Current Research

Funded by the National Science Foundation, this study investigates race and gender inequity in the U.S. cannabis industry.

Using intersectional analysis, Katie explores opportunities and obstacles for women in the newly legalized, highly commercialized weed industry. Immersing herself in this industry for over a year, she worked retail in dispensaries, analyzed weed advertising and legalization campaigns, and interviewed 48 workers, executives, and entrepreneurs.

Centering the experiences of women of color, Katie examines how licensed weed businesses draw on race, class, and gender to promote and legitimize a quasi-legal, socially stigmatized market. Individuals who try to participate legally in this industry, she finds, face structural and ideological barriers that privilege some people while marginalizing others.

​

This research calls for the development of new weed policy frameworks that redress the state violence of the “war on drugs” and foster social equity and justice post-prohibition. [Illustration by Curt Merlo.]