Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed "anti-war" president who campaigned on ending endless conflicts, has found himself a new war to fight. In January 2025, he signed Executive Order 14157, formally designating eight Latin American cartels and gangs as Foreign Terrorist Organizations—the same legal classification used for ISIS and Al-Qaeda. By September, he'd escalated from designation to execution, launching a campaign of missile strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea that has, by the administration's own count, killed at least 43 people across 10 separate attacks.

Older adults approach cannabis with a level of caution and preparation that younger users often skip entirely. They ask about drug interactions, dosing protocols, and long-term effects. They want to understand what they're putting in their bodies and why. This isn't recreational experimentation—it's informed exploration of a substance that might genuinely improve their quality of life.

According to Gallup polls, just 54% of American adults now admit to consuming alcohol, which is the lowest it’s ever been in Gallup’s history of 90 years. It’s clear that there is a growing sentiment among American adults that alcohol consumption is harmful for health, and for the first time in history, the majority of the population share this view.

I've noticed this pattern consistently among longtime cannabis users, and a recent Reddit thread confirmed I'm not alone. The question posed was simple: "Anyone else feel like weed hits different as you get older?" The responses overwhelmed the thread—hundreds of people describing the exact same phenomenon. Used to get giggly and social, now more chill and contemplative. Used to seek adventure, now seek reflection. Used to be about external experiences, now about internal exploration.

In fact, the opposite is true: low doses of THC, and CBD may actually help slow down the aging process where it matters the most: your brain. Now, this isn’t something you can pay a doctor to do: you can pay for botox and surgery, buy the trendiest health food at the moment, but you only truly start to feel good when your brain functions at its best.

The Supreme Court just agreed to hear a case that perfectly encapsulates the absurdity of cannabis prohibition in 2025: United States v. Hemani, which will determine whether Americans who use marijuana can exercise their Second Amendment right to own firearms. Let that sink in for a moment. We're debating whether one constitutional right can be stripped away because you exercise personal autonomy over your own consciousness using a plant that's legal in half the states and has never caused a fatal overdose in recorded human history.

Before feminized genetics, growers typically worked with regular cannabis seeds, which had a 50/50 chance of producing male or female plants. That uncertainty meant wasted space, nutrients, and time, since male plants needed to be identified and removed before pollination.

According to a 2022 study from New Frontier Data, approximately 69% of young adults between the ages of 18 to 24 reported a preference for cannabis over alcohol. Meanwhile, more than half said that they already replaced their alcohol consumption with marijuana instead. There are several strong studies to back up these claims, too: According to the NIAAA Surveillance Report #116, underage drinking among kids aged 12-20 has steadily declined between 1991 through 2019, which is great news!

Individuals with a genetic risk, such as those who have a family history of mental illnesses including schizophrenia, are much more likely to exhibit symptoms if they consume weed. The chances that cannabis use would expose the symptoms of a mental health condition are significantly higher if the individual uses cannabis early in life, or before the age of 18.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has consistently proven itself to be the greatest roadblock to cannabis reform in America. Despite overwhelming public support for medical cannabis, despite 38 states having legalized it in some form, and despite bipartisan congressional pressure, the DEA continues its decades-long pattern of stonewalling, delaying, and obstructing any meaningful progress.