“I’ve been in some of the most intense contact that a man—a human—can be in. I’ve been locked in cars with Snoop. I was in the back of my son’s dispensary and they were smoking every kind of weed in there… weed called Dead Body and Autopsy and all this,” says Ice-T in an exclusive interview. “I was so high that I stood up, did a 360 like I was leaving, and sat back down.”
If there’s a contradiction more compelling than this, it’s hard to find: Ice-T, the rapper who soundtracked generations of rebellion, who rose from the streets of South Central to the badge-wearing screens of “Law & Order,” doesn’t smoke weed—and yet, earlier this year, he opened one of New Jersey’s most anticipated cannabis dispensaries.
At 67, Ice-T isn’t here to perform a role. He’s not here to play into stereotypes or chase quick wins. His story with cannabis is older than legalization. It’s layered, cautious and built around a singular principle: survival.
“I just never smoked,” he explains. “I’m an orphan. I don’t have a mother, father, sisters, brothers, uncles… And I just always felt being high compromised my position in the streets.”
As a young man, Ice wasn’t repulsed by cannabis. He was immersed in it. He sold it. He moved “five-finger bags” in the post-high school years. He watched a friend get kicked out of school for dealing dollar joints. But for himself? Smoking wasn’t part of the plan.
“I felt like being drunk or high was not attractive to me. I felt like if I hit the ground for some reason, it was nobody’s job to pick me up.”
Even as the world around him swirled in smoke and bravado, Ice-T carved out his own lane. No tattoos. No drinks. No drugs. Just eyes open, always scanning.
In one defining moment, a neighborhood OG pressed him to take a hit. Ice refused. The man tried to humiliate him. “You’s a [redacted] if you don’t hit the joint,” he snapped. Ice didn’t flinch: “If I am… Then, make me hit it.” That was the end of it. From then on, nobody questioned him. “He don’t get high,” the same OG would repeat. It became the line of defense. An identity.
“Whatever you’re going to do, it always should be a choice,” he says. “Maybe in college there’s a lot of peer pressure, but there wasn’t peer pressure to do it where I grew up. You just had to stand on your stuff.”
He sees it all as performance. “If smoking cigarettes makes you look cool or drinking alcohol makes you look cool, then you got a problem… you’re doing something else to look cool.”
Still, despite his abstinence, Ice never turned his back on cannabis. He watched the industry bloom. The stigma shrink. The culture shift.
And eventually, he tried edibles. Dabbled in mushrooms. Entered the age of “chronic delay.”
“My son smokes a lot. We say weed gives you chronic delay. So what chronic delay is, if I say, ‘What’s your name?’ You say, [pauses for 3 seconds] ‘Javier.’ I go, ‘You want to go to the store?’ [Pauses for 3 seconds] You’re like… ‘Okay.’ That’s that chronic delay.”
Turns out, even when you don’t smoke, proximity counts.
“I’ve been high off weed,” he says, recalling the aftermath of another visit to his son’s dispensary. By the time he got home, he was in full-blown munchie mode. “We stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts. It was 11:30 at night. I imagine I just needed some donuts,” he shrugs. “It’s not like I don’t do weed. But it’s just never been something I’ve been into.”
Still, he’s quick to acknowledge the joy it brings others. The laughter. The relaxation. The munchies. The vibes.
“It just makes people laugh a lot and eat. That’s all it does. All of a sudden, any comedian is funny as heck. So, that’s fantastic.”
There’s no holier-than-thou attitude here. No superiority. Just perspective. A life built on vigilance that eventually found its way to nuance. And in the background, the business wheels began to turn.
“At the end of the day, I knew that it was a great business opportunity. As time went on, it became clear to me that this was a new wave—and it was something I wanted to get involved in.”
And that’s exactly where the story shifts—from past to present, from personal to professional. The man who never got high has now opened his own dispensary in Jersey City.
The Long Road To The Medicine Woman
For Ice-T, stepping into the cannabis industry wasn’t a celebrity stunt—it was a calculated move, rooted in trust and vision. He wasn’t chasing hype. He was looking for people who’d done the work.
“I knew Luke and Charis,” he says, referring to his longtime friends and now business partners, Charis and Luke Burrett. “I’ve known Charis and them for many years, from L.A. I knew them when they had a clothing line. I knew that they were running a legal cannabis dispensary in L.A. for years.”
The Burretts, founders of The Medicine Woman, had been in the cannabis game long before Ice came knocking. Back in 2015, under California’s Prop 215 framework, they launched the brand as a nonprofit delivery service, long before sleek branding and dispensary lounges became the norm.
That legacy is what Ice wanted to tap into. But what started as a mentorship conversation quickly evolved into something deeper.
“I called them and said, ‘If I have action at getting a dispensary, would you guys mentor me?’ And they said, ‘No, we’ll partner with you and we can franchise The Medicine Woman.’”
The result? The Medicine Woman Jersey City—a 10,000-square-foot facility located at 660 Tonnelle Avenue. Just north of Manhattan Avenue, along Route 1 and 9, the flagship dispensary opened its doors in March of this year.
Ice puts it bluntly: “Nowadays, with the fentanyl and all the different issues, it’s safer to go to a dispensary where it’s straight up… you know what’s happening.”
And that includes their people. The Medicine Woman Jersey City runs with a 15-person team, each one recruited locally. They’ve partnered with Hudson County Community College to provide internships and job training. And they’re collaborating with the Last Prisoner Project to support cannabis justice reform.
“One of the biggest challenges in any community is opportunity,” Charis says. “People with cannabis offenses are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to employment opportunities. We intentionally hired directly from the local community and prioritized those who had been adversely affected by unfair cannabis laws.”
And it’s not just talk. “Now that we are open,” she adds, “we will be able to include these organizations in our events and give opportunities for those affected and those who need more information about their options.”
Ice agrees. “This isn’t just about selling cannabis: it’s about creating opportunity and correcting injustice in communities that were hit hardest.”
Justice Isn’t Blind—It’s Selective. Just Ask Ice-T.
Ice-T’s entrance into the cannabis space isn’t rooted in novelty or nostalgia. It’s built on principle. He’s been watching the contradictions for decades. The hypocrisy. The politics. The damage.
“I mean, I don’t see why it’s not legal,” he says. “I’ve never heard about anybody dying from cannabis. They like to say it’s a gateway drug or this, that and the other. I don’t believe that.”
His logic is direct. No flourishes. No slogans. Just lived experience and the sense that some systems were never designed to protect everyone equally.
And for veterans, the issue cuts deeper. Ice doesn’t pretend to be a combat vet—“I just was in military training,” he clarifies—but he understands trauma. The kind that doesn’t wear a uniform.
“I mean, if I have PTSD, it just comes from living in South Central L.A. I’ve seen people get killed. The door slams and I duck. So I know what that is.”
In a country flooded with prescription solutions, he sees cannabis as a better option for people trying to cope. Something that offers peace without addiction. Still, the irony doesn’t escape him: in places where weed is now legal, people are still locked up for it.
“They should be letting people go,” he says. “If you’re in jail for weed and it’s not a violent offense… Just simple weed convictions, they should be all pardoned, yesterday.”
To him, it’s not complicated. If the federal government legalized cannabis, governors and presidents could act fast. They just haven’t.
He’s not waiting around for Washington to fix things. That’s why he’s backing projects like the Last Prisoner Project and working to build real infrastructure in Jersey—jobs, internships, access.
And when it comes to law enforcement, the subject gets tense. Ice has played a cop on TV for decades. But he’s never confused the role with reality.
“No, they don’t [love me]. That’s the thing about it. Cops are humans. Some of them are cool. Some of them are not. So you never know.”
His conclusion? Simple.
“I don’t trust anybody with a gun.”
As the system catches up, Ice keeps moving forward. With his partners. With his dispensary. With his mission. Always with the same steady lens: power, justice and survival.
Photos courtesy of The Medicine Woman
This article was originally published on Forbes on April 8, 2025. It is republished here with permission. Minor updates were made for timing and clarity.
The inhalation of cannabis flower containing THC and CBD provides superior migraine relief compared to a placebo, according to clinical trial data presented at the annual meeting of the American Headache Society.
“This is the first placebo-controlled study in this space. It’s the first real — to me — compelling evidence for the anti-migraine effects of cannabis in humans,” the study’s lead researcher said.
Investigators affiliated with the University of California at San Diego presented the findings. They had previously documented their results in a 2024 preprint paper, concluding, “Vaporized 6% THC+11% CBD cannabis flower was superior to placebo for [migraine] pain relief, pain freedom, and MBS [most bothersome symptom] freedom at 2 hours as well as 24-hour sustained pain freedom and sustained MBS freedom and 48-hour sustained MBS freedom.”
THC/CBD cannabis was also superior to placebo at relieving migraine-related photophobia (light sensitivity) and phonophobia (sound sensitivity).
No serious adverse events were reported.
“Nearly one-third of migraine sufferers have tried cannabis for symptom management, and patients consistently report that it significantly reduces their pain severity and migraine frequency,” NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said. “These data further affirm patients’ testimonials.”
Survey data indicates that migraine sufferers frequently consume cannabis preparations to mitigate their symptoms and reduce their use of prescription drugs. A 2002 literature review of nine studies involving 5,600 subjects concluded: “Medical marijuana has a significant clinical response by reducing the length and frequency of migraines. … Due to its effectiveness and convenience, medical marijuana therapy may be helpful for patients suffering from migraines.”
The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) announced Tuesday that the state has surpassed $8 billion in total adult-use sales since the market’s launch.
“The Commission is glad to see the Commonwealth achieve another adult-use cannabis sales milestone, which demonstrates that consumers continue to have confidence in the safety and security of the regulated market.” — CCC Executive Director Travis Ahern, in a press release
Cannabis retailers officially passed the $8 billion mark on June 28, 2025, following a record-breaking start to the year, according to the regulators’ Open Data platform. The development includes record monthly sales this year in January, April, and May, putting Massachusetts on track to beat last year’s annual sales record of $1.64 billion.
“As we anticipate the arrival of Social Consumption businesses – an entirely new license category – in the coming months, we look forward to increasing economic growth for Massachusetts,” Ahern said.
Flower has remained the most popular cannabis product sold by licensed retailers in 2025, responsible for more than $338 million in sales, while vape products ($168.8 million) and cannabis pre-rolls ($116.4 million) are the closest runner-ups.
Meanwhile, the three biggest sales days in Massachusetts (July 2 and April 17-18) either preceded a major holiday or 4/20, which is typically the busiest time of year for cannabis dispensaries.
Based in Portland, Oregon, Graham is Ganjapreneur’s Chief Editor. He has been writing about the legalization landscape since 2012 and has been contributing to Ganjapreneur since our official launch in…
More by Graham Abbott
“We are proceeding forward and following the guidance provided by the secretary of state at the front end. This is basically extra administrative work for us.”
By Barbara Hoberock, Oklahoma Voice
Recreational marijuana supporters are moving forward with an effort to get it on the Oklahoma ballot, despite uncertainty about the constitutionality of a new law that slaps more regulations on the process.
It quickly drew two legal challenges in the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
The state’s high court has not blocked the law from taking effect because it wrote that it is considering a challenge to a State Question 836 to open the state’s primaries. The court order does not explain the reasoning.
Among other things, the new petition law puts caps on the number of signatures that can be collected by county, which supporters say forces greater participation outside the highest populated counties.
Jed Green is director of Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action, a marijuana policy advocacy group backing legalization.
“We are proceeding forward and following the guidance provided by the secretary of state at the front end,” Green said. “This is basically extra administrative work for us. The more egregious unconstitutional aspects of 1027 may be litigated at some point in the future.”
The geographical requirements of the new law mean the organization has to collect signatures in 20 counties, which he is confident can be successfully done because his organization is statewide, he said.
“I think it is nearly impossible for anyone to be successful under the new rules,” said Amber England, who has worked on several ballot initiatives, including the successful effort to expand Medicaid and a current effort to raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour. The latter issue will be on the ballot in June 2026. While the state may have an initiative petition process on the books, because of the restrictions lawmakers have implemented, it effectively has been shut down, she said.
“I have worked on various different initiative petitions over the last decade,” she said. “The process has gotten harder every single time because of the different restrictions the Legislature has put on the process in an effort to take power away from voters.”
After lawmakers refused to act, voters used the process to expand Medicaid, pass criminal justice reform and legalize medical marijuana.
But voters have balked at legalizing recreational marijuana.
In 2018, 57 percent of voters approved legalizing medical marijuana.
But less than five years later, they defeated a proposed state statute change that would have legalized recreational marijuana. The vote was nearly 62 percent against State Question 820.
Pat McFerron, who ran the campaign against the recreational marijuana legalization, said it failed in all 77 counties.
“I think most Oklahomans believe the current system we have is de facto recreational,” he said. “The barrier is so miniscule so I see no desire among the public to make it even easier to buy cannabis.”
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