The Mercury's Cannabis Guide 2022: Growing Pains… and Pleasures!

Do people identify as stoners anymore? It seems like nowadays everyone in a button up shirt is confiding that they took an edible before the show, or they're only drinking CBD for "dry" January. In our little bubble, at least, cannabis has been straight-up normalized.

State-legal for recreational use since 2015, cannabis' legalization comes with—pun incoming—growing pains! But also pleasures. We're seeing agencies and municipalities battle it out for cannabis tax revenue in the state legislature. And the City of Portland recently fast-tracked financial help to local cannabis businesses, but the speedy process raised questions about where the disbursements were actually headed.

So the 2022 Mercury Cannabis Guide aims to be a half readable catch-up on recent legislation and half fun recommendations of CBD cocktails to sip and THC topicals to soothe your aches and pains. We also found a bong with interchangeable parts—so you don't have to replace the whole thing when you inevitably break a piece.

With this issue we're also welcoming cannabis' incoming hot new neighbor, psilocybin. She's not exactly cannabis, but she is following a similar, unconventional path to regulated use. She's a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. What's her status? We've got the explainer.

Rip some sativa and dive in.