Even if certain parts of America claim to be “progressive”, the stigmas associated with cannabis usage among parents are nearly unavoidable and still very much alive. Stories of repercussions from those stigmas range from negative looks and personal opinions from other parents into the community to the traumatizing experience of Child Protective Services removing a child from the custody of their parents.
In Texas, a state whose had the majority of their House of Representatives approve cannabis related bills yet cannabis is still heavily stigmatized, a group of passionate activists, businesswomen and mothers have organized and will be hosting a panel discussion this Saturday in Richardson to have a discussion surrounding the many subjects and questions that arise when speaking of parenting and cannabis.
From a mutual interest in hosting panel discussions pertaining to parenting, Annie Epley of Queens of Cannabis and Sarah Moseley from Texas Cannabis Collective collaborated on “Moms Talk Cannabis”, a discussion hosted by mothers and for mothers.
“We never talk about our use as mothers. It’s okay to talk about how you drink a bottle of wine but it’s not okay to talk about how you had a joint after your kid went to bed. It sucks that it’s a conversation people don’t feel like having especially in an environment where we’re trying to break that. We want people to come out of the cannabis closet.”
As opposed to a general discussion of how to talk about cannabis with kids, Moms Talk Cannabis goes into pinpoint specific detail about the prevalent and very relevant subjects they’ll be speaking about, from “Women in the Workplace” to “Coming Out of the Cannabis Closet” and even the harmful yet realistic topic of possible interference from CPS or other similar bodies.
“The subjects all hit a different subject of being a mom because there’s no cookie cutter mom. We’re all different. Some of us work, some of us stay at home. Some of us are patients ourselves.” said Moseley.
Similarly to the discussion points, the panel of speakers itself is incredibly diverse in terms of walks of life and reasons why they support cannabis usage. Among them are Nurse Practitioner and medical cannabis usage for autism advocate Christy Zartler and Tarrant County Libertarian Party member and former Texas House candidate Jessica Pallett to name only two speakers.
An interesting point which will be discussed during the panel that Epley brought up that doesn’t directly apply to parenting but to the cannabinoids themselves.
“There’s so many cannabinoids we aren’t focusing on and we’re making sure that these women know how to think bigger and think like moms. And if they can feel like they can have a place in the industry, now is the time to move.”
With the general theme of the de-stigmatization of cannabis use as a parent, Moms Talk Cannabis will provide a unique and deeply personal look at how a mother can use cannabis, whether for medical reasons or recreationally, while also breaking the antiquated and almost entirely disproven myth that cannabis users are neglectful parents who deserve to have their children removed.
“We want people leaving this event knowing they’re not alone.” said Moseley.