(In the spirit of transparency, this is a stock photo. The person in this image is not the subject of this story.)
Although not super common, there are cannabis cultivators who love growing the plant — just not consuming it. From hobby growers to large-scale licensed producers, there are some growers who just don’t like to get high. At all. As we well know, weed affects everyone differently, and for some people it’s simply not a positive experience.
We spoke with one East Coast cultivator of six years about why she loves to grow weed but can’t stand smoking it. Sarah (not her real name so as to protect her identity) said she used to smoke weed to help with the symptoms of her Lyme Disease, but stopped consuming the plant altogether a few years ago.
“For me, [cannabis] didn’t affect me like it did others. No matter what I tried, I would get paranoid, anxious and, for lack of better word, twitchy,” Sarah explains.
Although she doesn’t like to get high anymore, Sarah is still incredibly passionate about growing our favorite plant, and does so full time. She finds everything about cannabis fascinating, from trying new genetics to the various stages of the plant’s life cycle.
“Every plant is so different and the entire life cycle always amazes me,” says Sarah. “Watching the progression of a new strain throughout the flower process is my favorite part. The bud structure, the smell, the colors — it’s always so unique.”
Sarah also explains how incredible it is to grow a plant that helps people in so many different ways. From glaucoma to post-traumatic stress disorder, after she saw how her first successful harvest benefitted so many people, she admits she was hooked on growing.
However, Sarah does admit to feeling envious of people who can smoke weed comfortably. “I’m really jealous of people who can consume it because I love so many things about this plant. It feels like I’m a chef making all this delicious food that I can’t eat, or I’ll get sick.”
It’s a funny analogy, but not smoking the weed she grows has gotten Sarah some criticism. Because she can’t taste her crop or feel its effects, people can be snarky about how much Sarah really knows about cannabis.
“I have been hesitant to talk about this before,” she says, “because I find this industry can be so judgmental. I’m already under scrutiny for being a woman, God forbid I don’t smoke, either.”
It must be said that most of those haters haven’t smoked Sarah’s weed, which has proven very popular in her region of the US. Through her loving cultivation of the plant, she’s helped countless medical marijuana patients every day and is proud of her work, proving you don’t have to partake to grow great weed.