Pride shouldn’t be limited to a single month — and neither should your cannabis use. Both should be supported, advocated for, and celebrated all year round.
The queer community’s involvement in cannabis dates back to the beginning of pot’s long, strange trip towards legalization. In fact, the cannabis legalization movement in the United States owes its start to efforts from our LGBTQ foreparents during the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and ’90s.
Thanks to the monumental activism efforts from California’s LGBTQ communities, Proposition 215 passed in 1996, making it the first state to legalize medical marijuana in the country. The ground for today’s burgeoning cannabis industry was laid in part by LGBTQ allies, HIV/AIDS patients, and gay rights advocates of the past.
While rainbow-themed products are cute, giving your precious consumer dollars to the companies who are owned by LGBTQ entrepreneurs year-round, instead of only during Pride month, is even cuter. Support these cannabis brands founded by members of the LGBTQ community, whose history of tireless cannabis activism has allowed the existence of the legal market we so enjoy today.
House of Saka
If you’re looking to indulge in a wine-esque experience sans the hangover, look no further than the LGBTQ-owned brand House of Saka. Founded by women in 2018, House of Saka was born from the Napa Valley wine scene in hopes of creating a luxury cannabis experience for women.
House of Saka’s line of infused beverages, which includes Saka Pink rose, Saka White, and its new Saka Spark Mimosa, have an incredible high due to their state-of-the-art nano-molecular infusion technology. Unlike normal edibles, these beverages hit you within 15 minutes, perfectly mirroring the experience of drinking without all the ickiness that comes along with it.
Cann
Cann, the microdosed canna-beverage to the stars, has garnered an impossible amount of glitterati testimonials, as well as investors. Rarely does a cannabis brand see a swirl of A-list hype from the likes of Chelsea Handler, Gwenyth Paltrow and Kate Hudson, but Cann really is just that good.
The queer-owned brand specializes in impeccably designed cannabis seltzers, with trendy flavors like Lavender Lemonade, Grapefruit Rosemary and Blood Orange Cardamom. Each Cann includes 2 milligrams of nano-THC and 4 milligrams of CBD, so you’re hit right away with a balanced, social high that’s perfect for new users.
Stone Road
Stone Road is a super hip queer-owned LA marijuana brand with some of the best prerolls on the market. It grows its own flower at a farm in Nevada City, California, providing consumers with the perfect ratio of low price to high quality, complete with cool packaging.
While perhaps most loved for their pre roll packs and infused pre rolls, they also have great 1/8ths, and just came out with a ½ oz rolling pack that can’t be beat. And instead of bombarding users with an impossible amount of strains, they specialize in a handful of cultivars.
Nekktar
Nekktar is a new bi-racial and woman/queer-owned brand specializing in cannabis storage devices that are chic, discreet and multi-functional. Its first product, the BUZZBOXX, truly does it all for the stoner on the go.
Strong, waterproof and ready to snuff out the smoke of a secret joint with a single click, the Buzzboxx is a fun cannabis accessory that counters the stereotypical stoner aesthetic with it’s simple, chill design.
Drew Martin
Founded by Drew Martin, an award-winning mixologist and passionate herbalist, Drew Martin pre-rolls offer low-dose options blended with lush botanicals. Each package is beautifully illustrated and contains four 8—10% THC joints blended with aromatic herbs such as rose petal, peppermint, lavender, chamomile, passionflower, and more. Reach for The Collection pack and try all distinct flavors.
Sonder
Sonder is a full-spectrum vape brand founded in 2017 by the wife-and-wife team, Faun Chapin and M. Paradise. Sonder grows the cannabis to make high-quality cartridges on its family-run farm in Mendocino County. Both founders are successful graphic designers — Chapin holds an MFA in graphic design from Yale and grew up on an Emerald Triangle weed farm. She was taught to grow at an early age by her mother.
Known for branding where bright colors and punchy graphics take a psychedelic riff on pop art, and its epic line of full-spectrum cartridges, Sonder delivers high-quality products that are an amalgamation of everything these cannabis entrepreneurs are passionate about. With Sonder, not only are you supporting an LGBTQ brand, but a legacy of female growers.
Calexo
With tart, citrusy flavors and a flirty aesthetic to match, the LGBTQ owned-and-operated cannabis beverage Calexo has effervesced its way into our hearts. Founded by Brandon and Ken, both of whom are working artists, Calexo was born from an at-home experiment that went totally right. What started as trying to find the perfect combination of citrus, bitters and weed tincture one night at a weed-sensitive family party, has fast become a fabulous and infused alternative to alcohol.
Each 22oz bottle contains 10 milligrams of THC. Due to nano-emulsion technology, the high hits you within 15 minutes of consumption — a similar onset/offset to drinking. Available in Citrus Rose and Cucumber Citron, Calexo is a great addition to any party atmosphere, offering a delicious alternative for taking the edge off and remaining social.
Peak Extracts
Founded in 2014, Peak Extracts is the first women-owned extraction company in Oregon. It entered the recreational market in 2016 and was among the first batch of legal licensed edibles processors. CEO Katie Stem and COO Katie Black are partners in business and life, working together for the last eight years.
Peak Extracts produces chocolates, salves, cartridges and concentrates and is best known for its strain-specific product line. Aiming to treat an array of ailments, Stem learned the effects of many strains from a decade-plus as a medical patient using cannabis to help alleviate symptoms of Crohn’s disease.
