David Downs - Journalist

I've been on the beat for nine years. Which means I've outlived some of my favorite sources. And friends. Not cool. [sigh] This shrine is on Telegraph Ave. near 19th St. BART and is part of a photo retrospective of cannabis freedom fighters called "Stories from the Underground". Many living, some not to much ...

Office Hours was a hoot at Harvest Monday and will be back next month.Last night I moderated a Cannabis+Design panel featuring the guy who created the Apple Stores.Today, we dig into the nitty gritty of medical marijuana cards in 2018.

It's arguably one of the best cannabis retail locations in the country, just blocks from the UC Berkeley campus. ... Full story in the East Bay Express 'Amoeba Records Opens Its New Berkeley Pot Shop, Hi Fidelity'

Tokers fiddled while the industry burned. ... If December's Emerald Cup was the party the industry threw before the regulatory asteroid hit, then this year's 4/20 was the party the industry threw despite nuclear winter. Looking out across the dingy, packed showroom at the Oakland weed bazaar — where seemingly everyone was tatted, pierced, hooded, braided, bearded, and/or stoned — it looked like a scene from The Hunger Games. — via East Bay Express

Yesterday I experimented with some live reporting, shooting two videos for SFGate.com that went into a daily dispatch about a major happening on the grassroots holiday.The day before we published a Vox Populi type piece on the meaning of 4/20.I'll have a wrap-up on 4/20 for the East Bay Express in print Wednesday.
I also made in-person or phone appearances on KTVU, KGO, KQED, and KCBS radio talking 4/20 Thursday and Friday. That last interview was at 6:30 p.m. from a Thai restaurant I was eating at after reporting ten hours straight. 
It's always surreal to be sitting in a booth, drinking a Singha, on the phone with the radio anchor — knowing your voice is being blasted out across the region ...   [Art via the High Art contest, which announced its annual winners yesterday.]

First: The awards. The Chronicle took a Scripps Howard award for Breaking News for its ‘Wine Country Fires’, to which GreenStatecontributedseveral stories.

Also, GreenState reporter Spencer Silva is a finalist for a Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence award for In-Depth Reporting (Large) and Interactive. Winners will be announced and finalists honored at this year's Region 11 Spring Conference April 27-28, 2018 in Universal City, California.

Next up: I’m wrapping things up with GreenState this week and handing the baton to The Chronicle. In the last 18 months, we accomplished our goals of creating a future-forward cannabis media brand. I'll miss working next to so many talented people in one room. But it’s time to move on to new challenges.

Readers can follow my work by subscribing to my email list at www.davidrdowns.com, and/or following meTwitter and Facebook.

Publishers can reach me for assignments and pitches at david.downs@gmail.com.

Advertisers can book…

Howdy — long time, no talk. Sorry, I've been crazy busy.

See, since my last post, we launched a cannabis media brand for the San Francisco Chronicle - GreenState. We have new stories there every day, plus a hit weekly newsletter — the Field Guide. Sign up for that. You can also follow GreenState on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.


I'm still doing the podcast, The Hash. Available on iTunes.


Also: I released a new book, Marijuana Harvest, by Ed Rosenthal and David Downs.



Along the way, I've been featured by The New York Times and the Columbia Journalism Review.


Plus there's been regular radio, TV and event appearances.

And that's not even getting into my personal life — fatherhood is wild.


Sorry again for the lag in communication. I'll try to be better.

You can always catch daily updates from me over on Twitter. We got loads of great things cooking.