For the first time, female respondents aged 19-30 reported higher past-year cannabis use than males in the same age group, according to Monitoring The Future. Cannabis use reached historically high levels among adults aged 19-30 (42.4%) and 35-50 (29.3%), while Adderall use hit an all-time low in 2023. This gender reversal represents a fundamental cultural shift in how women relate to cannabis, wellness, and their own agency. I asked seven women about their relationships with cannabis, and their stories reveal a complex tapestry of medical discovery, cultural resistance, personal empowerment, and generational change.
Medical Discovery and Wellness Revolution
Today's female cannabis users embrace the plant for specific wellness purposes, marking a departure from recreational stereotypes. Nyh manages her autoimmune disorder and chronic inflammation with cannabis, finding it an effective substitute for opioids after hip replacement surgery. “I have an autoimmune disorder which causes a lot of inflammation and sometimes I have a fairly stressful job,” she explains.
Shannon discovered intentional use after having her second child. She applied for her medical marijuana card and began daily microdosing. The results surprised her: “What initially started as consuming for my mental health, my physical health has benefited, I've lost weight even.” Her autoimmune arthritis flares became less aggressive when cannabis-improved sleep reduced overall stress.
Andrea uses cannabis as a “decompression tool” that helps maintain healthy boundaries with her art practice.
Weed soothes Alexia's anxiety: “When I know I'll be at large social gatherings, I smoke weed to help me feel more comfortable around others. It helps me calm my nervous system down.”
For Alexa, it helps her tune back in when she's been stretched thin or mentally overloaded. “If I'm really freaking out about something I'll often pause and smoke some weed about it first. Chances are HIGH I don't care as much after a few tokes – and as a naturally anxious human, this is essential!”
Challenging the Wine Mom vs. Weed Mom Narrative
Shannon observes a persistent double standard: “Society still praises the wine mom and condemns the weed mom.” This cultural inconsistency reveals biases about acceptable maternal stress relief. While alcohol consumption among mothers is normalized through “wine mom” culture, cannabis use remains stigmatized despite often superior safety profiles.
The intersection of motherhood and cannabis creates unique challenges. For Kylie, using cannabis as a mother makes her “more playful, more present, and less reactionary,” but it still makes her late and forgetful, which is tough as a mom, when you need to be “three steps ahead in your day, and if you're not there are meltdowns.”
Shannon describes being chastised by a dispensary manager in front of her children, highlighting systemic discrimination mothers face accessing this medicine. “Parents can take their children with them to the liquor store or pharmacy, but how are we supposed to pick up our medicine?”
When Shannon decided to educate her children about her medical cannabis use, she “fully embraced being out of the green closet,” representing a generational shift toward transparency over shame.
Industry Representation Gaps
Despite increased female participation, representation in cannabis culture and marketing remains lacking. Nyh feels “mostly everything outside of those cute pre-roll packs are all geared towards men.” Alexa notes that while there's more visibility for women, it's often “surface level—curated to appeal to a trend rather than speak to real, nuanced experiences.”
Shannon sees promise in women “collaborating and organizing together,” but wants more women in decision-making roles and better access to venture capital funding.
Kylie claims that “all the best trimmers are women.” She had only ever worked with two female growers, who allegedly were awful because they had to “be men” in order to thrive in the industry. “Have you seen weed stores and brands? It is so clearly a man calling all the shots,” she adds. It makes her eyes roll.
Daily Rituals and Intentional Use
These women describe varied but intentional consumption patterns. Shannon microdoses from a Blazy Susan preroll with her daytime strain, then switches to a nighttime strain in the evening. She consumes outside to disconnect and avoids her phone during sessions. “Some of my best decision making has occurred during those sessions.”
Alexa treats evening cannabis like others might pour wine: “It's a daily routine for me. I've always enjoyed the intentionality and ritual of rolling a joint, packing a bowl. It marks the transition into relaxation.”
As someone who discovered cannabis later in life, Alexia celebrates the way it helps her tap into creativity and embrace her goofy, heart-forward self. Whether she's studying complex human behavior or lighting up a joint with friends, she embodies a balance of compassion, curiosity, and silliness. She notes that “It's a way for me to wind down and allow myself to explore a different version of myself that's not in my head at all times.” To her, smoking feels like a reward for getting things done. Alexia champions authenticity and joy—proving you can be both brilliant and high, scholarly and silly, all at once.
Consumption methods vary based on needs. While many prefer smoking for immediate effects, others use edibles for discretion or topicals for targeted pain relief. Nyh notes how her relationship with different methods evolves: “Sometimes one method works well with my body while others don't.”
Redefining Feminine Cannabis Use
Alexa reflects on how cannabis helped her “push back on norms around productivity, perfectionism, and femininity,” instead prioritizing “presence, self-expression and peace.” This represents using cannabis not just for medical relief, but as a tool for rejecting toxic productivity culture.
Andrea challenges traditional femininity directly: “We've been conditioned not to do certain things as women, smoking weed is one of them, is not ‘ladylike,' but honestly what is more ladylike than [to] tap into your intuition, being calm and inward.”
This philosophical shift reframes cannabis use as inherently feminine—a tool for introspection and emotional intelligence rather than masculine rebellion.
Many women describe similar transformations from stigma to acceptance, discovering cannabis benefits when they approached it on their own terms rather than through male-dominated recreational contexts.
Cultural and Racial Intersections
Cannabis stigma varies dramatically across cultural lines. Nyh, who is African American, explains that in her community, “aunts and uncles still really frown on cannabis usage due to the stigma from when they grew up. ‘Potheads' and ‘Crackheads' were synonymous and meant you were degenerate and dangerous.” Similarly for Alexia, as a Mexican woman growing up in a traditional family in Texas, smoking weed was categorized at the same level as any other drug.
PJ faced intense family opposition despite coming from India—“ironically one of the earliest places cannabis was consumed.” In traditional Indian culture, “only sadhus (religious men) used cannabis and I don't know of any women older than me who did. My mom was very against it.” The transformation came when she opened ANJA, her dispensary in New Jersey: “My mom was good and even shared her enthusiasm with her friends. My conservative step-dad came to our annual 4:20 event.”
As a white bi-but-straight-passing woman, Kylie knows she is privileged in that she can fly under the radar and is less likely to be discriminated against or have cops to notice her at all.
“I see and know this and am grateful! I know it is unfair and different for many other identities. This is sad and I hope it continues to change. That being said, growers are usually white men… they still rule the world. White men seem to be the ones who can fund major grow projects. I know this is changing but it is not yet apparent to me.”
Shannon acknowledges her white privilege: “I recognize that my race allows me certain privileges that aren't often granted to the BIPOC cannabis community.”
Personal Transformation and Healing
Cannabis offers profound psychological benefits beyond symptom management. Andrea credits the plant with teaching her stillness. “I used to live in anxiety and didn't even know it, just trying to rush everything. I learned how to slow down and weed gave me the comfort to do it without feeling guilt of not being productive 24/7.”
Alexa describes cannabis bringing “relief, reflection, playfulness,” helping her navigate difficult periods while deepening creativity. “It brings me back to myself—and that is something I will always be grateful for.”
Shannon's transformation extends to professional identity: “Weed has brought me confidence and clarity, it brought me community and education, it brought me purpose.” Her cannabis use led to advocacy work expanding affordable access for women and nonbinary trauma survivors.
The Broader Cultural Shift
This surge reflects broader transformations around women's autonomy and health advocacy. Shannon connects the trend to women's economic power: “Women make up almost 80% of purchasing decisions and are more conscious of healthy habits.”
The timing isn't coincidental. As women gain economic independence and challenge gender roles, they're reclaiming agency over wellness choices. Cannabis becomes part of rejecting pharmaceutical dependence and male-dominated culture.
Nyh captures this liberation: “Women have to go through SO MUCH and now that the stigma is removed I think we're feeling more free.”
Kylie reflects on her early years: “I felt cool, grown up. I was visiting my childhood best friend in San Francisco around age 15… we went to Fisherman's Wharf and she had a blunt and asked some ‘scary older man' to light it for us and we just smoked in public! I didn't tell her I had never smoked before.” From giggling and dancing with stoner girlfriends to working on weed farms during the Green Rush, her journey mirrors a broader generational shift: “By the time I was 16, I was smoking daily with a group of girls… a majority of my high school life was looking for weed and making friends with stoners.” For Kylie and many others, smoking weed wasn't just a rebellion—it was community.
The mental health crisis among young women—driven by social media, economic uncertainty, and political turbulence—creates demand for accessible wellness solutions. Cannabis offers immediate relief for anxiety and depression that might otherwise require expensive therapy or prescription medications with significant side effects.
Wellness-Focused Consumption
The data confirms what many suspected—women aren't just catching up to men in cannabis use; they're leading a cultural shift toward intentional, wellness-focused consumption. This “stoned sisterhood” is redefining what it means to be a female cannabis user: thoughtful, medical, empowered, and unapologetically authentic.
The reversal isn't just statistical—it's cultural, representing women's growing comfort with prioritizing their own wellness and challenging long-held stereotypes about feminine behavior. As these women demonstrate, cannabis isn't about rebellion anymore; it's about reclaiming agency, managing health, and creating space for authentic self-care in an increasingly demanding world.
