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A Brief Global History of the War on Cannabis

Published

1 week ago

July 4, 2025

I want a Goddamn strong statement on marijuana … I mean one on marijuana that just tears the ass out of them. … By God we are going to hit the marijuana thing, and I want to hit it right square in the puss. … I want to hit it, against legalizing and all that sort of thing.

—Richard Nixon, 37th president of the United States

Before the war on drugs put marijuana farmers firmly in its crosshairs, cannabis was being grown openly and with commercial success on every continent on earth, much as it had been for centuries.

This ancient and extensive history of cannabis farming has given rise to the idea that prohibitions put in place in the mid-20th century were the first of their kind — a whirlwind of racial, political, and economic forces that successfully used marijuana prohibition as a pretext for suppression. By contrasting prohibition with our ancient history of cannabis farming, some historians make our modern-day drug laws appear irregular and shortsighted. In his seminal (and controversial) book on cannabis, “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” (referred to by many legalization advocates as “the Hemp Bible”), Jack Herer opens with the following line:

For thousands upon thousands of years, all over the world, whole families came together to harvest the hemp fields at the height of the flowering season, never dreaming that one day the U.S. government would be spearheading an international movement to wipe the cannabis plant off the face of the earth.

Yet, while unprecedented in scope, the United States’ war on drugs was not the first of its kind. The reality is that marijuana has been controversial for almost as long as humans have been farming it. Many societies throughout history have banned cannabis cultivation and use. What many of these crackdowns and prohibitions have in common is social and economic inequality, or a distrust of the unknown. When members of a minority or lower class embrace marijuana use, the ruling class moves to outlaw marijuana as a form of suppression and control. Marijuana is perceived to be a threat to the order of society, and stamping it out naturally begins with a prohibition on cultivation.

A Look At The Ancients

As a case in point, the ancient Chinese might have been the first cannabis farmers — and, as far as we know, were the first to write about psychoactive marijuana — and yet they may also have been the first to reject it as a socially acceptable drug. The rise of Taoism around 600 BCE brought with it a cultural rejection of intoxicants. Marijuana was then viewed as antisocial, and derisively dismissed by one Taoist priest as a loony drug reserved for shamans. The sentiment persisted into the modern era — to this day, marijuana struggles to disassociate itself with the stained history of opium in China.

Muslim societies have a complex relationship history with marijuana. Hashish use spread widely with the expansion of Islam in the seventh century CE, and remains popular today. Early Arabic texts referred to marijuana as the “bush of understanding” and the “morsel of thought.” Yet traditional theologians believed Mohammed prohibited marijuana use (the Koran [2: 219] prohibits “intoxicants,” but how that word should be interpreted is still up for debate). One prominent theologian associated marijuana with the dreaded Mongol empire, and many upper-class Muslims pushed for prohibition, for fear that marijuana use would disrupt the labor force. In the end, some societies tolerated marijuana use or turned a blind eye; others (such as Damascus in 1265) embraced prohibition.

Sufi Muslims took these tensions to the next level. The mystical Sufis believed that spiritual enlightenment could be reached by an altered state of consciousness, and a mind-bending drug like marijuana would seem a logical vehicle to reach that state. Sufis believed hashish was a vehicle not only to personal enlightenment but to direct communication with Allah. These beliefs did not go over well with the rest of mainstream Islam, however. To make matters worse for the Sufis, they were often lower-class laborers. That marijuana use was therefore central to a religion perceived to be a heretical challenge to religious, economic, and political order made the plant an easy target for authorities.

In 1253, Sufis were openly growing marijuana in Cairo, Egypt. The government, claiming that Sufism was a threat to society, raided their farms and destroyed all their crops. Undeterred, the Sufis made deals with farmers in the Nile River Valley to grow marijuana on their farmlands. This successful agricultural partnership lasted until 1324, when Egyptian troops raided the countryside and destroyed all the marijuana they could find. For Sufis and marijuana farmers, the situation only got worse. Martial law was imposed in 1378, and this time the authorities destroyed more than marijuana crops: entire farms and farming villages were burned to the ground. Farmers were imprisoned or executed, and hashish users had their teeth pulled. Despite this swift and vicious crackdown, the demand for hashish remained strong. The cycle of cultivation, consumption, and crackdown continued in Egypt for centuries.

Christianity and Cannabis

Islam was not the only major world religion to feel threatened by marijuana. Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal ban on cannabis in the first year of his papacy, in 1484. At the time, marijuana, along with other mind-altering plants, was being cultivated for medicinal and spiritual applications throughout Europe by pagans who were considered to be witches and sorcerers. The Christianity of Pope Innocent VIII, however, was predicated on a future fulfillment in the afterlife, and a rejection of momentary pleasures or enlightenment. The pagans growing marijuana profoundly challenged this premise by promising spiritual enrichment in the present, with a plant grown right here on earth. Pope Innocent VIII thus wasted no time in addressing this existential threat, declaring cannabis to be an unholy sacrament of the satanic Mass. The pagans who cultivated it were persecuted into imprisonment, exile, or death.

Colonial empires, with their unfailing concern for a robust military and hard-working labor force, have often viewed marijuana with suspicion. Though the Spanish were one of the first colonial empires to encourage the cultivation of hemp in the Americas, they were not as enthusiastic about marijuana. The Spanish governor of Mexico issued an order in 1550 limiting cannabis farming because “the natives were beginning to use the plant for something other than rope,” write Robert Clarke and Mark Merlin in their book “Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany.” White South Africans, descended from Dutch or British colonialists, passed a series of laws in the 19th century designed to crack down on the cultivation and use of marijuana by indentured Indian farm workers, who were viewed by whites as societal contaminants and a threat to civil order.

The Portuguese empire also struggled to control cannabis. The Portuguese wanted to foster a strong hemp-producing workforce just like those of their colonial rivals, but they considered marijuana a pernicious vice, especially when used by slaves. The Portuguese introduced marijuana prohibitions to many of their African colonies, including Zambia and Angola. Nonetheless, explorers to the region noticed marijuana being grown “nearly everywhere” and used by “all the tribes of the interior,” according to a report published by the Transnational Institute.

When the Portuguese brought slaves to Brazil in the 16th century, the slaves brought marijuana along with them, as seeds were sewn into the clothing they wore onto the slave ships and then germinated upon arrival. Whatever strains they were using must have been well adapted to the Brazilian landscape; marijuana was soon growing from the coasts to the Amazon and everywhere in between. For the most part, marijuana cultivation was permitted during Portuguese rule. But when Brazil gained its independence in the early 19th century, Rio de Janeiro’s municipal cannabis prohibition started a chain reaction of prohibitions around the country aimed at curbing marijuana use among slave populations.

One reason Portugal may have been lenient on marijuana farming in Brazil is the fact that the Queen of Portugal herself was using it while stationed there during the Napoleonic wars. This wasn’t the first time Napoleon Bonaparte was involved in the history of marijuana. Several years earlier, in 1798, Napoleon had launched the French campaign into Egypt and Syria, a large-scale offensive designed to cut off British trade and liberate Egypt from Ottoman rule. After the initial conquest, Napoleon attempted to maintain local support by embracing Islamic culture and scientific exchange. An unusually large percentage of French forces in Egypt (totaling around 40,000) were scientists and scholars, and were responsible for establishing libraries, laboratories, and research centers that went on to make significant contributions in a number of disciplines.

The discovery of hashish may not have been seen as a breakthrough at the time, but it had a great effect on European culture and literary thought. Prior to the French campaign in Egypt, hashish wasn’t well known in Europe and certainly wasn’t commonly used. The 40,000 French troops stationed in Egypt, however, quickly learned about it. Hashish was ubiquitous in Egypt at the time, bought and sold in cafés, markets, and smoking lounges. Lacking access to their customary French wines and liquors and encouraged by Napoleon to embrace Egyptian culture, many French troops took up hashish.

Hashish

Unfortunately, hashish was still associated with Sufi mystics and looked down upon by the Sunni elite. After Napoleon went back to France, the general he had left in charge of Egypt, General Jacques-François Menou, was a noble-born French revolutionary who married into an upper-class Sunni family after taking command of Egypt. For Menou, the prospect of a hashish ban killed two birds with one stone: It would appease the Sunni elite by cracking down on Sufis, and alleviate a perceived public health problem among the French troops. The ordre du jour banning the cultivation, sale, and consumption of cannabis, considered by some scholars to be the first drug prohibition law in the modern era, came down in 1800. It opens with the following:

Article One: The use of strong liquor, made by certain Muslims with a certain grass [herbe] called hashish, and smoking of the seed of cannabis, are prohibited throughout Egypt. Those who are accustomed to drinking this liquor and smoking this seed lose reason and fall into a violent delirium, which often leads them to commit excesses of all kinds.

Whether or not Menou’s order was the first modern penal law on drugs, it largely failed to work (a fact that should come as no surprise to us in the 21st century). Hashish continued to be produced, sold, and consumed widely throughout Egypt, and it came home with French troops when they left Egypt in 1801. It wasn’t long before hashish was being widely used in France and the rest of western Europe.

Despite efforts by authorities in Europe to paint hashish as an unstable and dangerous substance, many of the Romantic period’s most accomplished artists and writers were brought together because of cannabis. Dubbing themselves Le Club des Hachichins (Hashish-Eaters’ Club), luminaries such as Théophile Gautier, Charles Baudelaire, Gérard de Nerval, Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac, and Alexandre Dumas would meet in Paris to take hashish and exchange notes on their experiences. They rejected mainstream attempts to associate hashish with what was regarded as Oriental barbarism and, through their writings, normalized marijuana use and popularized the Romantic era’s bohemian creed: l’art pour l’art (art for art’s sake).

Across the Channel, the British Empire wrestled with the conspicuous presence of cannabis in India. As a native plant to the Indian subcontinent, cannabis could be found growing in the wild by hunter-gatherers, and was likely cultivated by the earliest agrarian settlers. Psychoactive marijuana strains featured prominently in early texts of the Hindu, Buddhist, and Tantrist religions. As the Indian marijuana farming industry matured over time, the harvested product was divided into three gradients, all of which remain available today.

Bhang is the cheapest, most prevalent, and lowest-quality marijuana; it consists of crushed leaves, seeds, and/or flowers, and produces the least potent high. On the other end of the spectrum, Charas is the highest-quality and most expensive marijuana in India. It is sold as a highly potent hashish produced from plants grown in the most desirable cannabis-producing farmlands of the Hindu Kush and Himalaya mountain ranges between 4,000 to 7,000 feet. It remains one of the most revered marijuana products in the world today. Somewhere in between Bhang and Charas is Ganga. A mid-grade crop in both price and potency, Ganga is cultivated from well-cared-for female plants, and consists of a mixture of resin and cannabis flower.

One of the first Europeans to write about the Indian marijuana industry was a Portuguese doctor named Garcia da Orta. He wrote of Bhang in 1563:

The Indians get no usefulness from this, unless it is in the fact that they become ravished by ecstasy, and delivered from all worries and cares, and laugh at the least little thing. After all, it is said that it was they who first found the use of it.

Some 200 years later, the British mulled over the possibility of a marijuana prohibition in India. The Indian ruling class and the British governor-general of India pushed for a total ban, fearful that marijuana would create social unrest. The British Parliament, however, had other ideas. Short on cash, the government saw the marijuana industry as an opportunity to raise some revenue. They taxed cannabis in 1790, and three years later, established a regulatory framework to issue licenses to farmers and sellers.

The tax-and-regulate scheme worked to some extent. But in a vast landscape where cannabis grows in the wild, many farmers and their crops escaped the tax. The British encouraged the regulatory system to decentralize, allowing cities and states to experiment with different taxation schemes. The results were mixed. The strength of the black market was frustrating enough that the British Parliament considered prohibition measures in 1838, 1871, 1877, and 1892. But ultimately the measures failed to pass, because the tax revenues that did come in couldn’t be ignored.

Temperance movement advocates persisted, however, driven by the evils of opium use which they associated with cannabis. Parliament responded by commissioning the most comprehensive government study of marijuana in human history. The seven-volume 3,500-page “Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission” of 1894 to 1895 called over a thousand witnesses from around the world. The findings emphatically rejected the alleged grounds for prohibition. The commission found (as its predecessors did) that marijuana cultivation is nearly impossible to eradicate, and argued that it produces no “evil results” in the first place:

Prohibition

Total prohibition of the cultivation of the hemp plant for narcotics, and of the manufacture, sale, or use of the drugs derived from it, is neither necessary nor expedient in consideration of their ascertained effects, of the prevalence of the habit of using them, of the social and religious feeling on the subject, and of the possibility of its driving the consumers to have recourse to other stimulants or narcotics which may be more deleterious.

The commission went on to recommend a tax-and-license scheme for the marijuana farming industry:

The means to be adopted for the attainment of [control and restriction] are:

adequate taxation, which can be best effected by the combination of a direct duty with the auction of the privilege of vend;
prohibiting cultivation, except under license, and centralizing cultivation.

This may represent the first time in history a government study has recommended a centralized marijuana farming scheme. Comprehensive as it is in other respects, however, the commission’s report does not elaborate on this centralization proposal; it merely suggests that the most effective way of limiting supply is “to grant licenses for cultivation in such a way as to secure supervision and registration of the produce.”

Despite the commission’s efforts, Parliament’s endorsement of its report was lukewarm. As a result, the marijuana farming trade continued unchanged, with taxation and licensing of cultivators continuing to be hit and miss. Bhang was informally grown nearly everywhere; Ganga crops were, for the most part, produced on government-licensed farms; and Charas was imported from the Hindu Kush and Himalayas. This basic structure persisted into the global prohibition era of the 20th century. The proposal to “centralize cultivation” was largely forgotten after the commission’s report was published. But a century later, government regulators trying to find their way through the post-prohibition era of the 21st century would come to recognize its advantages.

***

The history of marijuana farming tells us that when prohibitions are imposed, they almost always come from the ruling class. Marijuana’s role as a spiritual, medicinal, or recreational drug of the poor working classes stokes fears among the elite that the political, religious, or economic order that has served them so well may be disrupted. There aren’t, therefore, many cases where marijuana was embraced by the ruling class and persecuted from below. But the story of the Bashilange tribe suggests that marijuana users can be targeted from any angle.

In the mid-19th century, the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa was a vast wilderness, and it was controlled by the Bashilange tribe. The Bashilange were ruthless fighters, eating the bodies of their victims and enslaving their prisoners. They enacted few laws, save a requirement that other tribes in the region pay tribute to their supremacy or face a certain death. While exploring these lands, however, the Governor of German East Africa observed a remarkable shift in the Bashilange’s culture. The tribe had discovered marijuana, and rapidly embraced the plant as a pillar of their tribe’s identity.

Tribesmen of the Bashilange dubbed themselves the Sons of Cannabis, and soon passed laws to promote peace and friendship. They rejected cannibalism and were no longer permitted to carry weapons in the village. They stopped killing their rivals, and started having more sex. Marijuana was smoked regularly and at most important events, including religious ceremonies, holidays, and political alliances. Formerly known for being cold-blooded killers, the Sons of Cannabis became tranquil marijuana-growing peacemakers.

Unfortunately, their rivals did not share the Sons of Cannabis’s newfound love of peace and friendship. Many tribes lost respect for their former rulers and stopped making tribute payments. With weakening support in the region, the Bashilange tribe splintered. The Sons of Cannabis, no longer the fearsome fighters of yore, were overthrown by their fellow tribesmen who yearned for a return to the tribe’s dominant past. The new regime reinstituted the tribe’s violent practices, and largely returned the Bashilange to its former warring nature.

Jack Herer may have been using hyperbole when he claimed that cannabis farmers throughout history could not have conceived of the 20th century’s crackdown on marijuana. The historical record illustrates that while many regions of the world have tolerated or embraced marijuana farming in the past, plenty of others have seen authorities attempt to exterminate farmers and their crops. Targeting the first step in the supply chain is a logical starting point for prohibitionists, and marijuana’s role as an agent of religious, political, or economic change has long made it a threat to the established social order.

Our marijuana-farming ancestors of the past could have told us, based on experience, that when prohibitionists come after cannabis, they will do so in predictable ways. They will use rhetoric to associate the plant with violence, depravity, and other more dangerous drugs, as the European temperance movement did in France and Great Britain. They will use a militarized show of force to eradicate crops, persecute farmers, and dissuade the next generation from growing marijuana, as the Ottomans did in Egypt. They will portray marijuana users as religious extremists or dangerous minorities, as Pope Innocent VIII did in Europe, Sunni Muslims did in the Middle East, or white South Africans did in South Africa. The best-case scenario, they might say, is that the authorities will turn a blind eye to the unstoppable forces of supply and demand, much as the Portuguese did in Brazil or the British did in India.

In telling us this, our marijuana-farming ancestors might as well have been writing the playbook for the 20th-century war on drugs. The cannabis prohibition era in the United States did not invent this “greatest hits” collection of tactics that prohibitionists have been using for centuries; it simply brought them all together in one place, and injected them with more financial and military resources than any prohibition movement in history has ever seen.

***
Ryan Stoa is an associate professor of law at the Concordia University School of Law and the author of “Craft Weed,” from which this article is adapted.

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MScannaBIZ for all you Mississippi Cannabis News and Information.

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US Lawmakers Advance Bill to Ban Hemp Products With THC

Published

17 minutes ago

July 11, 2025

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U.S. Senate lawmakers unanimously voted to advance legislation on July 10 that contains cataclysmic language for those involved in the cannabinoid hemp industry.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal 2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Related Agencies Appropriations Act with 27 members in support. The 136-page spending bill provides more than $27 billion in discretionary funding to support farmers, rural communities, nutrition programs, medical research and myriad issues to protect the nation’s food supply.

However, lawmakers also included provisions to redefine hemp in a manner that closes a “loophole that has resulted in the proliferation of unregulated intoxicating hemp products being sold across the country,” according to a summary from the committee.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., spearheaded the federal legalization of hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill, viewing the plant’s grain and fiber outputs as agricultural commodities that could provide farmers in the Bluegrass State an alternative cash crop amid the declining tobacco industry. But what McConnell did not expect was for the 2018 legislation to lead to a booming consumer demand for intoxicating cannabinoid products, such as delta-8 THC gummies, that include synthetic derivatives from hemp.

The former majority leader spoke about this unintended consequence on Thursday as a member of the Appropriations Committee.

“These intoxicating products have flooded the market in the absence [of a] regulatory structure and often use deceptive and predatory marketing towards children with packaging and logos similar to existing food products, such as Oreos, candy, gummies and cereals,” McConnell said. “The way I see it, the language I helped secure takes us back to the original intent of the 2018 Farm Bill and closes this loophole. My 2018 hemp bill sought to create an agricultural hemp industry, not open the door to the sale of unregulated, intoxicating, lab-made, hemp-derived substances with no safety framework.”

The 2025 hemp provisions that advanced out of the Senate committee this week largely mirror those that the U.S. House Appropriations Committee adopted on June 23 under the lead of Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md.

Under both versions, hemp-derived cannabinoid products containing synthetic compounds and/or quantifiable amounts of THC or THCA—or other cannabinoids that have similar effects on humans or animals—would be illegal. The legislation authorizes the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to determine what qualifies as “quantifiable amounts.”

However, hemp grown or harvested for “industrial” purposes, such as gain and fiber, would not be held to the same stringent standard and instead would be defined based on having a total THC level of not more than 0.3% on a dry-weight basis.

Farmers could still grow industrial hemp to produce microgreens or other edible hemp leaf products intended for human consumption that are “harvested” from an immature hemp plant under the Senate legislation. The House’s version uses the term “derived” from an immature hemp plant.

Also, the Senate’s version delays implementing the new definition for hemp for one year.

While cannabis and hemp industry stakeholders argue over whether a “loophole” persists in the 2018 Farm Bill, legislators on both sides of the aisle made their intent clear in the Senate body this week: the federal government does not want intoxicating hemp products to be sold to American consumers, especially not children.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said during the committee markup that while he supports McConnell’s effort to clarify that legislative intent, he also fears the new definition would have another unintended consequence—this time on nonintoxicating hemp products.

“My concern about the amendment, or the definition as written, is that it addresses one very important issue, but causes another problem,” Merkley said. “The important issue it addresses is not allowing hemp to be grown to produce hallucinogenic products. And that, unfortunately, due to the magic of laboratories, has occurred.

“But then there are other products that come from hemp, such as CBD, that has in fact been a significant factor as a health care supplement in many, many products across America that does not have a hallucinogenic effect.”

Amid this worry, Merkley said he’d like to continue to work with McConnell over the coming year to develop a definition that does not potentially eliminate CBD hemp products from the U.S. marketplace.

Jonathan Miller, general counsel at the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, offered a similar take in a statement provided to Cannabis Business Times.

“Senator McConnell got hemp right in the 2018 Farm Bill, and again today when he said that we need to prohibit dangerous synthetic and copycat products, while keeping all hemp products out of the hands of children,” Miller said. “However, how that is done matters. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable believes that the best way to do that is through robust regulation, not prohibition.”

The hemp business advocacy organization believes that a blanket ban on more than 90% of consumable hemp products is not the right path, Miller said.

The American Trade Association of Cannabis and Hemp (ATACH) also weighed in on the Senate committee’s approval of the hemp language, denouncing the current market for lab-made, synthetic THC.

However, ATACH Vice President of Policy and State Advocacy Chris Lindsey had a different take on CBD, saying that the bill provides distinctions between intoxicating and nonintoxicating products, synthetic and natural products, and industrial and consumer products to create regulatory lanes.

“Natural and nonintoxicating hemp products, such as CBD, would be recognized and protected for the first time under federal law,” Lindsey said. “The bill stipulates that the Health and Human Services Secretary would set a limit for THC in these products, giving manufacturers a clear boundary and implementation timeline. These protections for CBD and similar products are explicit and intentional.”

In a committee report on the bill, the body’s members acknowledged the “growing consumer demand for American-made hemp products” as well as the need for “clear, science-based guidance” and regulations to help ensure consumer safety and confidence as businesses innovate to meet that demand.

To support that effort, the committee members directed the FDA to work with industry stakeholders, including small businesses, scientists, manufacturers, public health experts and academic researchers, on suggested limits for the amounts of THC or other cannabinoids in hemp-derived products. They intend for this collaboration to develop meaningful regulations under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

Furthermore, while the Senate legislation itself doesn’t intend to regulate federally illegal cannabis, the committee’s report on the bill sent a warning message to state-sanctioned businesses:

“The committee is concerned about the proliferation of products marketed in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act [FFDCA], including products containing derivatives of the cannabis plant. The committee is aware that non-FFDCA compliant products pose potential health and safety risks to consumers through misleading, unsubstantiated and false claims that cannabis and cannabis derivatives can treat serious and life-threatening diseases and conditions, including COVID–19 and cancer.”

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What It Means for Cannabis, Labor and Immigration (UPDATED)

Published

1 hour ago

July 11, 2025

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On July 10, 2025, federal immigration agents backed by National Guard troops executed warrants at two Glass House Farms cannabis cultivation sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo, California. Roughly 100 agricultural workers were reportedly detained, according to Newsweek, before protests erupted and tear gas was deployed.

Glass House, one of California’s largest licensed cannabis producers, acknowledged the enforcement action on its official X account (formerly Twitter), stating:

“Yesterday, Glass House Brands received immigration and naturalization warrants. As per the law, we verified that the warrants were valid and we complied. Workers were detained and we are assisting to provide them legal representation. Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors. We do not expect this to affect operations moving forward.”

Graham Farrar, Glass House co-founder, added on X:

“Know there are lots of questions, we have a lot of them too, as we get more information we will update. Our team has been continually on site and we are focused on taking care of our people and our plants.”

At the time of publication, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had not issued a formal statement detailing the scope of the raid, the number of individuals detained, or the nature of the warrants served.

Editor’s Note (Updated July 11): Since publication, multiple credible sources (Reuters, LA Times) report that agents found 10 migrant minors—8 unaccompanied—on site during the raids. Federal authorities are now investigating possible child labor violations. There is no reporting to date that confirms any of the minors were employed at Glass House Farms; they were present during the operation.

In a public response, Glass House stated it “has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors.” High Times reached out to Glass House with specific questions for this article but did not receive a response by publication.

A Legacy Industry, A Federal Fault Line

The raid reignited long-standing tensions around cannabis legality, labor, and immigration enforcement in the U.S. While cannabis is legal in California, it remains federally prohibited, creating a legal paradox that leaves licensed businesses vulnerable to federal action.

Dr. Chanda Macias, a longtime advocate, reacted to the news in an exclusive comment to High Times:

“ICE raids targeting Latino communities cultivating alternative medicine are not just attacks on individuals, it is an attack on our community and healthcare. Our lives are not expendable, our connection to the U.S. is undeniable, our commitment to natural medicine impacts patients’ lives consistently.”

She recalled the harsh enforcement climate of past decades, “a time when raids on cannabis operations were constant.” Yet, she added, “our community is strong. We fought for medical and adult use, and we will fight for our Latino community.”

And closed with a message of resilience: “We will rise from this and believe redemption is coming.”

That view was echoed—and expanded—by Chris Day, CEO of the Global Cannabis Network Collective, who offered a more geopolitical take on the enforcement action:

“For once, cannabis is being treated the same as other industries, with complete disregard for existing laws or human rights. The current administration operates more like a police state. These militaristic tactics are meant to convey power and suppress dissent, while manipulating PR to appear as cleaning up a state the President sees as a threat. With ICE’s growing budgets, I don’t see this getting better anytime soon.”

From an advisory perspective, Day urged cannabis executives to rethink a U.S.-focused strategy:

“GCNC advises members to look globally for sustainable expansion. For U.S.-based operators, I urge caution: unless you have legal protection and deep capital, the risk is significant. The government’s unpredictability—from fiscal policy to law enforcement—makes the domestic market deeply unstable.”

A Blow to Labor Stability?

The industry response has not just focused on politics. It has also centered on workers.

Adrian Rocha, director of policy at the Last Prisoner Project, told High Times the raid represents a setback to cannabis labor normalization:

“Immigration raids like this one frequently ensnare individuals who are already disproportionately impacted by outdated and discriminatory drug policies. These actions not only perpetuate the systemic harms of cannabis criminalization, but also directly undermine the Last Prisoner Project’s mission to secure freedom, reunite families, and create opportunities for those most affected by the War on Drugs.”

Rocha also warned that such tactics could threaten reform momentum:

“Aggressive enforcement tactics, including immigration raids, can create a chilling effect on both workforce participation and broader efforts toward cannabis industry reform.”

Mary Bailey, Last Prisoner Project managing director, pointed to the case of Sandra Bowen, one of LPP’s constituents, who served nearly a decade in federal prison for a nonviolent cannabis offense. Upon her release, instead of reuniting with her children, she was handed over to ICE and deported to Jamaica. Others like Ricardo Ashmeade and Andrew Landells, he noted, still await deportation despite living in the U.S. for decades.

Industry Voices, Investor Risks

Seth Yakatan, a veteran investor and advisor in the cannabis space, viewed the situation through a business lens:

“It shows that the federal government has a labor agenda, and now our industry is in the crossfire.”

Yet, he doesn’t think immigration enforcement risk and cannabis federal illegality are correlated.

From a capital strategy lens, he emphasized:

“It depends on the company and its scope. Given the complexity of U.S. law, it is hard for smaller companies to even think outside of one state.”

Yet for Yakatan, the raid also served as a personal catalyst:

“That my resolve to fight for this industry was galvanized by all the support we have received.”

Protests, Tear Gas, and a Blocked Congressman

According to Newsweek, video footage appeared to show a protester firing a weapon at federal agents amid the Carpinteria raid. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael W. Banks condemned the act and pledged “serious consequences.”

Tensions escalated as demonstrators clashed with officers, prompting the use of tear gas and crowd-control munitions. U.S. Representative Salud Carbajal was reportedly denied entry to the Carpinteria site during the raid.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass responded by signing Executive Directive No. 12, ordering city departments to prepare for further federal actions and safeguard immigrant communities. A federal judge also issued a restraining order against the LAPD after allegations of excessive force against journalists covering immigration protests.

Luna Stower, a longtime cannabis advocate and industry executive, focused on the human toll of the raids, calling them “a chilling reminder that legalization offers no protection when federal power decides to flex.”

She described the enforcement as unlawful and said members of Congress were blocked from entering the site. “Kids were crying for their parents who got ripped away,” she told High Times.

For Stower, the message behind the raid was clear: this wasn’t about compliance or child labor; it was about power. “Licensed operators and immigrant workers alike were treated as enemies, their greenhouses turned into battlegrounds,” she said. “It’s about control. About sending a message to the people who built California agriculture and the cannabis movement: your labor and lives are still disposable in the eyes of the Feds.”

She argued that the broader industry must reckon with its role in protecting its most vulnerable workers. “Cannabis cannot call itself a progressive industry while farmworkers are terrorized and communities are destabilized,” she said, calling for solidarity, urgent policy reform, and a deeper examination of the systemic issues that legalization alone won’t fix.

Policy, Labor, and National Supply Chains

Noemí Perez, a serial cannabis entrepreneur and advocate for immigrant rights, said the current wave of deportations is creating ripple effects across agriculture, including cannabis. While she acknowledged that immigration policy may be necessary, she emphasized that poor implementation is putting entire industries at risk.

“I am deeply concerned about how the deportation situation has been handled,” she said in an exclusive comment to High Times. “While the policy itself may be necessary, its implementation has disrupted many agricultural industries, including cannabis, where access to safe, regulated medicine for over 3 million Americans is being jeopardized.”

She cited Florida as a case study. Since the passage of SB 1718, the state has faced labor shortages across sectors, most notably in orange farming. “This not only threatens our food supply but also exacerbates challenges in an already struggling industry,” she said, noting that Florida has even resorted to importing oranges from Chile, despite having the climate and infrastructure to produce them domestically.

“This highlights the urgent need for more careful and balanced policymaking that takes into account the broader impact on people, agriculture and the economy,” Perez said.

She also addressed the responsibility of cannabis employers during uncertain times. “As employers, we have a duty to respond to the fears our teams are navigating every day,” she said. Her companies have been educating workers on what documentation is needed to safely transit public spaces and encouraging open dialogue.

“Beyond that, we’re providing resources on how to reconnect with loved ones in case of an emergency,” she added. “This moment calls for more than just compliance: it demands compassion, solidarity and action.”

The broader context of the raid is clear: the U.S. legal cannabis industry supports over 440,000 full-time jobs, with California employing an estimated 80,000 workers across cultivation, manufacturing and retail. Nationally, up to 70% of farmworkers are undocumented, highlighting how central immigration policy remains to labor stability in cannabis and beyond.

What Comes Next?

At press time, there is no indication that Glass House Farms faces criminal charges. The company says operations will continue, and legal aid is being provided to affected workers.

Still, this incident has sent a chill through the cannabis world: not because it was unexpected, but because it wasn’t.

This story reflects reporting available as of July 11 and will be updated as new facts or responses become available.

Photo: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Department of Homeland Security), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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MScannaBIZ for all you Mississippi Cannabis News and Information.

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Former NFL Star Talks Marijuana Rescheduling With Top Trump Administration Officials At White House Meeting

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2 hours ago

July 11, 2025

mscannabiz.com

A retired professional football player who’s since become an advocate for marijuana policy reform met with top Trump administration officials at the White House to discuss the ongoing federal cannabis rescheduling process.

On Friday, former NFL player-turned-advocate Ricky Williams discussed the reform with high-level staffers across multiple agencies at the White House as part of a broader meeting that touched on cannabis.

Officials with the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, Energy and White House Counsels Office were involved in the conversations, Marijuana Moment has learned.

Williams, co-founder of Project Champion, told Marijuana Moment after the meeting that he’s “seen firsthand how cannabis can change lives—not just for wellness, but for opportunity.”

“When I left the NFL, people questioned my choices. But for me, cannabis was part of my journey to healing—physically, emotionally, and spiritually,” he said. “I’m not alone in that experience. Veterans, cancer patients, and everyday Americans are all looking for safer, plant-based alternatives—and right now, federal law stands in the way.”

“Rescheduling cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III isn’t about politics—it’s about freedom. It’s about empowering small businesses, delivering tax relief, and creating jobs that count,” the athlete and influencer said. “It’s about aligning federal law with what’s already happening in 38 states. And most importantly, it’s about giving people safe, legal access to medicine that works.”

“This reform is smart, it’s strategic, and it’s long overdue. Rescheduling helps us build a stronger economy, protect our communities, and ensure this industry benefits all Americans—including communities of color that have historically been left behind. I’m proud to stand here today to say: this is how we put America First.”

Bruce Levell, who is a longtime advisor to Trump and has served as executive director of his National Diversity Coalition, was also at the meeting.

He separately said in a social media post that he was “thrilled to share a highly productive meeting with [White House] senior staff, discussing President Trump’s transformative bill and its profound impact on urban and rural America.”

“The Biden administration fell short on cannabis rescheduling, but we’re eager for our next conversation on moving to Schedule III,” he said, adding that Trump “is poised to deliver where others have not.”

Thrilled to share a highly productive meeting with @WhiteHouse senior staff, discussing President Trump’s transformative bill and its profound impact on urban and rural America. The Biden administration fell short on cannabis rescheduling, but we’re eager for our next… pic.twitter.com/q4ByH4dPg6

— Bruce LeVell (@Bruce_LeVell) July 11, 2025

Meanwhile, on Monday, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) again notified an agency judge that the marijuana rescheduling process remains stalled under the Trump administration.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was previously vocal about his support for legalizing cannabis, as well as psychedelics therapy. But during his Senate confirmation process in February, he said that he would defer to DEA on marijuana rescheduling in his new role.

Separately, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was reportedly photographed reviewing a document that appears to be a draft contract to provide services—including “administration-related guidance”—to a firm affiliated with the major marijuana company Trulieve. The visible portion of the document describes a lucrative bonus if a certain “matter resolves,” with an “additional ‘Super Success Fee’” for other “exclusive policy remedies.”

Last month, the former congressman reiterated his own support for rescheduling cannabis—suggesting in an interview with a Florida Republican lawmaker that the GOP could win more of the youth vote by embracing marijuana reform.

Gaetz also said last month that Trump’s endorsement of a Schedule III reclassification was essentially an attempt to shore up support among young voters rather than a sincere reflection of his personal views about cannabis.

A survey conducted by a GOP pollster affiliated with Trump that was released in April found that a majority of Republicans back a variety of cannabis reforms, including rescheduling. And, notably, they’re even more supportive of allowing states to legalize marijuana without federal interference compared to the average voter.

Meanwhile, Trump picked former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) to run DOJ, and the Senate confirmed that choice. During her confirmation hearings, Bondi declined to say how she planned to navigate key marijuana policy issues. And as state attorney general, she opposed efforts to legalize medical cannabis.

Amid the stalled marijuana rescheduling process that’s carried over from the last presidential administration, congressional researchers recently reiterated that lawmakers could enact the reform themselves with “greater speed and flexibility” if they so choose, while potentially avoiding judicial challenges.

Meanwhile, a newly formed coalition of professional athletes and entertainers, led by retired boxer Mike Tyson, sent a letter to Trump on Friday—thanking him for past clemency actions while emphasizing the opportunity he has to best former President Joe Biden by rescheduling marijuana, expanding pardons and freeing up banking services for licensed cannabis businesses.

Marijuana Moment is made possible with support from readers. If you rely on our cannabis advocacy journalism to stay informed, please consider a monthly Patreon pledge.

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MScannaBIZ for all you Mississippi Cannabis News and Information.

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