If you thought trading cards were a hobby of the past, prepare for a shock. Today, Australians are still collecting trading cards en masse, with an entire community cropping up around the cards. Unsurprisingly, cannabis-themed trading cards are getting increasingly popular.
Cannabis trading cards date back to the early ’90s but saw a resurgence in popularity around 2017. That year, the legalisation of recreational cannabis in Canada inspired the release of Happy Gnome cards. This set of 420 cards featured mythical creatures and cannabis strains, going on to win mainstream media attention. A California dispensary then released their own set of cannabis trading cards.
Typically, cannabis trading cards feature a cannabis strain and share details about it, including yield, growth difficulty, ideal growing conditions and THC/ CBD content.
There’s even a game played with cannabis trading cards – the Marijuana Trading Card Game. In the game, players pit their cards against each other to outgrow their opponents without being caught. The Marijuana Trading Cards were recently released in Australia, with one retailer describing cannabis trading cards as an:
Exquisite, classy, educational and great gift idea.
However, not all cannabis cards are easy to come by. The most coveted cannabis trading card set is the Inline Hemp Cards Series II. Originally released in 1996, the cards tell a story about cannabis prohibition, including events like Operation Green Merchant and the Byron Stamate Tragedy. Today, sets of these cards retail for around $150, with very few people globally holding full collections.
While cannabis trading cards are still relatively rare, it’s clear that the industry is about to bloom.
