, fiber, food, and ritual. Today, modern science is taking a closer look at the complex chemistry of the cannabis plant and how its cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids, and other plant compounds interact with the human body. At the same time, there is growing interest in how cannabis is cultivated and whether growing practices can influence the quality of the finis

A friend once told me he had stopped smoking for more than a week before taking a pre-employment drug test. He wasn’t going to work high. He hadn’t smoked that morning, the night before or even the weekend before. He walked into the testing center feeling pretty confident, peed in the cup and went home. He failed. His first reaction was basically, “How can I fail a drug test when I’m not high?” That question exposes one of the strangest problems we still have with cannabis. W

For most cannabis consumers, harvest day happens every time they open a fresh jar. The flower is trimmed, cured, tested and neatly packaged, and unless you happen to know the grower, there is very little connection between that eighth on the dispensary shelf and the plant it came from. Years ago, I got my first real look at outdoor cannabis close to harvest, and what stuck with me wasn't how big the plants were—although some of them were enormous. It was the smell. Before you

There are few things more heartbreaking in cannabis cultivation than watching a gorgeous plant make it all the way to October only to discover that something is quietly destroying the buds from the inside out. I learned about bud rot the unpleasant way. The first time someone showed me an infected cola, I honestly didn't see what they were talking about. From the outside, most of it still looked like perfectly good flower. Then they gently pulled one of the little sugar leave

Every election cycle, cannabis headlines start multiplying months before anybody actually receives a ballot. An initiative gets filed and suddenly social media says legalization is coming. Somebody starts collecting signatures and the story becomes “voters will decide.” By summer, I've usually had at least one person send me a screenshot asking, “Did you see this? Weed is on the ballot again.” The problem is that filing a proposal and actually qualifying for an election are

From brick weed and pager dealers to QR codes, lab results and loyalty points, buying cannabis has changed almost beyond recognition. There was a time when buying weed didn't involve a menu. There were no terpene profiles. No QR codes. No rewards points. Nobody asked whether you wanted flower that was uplifting, relaxing, creative, euphoric or good for watching four hours of nature documentaries. You called a guy. And if you were buying cannabis in the 1980s or '90s, ther

Photos by Gabriel Roman In an era of arena spectacles, mega festivals, and algorithm conjured playlists, the real bloodstream of live music still runs through small rooms, living rooms and imperfect cubby spaces. These are the houses, warehouses, brewery corners, and alley pubs where bands learn how to hold a crowd, where vibrational explorers gather without corporate gatekeepers, and where the connection between performer and audience remains intimate and human. Without the

You went to bed high. So why does it still feel like your brain hasn't clocked in the next morning? A friend of mine recently learned one of the oldest lessons in the edible handbook. She ate one. About 40 minutes went by. Nothing. So she ate another. Still nothing. Then another. You already know where this story is going. At some point, all three apparently received the same memo and showed up for work at once. When I saw her the next day, she wasn't exactly high an

Cannabis is finding its place in football season, but game-day culture is changing faster than some of the rules around it. Football season has always had its rituals. Friday night means high-school stadium lights glowing over small towns. Saturday brings college colors, folding tables, parking-lot grills and somebody screaming at a television mounted in the back of an RV. By Sunday morning, jerseys are back on, fantasy lineups are being checked and the first round of wings

Photos by Gabriel Roman Bryan Giles talks 21 years of Red Fang, life on the road, creative trust and why the band still refuses to fit neatly into a genre. After more than two decades together, Red Fang has accumulated plenty of labels—stoner rock, sludge, metal, hard rock—but the Portland band has never seemed particularly interested in choosing one. Maybe that’s part of why they’re still here. When Red Fang rolled into Oklahoma City, I had the chance to sit down with guita

Perimenopause is a profound biological transition. It is not simply the time when a woman stops having menstrual cycles. It is a period of changing ovarian hormone production, fluctuating estrogen and progesterone, changes in sleep, altered neurotransmitter signaling, shifts in metabolism, and changes in the nervous and endocannabinoid systems. For many women, this transition can bring hot flashes, night sweats, restless sleep, anxiety, changes in mood, brain fog, headaches,

The longest weeks of an outdoor grow might be the ones right before harvest. There comes a point every September when outdoor cannabis growers develop a slightly unhealthy relationship with the weather forecast. You check it when you wake up. You check it at lunch. You check it before bed. Then you check another weather app because obviously the first one could be wrong. That little rain icon four days from now suddenly carries the emotional weight of a hurricane warning.

Sometimes they're premium flower in a convenient package. Sometimes you might be better off not asking what's inside. I've never really been a pre-roll guy. Give me flower and I'll roll my own, or better yet, pack a glass pipe. Part of that is habit, but part of it is that I like seeing what I'm about to smoke. A pre-roll requires a little faith. I've bought cheap ones that seemed like a great deal right up until I lit them. They burned unevenly, needed to be relit consta

Sungrown organic regenerative cannabis cultivars in their whole plant form offer numerous advantages that make them an exceptional choice for those seeking true plant-based wellness. As a regenerative farmer and advocate for whole plant medicine, I believe that how a cannabis cultivar is grown is just as important as the genetics it contains. Healthy soil produces healthy plants, and healthy plants provide the greatest opportunity for wellness. Environmental Stewardship Throu

Walk into almost any dispensary and you will eventually hear someone ask the same question: “What’s the strongest thing you have?” It sounds reasonable. If you are spending money on cannabis, you want something that works. The problem is that “strongest” does not tell a budtender what kind of experience you actually want. Do you want to relax without falling asleep? Enjoy a concert without forgetting where your seat is? Ease into an edible without spending the evening negotia

The first time I toured a friend’s cannabis facility in Colorado, I expected rows of beautiful plants, bright lights and maybe a few trimming tables. I was not prepared for the hairnet. Before stepping into production, I covered my shoes, washed my hands and listened to a list of sanitation rules that made the place feel like part greenhouse, part laboratory and part commercial kitchen. My friend laughed when she saw my expression. “You thought we just watered plants all day,

The human nervous system is one of the most remarkable healing systems in the body. Every thought, movement, memory, heartbeat, emotion, and sensation depends upon healthy communication between billions of nerve cells called neurons. These neurons communicate through electrical impulses and chemical messengers known as neurotransmitters, creating an intricate network that allows every organ and tissue to function in harmony. The nervous system is divided into two primary sect

I once left a bag of cannabis gummies in the center console while running what I thought would be a quick summer errand. It was not a quick errand. When I returned, the individual gummies had surrendered their independence and formed one large, sticky republic. The colors had merged. The shapes were gone. The carefully measured servings had become a single fruit-flavored question mark. Was the THC still in there? Probably. Was I going to cut the gummy blob into what I hoped w