HQ Welcome Jan 2020

“Life comes at us in waves. We can’t predict or control those waves, but we can learn to surf.” 
—Dan Millman, Author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior

Happy New Year and welcome to a brand-new decade! It’s an exciting time to be alive and in business—and equally chaotic.

We opened with the Dan Millman quote for a reason. There’s probably no better piece of wisdom to impart at the outset of 2020 than that which is carried in the above words. Contemplate them for a moment and consider their meaning.

When a surfer enters the water, they must first paddle out to the breaking point before they can even hope to catch a wave. They can’t do that by fighting the incoming crashes or trying to jump over them. They accept the waves as inevitable and dipper underneath them as they push ahead. Once they’re beyond the choppy waters, their success once again comes not from struggling against the current, but from moving with it and harnessing its power.

Hold onto this thought as you weather the coming year. We can never know what the future holds. We can speculate on what we see and prepare for the probabilities, but beyond that, we can only maneuver the ever-changing tide as it comes.

Thank you for continuing to turn to HQ for the information that matters to you and your livelihood. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve the industry we call home and look forward to yet another year of highlighting the best that this incredible space has to offer.

Recent Articles

You’ve chosen to work in a gray area. You sell products that contain cannabis or cannabis-adjacent substances as well as accessories that can be used to consume it. And while that area has become less gray—you can see rays of sunlight peeking through—the skies are still cloudy. THC remains a Schedule 1 substance, even as medical marijuana has migrated to Schedule 3.
Running a cannabis business is notoriously complicated. For dispensaries, complex compliance burdens permeate every facet of the business, from zoning and licensing to marketing and payments. Whether you’ve been in the cannabis space for mere months or multiple decades, you’ve likely run into drawn-out approval processes, supply chain headaches, or constantly changing regulation that makes compliance challenging, not to mention the other micro and macroeconomic factors that plague all small business owners.
Blending traditional values with modernized, energetic branding, Not Ya Son’s Weed falls somewhere between the cannabis days of yore and today’s recreational cannabis boom. Not Ya Son’s Weed offers a variety of products—including pre-rolls, exotic flower, and gummies—that provide much-needed relief without being too overbearing.
The officials came for Lance Alyas once before. In 2023, they caught him in a sting, seized his merchandise, and tossed him in jail. But just seven days later, after he invoked Hawaii's version of a Freedom of Information Act request, the whole case fell apart. Alyas was released without bail, allowed to simply walk out the door. Now, he’s advocating for freedom from Hawaii’s state officials once again. Only this time, it’s not just his own freedom. As the owner of Oahu’s top-rated smoke shops, he’s fighting for everyone’s right to sell hemp products in the Aloha State.
Born Sara Benetowa in Warsaw, Poland, in 1903, Sula Benet may not be an immediately recognizable name in cannabis spaces today, but she should be. While she primarily studied Polish folk customs, Benet became known for her graduate thesis at the University of Warsaw, titled Hashish in Folk Customs and Beliefs. In the paper, she claims that the plant kaneh bosm—which is referenced throughout the Old Testament and Torah and often translated as “calamus”—actually refers to hemp. Benet’s theory remains both significant and highly controversial today, especially as various religious and evangelical groups continue to demonize the plant.
If the United States were ever a country based on strict adherence to the law, those days are long past. The modern game lies in devising methods to circumvent laws. It’s how the rich avoid taxes, the powerful avoid jail, and industries of all kinds bypass regulations. The paradox is that, despite its ubiquity, it’s not easy to stay beyond the reach of the long arm of the law. Well-moneyed, influential organizations still sometimes misjudge the political and legal playing field and have to pay up. The Sacklers (the family behind Purdue Pharma) eventually were bankrupted by the courts for their role in the opioid epidemic, and officials hit Meta with a $5 billion fine over privacy concerns.
When you walk into a smoke shop today, you might notice the glass cases that once held rolling papers and blunt wraps now display CBD tinctures, functional mushroom capsules, kava elixirs, and hemp-infused sparkling water. The staff might talk to you about terpene profiles, cortisol levels, and a new vape line.
I went home and told my girlfriend, who, after Googling the name of the business I bought it from, told me that, yes, it was technically weed. But it was CBD. She started laughing, telling me I had been ripped off.