Why Your Plug Deserved a Seat at the Legalization Table

Photo by Anna Shvets

When cannabis finally became legal in Canada and parts of the U.S., it was marketed like a revolution. Glossy branding, clinical dispensaries, and carefully curated Instagram aesthetics promised a new era of sophistication and safety. But for those of us who actually grew up with weed culture—not the kind found in a corporate mood board, but the real one rooted in community, risk, and trust—there was one glaring omission:

Where the hell was our plug?

The same people who kept this culture alive when it was risky, illegal, and heavily policed were nowhere to be found at the legalization table. And that’s not just shady. It’s erasure.

The Plug Was More Than a Dealer

Your plug wasn’t just someone who sold you weed. For a lot of us, they were the first point of contact with cannabis culture. They knew the strains before Weedmaps existed. They rolled better than most of us ever will. They remembered your favorite kind of wrap. They fronted you when rent was tight. They had codes, ethics, and sometimes even better customer service than the shops we now have to stand in line for.

They built networks in silence, took risks daily, and created access in communities that would otherwise be completely left out. Before it was a billion-dollar industry, it was a survival hustle. And that hustle? It deserves more than just quiet appreciation. It deserves compensation, opportunity, and a seat.

Legalization Benefited the Loudest, Not the Realest

Photo by Stephen Leonardi

When governments opened the gates to the legal market, they weren’t looking for cultural integrity. They were looking for scalability. And who showed up? Venture capitalists. Tech bros. Wine moms rebranding themselves as "canna-curious." People who had never been part of the community, but had the funds and the privilege to capitalize on it.

Meanwhile, Black and Indigenous communities—the ones most harmed by prohibition—were left navigating expensive license applications, background checks, and zoning restrictions that kept them boxed out. Their experiences were labeled "criminal," while white entrepreneurs called it "innovation."

That’s not just unfair. That’s historical violence with a weed leaf slapped on it.

"But They Were Selling Illegally"

Let’s address the corporate elephant in the room.

Yes, plugs operated outside the law. But so did the entire cannabis industry until, like, five minutes ago. To pretend that legality equals morality is to ignore the fact that laws were designed to criminalize entire communities while letting others profit.

Your plug wasn’t running a cartel. They were often just running weed through a phone and a backpack. And guess what? They were doing it before the dispensary even knew what a terpene was.

Culture Can’t Be Bought, But It Can Be Respected

Photo by S.Taylor

You can hire all the brand designers and pay all the influencers in the world. But if your company doesn’t have people who actually lived this on your team, you’re not building a brand. You’re building a costume.

Culture comes from the people who risked their freedom for it. Who shared knowledge, not just product. Who built a customer base off loyalty, not algorithms. You can’t fake that energy.

And when you ignore them? The culture notices. And no amount of greenwashed messaging will cover the fact that you built your empire on borrowed style.

What Should the Industry Be Doing?

• Expungements first. You can’t move forward when thousands are still sitting in jail for what is now legal.

• Equity programs with actual funding. Not just PR statements. We’re talking business loans, mentorship, and prioritized licensing.

• Hiring real people from the legacy market. Give plugs, growers, and trappers real pathways into leadership, ownership, and creative direction.

• Stop stealing the aesthetic. Don’t use the slang, the vibe, the music, the visual language—unless the people who created it are in the room and getting paid.

  
  

Final Puff

If cannabis is truly about community, healing, and justice, then the people who held it down before it was legal deserve more than a shoutout. They deserve a stake.

Because the truth is: the weed didn’t change. The market did. And if we’re not fighting to bring the real ones with us, then legalization wasn’t progress.

It was just a rebrand.

So light one up for your plug. And maybe call them. Not for a dime bag, but to say: you built this. And you should be here.