Making Community Out of Strangers

What I love most about weed is the way it creates community out of strangers.

In 2022, I visited the Great New York State Fair. This being New York, there was a designated smoking section, but this being 2022, weed was allowed there. I had rolled a joint just for the occasion and after wandering the grounds for a bit, I retreated to the smoking section with my husband.

Already inside were a handful of cigarette smokers. They nodded in our direction and resumed smoking in silence. As we sat, a few more smokers rolled in and these – these were stoners. They came right over to where my husband and I sat, greeting us enthusiastically before launching into an enthusiastic ramble about being able to smoke the ganja on state grounds. Moments later we were laughing like old friends as they passed a large glass bowl between them and my husband and I split the joint.

In Biloxi, Mississippi, I ventured into a bar, hoping to luck across a stranger to buy weed from. I didn’t find one – but what I did find was a friend, who danced with me all night and called her brother to bring the good stuff. She assured us of the quality and price as we sat in her car and passed around a test joint – and she was right. We spent the night in the bar parking lot, listening to patrons dance into the wee hours of the morning.

In Ojo Caliente, New Mexico, I reached out to a stranger who appeared in a Google search. Last Saturday, I found myself touring the greenhouse grow of Tumbleweed Farm, a woman-owned micro-cultivator that uses a greenhouse and the power of the southwestern sun to grow some of the thickest colas you’ve ever seen in your life. Tara and Peter invited me into their house, shared a loaf of apple cinnamon bread with me, and rolled a joint as we talked about the weed industry and my travels in the van.

Here, in this new state where I know no one but my husband and our landlord, Tara and Peter welcomed me like old friends. Their passion for sungrown, sustainable cultivation is evident, and their love for their land shine through in even the shortest conversation. There was no better way to be introduced into the market in this state, where most of the cultivation is indoors and occasionally organic. Tara and Peter subscribe to permaculture techniques, which include co-planting, no-til soil rejuvenation, composting, and zero pesticides.

I chat with budtenders, sharing issues of Fat Nugs Magazine and perusing through the wide variety of strains. At one dispensary, the budtender recognized me and gave me a locals discount – a first for this writer.

Maybe it’s the way cannabis makes people feel, uplifted, positive, and connected. Maybe it’s the legacy of prohibition and how communities had to gather in on themselves. Maybe it’s subliminal programming from the universe through one of her more direct communication channels. Who knows? What I do know is this – that across all the states I’ve been to, when i have the chance to talk about cannabis, people want to listen. Even those who do not love the plant, and perhaps fear her still, are curious enough about the changing tide to ask questions.

One of my criteria for finding a place to land after the van trip was in a recreationally legal state. Today that gives you more options than ever. But the New Mexico market is as old as the New York market, without the same level of fanfare. Not much is heard about this state, tucked in between tough Texas, trailblazing Colorado, and scorching Arizona. The market here is as robust as in any other state in the nation, with a rush to the bottom with prices that serve consumers and hurt producers. Some people are sucking up the power grid with massive grow facilities that drain the water supply while others are taking every ounce of energy to give back whatever they can. It is, in short, not much different than any other state, except by publicity standards.

But community does not require headlines. And the cannabis community has long sustained itself away from prying eyes and sensationalism – here and everywhere else.