While COVID was still grabbing headlines in 2021, the weed industry was flourishing. More states —like Arizona— opened weed stores. Other states like—like Montana, New Jersey, and New York— inched closer and closer to opening weed businesses to consumers. And all kinds of new products, like delta-8 and delta-10, came onto the market.  

At the end of 2021, 18 states have recreational cannabis and 37 have medical cannabis. The legalization dominoes are continuing to fall, but prohibitionists still have sway in several states.

Legalization news continues to capture our readers’ interest, as well as the interest of our entire nation, and Leafly’s Editorial team was there to cover weed politics and culture’s biggest moments. From legalization to weed trends, strains, current events, and more, check out our top stories of 2021.

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2021 was the year of the novel cannabinoids

Delta-8 stole the show in 2021, but did you hear about delta-10 and THC-O? Products with these novel cannabinoids flooded the market in 2021 because their gray legality makes them more accessible to consumers in states where other types of cannabis are against the law.

The popularity of novel cannabinoids was a huge trend, and we published explainer pieces on several that came onto the scene. We even tried some out. Anything for our readers.

Learn more about novel cannabinoids before the Feds and individual states ban them.

Current events in the weed world

Our News team kept busy in 2021 covering cannabis legalization and all the harebrained ideas and wild trends happening in weed.

Whose idea was it to create the weed version of cocaine? Why are blunt wraps getting outlawed? And sadly, it’s only a matter of time before Amazon starts selling weed.

We also covered: which states will legalize next, an analysis of US Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer’s Federal weed bill, and Republicans start to get in the weed game. 

What strains are people smoking in 2021?

Our readers love hearing about strains and we love trying them! 

We predicted what seeds and strains we all were likely to see more of at the beginning of the year, covered actor Seth Rogan’s new weed brand, and if you haven’t read it yet, check out our monthly strain series on the hottest in Cali pot, Leafly Buzz.

We also updated our 100 best strains list to reflect current tastes and trends. If you’re yearning for sunny days by the pool, look back at our Strains of summer. Or check out what Leafly staff was smoking in 2021.

Related

The Leafly Strain of the Year 2021 is Dosidos!

All the best ways to get high

We all love getting high, but everyone experiences it differently. This year, some of our top pieces were informational articles on the nature of getting high, like different types of highs and the best strains for them highs, and how long a weed high lasts.

We also covered: why weed gummies are so popular, and see what happens when one of our writers took 10 times more THC than planned. 

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Those were our heavy-hitters for the year, reflecting the latest in legalization and trends, but by no means all of what we published.

Check out Leafly News and Learn for more current events and information on cannabis, and we’ll see you in 2022!

Have a favorite Leafly story from 2021 that wasn’t listed? Post it in the comments or tweet us about it @Leafly!