Laganja Estranja’s first cannabis line drops May 16 at SWAY Dispensary in Chicago. The launch comes a decade after her first attempt to break into the industry, in partnership with Illinois’ first queer and Black-owned recreational dispensary, cultivated by two-time Cannabis Cup winner nuEra Cannabis. The whole package lands just in time for Pride Month.
Laganja Estranja has been trying to launch a cannabis brand for ten years. This is the one that finally landed.
The drag artist, choreographer and longtime cannabis advocate is releasing her first official cannabis line on May 16, 2026, in partnership with Chicago’s SWAY Dispensary. The line is called Laganja: Her Bold Sativa Blend, available in two SKUs: 3.5-gram whole flower eighths and 3.5-gram pre-roll 5-packs. Cultivated by nuEra Cannabis, the brand drops first at SWAY on May 16, then expands statewide to all nuEra dispensaries and select Illinois retailers on June 1, kicking off Pride Month.
The choice of partner is the story underneath the story.
Why SWAY
SWAY Dispensary opened in April 2024 as Illinois’ first queer and Black-owned recreational cannabis dispensary, located in Chicago’s Northalsted neighborhood. It was co-founded by Edie Moore, Art Johnston and Pepe Peña under the state’s social equity licensing program. A second SWAY location is in development for South Shore.
For Laganja, partnering with SWAY made the decade of failed attempts make sense in retrospect. The deal isn’t with a multi-state operator using her as a marketing asset. It’s with the dispensary that mirrors her own positioning in the industry.
“After a decade of trying and more failed attempts than I’d like to admit, I’m finally launching my own seed-to-flower cannabis brand. As a trans woman, it’s empowering to do this with SWAY, a queer and Black-owned dispensary in a city that has fought so hard for our community, a space where you come as you are, or as you’ve always wanted to be.”
Laganja Estranja
Edie Moore, SWAY’s co-founder, framed the development process around translating Laganja’s vision into product specs.
“She knew the experience she wanted to create: bright, citrus-forward, uplifting, something that sparks creativity and feels good in your body. Our role was to translate that into a terpene profile and a product that actually delivers. We partnered with nuEra Cannabis to source and cultivate the strains she selected, and built the blend from there. This is her vision, executed with intention, and it shows up in both the flower and the brand.”
Edie Moore, co-founder, SWAY Dispensary
What’s in the blend
The product is described as a “strain salad,” meaning multiple sativa cultivars selected by Laganja and blended into a single flavor and effect profile rather than a single-strain release. The team isn’t naming the genetics in the public materials. The terpene direction is bright, citrus-forward and uplifting, with a flavor that the brand describes as “strawberry candy meets fresh-squeezed citrus.”
The launch, by the numbers
May 16
SWAY exclusive launch in Chicago
June 1
Statewide expansion across nuEra and select retailers
$45-50
Whole flower 3.5g eighths (pre-tax)
$50-55
Pre-roll 5-pack 3.5g (pre-tax)
Beyond the flower
The Laganja x SWAY launch extends beyond the cannabis itself. A limited run of branded merchandise drops at SWAY on May 16, including rolling trays, tote bags and enamel pins. A second wave of accessories is scheduled for later in the summer, including lighters with holders and ashtrays.
Two launch events anchor the rollout. On May 15 from 7:00 to 9:30 PM, Laganja hosts a “soft launch” at Sidetrack (3349 N Halsted St, Chicago), centered on a RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars viewing party followed by a red carpet meet and greet. On May 16 from 4:20 to 7:00 PM, the official launch happens outside SWAY (3340 N Halsted St, directly across the street). A green carpet, a meet and greet with Laganja and her dog Lil Dabbers, and a Weed Bus parked out front.
Why this launch matters
Laganja has been a visible trans cannabis advocate for over a decade. She broke through on Season 6 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, has performed in 14 countries across five continents, and has shared stages with Madonna, Sabrina Carpenter, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera and Miley Cyrus. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance and choreography from CalArts and was a U.S. Presidential Scholar in The Arts before her drag career took off.
The cannabis advocacy has run alongside all of it. Multiple attempts to translate that platform into a brand of her own kept stalling out, for reasons that mirror the broader story of the industry: capital flowing toward MSOs, social equity licensing held up in court, queer and trans operators consistently sidelined from operator deals. Pride collabs with cannabis brands tend to last one June and disappear by July. Rainbow packaging, limited drops, no commitment to the operators or communities the marketing borrows from.
The SWAY partnership is structurally different. SWAY is the operator. nuEra is the cultivator. Laganja is the brand. All three pieces stay in Illinois, all three pieces remain attached to communities the cannabis industry has historically extracted from rather than partnered with. The launch is a Pride Month drop, but the architecture suggests something built to outlast it. The flower expands statewide on June 1 and stays on shelves after the month ends. The merch capsule extends into late summer. The infrastructure is already pointing past July.
