Fellow Michigander, 

It’s been a hell of a year to cover cannabis in Michigan. The industry kept evolving faster than anyone could keep up, prices kept doing backflips, and the culture kept finding new ways to surprise me. But the best part of my job, by far, was meeting the people behind the plant. 

So for this year-end special edition, I’m skipping the usual bells and whistles and going straight to the good stuff with seven of my favorite stories of 2025—and why they stuck with me.

If you read even one of these articles from the past year: thank you for making the work worth doing. And if you’ve been riding with The MichiGanja Report week after week: I see you, I appreciate you, and I hope you smoked something good while you read them. Here’s to more road trips, more characters, more weird strains, and even more great stories like these in 2026.

Voyage Bloom is the kind of cultivation operation that doesn’t scream for attention. It just quietly sweeps statewide cannabis competitions and lets the flower do the talking. I loved putting together this story because it felt like getting a peek behind the curtain of real craft cannabis with obsessive phenohunts, hand-trimmed pride, and the whole “we do it ourselves” attitude.

I won’t forget how personal it felt listening to Brandon Coffield talk about cannabis as an alternative to the prescriptions he was put on as a teenager and how he managed to build something legit out of that experience. All in all, this story wasn’t just about a growing operation; it was a reminder that Michigan’s best weed stories still start with regular people taking a leap.

Most dispensaries are like: buy weed, leave, good luck out there. Rolling Embers is more like: buy weed, then come hang out in the backyard like you’re at your cousin’s cookout—except the menu happens to include edibles with 1,000 mg of THC and there’s a weekly bingo night. 

This story was a pure joy to report because it felt like stepping into the version of Michigan cannabis that we all thought legalization would actually bring: a place rooted in community and  culture where you actually want to hang out. I also loved how unapologetically not corporate this place felt. It was just good people, good cannabis, and a big outdoor space that makes you want to stay awhile.

Some interviews stick with me because the subject is charismatic. Others stick because the person clearly cares so much it’s almost intimidating. The Wojo Co. crew gave me one of my favorite windows into what obsession looks like when it’s pointed in the right direction. 

The Hive wasn’t just a cool setting for this story. It was a whole philosophy: seed-to-shelf control, no shortcuts, and a firm standard of “if I wouldn’t smoke it, it doesn’t leave the building.”

For this story, I walked in expecting a fun profile about a popular edible brand and walked out with my jaw on the floor thinking: this guy is Michigan’s Willy Wonka and also kind of a legend.

Hey! Captain is peak Michigan cannabis energy—weird, handmade, stubborn, and proud of it. 

The fact that it employs someone to unwrap individual Starburst candies by hand is the kind of madness I’ll always respect. But what really made this story stand out was Captain Kirk’s backstory: the MS diagnosis, the hospital bed moments, and the refusal to sit out the High Times Cup even when his body was failing him. This feature story was funny and rebellious on the surface, but underneath, it was all about grit and creative persistence.

Glacier Cannabis is proof that you don’t need a massive industrial facility to grow stupid-good weed. But you do need a proper system and people who actually give a damn.

This story stuck with me because it captured a very specific kind of Michigan magic: an old horse barn, a lucky license window, and a small team that decided to build something clean and consistent without turning it into a faceless mega-grow. Plus, I love the mission. This team is all about getting top-shelf cannabis to the people without pricing them out of the experience. 

Also: Their Super Boof is hands-down my favorite strain of 2025. 

This story forced me to slow down and listen.

Kiss My Grass, a short documentary co-directed by Detroit native Mary Pryor, is all about power and inequity in an industry that’s raking in profits while leaving Black women behind.

I appreciated reporting on this film because it centered Black women in their own words, without packaging their pain, flattening their experiences, or turning inequity into a talking point. It felt like a necessary correction to the way cannabis stories are too often told—and it reminded me why real cannabis journalism can’t only be about product drops and dispensary openings.

By the time Waze told me I’d arrived at American Grown Cannabis, I was convinced it was lying. No cars, no cell service; just dirt roads, empty fields, and deer. Then, the woods opened up and there it was: a bright red barn with a big blue door and a sign that said “NOW OPEN.”

This story stuck with me because it felt like the total opposite of where most cannabis coverage tends to go. No glass storefronts, no corporate polish—just a family turning their Up North deer camp into a working grow and dispensary, built by hand, and funded entirely on their own terms.

Do you or your company want to support The MichiGanja Report’s mission and showcase your products or services to an engaged audience of more than 15,000 cannabis enthusiasts at the same time? Contact advertise@couriernewsroom.com for more information.

Stay safe out there ‘Ganders. Recreational cannabis is only for use by individuals 21 years of age or older. Keep out of reach of children. It is illegal to drive a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana. Contact the National Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222.