The War On Quality: How Federal Prohibition Gave Us Craft Cannabis

Let me hit you with a hot take that’s not actually a hot take if you’ve been around since before legalization: Cannabis prohibition was responsible for higher quality and better priced cannabis than any legal marketplace.

I know, I know. Legalization promised freedom, open markets, and adult use laws that would finally treat cannabis like wine. Instead, consumers and producers get taxed to hell and left out to dry. Shocking.

The Emerald Triangle 

Let’s take a look at Humboldt, Trinity, Mendocino counties—the Holy Land of American cannabis. These are legacy farms, growing generational, boutique, world-class flowers. 

These farmers should be offered presale on their harvests like Bordeaux vintners—selling futures on crops before they’re even harvested, locking in premium prices because the name alone means something. But no. Now they’re struggling to sell last year’s harvest. Why? Because the market supply is not allowed to travel to the market demand.

California legalized—but try selling that Humboldt harvest across state lines. Can’t do it. They’ve got a product that belongs on the global stage, but legally can’t leave the damn parking lot. No interstate trade. No federal framework. Just oversupply in a sealed-off arena.

It’s like owning a world-class sushi restaurant in a town that only eats microwaved fish sticks and then wondering why no one shows up.

And let’s not forget: these same farms used to thrive during prohibition. Yeah, there was risk—DEA jeeps, helicopters, and the occasional dive into the woods like a scene out of John Wick.

But prices? Through the roof. Scarcity created value and exceedingly amazing quality. The threat of government raids made this product rare, and people paid for it.

Our buddy Tommy Hessler, legendary founder of Amaranth Farms in Humboldt knows. He’d fire up the chainsaw and cut down trees across logging roads to block the feds from storming his land. Then the DEA brought helicopters. So yeah—they escalated, and so did the price per pound. There was honor in the hustle. You took the risk, you got rewarded.

Now? No risk, no reward. Just regulation. Just taxes. Just bureaucrats who never smoked a joint in their life deciding the future of your livelihood.

Let’s talk about dispensaries. These should be the new storefronts of freedom, right? Nah.

These folks are so deep in survival mode, they’re forced to buy mid-grade indoor over top-shelf sungrown just because it’s cheaper by 30 cents. It's not the dispensaries fault, they constantly battle increasing taxes and pressure for lower prices. It's becoming more and more difficult for any business to focus on quality.

And it’s not the consumer’s fault either. It’s a government system designed to erase the traditional market while offering none of the value it once had.

Let’s call this what it is: a slap in the face to cannabis culture.

The very thing we built—through decades of risk, sacrifice, and scarcity—is now being crushed under the boot of taxes and theatrical oversight.

And don’t get me started on hemp and CBD. They overregulated the “non-psychoactive” compound because apparently your grandma using a 10mg gummy is a threat to national security. If you don’t think they’re going after all of us with this 30% tax on medicine, you’re asleep at the wheel. In Arizona, as of May 2025, any CBD or hemp derived products will need to be bought through a state license dispensary. 

The government doesn’t want cannabis users—they want cannabis customers.

And they think we’re dumb enough to just pay the price and thank them for it.

So here’s the big, blunt truth:

Prohibition, for all its madness, built value. Legalization without access destroys it.

If we want a future for world-class cannabis, we need real legalization. Interstate commerce. Trade routes. Recognition of heritage. Protection of craft. And most importantly, respect for the people who built this industry while dodging helicopters.

Until then? The “legal market” is just a souvenir shop built on the ruins of an empire. And we’re all paying tourist tax.