Pride Month 2021

Pride Month 2021 provides a great opportunity to reflect on the shared history of cannabis and queer rights.

Today, those fortunate enough to live in an area with legal access to cannabis can often feel inundated with options. But what if one were to set the dial back fifty years? At that time, in 1971, getting a joint into the hands of someone in need was a challenge of an entirely different magnitude.

But many brave individuals decided that risk was one they were willing to take. Their reasoning? As the HIV/AIDS epidemic continued to worsen, scores of patients (many located in San Francisco, a so-called “epicenter” of the crisis) turned to marijuana to help alleviate their symptoms.

One reason for this is because of how well cannabis worked on symptoms ranging from a lack of appetite to aches and pains to chronic insomnia. For a variety of unfortunate conditions — some the result of illness, others the result of bad medications

— cannabis generally seemed to help.

Another reason early medical marijuana advocates and activists made a point of providing those suffering from HIV/AIDS with free, quality cannabis was the glacially-slow pace of progress when it came to finding medications that could prevent the disease from becoming a death sentence.

As a result, people like Meridy Volz of Sticky Finger Brownies (scroll down to our “Weed Warriors” section below for a related book recommendation) decided it was necessary to put their freedom on the line. Today, some of this important work is being acknowledged by cannabis companies who want to honor these remarkable roots.