Women in Weed

Cannabis industry take over

By|Megan McDaniel

It’s not just about blunts and babes when it comes to women in the cannabis industry. It’s about hard work, courage, strength, and determination of working in a field dominated by men. Surprisingly there are multiple cannabis companies in Humboldt County ran by women, who grow, harvest, and cultivate, all by themselves.

It’s not easy to identify a woman grower since most of them don’t drive around in lifted trucks and flaunt their wealth. Instead most of them are everyday moms who have a special green thumb. The cannabis industry isn’t for every woman. The industry mostly operates on the black market which means pay is under the table and one may never know when it’s going to come and if it’s going to be the correct amount owed. 

There are many cases that aren’t talked about where woman have been kidnaped, sexually assaulted, and even killed when they thought they were just going to trim in the hills. Brandie Wilson, co-founder of Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction which focuses on reducing harm through education and advocacy. Wilson also created Harm Hill Reduction to teach people how to be safe when working in the hills. This program gives tips like ask what the drug and alcohol policy is on the hill, bring friends, drive yourself, and tell someone in town where you are. People don’t realize the real risks they take going to an unfamiliar hill.

The misconception that women are only trimers in the industry is not true. Companies like Space Gem Candy, Sarkara Cannabis Confections, Honeydew farms, Arcana Delights, and Humboldt Harvest are examples of companies owned and created by women. These women are healers  focused around providing clean medicine for all their patients. Most of these companies hire  women to help package, design, and distribute which keeps the local economy flowing. Woman get disrespected and not taken seriously in the industry which needs to stop. They have proved that they are strong and smart enough to work in the fields.

Humboldt County even has it’s own Women’s Cultivating Community, “Women helping women, working together with the love for the cannabis plant to heal the community.”  The group has been together since 2015, and has expanded ever since. One of their supporters and promoters is our local dispensary Humboldt Patient Resource Center. The cannabis industry wouldn’t be where it is today if it weren’t for the females in our community.

Woman make up a huge part of the cannabis industry which shouldn’t be taken for granted. So before you hire a woman to work for you remember she’s human too and has bills to pay.