State of the Weed — Arizona • Q3 2025

Market Snapshot

Another sacred medicine turned into another commodity by colonizers who locked us up for it, then legalized it without expunging records. Watching Scottsdale dispensaries charge $400 an ounce for medicine my grandmother grew in the desert. The state’s making millions in tax revenue while Native people still sit in cages for possession charges from 2019. Some tribal nations finally operating their own dispensaries on sovereign land – at least we control something. White-owned MSOs buying up licenses like they bought up our water rights. Same old theft, new product.

Strain Leaderboard

Staples

Strain	Why It Sticks
Desert Diesel	Adapted to this heat like we did – survives despite everything
OG Kush	The colonizer’s favorite – they love taking what works and claiming they discovered it
Blue Dream	Mild enough for snowbirds who think Taco Bell is spicy

Risers

Strain	Genetics	Flavor	THC	Notes
Sonoran Sunset	Local pheno	Earthy, pine, sage	24-28%	Actually bred here, not imported from California
Res Dog	Chem x Local Heirloom	Pepper, earth, gas	26-31%	Underground classic finally getting recognition
Sacred Breath	Unknown tribal genetics	Sweet cedar, musk	22-26%	They’ll never get the real genetics – we keep those

Terp Lanes Trending

Desert botanicals — Finally appreciating the terps that match our medicines: sage, pine, mesquite notes
Heavy indicas — Everyone needs to sleep through this heat and this reality
Fruit strains — Transplants want their weed to taste like their smoothies from LA

Price Bands (observational)

Value: $150-180/oz – Outdoor grown with our sun, best deal if you know where to look
Mid: $220-280/oz – Where the locals shop when the tribal dispensary’s too far
Top-shelf: $350-400/oz – Scottsdale prices for Paradise Valley people who stole that land too

City Taste Map

Phoenix: Corporate weed for corporate people – all brands, no soul, extracted everything
Tucson: Closer to the earth, they actually appreciate good flower down there
Flagstaff: College kids and ski bums wanting whatever’s cheapest before they gentrify more sacred sites

Forward Look

More Nations will open dispensaries on sovereign land – only way to escape state taxes and feed our communities
Water rights battles coming – can’t grow medicine without water they’re stealing for golf courses
Interstate commerce will flood us with California overflow while local minority growers get pushed out – colonization never stopped, just changed products

The plant’s medicine will outlive their corporations and their regulations. We were here before their laws, we’ll be here after. They can commodify the flower, but they’ll never own its spirit. Every seed that drops in the desert remembers who really knows this land.