Cannabis
STORY BY ERIKA LEIGH PHOTOS SUBMITTED & ISTOCK
Arts
and the
Communities & Creativity
P
eanut butter and jelly, cheese and crackers, cannabis and the arts. It’s no secret that cannabis use and the arts – whether visual or musical – tend to go together. Woodstock is the prime example of the beginnings. Multiple researchers have even studied the effects of cannabis on the brain in artists– and while there is conflicting research – artists in general who use it, say cannabis helps them to relax when producing art or performing. People who
use it in consumption of the arts say they have a deeper appreciation or understanding of the lyrics, the music, or the art they’re looking at – but the connection goes beyond just use. In Western Massachusetts communities who’ve embraced the influx of locally-owned and operated adult-use cannabis stores and grows, there is a renaissance of sorts happening. In places like Holyoke, a place where dilapidated paper mills and other condemned CRQ FALL 2021
45
