Editors Letter: The Green Queen Mission

THE REVOLUTION IS GREEN 💚

Hey friends,

May here. Alongside our founder Ria, I’m delighted to reintroduce Green Queen.

WE’RE. FINALLY. BACK!

If you’re unfamiliar with our previous work, Green Queen is a media platform with a mission.

As big advocates for decriminalisation, we investigate and hold regulated markets to account, ensuring they serve people and the planet, not just profit.

We cover the full spectrum of cannabis; its environmental promise and its medical power, telling the stories of the people behind the plant, from patients and growers to scientists and CEOs.

 In 2022, I wrote an introductory Editor’s letter as a preface to our print magazine. While the publication ultimately wasn’t to be, for two main reasons I wanted to share an extract.

Almost four years later, and despite the tireless efforts of advocates, activists, and industry voices, much of what I wrote back then still holds true.

Secondly, alongside our new reporting in this newsletter format, we’ll be sharing snippets of some of our older content. So much of it was beautifully designed and written by our wonderful team and is yet to see the light of day. So, here feels a good place to start. 💚

Uncovering the realities of this emerging global industry is fascinating, inspiring and frustrating, often in roughly equal measure. 

The industry operates around stark contradictions, within legal grey areas and with missing pieces. It’s young, exciting and full of opportunity.

But it remains demonstrably fragile; at risk of being irreversibly marred by doublespeak, unsubstantiated claims and narratives plagued by reductive dichotomies: legal or illegal, good or bad, criminal or government-mandated, hemp or cannabis, CBD or THC.

It’s also a battlefield — perhaps the final frontier of the failed War on Drugs. We too face issues that behest almost every commercial sector on this planet.

But with cannabis, the issues are magnified, scarred by decades of stigma, misinformation and prohibition politics. 

Big business makes (and loses) billions selling this plant, while many remain incarcerated for the same act. Some get entrepreneurial awards from the British Royal family, others get time in Her Majesty’s prisons.

Medical cannabis is legal in the UK, but remains costly, out of reach for many, and totally inaccessible on the NHS. Still, the most vulnerable in our society suffer, while corporations cash in. 

Handing more control to central governments, or to institutions which place profit before people, cannot be the answer. 

Before regulation must come decriminalisation and equity.

Those who operate legally and successfully within the sector often reject this narrative. But dressing this plant in a suit and tie cannot be the sole solution. 

It brings us back to what Netflix presenter and cannabis activist Ngaio Bealum told our founder, Ria, in their interview.

While we can’t eradicate the reality of corporate cannabis (nor should we tar every large organisation with the same brush), we can carefully choose who we advocate for and uplift.

From the patients battling for their human rights, to the families fighting to access lifesaving medicine for their children, to the hemp farmers at the forefront of environmental solutions, to the musicians and artists breaking down barriers while shaping the culture and creating joy each day; power to you all.

We see you, hear you, and are here to uplift and celebrate you.

We want to make one thing clear… There’s been progress.

Since we last published, the medical industry in the UK has expanded dramatically, and we no longer rely solely on imports. More people than ever are rejecting stigma in persuit of knowledge. But our planet is still on fire and so many people are still in pain. We know cannabis can genuinely help change all of that.

While the struggle is uphill, we think that makes it doubly important to document the people who, against the odds, continue the climb.

Watch this space.

With love, Ria and May (team Green Queen) 💚