CALIFORNIA—As millennials pour into dispensaries across California, budtenders are noticing a peculiar trend: requests for strains to help ease anxiety flashbacks brought on by Oregon Trail. The iconic 90s computer game, infamous for forcing players to confront relentless bouts of dysentery, broken wagon wheels, and the constant threat of “losing supplies while fording the river,” has evidently left an entire generation scarred and in need of some herbal relief.

“It’s always the same story,” says Emma, a budtender in Los Angeles. “A millennial comes in, asks if we have anything to ‘ease the dread of dying of cholera,’ and then launches into a memory about their whole virtual family succumbing to typhoid. Honestly, half my customers have post-traumatic stress from that game.”

Dispensaries report that calming strains and CBD-heavy options are most popular for treating these flashbacks. “Look, I thought I was coming in to treat my general anxiety,” says Sean, a self-proclaimed Oregon Trail survivor. “But honestly, it’s all about those pop-up nightmares from third grade, when one wrong decision meant starvation in the Rockies with nothing but two oxen and a kid named Ezekiel.”

Mental health experts suggest this isn’t unique. “Oregon Trail didn’t just teach kids about history; it instilled a deep-rooted fear of inevitable disaster,” says Dr. Lydia Barnes, a California psychologist specializing in childhood media trauma. “Now, these former pioneers seek cannabis as a way to cope with the adult repercussions of those life-or-death decisions.”

To meet demand, some dispensaries are even rolling out themed products. One Bay Area dispensary recently launched a strain called Trail Tranquility, promising “relief from flashbacks to hostile rivers and low food supplies.”

“At least we’re finally getting help for it,” says another customer. “If I could survive three months of losing family members to dysentery, I think I can handle adulthood—as long as I’ve got the right strain.”