When most people think about major hip-hop festivals, Montana rarely enters the conversation. For decades, many national tours bypassed the state entirely, leaving local fans to travel hundreds of miles to catch major artists.

That reality helped inspire Rappin’ The Rivers, an independent festival founded in 2023 by Montana rap duo Filth and Foul, made up of Nickel Barney (NICKBUSY) and Shane Boylan (Contact). What started as an effort to bring large-scale hip-hop programming to their home state has grown into one of Montana’s most recognizable music gatherings.

Now entering its fourth year, the festival returns to Cardwell, Montana, on August 7–8, 2026.

A Montana Festival With Its Own Identity

Held at the same venue that has hosted events including Rockin’ The Rivers and Country Jam, Rappin’ The Rivers has built its reputation around a blend of live music, camping, nightlife, and Montana scenery.

Unlike many urban music festivals, the event takes place against a backdrop of mountains, open skies, and sprawling campgrounds. Every weekend pass includes camping access, helping create an experience that extends beyond the performances themselves.

Festival organizers say that combination has helped attract a growing audience from both inside and outside Montana. The event has also earned recognition in the Bozeman’s Choice Awards, where it has been named Best Festival for three consecutive years.

Hip-Hop, EDM, and More

This year’s lineup includes artists from across hip-hop, EDM, rock, and adjacent genres. Scheduled performers include DaBaby, That Mexican OT, Paul Wall, Dave East, Kid Ink, Rittz, X-Raided, Whitney Peyton, Unconventional Kingz, Champagne Drip, DirtySnatcha, Hairitage, LadyDice, and Doggface.

One of the festival’s signature attractions is Ravin’ The Rivers, an EDM-focused stage that operates alongside the event’s hip-hop programming. Organizers are also introducing a new Rockin’ The Rivers stage in 2026, expanding the festival’s musical footprint with additional rock and mixed-genre performances.

Another notable addition is Young Dirty Bastard, son of Wu-Tang Clan member Ol’ Dirty Bastard. He joins the festival as both a performer and special guest host through a new partnership involving the Dirty Jones brand.

Cannabis Culture Meets Independent Music

As the festival continues to grow, organizers have also added partnerships that reflect its connection to broader counterculture communities.

Among them is Evan Kajander, owner of Montana-based cannabis company Apogee Gardens, who has joined the event as a partner for 2026. While Rappin’ The Rivers remains primarily a music festival, the addition reflects the long-standing overlap between independent hip-hop, festival culture, and cannabis communities.

The festival grounds also feature vendors, merchandise, VIP experiences, food options, art installations, and after-hours activities that help create a weekend-long destination rather than a traditional concert experience.

Building Something Different

What makes Rappin’ The Rivers notable is not simply the lineup. It is the fact that an event built by independent Montana artists has managed to carve out its own place in a crowded festival landscape.

In a state often overlooked by major touring circuits, the festival has become a gathering point for fans of hip-hop, bass music, camping culture, and independent creative communities. As it enters its fourth year, Rappin’ The Rivers continues to grow while maintaining the Montana identity that helped set it apart in the first place.

Rappin’ The Rivers returns to Cardwell, Montana, on August 7–8, 2026. Get tickets here.

All images courtesy of Rappin The Rivers team.

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The first NECANN show should have been a disaster. February in Boston. Seven feet of snow. A venue with frozen steps. A Patriots Super Bowl scheduling scramble. Marc Shepard was outside at 5 a.m., smashing ice off the entrance to a beer hall and wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into.

Then the doors opened.

By 9 a.m., there was a line around the corner. NECANN had to stop selling tickets at the door both days because the response was too big for the room. This was 2015, before adult-use cannabis was legal in Massachusetts and before most East Coast operators had anything resembling an industry to stand on.

I just sort of remember going into the owner of where I worked the next day, and he was sort of my partner in that launch, and I was like, good news, bad news, you saw the event. Good news, I think we’ve got something really good here. Very exciting. Bad news, I’m retiring from the newspaper industry. I’m going to do this. – Marc Shepard

A decade later, Shepard is co-founder and president of NECANN, short for New England Cannabis Conventions, one of the East Coast’s most recognizable cannabis event platforms. The company’s official site says NECANN has been developing cannabis conventions since 2014 with an intentionally local-market approach, including a commitment to donating 10% of exhibit hall space to social equity licensees and advocacy groups.

That local-first philosophy is not just branding. For Shepard, it is the whole damn machine.

From Alt-Weeklies to Weed Weeklies

Before cannabis conventions, Shepard lived in the scrappy, ink-stained world of alternative newspapers. He came up in the orbit of papers like the Boston Phoenix and Providence Phoenix, the kind of progressive alt-weeklies that treated culture, politics, civil rights, and drug policy as connected fights rather than separate beats.

“I eventually found my way into the alternative newspaper business. Sort of the newspaper version of High Times, if you will, that sort of counterculture, but journalism focused,” Shepard said.

That world trained him for cannabis before cannabis was ready to call itself an industry. Shepard spent more than 15 years in advocacy journalism, where legalization and normalization were not content verticals. They were part of the mission.

Then the internet did what the internet did. The print started bleeding. Events became a lifeline. Beer festivals, concerts, ticketed gatherings. If a paper had readers, venue relationships, and advertisers, events were a natural next play.

In 2014, Shepard was the publisher at Dig Boston when the idea surfaced: Could they do a cannabis event in Massachusetts?

Medical cannabis was legal in the state, but adult-use was still on the horizon. Shepard says people were still getting raided or busted for selling CBD products. Nobody knew exactly what a cannabis event could legally or practically look like.

The first NECANN was purely educational. No real business yet. No polished East Coast cannabis economy. Just people hungry for information, access, and a room full of others who were done pretending weed was fringe.

That room changed Shepard’s life.

The Case for Staying Local

Cannabis events exploded between 2014 and 2017. Shepard is not precious about it. He does not pretend NECANN cracked some mystical code while everyone else was asleep at the wheel.

“Pretty much anyone who launched a cannabis B2B event from 2014 to say 2016 or 17 was successful,” Shepard said. “It was just, hey, congrats to us for having the timing.”

The harder part came later.

Cannabis trade shows are not like golf conventions or food expos. Shepard makes the comparison plainly: in mature industries, the major manufacturers are known, stable, and likely to renew year after year. Cannabis is different. Operators disappear, merge, pivot, get buried by taxes, lose funding, or get kneecapped by local rules.

“In the cannabis industry, they go out of business or fold or change, not by the day, by the hour,” Shepard said.

That volatility shapes everything. NECANN cannot simply build a show around last year’s exhibitor list and expect the same companies to come back with bigger checks. Shepard says the business requires constant outreach to new operators, new sponsors, and new local players.

His solution has been accessibility. Smaller booths. Lower barriers. Fewer whale sponsors calling the shots. More entrepreneurs and local operators in the room.

“I would rather have a hundred $1000 advert exhibitors than four $25,000 sponsors because if one of them becomes unreasonable, I have to plate them because they’re 25% of my business,” Shepard said. “Now, it doesn’t really come up, but the way our business is built, if someone becomes unreasonable and we can’t do business with them, we can walk away because they’re 1% of our business.”

The Massachusetts Fight Is Back on the Table

NECANN’s Boston show has always carried extra weight. It is the home market, the origin story, and one of the main annual gathering points for the Northeast cannabis industry.

This year, Shepard says Boston felt especially urgent because Massachusetts is facing a potential adult-use rollback effort. GBH reported in January 2026 that the State Ballot Law Commission dismissed an objection to a proposed measure that would give voters a chance to repeal recreational marijuana legalization. Ballotpedia describes the 2026 initiative as one that would repeal laws permitting adult-use marijuana sales while allowing limited possession, and Marijuana Moment reported in May 2026 that lawmakers declined to act on the proposal, leaving activists to gather the additional signatures needed for the November ballot.

Shepard is not treating it like background noise.

“There is literally a prohibition question on the ballot, and if the people in the industry and the people that support cannabis don’t come out and vote, we could be faced with cannabis being outlawed again in Massachusetts after November,” Shepard said.

He framed NECANN Boston as more than a networking event. According to Shepard, the team put at least one session on every programming track addressing the issue, with an emphasis on practical action rather than vague hand-wringing.

“So, we were conscious of putting at least one session on every programming track addressing that question with actionable items about who is depending on what actions you can actually take between now and November to help this happen,” Shepard said.

For Shepard, there is a bitter symmetry to it. NECANN’s earliest Boston events were about pushing people to vote for legalization. Ten years later, the room is being asked to defend what voters already won.

“It’s a little disheartening and sad,” Shepard said, “but also just nice to know that we have that platform and our voice is that much louder 10 years later, and we were able to give a stage and a microphone to the people that are doing the work to get it done.”

Why the Northeast Became the Room Everyone Wants In

NECANN may have New England in the name, but Shepard says the Boston event has functioned as a broader Northeast gathering for years, pulling from New York, New Jersey, Maine, Vermont, and beyond.

That regional identity has only gotten stronger as mature Western markets tighten and companies look east for growth.

Shepard says NECANN responded by paying speakers and introducing free admission for buyers. Both moves are small rebellions against standard trade-show economics, where speakers are often expected to donate expertise for “exposure” while attendees with purchasing power are charged for the privilege of being sold to.

“Coming from journalism, I just never really liked that model that speakers speak for free, but I’m like that’s what the industry does, and I’m like so that’s the business model, and I finally just was like I don’t care that that’s the business model. It’s not right,” Shepard said.

He believes paying speakers improved the quality of the programming and made contributors take the work seriously. Free buyer admission, meanwhile, helped get owners and purchasing decision-makers onto the floor.

NECANN also made another quietly smart choice: it stopped treating surrounding events like competition.

“I don’t care. Everyone in the industry is here. No single venue can hold everybody,” Shepard said. “So if eight different things are going on, it’s better for the attendees. It’s better for the industry.”

That is a mature-market mindset from an industry that still has plenty of toddler tantrums left in it. Shepard’s view is that a busy week full of panels, parties, mixers, and independent gatherings makes the whole market look bigger, more professional, and harder to ignore.

Minnesota Gets the NECANN Treatment

After Pennsylvania, Boston, and Vermont, NECANN headed to Minnesota in May 2026. The official NECANN schedule listed the Minnesota Cannabis Convention for May 14–15, 2026, at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Shepard says the company spent roughly a year and a half introducing itself to Minnesota before asking the market to show up. That meant sponsoring existing events, joining organizations, promoting other people’s work, and contributing before extracting.

“But our model instead was to spend about a year and a half introducing ourselves to the Minnesota market,” Shepard said. “We sponsored all the existing events there, supported the people that built the Minnesota market and paid into their efforts and bought sponsorships from them and came to their events and promoted their events and joined and spent a year in membership with organizations out there contributing rather than asking.”

That is the thesis of NECANN in one sentence: show up before you sell.

For Minnesota, Shepard said the programming involved local organizations, the Minority Cannabis Business Association, social equity opportunities, Minnesota-based exhibitors, and tribal license holders. NECANN’s official “About Us” page also says the company commits to donating 10% of exhibit hall space to social equity licensees and advocacy groups.

Shepard said Minnesota went even further.

“We made at least 10% of the exhibit hall floor available to be donated to social equity license holders or applicants,” Shepard said. “I think we ended up at about 15% of the floor will be taken by social equity, and that includes the tribal license holders in Minnesota.”

That matters because cannabis events can easily become pay-to-play rooms where the people most impacted by prohibition are priced out of the so-called opportunity economy. Donated space does not solve the structural mess by itself, but it does at least acknowledge who should be in the room.

The Trade Show as Political Infrastructure

It is easy to make fun of cannabis conferences. The lanyards. The branded tote bags. The panel titles that sound like they were written by a LinkedIn algorithm with a dab cough.

But Shepard’s story is a reminder that rooms matter.

Before there were mature markets, there were rooms. Before investors, there were rooms. Before regulators fully understood what they were regulating, there were rooms full of patients, growers, lawyers, activists, operators, journalists, and weirdos with business cards trying to make something real.

NECANN survived because it understood that cannabis is not one national market. It is a patchwork of state laws, local grudges, weather patterns, legacy networks, licensing fights, cultural codes, and political ambushes. What works in Humboldt does not automatically work in Maine. What sells in Colorado may mean nothing in Minnesota. What looks safe in Massachusetts can be back on the chopping block a decade later.

Shepard seems most comfortable in that tension. He is an event guy, yes. But he is also still an alt-weekly guy at heart: suspicious of power, loyal to local scenes, and allergic to polished bullshit.

The cannabis industry loves to talk about community when it needs something. Shepard’s model asks a better question: Did you build anything for the community before you passed the invoice?

Reflections

Marc Shepard did not build NECANN by pretending cannabis was clean, stable, or easy. He built it around the opposite truth: this industry is volatile, hyperlocal, politically exposed, and full of people trying to stay alive long enough to matter.

That is why the first frozen Boston show still feels like the right origin story. A bad-weather mess. A room nobody was sure would fill. A line around the block anyway.

Ten years later, the stakes are bigger, the rooms are cleaner, and the badges are probably better printed. But the job is still the same: get the people together, hand the microphone to the ones doing the work, and remind everyone that legalization is not a trophy on the shelf. It is a fight that can come back around when the room gets too comfortable.

Photos courtesy of NECANN

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Mary Jane Berlin marks its 10th anniversary edition June 11-14 at Messe Berlin, with 75,000+ attendees and 500+ exhibitors expected. RAW founder and High Times publisher Josh Kesselman headlines a live podcast on opening day. High Times editor in chief Javier Hasse will be on the ground.

Germany legalized recreational cannabis in April 2024. Two years later, the country has the largest legal cannabis market in Europe, a swelling network of cultivation associations and the post-legalization commercial buildout that the rest of the continent is watching closely. The industry’s main meeting point is one weekend in Berlin in June.

Mary Jane Berlin hits its 10th anniversary edition from June 11 to 14, 2026, at Messe Berlin. The event is one of the largest cannabis gatherings in the world, with more than 75,000 attendees and 500+ exhibitors expected across four days. Thursday is dedicated to B2B trade and conference programming. Friday through Sunday are open to the public for the festival.

From cultural celebration to commercial powerhouse

Mary Jane started a decade ago as a cultural festival. Germany’s legalization changed what the event is. The expo floor now combines serious B2B exhibitors with the consumer-facing festival programming that built the brand. International cultivation operators, vape and cartridge manufacturers, medical cannabis companies, and ancillary service providers all use the trade days to launch German market strategies. The festival side keeps the original community DNA intact.

The structure is the genuinely interesting part. June 11 is a quiet B2B day, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., trade pros only, with conference panels and networking. June 12 through 14, the doors open for the public festival. Live music across multiple stages. A “care culture” infrastructure with awareness teams and free water stations. An alcohol-free environment, with smoking permitted only in designated outdoor areas. Closer to a Berlin nightlife event than a US trade conference.

Two builders, one stage

The B2B day’s centerpiece is a live taping of the Mary Jane Podcast on the Studio Stage. The format is “CEO Insights.” The lineup includes Josh Kesselman, founder of RAW Rolling Papers and publisher of High Times, in conversation with Duc Anh Dang, co-founder of Mary Jane Berlin.

The pairing is the talk worth getting in early for. Two completely different paths to building enduring cannabis brands at scale. Kesselman turned a rolling paper company into one of the most recognizable names in global cannabis culture. Dang turned a community festival into one of the biggest cannabis events in the world. Both built it without a roadmap. Both did it before legalization made any of it easy.

The same Studio Stage features additional CEO conversations across the week, including Jürgen Bickel of Storz & Bickel, Benedict Sons of Cansativa, and David Ulbing of Cannafleur.

Find HT on the ground

High Times editor in chief Javier Hasse will be at Mary Jane Berlin throughout the event, covering the show, meeting with operators and brands, and connecting with the international cannabis community. If you’re attending and want to connect, the conference floor is the place to find him. The Studio Stage is the place to find Josh Kesselman.

The festival side

The public festival days bring a stacked music lineup including Marteria, Samy Deluxe, Marvin Game, Antifuchs, Eightfour, Herzog, Majan, WizTheMc and Haiyti, plus Berlin underground acts across multiple stages. The conference adds three programming streams: a Studio Stage for talks and live podcasts, a Masterclass Stage for 90-minute deep dives on practical topics, and an Immersive Stage for guided meditation, soundbath, breathwork and mindful pauses.

It’s the format US events have been talking about for years. Mary Jane just keeps doing it.

If you go

Dates: June 11-14, 2026 (B2B Day June 11, public festival June 12-14)

Location: Messe Berlin, Hammarskjöldplatz, North Entrance, 14055 Berlin

Tickets: Super Early Bird from €20 at maryjane-berlin.com

Age restriction: 18+, ID required

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Cuttings are selling for up to $1,566 each. Three California events in May are drawing international growers, hashmakers and breeders for the elite genetics they need to stay competitive in a $60 billion U.S. market with $9 billion in new European demand on the horizon.

The cannabis genetics arms race has gotten spring fever this May.

At least three events in California are drawing international growers, big and small, for the top-tier strains they need to stay competitive in the legal cannabis era.

Hendrx Nursery releases 100 clones of Tire Fire OG for $1,566 each at the first Clonetopia, a CANNA nutrients-powered clone release festival, May 16-17 at 7 Stars dispensary in Richmond, California, and Solful on Irving Street in San Francisco.

Joining Hendrx, Purple City Genetics will release their closely held Habibi (Z x Moroccan Peaches) for $500. Plus, a fast-flowering sativa called Lemon Cherry Congo (Red Congo x Lemon Cherry Gelato x Z).

Also, Haze Valley Nursery releases a $1,000 Tom Hill Haze 3-pack for vintage sativa breeders and lovers. Plus, $32 cuts of Grape Lobster, Hash Burger, Modified Mule, and Bodhi’s Strawberry Headband.

Down in Southern California on May 17, Green Dragon releases the most hype strain of 2026, Toad Venom, for $1,000 for three cuttings.

And Green Dragon’s former collaborator turned rival Ronin Seeds preempts Green Dragon with a May 9 drop of (alleged) Toad Venom cuts at GOAT Global for $500 each.

The events evoke memories of Seed Junky’s $1,000 Cap Junky clone drop at the 2021 Emerald Cup. Why the hype?

Because elite clones are blueprints for money trees in the $60 billion U.S. cannabis market, as well as globally. New international markets like Germany and Czechia are forecast to add $9 billion in revenue in the coming years.

It’s like buying Prada patterns in Milan, Italy, to go make your own new bag.

Buying a ‘golden ticket’

New genetics are a capital expense for a large cannabis business. Businesses are spending $1,500 on one plant to make their money back many times over. They turn the clone into a mother plant, then make more clones, grow those out, and sell the bud. They use them in new breeding projects.

“I spent $10,000 on a tray of OG back in the day,” said Green Dragon’s co-owner and operator Glen. “They put me on something that gave people something different than what was out there. I didn’t know how else to get it, and that’s what you did. I never regretted it because I made more than my money back. That’s for sure.”

Grabbing an elite clone is way cheaper than a licensing deal from a nursery, or popping packs and finding and testing a pheno.

Daniel Hendricks of Hendrx Nursery said he is fueling the next big OG Kush wave. Tire Fire OG is (OG Kush x Triangle Kush) x SFV OG. It combines selections from CSI Humboldt, CHA Genetics, Kevin Jodrey, and Hendrx Nursery.

“It’s got all the legends of the game,” said Hendricks. “This thing stood up against all the other OGs I could find.”

“OG is a fucking huge market. Everybody needs an OG that can commercially produce and then is going to keep its nose. This is like a business-to-business golden ticket.”

Daniel Hendricks, Hendrx Nursery

The 100 buyers of the Tire Fire OG get exclusive access to further work on the line, he said.

“It’s an invitation to sit down at the big table,” he said. “Everybody at the table is a professional commercial farmer who buys clones and understands commodities and is jumping at the opportunity.”

Dropping in on the Peach and Lemon Cherry Gelato waves

PCG’s Habibi release (Z x Moroccan Peaches) puts buyers in the middle of the 2026 peach strain wave. Moroccan Peaches is a flower and hash all-star right now, and the current center of a lineup of new seed crosses from PCG for 2026.

Still, PCG has held back Habibi for their own use, and the strain predates the rest of the Moroccan Peaches work. “It’s a really beautiful one. We run it for in-house consumption,” said Auryn McCafferty.

“Hashmakers are going to win with this,” said McCafferty. “It’s mixing two kings of the hash market. This is the all-star of our El Krem work, one of our favorites personally, and the community is going to be like, ‘Wow.’”

PCG’s other release Lemon Cherry Congo takes the current top flavor in weed, LCG, into sativa country, with a super-fast 8-week finish. It’s candy for the young adults who’ve never had a sativa, let alone one that finishes in eight weeks.

“The Congolese is an amazing Mount Rushmore strain for effect. This is landrace work but more palatable for the consumer and grower,” said McCafferty.

Accessing vintage highs and breeding tools

The $1,000 three-pack of Tom Hill Haze cuts from Haze Valley Nursery are akin to buying the same gear used to record The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” or Nirvana’s “Nevermind.”

Haze Valley Nursery’s Sjoerd Broeks obtained the three phenos from the legendary, reclusive Humboldt breeder Tom Hill himself. Tom Hill has rabid fans of his pure Haze sativa work.

“It’s really about the power of that high,” Broeks said.

The Tom Hill Hazes are a straight, pure, original Haze from Dave Watson, refined for the last three years by Tom Hill. They’re tall but manageable, with 11- to 13-week flowering times as opposed to 16-20 weeks. You’re going to taste vintage Thai, southern India and Colombia weed with notes of pepper or metal.

You can mom them, take cuts, flower some pure Hazes, plus mess around and make something else. Remake a Blue Dream, the best-selling strain ever. The drop allows you to own a benchmark reference standard for what we mean when we say “Haze.”

“If you’re working with the original Haze, you’ll be making similar seeds that I was making in the late ’90s,” Broeks said.

Broeks said the Tom Hill Hazes are pretty stable and true-breeding. “If you cross them to something else that’s pretty stable, and [the cross] works, the stuff is going to be pretty close to an F1 already.”

Authentic access in an era of ‘cutfishing’

Frugal home growers might get some heartburn at the steep price for such rarities. The average clone price in California is about $25.

Both Clonetopia and the Green Dragon event will have plenty of regular-priced clones for the masses. Talking Trees | Rootimentrees offers $47 GDP x Urkles, and Strawberry Pops with a dealer’s choice, buy one get one plant deal.

Glen said $1,000 for three Toad Venom cuts is drawing customers from as far as Spain who want to avoid getting “cutfished.” That’s a term for being sold a counterfeited strain variety in clone form. Ronin Seeds has reportedly muddied Toad’s waters once before with a fake Toad release.

Similarly, you can meet all the actual nursery operators at Clonetopia to get grow help.

“It’s so easy to get cutfished. To get it from the person where it’s 100%, never been out of their facility, never been a mix-up, it’s worth it.”

Glen, co-owner, Green Dragon

There are so many online nurseries these days selling unverified cuts, said PCG’s McCafferty.

“We’ll really validate the genetics. We’ll grow them out. This is what we say it is,” said McCafferty. “You could try to get those trays for that high price online, but are you sure it is what they say it is?”

After this raft of genetics events this spring, get ready for a terpy fall full of Toad Venom, Tire Fire, peaches, Haze, Hash Burger, and more.

Where to upgrade your garden

Clonetopia powered by CANNA nutrients NorCal Clone Release Festival, May 16-17, 7 Stars, Richmond, California, 3219 Pierce St. and Solful, 900 Irving St., San Francisco.

Green Dragon Toad Venom Release, May 17, 7235 Fulton Ave., North Hollywood.

GOAT Global Westwood Toad Venom Drop, May 9, 2299 Westwood Blvd., Los Angeles.

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Brazil now has more than 873,000 medical cannabis patients, a market approaching $200 million in annual revenue, and a regulatory framework that just opened the door to domestic hemp cultivation. The industry gathers at Cannabis Fair 2026 in São Paulo from May 21 to 23. Here’s what US operators need to know about the Latin American market they aren’t tracking.

While most of the US cannabis industry is watching its own federal rescheduling drama and the November hemp THC cliff, the largest cannabis market in Latin America is quietly hitting the kind of patient and revenue numbers that took Germany years to reach.

Brazil’s medical cannabis market generated nearly R$953 million (roughly US$187 million) in 2025, according to the latest data from cannabis consultancy Kaya Mind. The country surpassed 873,000 registered medical patients as of November 2025, a number that puts it in the same territory as Germany, which has between 700,000 and 900,000 medical cannabis patients. Brazil has 221 million residents. Germany has 83 million.

The growth is steep. Patient numbers jumped 56% from 2023 to 2024. Revenue grew 22% in the same period. ANVISA, Brazil’s national health regulator, has now registered 49 medical cannabis products. More than 2,180 cannabis-based products are available across the country, and patients in 80% of Brazil’s 5,570 municipalities can now access them.

The cultivation door just opened

The biggest near-term shift in Brazil’s cannabis economy isn’t the patient growth. It’s a regulatory change that hit in November 2024 and is still working its way through the supply chain.

Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice authorized the import of seeds and cultivation of industrial hemp for medical and pharmaceutical applications. For an industry that has been built almost entirely on imported product, the ruling fundamentally changes the cost structure. Roughly 40% of Brazilian medical cannabis patients still rely on imports through ANVISA’s RDC 660 program, which is one of the most expensive ways to access the medicine. Domestic cultivation, once it scales, should drive prices down and open a path to local manufacturing.

ANVISA is expected to finalize regulations on industrial hemp imminently. When that happens, Brazil moves from being one of the world’s largest medical cannabis import markets to a country with the climate, the agricultural infrastructure and now the legal framework to grow its own.

Where the industry is meeting

The fifth edition of Cannabis Fair takes place at the Transamérica Expo Center in São Paulo from May 21 to 23, 2026. It has positioned itself as Latin America’s primary cannabis business gathering, drawing exhibitors from Brazil, the United States, Colombia and Uruguay. High Times is a media partner.

“Cannabis Fair 2026 is today the major hub of the sector in the country. It’s where we see, in practice, technologies, products and solutions arriving in the market with quality and scientific backing, plus an important advance in discussions about cultivation and the entire production chain that is being structured in Brazil.”

Daniel Jordão, director and co-founder, Sechat

Running parallel to the trade show is the Brazilian Medical Cannabis Congress, a clinical and scientific conference that brings together physicians, researchers, executives and industry representatives. The combination is the closest thing Latin America has to the major US business conferences that define the regulated industry calendar.

Why US operators should care

For US cannabis operators trying to read the global market, Brazil is one of the few jurisdictions that combines real scale with a still-forming competitive landscape. The patient base is approaching German territory. The product market is real and growing. The regulatory framework is moving in a direction that creates room for domestic and foreign capital. And unlike the European markets that have absorbed most of the international investment attention over the past three years, Brazilian licensing and operational costs remain considerably lower.

The country is no longer the next opportunity. It’s the current one.

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New York has always been a proving ground for culture. Music, fashion, street energy—it all collides here first, then ripples outward. Cannabis spent decades orbiting that world just outside the spotlight.

This June, that changes. At Governors Ball in Queens, THC beverages are stepping inside the gates. No workaround, no side-eye, no hiding in the crowd.

ayrloom, a New York cannabis brand rooted in generations of farming, is entering the festival as its first hemp-derived THC beverage partner. It’s a small headline with real weight behind it.

Cannabis Finally Gets a Seat at the Festival

Cannabis and live music have always gone hand in hand. The difference now is legitimacy.

At Governors Ball, ayrloom’s low-dose drinks will be sold on-site to 21+ attendees, placing THC into the festival’s official beverage mix. Each can is built for pace, not intensity, with 1mg THC paired with 15mg CBG, designed for a light, social lift instead of a heavy high.

That shift reframes cannabis from something you sneak into a crowd to something you casually sip between sets. No smoke, no spectacle, just another option in the rotation.

And in a setting like this, normalization doesn’t come from messaging. It comes from behavior.

The Rise of Low-Dose Social Cannabis

If flower defined cannabis culture for decades, beverages are rewriting how it shows up in public.

Drinks offer something uniquely suited to regulated spaces: control. You know what you’re getting, you can pace it, and you don’t need to step away to partake. It fits the rhythm of a festival in a way smoking never fully could.

ayrloom is leaning into that experience beyond the can. Their footprint at Governors Ball includes a dedicated “garden club” space for relaxing and a daily 4:20 p.m. “Flower Hour.”

It’s branded, sure, but it’s also instructional. It shows people what cannabis can look like when it’s designed for social settings instead of the sidelines.

Cannabis has flirted with mainstream acceptance for years: celebrity drops, splashy launches, legalization headlines. But real normalization is quieter than that.

It happens when you can buy a THC drink as easily as a beer. When dosage is low enough to fit into a long day outside. When nobody around you treats it like a big deal.

That’s what’s unfolding here.

New York’s cannabis market is still evolving, and hemp-derived THC exists in a complicated legal lane. But culturally, the signal is clear: cannabis isn’t being tolerated in public spaces anymore—it’s being integrated into them.

Festivals are the perfect test case. If it works here (fast-paced, crowded, unpredictable), it can work anywhere.

For years, cannabis lived in the same spaces as music festivals without ever being formally invited. What’s happening at Governors Ball is the industry finally getting that invite, and showing up prepared.

A 1mg THC drink might seem subtle. But inside a packed New York festival, where cannabis is treated like just another choice at the bar, it signals something bigger than a product launch.

It’s a shift in how the culture moves.

Images courtesy of ayrloom.

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A decade in, one of New York’s most important cannabis gatherings is doubling down.

New York’s cannabis industry doesn’t have many constants. Markets shift, regulations change, and operators come and go. But for the past decade, one thing has remained steady: Revelry.

Now, the platform behind some of the state’s most recognizable cannabis gatherings is hitting its 10-year mark, and doing it the only way that makes sense: by bringing the community back together.

In 2026, Revelry’s Buyers’ Club returns with two major events—May 13 in Hudson, New York, and September 18 at Pier 36 in Manhattan—pulling in licensed buyers, top-tier brands, and industry insiders at a moment when the market could use exactly that.

More Than a Trade Show

Revelry has never positioned itself as just another cannabis trade show. From the beginning, it’s leaned into something more intentional: creating space for connection in an industry that often moves too fast to sustain it.

What started as grassroots gatherings before legalization has grown into a curated platform where business, culture, and community actually intersect.

“What I’m most proud of is the depth of the relationships — not just the ones we’ve built within the industry over the past decade, but the platform we’ve created for others to build theirs,” said Lulu Tsui, Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer at On The Revel, in a press release.

That’s part of why the Buyers’ Club events feel different. They’re not built around booths and transactions alone—they’re built around the idea that the right environment leads to better outcomes.

Good product matters. So does good energy. And in a market like New York, that combination isn’t guaranteed.

Why This Year Feels Different

The timing of Revelry’s 2026 events isn’t accidental. New York’s cannabis market is in a transitional moment. New leadership, ongoing regulatory changes, shifting consumer demand, and increased competition have left many operators trying to find their footing.

That uncertainty makes gatherings like Buyers’ Club more than just networking opportunities. They become places where people can compare notes, build partnerships, and figure out what’s next—together.

“The market sentiment right now is tough — there’s no sugarcoating that,” said Jacobi Holland, Co-Founder at On The Revel, in a press release. “Our job has never been to pretend things are easy. It’s to create a space where people can be real with each other, solve problems together, and leave feeling like they’re not in this alone.”

What to Expect at the Buyers’ Club

Both 2026 events are built around a simple idea: bring the right people into the same room and let things happen.

That means:

• vetted, licensed buyers
• leading cannabis brands
• curated environments designed for actual interaction

It also means an experience that goes beyond standard trade show expectations. Food, culture, and community aren’t afterthoughts—they’re part of the design.

“Revelry is about creating the space where everyone can shine,” said Jason Starr, Chief Impact Officer at On The Revel, in a press release. “When the environment is intentional and the community is thoughtfully curated, the best parts of cannabis culture—connection, creativity, and collaboration—naturally translate into better, more sustainable business.”

New for 2026, Revelry is also introducing a Micro Business Program, aimed at giving smaller, craft operators more visibility within a space that often leans toward larger players.

It’s a move that reflects where the market is heading—and who deserves a seat at the table.

A Platform Built to Last

Ten years in cannabis is a long time—especially in New York.

Revelry’s staying power comes down to something simple: consistency. Through legalization, market shifts, and industry growing pains, the platform has stayed focused on bringing people together and creating space for meaningful connection.

That approach has turned it into something bigger than an event series. It’s become part of the infrastructure of New York’s cannabis community.

And in a moment where the industry is still figuring itself out, that kind of platform carries weight.

Save The Dates

• Buyers’ Club Spring: May 13, 2026 — Hudson, NY
• Buyers’ Club Fall: September 18, 2026 — Pier 36, Manhattan

For more information, visit:  https://www.revelryny.com

Images courtesy of Team Revelry.

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The Proper Smoke Network is taking High Rollers off the screen and into a six-hour live event with a $160,000 bracket, live finals, a major glass auction and a room built for people who care how weed actually smokes.

On April 25, the Proper Smoke Network is hosting the High Rollers Live Show, a six-hour livestreamed event built for the kind of weed person who actually cares about the details. Not just what a jar looks like, but how it burns, how it tastes, how it opens up and whether it really holds up once the joint is lit.

Tickets are already on sale here, with 420 general admission spots and 69 VIP tickets available.

At the center of it all is a live UFC-style press conference for the $160,000 High Rollers bracket, plus a live glass auction, the filming of the Open Strain Bracket Finals and the unveiling of a new Ryan Fitt tip line included with ticket purchases.

The connoisseur event cannabis never had

The Proper Smoke Network is pitching the whole thing as something cannabis has not really had before: an event aimed squarely at the connoisseur crowd. Not the general public. Not a broad tent. The people who are deeply, maybe obsessively, invested in how weed actually smokes.

Adam Pain and Paul Christmon built their platform on the idea that smoking well is a skill, not a given. Their case has always been that a lot of people, including self-described connoisseurs, were not being nearly as honest or rigorous as they thought they were. The roll mattered. The pull mattered. The way a joint opened, stained and finished mattered. If you did not control those things, you were not really judging the weed. You were just having an opinion.

This event is built around that same standard. Side-by-side comparisons. Live competition. Smoke talk with people who actually mean it. A room where paying attention is the whole point.

What happens at the High Rollers Live Show

Doors open at 3 p.m., with the press conference kicking off at 4:20 p.m. That segment centers on the spring High Rollers $160,000 grand prize bracket, with competitors appearing live in front of an audience. VIP attendees get a chance to ask questions, alongside media. B-Eazy is involved, which means it will not be a quiet afternoon.

Beyond the press conference, competitors will have booths on site. Those booths will officially be selling shirts. More to the point, the setup brings fans and competitors into the same room, which lets the audience get closer to the bracket than a livestream usually allows.

Later in the day comes the glass auction, with PSN promising another major swing alongside Ryan Fitt after their previous collaboration made serious noise in the glass world.

To close the night, the Open Strain Bracket Finals will be filmed live on stage, in front of a crowd and on stream. For a platform built on tight standards and a comment section that never exactly whispers, doing the finals with a live room is either the obvious next step or slightly unhinged. Probably both. Which is part of the appeal.

Tickets, perks and the full treatment

General admission is priced at $420.69. Every GA ticket includes two organic, seed-oil-free meals, coffee, dessert, the first edition of PSN Magazine and a Ryan Fitt tip from the new line being unveiled at the event.

VIP goes further. Same goodie bag, but with an extendo Fitt tip. Add separate entrance and bathrooms, complimentary valet, food service, palate cleansers, caviar bumps, premium seating and a mezzanine area. There are only 69 of these tickets, and the whole point is to make the top tier feel like its own event inside the event. They are not being subtle about that. Nor should they be.

The bet

Underneath all of it is a simple wager: that cannabis has matured enough to support an event built around connoisseurship itself. Around rolling, judging, comparing, debating and obsessing over smoke quality in front of people who care just as much as you do.

That is a narrower audience than “everyone who likes weed.” But it is a real one, and a loyal one.

If this works, it could push the door open for more cannabis events that treat competition and technique as the main attraction rather than the backdrop.

If it does not, nobody will be able to say they played it safe.

The High Rollers Live Show takes place April 25, with doors opening at 3 p.m. Tickets are available now through Proper Smoke Network.

For the people who have spent years saying cannabis events never really feel built for them, this one seems ready to find out.

Editor’s note: The $160,000 prize referenced in this article is fictional, not cash. As competitors like to say: Monopoly money. But the competition is very real.

<p>The post A $160K Bracket, Live Finals and Glass Heat: Proper Smoke Network Will Host a Connoisseur Event on Apr. 25 first appeared on High Times.</p>

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By Shawna Seldon McGregor

Policy experts and global researchers break down the data, the myths and the next steps for a country on the edge of reform.

In October, Reykjavík hosted the Hemp4Future conference, bringing together international researchers, clinicians, policy specialists and industry leaders to examine how cannabis and hemp could support Iceland’s long-term goals in public health, environmental sustainability and wellness-based policy. Across two days of panels and workshops, speakers delivered a consistent message: Iceland is uniquely positioned to benefit from regulated cannabis access, but only if policymakers move beyond stigma and toward evidence-driven reform.

Youth Use Declines in Regulated Markets

Several speakers addressed the fear that legalization increases youth consumption. In Germany, a 2025 paper from the Federal Institute of Public Health (BIÖG), reviewing representative survey data collected prior to the country’s April 2024 reform, found only minor changes in adolescent cannabis use overall from 2008 to 2023, while use among male adolescents declined between 2019 and 2023. The authors noted that the effects of partial legalization on youth use will require continued evaluation.

Similar patterns have been observed in the United States. The University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future 2025 report shows substantial long-term declines in past-30-day marijuana use since 2012 across 8th, 10th and 12th graders. Meanwhile, data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that current cannabis use among students in grades 8, 10 and 12 in King County, Washington declined between 2008 and 2021.

State-level data points in the same direction. The 2023 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey reported that 13% of high school students used marijuana in the past month, showing no increase from prior years despite a mature legal market.

“Youth use falls when cannabis is regulated,” Pearson noted. “The fear doesn’t match the evidence.”

Medical Needs: MS, Epilepsy and Chronic Pain

Iceland’s medical landscape was a recurring theme, with multiple experts underscoring how cannabis-based therapies could offer immediate benefits. The country has a relatively high prevalence of multiple sclerosis compared with much of the world, according to epidemiological research.

For MS-related spasticity, a 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis found that cannabinoid-based medicines, particularly nabiximols, have demonstrated effectiveness in reducing symptoms.

In presentations from clinicians and researchers, speakers also pointed to evidence supporting cannabidiol, or CBD, for severe childhood epilepsies. A landmark randomized clinical trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that CBD significantly reduced seizure frequency in patients with Dravet syndrome. The FDA-approved drug Epidiolex now covers seizures associated with Dravet syndrome, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and tuberous sclerosis complex.

Additional research also supports the use of cannabinoids in certain contexts, including chronic neuropathic pain and chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting, though evidence for sleep outcomes remains more mixed and continues to evolve, according to a review of medical cannabinoid evidence.

Global Frameworks and the Challenge of Patchwork Policy

International cannabis attorney Bob Hoban delivered one of the most technical analyses of the event, outlining how regulatory “phases” determine whether a country’s cannabis program succeeds or stalls. He emphasized a global pattern of nations legalizing cannabis without creating workable pathways for commercial distribution or export, a mismatch that has slowed progress across emerging markets.

“Access to medical cannabis is a human right. People deserve safe, natural options that reduce harm and bring healing. Legalization is also harm reduction,” explained Founder of Hemp for the Future, Þórunn Þórs Jónsdóttir. “Hemp is one of the few plants that loves Iceland as much as we do. It grows strong in our tough conditions and reminds us what resilience looks like. With our renewable energy, glacial water and pure air, we could turn that strength into a sustainable industry, from green medicine to green jobs.”

“Perfect regulation doesn’t exist,” Hoban told the audience. “Countries that wait for perfection usually fail. Progress comes from starting, adjusting and creating balance between domestic access and international commerce.”

Hoban also described the five existing global “channels” through which cannabis currently operates, industrial, adult-use, wellness, medical and illicit, and argued that effective policy must account for all five rather than attempt to regulate them in isolation.

Environmental Potential: Hemp as Remediation

Several speakers highlighted hemp’s environmental advantages, particularly its potential relevance to Iceland’s climate goals. Comparative research suggests hemp has significantly lower water requirements than cotton, with one 2023 study reporting a 38% lower crop water requirement and a 60% lower water footprint.

Hemp also offers measurable carbon sequestration potential. A sustainability review estimated that hemp can capture approximately 3.15 to 3.68 metric tons of CO₂ per hectare, depending on cultivation conditions.

Additionally, hemp has demonstrated phytoremediation capabilities, including the ability to absorb certain heavy metals from contaminated soils, though effectiveness depends on environmental conditions, contaminants and cultivation practices, according to published research on hemp bioremediation.

Rather than presenting these outcomes as guaranteed, speakers emphasized that Iceland’s renewable energy infrastructure, particularly geothermal and hydroelectric power, could make hemp cultivation and processing comparatively attractive from a sustainability standpoint.

A Robust Illicit Market Drives the Reform Question

Speakers argued that Iceland already has meaningful cannabis demand despite the absence of a broader regulated market. European survey data suggests cannabis use in Iceland is not low by regional standards, particularly among younger populations.

Despite strict general prohibition, Iceland does allow limited regulated medical access. The Icelandic Medicines Agency confirms that Sativex is authorized and available by prescription from specialist neurologists, and that physicians may apply for access to other cannabis-based medicines approved abroad. Outside this framework, cannabis remains prohibited under Icelandic law.

Experts argued that regulation, not prohibition, is the most effective tool for consumer safety, public health monitoring and harm reduction. Across Europe, medical cannabis frameworks have expanded significantly, though access rules, product categories and prescribing standards continue to vary widely.

A Program Grounded in Local Values

While much of the conversation centered on international models, speakers repeatedly pointed back to Iceland’s existing strengths: a wellness-oriented policy framework, strong public health data systems and a culture that values prevention and harm reduction.

The conference closed with a call for Icelandic policymakers to consider a medical-first regulatory approach supported by real-time data collection, clinician education and clear standards for both botanical and pharmaceutical cannabinoid use.

As Pearson told the audience in her keynote: “Courage is not the absence of fear. It’s the decision to act in spite of it.”

For Iceland, experts suggested, courageous cannabis policy may simply mean aligning regulation with reality and leveraging the plant as a tool for wellness, sustainability and public health.

This article is from an external, unpaid contributor. It does not represent High Times’ reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.

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Running April 14 through April 20, SF Space Walk 2026 brings growers, lounges, new flower releases and citywide cannabis culture back into focus, with a month of related programming beginning April 3.

San Francisco is getting its weed week back.

SF Space Walk, the city’s annual 4/20-season cannabis festival curated by journalist and author David Downs, returns this year with a weeklong lineup of flower drop parties, lounge activations and neighborhood events spread across the city from April 14 through April 20.

Modeled in spirit after San Francisco Beer Week and Restaurant Week, SF Space Walk is built around a simple but smart idea: treat cannabis releases with the same energy other industries give album drops, chef collabs and product launches. In this case, the stars are cultivators, lounges and fresh flower.

The event’s centerpiece is a seven-night run of what organizers describe as “drop parties,” gatherings where consumers can meet growers, explore new releases and experience the city’s legal cannabis lounge scene in a more social, curated setting. According to event materials, participating growers this year include brands such as Sense, Snowtill, Sunset Connect, Moon Valley, Umma Sonoma, Wood Wide Farms and Bosky, among others. Lounges and retail partners span multiple San Francisco neighborhoods, including spots like Moe Greens, Mission Cannabis Club, Fig & Thistle, Urbana and others.

That matters because SF Space Walk is doing more than throwing parties. It is trying to remind people that San Francisco still has one of the richest cannabis cultures in the world, and that legal weed can still feel local, specific and alive when it is rooted in place.

That may be the real hook here.

At a time when California cannabis often gets flattened into price wars, compliance headaches and shelf-space battles, SF Space Walk leans into the side of the industry that still feels human: growers with followings, strains with personality, neighborhood lounges, music, art and the kind of conversations that don’t happen in a rush at the register.

This year’s programming also stretches beyond the official April 14 to 20 run. A monthlong art show titled Get to the Bag opens April 3 at Mirus Gallery. The exhibition’s 2026 theme is “prohibited,” with a focus on East Coast illicit-market packaging and artwork banned by the State of California. Organizers are also adding a private “Club” night in SOMA on April 18, along with a community beach cleanup on April 11 led by Big Pete’s Treats and Hyrba with support from RefuseRefuse.org.

In other words, the event is not just selling access to products. It is trying to package a broader version of cannabis culture, one that includes design, neighborhood identity, public gathering and civic texture alongside the flower itself.

That’s a notable frame for San Francisco in particular.

For years, the city has occupied a strange place in the cannabis imagination. It remains one of the world’s most recognizable weed capitals, but it has also watched much of the industry’s economic momentum shift elsewhere. The legacy is still there. The mythology is still there. The dispensaries and lounges are still there. But events like this are part of the ongoing attempt to turn that legacy into something current instead of merely historic.

SF Space Walk makes that pitch directly. The event describes itself as a public-spirited effort to polish the city’s cannabis crown on the global stage. Promotional materials point to visitors from around the Bay Area and beyond, with the broader goal of reintroducing consumers to San Francisco through cannabis.

There is a logic to that. A strong weed city is not built on stores alone. It needs ritual. It needs reasons to go out. It needs scenes, destinations and recurring moments that give people a way to experience the culture collectively rather than passively. Cannabis, for all the money and policy around it, still depends on atmosphere.

And atmosphere is something San Francisco can still do better than almost anyone.

The festival’s structure reflects that. Drop parties are planned across neighborhoods including the Mission, Civic Center, Hayes Valley, the Sunset, Inner Richmond and SOMA. The format lets attendees move through the city while connecting product releases to specific places. That gives the week a little more shape than a standard promo campaign or retail push. It feels closer to a crawl, or a circuit, than a trade event.

For High Times readers, that is part of the appeal. Legal cannabis has matured, but some of its most interesting expressions still happen where commerce, culture and place overlap. SF Space Walk appears designed to sit right in that intersection.

The event is scheduled to run through 4/20 itself, with organizers encouraging RSVPs for individual dates and programming. Whether it becomes a major annual tradition or remains a strong local ritual with cult appeal, it taps into something the industry could use more of: experiences that make legal weed feel like culture again, not just inventory.

For one week in April, San Francisco seems intent on proving it still knows how to do exactly that.

<p>The post San Francisco’s Weed Week Is Back: SF Space Walk Returns This April first appeared on High Times.</p>

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