Another year being weird is in the books, and what an eventful one it’s been! From THCa to Schedule III, our community is jumping through as many loopholes as ever, and with just as many doomsayers out there waiting to yuck our yum. It can be both exhausting and exhilarating at the same damn time.

As usual though, while the doom & gloom may be great for headlines & clicks, the hearts of the diehards beat on. Our demise is continuously overstated – we’re a resilient kind. We continue to find a way.

Over the past year we’ve covered some major ground in our little experiment over here – from fighting bullshit legislation, to sounding the alarm about spray terps, rebranding the term stoner to praising mylar bags – it’s hard to think of any hot button issues we DIDN’T bitch about. We campaigned for small batch, and macrodosing, while asking important questions like ‘can weed bring us closer to god?’ and ‘who raised you fucking people?’. I called many of us addicts, while Matt called those who don’t smoke cops. (Only teasing, he didn’t say that.) But to say we’ve got range, and depth, at this point I’d say that’s a pretty massive understatement. We’re fuckin’ meta, baby. (The adjective, not the company.) It’s crazy to see the legs this lil’ section has developed, and the voices that are now asking to be a part of it – we’re truly just getting started…

But if you remember last year’s recap, I had promised to evolve this section with some new features & assets that I thought would be coming online and well… they didn’t. Instead, some other things happened, and we’ve had to take a different direction, so let’s start there.

What’s going on with High Times?

Now if you’ve been following the news lately you might’ve seen some stories out there starting to count us out, or preying on our demise. I’ve had a lot of articles shared with me over the past few weeks that contained questionable information about the company and our situation, so I figured this was a good medium to set the record straight. I know every person that dislikes the brand or me personally has shared these articles, and celebrated that we’re likely all out of jobs. Well friends, I hate to break it to you, but the truth, as always, is likely going to be much less satisfying than the idea you’ve made up in your head. You’ve got some valid questions and while I don’t have all the answers right now, I’d like to give a little update for all of you wondering what’s up.

Right now, High Times is in the process of a rebirth. While I can’t speak to or for any other area of the High Times enterprise, I can speak to what’s going on in this particular house. As you all know, our media business is an important cornerstone of this industry. Now in its 50th year of operation, the magazine’s voice has been a rallying cry for our culture longer than most of us have been alive, and it’s one many people, including myself, would like to see given the proper love and care it deserves in order for it to continue to bear fruit for the community for many years to come. Because of that, and many other things that actually have very little to do with us, High Times is currently in the process of changing ownership.

What does this mean?

Similar to the acquisition that happened in 2017, sometime in the next few weeks, or months, High Times will be acquired, and thus have a new owner. We are in a process right now where court appointed representatives are studying what we do & packaging up our business to offer it to potentially interested parties who may want to develop or operate it going forward. This is company-wide, and every asset and business area we have is being analyzed. 

Now, our media business has operated independently from the other business areas forever, but it is possible, and honestly likely, that this side of High Times will be separated from some of the other assets our former leadership amassed over the past few years. I know that this may seem like a loss for the brand, but in reality optimizing our lean business model in order to ensure we can grow and prosper for years to come is essential for every business, and it’s the media side’s biggest priority. This is likely a necessary decision for the future of all of our current business areas. Speaking for my team, we all love what we do, and are honored to do it – we simply can not imagine letting this voice fall off into the ether, and we’re doing everything in our power to protect it. While it’s not 100% in our control, I’m feeling pretty good about the future right now, for the first time in a while.

While sure, any change of this magnitude is scary, and uncertain, the truth is that High Times is an incredibly resilient brand. It WANTS to breathe, and grow – it just needs the room to do so. Had you told me 10 years ago High Times would be publishing longer than VICE I probably wouldn’t have believed you, but with all I’ve seen over the past 7 years here it no longer surprises me. I have watched countless people try to hold us down or count us out in my time here, and none have been successful. The brand continually carries on in spite of whatever gets in its way. High Times really is just like the plant we all love so much, it’s a weed – it’ll bloom through whatever cracks of light it gets. And we’re here to prod those little cracks to let some more light in.

Now, while I can’t promise that whoever the new owner is will want to keep me or any of this around, I can tell you my priority is ensuring this team continues on. That the work continues on. What I can promise you, dear reader, is that I will keep doing whatever in my power is best for this business, this brand, this community, and the information that you deserve, no matter what the future brings, or what may happen to my role at this company. I have fought many an executive who thought we could just Chat GPT this work out, and I am not afraid to continue that argument as long as they’ll have me, but we don’t get to control everything… Whatever the case, we’ll find a way forward.

Silver Linings

So with that brief explainer, let’s loop back around to my initial point. 

Because of all that’s been going on the past few months, the growth that I expected to see at the end of last year obviously hasn’t happened – respectfully, our priorities have to shift with the business – but rest assured, we haven’t given up! In fact, in true High Times fashion, we turned those lemons to lemonade, and worked out some new, more cost-effective, ways to get these ideas over the finish line. We even worked out a few kinks to spruce the projects up a bit. While we’re still underwater dealing with this sale, and addressing the very real concerns many of you have raised to us, I am confident that the new model we’ve hypothesized will allow us to create a bunch of that content we’ve been waiting to make for you – no matter who is manning the ship at that point. I don’t want to let too much out of the bag yet, but yes, we have heard all your requests for video content and podcasts, and we’re not too far from the day we’ll get to introduce them to you.

I know you’ve got more questions – and that the road ahead seems long, and tired, but the truth is we’re far closer to many of our goals than we’ve ever been, and we’re all fighting harder than ever. With all the momentum we’ve built over our collective history in this fight, let’s not forget to remember how far we’ve come. We’re doing the things our ancestors thought impossible; it would be silly to give up now. 

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Musician, singer, actor, comedian, and beatbox extraordinaire, Reggie Watts has layers like an onion. If onions ate edibles, that is.

Born in Germany and raised in Montana, Watts’s love affair with cannabis started with the finest schwag a teenager’s money could buy. Thankfully, that crispy weed didn’t hinder him as he stayed on a path that led him to learning all of the benefits the cannabis plant has to offer. 

Somehow he always gives the audience exactly what they want—not even Watts knows what he’s planning, from a TED Talk and comedy specials to his tones and beats on Comedy Bang! Bang!. His gift comes naturally and what a gift it is.

Edibles have also been a gift to him, not just to reduce stress and anxiety, but as a muse as well. He even takes his love for cannabis steps further, advocating far and wide in loopy improvised musical odes to 4/20 on The Late Late Show with James Corden where he serves as the leader of the show’s band, called Melissa.

We talked to Watts about practicing proper dosage, vibes over terps, and an “edible game” he plays when alone with himself. (Get your minds out of the gutter.)

High Times: What was the weed like growing up in Montana?

Reggie Watts: Oh man, I mean, it was very schwaggy. It was very brown with seeds in it, but we would get really fucked up! I don’t remember its efficiency, I didn’t know anything about that then, but we were high. I guess it came from Mexico? That’s what everyone always said, “It came from Mexico.” Who even knows if it was true.

Do you remember where you got it back then?

I like that question because it’s like you’re trying to score some.

Yeah so, where’d you get that dirt weed from? Can I get that number like, pssst… Reggie sent me?

So yeah, is there an email I get? A number I can hit up? I need some schwag! You know, I don’t know where we got it from back then. It was always my friend that procured it, and I had no idea where he got it. Ok actually, there was one time when I knew where we got it. I had broken into a small pickup truck and behind the seat, there was a huge brown paper bag full of weed. We ended up selling that in the summer, but we kept a bunch too. So that’s where we got some of our weed, but the rest of it my friend Beav got that was probably just from some guy. Maybe he got it from Mexico.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve MacGyvered to smoke pot out of? 

Wow, what would that have been? Oh, you know what? This one was a pretty good one. I had this wood coffee table that I got from a thrift store when I was furnishing my first place in Seattle. My friend was a woodworker so, we decided to make one of the corners of the table into a pipe. So, we carved out a bowl and then drilled a hole in the corner so you had to just like, get down on your knees, put some weed on top of the table in the bowl, and draw from the corner of the table. You know what? It worked!

That’s the most random thing I’ve ever heard. Now that you’re a vet in the game, do you have a favorite strain?

My favorite stuff comes from my friend Dave. He’s in a band and grows the most amazing weed. It’s incredible because it’s grown biodynamically and it just has this really chill, fun, and awesome feeling to it. That’s my favorite. I’m not really a connoisseur when it comes to strains and things like that because for me it’s like, is it weed? Ok, lemme get high off of it.  I’m not really like, well the terpenes are like… yeah, I have no idea.

“What gets me high? What’s a good vibe? For me it’s about the vibe. When someone is like, this is great for being creative… yeah good, let’s get high. That is all I need and I’m happy.”

– Reggie Watts

That’s so funny because every weed store is like, this is great because of the percent of terps and I’m like, “Let me stop you. I’ll take a sativa. Preferably something fruity.”

Yeah! What gets me high? What’s a good vibe? For me it’s about the vibe. When someone is like, this is great for being creative… yeah good, let’s get high. That is all I need and I’m happy. I also try to stick to edibles because smoking does kind of fuck with my throat.

Ahhh yes. I recall a space cake story you told on A Little Late with Lilly Singh. Have you given space cakes another go or was that it for you?

Of course! I’m not one of those people who give up or have a crazy experience like, “oh I’m never going to do that on stage again.” Of course I’m going to do that on stage again. The one thing I dislike is that every single person I run into when I offer them an edible is like, “I don’t know mannnn, I just can’t, it makes me all urghhhh.” I just feel like, you have to keep trying. You have to practice, know your amounts, and pick a brand that is consistent. People just give up so easily and weed has so many benefits. Don’t pass on it!
 

I hate to be part of the problem, but I once ate 25 mg, couldn’t move for 12 hours, and I had shit to do.

I don’t think anyone is a pussy for not taking them. And if you took too much, you took too much. I can’t just be like, “SUCK IT UP!” There are tricks you can do to calm yourself down and get through it, but it’s not really about that. It’s about how that was too much, so next time, you’ll do 4 mg or 2.5 mg. People get afraid of edibles and they’re so scienced out now and have all different kinds of doses from low to high. And their levels are insanely accurate, which makes them awesome products. I think edibles have a big advantage and I think they’re very helpful.

OK you win! I’ll give them another go. What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re all high and such?

All stizzy? That wasn’t sponsored. I enjoy the classics like video games and watching a really amazing show of any kind, mainly science fiction. Those things I really love. Something else I really love is, I just recently got ahold of some Level pills that are 100 mg each. I’ll take a high dose, like 100 mg, and then just try to complete technical tasks. Firmware updates or organizing a drawer or something like that. I love stuff like that because it’s basically me trying to batten down the hatches on a ship that’s in the middle of a hurricane, you know?

It’s a mental exercise or a creative challenge. Can I maintain my composure? A lot of people don’t know I’m high on an edible, or on anything. I have some weird ability to tap into normalcy and I can get into a pragmatic mindset. I just kind of do it as a practice because you know, when shit goes down, I don’t wanna be freaking out! I want to go into problem solving rather than being all, “AHHHHH!!!!”

I think you need to sell portions of your brain to other people. We all need a little Watts brain, please.

Yeah, I should do that. I need to create a method. The Watts method!

instagram.com/reggiewatts

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A new survey on cannabis consumption shows that use is increasing among American adults, with nearly one in five reporting using cannabis at least three times per week. The study also found that one in eight (12%) of cannabis users reported using cannabis daily or multiple times per day, with one-third of daily users saying that they began consuming at this increased rate within the past 12 months.

The online survey explored the cannabis consumption, attitudes, and purchase behaviors of nearly 2,800 adult Americans. The poll was completed earlier this month by global public opinion and data company YouGov in partnership with Chicago-based creative services agency Receptor Brands and marketing and branding company Sister Merci.

The survey found that 19% of adults said that they used cannabis at least three times per week, which the questionnaire’s designers classified as heavy based on comparable metrics for alcohol use. Among these heavy cannabis users, 43% were women, 55% were parents, and more than half (54%) were older than 35 years old. Of those who consume cannabis daily, 52% started doing so in the last 4 years and 33% within the last year.

Nearly half of heavy users said that they would not describe themselves as a stoner. These individuals believe cannabis provides a functional benefit more than a cultural connection. Additionally, even though they are heavy users, they do not consider people who use cannabis for relaxation, sleep, or medical purposes to be stoners.

“As we witness the normalization of cannabis consumption and with 420 right around the corner, we were interested in deconstructing the outdated “stoner” trope and understanding heavy users as well as how consumption habits change over time,” said Allison Disney, partner at Receptor Brands, in a statement about the research.

Disney added that among those who used marijuana at least three times per week, “60% of them don’t think of themselves as ‘stoners.’ These consumers indicate they’re using cannabis weekly or daily for its functional benefits, such as relaxation or sleep, and many of them—especially parents of young children—stepped up their consumption within the past year.”

Preferences of Cannabis Users Examined

The survey also examined the cannabis product preferences and purchase habits of American adults. The majority of heavy users (51%) said that they purchased their cannabis from a licensed dispensary, while more than a third (38%) reported getting their cannabis from an illicit source such as unlicensed dispensaries and delivery services or underground dealers. A quarter (26%) procured their cannabis from a friend or family member’s home grow.

More than half (53%) of heavy users said that they preferred cannabis flower, while 39% said they were partial to consuming cannabis edibles. Only 14% said that cannabis beverages or drink enhancers were their favorite consumption method. More than a fourth (28%) of heavy users said they often or usually mixed more than one cannabis product, such as smoking a joint and eating an edible.

More than a third (34%) of heavy users are indifferent about whether cannabis products are made by a local brand or a company that does business across the country. A preference for local brands was most popular in the West, where more than half (53%) said that it “makes a difference if cannabis products are made by a local brand” or national operator. About a fifth of heavy users in the Northeast (21%) and Midwest (20%) said they preferred local brands, while only 15% of respondents in the South said the same.

“While many in our industry are focused on attracting new consumers to cannabis, we still have much to learn about the profiles, preferences, and spending habits of heavy users,” said Disney. “We hope to use these new insights at Receptor Brands to build the foundation for products and campaigns for a broader range of patients and customers as daily consumption becomes increasingly commonplace.”

The online survey was conducted between March 31 and April 4. The total sample size was 2,788, including 528 who used cannabis at least three times per week and were classified as heavy users. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all U.S. adults age 18 and up.

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