Friendship and Cannabis

Cannabis gives me a greater sense of connection to my friends. Cannabis breaks down barriers that differences build.  It opens us up to vulnerability, acceptance, love, and respect. Friendships flourish through social meet-ups and the shared acceptance of cannabis.

My name is Patty Roe, CEO of Pink Haze and Pink Sesh.  And This is my story of Female Friendships and Cannabis – a Perfect Match.

Conflicted as a Republican operative and a cannabis consumer, I looked around to see if I could make a stealth exit from the Congressional Chiefs of Staff reception. This was a typical move in Washington DC but usually because someone was “over-served” or wanted to ditch an overzealous intern. For me, it was past time to sneak a toke of cannabis. Cannabis was my social consumption choice and helped me cope when drinkers told the same stories over and over as they swayed back and forth.

If my peers in Washington DC knew I was a “stoner”, my career would be over. On Capitol Hill, news travels fast and opinions form before sentences end. Hiding from professional peers didn’t bother me as much as hiding from my friends. At times I stayed home because of my appetite for joints over cocktails. It wasn’t an accepted way to blow off steam or decompress. I denied social outings and sometimes felt isolated and disconnected. I wasn’t authentic about my love for cannabis and it affected my female friendships – the relationships I relied on the most in a stressful climate.

Friendship and Cannabis

Without genuineness, friendships fail or remain shallow and disintegrate. And without deep and meaningful female friendships, life just moves along a path without the sense of deep connection that women need for overall wellness. I didn’t realize then how much I craved acceptance among my friends. But in my fear of losing too much, I never gave them the opportunity to fully know who I was, cannabis and all.

It was later when I found the power of true authenticity and transparency within the realm of female friendships.

The power of female friendships is strong. Women crave strong alliances and need the kind of emotional support that male friends and husbands can’t provide. Let’s face it, most of our emotional and mental strength comes from bonds with strong females. Women are intuitive and listen, support, and empower each other. The development of strong and healthy friendships is something all women can benefit from. In fact, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, women with close social and emotional ties have a better survival and fewer reoccurrences within the first few years of being diagnosed with cancer. It is undeniable that women need women to live a happy and healthy life.

Aging & Cannabis

It wasn’t until my forties, when I moved to a California, a cannabis legal state, that I became transparent and authentic about my passion for the controversial plant medicine. Even though, as a political consultant, I still hid my cannabis consumption, outside of work, my friendships progressed. I discovered that cannabis is a female-friendship game changer. Many friends enjoyed toking and the ones who didn’t were happy if I was.

However, women have struggled for decades with the stigma of cannabis use. Even in a legal state, women are judged. It isn’t viewed as feminine to see a women with a joint in her hand. And God forbid if a woman comes home to a toke over a glass of wine. How could she possibly take care of the family, make dinner, help with homework, clean, and finish her work after everyone is asleep?

There’s a strain for that. But that’s a topic for a different article.

Needless to say, even in today’s legal-ish world of cannabis, there are still women hiding their consumption.

So, how do you meet like-minded women? There are many groups based on age, activities, and events that usually involve cocktails. The Junior League, Red Hat Society, and In Her Shoes are examples of great organizations for females to gather. Women find meaningful relationships all of the time by joining these membership groups and are better for it.

But, what if… you don’t care about any of that and you prefer to whoop it up among the clouds? That’s right, there is a special breed of modern women who prefer to socialize around cannabis and crave the kind of friendships that allow them to be themselves. Some women use cannabis to overcome social anxieties so it makes perfect sense to find new friends that are like-minded about their favorite plant.

It seemed like a dream until women in San Diego started to gather once a month under the name of Pink Sesh Society. Pink because it’s inherently feminine and represents friendship, affection, harmony, inner peace, and approachability. Sesh is an abbreviation of session which is defined as an informal social get-together or meeting to perform a group activity. Society represents the diverse women of all ages that come together to find special friendships and bonds they haven’t found elsewhere. There is no hiding cannabis from this part of their lives. Instead they celebrate it with authentic bonds, relationships, and, most of all, fun.

Some of the Pink Sesh ladies refer to Pink Sesh Society as a “super diverse sorority with weed.” But in this “weed sorority” there is no mold for our sisters. This sisterhood revolves around an aura of acceptance, cooperation, communication, connection, and compassion mutual amongst like-minded, strong women that support each other in different stages of life. It is the epitome of the belief that women must stick together to learn and grow, and possibly take over the world.

This experience in San Diego and the outpouring of messages from women who want to find their “girl gang” has the Pink Sesh Society on a mission to assist women who prefer the “puff, puff, pass” network model. Pink Sesh Society is growing and offers a national membership that revolves around cannabis, sisterhood, empowerment, and events.