Since its inception, cannabis industry advocates have been arguing for more access and normalization. While one seems to be panning out in many states, the other feels feigned. More people have access to cannabis in the U.S. than ever, with all of the states and territories that have legalized adult-use or medical laws. Meanwhile, the general public is more accepting and adventurous with the plant than ever. Unfortunately, it still can not breach one major hurdle: normalization.
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Normalizing cannabis use means integrating it into the general culture rather than separating it into a societally stigmatized group. This doesn’t look like people are lighting up joints in public restaurants while families dine. The idea centers allowing the plant into spaces where it makes sense. However, normalization isn’t possible unless everyone persecuted for pot is free.
Top of mind action should be that all cannabis charges are expunged, and non-violent cannabis prisoners are freed. This needs to coincide with a halt to weed arrests, which are still high despite most states riding the legalization wave. No one can truly enjoy the plant until those who built the industry are free. Once this is achieved, there will be more voices than ever calling for improvements to American weed culture.
Make public consumption less claustrophobic
As it stands, smoking cannabis in public is highly regulated and often takes place in a windowless consumption lounge–if it is allowed at all. Some states are avidly against people eating, vaping, or smoking weed outside their homes. That is the reality for some, but California is becoming a beacon for a future where weed is more social. Ritzy cannabis cafe The Woods in West Hollywood hosted a pop-up rave recently. Social spaces are opening every few weeks since a new law removed hurdles.
California cannabis cafes often have sun pouring through the windows and open-air patios, a massive improvement from years prior. They are also allowed to sell food and drinks alongside weed. This creates far more conviviality than many dimly-lit cannabis lounges that are not permitted to sell non-weed food and beverages. It rings of more freedom than ever for many stoners. However, some may argue that it is still a concession to what the plant truly deserves.
Bring weed into the fold
Those who thirst for true cannabis freedom want to see a future where cannabis use is acceptable in more traditional spaces. In a perfect world, the plant would be freed rather than expanding the regulatory cage. If cannabis consumption were truly normalized, it would be acceptable to consume smokable cannabis where people smoke tobacco, and weed drinks would be sold wherever alcohol is more regularly.
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While it feels far off in some states like Washington or Montana, there are pieces of this future working elsewhere. New York allows cannabis consumption where tobacco is permitted. Longtime city dwellers would argue that it has always been the case, but now things are more official. This is rare, however, and many states ban any form of public cannabis smoking.
Certain events have also welcomed weed drinks in their bar offerings over the last few years. Riot Fest served Wynk THC seltzers last summer in Illinois, and the brand was also available at a Boiler Room-style DJ set in New York City. However, these drinks contain hemp-derived THC, which is held to less stringent compliance standards than state-regulated brands and products. The perfect weed world would see all of these ideals merged together for every organic form of THC.
True cannabis normalization requires direct action
There has to be a future where early adopters of weed are no longer persecuted, and the plant is united with the flora and fauna it came from. That feels like a hefty task with all of the overlapping state laws and the hesitance of waiting for moves from the current presidential administration. However, it is not impossible. To see this ideal world come to fruition, people need to speak out.
Democracy requires the general public to make their desires known, and that includes cannabis consumers. Those who want to see a new landscape of legal weed need to write to their representatives and engage with the local cannabis community. While cannabis cafes and new adult-use laws are to be celebrated, it is in the best interest of consumers everywhere to keep striving for a space that truly normalizes the plant.
