Why the LGBTQ+ Community and the Cannabis Industry Go Hand-in-Hand
Communities of all racial, societal, ethnic, and religious orientations have come together to push for cannabis legalization for medical and adult-use nationwide. Among the many whom have shared a long and storied history with cannabis and the fight for legalization, the LGBTQ+ community has been vital to the ongoing struggle for access to and acceptance of cannabis in mainstream society. This look back at the history of that struggle demonstrates the importance of a queer future in the establishment of the legal cannabis industry.
The LGBTQ+ cannabis connection
Today, the medical marijuana legalization movement is going strong, celebrating successes in 33 states and pushing for an end to federal prohibition on cannabis as medicine. The movement can trace its roots in large part to the LGBTQ+ community, which began the push for legal medical marijuana in the early 1990s as a response to the AIDS epidemic. Gathering small support in the greater San Francisco area, the movement for medical cannabis became a nationwide success and continues breaking down barriers to this day. In 1996, the movement scored its first victory, when Dennis Peron, a founding member of the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club, co-authored Proposition 215, which remains the legalizing force behind California's medical marijuana program today.
Today, many states that have a medical cannabis program include HIV or AIDS as a qualifying condition for patients. Some states specify that medical cannabis use is permitted for patients with AIDS only, such as Georgia, while other states include both HIV and AIDS as qualifying conditions.
Of course, the legalization of medical cannabis set the tone for a cultural shift; support for legal medicinal marijuana has swelled to 90 percent. Meanwhile, 65 percent of Americans support the legalization of adult-use cannabis. These growing figures demonstrate just how effective the movement started by the LGBTQ+ community in San Francisco has been.
It isn't just the legal landscape of cannabis that has been shaped in large part by queer advocacy, though. The LGBTQ+ community has also had a significant cultural impact on cannabis, and vice versa, which has seen the two worlds intertwined in an inextricable way.
How queer culture has influenced cannabis culture
Cannabis culture existed long before legalization and has continued to adapt and change as legalization efforts have moved forward across the nation. Queer culture has often played an integral role in shaping a significant part of that culture as well. Consider the fact that cannabis usage among queer adults is significantly higher than among straight adults, and that has led to a unique blend of cultures that has created a magnificent space of its own within the world of cannabis.
Take, for example, Laganja Estranja, a drag queen whose name bears a tip of the hat to the cannabis plant. Estranja told Rolling Stone that cannabis has helped queer people alleviate mental and emotional issues associated with living in a society that has long marginalized them. Estranja added that cannabis businesses' investment in queer advocacy groups and participation in Pride events feels more authentic than other corporate participants, in large part because of the queer community's connection with the cannabis culture.
Today, one of the most iconic cannabis products is the infused brownie, which is a popular edible sold in dispensaries in most legal markets. The "pot brownie" became popularized among the queer community by Mary Jane Rathbun, known widely as "Brownie Mary." Brownie Mary worked alongside Peron to lobby for California's legalization of medical marijuana and contributed significantly to the establishment of the San Francisco Buyers Club. She was well known for baking infused brownies and handing them out to AIDS patients at the San Francisco General Hospital during that time as well.
Just as the LGBTQ+ community has been forced to live on the fringes of society, so too has cannabis long been in the shadows. Nowhere is this similarity more evident than in the popular phrase "coming out of the cannabis closet," which refers to the open, unafraid expression that one consumes cannabis. Does that phrase sound familiar? Since federal prohibition began in the 1930s, cannabis has been demonized and use to marginalize multiple groups of Americans, including queer people, the black community, and immigrants. While that marginalization persists in many ways, the opportunity of this historic moment lies in casting a light into those dark corners of American history and ameliorating the ills of sexism, racism, and the dominant straight narrative.
To cement these relationships and cultivate them in a healthy, genuine way, the legal cannabis industry must do more than support these groups: it must embrace them. For the LGBTQ+ community specifically, the industry that arose from movements kicked off by the queer people must continue to support them, not just by making donations and issuing press releases but by integrating true representation of queer folks into the foundation of the rapidly growing industry.
The importance of LGBTQ+ representation in the legal cannabis industry
If the LGBTQ+ community were a country, it would have the world's fourth-largest economy with a GDP of $4.6 trillion. Given the community's connection to cannabis, it can be tempting for large companies to see queer folks as ready consumers. However, just as the legalization movement would have been impossible without queer support, so too is the construction of an equitable and representative cannabis industry.
Failure to embrace the queer community in the construction of a legal American cannabis industry is a rejection of the very people who made legalization possible. Barriers that prevent queer entrepreneurs from participating in the production, processing, distribution, and sale of cannabis products robs a long-marginalized community of influence over a space they helped build and have long since adopted as part of their culture. In other words, the importance of representation in this new industry is paramount.
Building a representative legal cannabis industry
The cannabis industry is off to a roaring start. It is critical that queer- and minority-owned businesses be included in this process. Whether it's the black and Latinx communities that have been disproportionately targeted by the War on Drugs and cannabis prohibition, or the queer community which fought tooth and nail to make this moment of legalization a reality, minority representation in the cannabis industry is critical. Without it, generations of advocates and victims of a bigoted prohibition policy will be left behind.