marijuana chads

Cananbis Chads vs. Hippies – Cannabis Culture Wars 2.0

Do you know what a “chad” is?

I didn’t.

In the weeks leading up to MJ BIZ CON, a small undercurrent of people not attending MJ BIZ CON this year in Las Vegas took to social media to say they were skipping the show because of so many “chads” and “newbies” that hit the show, inferring they didn’t have the patience or time to deal with the “chads”.

What is a cannabis chad, or a chad in general? We had done a story on cannabis “stans” when Eminem had his song title added to the Webster Dictionary in 2018. What is a cannabis stan? A cannabis devotee that is so pro-cannabis they cannot hear any talk or discussion about anything negative or debatable about the plant. They hate the government and Big Pharma, claim cannabis is not a drug but a plant, and refuse to believe there could be anything negative associated with using or taking cannabis. Anything!

A “chad” as it turns out is urban slang for single, white guys, in their 20s and 30s. Chad refers to the stereotypical preppie name used in movies and books to depict the classic preppy, entitled, wealthy, white kid. So, in essence, a small group of non- MJ BIZ CON attendees complained about too many rich, white guys who are all corporate, and about making money, attending the show and not enough people who love the plant more than money, aka, hippies.

Is the stereotypical chad and ancient stoner, hippy, stereotype the new cannabis culture battleground, and if so, why is it bubbling up from the bottom of cannabis conversation now?

Are you a businessman looking at cannabis as a business opportunity and you aren’t really down with the medicinal story of the plant and its’ history? Are you a lifelong cannabis lover and grower who has long hair, a long beard, and you like to wear old t-shirts and baseball hats? Perhaps a tattoo or two?

First, lets acknowledge that as the cannabis industry grows and exposes money making opportunities, more traditional “businessmen and women” are going to get involved. That is how life works. They may or may not be “in love with the plant”, but they see it as a business that can make money and those businesses can create jobs at all levels, including c-suite jobs such as accountants, marketing directors, packaging directors, and design directors. Do you want high paying cannabis jobs and more efficiency along the supply chain? Then you can’t shun “big business” and “chads” for looking to set up more advanced businesses than just growing weed and selling it in baggies. Chads are part of big business, so no reason to hate on single, white guys in their 20s and 30s walking the show at MJ BIZ CON.

Two, hippies, growers, and old-school stoners will always have a place in the new cannabis culture 2.0. You can see our discussion about this subject with Cannabis Hall of Famer, Steve DeAngelo here, and Tommy Chong right here.

Why is the name calling starting now?

Money.

If you don’t follow the cannabis industry, the money dried up in the industry with the cannabis stock market crash of a few months ago. When money is flowing and everyone is having a good time, as they say, a rising tide raises all ships. When money dries up, the industry has problems, and people start to point the finger at each other. MedMen has now laid off 40% of their executive staff and sites like Civilized and Massroots have closed or are on life support. Even heavily indebted High Times may have to shutter after 50 years of publications, shows, and content.

Everyone feels the squeeze when things get tight, so early jealousies of big companies coming in and trying to make cannabis a “big business” are coming home to roost as smaller farmer, hippies, and growers are pointing out how business chads and suits are ruining the industry by putting profit ahead of medical causes like veterans, PTSD victims, and even kids with diseases.

Whose fault is the economic pain now rippling throughout the industry?

It is not anyone’s fault per say that cannabis stocks took off on a bubble trajectory and have now come crashing back to earth. That is how hundreds of business cycles have started and continue in operation today. In fact, the entire world economy works in the same peak-to-trough cycle. Good times get too good and then recessions hit, the excess and hubris is cleared out, and we start the cycle all over, again.



Cannabis is no exception, early excitement of “what could be” lead to sky high valuations and easy money flowing into debt vehicles in order for companies to expand quickly. The same phenomena is happening now in the non-cannabis space with sky-high valuations given to “unicorn” companies that never had any good long-term plans to make money. See the crash of things such as Uber, WeWork, Bitcoin, and others.

Is the cannabis bubble over? No chance, stocks will rise and have years of excitement around them once the US removes cannabis from the Controlled Substance Act. We cover this opinion in our cannabis stock prediction article here, and it says that right now only one G7 country can legally invest in cannabis and 99% of the world’s capital and investment funds cannot legally get into the space, and remain cautious while the US keeps the plant as a schedule 1 drug. To argue the bull run is over when 99% of the world and 99% of the money in the world cannot invest in these companies safely is ludicrous.

Since 90% of the “chads” in the world haven’t even showed up in the cannabis space yet, or at MJ BIZ CON, expect attendance to go up and plenty more teams of chads scouring the show for investment ideas and roll up companies.

Will companies put profit ahead of some human interests, for example, donating X amount of flower to veterans’ causes and such? You bet, but so do companies in all industries, they focus on the bottom line and try to make as much money as possible. The chads are at all trade shows where there is money to be made, so go walk the blockchain conference or cryptocurrency show and tell me about the chads there as well.

Single white guys in their 20s and 30s who are looking for ways to make money are here to stay, so better get used to them and make a joke or two about their collared shirt worn with the collar up and their Ray-Ban sunglasses, as they are bringing capital that is creating jobs and bringing cannabis to the main stream business world.

PS - Knowledge Fact - It appears a "Stacy" is a female Chad, and a "chode" is something I can't write about here.

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