In the past two blogs we have discussed the definition of ‘destigmatization’ and how it relates to the somewhat recent legalization of marijuana in many states. Denver dispensary, Altitude Dispensary, along with other advocates for the legalization of marijuana, are working hard toward destigmatizing the beneficial plant. 

Also in the past blog we discussed the number one thing you can do to help to destigmatize marijuana. The best thing you can do is to share your story. We suggest that you share your why with those who may not quite understand the uses and benefits of the flowe. Why do you use marijuana? In what ways does it help you or do you enjoy it? 

It is often true that when something that was once illegal, the stigma stays. People believe that it is bad or harmful simply because it was once illegal. Even though the reason it was illegal may not have anything to do with that.

It is important to talk and share your story with those who may not understand that it is actually not harmful and indeed has many important benefits. Being able to talk about why you use the flower is a great first step toward the destigmatization of it. 

Another thing Altitude Dispensary recommends that you can do to help destigmatize marijuana is to debunk the theory that you can die from using it. In fact, this has never happened. Unlike so many other substances from which you could die, this is not the case with marijuana, even though this may indeed be what some uneducated people may think. Make it your job to educate those folks about the effects of  marijuana.

The next thing you can do to help destigmatize marijuana is to unapologetically and shamelessly use marijuana. In the same way that people who drink beer or other alcoholic beverages are often vocal about their love for this or that beverage, one should be this way about their enjoyment or benefit from marijuana. In states in which it is now legal, there should be no shame in using it.

Do not hide your use of it. Do not make excuses for your use of it. You now have just as much right to be using marijuana as anyone has to crack open a beer or pour a mixed drink. We all have our preferred methods of winding down and letting loose, so what if yours is different. Now that it is legal, we need to act as though it is. 

The more time we spend reenacting our old habits of hiding our use out of fear of getting caught because marijuana was once illegal, the more we further the stigma associated with the now legal (in many states) flower. This is a disservice to the cause. One that we can no longer continue to perpetrate. 

I hope that you will join Denver’s Altitude Dispensary along with other advocates for the legalization and destigmatization of the flower we all know and love. For all your marijuana needs, be sure to check out Denver’s Altitude Dispensary. 
 

In our last blog we defined ‘destigmatization’ and discussed how it pertains to the now legal (in most states) marijuana industry. In that blog, I likened the destigmatization of marijuana to that of the destigmatization of alcohol after prohibition. It happened then, however, possibly so slowly that we did not really notice how it happened. Denver weed shop, Altitude Dispensary, along with dedicated proponents for the legalization of marijuana are eager to destigmatize the very beneficial flower. But where to start?

We will start here with this blog and some very simple steps you, as a proponent of the legalization of marijuana, can take to get the ball moving in the right direction. One of the first and easiest things you can do is to start the conversation. I say this is easy because talking is easy. Though, I am not saying that talking about this particular subject is all that easy, especially depending on where you are and to whom you are speaking. 

However, if you are ready and comfortable in your beliefs and opinions, sharing them is a great way to begin to destigmatize marijuana and its use. Most people feel the way they do about marijuana because they are not educated about it. As mentioned in our last blog, they believe it is bad for the simple fact that it was at one (recent) point illegal. We are taught to believe that anything and everything illegal is inherently bad. However, we know this is not the case, and we can share this information with those who do not. 

With the legalization of marijuana and the plethora dispensaries like the outstanding Altitude Dispensary, those same people are having to come to terms with what they once thought, because they were told to think it. Having the discussion with them about why marijuana is legal and, indeed, why is should be and deserves to be legal is a great starting point. 

You do not have to be an expert to have these conversations. You can simply talk about why it is important to you that marijuana is now legal. This might include the many benefits—both medically and recreationally—that marijuana offers. You can share your personal experiences as to how the flower has helped or benefited you or those close to you. 

As we have discussed in previous blogs, some of those incredible benefits include: pain reduction, help with nausea, increased appetite, and relieving anxiety for those suffering from it. Many people who believe that because it was illegal it means it is bad, have no idea of these awesome benefits and it is up to your to share you stories about how marijuana helped you personally. 

By sharing your stories you act as an educator and can personally help someone understand the benefits of the now legal plant. This very well could be the first step in the right direction to destigmatizing marijuana. In our next few blogs for Altitude Dispensary, we will offer more ideas for out to destimatize this precious flower.
 

This blog aims to explain just exactly what destigmatization is and what it means in the new world of legalized (in many states) marijuana. First off, a definition of that ten cent word, destigmatization: the action or process of removing the negative connotation or social stigma associated with something; freedom from public censure or condemnation; the process of making a person or thing socially acceptable. Denver’s Altitude Dispensary and proponents for the legalization of weed would like to destigmatize marijuana for various reason. 

When something that was once illegal and eventually becomes legal, it is easy for it to have a negative stigma to it. I feel like we are trained to believe that all things that are illegal are inherently awful and dangerous and bad. And while that may be true for many illegal things—murder, rape, robbery etc, it is not necessarily true of every illegal thing. Marijuana is one of those things. 

Marijuana was not always illegal. In fact, it wasn’t until the 1920s when prohibition on the flower started. Before that it was legal and enjoyed for its many benefits. And now, in many states, it is again legal and enjoyed. With such a long history, it is easy to see why there is a stigma attached to it, but I fear it is often one that most people don’t quite understand.

Now that it is legal again (hooray!), weed shops in Denver want it to become destigmatized. I liken it to the end of alcohol prohibition. Alcohol was at one time and for a long while stigmatized, likely because of the prohibition of it. If our government tells us something is bad, we tend to believe it. 

However, when prohibition of alcohol ended in 1933, somewhere along the line destigmatization of alcohol happened (phew.) 89 years after prohibition, bars are kicking, liquor stores are on nearly every corner and America’s favorite pastime appears to be drinking—at BBQs, baseball games, tailgates, and just about any celebration you can think of. I’m certain the same will happen for cannabis too, I just don’t want it to take 89 years. 

Denver marijuana dispensaries don’t want it to take that long either. It’s bad for business. And even if business is booming, it could always be better. But how do we as a country or a state begin to destigmatize something that, for 80 some years, has been considered bad and dangerous simply because our government decided to outlaw it? We will discuss this and other ideas surrounding destigmatization in the next few blogs.

What I can say, is that is it not going to be easy. Again, to compare it to alcohol, I do not know when after prohibition exactly the stigma wore off, or when it became something to celebrate and with which to celebrate. I only know that it eventually lost that stigma, as is plainly clear when you walk into any bar during a sporting event. Denver marijuana dispensaries along with dedicated proponents for the legalization of marijuana are prepared to fight the long battle to destigmatize the most controversial of plants.  
 

In this blog series, Altitude Dispensary explores marijuana terminology through the ages. This is meant to be a fun and useful examination of all the terms we have used for the beautiful flower through the years. We will look at the term, its meaning, its origin, and its use. We will also look at other marijuana specific terms used to talk about smoking it, using it, buying it, and enjoying it.

In the second blog in this series we explained some of the most common terms used as slang to call marijuana. They are ‘weed’ and ‘grass.’ In this blog, we will continue describing even more terms for marijuana, beginning with ‘reefer.’

Perhaps you have heard this term from the ever popular Reefer Madness movie now with an infamous cult classic following. The movie was originally used as propaganda in 1936. It was meant to show the horrible dangers smoking marijuana could cause for young high school children. 

It shows marijuana pushers enticing students to partake in reefer. It then shows them becoming addicted to the drug. This addiction leads the teens to commit various crimes such as hit and run accidents, conspiracy, murder, and rape. 

It then shows the users having hallucinations (from marijuana? I wish) and eventually going insane. It may be clear to you now that this movie was originally financed by a church group by the name of Tell Your Children. Their intent was to ‘educate’ parents about the moral danger of using such a drug. 

The movie was rediscovered in the 70s and became a bit of an unintentional satire, what with the knowledge we now have of this most innocent of ‘drugs.’ When you watch it with this idea in mind, preferably while stoned, it can be quite enjoyable and laughable.

So, while the film may be where you first heard the word ‘reefer’, Altitude Dispensary would like to shed some light on the origin of this word which goes well back before the movie was even an idea.

There are some who believe the term ‘reefer’ comes from sailing terminology. On a sailboat, when one ‘reefs a sail’, they reduces the sails area. This is done by rolling (much like a joint is rolled) one edge of the canvas sail into itself. Someone who ‘reefs a sail’ is called a ‘reefer.’

 Another possible reason we might use the word ‘reefer’ to refer to marijuana, comes from the Spanish word, ‘grifo.’ The word ‘grifo’ in Spanish is itself a slang term. It can mean, ‘tap’, ‘spigot’, or ‘curly-haired.’ No one really knows why, but some time in the 1920s, the word ‘reefer’ gained popularity as a derogatory term for someone who smokes marijuana. 

It is fun to note (for a wordologist like myself anyway) that this term can be both a noun and an adjective. It is a noun when it refers to the person. It can be an adjective used to describe the inebriation (or high) from smoking the flower. 

Altitude Dispensary sure hopes you are having as good a time reading these as we are researching them. Stop on by any of our shops to get your supplies and watch Reefer Madness. We promise, you won’t regret it. 
 

In this blog series, Altitude Dispensary explores marijuana terminology through the ages. This is meant to be a fun examination of all the terms we have used for the beautiful flower through the years. We will look at the term, its meaning, its origin, and its use. We will also look at other marijuana specific terms used to talk about smoking it, using it, buying it, and enjoying it.

In the first blog in this series we explained the need for various slangs—as a way to speak about the flower with discretion. We also explored the first slang term for marijuana, pot.

The next most common slang word Altitude Dispensary will explore is ‘weed.’ While you may think that the term ‘weed’ simply comes for the word ‘weed’ as in, ‘there’s a weed in my garden.’ You would be wrong. (So was I.)

For some reason, discovering the origin of the slang term, ‘weed’ was a bit harder than for pot. There just were not as many google pops when I typed it in. But, alas, I persevered and found this little tidbit about the origin and possible meaning behind the term ‘weed.’

It is believed that around the start of the twentieth century the term ‘weed’ entered into the common vernacular. The thought is that it is a shortening of the word ‘locoweed.’ This is a type of plant that grows in Mexico. The theory goes that Mexican farmers and ranchers would take their horses and cattle to graze on this locoweed. It was not long before the ranchers started noticing the strange effects the plant had on the animals.  

Even though locoweed is not the same thing as a marijuana plant, correlations were made. The effects of the plant on the animals being so similar to the effect of the marijuana plant on humans may have led us to start calling it ‘weed,’ short for locoweed. Not surprisingly, ‘loco’ in Spanish means ‘crazy.’

The research I conducted seemed to believe that the term ‘weed’ was even more common than ‘pot,’ though this has not been my experience. This may, indeed, be the topic of our next blog series—how do the terms and slang for marijuana differ from region to region in The United States and abroad?

The next term Altitude Dispensary would like to explore is ‘grass.’ If you’re like me, this term brings up happy feelings of hippies and peace signs, joints being passed in circles while people danced all around, flower power. That is because this term most surely evokes that most nostalgic of eras—the 60s and 70s.

It is thought that the term ‘grass’ comes from the appearance of marijuana back then. Not the lovely, buddy, flower we know now and can purchase at Altitude Dispensary, but the green lawn clipping like, lower quality marijuana as was typical of the 60s and 70s.  

There are also references within the Hindu text, Atharvaveda. There are references to one of the five sacred plants of India, called ‘scared grass.’ This sacred grass is used both medically and 
ritually as an offering to Shiva. So it appears the term may have been around even longer.

This concluded our second blog in our blog series on the slang and terms for marijuana. Head on out to Altitude Dispensary to get everything you need to get stoned and sit around and contemplate these terms and their origins.