Why "Boobs and Bongs" Has To Be Deleted From The Cannabis Industry

Why "Boobs and Bongs" Have No Place in Marijuana from CannabisNet on Vimeo.

The cannabis industry is about to go mainstream, so leave the cleavage covered.

As cannabis begins to go mainstream and become accepted as a legitimate medicine worldwide, it is time to say goodbye to the “boobs and bongs” that have been with the industry since the 1970s. Now, don’t get me wrong and put me up on the pedestal as some preacher, I love the boobs as much as the next guy, but they do not have to have a cannabis bud stuck in between them.

For those that have no idea what I am talking about, there is a cottage industry within cannabis called cannabis modeling. It can be called such things as cannababes, 420girls, MMJnurses, etc. The pictures are of women stripped down to their underwear or even topless, and posing with the cannabis plant in some form or another. There can also be bongs, vapes, dab hits, blunts and lots of smoke in these pictures as well.

Before anyone gets out the pitchforks and starts trolling me, let me first make a few things clear.

I support freedom of the press and freedom of social networks to post whatever you want. If you want to take pictures of every meal you eat and post it, that is fine. If you want to take selfies every 10 minutes and post it, that is fine too. That is the freedom we enjoy in most countries and afforded to us on most social networks.
If you want to take pictures of yourself in your underwear and topless and post it, that is your right, too.

Wait, I thought you said you didn’t want “boobs and bongs” pictures, but you said you support people and the right to post whatever they want?

Let me explain.

The cannabis plant is a very special plant, for recreational reasons, and as we are just starting to find out, medical reasons. It is at a critical time in history, about to gain worldwide acceptance as a medicine, a healer, and recreational enjoyment. The stigmas of the past created by Reefer Madness campaigns include keeping the plant illegal for the financial betterment of certain industries and companies. It also includes the “Cheech and Chong” stoner stigma, that all cannabis users are slow, unproductive, and lazy. (Google Stoner Sloth to see how things haven’t changed much since the 1950s).

420 MODELS

By using cannabis as part of your sexy body pictorial, you are cheapening the value of the plant. You are moving the women’s movement backwards, the #metoo movement backwards, and putting all the hard word that female pioneers in this industry like Jane West and Shanel Lindsey do back 10 years.

Is your body beautiful? You bet, and you worked hard at the gym or wherever to look good.

But if you are going to post a picture of a cannabis bud or bong hit, why get almost naked to do it? The fact of the matter is that if you post the picture of cannabis, you will get 50 “hearts” on Instagram. If you post the same picture only you are topless or in your underwear holding the cannabis bud, you get 200 “hearts” or “likes”.

So really, you are selling skin and sex for 75% of the likes and cannabis for 25%. You are demeaning yourself. You are demeaning women. You are demeaning all the hard-working women at WeGrow, and around the world who are busting their ass to give women a place at the C-Suite in the cannabis space.

I understand it is your right to post what you want on your social feed or blog post, but please think about the hard work that women are doing around the world to gain respect and peer support in this space, and how you are chipping away at their credibility, and at the plant as well. The plant is better than that, modeling should be better than that.

While we live in a world of almost unlimited freedom, you still can’t run into a crowded movie theater and yell “FIRE”, when there isn’t one. While you have the right to post those pictures and post pictures of your body online, you should know that each time you do a “bong and boob” shot, you are moving the legalization and legitimacy movement back an inch or two.

And why?

You will take off your clothes and do a bong hit online to get more likes? You will put a blunt between your cheeks (you can figure out which ones) so that 100 more guys will hit like or the heart button? What is that telling you? You are actually in the online sex chat trade. Women sell pictures just like that to subscribers in the sex chat and online sex room industry.

Stand up for the strong women in the industry that are moving mountains to bring medicine to people and give other women opportunities at high paying, white collar jobs. Stand up for the plant you love and don’t shove it between your boobs. Would you take a picture with Ibuprofen tablets on your rear-end and post it? How about a shot with your Ambien pills in your push up bra? No? So why do it with cannabis?

You have a right to post whatever you want online, but as a community, think about the message you are sending out to the millions of people who are just starting to learn about cannabis and its legalization process. We need your help, be a strong women.

And yes, you are super-hot, so relax.