Closets

I like to joke that my mom gave birth to closet doors and I was among the rubble, but in reality, I started coming out as a gay man when I was fourteen, during my freshman year of high school.

It took me over two years to really come out to everyone I knew, and now, ten years later, I still remember what it felt like to be in the closet with the doors shut tight.

A few weeks back, I attended an OR NORML meeting (Oregon's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), and was intrigued by how many of the speakers encouraged the crowd to "Come out of the closet!" as cannabis users. And how strongly that message resonated with the membership, especially given that the attendees were medical marijuana cardholders!

The platform was simple: to change mainstream perceptions of cannabis users, the mainstream needs to see whom users are. And in particular, the only thing that makes cannabis users different from folks who do not is just that: cannabis use.

Cannabis use is still illegal in all 50 states, with the exception of the fourteen that have enacted medical marijuana laws. Anyone coming out as a cannabis users is basically asking for legal woes, so what's the point?

But people are most likely to change their opinions and values when they know someone connected to an identity: the more cannabis users are seen and heard, the more mainstream opinion changes.

To get a comparison from the movement for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) equality: According to a 2001 report by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 88% of folks would accept a family member who came out to them as lesbian, gay or bisexual.

However, to come out as a cannabis user is not to come out as an LGBT person - different identities, different struggles. But the process of coming out is similar: sharing a part of your identity that you have historically kept hidden. And in that similarity lay a great learning experience, and a bridge to be built.

There's a website that is tracking and promoting coming out as a cannabis user nationally: The Cannabis Consumers Campaign. So far, 2,968 folks have come out as cannabis consumers nationwide.

Who will make it 2,969?


Questions? Contact Andrew at .