Stigma: Welfare, Cannabis, and the Way We Judge People Who Need Support

I abstain from alcohol, tobacco, and drugs.

That is the right choice for me.

At one point in my life, I used past my ability to engage in harm reduction practices. For me, abstinence is the harm reduction practice that keeps me safest, steadiest, and most honest with myself.

But my choice does not mean I believe everyone else has to make the same choice.

I do not believe abstinence is the only valid path.

I do not believe support should only be available to people who are sober, perfect, compliant, or socially acceptable.

And I do not believe people should have to lose their dignity in order to receive help.

The Stigma I Grew Up Around

I grew up hearing people talk about government assistance as if it said something about a person’s character.

The adults around me did not use words like “morally wrong” or “financial leeches,” but the message was clear.

People on welfare were lazy.

People receiving food stamps should “go get a job.”

People who needed public benefits were somehow doing something wrong.

I remember one adult in my life saying regularly that people receiving government assistance should have to take drug tests. Her reasoning was that people should not be able to receive food stamps while spending their money on marijuana.

Not other substances.

Marijuana specifically.

That stayed with me.

When Perception Changes

Fast forward a couple of decades.

That same person is now retired. She receives government-administered support through Medicare and Social Security. She also has a prescription for medical cannabis.

Interesting how perceptions shift, isn’t it?

I am not writing that to shame her. I am writing it because it shows how easily stigma changes depending on who is receiving support, what kind of support it is, and whether society has decided that support is respectable.

I was the same way.

Once I became a licensed professional, I believed that if a medication was prescribed, it was automatically more legitimate.

More responsible.

More acceptable.

More “okay.”

This Is Not an Argument Against Medication

I want to be clear: this is not a criticism of pharmaceuticals.

I support pharmaceuticals.

I am grateful for pharmaceuticals.

Medication helps people. Prescribed medication can be stabilizing, necessary, and life-changing.

This is not a complaint about pharmaceutical companies or medical treatment.

This is a commentary on the way we stigmatize one type of mind-altering substance while legitimizing another.

One person can use a prescribed medication and be seen as responsible.

Another person can use cannabis and be seen as lazy, irresponsible, or morally questionable.

One person can purchase cannabis or THC from a dispensary and be seen as wellness-oriented.

Another person can purchase cannabis or THC from an independent grower and be judged completely differently.

The substance may be similar.

The perception is not.

Government Assistance Is Not a Character Flaw

I also think differently now about government assistance because I am now a person living on welfare.

That sentence still carries weight for me.

I grew up with a tremendous amount of financial privilege. I also experienced significant financial privilege for most of my adult life. I had access to education, professional credentials, a high income, private practice ownership, and the social respect that often comes with being seen as successful and stable.

And now I receive public assistance.

That shift has changed me.

There was a time when I absorbed the idea that needing support meant someone had failed.

Now I understand how incomplete that belief is.

People need support for many reasons:

Loss.

Disability.

Divorce.

Low wages.

Caregiving.

Medical bills.

Mental health struggles.

Burnout.

Raising children.

Leaving unsafe situations.

Trying to stay housed, fed, functional, and alive.

Government assistance is not a character flaw. It is one way people survive when life, systems, income, health, or circumstances become too much to carry alone.

Many people judge food stamps, housing support, Medicaid, or cash assistance while accepting other forms of public support themselves.

The difference is often not whether someone receives help.

The difference is whether the help they receive is socially respected.

Stigma Creates Distance

Stigma works by creating distance.

It lets us believe there are “those people” and “people like us.”

People who use drugs and people who take medication.

People who need welfare and people who earned benefits.

People who are irresponsible and people who are overwhelmed.

People who are failing and people who are doing their best.

But life has a way of collapsing those categories.

At some point, many of us become the person who needs help.

At some point, many of us need medication, benefits, food support, housing support, family support, community support, or emotional support.

Needing help is not a moral failure.

It is part of being human.

Why This Matters to anjoRENEW

I write about stigma because stigma changes what people believe they are allowed to ask for.

It changes what people disclose.

It changes whether people seek help early or wait until things become a crisis.

It changes whether people feel ashamed for using medication, receiving benefits, using cannabis, accessing harm reduction, or admitting they are not okay.

And when stigma gets loud enough, people stop seeing options.

That matters to me because anjoRENEW is built around the belief that people need more support before crisis.

Not more shame.

Not more moral judgment.

Not more punishment disguised as concern.

More support.

More honesty.

More room to be human.

Stigma Kills Options

When we stigmatize people for the support they use, we make their world smaller.

When we decide which forms of help are respectable and which forms are shameful, we teach people to hide.

When we treat poverty, substance use, cannabis use, public benefits, or emotional overwhelm as proof of bad character, we miss the actual story.

We miss the stress.

We miss the survival.

We miss the context.

We miss the person.

Stigma kills options.

And people need options long before they are in crisis.

If this resonates with you, please reach out to anjoRENEW.

You are not the only one.