Written by Shaleen Title and Damian Fagon
Federal cannabis bills are not coming to save us. It’s October 2025, and the corporate-led strategy that has dominated the movement is dead. The same bills get introduced over and over, and like zombies, we deliver the same recycled responses, fight the same identical fights, and make no progress. We are no closer to federal legalization than we were five years ago. The attempted corporate takeover has clearly failed, and we’re still pretending that doing the exact same thing will yield a different result.
The cannabis policy movement needs a reboot. We are ready to pull the plug on this failed approach and start building the cannabis market we actually want instead, and we hope you will join us. It’s time for a complete overhaul, with a new strategy that puts local communities and fair markets at the center.
Wall Street Weed still frames this as a fairy tale in which they are the heroes, fighting valiantly for incremental wins while moral purists hold them back. But the truth is simpler: no one is holding them back. Despite all the money and lobbying, their strategy has failed.
The movement tried selling out to publicly traded cannabis companies – the most ambitious among us even selling out to Big Tobacco – and we remain stalled. Their lobbyists promised momentum and results but delivered nothing. None of their preferred bills passed, and none of their stated goals were met.
The good news is that we can change course by putting people over profits and building local power to bring real change. But first, we have to name the zombie ideas that keep staggering through every legislative session, devouring resources and delivering nothing.
First: “Federal legalization now; we’ll work out the details later.”
That argument …
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Author: High Times Contributors / High Times
