200 of the World's Most Important Women Told Her Their Stories. And That Was Just the Beginning.

Some Are Using Marijuana as Their Drug of Choice to Curb Anxiety

Thanks to legalization—as of January 1, you can buy weed from state-regulated storefronts in Colorado—the real women of the weed industry are finally rising to prominence. They are business executives running large dispensary operations, the policy wonks influencing top levels of government, and the impassioned advocates championing the cause. They are casual users with normal lives who take a toke or eat a pot cupcake in the same way other people drink a glass of wine each evening. They don't walk around with pot leaves coyly obscuring their genitalia, and they don't fellate their bongs—at least not for pot-porn pictorials. Many of these women have been thinking about gender divides, too, not least because so many of them put their lives on the line for their jobs.

Thus, transactions are in cash, which has to be held and transported in enormous amounts. Since women are indeed part of the business—and often preferred to work the sales counter over men—they find themselves in charge of that other green. Industry estimates put the first week of legal recreational sales around $5 million.

"We've already known it's more men than women, but if you came into our store, you'd see a wide range," says Nelson, 35. At Medicine Man, 1,300 people lined up to buy legal marijuana the first two days of the new law. Nelson happens to be a Navy vet who only smokes "very, very infrequently, maybe once a year." Yet she says, "One of the best things to come out of January 1 is that more women are willing to come out of the woodwork and be open about smoking. The reality is there is an eclectic mix, all ages, all types."

The way things are heading, the marijuana industry needs women more than ever to accomplish legislative goals—both because women are some of its best inside advocates, and because legislation needs women's vote. Or as Chapkis puts it: "Smoking may culturally be a 'guy thing,' but voting is increasingly a 'girl thing.'" Put that in your pipe and smoke it.