Old breeders always said legalization will kill the culture and industry as we know it.
It was only profitable because of the inherent risk. We all watched it become a commodity and the industrial race to the bottom.
One could say we never raced to the bottom, we just watched a over regulated and artificially inflated market stabilize to where it always should have been.
At the end of the day, its a robust annual weed that’s extremely easy to cultivate offering little IP that can be protected. Its why the pharmaceutical industry has little interest and never pushed for regulation/legalization.
Consumer culture has also drastically changed. Stoner comedy movies like Half baked or Cheech and Chong aren’t really made anymore. It was taboo, interesting and embodied a counter culture in the 60’s that continued for decades and eventually fell flat in the last decade.
Kids today don’t have that same kind of adoration or desire. Lots of Gen Z went fairly straight edge and think all drugs and alcohol are stupid. I do however agree on the alcohol perspective.