The Guide To Modern Cannabis Etiquette: 2022 Edition

This article was originally published on Cannabis.net and appears here with permission.

While it’s certainly true that cannabis consumption is not something to be ashamed of – that doesn’t excuse you to be an a-hole about your consumption habits. With cannabis becoming more popular and mainstream every single day, I have decided to create an updated version of Modern Cannabis Etiquette in order to help maintain harmony in your area.

My inspiration came from a touching story of a person who is not a cannabis smoker who asked the following in a thread entitled “Am I the A$$hole?” This thread is dedicated to those times when you have moral quandaries about your actions, whether your apparent rudeness was justified or not.

This is what the original poster said;

My husband and I live a few states away from his brother and his wife, so we don't see them that often. We arranged to see them this week.

They got here on Saturday. Sunday, I went out to the store and when I came home a few hours later the house stank like weed. When I said hi to them, it was obvious that she had been using marijuana.

I hate the smell of marijuana. I don't know if this is weird but I cannot stand the smell at all. It's gross and it quite literally makes me sick.

She confirmed that she had been using it. She said she figured it was okay since “it was medical marijuana so she needed it”. She hadn't asked.

I was already upset that she was using it but the fact that she hadn't asked made it worse. I told her she could not have marijuana in our house and if she was using it she had to be off our property.

She said I was being unfair and that I didn't understand and was being “ableist” and that I couldn't stop her from using prescription medication.

Later that day I found her doing it again and told her to leave. She blew up at me and said I had no right to make her leave. She and my brother in law left that evening. They were very rude about it.

My husband thinks I was overreacting and I shouldn't have been so rude about it when she was prescribed it by her doctor. He says I should have let them stay and just dealt with the smell, especially since we don't see them often in the first place.

Now I'm wondering if he has a point.

AITA?

Edit - the second time she was also inside of the house (SOURCE)

With more than 1.4k responses – the overall conclusion was that the person who posted this message was indeed NOT the A$$hole but rather the person who smoked in their house.

Now I know some of you believe that you have a right to smoke wherever you want, but that is a dick move. Cannabis might be more widely accepted, however this doesn’t mean that we have free range to smoke wherever and whenever we want. Just like you won’t be mixing drinks in a church during Sunday Mass – you’ll also not spark up joints in houses that are not your own unless you have permission from the owner of the house. This is just basic weed etiquette and was also the inspiration to this article.

Ask Permission – don’t assume! 

Firstly, we’ll take a closer look at the example above. Why is it that the person smoking is the asshole even if they use cannabis for medical purposes? Because while you might have a right to cannabis as a medicine, you don’t have a right to go to someone else’s house and spark up simply because of that reason.

Perhaps, if the brother-in-law’s wife asked, the original poster would have made a compromise, but the fact that the BIL’s wife tokes up inside of the house without asking first made the action more offensive. Not everybody who supports your right to smoke weed likes to smoke weed themselves. Therefore, no matter where you are – if you don’t own the place, simply ask and 9/10 times people won’t have a problem or will offer a compromise.

Don’t force your like for weed on others

Similar to the previous suggestion, being more conservative with your “weed-speak” will help you maintain more harmony, especially if there’s someone who isn’t too much of a fan of cannabis. Of course, if someone is trash talking cannabis and using bullshit arguments – it’s totally fine to call them out on it and set things right. However, when you’re constantly talking about weed at every given moment you start to sound preachy.

Once more, the mere fact that weed is widely accepted these days doesn’t mean that you have to evangelize its use or benefits. Allow people to discover their own ways and simply be there to answer questions. Have you ever known anyone who accepted your truth when you tried to force it on them? Me either!

Simply be respectful with other people’s beliefs and in most cases, you won’t have any real issues.

Don’t pass your germs!

If there is one thing that this pandemic taught us it’s that when we are infectious or have some sort of bug – we need to distance ourselves from non-sick people. This includes sharing your pipes, joints, and bongs. If you feel like you have a cold or simply don’t feel “too good” as a result of a virus or something – kindly tell this to people and don’t share your goods with others.

Passing saliva is probably one of the easiest ways for germs to spread and if there’s one thing we did learn from the pandemic it’s to use facemasks when you have symptoms. While it might not prevent the disease from spreading, you do limit the spread – and therefore if you’re sick – don’t share your doobies!

Label Your Edibles

Sometimes you may have guests staying at your place – they might feel inclined to eat some of your snacks, specially if you said, “Make yourself at home!” However, if you have edibles in the house it would be wise to properly label them so that someone doesn’t accidentally eat a 1000mg brownie in one setting and go full Joey Diaz on your ass.

Don’t Slob the knob

While “slobbing on the knob” might be a reference to sucking some D – it also can apply to pipes or joints. It also plays directly on the “don’t pass your germs” rule for harmonious toking. Essentially, don’t put your drool on the pieces – nobody likes to hit a soggy joint.

Want more? 

While this article was written in direct response to the “Am I an A-Hole” post, there’s plenty of more where that came from. If you’re interested in a complete list – let me know in the comment section below! If you have some etiquette to share, why not comment on that as well and I’ll compile the best answers into a well-thought out blog post.