But there’s more to this image than nostalgia and comedy. What you’re looking at in that High Times spread is a snapshot of cannabis before genetics became an industry, before selection pressure from legalization narrowed the gene pool into a parade of similar high-THC cultivars, and before the concept of a “strain” meant something you could trademark and market to dispensary buyers. You’re looking at the world cannabis came from. And understanding that world matters a great deal for where cannabis is going.