Photos: Courtesy of Instagram; graphic by Jennifer Baumgardner
"Instagram was a whole new world for the cannabis industry," says Dina Browner, who, to her 39,000 Instagram followers is better known as Dr. Dina, a nickname given to her by her first client (and notorious cannabis king) Snoop Dogg. "It was the first time people felt comfortable posting pictures anonymously. Everyone has their profile name. I can't tell you how many times people ask me, 'Dr. Dina, what's your real name?'"
It's no wonder she's so wary. In 2003, the 39-year-old opened the West Hollywood Center for Compassionate Healing, affectionately known as the Sunset Shop, the first permanent cannabis dispensary in Los Angeles. At the time, her lawyers told her any photos, personal or otherwise, could be used as evidence against her if she were ever brought to court.
Now, her @DrDina420 Instagram feed is a bonafide pot portal: There she is walking the step-and-repeat at red carpet events; on TV telling her story (she's known as the Real Nancy Botwin, and says the Showtime show borrowed liberally from her life experiences); and posing with celebrities such as Charlie Hunnam and Marilyn Manson. In some pictures, she's tending marijuana plants or taking a drag on a blunt.
Photo: Instagram
Browner lives in West Hollywood, where marijuana is legal when accompanied by a recommendation from a doctor, so it's fully legal for her to share her Weeds-like experiences in real time. Even so, she's a self-professed "stickler for the law," both with her customers and her own consumption: She's had a medical marijuana scrip since 2002. "This is the first time in the last 12 years that I've felt safe doing what I do," she says. "I've spent many nights hiding in my closet thinking the Feds are coming."
In addition to consulting with dispensaries on legal issues and product queries (like quality control and inventory procedures) as well as with entertainment industry clients who are looking for a discrete scrip or an investment opportunity, Browner identifies as an activist and an advocate for cannabis. "The activists are the ones throwing paint on people and freaking out, while the advocates just want to sit around, smoke weed, and look cute in their bras," she says over the phone. "I'm kind of stuck in between both." (Browner jokingly calls less-politically minded advocates, the ones you might see toking on Instagram in pasties and Daisy Dukes, 'bong humpers.')
By Browner's definition, Coral Reefer, a 26-year-old waitress-turned-glass-blower and Santa Cruz, California Native, is equal parts advocate, activist, and bong humper. She's a bleach-blonde who prefers floaty skirts and tie-dye shirts. In the past, she's sent e-mails to clothing companies thanking them for making girly, weed-themed clothing, which she says helps to banish the burnout stereotype. Reefer also has a medical marijuana prescription to treat anxiety and depression. "If I hadn't been stoned sitting at home, I don't know or trust that I wouldn't have been in non-harmful situations," she says of her high school experience.
Photo: Instagram
Inspired by that transformative experience with pot, she works to spread what she calls the "truths" of cannabis. "It's a unique plant that hasn't been protected by us as it should have been," she says, launching into an impassioned sermon over the phone delivered in the speedy cadence of an earnest believer. "I believe it contains the world. It can do everything, and it's much more sustainable and better to grow. It almost sounds too good to be true when you talk about it." So instead of trying to give people—whether on Instagram or at various cannabis events—all the information she's gleaned from other activists and a veritable marijuana bible, The Pot Book, she encourages followers to consider the issues. "I want people to start wondering, 'Why are the laws in place like this? What was it like before the laws were in place? And who put them there?'"
Reefer doesn't use her Instagram (@coralreefer420) exclusively for pushing her politics, but as an extension of her Coral Reefer brand: the penname she uses to talk about weed as a YouTuber and blogger. She credits the handle with helping her to reach a community of Millennial marijuana users. Backed by a small, dedicated core of sponsors, she shares everything from "Cannabis Can't Kill" signs to candids of her hitting a bong stark naked—an expression of comfort, she says, rather than sexuality.
Conversely, Aanna Zadeh, who recently launched clothing brand Fun Nugs inspired by her personal Instagram account of the same name (@funnugs), posts nearly-nude Instagrams because she "likes taking sexy photos." The model and actress from Westwood, California, is now focusing full-time on the clothing line and makes at least one full-priced sale a day.
Photo: Instagram
For Zadeh, social media is a marketing tool that allows her to reach over 35,000 followers, all of whom tune in for #boobselfies and promotional Fun Nugs snaps. While her photos can garner harsh comments about the way she dresses, she tries not to take it personally. "I'm like, 'You have to be bigger than that person,'" she says. "You start meeting people who have the same common ground as you and believe in the same things as you do." The self-proclaimed introvert credits the photo-sharing app with helping her to become more sociable. And while Zadeh supports the cause Reefer and Browner champion, she's not active in it. "It's nice I can be free and express my life and not be scared," she says. "I really believe it should be legal everywhere."
Katarina Catapano, a 24-year-old year old from Tempe, AZ, with clear blue eyes and blonde, dreadlocked hair streaked with bright teal and purple, isn't politically motivated either. A photography enthusiast, she aims to document her life (when she's not working at a head shop) in beautiful pictures via her @bluntslut feed. "Obviously," she says, "the social thrill of other people accepting and liking it is part of it, too." Catapano's photos can hardly be considered risqué—there are a handful of her in bathing suits or short shorts—but the bulk are close-ups of a joint dangling between two fingers and candids of her smoking. "For me to, like, post a picture of my blunt and my tits, obviously all of those comments are gonna be like, 'TITTIES!' and 'You've got some nice tits,' and 'Let me motorboat those.' I don't want those kind of comments on my feed," she says over the phone, "I appreciate other people doing it, because it is photography, but I don't like that attention."
Photo: Instagram
For women like Catapano, Instagram serves almost as a next-generation networking tool for weed lovers. Like everyone else on the app, smokers and supporters want to share photos that reflect their everyday lives—and the argument can be made that a naked bong hit is much more interesting than a filtered photo of a Starbucks cup. For Browner, risqué snaps help to further propagate the marijuana lifestyle. "They're seeing that women are oversexualized to sell things," she says, referencing ads that sell burgers and cars by casting models in bikinis. These Instagrams are, unsurprisingly, a mimicry of that. As a community grappling for acceptance, it makes sense that they would announce their presence loudly, and in a manner befitting of corporate America.
And while most true marijuana activists aren't the ones taking their tops off in photos, they don't complain about the apparent relationship between weed and skin. That fool-proof formula results in thousands of likes on a single photo, which often pushes the images to the Instagram Discover page, which can spread the marijuana message to a wider audience. And this mass publicity, while controversial, has the power to start a conversation. "Guys like eye candy," Browner says simply. "They're going to follow these accounts, and they're going to be popular." Sometimes the smartest ideas are the simplest ones.
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