It wasn't that long ago that weed was something bought from shady characters on the street (who often cut their product with oregano) or your brother-in-law (who was one of those shady characters but would sell you the real thing because, you know, family). Once you'd acquired some of the precious herb you had to be careful about how you consumed it, as possession of cannabis was illegal throughout the United States. In this post, the team at the Puffr wholesale head shop will examine the cannabis industry and take a look at how the industry has changed over the past 30 or so years.

Change #1: Legalization and Acceptance

Most, if not all changes in the cannabis industry have been driven by the same thing: the widespread legalization of marijuana in the US.

By 1935, most states had passed laws to make marijuana possession a crime. Texas, in fact, passed a law in 1931 making simple possession of marijuana a crime punishable by life in prison. In 1937 the federal government followed suit and outlawed the possession and use of marijuana. Cannabis would ultimately be classified under Federal law as a Schedule I substance - the same legal classification as heroin.

It wasn't until the early 1970s that the pendulum began to swing in the opposite direction, although in a very slow and incremental way. It started in 1973 when Oregon became the first state to decriminalize marijuana and within 5 years ,11 more states would follow suit. After that, however, the decriminalization movement ground to a halt.

In 1996, California became the first state to legalize cannabis for medical purposes. That started the movement toward widespread legalization, and today 25 states have legalized the recreational use of cannabis and 19 more have legalized it for medical use. In fact, only 6 states have made no progress at all toward legalizing marijuana.

So, right out of the gate, the biggest change to the cannabis industry in the past 30 years is that it's now legal for there to BE a cannabis industry.

Change #2: Branded Cannabis

Change #3: Branded Bongs

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, stoners were quite content to fashion a crude bong out of a toilet paper roll and a small piece of aluminum foil. That was then and this is now. Today we have a wider array of customized glass pipes than your grandpappy ever dreamed about and heady glass bongs that regularly sell for several thousand dollars each.

Many of those heady glass bongs are branded. But they're not the only ones. Manufacturers of standard bongs have also shown an eagerness to apply their brand to their products. An idea that likely would have seemed against the egalitarian, anti-establishment leanings of most stoners back in the day. But whether the elders agree or not branded bongs are here to stay and their number is only increasing with each passing year.

Change #4: The Online Head Shop

Thirty years ago, the internet consisted of a few lonely connections between research universities. At that time nearly every college town had its head shop, but they were under almost constant supervision by the po-lease to ensure they weren't serving as drug distribution centers.

Fast forward to present-day and the internet economy is now larger than that of every country on earth except China and the US. So it's no surprise that cannabis entrepreneurs would want to slice off a piece of that pie for themselves. In some cases, the owners of those brick-and-mortar head shops added an online component. In other cases, online head shops opened as stand-alone businesses, with no brick-and-mortar counterpart.

Today, the number of online head shops is estimated by some to be in the hundreds and by others to be in the thousands. But with laws regarding the sale of "drug paraphernalia" online still in a confused state and the ability to ship, say, a custom bong from an online wholesale smoke shop out of Denver to a customer in Saudi Arabia still very much forbidden, most online smoke shops tend to confine their business to the state where their business is registered.

So while positive change has occurred in the past 30 years, the questions around the online sales of cannabis consumption devices indicates that we still have some way to go.

Change #5: The Rise of Vapes and Dab Rigs

Dab rigs and vaporizers (also known as "vapes") have found a receptive audience, primarily comprised of younger stoners who never had the chance to get attached to more traditional methods of cannabis consumption. Dab rigs and vapes offer outstanding portability and discretion and provide a cleaner, less harsh experience than joints or bong hits.

Vapes first entered the market as a tool to help people quit smoking, and they have been wildly successful in that regard. But it wasn't long before cannabis entrepreneurs realized you could employ this technology to cop a serious buzz. And today vapes are big business.

With dab rigs a ceramic or quartz "nail" is heated up before a bit of cannabis concentrate is placed on it. Once on the heated nail the concentrate vaporizes and the person inhales the vapor through a mouthpiece. Dab rigs are often confused for bongs, but use a different method of extracting the THC from the bud.

Visit the Puffr Wholesale Head Shop

Now that you can legally do it, pay a visit to the Puffr online wholesale smoke shop and peruse our huge selection of heady glass, customized glass pipes, vapes, dab rigs and more! Qualifying customers can complete our wholesale application for reduced rates on wholesale orders of our entire inventory. You can also order hundreds of our top smoking devices and accessories through our website's online smoke shop, with free shipping on all retail orders of $50 or more.