Puff with pride: 8 fantastic queer-owned cannabis brands
Are you looking to add an extra spark to your Pride month or regular rotation? Check out these queer weed brands, dispensaries, and delivery services!
Pride month is always a whirlwind: the parades, the rainbow outfits, the activism, the blocking of homophobic relatives on social media. If you’re like me, it’s important to queer your smoke sesh every month of the year by supporting one of the many LGBTQ+-owned, founded, or operated brands that are making their unique mark on the world of cannabis.
Queer consumers and our allies have trillions of dollars in spending power. And the following brands (both established and up-and-coming) prove that using your money for inclusive weed isn’t just ethical, but also highly enjoyable.
Check out these cultivators, dispensary entrepreneurs, delivery services, and edible artisans that are bringing their talents, passion, and pride to the cannabis community. They’re not just great choices for Pride, but all year long!
Stone Road
Founded by CEO Lex Corwin in 2016, Stone Road is a cannabis farm that’s working to make a difference through ethical growing practices, an employee-owned structure, and their signature product: breathtakingly beautiful joints.
Named after the place Corwin first started growing cannabis, Stone Road is a company built on fair wages, diverse hiring, and a people-over-profit model for cannabis you can feel good about smoking (instead of just high.)
“The easiest way for consumers to voice their support is with their dollars. If you support companies that have like-minded values to you, those companies will succeed and those companies will grow and continue to represent you in the marketplace.”
Lex Corwin
One of the many things that set Stone Road apart is their widely followed, gorgeous Instagram, which seeks to show cannabis consumers as they authentically are. “Everyone talks about our Instagram first like ‘Oh it’s so diverse! It’s so inclusive!’ but that was literally just a reflection of the cannabis industry. Half our photos are just from consumers who DM us who want to be featured on our page. The fact is that the majority of them are BIPOC consumers and LGBTQ+ consumers, and those are the people who support Stone Road,” says Corwin.
With hand-trimmed reserve bud and stunning joints rolled with fine French paper, Stone Road products exemplify what it means to love cannabis.
“We’re trying to raise the standards of the industry. I really feel like we’re at this pivotal moment where so many people are interacting with the plant for the first time. If we can make them feel comfortable and like they’re indulging in something beautiful and natural, that’s going to be the difference between continuously fighting new restrictions against commercial cannabis activity and cannabis possession, and making them say, ‘Yes we want this industry, we want these jobs, we want this inclusivity.’”
With distribution across California, licensed products in Oklahoma, and plans for future expansion into New York, Stone Road products give queer consumers everywhere a glimpse into a more equitable future of cannabis. And for Corwin, there’s something special about the right now for queer cannabis consumers and entrepreneurs. “This is a once-in-a-generation time. It’s an extremely exciting time.”
CommCan Inc.
CommCan Inc. is the locally-owned and operated brainchild of queer majority-owner Ellen Rosenfield-Law and her two brothers.
Founded in 2015 as part of the Massachusetts Medical Use Of Marijuana Program, CommCan has quickly grown to include multiple dispensaries, a cultivation facility, and some of the most exciting cannabis brands in the state.
Like many LGBTQ+ people, Rosenfield-Law has built her success through ingenuity, creative thinking, and turning the injustices around her into opportunities. When Massachusetts limited cannabis business zoning to low-traffic, tucked away areas on the outskirts of town, Rosenfield-Law and her brothers took long-held family land in an industrial park and turned it into an ever-growing cannabis empire.
Her perseverance and resourcefulness have allowed CommCan to remain fiercely independent, delivering quality products with the highest standard of integrity.
“So many people are getting into this business and they have no idea what they’re doing. They either have a lot of money and don’t know what they’re doing, or they do know what they’re doing, but they don’t have any money. They have to partner with the people who do have a lot of money, and then the people who have a lot of money want to run the business. That’s a shame.”
Ellen Rosenfield-Law
In addition to filling their shelves with high-quality bud and expertly rolled joints, CommCan produces several popular house brands like Sip carbonated beverages and DRiP vape products. CommCan is also the exclusive licensed grower and distributor of mega-popular Cookies brand cannabis in New England.
Madame Munchie
Founded by CEO Kim Geraghty in 2014, Madame Munchie specializes in gourmet, delicious edibles that are rooted in the high attention to detail and unrivaled quality of French sweets, bringing a signature mix of Paris chic and Cali chill to any Pride celebration.
With high-end, tasty favorites like her award-winning minimacs and macarons, Geraghty has forged her own unique path through the world of cannabis. Her edibles are not only incredible and unique but also sustainable, created with locally sourced California ingredients and sun-grown cannabis.
Geraghty is doing more than changing the way we see edibles; she’s also helping to change the visibility of LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry.
“In my first jobs in finance, a traditionally conservative industry, I used to fear that my colleagues would find out that I am gay. Now, my rainbow flag, which I’ve owned since I was 16, sits proudly on the wall of the Madame Munchie break room. I love that people can know as soon as they walk in the room that this is a place of tolerance and acceptance for all.”
Kim Geraghty
For Geraghty, Madame Munchie is also how she can show our community that cannabis is a place for all. “I want every LGBTQ+ person to know that they have a right to be safe and happy, and that those of us who are lucky to already experience this freedom are here for them,” she says.
You can find Madame Munchie’s delicious array of macaroons, gummies, dessert toppings, and other treats (as well as pre-rolls!) across California.
Calibueno
Calibueno is a Latinx and queer-owned delivery and wholesale business, founded and operated by visionary Claudia Mercado. The brand puts quality and ethics before profits, offering fair prices on unique, ethical cannabis products from local micro-businesses.
From the beginning, Calibueno has been about staying true to Oakland, opening shop blocks away from where Mercado grew up. Calibueno’s strength lies in its dedication to and passionate support from the community. “That’s where Calibueno is successful. Some of our deliveries are literally five minutes away from our building. And that feels good because we’re taking care of our community. It’s a good business model because people here want to keep it local.”
By paying farmers fairly, investing in community education, and seeking out POC-owned businesses to partner with, Calibueno is giving opportunity and economic justice to the community. And that starts with Calibueno’s mission to be highly ethical in its supply chain.
“As a diverse founder, I am very conscious of every step in the supply chain. We find farmers who are value-aligned, who see me as a queer Latina. People have to understand if you find the right people to work with, all those values are aligned from the beginning.”
Claudia Mercado
By supporting Calibueno, you are supporting a future in cannabis that is better and brighter for everyone. Plus, you’ll be getting some of the best products in the area at incredible values.
You can order Calibueno delivery in the Oakland/East Bay Area and find its high-quality wholesale products at dispensaries throughout the Bay Area.
Drew Martin Co.
Owned and operated by Drew Martin, his life partner Andrew Freeman, and their mutual friend Nicholas Pritzker, Drew Martin Co. is a 100% queer-owned cannabis brand that has created the first low-dose, botanical blend pre-rolls on the market.
Drew Martin Co.’s products use only hand-trimmed, whole bud cannabis that’s sun-grown on a small queer, women-owned farm in Mendocino County, choosing cannabis that’s high in terpenes and low in anxiety-related effects. The high-quality flower is then blended with smokable botanical ingredients for globally-inspired flavor and mind-opening joints that any level of cannabis smoker can enjoy.
With flavorful blends like Lavender & Passionflower and Rose Petal & Peppermint, Martin is creating unique pre-rolls that all smokers can enjoy, while continuing to expand on the legacy of queer people in cannabis.
“The path for California’s legalization of cannabis was blazed by queer activists. Harvey Milk passed one of the country’s first decriminalization bills in San Francisco before being assassinated. Dennis Peron dedicated his life to providing access to medicinal cannabis, especially to AIDS patients, and was beaten and arrested for doing so. We get to enjoy working with and consuming this plant freely today because of the sacrifices of our queer forebearers.”
Drew Martin
You can find Drew Martin Co. pre-rolls in dispensaries across California.
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MD Numbers Inc.
Co-founded by queer entrepreneur Marie Montmarquet, MD Numbers is a 100% Black-owned, vertically-integrated cannabis company that includes a world-class cultivation center, a delivery service, and a consulting agency that’s helping propel the cannabis industry towards a more equitable future.
MD Farms, the cultivation arm of MD Numbers, plans to roll out their own house brands in the coming year.
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In the meantime, you can get your hands on a wide array of high-quality cannabis products via Marie’s Deliverables, Montmarquet’s delivery service founded in 2015. Additionally, through Legacy Coterie, Montmarquet is helping bring consulting, distribution, and sales services to other cannabis entrepreneurs and companies across the country.
“Visibility and representation are key. Every day we are proving that cannabis participation is not just for the 1%. The original culture creators should be an integral piece of modern-day cannabis nationwide,” she says.
As Montmarquet continues to spread her vision and influence through the world of cannabis, she’s doing so to bring representation, economic justice, and healing to BIPOC and queer cannabis consumers.
“As a queer minority female, it’s important for me to empower those that have gone through similar challenges as myself — each of those pieces have innate challenges. Every community deserves to be represented in cannabis. The plant represents empathy, healing, and wellness — all things historically brought to the forefront by the LGBTQ+ cannabis community. “
Marie Montmarquet
You can order Marie’s Deliverables across the Bay Area and follow their social media for more information on their upcoming house brands.
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Founded and operated by two queer women, Katie Stem and Katie Black, Peak Extracts is exactly what it sounds like: an extract company creating both THC and CBD vapes, edibles, tinctures and topical solutions that help consumers “find their peak.”
Inspired by Stem’s degree in traditional Chinese herbal medicine, Peak Extracts seeks to create cannabis solutions for every cannabis consumer, whether you prefer consuming cannabis through a dab rig, a square of chocolate, or a relaxing massage with their popular hemp topical, Rescue Rub.
Their chocolate products are uniquely single-strain based, giving edible users more control over the effects they want to experience while using Peak Extract’s edibles.
Stem and Black are proud to keep alive cannabis’ healing legacy within the queer community, based on only in Stem’s personal history as a medical cannabis user, but also in the legacy of cannabis within the queer activist community.
“Beginning notably in the 80s with the AIDS epidemic, cannabis has been a valuable medicine in the queer community. When I first became a medical patient in 2004 to help with my Crohn’s disease, the cannabis community here was primarily cancer and AIDs patients, and there was a lot of overlap between those of us fighting for marriage equality and cannabis law reform.”
You can order Peak Extract CBD products across the United States and find their THC products in Oregon!
Sava
“As a femme-presenting queer woman, it’s critical for me to bring my gayness to the forefront of my identity of who I am as an entrepreneur and leader so that others in the LGBTQ+ community can see they have a place in the industry.”
Founded by queer cannabis trailblazer and CEO Andrea Brooks, Sava gives cannabis consumers more ways to support ethical and diverse brands while promoting LGBTQ+ visibility in the industry, something near and dear to Brooks’s heart.
Sava partners with a number of AAPI-owned and BIPOC-owned cannabis brands (like Polti, Mad Lilly, Mellows, The Congo Club and Moon Made Farms to name a few) in order to bring diverse voices in cannabis to the forefront, commiting to carrying 50% women-owned brands and at least 20% BIPOC brands at all times. Through Sava’s ordering interface, buyers can even sort brands by “Values” (with options like BIPOC-, queer- or woman-owned, biodynamic, single origin, etc.), giving consumers more power to put their cannabis dollars towards brands that align with their values.
Recently, Sava partnered with Cann to create the new Lime Basil Tonic, which gives consumers an alcohol-free cocktail alternative.
“I was so excited to work with another LGBTQ-led company. Cann is a true thought leader in the cannabis drinks space and the combination of our teams created fire in the delicious form of Lime Basil which has both THC and CBD. We also had Ruby Rose involved in the artwork and concept. Fun fact: There are tattoos from both myself and Ruby Rose hidden in the artwork design,” exclaims Brooks.
Like many of Sava’s endeavors, this too supports economic justice in cannabis: $1 of each Cann purchase goes to the Copper House, a queer, BIPOC activist collective and “Bud & Breakfast” space in Detroit.
You can order delivery from Sava in the Bay Area.
This is just 8 of the many, many LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs who are making their mark in cannabis. Got another favorite? Are you a queer cannabis entrepreneur? Drop it in the comments or let Leafly know. And for all my LGBTQ+ siblings, remember that Pride began as a political protest.
Whether you’re going to a parade, a demonstration, or a smoke sesh; stay safe, stoned, hydrated, and stay proud!
C. Merten
C. Merten is a Chicago-based writer, creative, and cannabis enthusiast. Their passions include breakfast, 70’s music, pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
View C. Merten’s articles
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