Ellen Holland

San Francisco

Writer and Editor at Freelance

Cannabis magazine & book editor. High Times Magazine EIC alumna. Author of Weed: A Connoisseur’s Guide to Cannabis & Weed: Smoke It, Eat It, Grow It, Love It.

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Articles

Martin Olive survives shooting, brings community together | GreenState

Feb 3, 2025 | greenstate.com | Ellen Holland |Cara Wietstock |Rachelle Gordon

Before Martin Olive was shot at the front of his San Francisco storefront, he was vocal about the dire need for assistance to keep the California cannabis industry afloat. A beloved figure in the San Francisco cannabis community who ran the city’s oldest continually operating dispensary, the Vapor Room, Olive was shot seven times in an unprovoked attack just before 5 p.m. on January 27. Olive suffered significant injuries but, astoundingly, survived.
Dispensary survives shooting, brings community together

Feb 3, 2025 | newsbudz.com | Ellen Holland

NewsBudz is a marijuana and medical cannabis news app. The site delivers a daily feed of the latest cannabis news. We aggregate over 30 of the web's best sources for news about marijuana, hemp and legalization to keep you informed. Stay on top of the latest news headlines, trends and developments worldwide around recreational and medical marijuana. Sit back and relax, while you read learn and share. On the web or your mobile device, NewsBudz is your cannabis news stream.
The Fellowship of the Flower

Jun 17, 2024 | hightimes.com | Ellen Holland

Warm and authentic Michael Koehn of the Brownie Mary Democratic Club of San Francisco gives the best hugs. Koehn and his partner David Goldman are longtime medical marijuana activists and always wear matching baseball caps with pot leaves on them. At a press conference in San Francisco announcing the upcoming arrival of SF Hash Week, Goldman tells me that wearing the hats has enabled them to meet like-minded people all over the world.
Sunset Connect Buys the Ticket, Takes the Ride

May 25, 2024 | hightimes.com | Ellen Holland

With a tagline featuring a founding year “Since before we could tell,” Sunset Connect alludes to the fluctuating legal status of the world’s most favored flower. When I visit the manufacturing space in San Francisco—a former lambskin condom factory and, later, a photography studio—the bright white walls are a welcome break from the dark gray day outside.
Ellen’s Bud Break: The Purple & Blue Pigments of Pot

May 9, 2024 | hightimes.com | Ellen Holland

Inside the chemical compound factories present within the trichomes of cannabis flowers, many elements contribute to the overall effects we feel when we smoke weed. One of those lesser-known elements is anthocyanins, a blue, red, or purple pigment found in many plants. Anthocyanins are within a class of cannabis compounds called flavonoids, which join in with terpenes to give cannabis its flavors and aromas.
Turn Up the Terpenes With Living Soil

Apr 14, 2024 | hightimes.com | Ellen Holland

Opening up jars of Moon Valley Cannabis is almost sickening. The aroma coming off of these buds is so strong it’s hard to take them in all at once. I’m gagging on pure terpenes after trying to sniff a few cultivars in the Moon Valley line-up: Modified Grape, Unicorn Runtz, Watermelon Zonkers, and their first in-house breeding creation, Neon Panther; they all smell incredibly intense.
Weed Doesn’t Smoke the Same Without Others

Apr 5, 2024 | hightimes.com | Ellen Holland

I don’t smoke weed all day, every day, but there was a time that I did. When I got my first job on the cannabis beat more than a decade ago, I elevated my endocannabinoid system all the time simply because I could smoke, dab, and eat weed all the time. It was a novelty to be high with my co-workers, my boss, people I was interviewing for an article.
The Grand History of Cannabis

Apr 1, 2024 | hightimes.com | Ellen Holland

In 2023, an artist and his patron set out on a seemingly impossible task: illustrate the vast history of cannabis in a single art piece. Inspired by the Tapisserie de Bayeux—an ancient chronological tapestry depicting a two-year invasion of England by the Normans—Stefan van Swieten commissioned his friend Mossy Giant to create a piece for his cannabis social club in Barcelona, Spain.
Estate Grown | High Times

Mar 17, 2024 | hightimes.com | Ellen Holland

About two and a half hours north of San Francisco lies a lesser-known wine region within a small valley that—with walk-in availability, bottles of pinot noir priced around $40, farm-fresh cheeses, fine dining, apple orchards, vineyards, and redwood groves—feels unpretentious, but appropriately vacation fancy. Driving there on the first weekend of November 2023, the grapevine leaves are turning rasta colors—red, green, and gold—as the valley unfolds, driving west towards the Pacific Ocean.
Ellen’s Bud Break: Flowers for Dark Days

Mar 4, 2024 | hightimes.com | Ellen Holland

We’re in the midst of winter 2024, and these are dark days in many ways. I want these flowers to reach the world on the magnitude and scale of an upbeat Ed Sheeran song, to be so full of pop that dance is irresistible. Granny Candy Bred by Humboldt Seed CompanyI first encountered Granny Candy on the first leg of the epic multi-day 2023 pheno hunt hosted by Humboldt Seed Company (HSC).