Everyone loves purple cannabis strains. They’re beautiful, they smell and taste great, and their effects can be pretty potent, depending on the strain. Since the rise and popularity of Granddaddy Purple, purple strains are thought of as being grapey and heavily sedative. But the truth is, you can’t just look at purple flowers and assume they’re going to taste like fruit or put you to sleep.
The color of cannabis has nothing to do with its effects. It’s all about anthocyanins—color pigments found in plants—and there are plenty of purple cannabis strains out there that have the exact opposite effects of Granddaddy Purp.
So here are a few purple weed strains that may provide uplifting, energizing, and stimulating effects. As with all strains, highs vary by consumer; these are based on the most popular data over the years.
Candyland
(Leafly)
Candyland is truly one of the most perplexing cannabis strains out there—you truly never know what you’re going to get with it. It’s a cross of GDP and Bay Platinum Cookies, which is pretty much Platinum GSC, and from those genetics come a wide variety of phenotypes, and an even wider variety of effects.
Sometimes you’ll get some Candyland that hits you with a potent relaxation, but most times this strain comes with an aggressive head rush of energy. That may sound intimidating for people who assume they can’t handle sativas, but Candyland is great for anyone who likes to smoke a daytime strain in the morning and want something heavier than some Hazes out there.
Tropicana Cookies
Tropicana Cookies has to be here when we talk purple strains that won’t make you sleepy. It’s a new age cross of GSC and Tangie known by many other monikers like Tropicali and Tropicanna. Its buds are some of the most beautiful you’ll see with a deep-as-the-abyss shade of purple that you simply don’t see too often with sativas.
Its smell and flavor will absolutely blow you away—light a joint of this and get ready for a tropical mix of sweet oranges followed by a refreshing high that makes you want to get up and go. To where? Anywhere, for anything, at any time.
I’ve faced joint after joint of Tropicana Cookies and still had enough mental energy to push through hours of the Joe Budden Podcast. I even smoked a joint of it while walking home from a warehouse party at 5am. If that doesn’t scream the opposite of heavily sedative, then nothing does.
Purple Haze
(Leafly)
Purple Haze is most famously a Jimi Hendrix song from 1967. And right after that, it’s most famously a classic weed strain from around the same time. Which came first: chicken or the egg? Not sure, but what is known is that this classic sativa produces flowers that are straight-up flushed with a deep purple color.
Flavor-wise, the strain is a cross of Purple Thai and Haze, so the smoke comes through with a sweet earthy taste. The high usually differs from the presumed sleepiness, and instead delivers a potent euphoria that puts people in a dreamy daze. Grab this one for a boost in creativity.
Sherbert
If you haven’t noticed, many GSC crosses come out on the uplifting side of effects. Sherbert is another one of them. This famous cross of Cookies and Pink Panties comes stacked with deep purple colors and frosty white trichomes.
The high is usually very mellow and manageable, which is why you find this one on so many Best Strains for Beginners lists. I mean, smoke enough of it and you may be counting sheep, but most people champion the strain—also called Sunset Sherbert—for providing a comfortable cerebral boost that many people go to as a smoke-through-the-day type of bud.
Purple Skunk
Out of all the strains on this list, you’ll find the least information about Purple Skunk. It’s one of those classic strains that lives purely on legend and small anecdotal reports. As legend will tell you, Purple Skunk is a cross of some old school purple strain and Skunk #1 (obviously) that’ll make you feel uplifted and happy.
Back in the ‘70s when growers were starting to cross indicas and sativas, which led to the hybrid world we now live in, Skunk was one of the go-to sativas, and Skunk’s attributes tend to be pretty dominant in its kids—Leafly reviewers report similar happy, relaxed, and euphoric effects from Purple Skunk.
