Blame my mother. It’s her fault that I am a drug dealer.
Mind, I am a “professional” drug dealer, aka budtender, at a co-located medical/adult use cannabis dispensary on the east coast of the US.
I got my first taste of the herb 2 years ago, when my mother arrived from Hawaii for a family reunion bearing gifts: CBD tincture, prescribed by my mom’s alternative healthcare provider back home.
We all had to try some of course. While I was not all that impressed, I was curious: what’s all the fuss about?
After the reunion I did an on-line course in basic cannabis medicine and started looking for a job as a budtender, a word I’d only just learned. This shift is not as drastic as all that; I studied homeopathy, a type of natural medicine, and cannabis is the original “natural medicine”. I’m also an aesthetician, familiar with many chemicals applied to the skin, so learning cannabinoids and terpenoids is my idea of fun.
And I had lots of fun – just not necessarily what you’re thinking. I got myself a job at the largest and busiest dispensary in the world – not true any more since COVID, but I was there 18 super-exciting months. I love talking about cannabis medicine, and our dispensary saw about 3000 people a day. Yes, a day. More on weekends. We saw everyone, from patients treating deep addiction through “harm reduction”, or enduring chemotherapy, staving off paralysis, coping with pain…and yes, we saw stoners. In its entirety, the cannabis-consuming crowd is a cheerful, grateful, mellow crowd. At major holidays, I met entire families, 3 generations, come to buy cannabis to share as a group. Or those who came because they can’t deal with their families, or they don’t have families.
Oh, and the diversity! This large dispensary hired diverse staff to assist a diverse client base. We had young and old, black and white and shades between, orientation in all directions, men and women and non-binary. Spanish speakers, French speakers, Russian speakers. Most everyone who came in could find someone to connect with. As a white woman over 50, I am “diverse” in the largely young male world of cannabis. Every day I spoke to someone who needed to speak specifically to me – and had many other good educational conversations about cannabis.
I now work at a smaller local dispensary, very near my home, in my community. I publish articles on local dispensaries, participate in educational panels, train my fellow budtenders, and talk to my neighbors. I want people to know that anyone (21+) can come into the dispensary, not just to make a purchase, but also to ask questions and learn.
Outside the dispensary, I love to educate others about cannabis medicine. I find that giving gifts or tips in cannabis (edibles, usually) is a great way to start a meaningful conversation. This legal, carefully grown, meticulously tested, incredibly effective, creatively packaged medicine (yes, even taken “recreationally” – life is hard!) is available to those who need it – and I want to tell the world!
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