Cannabis and its impacts have been criminalized and lied about for years. While medical and recreational cannabis are now legal in most states, much of the community still suffers from the negative impacts of prohibition and disinformation.
Cannabis empowerment is about encouraging, empowering, and enabling those within the cannabis industry, whether they’re users seeking resources or professionals helping the community regrow. Continue reading to learn more about the benefits of weed culture and what you can do to support cannabis empowerment.
Types of Cannabis Empowerment
Aspects of the cannabis community still significantly lack power due to misconceptions, lack of education, ongoing prohibitions, and taboos surrounding the subject. Fortunately, that is changing in many places around the United States as consumers, workers, and communities become more informed about cannabis.
Consumer Empowerment
Empowering cannabis consumers is critical for health, safety, and maximizing your highs. Now that discussing cannabis is no longer taboo in most places, cannabis consumers can share and access important information, such as the best consumption methods for different highs and how much is “too much” for new users. Accessible resources and knowledgeable discourse are critical for combatting harmful misinformation, such as outdated misconceptions and misleading marketing.
Worker Empowerment
Cannabis empowerment is also important for workers. As of 2023, the national average wage for dispensary and cannabis workers is $25/hr, significantly more than the $16/hr average for standard retail workers. Most dispensaries offer comfortable and serene workplace atmospheres with good benefits, fair treatment, and product discounts. In locations where cannabis is still illegal, however, workers are significantly more vulnerable to wage theft, exploitation, and other predatory actions.
Community Empowerment
Cannabis prohibition presents many serious health and ethical concerns to the affected communities, such as unregulated products, racial disparity, and products sold to children. Reversing these outdated laws and educating individuals about cannabis’s benefits and risks makes communities safer for everyone, whether they partake or not.
The cannabis industry also helps communities financially through state and local taxes. Massachusetts cities received $20.6 million in local revenue in 2022 alone, much of which went toward schools, transportation, and other important funds.
Make Every Day Cannabis Empowerment Day
Cannabis is now legal in most US states, but the work is far from done, especially in the eyes of cannabis activists. For example, due to aggressive enforcement of possession laws, thousands of Americans are behind bars for doing the same things as many current consumers and dispensary workers. While individuals may not have much political power, people can work toward change by listening to experts, educating one another, advocating for ethical policies, and using cannabis safely.
Cannabis Empowerment Day was held on August 12, 2022, in Portland, OR, to celebrate, destigmatize, and discuss the future of cannabis. Since then, more communities have planned similar celebrations, such as the Cannabis Empowerment Series here in Boston.
The best ways to support cannabis empowerment are to attend Cannabis Empowerment events, listen to advocates, and support the dispensaries helping our community grow. Visit Harbor House Collective to learn more about cannabis culture, the best products, and community events.
