On January 25th, 2020, I decided to create an Instagram account where I would share all of my cannabis content. At first, I had started on Snapchat, only posting on a private story for specific friends that I knew were cannabis-friendly. I felt that I needed a better platform to be able to share more content, instead of bombarding the same friends with things they may not even be interested in.
I started my account and uploaded a few pictures of handouts and freebies I had gotten from a few dispensaries, as well as a few products I checked out so far while having my medical card. At this point, I was about 6 months into my medical cannabis journey and was trying to find the best remedies for my symptoms. This account started as a way for me to share my passion and share my opinions on products, but has turned into so much more.
I didn’t realize when I first started what the “cannafam” was or what this brought people. I now understand that this is an amazing community that will absolutely change your life. Through this community, I have made some life-long friends, as well as supporters. I have never met such encouraging, bright-minded people who are consistently there, and always inspire me to be my best self.
It wasn’t until recently that I truly understood how deep the stigma against cannabis runs. It started simply – I got a notification that Instagram had taken down a post from my trip to South Dakota, which was several months prior. It was a simple picture of my hand holding a Select cartridge in the woods. I wrote about how much I enjoyed spending time in nature, especially with cannabis by my side. Their argument was that I was trying to sell illegal products, though I had written “not for sale” at the bottom of the post.
After this post was taken down, more started getting targeted, including posts that I had posted not 1 minute prior. I remember one specific post that took me about 5 times to get through. Every time I would post, Instagram would take it down within the minute. I have been lucky and have not had my account disabled yet, though I still get notifications that they may take action against my account. I know multiple people who have had their account taken down, sometimes more than once. I cannot imagine the amount of pictures, content, friends & conversations lost due to this unnecessary censorship for a PLANT. And Instagram isn’t the only one.
Within the past two weeks, my bf, two of his friends, and one of my friends have all had their Snapchat accounts disabled and removed. They have all been told that they will not be able to get access to this account again, and they will not be able to create another Snapchat account with their device. I personally know at least 4-5 accounts that have been taken down this week alone on Instagram. All of this for posting pictures or videos that include cannabis. Countless personal memories, as well as cannabis content, lost to a void where they will never be able to access them again. Some of these things are content they will never be able to get back again.
Part of my goal over the next year is to continue to share my passion for cannabis with like-minded individuals, as well as to continue to educate and inform those who do not utilize the medicinal properties of this plant. I want to discuss the future of cannabis – how can we progress forward with this plant when so many others are locked up for it? How can we continue to carve our paths in this growing industry if we still have people locked up for doing the same thing that we are now doing for a living?
There are so many important conversations that we need to continue to discuss and challenge in order to make the cannabis industry a fair and equitable environment.
Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think about any/all of this… have you had an account taken down? Do you know someone who is in jail for cannabis as we speak? How can we continue to fight the stigma against cannabis?
Bluntly Bookish in Baltimore 