Cannabis culture, love culture, visit culture, quality time culture- Covid did in fact change many cultures everywhere. The ways we used to interact with one another are no longer. With face masks, social distancing, and the split between vaccine supporters and those that don’t support; human culture definitely changed and it seems that we are still figuring out the establishment of a new one.
Passing blunts, joints, and sharing vape carts have shifted to solo smokes and vapes, and with good reason. Concerns of being exposed took over and still have us in a bit of a head lock, even with the research about cannabis and cannabinoids contributing to the fight against Covid. With new variants, surges, and concerns- cannabis culture as we knew it, has shifted. Things have changed, some good and some bad, but in the end, covid changed cannabis culture.
Cannabis Culture Change: Essential Business
Covid- 19 made cannabis an essential business. Prior to Covid, cannabis was still looked at and talked about with much “reefer madness” stigma. When quarantine started taking the nation by storm, cannabis showed the world how essential it actually is all over, even though cannabis patients/advocates/enthusiasts already knew and were already trying to tell.
The headlines that took the nation by storm back then, helped change cannabis from villain to cannabis being essential industry:
- ABC News: It's about being well': Cannabis shops thrive as 'essential …
- NPR: Marijuana Businesses Deemed 'Essential' in San Francisco
- NY Times: Is Marijuana Essential like Milk or Bread?
- Forbes: Coronavirus Crisis Shows Marijuana is Essential
Cannabis Culture Change: Shopping
How we shop for cannabis has changed because of Covid. In many states, the only way to have shopped for cannabis was by going into a dispensary. When quarantine took the nation by storm, cannabis dispensaries had to digitize just about everything- like the rest of the world. Now, shopping for cannabis can be done online and picked up curbside and even delivered (again, depending on state/county/city). And of course, being an essential business helped with this culture change.
Cannabis Culture Change: Cannabis Events
Cannabis events made a huge change from being in person to virtual. Though in person events have picked up, virtual events are still going strong making cannabis more of a global community backed by the power of the internet. Internet and cannabis, connecting and marketing - who would’ve thought we would see the day!
Cannabis Culture Change: Grow your Own
Because of Covid, people are spending more time at home; also because of Covid, people are running fast as ever towards their goals and dreams. For many, growing cannabis is a goal and with time to learn, many have started. But also, with quarantine, it showed how fast accessibility and sources did, and could continue to change.
In Closing
Culture in cannabis and everything changed when Covid 19 struck the world. We are still in the heat of it with more variants popping up, what seems like, each month. Changes will continue to take place and cultures will continue to shift. Cannabis continues to heal and will continue to show the world that her healing power is plural. As research is showing, cannabis and her masterful cannabinoids could be one of the ways to keep Covid from finding a home in the human body.
