WEEDSTAGRAM

When
President Barack Obama publicly declined a doobie at a rally in Denver in July,
the footage didn’t debut on CNN or FOX News. It launched on the Instagram
account of one “@manton89” and quickly spread like a virus across the whole
internet.

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Just
another day in the life of the cannabis culture on Instagram. The massively
popular free photo-sharing app has been completely colonized by the cannabis
culture. Literally millions of personal Instagram photos are publicly
searchable under terms like “weed,” “cannabis,” “420,” “710,” and “dabs”. In
under four years, the free service based in San Francisco has become essential
to many a patients’ way of life. It’s how they express themselves, find buds
and deals, make new friends, and stay informed.

“It
has an interesting cross-section of not just cannabis users,” said Lens,
spokesperson for California’s Clear
Concentrate and avid Instagrammer @theclearconcentrate. “There’s now all these
people who grow and do crazy illegal underground operations all over the
country and all over the world. Seed sellers, concentrate makers, people who
grow in their back yard, everyone is on there.”

MEGA-HIT

Launched
in October 2010, and available in the Apple App Store, Google Play or Windows
Store, Instagram hit 100 million users by April 2012, and 150 million monthly
active users by September 2013, which is why Facebook bought it for $1 billion
in cash and stock last year.

Currently
at 200 million monthly active users, Instagrammers take photos or a 15-second
video, edit the images, and post them to their feed. Feed followers view photos
in a vertical strip in reverse chronological order. You tap the photos to
“like” them and can comment underneath.

“You
can ask questions and create synergies. It’s a meeting ground that’s a lot
nicer than a forum. And it’s simple,” said Lens.

Popular,
San Francisco Area-based vlogger and cannabis culture expert Coral Reefer
(@coralreefer420) said she didn’t immediately jump on Instagram when it
launched, but Instagramming is now a priority.

Coral
uses it to post pictures of her nails, clothes, her favorite new wax or buds,
or little videos of her dabbing. Coral gives them a detailed caption that’s
full of personality, and positivity. She promotes other accounts by mentioning
them by name (like “@greenacresrx”), which links to the friend’s account.

Coral
has also mastered the “hashtag,” the little “#” symbol before a word or short
phrase that makes the phrase searchable by everyone. She creates her own hash
tags “#worldreefermeetup,” and repeats newly trending hashtags like #yogadabs.

“There’s
just so much more engagement there than on other social networks,” she said.

While
bared nipples or genitals will get your account deleted, Instagram’s terms of
service leave a little wiggle room for quasi-legal cannabis. That’s plenty of
space to sky-rocket brands and trends into the zeitgeist. Clear Concentrates
would not be where the two year-old, high-flying brand is without Instagram,
said Lens.

“I
don’t think we would have gone as far as we have gone. I think it’s absolutely
been crucial,” he said.

ILLUSION
OF ‘PRIVATE’

Coral
thinks the cannabis culture has embraced Instagram because it feels anonymous
and it’s simple and visually oriented. “People have always been proud of their
garden or BHO, or hash and never felt safe to show it.”

Using
Instagram with a fake name and fake location feels like an anonymous way to
express oneself. But Instagram is not private.

“I
do know that law enforcement frequently go to social media to look for
incriminating evidence,” notes San Francisco lawyer Zenia Gilg—a member of
NORML’s legal committee.

Digital
photographs often contain precise geographical information on where and when
they were taken. It’s called “geo-tagging” and it’s common on most smart phones
and new cameras.

In
March 2014, FBI and DEA announced a nationwide operation that culminated in 200
sting operations and the arrest of 350 suspected Instagram dealers. Police
seized $7 million in cash, cannabis, plants and cocaine. One defendant posted
pictures of himself and his contraband at their secret warehouse location.

It’s
not just dealers, either. In Sept. 2013, a 17-year-old Louisiana suspect
published a picture of one nug to Instagram and ended up with a narcotic
detective at the family’s door. Parents must tightly monitor their kids’ social
feeds. Adults must understand nothing on the Internet is actually private, and cannabis
posts are self-incriminating on a federal level, if not a state one.

But
if an adult user is fully informed, Coral sees public cannabis posts as civil
disobedience. “Sometimes you got to show how thoroughly broken the law is to
change it,” she said.

KILLER
FEEDS

@snoopdogg

Hail
to the king. Snoop regularly shares his weedy, world-crossing exploits like
you’re just another one of his Gs.

@pulseglass

California’s
scientific glass heavyweights, Pulse Glass’ instafeed is an onslaught of memes,
events, and intricate, envy-inducing glassware.

@pieguy420

Hungry
for close-ups of perfect nugs so THC-coated they look “wet”? Mysterious
celebrity breeder @pieguy420 has your dish.

@bongbeauties

This
feel-good ‘boobs and buds’ feed aggregates and promotes its own users —
including plenty of aspiring and non-aspiring models who love to toke.

@snicbarnes

Heady
glass visionary Snic Barnes works with copper electroplating as part of a
scientific/steam-punk aesthetic; that is, when he’s not haunting your dreams
with his creatured-out dab rigs.

@X_TRACTED

Home
of Refine Seattle, Washington State’s “first and only” premier processor, the
@X_TRACTED feed looks like NASA and the hash industry had a baby, and they took
pictures. #Dragonballz

@colorado_hemp_project

A
historic bonafide, legal hemp farm in Colorado is posting pics showing their
progress on their first, two-acre crop of hemp.

@potheadsociety

With
over one million photos hashtagged “#potheadsociety” the Instagram-based news
feed has become a dominant force for ‘pot’ culture online, pioneering news
briefs as photo posts.

@ireadculture

Our
very own news and lifestyle-based magazine’s feed, often with amazing features,
profiles and deals.