The Gardener Who Got Cannabis Moms To Breathe: A Q&A With Stephanie ‘thegardentok’ Trenkamp
For a lot of people, cannabis content starts as a joke, a trend, a way to chase numbers. For Stephanie Trenkamp, it started as survival. She was a mom in her garage, lighting up after bedtime, trying to hold it together while figuring out how to help support her family without disappearing from her kids’ […]
Tourists Already Toke in Uruguay, Now the Country Might Finally Let Them Buy
Uruguay is once again weighing the possibility of allowing tourists and non-residents over 18 who visit the South American nation to buy legal cannabis even if they aren’t citizens. The executive director of IRCCA (the Institute for the Regulation and Control of Cannabis), Martín Rodríguez, confirmed that the agency is analyzing this option to strengthen […]
Is a MAGA-Aligned Think Tank Using the Hemp Ban to Advance a New Federal War on Cannabis?
TL;DR: Trump’s surprise hemp ban doesn’t just wipe out a massive part of the hemp-derived market; it may also create the legal framework for a broader federal crackdown on cannabis. With the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 arguing for centralized FDA authority and tougher interstate enforcement, the hemp ban could mark the first real test […]
Inside the Making of RAW Rolling Papers (Part I)
Joshua Kesselman, the man behind the RAW® brand of rolling papers and other smoking accessories, didn’t name his brand after a process. He named it after a feeling. A feeling of realness, energy, and truth. The word came to him “through the emotion in a classic hip-hop track’s lyrics; a raw expression of honesty and […]
ExpoCannabis Brasil Draws 42,000 People As Brazil’s Cannabis Movement Accelerates
Who would have imagined that Latin America’s largest cannabis expo would take place in a country whose Congress still treats the subject with deep suspicion? Yet that is what unfolded as ExpoCannabis Brasil wrapped its third edition, the most ambitious so far, revealing a cannabis culture in Brazil that is expanding despite political obstacles. One […]
Finding Purpose Through Grief and Grass
Grief has a way of hollowing you out. For many, it’s a darkness we try to numb or outrun. But for a growing number of people—myself included—cannabis isn’t about escape. It’s about connection, healing, and learning to live again. After my father passed, I found myself in a fog where life felt unrecognizable. Nothing made […]
Legacy in Action: A Conversation with Rohan Marley and the Mission Behind The Whine Down
When I sat down with Rohan Marley ahead of The Whine Down—our cultural benefit experience supporting the Bob & Rita Marley Foundation’s hurricane relief efforts in Jamaica—our conversation moved quickly into the teachings that have shaped his life. Before we talked logistics, food, or philanthropy, he returned to something much older: a lesson from his […]
Undercover Boss: The Day A Cannabis CEO Shopped His Own Stores In Disguise
This article is an adapted version of the Cannabis Confidential newsletter. Turnpike Tuesday The Informant It’s a rare session that I’ll step away from the screens, particularly with so much going on, year-end approaching and the industry on edge. As I pride myself on conducting exhaustive due diligence, I drove across the river this morning […]
The AIDS-Era Origins of America’s Cannabis Laws
The modern cannabis market and its sleek dispensaries, brand collaborations, and Green Wednesday promos for infused pre-rolls feel far removed from the world where activists went to jail for baking weed brownies for the terminally ill. However, the roots of today’s booming industry are deeply intertwined with a pivotal moment in public health history: the […]
Why Does ‘Nothingness’ Hit After the Party? Inside the Existential Hangover of the Post-Rager Crash
As gravity dictates, whatever goes up must come down. During parties, we expose our bodies to an avalanche of stimuli that, once everything fades, leaves a mark not just on the body but on our state of consciousness. After that whirlwind comes a sort of “depersonalization” or “derealization” of the soul: a struggle to return […]