In the United States, the LGBT cause and the legalization of Cannabis are intimately linked: it was to support HIV patients that the first legal dispensary was set up in San Francisco in 1992, and thanks to LGBT activists that Proposition 215, authorizing medical Cannabis in California, was passed in 1996.
24 years later, a study published in the American magazine “Drug and Alcohol Dependence” reveals that gays, bisexuals and lesbians consume more cannabis than heterosexuals (30 percent of bisexuals are open consumers, 29 percent gay compared with just 17 percent straight). Not surprising when you compare these figures with the large numbers of assaults, harassments and family breakups encountered by gays and trans people in Donald Trump’s country.
It was with a view to creating a sanctuary for all that “The People’s Dispensary” chain of dispensaries was created in 2016 in Oakland. One of its founders, Christine De La Rosa, explains: “We quickly realized that the Cannabis industry was an opportunity to make great profits for our investors, but also for the community. The company is mutualist, which means that all employees – many of whom are young people thrown out of the company after coming out, or ex-convicts – receive a share of the profits, whether or not they have invested in the company’s capital.
In this spirit of redistribution, the company donates a portion of its profits each year to educational and health associations, or to those offering housing to young people in difficulty following their coming out.
Of course, it’s vital for them to make their sales areas “Safe Spaces”. All are welcome, but only on condition of tolerance, the aim being to offer a non-judgmental space for populations that are often marginalized. On their website, they specify that their dispensaries are designed for all those who feel unrepresented by the “Cannabis Business”, whether they are people of color, chronically ill, veterans, women, gays and more. In this spirit of sharing, the company is even offering a free table full of tips for setting up a business or working in the Cannabis industry.
This approach works very well, since the chain, known as TPD to its friends, already has stores in Portland, Oakland, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and is even planning to open spaces in New York and New Jersey very soon. We hope to see them arrive in Montreal very soon! After all, it would be a dream to be able to take part in changing the world with a grinder.
