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Grass Ceiling? The lm Lady Buds elevates the stories of women in cannabis at the same time the industry is experiencing a disturbing drop of women in executive roles. TEXT DOUG SCHNITZSPAHN

Cannabis is booming, and the industry posits itself as innovative, progressive, and forward thinking—but the presence of women in leadership roles in this brave new space is decreasing. Don’t let that disconcerting fact diminish the role of women in the industry, however. They are executives, cultivators, manufacturers, retailers, and commentators in the cannabis world, and fi lmmaker Chris J. Russo set out to document achievers in all those careers in her award-winning fi lm Lady Buds, which is currently airing on the STARZ network and can be streamed on services including Amazon, AppleTV+, and iTunes.

“I was pleasantly surprised by the number of women entrepreneurs and women in leadership roles in the cannabis industry,” says Russo. “But that was back in 2017, since then, things have changed quite a bit. When I envisioned the fi lm, it was important to me to include diverse voices that spoke to different areas of cannabis history in order for the fi lm to include the LGBTQ history of cannabis activism and highlight the barriers to entry for marginalized communities who were impacted by the War on Drugs.”

To make the fi lm, Russo headed to Women In Cannabis networking events and farmers markets and conducted over 100 interviews with mothers, businesswomen, and elders, hoping to bring these diverse stories to a broad audience. Russo wants to create real change, too, with an impact campaign of cannabis panels and events that focus on cannabis policy running alongside screenings of the fi lm.

“It’s greatly disappointing that the numbers of women in cannabis are declining,” says Russo. “But I hope my fi lm shows that women have been the backbone of the cannabis industry for decades and inspires women entrepreneurs to reach for their dreams despite the challenges.”