Brown-Forman is confronting a deepening family and business crisis as profits shrink, people drink less of its flagship Jack Daniel’s whiskey and its CEO prepares to leave. The company’s shares have lost 60% of their value over the past five years despite a record-setting stock-market rally. Merger talks with a competitor collapsed in the spring, while a crosstown rival launched a $15 billion hostile takeover bid. The pressure has intensified tensions among Brown family heirs, who have controlled Brown-Forman for more than 150 years and whose collective wealth Forbes estimates at $11 billion. Before the family’s July picnic in Louisville, two heirs sent a scathing seven-page letter to more than 130 relatives, accusing management of pursuing a failing strategy while enriching itself and alleging that the board and other family members concealed merger discussions. The wider story also highlights rising tensions in retirement communities, where baby boomers are smoking more marijuana and neighbors are objecting. Seniors are among the fastest-growing demographic groups for marijuana use.