Award-winning journalist and best-selling author David Downs is based in San Francisco, CA. He's the former Senior Editor of Leafly, and the first Cannabis Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. Downs is the co-author of "Marijuana Harvest" by Ed Rosenthal. He is a 2025 Mendo Cup Judge, and 2025 California Leaf Bowl judge. Downs is the creator of SF Space Walk, SF Hash Week, and the Terpnami seed show. He writes the weekly genetics newsletter "Fire Follower."
Terp Sherpa David Downs rounds up ten strains blazing up the charts in legal states for the start of fall, from the Zalympix-sweeping Giraffe P to a $20,000 Peach Tree clone, plus Maine Trees’ BBL2, Fig Farms’ Hijinx and a Michigan Fruit Loops on a four-win tear.
Mushroom potency has exploded, with some strains testing up to 80 times stronger than others. Oakland’s Church of Ambrosia, the world’s biggest mushroom church, partnered with a community lab to test hundreds of strains and built an open-source dosage calculator. The goal: fewer “Naked Ninja” emergencies and a end to the old “a gram is a gram” myth.
David Downs launches Terp Sherpa, his new monthly column, with the ten hottest flowers to hunt down across legal states this June. From Lobster OG to Toad Venom, here’s what’s blazing up the charts.
A just-for-fun poll yielded a solid lineup of greatness including Bodhi, CSI Humboldt, Capulator, and Archive Seed Bank.
From hemp recriminalization to Germany’s cannabis boom, explore 2025’s biggest cannabis moments — including New York’s $1B milestone, Zangbanger’s rise, and the shift away from alcohol.
The move to Schedule III acknowledges medical use, but leaves federal control, consolidation fears, and unfinished justice intact.
The electrostatic path to 6-star full-melt is going mainstream.
More than 30 breeders converge in San Francisco for a two-day seed show previewing the terp profiles and genetics that will shape 2026.
Journalist/author David Downs spends a month smoking through Siam—finding more freedom under re-prohibition than in legal US states.
Terp Sherpa David Downs rounds up ten strains blazing up the charts in legal states for the start of fall, from the Zalympix-sweeping Giraffe P to a $20,000 Peach Tree clone, plus Maine Trees’ BBL2, Fig Farms’ Hijinx and a Michigan Fruit Loops on a four-win tear.
Mushroom potency has exploded, with some strains testing up to 80 times stronger than others. Oakland’s Church of Ambrosia, the world’s biggest mushroom church, partnered with a community lab to test hundreds of strains and built an open-source dosage calculator. The goal: fewer “Naked Ninja” emergencies and a end to the old “a gram is a gram” myth.
David Downs launches Terp Sherpa, his new monthly column, with the ten hottest flowers to hunt down across legal states this June. From Lobster OG to Toad Venom, here’s what’s blazing up the charts.
A just-for-fun poll yielded a solid lineup of greatness including Bodhi, CSI Humboldt, Capulator, and Archive Seed Bank.
From hemp recriminalization to Germany’s cannabis boom, explore 2025’s biggest cannabis moments — including New York’s $1B milestone, Zangbanger’s rise, and the shift away from alcohol.
The move to Schedule III acknowledges medical use, but leaves federal control, consolidation fears, and unfinished justice intact.
The electrostatic path to 6-star full-melt is going mainstream.
More than 30 breeders converge in San Francisco for a two-day seed show previewing the terp profiles and genetics that will shape 2026.
Journalist/author David Downs spends a month smoking through Siam—finding more freedom under re-prohibition than in legal US states.
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