Nine Cannabis-Related New Year Resolutions

Nine Cannabis-Related New Year Resolutions 

The tradition of making New Year’s resolutions dates back almost 4,000 years to the Babylonians. It’s said they made promises to the gods in hopes they’d earn good favor in the coming year. The practice of making New Year’s resolutions remains ever-present today, although more often in the spirit of self-improvement than currying favor with the spiritual world. If you’re a cannabis connoisseur, here are 9 ways to make 2022 the best year yet for you and Mary Jane. 

1. Try Something New 

We’re living in the golden age of weed. There are more cannabis products today than ever, and they’ve never been more accessible. One in three Americans lives in a state where recreational marijuana is legal. This New Year, resolve to try new ways to ingest cannabis—for example, if you’re a smoker, make this the year to try edibles or concentrates. Another way to mix up your cannabis consumption is to try a different strain of weed. Your local dispensary can recommend a strain to meet your preferred flavor/aroma profile, potency, and desired effects. 

2. Cook with Cannabis 

Gone are the dark days of making guesswork homemade pot brownies that resulted in snacks ranging in strength from humdrum to hair raising. Products like cannabis-infused butter, flour, and sugar have made it easy to cook with cannabis from the comfort of your own kitchen. Pick up one of any number of great cannabis cookbooks to get started or swing into your local dispensary for inspiration. Shops like Lowkey Dispensary are stocked with a cornucopia of cannabis edibles.

3. Eat Healthy Munchies 

Marijuana and munchies go hand in hand; when the brain interacts with THC, it stimulates the appetite. For most of us, our natural inclination is to reach for sweet, salty, and generally unhealthy food when the munchies strike—pizza, chips, and chocolate all immediately spring to mind. However, keeping healthy snacks like fresh fruit, nuts, or air-popped popcorn (not like the stuff from the theater slathered in butter and salt) is a simple step to a healthier year ahead. 

4. Get Active 

The munchies are an easy way to pack on the pounds over the course of the year, especially when combined with inactivity. Getting high and kicking back with your favorite movie, video game, or music are favorites, but consider pairing cannabis with exercise. After all, the World Anti-Doping Agency considers cannabis a performance-enhancing drug. A study by the University of Colorado Boulder found that 80% of marijuana users in states where cannabis is legal use it shortly before or after exercise, reporting it increases enjoyment, improves recovery, and serves as motivation.

5. Show More Generosity 

Nothing kills a good time faster than the person always showing up empty-handed. If you haven’t been contributing to smoke sessions, this is the year to turn it around. If you don’t have easy access to weed—for example, Lowkey is an hour from both New Hampshire and Rhode Island, two states where recreational marijuana remains prohibited—no worries, just bring the snacks instead. 

6. Break Stereotypes 

There’s no shortage of stigmas about cannabis users—it’s common for people to characterize pot people as lazy, unmotivated, forgetful, and easily confused. Of course, that isn’t the case. Successful marijuana enthusiasts include people like:

• Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft 
• Michael Phelps, winner of 23 Olympic gold medals 
• Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple 
• Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream 
• Redman and Method Man, rappers and actors 

Make this the year that cannabis is associated with smart, ambitious, healthy, and successful people.

7. Cannabis and Creativity 

The connection between cannabis and creativity has a long and storied history, although there is little scientific proof of cannabis as creative fuel. That said, a 2017 study found that marijuana users are more likely to have creative personalities. Turn off the television, tackle an art project, and keep your right brain busy. Painting, drawing, writing short stories or poetry, and even an adult coloring book are great ways to keep your artistic side active while consuming cannabis.

8. Make a Difference 

There are a lot of great organizations working toward making the world of cannabis a better place and they need support—from groups working to legalize weed to those creating a more equitable industry to those trying to expunge the offenses of those with cannabis-related crimes. Commit to helping one of these causes this year, whether it’s with funding, showing up to a march, or a letter-writing campaign.

9. Support Your Local Dispensary 

Beyond the convenience of having a dispensary in your neighborhood, there are a lot of great reasons to support your local dispensary. Building a relationship with your local budtender can lead to more reliable and effective recommendations and an increased personalization of service. 

Dispensaries like Lowkey, in Dorchester’s Codman Square, are also adding value to the community. Lowkey is renovating an older building, hopes to stimulate business in the area, and is initially adding about 30 jobs that we hope to fill with local employees. 

Lowkey is also importantly bringing minority representation to an industry that is overwhelmingly white. When we open this Spring, Lowkey will be just the second Black-owned dispensary in Boston and one of ten (out of 280) cannabis business licenses awarded in Massachusetts that have gone to Economic Empowerment or Social Equity applicants.