The first time you come out to your parents about your cannabis use can be a scary and uncomfortable experience. It’s a big step into the unknown, but can often result in meaningful conversations about how much (or how little) you have in common with the people who raised you. When we’re growing up, our parents, especially our moms, seem infallible, a superhero caliber brand of amazing that you can hardly fathom.
It’s only as you get older that you slowly learn your parents are simply human – they’ve been confronted with same roadblocks and milestones that you’ve encountered along your path to adulthood, and they certainly know about cannabis. Whether they’ve walked the straight and narrow or can toke up with the best of them, your parents definitely have an opinion about our favorite green plant.
In acknowledgement of Mother’s Day, I asked the Leafly staff to share their stories of the first time they broached the topic of cannabis with their moms. The result was a collection of heartwarming and hilarious anecdotes of coming out of the cannabis closet to the person who birthed us, raised us, and changed our diapers. Here’s to the moms – may they love you, accept you, and respect your choices, one way or another.
A Surprising Bonding Experience
“Ahh Mother’s Day.,….I wasn’t there (I went on a guys’ ski trip), but when we were pregnant with my first (13 years ago!) there was a huge baby shower. My pregnant wife was sober, but our friends all got super stoned with the grandmas to be. Apparently both moms bonded over their upcoming transition to being a grandma while super high on the couch late at night.”
–Clay, Account Executive
“[It was the] summer between freshman and sophomore year of college. I’m down at a beach house with friends and family and I sneak off to burn a J. I come back and of course smell like pot. My dad scolds me for smelling like pot in the house, and immediately follows it with ‘…but if you wanna burn another, I’ll meet ya on the back porch in like 20 minutes.” Smoked one down with Pops and it was great. Fast forward nine years, now my parents have their own grow and make edibles.”
–Jordan, Account Manager
Yes, Moms Worry
“My mom found my six Deep Chunk plants in the crawlspace under the house when I was in high school, and instead of scolding me, [she] got really sad like she had failed as a mother. I wish she would have just yelled at me. Little did she know [what] the future [would bring for cannabis]!”
–Fermin, Software Engineer
“My mom got a call from the police department, so the ride home was our first real discussion about cannabis. Her main concern was for my safety and whether there were harder drugs of abuse. She did not condemn cannabis, I had to deal with my disappointed Jewish mother, which is much worse than an angry mom! My dad, on the other hand, basically said, ‘No shit? I was arrested for the same thing when I was your age!’, and thus our bond over shared views towards cannabis commenced.”
–Will, Digital Specialist
“My mom was cleaning my room while I was studying abroad and found rolling papers. Little did she know, I’d actually never used them (I still can’t roll a J), but had them just in case (I’d been vaporizing daily for a year or so at that point). She was more concerned about me going to jail than about any side effects. This was in 2010, so it’s pretty awesome that in a few short years I’m now working on the legal side of the industry!”
–Philip, Software Engineer
“Hey Mom, I Work for Leafly Now”
When they got the coveted job offer from Leafly, many of our esteemed colleagues were forced to come clean with their parents about their new line of work and their support for cannabis. The confessions led to some unexpected results:
“My mom found out that I used cannabis when I got the job [at Leafly], but she was always a bit squirrely about actually trying cannabis. One night, my sister’s friends were over and we all sat around the patio table outside, smoking out of a water pipe. My mom decided to join us and we all giggled, trying to instruct her on how to use a bong. My mom managed a successful hit, complete with coughing. She passed the pipe around the table and my sister’s friend easily maneuvered the pipe, while my mom looked on.
“Suddenly, Mom gasped. ‘Whaaaat? You smoke weed? Does your mother know that?’ My sister’s friend’s eyes widened and she quickly responded, ‘NO! Please don’t tell her.’ The entire table erupted in giggles. Don’t worry. Momma ain’t no narc.”
–Lisa, Associate Editor
“I came out of the cannabis closet to my mom by telling her I took a job at Leafly, at which point she busted out the app and showed me all the strains she’d favorited. Next week I ran into her at Uncle Ike’s, buying rolling papers.”
–Kelly, Senior Developer
“My little Korean mom is both impossible to read and quite intimidating, so when it was time to break the news that her daughter took a job at a cannabis company, I was a little afraid of how she’d react. We live a few thousand miles apart, so I mustered up the courage to ring her up and let her know. I said, ‘I work for a startup that has created a directory for, uh…marijuana’, and was greeted with silence on the other end, then ‘My gahhhh,’ then more silence. I chewed on my lip, waiting for the inevitable rapid-fire interrogation that would eventually spiral into half-English, half-Korean ragerish (rage-gibberish).
“Finally, my mom started back up with ‘So…’, and I braced myself for the verbal abuse that would follow. She said, ‘You get pah-king?’ Bewildered, I uttered, ‘What?’ She repeated, ‘Pah-king. You get pah-king there?’ My mom just asked me about the parking situation at my new cannabis job. Because that’s clearly the first question that springs to mind when someone tells you, ‘I work for a startup in the marijuana industry.’ Confused, I responded in the affirmative, to which my mom replied, ‘Das good. Free?’ I said, ‘Yes, I get free parking’ while my brain struggled to understand what the hell was happening.
“My mom, pleased with my new job’s parking situation, said, ‘Oh, nice!’, and at that point I asked, ‘That’s it?’ To my surprise, she countered with ‘You smart and you know better than Mommy, so you do what’s best.’ That was it. We wrapped up our call and that was that. I have the weirdest yet best mom in the world. (Although we’ve sinced move offices to a less parking-friendly location, so who knows if her opinion will change once I break the news.)”
–Rebecca, Senior Content Manager
“A couple holiday seasons or so ago, my mom made some of the strongest brownies I have ever had in my life. We all ate one and got so stoned. Our family of five could barely function as human beings, and we piled into my sister’s double bed to watch The Interview (that Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy). We were all so uncomfortable, but too high to move to the room with the larger TV. Also, my mom calls cannabis ‘toot-toot’.”
–Sam, Account Executive
What was your experience like when you came clean to your Mom about cannabis? Share your funny and memorable stories below!
