You don’t need memes or social media or tv to remind you how hard it is to be a mother. Being a mom is the type of full-time job that many wouldn’t dare apply for.
Yet when you speak to mothers about their roles in the children’s lives, they’ll often gush about how much being mother means to them.
Being a mother who consumes adds even more to role.
Finding safe times and ways to consume, explaining cannabis to your kids and managing to keep your lifestyle away from anyone who may not agree it are just some of the few hurdles cannamoms have to endure.
As cannabis becomes more mainstream, the stigma around mothers who consume has changed drastically. What was once done in the dark is now something that can be openly spoken about and discussed.
CashColorCannabis.com had the chance to speak with some amazing mothers. Jessica Reid, founder of CannaCrawlers, Danielle Buynton with Jade’s Elevation and Lilly Grace all the he amazing highs and lows from being a mother who consumes.
CashColorCannabis.com: What’s it lke to be a mother?
Jessica Reid: Motherhood is a life experience not to be taken for granted. The ability to create a life while risking your own life in the process just to see, hear, smell, and feel a mini version of yourself Is a blessing.
Emmanuel is my Rainbow Baby. A special gift born on a special day. I instantly understood unconditional love.
Danielle Buynton: Motherhood is the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. Some of my favorite moments have been showing my daughter how to grow and process cannabis. I also workout with her and she helps me learn Spanish! (She’s in a dual-language program)
CashColorCannabis.com: I know you all consume or have consumed in the past. Speak to us about your first time consuming cannabis.
Danielle Buyton: The first time I consumed cannabis was at the sweet age of 12 – with my brother and his friends. Back in the day we would go outside to play and they were just sitting outside and me always wanting to be around my brother went over to see what they were doing and my brother was like here try this… I was like cool… I was high all day and woke up like this is the best feeling ever. I’m a smoker and no one can change that.
Lilly Grace: I have use cannabis since I was about 14 years old. I come from four generations of Growers. So I was always accessible I utilize it to enhance my better version of myself calm anxieties and it was always taught to me that this was a method that was more productive than taking pharmaceutical pills.
CashColorCannabis.com: All you beat me! Have you thought about what makes you consume?
Lilly Grace: I have put a lot of productive thought into what I consume on whether or not I engage in a recreational manner am I being responsible. Does my usage impact my children or for that matter my grandchild? Am I presenting the right environment? Overall I go back to the methods and reasons I was given when I first started using cannabis to enhance my better version of myself.
Danielle Buynton: When I was young and smoke, I called it my “fuck it drug” It gave me the since of I could do anything and face anyone. I liked smoking also because it made me slow down. I am a naturally hyper person so I found it allowed me to stay still. In college I smoked for fun and to help with stress and as an adult I use it for everything. If I’m sick I take some CBD, if I am needing energy I smoke a sativa, If I need to complete a task I will find a strain that works for that and so on. It’s a part of my life.
Jessica Reid: I’ve been a cannabis consumer since I was 15. I was sexually assaulted which led to PTSD and depression. It affected my grades, and social skills.
My first time smoking cannabis was a shotgun at my boyfriend’s house during my sophomore year of high school. He said this will help you relax. He showed me how to shotgun and roll my own joint. After that, I hung with him and his Jamaican brothers and cousins and fell in love with the plant.
CashColorCannabis.com: Has your consumption changed any since you became a mother?
Danielle Buynton: Nothing has really changed except I smoke much better strains. My daughter actually loves the smell of great cannabis so it always intrigues me to see her reaction. She does not like the actual part of smoking so I have been working on consuming more edibles so I don’t have to hear her complain.
Jessica Reid: Solo sessions are mommy’s time. I literally set a timer. I don’t have many friends who are consumers so the mid-day text invite to a session leaves my phone dry. But I will read weed mom’s Facebook groups for a laugh. An introvert’s way of socializing I guess. I’m a flower chic.
I don’t care much for the vapes . They’re nice just not my first choice. It’s a different experience. Vaping is nice because it’s odorless and I could be closer to my son who has a smoke sensitivity. However I love rubbing flower between my fingers. I don’t smoke around children.
So no more hotboxing. I’m that mom who’s on the back porch or hanging out in the garage.
When we’re on the go that’s when edibles become a best friend or a topical for my knee pain.
Lilly Grace: I would say that I am far more responsible with where I keep my cannabis. The explanation to questions that come up. I am respectful of my children and my usage and their space. And I find that within the group in circle I surround myself with it is an understanding that this is a method just like any other to holistically treat myself in a medical fashion.
CashColorCannabis.com: Are you nervous about people knowing you smoke? Are people around pretty familiar with the fact that you consume?
Danielle Buynton: Yes, people around me know. I am a cannabis activist and farmer. I actually tell people I consume so we can just get it out the way. Many times most mothers either smoke too or wish they could smoke. I am very open about my consumption actually.
Jessica Reid: I don’t know why I never been scared of people knowing I consume but I’m not nervous to talk about it or prove why it’s not “the devil’s lettuce.” A teacher caught me with a pack in high school. When she found it a couple people in class put me on blast. I couldn’t do anything but laugh. She didn’t report me either so I thank you to her. But, It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Since then I know people who know me knows I love cannabis. From paraphernalia, to the science, and it’s influence on the culture. Now that I treat my son’s epilepsy with cannabis I’m absolutely unapologetic about the plant. It’s saving his life. I’ll be your CannabisAmbassador for the uneducated inexperienced cannacourious individual.
Lilly Grace: I’m open about my consumption the answer to those questions is a solid no. I am open about my consumption of cannabis I am very thorough and explaining my usage of cannabis to those who ask or inquire. Am I nervous or anxious in any environment regarding cannabis no never it is something that took me years to reveal about myself? And after much self alignment, I find that transparency relieves most of the anxiety around other people. As for the judgemental Circle, I don’t hang out with them so I have no clue what that experience is I am completely transparent and my consumption use of cannabis because it is my own I am not forcing someone else into a lifestyle nor am I facilitating a sales or marketing pitch. Besides adding live by the old adage to thine own self be true
CashColorCannabis.com: What would want people to know the most about being a mother who consumes?
Danielle Buynton: Consuming cannabis is not bad. It helps me really open up with my child and sometimes even helps me slow down and be present with her. And cannabis is more than just getting high. This plant has a lot of properties and can be very healthy to consume like hemp seeds, cannabis leaves, and hemp milk.
Lilly Grace: I want people to know that when someone has a choice to facilitate their mental health physical health emotional health by utilizing a holistic method that they’re not familiar with it’s better to just ask questions. That Mom shaming judgment does not serve the community of moms well at all whether they’re using cannabis or not. And at the end of the day the people who have the most to say do the least. As a mom who consumes cannabis I find that my overall full body care is in my own hands regardless if I’m advocating for myself and a traditional medical standpoint or if I’m simply applying a holistic method to keep my whole body Healthcare intact it’s my choice.
Jessica Reid: Never let someone defame your name for how you choose to care for yourself or your family. If the other mom can chug a bottle of wine at 5 o clock, and the dad make a 6pack of beer disappear in an hour what makes you a lesser parent? Who’s more under the influence of a substance?
Moms who consume cannabis get everything done. I find confront in knowing it’s been naturally provided and so it shall be naturally embraced. Judging comes from not knowing. Therefore the community can teach others by sharing their experience which in turn leads to sharing a cannabis experience and changing the stigma one person at a time. Never settle for injustice. Prosecution from CPS because you maintain your life differently from the next individual shouldn’t label you as a criminal or incapable to be a mother.
