LGBTQ-owned California Weed Brand 2021 Pride Month

It’s worth noting that as Pride Month progresses, legal cannabis has a huge obligation not just in California but across the country to thank the LGBTQ community.

This marked the first time in California in 1996 that activists (notably Dennis Peron) fought for access to medical marijuana for terminally ill patients during the HIV / AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s. This is because the Medical Marijuana Act was passed. Other states have followed suit in 16 states and the District of Columbia to create the conditions for legal non-medical cannabis use (although it’s still illegal under federal law).

“We can draw a direct line from the work of these strange activists at this particular time and the legalization that created the modern cannabis industry in California,” said the co-founder of the Los Angeles-based cannabis brand. said Andrew Freeman. His partner (inside and outside the company) Drew Martin Gosselin and another business partner. “But it can feel a little forgotten in its history, especially when you look at queer’s representation in cannabis space today, which tends to be straight, white, and male. This is the product. It does not reflect the demographics of the people who consume it, nor does it reflect the people who fought to decriminalize and legalize factories. ”

Given that the legitimate cannabis movement is deeply ingrained in the gay activist community, Freeman believes the brand LGBTQ founded has an even bigger role to play. “I think that today’s queer-owned companies have unique opportunities and responsibilities to continue the work that began generations ago,” he said. “The struggle for decriminalization and legalization led by these activists is closely tied to today’s struggle to repair the damage the war on drugs has caused to black and brown communities.”

In recognition of the LGBTQ community’s contribution to the cannabis trade and culture, here’s a look at some of the cannabis brands that Golden State Queer are founded, owned, or operated. Just in case.

Modified plate
Run by a team of brothers and sisters from chefs Holden Jaguar and Rachel Barcons, this LA-based hospitality advisory group helps major brands and cannabis customers learn and educate them about cannabis and CBD. We support local social consumption. Barcons is also the executive director of Crop to Kitchen, a California-based cannabis advocacy group.

Beshito
Maggie Connors founded the queer-run brand Besito (Spanish for “little kiss”), which was founded by women in 2019. And stay still (as opposed to breathing steam like a round pen rolling easily on a coffee table). The LA-based brand has since expanded to include 10 packs of 1 gram preroll and 0.35 mg each mini-preroll. besito.la

Can

A Venice-based Cann THC-injected “social tonic” contains 2 milligrams of THC and 4 milligrams of CBD per 7.5-ounce can. Flavors include lemon lavender, grapefruit rosemary, and blood orange cardamom.

(Can)

Founded by Luke Anderson and Jake Brock, this very popular Venetian-based foam beverage brand is a low-calorie, low-dose, THC-injected “social tonic” (8-35 calories, 2 milligrams). Specialized in THC and 4 milligrams of CBD). Contains heady flavors like lemon lavender, grapefruit rosemary, blood orange cardamom, ginger lemongrass, and pineapple jalapeno (per 7.5-ounce can). Bonus? They are vegan and gluten free. Drinkcann.com

Calexo
Founded just last year, Calexo, based in Auckland and Los Angeles, was co-founded by Brandon Andrew, Ken Peletier, Ian Colon and Aiko Oshima and is a relative newcomer to the cannabis-injected beverage business, but brave. It is already outstanding thanks to the pattern. The work of art in the bottle and the frothy drink in it. Each 22-ounce, single-dose, 80-calorie fruit juice-based bottle (currently available in two flavors, Citrus Rose and Cucumber Citron) contains 10 milligrams of nano-emulsified THC. The smaller the particle, the shorter the time lag between consumption and onset, which is around 15 minutes for most people. calexo.co

Drew Martin

The Parade Me Around Pride Bundle ($ 75) is available at Sweet Flower and MedMen Dispensers in Los Angeles, with two boxes of Drew Martins pre-roll joints, four packs of Special Space Crystals, and four canns of low-dose THC-injected Cranberries. Including pack. Sage Social Tonic and Limited Edition Sweatshirt (ready once it’s gone). The proceeds go to Queer’s BIPOC organization, which is active in the cannabis sector.

(Can / Drew Martin / Special)

A joint effort by Freeman, Gosselin and business partner Nicholas Pritzker, this annual brand offers low-dose pre-roll joints that combine sun-grown cannabis with one of four different botanical blends. .. rose petals and peppermint. Ginger root, lemon balm, damiana. Lavender and passion flower. And chamomile, yerba santa, calendula. (They also source flowers from a ghost chicken farm owned by a queer farm in Mendocino County.)

In June, the company teamed up with two other LGBTQ-owned brands on that list (Cann and Sonder) to create a special pride package (including sweatshirts) to benefit the cannabis-working queer BIPOC organization. The space includes scholarship programs for Copper House, Super Nova Woman, and Pottery Studio Pot LA. Bundles of Pride merchandise are only sold at Sweet Flower and MedMen in the LA area, Sava and Airfield Supply Co. in the Bay Area, and Lighthouse in Palm Springs. drawmartin.co

Emily Eisen

“EYEZEN VZN” ($ 25) is a limited edition poster print from multimedia artist and frequent cannabis brand collaborator Emily Eizen.

(Emily Eisen)

A quirky multimedia artist from LA who also creates psychedelic, rich photo-based images for cannabis customers (like Edie Parker’s Flower, Besito, and Sweet Flowers dispenser chains). Emily Eizen captures the mood of the high perfectly. A funky take on furniture, home decor, and a 16 “x 20” limited edition poster print has been unveiled, the last of which can be ordered on their website ($ 25). emilyeizen.com

Lies Estranja
Is Nom du Drug LA-based choreographer and musician Jay Jackson’s Laganja Esstranger will appear in “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (2014) and “American Dance Idol” (2018 and 2019). , As an icon of LGBTQAI + and a supporter of cannabis. Traditional companion-centric collaborations like the 2016 Pre-Roll Hepburn Collaboration and the 2019 Fruit Slab Collaboration with Edibles A number of partnerships in the cannabis business.

Fashion-oriented items from drag queens and cannabis advocates Laganja Estranja are embroidered pot leaves that are labeled “high top”, “left” and “baked bottom” (US $ 40 each). It’s included.

(Lies Estranja)

It also hits fashionable and floral sweet spots, including pot-leaf t-shirts and totes reminiscent of the Louis Vuitton and Versace logos, and the two most fun stoner t-shirts on the market. Aligned: One proudly proclaims “high top” and the other “baked bottom” ($ 40 each).

“Baked bottoms and high-top shirts were actually an idea from one of the #BUDS posted on Instagram on April 20th,” says Esstranger. laganjaestranja.com

Without
Faun Chapin and M. Paradise launched Sonder in the Bay Area in 2018, and the brand quickly made a name for itself with its stylish and eye-catching bow. The company’s newest product, called Space Crystals Under the Tongue, is a monovarietal, poppy, THC-injected version that crackles and crackles under the tongue. There are three flavors including the “Cheers Queers”, a strawberry and champagne flavor that is perfect for pride. sondertime.com

Steinstrasse

Stone Road, a veneer-based cannabis brand owned by LGBTQ, is a pouch that blooms before you roll it yourself.

(Steinstrasse)

The Venice-based brand sources cannabis from family-owned farms in Northern California, including their 57-acre off-grid farm in Nevada City. Stone Road was launched in 2016 by CEO Rex Corwin and offers flower glasses. , Hash injection joint (hand-rolled with French paper), concentrate and its newest product, envelope clutch perspective size, pre-ground flower roll, own bag.

In commemoration of Pride Month, the brand donates 10% of its June profits to the LGBTQ Freedom Fund. The LGBTQ Freedom Fund is an organization that pays bail to members of the LGBTQ community in US prisons and immigration facilities. Stoneroad.org

Sunday school
Dae Lim and Mia Park launched a four-year-old brand in New York City as a unisex Korean-style smoke label (they first met them at New York Men’s Fashion Week in 2018). The protagonists of the 2019 THC-based products (including joints and edibles) are the 0.3 gram small but powerful mini pre-rolls (8 per pack). Sunday School (portable) Sunday flowers (fuel and groceries).