In my earlier pieces in this series, I often felt I was making bold claims without enough evidence. Part of that was hesitation to get personal and cite specific examples. The other part was that I didn’t yet have the framework. Over the past few weeks I’ve built that framework. I researched, modeled data, and turned it into a 50-page white paper — the 2025 Cannabis Media Transparency & Advertising Report. It’s the first quantitative analysis to connect advertising economics with narrative bias in cannabis media — putting numbers behind what so many have felt intuitively.  I’m proud of this work, though it was disheartening to grasp the full scale of the disinformation-for-profit economy surrounding cannabis. Cannabis disinformation isn’t accidental — it’s structural. Fear-based messaging operates inside the industry itself, driving profit and consolidation while limiting transparency. And when transparency is limited, the gatekeepers have no incentive to change. And that’s why I first published on the blog “Medium.” Writing a post on  Medium became my way of calling for accountability. Now, armed with data, I’m ready to close out this series on cannabis disinformation. What began as a search for answers is now a public record supported by verifiable evidence. – Madicyn Marinaro

How Restriction Becomes Inequality

Cannabis remains one of the most censored topics in modern media. Even in legal states, creators and brands are routinely demonetized or deplatformed, while mainstream outlets still ban or restrict cannabis content altogether.

This contradiction — legal to sell, restricted to speak — has created a distorted, high-cost media economy. With so few compliant channels available, publishers now monetize scarcity instead of scale, charging premium prices for minimal reach.

In cannabis, where overhead costs are extreme — from licensing and regulatory hurdles to the inability to take on debt, bank freely, or even write off marketing as a business expense — expensive and often ineffective advertising can swallow an unreasonably large share of a brand’s budget. Especially when prices are already inflated. Ultimately, this creates an industry where large, well-funded operators can advertise more, be seen more, and shape the narrative far more than their small-business peers.

The Incentive Behind Fear

There’s another layer to this. Not only do most cannabis publishers charge two to five times more than traditional outlets, they’re also heavily reliant on advertising as income. Where mainstream media have multiple revenue streams — subscriptions, ad inventory, public funding — cannabis media operate with finite inventory, limited subscriber income, and virtually no public support. That dependence makes them overly reliant on their advertisers. With that kind of reliance coupled with finite advertising space, standard digital advertising becomes unsustainable. After the exorbitant email campaigns and insular, high-priced events, what’s left to sell is influence itself. Thought leadership, sponsored posts, and webinars become the de facto profit model. Because these prices are unrealistic for most small and legacy businesses, the most well-funded cannabis companies naturally rise as “industry leaders” by default.

Historically, the companies spending the most on cannabis advertising were the MSOs — the multi-state operators that helped shape legalization in their favor by pushing for strict regulations. Those rules, as I showed in my previous article, benefited a few industries already fluent in compliance — like tobacco and alcohol — while marginalizing almost everyone else. Now that MSOs have scaled back ad spending, a new class of players has stepped in: ancillary compliance vendors — track-and-trace systems, seed-to-sale platforms, and regulatory consultants. These companies have become cannabis media’s new bread and butter.

Scarcity for Profit

This is where my data meets this series — where everything I’ve written about finally takes measurable form. MSOs once used an opaque and expensive media ecosystem to position themselves — and their white-label brands — as industry thought leaders. Today, ancillary compliance vendors are doing the same. Like the MSOs before them, these vendors have every reason to promote pro-regulation, fear-based messaging. When cannabis is framed as “dangerous,” compliance stays profitable. And because publishers depend so heavily on their advertising dollars, that narrative becomes industry dogma by default. Again, most small and legacy brands can’t afford the high rates or premium sponsorship packages. The result is predictable: the voices with money — and the message that regulation equals safety — become the loudest in the room. Their opinions are amplified as if they represent consensus, when in reality, they simply represent access.

On top of this, pro-cannabis health claims are overwhelmingly policed. If you suggest that CBD could help someone with cancer, be prepared to face levies from the FDA. But if you claim that cannabis is dangerous — say, that it causes uncontrollable vomiting (CHS) — that’s perfectly acceptable. In fact, it’s often rewarded, because fear drives clicks and engagement. And in a scarcity economy — where ad space is finite — cannabis media rely on those metrics: high click-throughs, open rates, and time on page to justify their inflated pricing. Traditional media monetize reach; cannabis media monetize reaction.

And fear is the easiest reaction to sell. The more alarming the headline, the higher the engagement. The higher the engagement, the stronger the justification for inflated ad prices. What you have here is a system feeding on itself. Regulation produces scarcity. Scarcity drives up costs. Fear-based content sustains attention, which sustains pricing. Only well-funded operators can absorb those costs, and they, in turn, promote the very fear-driven, pro-regulation messaging that keeps the cycle alive.

It’s become a pay-to-play system of scarcity for profit.

The Market Manipulation

Once the story of an entire industry is concentrated in a handful of outlets, the narrative itself becomes a market instrument. It’s no longer just about public perception or the economics of cannabis media. It’s about controlling the flow of information that moves capital.

When visibility is limited, whoever controls the story controls the valuation. It’s how headlines can quietly shift millions of dollars. A single “health scare,” a sudden “regulatory threat,” or a puff piece about “responsible operators” can all move stock prices — up or down — in predictable ways.

And this isn’t an abstract theory. It’s exactly what the SEC went after short sellers for doing: spreading disinformation to manipulate cannabis stocks. The centralization of the market made it easy.

It’s all part of the same pattern — a closed ecosystem where fear and scarcity work together to create profit. Not just in media, but in markets. Fear drives engagement. Engagement drives value. And when both are managed by the same small circle — the ones writing the stories and trading on their impact — fear stops being content. It becomes capital.

Back to Our Roots

Cannabis is a medicinal plant, revered throughout history for its healing abilities. We know it was never criminalized because of public-health concerns. It was criminalized through fear and corporate interest. Legalization is only happening now because the California medical market proved what patients already knew — it saves lives.

Activists and advocates testified to this in court, they rallied in the streets, and risked everything for humanity’s right to heal with a plant. They fought because, like me, they witnessed its power firsthand.

And now we have an industry built on that history — one profiting by undermining the very work that made it possible. The people in charge are labeling cannabis as dangerous, promoting restrictions, and lobbying for more control. Because the system of scarcity and fear that once criminalized the plant now sustains their profit.

Still, I’m hopeful. The response to this series has reminded me that truth attracts allies. So many people see what’s happening and want to rebuild an industry that is equitable and honest. I’ve always loved cannabis for the innovation of its community. Necessity has always been the mother of invention here, and I’ve watched pioneers create opportunity when there should have been none.

Many of us thought legalization was the finish line — that the hard work was done. It wasn’t. The real work is happening now. Advocacy is needed more than ever.

And I’m inspired. Inspired by the people dusting themselves off and stepping back into the fight, by the projects pushing past stagnancy and fear, by a collective demanding transparency again.

Words matter. They change narratives, and narratives change everything. I’ve seen it. I’ve documented it. And I’m watching as the cannabis community creates a new narrative outside of corporate control.

Thank you so much for coming on this journey with me. This chapter might be closing, but the story isn’t over. Next up: the tale of how the cannabis industry’s biggest con man fooled everyone — except me — and ended up on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.

Stay tuned! 🌿

*Much of what I discuss here comes directly from my 50-page 2025 Cannabis Media Transparency & Advertising Report — research I’ve already shared with media, investors, and advocacy groups, and which will be available publicly online soon. You can read the complete article on MEDIUM. Click HERE.