I got hired at Vice when I was still a student, actually. I made next to no money, all the exploitative shit. But I was young and my rent was $700 and I had two or three roommates, so it was the time I could afford to do that. And I learned so much. I was doing a bunch of stories about cannabis and policy reform. I think this was around 2015 when Stop and Frisk ended and minor decriminalization measures were put into place by de Blasio. It was also, in my opinion, when New York’s underground legacy market almost got more formalized in certain ways.
When I first moved to New York, you were buying the glass cubes and plastic bags, and then all of a sudden everyone had Pelican cases and were using Wickr to message things. It felt like a moment of change. Other places like Colorado and Washington had legalized and California was on the precipice of legalization. I found it a really interesting time, especially to be talking to dealers who were running the scene in New York.
Many of my friends would sell weed to support whatever creative thing they were doing, so I had a lot of dealers in my Rolodex who were personal friends. They had the craziest stories. The ones I was most interested in were like, how do you move a pack from California to South Williamsburg and what happens when UPS takes your package? Things like that. I’ve always said my beats are arts and culture, so to speak, but more so fringe arts and culture, and fringe businesses in general. And I feel like, at the time, cannabis culture in New York spoke to all those things. I’ve interviewed dozens and dozens and dozens of dealers over the years.
With Cash Only, I wanted to interview people about their relationship with cannabis who aren’t necessarily industry people. Everyone from Chloe Cherry to Odd Future to Parquet Courts. Interviews that have some sort of through-line, but could easily veer off and have nothing to do with weed at the same time. On top of that, I like talking with sober people, or people who don't like weed. I appreciate people with convictions in general. I’m not necessarily someone who believes everyone should smoke. I do not think that “you just haven’t found the right strain yet, bro.” I’m not gonna try and proselytize or change their mind.