I wrote this article in the spirit of our similarities, and the vital importance of uniting the mushroom & weed worlds to fight prohibition and save lives. As a cannabis industry veteran and lifelong advocate for plant medicine, I’ve watched the psychedelic renaissance gain traction. I’ve seen the warning signs: Over-regulation. Cultural appropriation. Commodification. If we’re not careful, the same forces that gutted cannabis will derail this movement, too.  Not long ago, the idea of magic mushrooms as medicine seemed laughable. Today, psychedelics are riding a cultural and scientific wave, much like cannabis did years before. Research at top universities, growing clinical trials and personal stories of healing have fueled what many now call a “psychedelic renaissance.” Public perception has shifted at lightning speed. Stigma gave way to curiosity, taboo to tool, fear to fascination. A decade ago, cannabis had its own version of this moment. Once demonized, it’s now a normalized part of wellness culture. Psychedelics are following a similar trajectory, gaining legitimacy through science, changing laws and cultural momentum. In Oregon, the first licensed service centers opened in 2023 where adults can legally access guided psilocybin sessions. Colorado followed, decriminalizing personal use and creating a regulated model for “natural medicine.” More states are lining up, and cities such as Oakland, Santa Cruz, LA and Denver continue to drive decriminalization. Globally, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain and Jamaica are shaping markets through research, retreats and religious or therapeutic exemptions. The lesson is clear: As cannabis proved, laws can shift when culture leads. Cannabis created the blueprint. Now psychedelics are positioned not as competitors to cannabis but rather complementary forces within a growing global wellness economy. Grassroots advocacy, patient-driven medical research, innovative retail models and cultural normalization all paved the way for a once-taboo plant to go mainstream. Some of the pioneers who helped cannabis take root now channel that hard-won knowledge into psychedelics. Field Trip Health, for example, operates ketamine-assisted therapy clinics across North America, and is preparing for psilocybin once legal. Their model borrows directly from dispensaries (safe, welcoming spaces where people can access medicine under professional guidance). Big-name cannabis veterans including Bruce Linton (former CEO of Canopy Growth) invests in psychedelic firms and he serves as chairman of the advisory board for Netherlands-based Red Light Holland and sat on the board of New York-based MindMed until 2021. For executives who have already scaled cannabis companies, psychedelics represent the next frontier, with cannabis as proof of concept. This cross-pollination accelerates growth; cannabis brands bring regulatory know-how, cultivation expertise and consumer trust. Psychedelic startups, in turn, expand the palette of plant-based healing and connect with new audiences. It’s not competition (it’s cross-training). What makes this renaissance so exciting? That psychedelic brands are building with cannabis lessons in mind-prioritizing authenticity, community and consumer education. From grassroots innovators to clinical labs, these companies echo cannabis’s core ethos of authenticity, safety and accessibility.  Take Lady Hyphae, Denver-based grow-kit company founded by Danielle Adams, who cut her teeth in cannabis cultivation before turning to mushrooms. “Cannabis taught us that people want access, not gatekeeping,” Adams says. “Workshops and kits aren’t just about mushrooms; they’re about empowerment, community and reclaiming healing on our own terms.” Her woman-forward branding and emphasis on education mirror the early days of legacy cannabis collectives, where growers passed down knowledge long before dispensaries existed. Thinking Caps, a California-based wellness brand blending functional and entheogenic mushrooms (using the whole fruiting body) into bright, fruit-flavored gummies designed for focus, creativity, and cognitive clarity. Founder Lauren Stanko says their products are single sourced for purity and consistency, echoing the evolution of cannabis edibles from their start as underground brownies to their current explosion into the high-end gourmet and luxury wellness worlds. “These aren’t just feel-good party favors; they’re powerful daily allies,” Stanko says. “We offer something familiar and functional that fits naturally into people’s wellness routines, no matter who they are.” Consumers asking for products that bridge the familiar territory of cannabis with the lesser-known world of psychedelics are gravitating toward brands with fun and colorful, yet sleek and sophisticated design aesthetics that are carried out with intention. This opportunity for brand storytelling around myco-wellness is helping mushrooms integrate into mainstream self-care at a rapid pace in a market seeking transparency, ethics and style. Highlighting the diversity of this ecosystem is Culture Shrooms, a California dispensary-style café with mushroom-infused cold brew and teas with cannabis lounge vibes. Oakland Hyphae ran the 1st ever "Mushroom Cup" competition, as the leading Psychedelic summit in the space. Substrate manufacturers such as PooGod and Twisted Tree Nursery are redefining soil science for fungi, like hydro stores did for weed. Their “DinoSoil” (a mix of tortoise, camel, alpaca and donkey manure) is used to bump fungal yields in the same way other cultivators play with different inputs and mediums. International players like Valenveras in Spain, with Magic Myco and Full Canopy Genetics, pioneered potency testing, applying the cannabis lab-testing playbook of pesticides, solvents and safety standards to psychedelics. On the clinical side, Compass Pathways is in late-stage trials to potentially deliver the first FDA-approved psilocybin therapy. For everyday users, this convergence means more choice and flexibility. Cannabis is often used as daily medicine for easing stress, anxiety, sleeplessness and pain, without substantially disrupting one’s routines. While psychedelics are more occasional, (yet still profoundly transformative with a single session) reportedly being enough to rewire users’ relationship with trauma, depression or spiritual growth. Complementary when used together, cannabis may integrate insights from a psilocybin journey, grounding the user during aftercare and even easing physical discomforts like nausea. Psychedelics, in turn, can deepen the emotional or spiritual healing cannabis consumers may seek. Each path is ultimately about empowerment, not dependency. The product overlaps are comforting, with psychedelics being more approachable for those already comfortable with natural remedies such as microdosing, which resembles low-dose THC or CBD supplements. Infused drinks, gummies and capsules are akin to common cannabis edibles, some even sold in alcohol chains. Even the two industries’ marketing lexicons overlap (“plant medicine,” “wellness journeys,” “mindful healing,” “set-and-setting”). Together, they’re creating a wellness ethos centered on safety and transparency. The cultural throughline exists beyond products, in the normalization of conversations about mental health and holistic healing, paving the way for more open discussions on psychedelics. Just as the cannabis industry invested in consumer education, psychedelic advocates are pushing hard to emphasize intentional, guided use over recreational misuse to prevent a public relations nightmare and quell public safety concerns. The future of wellness is holistic, integrative and rooted in nature. Cannabis broke down the door so psychedelics can walk through it. Canna-consumers can expect more crossover products, shared retail models and collaborative education. A psychedelics line may diversify portfolios of cannabis companies, extend distribution channels and stay competitive in a fast-shifting marketplace. For society, the message is clear: Nature’s medicines, plant or fungus, are powerful allies when used responsibly. It’s not cannabis versus mushrooms. It’s cannabis and mushrooms, forming a unified frontier of wellness, changing how we heal, connect and how we imagine the future of health. Originally published in print and online at Cannabis Now (Jan 2026)
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I was recently named in a NORML article recognizing AAPI & Jewish cannabis trailblazers advancing reform, culture, and industry. I am Jewish. Culturally, historically, spiritually. Recognition matters, not because of a list or a headline, but because of what it signals. Cannabis reform has always been shaped by people and communities who understood the plant as medicine, resistance, education, and care long before it became a regulated market. Jewish voices have been part of that history, even when we are selectively remembered or quietly erased. I was raised in and by the plant world, shaped by legacy growers, organizers, healers, and teachers who treated cannabis as medicine and community long before it was a commodity. That lineage informs everything I do today across cannabis, psychedelics, education, policy, and communications. Jewish people are statistically overrepresented in the cannabis industry when you consider we make up less than 0.19 percent of the global population. Yet Jewish leaders likely represent a significant share of operators, advocates, scientists, funders, and educators in this space. That visibility comes with responsibility, especially in moments when antisemitism is rising and selective silence becomes the norm. Last month at MJBizCon, I participated in the 'MJBiz Mitzvah' honoring the 13th anniversary of the event. Why 13? It marks coming into responsibility, voice, and accountability to community. That symbolism landed deeply for me in an industry that urgently needs more ethics, more care, and more memory. This is why I help organize and participate in Jews in Weed; the group exists because Jews have always been part of cannabis, whether acknowledged or erased. From medicine making to organizing, from science to storytelling, from capital to care work. We belong here. We have always belonged here. Jews in Weed is not about ignoring what is happening in the world. Antisemitism is real. Fear is real. Exhaustion is real. The space exists to support one another, collaborate, debate, grieve, build, and show up without pretending neutrality is the same thing as safety. Recognition from organizations like NORML is meaningful when it reflects movement memory, not just market success. Progress only lasts when it includes accountability, cultural integrity, and people willing to speak honestly about who built the foundation and who benefits from its growth. This is the work I continue through Luna Stower Strategies LLC; strategic advising, communications, education, and advocacy for cannabis and psychedelics, grounded in policy literacy, cultural context, and equity... not trend-chasing, greenwashing or extraction. Visibility is key, but is not the end goal... true responsibility is. Original NORML article: https://norml.org/blog/2025/05/29/united-in-reform-celebrating-asian-american-pacific-islander-jewish-cannabis-trailblazers/
 Serious question: do we want cannabis (and other entheogens like psilocybin) to function as TRUE medicine, and not just another hyper-capitalist product? If so, let's shift the conversation away from potency or strain trends and MOVE ON. Away from hype. Away from one-size-fits-all narratives. Toward right relationship. In much of modern cannabis culture, we’ve been taught to ask the wrong questions: How strong is it/how much THC does it have? How fast or hard does the high hit? Those questions don’t lead to healing. They lead to consumption (potentially unconscious consumption at that). Medicine Is Not the Product "Medicine" is relational. And conscious use is political, whether we name it or not; and community is what sustains healing over time. Cannabis is not medicine by default; and medicine is not the plant alone. When we treat cannabis as something to take rather than something to relate to, we lose its usefulness. In ancestral & Indigenous frameworks, plant medicine has always been reciprocal. You do not extract it... you engage with it. There is responsibility built into the relationship. 'Medicine' is the relationship that we build with it; because the same substance can support healing in one context and reinforce avoidance in another. The difference is not the strain or the brand, it is intention, dose, context, and what happens afterward. Extractive greed-capitalism breaks that reciprocity, turning medicine into a commodity and training us to prioritize strength over suitability, branding over belonging, and consumption over care. Psychoactives as an Amplifier, Not a Cure Cannabis and other psychoactive or psychedelic substances do not always just 'fix things,' but can amplify them (awareness, sensation, emotion, creativity, pain). Used intentionally this can support nervous system regulation, help people sit with discomfort without panic, and bring buried patterns into view. Used without intention, it can just as easily reinforce numbness, avoidance, or dependency. This is where dose literacy matters. Low and slow is not conservative or boring; it is respectful. THC is only one part of the equation. CBD, minor cannabinoids, the acid forms of the un-activated plant, phytocannabinoids, terpenes, the delivery method, timing, blood sugar, head-space, and immediate physical environment all shape how cannabis lands in the body. Before using entheogens like cannabis, 3 questions matter more than any label: Why now? What am I trying to support or alleviate? What might I be avoiding, triggering, or numbing out by consuming this? Honest answers create agency... avoiding those questions gives that agency and control away. Ritual, Integration & Why Community Matters One of the biggest failures of modern 'drug' culture is isolation. People use alone and expect transformation without reflection, support, or context. Cannabis and psychotropics can open a door. Community helps you walk through it. Integration is where real change occurs. Not during the experience, but after. Reflection, movement, creativity, rest, or simply noticing how the body feels the next day are all forms of integration. Ritual does not need to be elaborate to be effective; ritual is simply structure with meaning. A pause. An intention. A moment of awareness before something automatic happens. Humans do not heal in a vacuum; community provides shared language, accountability, and normalization without pressure. Not agreement. Not performance. Presence. Equity, Ethics, & the Politics of Wellness Cannabis does not exist outside of power. Personal wellness that ignores collective harm is incomplete. Healing that refuses to look at justice is not whole. For decades, people have been criminalized, incarcerated, and harmed for this plant, disproportionately Black, Brown, Indigenous communities. Families separated. Futures disrupted. Dogs shot. Investment money lost. ... That history does not disappear because 'legalization' (aka commercialization) arrived with polished branding and big promises. Being intentional with cannabis is harm reduction... and that's not just a personal practice; it is a deeply political one. Ethical engagement is not abstract. It shows up in who profits, who is excluded, who is amplified, and who is erased. It shows up in how we respond to marketing noise, potency myths, and wellness language designed to sell rather than support. A Practical Framework for Conscious Use: Here's a simple framework can help keep your relationship with entheogens grounded:
This approach not only returns agency to the individual rather than to marketing narratives, but it also applies whether plant medicines are being used for sleep, to help with pain, inspire creativity, support emotional processing, or spark curiosity (and should be flexible, not dogmatic). The future of cannabis as medicine will not be louder, stronger, or more optimized... It will be slower. More intentional. More honest... and rooted in care rather than consumption. That is the movement worth building. 
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Luna's hot takes, travel recaps, policy updates, reporting on culture, and power. Writing at the intersection of plant medicine, justice & lived experience. Clear-eyed analysis of reform, minus the hype, rooted in the plant, and focused on people + truth-telling (without the fluff).
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