Cannabis legalization and normalization means that (in legal states at least), we have a cornucopia of pot products to choose from this holiday season.
Most Ganja Yogis share the values of supporting small, family-owned companies that help patients, the environment, and our communities, and we can keep these values in mind as we fill our loved ones' stockings with creative cannabis presents this holiday season.
As more and more cannabis companies compete for our dollars, to the best of our abilities, we can make sure they follow some good-karma guidelines. Here’s a few of the top values we stand by when shopping for canna-gifts this holiday season!
Yogic Buying Practice #1: Responsibly-Farmed
Sungrown is the most natural and sustainable. Indoor-grown plants get artificial light for three months. Outdoor cannabis plants get charged with the full spectrum of light of the sun for a full 8 months. This natural light spectrum produces more cannabinoids and terpenes (contrary to popular belief!), without the intensive resources needed for lighting, ventilation, cooling, and dehumidifying that indoor monocultures require. Sungrown cannabis also requires far less pesticides and fungicides, the residues of which can be extremely hazardous to our health.
However, cannabis is an excellent phytoremediator, meaning it soaks up all of the heavy metals in its immediate environment. Indeed, cannabis can even clean radioactive metals from soil. For this reason, you want to make sure you are purchasing outdoor-grown cannabis from a farm that has tested the soil for heavy metal contamination.
If outdoor-grown cannabis is not an option where you live (or soil testing isn’t available), see if you can find greenhouse-grown cannabis, which uses less resources than indoor grown.Show the one you love that you not only want then to get high, but you want them to be healthy, with sustainably-grown ganja.
Yogic Buying Practice #2: Petroleum-Free & Tested
Industrial fertilizers and chemical pesticides sprayed onto crops to increase yields are considered safe enough to eat, but when the same petroleum-based chemicals are smoked, they enter the bloodstream without being metabolized by the digestive tract, making them potentially more hazardous to our health.
In addition, federal prohibition here in the US means that the EPA cannot regulate the industry, so a non-organic joint may have more neurotoxicity than a non-organic apple. Worst of all, because cannabis is federally-illegal, farmers who grow sustainable, petroleum-free cannabis aren’t allowed to label their products “organic!”
When we purchase this remarkable medicine without chemical fertilizers and poisonous pesticides, we show businesses that we want our medicine to remain all-natural. (Plus it tastes better because it was grown the way Mother Nature intended).
If you live in a legal state, buying from a dispensary instead of the illegal-market should mean your cannabis was tested by independent third-parties, which lab-test and certify that the products are free from pesticides, molds (from improper drying), and pathogens (from improper extraction). SC Labs, for example, tests for 62 pesticides, several dozen solvents, molds, and other contaminants.
For vape pens, only buy your loved ones products with nothing added (no coconut oil or Vitamin E). Buy them a vape only if it’s a pure cannabis that was extracted with C02 or is rosin.
Yogic Buying Practice #3: Medicinal Ingredients
Edible cannabis gifts are food-as-medicine. Sugar-based treats and indulgences are fine sometimes, but a whole-foods diet is what brings health, happiness, and longevity to everyone on your holiday gift list. Look for products that are free from processed ingredients, refined sugars, artificial preservatives, artificial sweeteners, trans fats, and food coloring. Buy organic if you can.
If quality edibles don’t exist where you live, you could create your own whole-food edibles with maple syrup or other sugar alternatives. Or make a lovely infused-olive or coconut oil for your Secret Santa.
Yogic Buying Practice #4: Corporate Responsibility
I love to #BuyBlack when it comes to cannabis, if possible. Knowing I’m supporting people who have traditionally been harmed by the failed war on drugs feels like good karma.
If that’s not available where you live, ask the budtender at your fave dispensary what brands donate a portion of sales to help bring an end to cannabis prohibition or re-invest in their communities in some way.
If they don’t carry brands like that, ask the dispensary if they at least have a compassion program for low-income patients, and if not, what would it take to set something like that up?
In addition, begin to look at your fave cannabis brands’ social media, Youtube, and websites. Notice if their social media presence is about lobbying for safe, affordable access to all people, or if they only seem concerned with the bottom line. Notice if their marketing strategy more tired images of women as objects for desire, or only white people. See if you can find brands with marketing campaigns that represent a variety of cannabis users or have a diverse executive team.
When we pause and ask ourselves questions like this we realize how important it is to shop the local mom and pop stores, to support minority and women-owned businesses, and to truly vote with our dollar. You can share more about this product to your gift recipient, educating them on the importance of ethical cannabis as we help them have a blazed holiday season.
Conclusion: High Holidays
As cannabis becomes legalized, Big Pharma, Big Alcohol, Big Tobacco, and corporations like Monsanto all have eyes on the profits to be made.
Together, we can resist letting factory farms and huge corporations dominate the market.
Instead, we can keep this industry as compassionate, inclusive, equitable, and progressive as the people who risked their lives to create it.
As the industry gains momentum, more and more amazing brands are popping up that prioritize health and wellness, - for the consumers, the farmers, and the planet!
Supporting them shows the world (and our Secret Santa recipient)that cannabis is not just another “consumer product,” - it’s a medicine for living healthier, more balanced, more meaningful lives.
Have a safe holiday season, love everyone here at Ganja Yoga!
Holiday Sale on the May 2024 Ganja Yoga Training - save 25% Dec 1-20th 2023, with the code HOLIDAY23 at
