Cannabis

In 2018, the year Canada legalized recreational weed, the cannabis company known as Houseplant joined forces with the Ontario-based corporation Canopy Growth and went on to scoop up more than 1 percent of the Canadian market. But setting up shop in America, where state laws vary and often clash with federal statute, called for a different approach. So Houseplant turned to producing home goods designed specifically for cannabis connoisseurs.

It’s “our Trojan horse,” says co-founder and CEO Michael Mohr, 39, referring to an array of nearly three dozen marijuana-related products ranging from lighters and ashtrays to rolling papers and an all-in-one polished concrete rolling tray–brand extensions intended to build affinity for the Houseplant trademark. At the same time, the company is pursuing cannabis sales in the U.S. through partnerships like one it established with THC Design, a California farm known for its “premium” flower.

Cannabis tourism is on the rise. Nearly 20 percent of all adult Americans qualify as cannabis-motivated travelers, according to research done in 2020 by MMGY Travel Intelligence in partnership with Enlightn Strategies, an advisor in the cannabis space. Today, 18 states and the District of Columbia, Guam, and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands have all legalized weed for adult recreational use. (A dozen more have passed medical marijuana laws only.) But each state has slightly different rules and regulations, which can be tricky to navigate.


Here are some tips to keep in mind for consuming responsibly in states where cannabis is legal.

When botanists or naturalists need to identify a particular plant, they head to the local herbarium to cross-check existing identified specimens of the plant. Think of a herbarium as a library, only instead of books, it contains dried and labeled plant specimens. In the United States alone, there are hundreds of herbariums—from the Missouri Botanical Garden’s herbarium (one of the world’s most famous, with nearly 7 million specimens) to the one at Harvard University. Worldwide, there are more than 3,000 herbariums.

But until recently, there hasn’t been a single herbarium dedicated to cannabis.

The American cannabis boom goes far beyond the vast ranks of stoners who can finally roll their joints legally. Hannah Wallace looks at one grower focusing on terroir and nuance in the pursuit of weed that isn't about getting you high

When Mowgli Holmes and his childhood friend Nishan Karassik founded Phylos Bioscience in 2014 they had one major goal: to provide more transparency in the cannabis industry. That “and science, truth, consistency—and better weed,” Holmes wrote me in an email back in 2017.

They never could have guessed in 2014 that within a few years, they would be the subject of suspicion and outright contempt in some quarters of the tight-knit cannabis-growing world. But maybe they should have, because the transition from the illicit trade in marijuana to the mostly licit cannabis industry was never going to be without its complications and conflicts. Large science firms and Big Agriculture see an opportunity. Little cannabis sees a threat.

It seems to me that many of the most creative cannabis ventures in my home town of Portland are run by women. I was pleased, then, to be asked by an editor at Conde Nast Traveler, UK to write this story on the female entrepreneurs who are rebranding cannabis businesses. (Think chic lifestyle boutiques rather than the bro culture that's so often been associated with this intoxicating plant.)

Marijuana has had a shady past, but it's on the cusp of having a very conventional future. In 2017, U.S. consumers spent $8.5 billion on legal cannabis, a number projected to grow to $23.4 billion by 2022. With that growth has emerged an entire ecosystem of startups that support the less sexy side of cannabis. Not the luxury dispensaries or rose-hued vape-pen companies, but the infrastructure that keeps them going--from software systems to package-design firms. As legalization continues to spread--it's now permitted in 31 states, Washington, D.C., Guam, and Puerto Rico--so will the B2B industry solving cannabis's thorny challenges.

Now that cannabis is legal recreationally in Oregon, I thought I'd give it a try for my occasional insomnia. Here's what happened, in the December issue of Vogue. Along the way, I dig into the science and find out how terpenes influence your high (more than indica vs. sativa), which conditions cannabis actually helps, and why it can cause anxiety, paranoia, and even hallucinations in some people but not others.

If you’ve wandered into a cannabis dispensary any time since last October, when the advent of recreational sales made those visits possible, you’ve marveled at a galaxy of goodies: salted caramel chews made with organic cannabis oil, small-batch GMO-free ice cream from local milk, rosemary-and-cumin-spiced nuts, even marionberry coffee cake.

But unless a doctor has issued you a medical marijuana card, you salivate in vain: Oregon won’t let prospective psychonauts buy those treats just yet. Unlike in Colorado and Washington, our comrades in state-level legalization, Oregon’s recreational marijuana law kicked edibles down the road—probably until October 2016.

Sofresh Farms, in Canby, Oregon, is not what I expect. When I finally find it, on an out-of-the-way gravel road, I’m struck by how ordinary this rural neighborhood is. There’s a produce farm on one side; a man raising Longhorn cattle on the other. Magnificent Mount Hood dominates the skyline. Other than the 8-foot-high wooden fence surrounding the property, there’s nothing to tip me off that this is a cannabis farm.

Further complicating my notion of a typical pot farm, I’m met at the gate by a tow-headed three-year-old boy wearing silver wings. 

“Do you know where Tyson is?” I ask, mentioning the grower by name. The boy looks at me skeptically until I introduce myself.