By Rebecca Victoria Olmos

As we reach the end of June, many companies will tuck away their rainbow flags, but supporting the LGBTQ+ community shouldn’t be a one-month, one social media post, or one donation type effort. Especially in the cannabis industry, where weed is undeniably linked to the queer community.

Although I’m sure many of us partook in some cannabis consumption during pride weekend, there’s no need to stop there. Here are a few ways you can continue to support the queer cannabis community year-round.

• Buy LGBTQ+ brands

This one is easy! Putting your money back into the community that helped to bring you legal weed is a great way to give back and get high. You can start with drinking some CANN or Calexo! Or maybe try ordering from CaliBueno or Sava.

• Promote Queer Cannabis influencers.

It’s important to amplify the voices of those who advocate and share their experience about being queer in the cannabis space. Here is a list of some beautiful souls to start with.

• Educate Yourself

The push for the legalization of weed developed during the AIDs epidemic in the ’80s and ’90s. Activist Dennis Peron helped draft and pass Prop 215 in 1996, which legalized medical cannabis in California. Since then, the golden state and the rest of the world have continued to embrace the beauty, fun, and healing benefits of the ganja plant. That alone is over 20 years of queer cannabis history you could brush up on!

• Ask Questions

Ask your budtender what LGBTQ+ brands they have on their menu. Hell, you can even ask your budtender what their pronouns are. The best way to learn is to ask, and more often than not, the queer community is more than happy to answer them.

A dear of my mine once told me that being queer isn’t based on who you’re intimate with but being the most authentic version of yourself. So here’s to being queer and high year-round!