Meet Madison Hernandez | Cannabis Researcher & Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Madison Hernandez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Madison, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“Existence is Resistance”

In a world where the stats say that Latina women are subjected to domestic violence, work exploitation and community displacement at rates disproportionate to that of other women, this affirmation reminds me that I have to stay alive. I have to exist. I have to take up space. This affirmation reminds that my existence alone is resistance. Like with protesting, showing up is the biggest part of the work. Showing up AND standing up for what I believe is my right. Forces that prevent me from doing so, I have to stand up against sometimes just by standing there. This affirmation reminds me of my immigrant father and how he is still operating life from a “work will set you free” mentality which prevents him from having work life balance. I see his way of working, as a motivation to me that I have to prioritize rest. I have to be like “Veronica from TikTok” and just do my job, clocking in and out and leaving work separate from my life. This affirmation reminds me that I am enough, despite what my productive output was that day. It reminds that I’m so radical for just doing what I am already doing.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I started consuming Cannabis when I was about 20 years old in 2014, but my introduction to cannabis was when I was about 10 as I watched my grandma rub down her arthritic knees with a heavy-alcohol-smelling elixir filled with cannabis leaves. Watching the swelling go down so quickly and how happy it made my Grandma made me associate Cannabis as a medicine. There weren’t many things that made the women in my family happy. Even as a kid I could see how the misogyny that existed in my family, even though it was a matriarchy, really tore down at their spirits. It’s a similar dynamic I see with cannabis today. The female plant of Cannabis creates this wonderful flower for us and instead of honoring the gift of her, we ask her to produce more and stronger and quicker and all while still being so legally restricted. (Oh I love Being a Woman type beat)
When I was living in Bakersfield 2016-2018, around the time of Prop 64, Kern County passed an ordinance that banned commercial cannabis. This meant that even the well-established medicinal cannabis retail storefronts were forcibly closed (Because even though CA as a state says that Cannabis is Legal with regulation, the way that some counties and cities regulate is by not having it at all). What remains in Bakersfield now is a mostly illicit market and ambiguous delivery operations, similar to illicit markets anywhere (e.g. located in unincorporated parts of the city, lack of product regulation, unsafe working conditions, etc.). I was a consumer in this environment for 2 years and whereas most people present their concerns about illicit cannabis stores as based on the product safety, most of the time it is just weed – I never had a problem with anything I smoked over there. The problems I saw were in the labor violations and lack of worker safety/well-being. LA became my cannabis refuge, and in 2018 became the place of my cannabis employment.
I worked a dispensary that I’d written about in college as part of a study on pre-ico shops; a dispensary that was essentially on the same block as where I would be living at. I was lucky enough to see what medicinal regulation was like before recreational hit. I specifically did not vote for Prop 64 because taxation at 30% from 0% seemed unamerican. Even more so when that huge chunk of change is only going to the general fund that generally funds…as many budgets do: the police. I was radicalized about cannabis even more when I went from just a consumer to a worker. As a consumer, I was always for decriminalization over legalization and when I became a worker in a recreational market, that solidified in me. It hurt so much to see how this once culturally-understood-as-a-medicine plant was being commodified to mimic what retail capitalism has done over and over again. Even though I could see a path towards a monopoly and how brands would eventually merge into one from a corporate perspective, cannabis, from a botanical perspective, is too multifaceted for monopolization to happen quickly. There is still time for us to do something so the Cannabis market does not end up as so many commercialized items do. For example, I created a consumer guide – where I assessed over 200 cannabis brands about their social justice impact of 2020, and from there created consumer-friendly infographics based on the companies’ responses. While this independent project was part of my journey to get to where I am now, extremely grateful as a surveyor for the UCLA Labor Center’s Cannabis Worker Project, the outcome of doing my project was that I was essentially fired from my dispensary for it.
Being unemployed on its own was hard, let alone during the strictest time of the pandemic. Luckily I had the support of: my union rep that fought with me to get the best deal from that employer, a community group that helped me with renter’s relief and food, my first queer love and my Selene who was the connection for me to get a WFH job which held me over until I could get back into cannabis in the way that I enjoyed most.
In 2022, Dr. Robert Chlala introduced to me this project with the UCLA Labor Center (a project that was basically a continuation of his dissertation that I was part of when I was working at the shop – a labor conditions and work experience analysis of cannabis workers in California) – and he offered me a role as research surveyor. It was a long time to get to this point and now that the report is almost done, and the project is coming to an end, I have my next move to think about. As much as this work has fulfilled me, it has only been part-time this whole time and if I did not have the access of other work and the occasional familial financial aid I could not have done this. This work that I’m doing, by advocating for cannabis worker rights is work that can lead the way for other worker’s rights movements.
I believe that all cannabis workers should be given WAY MORE than minimum wage, the best kind of health insurance benefits, pathways to ownership/co-operations, and abundant opportunities for promotions and full-time employment – the California Cannabis market has already tried building brands and dispensaries with a large percentage of the profit designated to the stakeholders that could never do the work that creates the profit in the first place, so why not try a model where the workers are the priority when it comes to allocating profits?
The lessons I’ve learned along the path of talking to people about cannabis, as culture and industry, from my perspective’s as a worker to a researcher to a daughter to a constituent, I would summarize as: every time I think I know my stance on a cannabis topic I learn another perspective and I feel like a novice all over again – I feel unsure that it was ever a black and white issue, unsure that I could ever know everything about her, unsure if everyone will get to meet her. But what I am sure of is that I love cannabis so much and I operate from that place. All cannabis consumption is medicinal because feeling good is medicine. In a society where feeling good through cannabis is essentially illegal, it says a lot about what you are supposed to feel in that society – urgency and shame.
Capitalism does not operate from a place of loving cannabis – it operates from a place of wanting to exploit her.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I did a social media project where I would visit parks in LA (there are about 420 public parks in Los Angeles County). Through the IG hashtag #10parques10artes, I shared my findings and also shared my art. My favorite park is Vista Hermosa Park and Ernest E Debs Regional Park, but depending on where my friend would be staying I would take them to a park near them. Hyper Local vibes. Every park is a good park in my opinion – a place where you can just exist? LOVE IT! So there would be a park visit at least 1/2 of the days they are in town. I love a rooftop for nighttime drinks, so I would take them to the Perch and hopefully on the night where the art gallery in that building is having an opening. For rooftop dancing, I would go to Broken Shaker. I love Karaoke Nights and the best nights for that would be Monday, Tuesday or Thursday. Monday they have it going on at Footsies and Gold Room. Tuesdays they have it at Little Joy and Holiday Bar. Thursdays they have it at 33 taps. Wednesdays are for Flower Hour at the West Hollywood Artist Tree Dispensary/Lounge from 12pm-4pm. I like to take the bus there so I don’t have to worry about parking. Friday is museum day, and we’d go to all of the cultural ones near Olvera St. Sunday night would be dancing at Mama Shelter for their Utopia party. Throughout the days, for our email type tasks we’ll be at the Echo Park social club, Groundfloor. I’d want to incorporate riding the metro rail at some point. Also, if the weather is nice, we’d go for a swim at the pool on the Doheny campus of MSMU, my alma mater.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to dedicate my shout out to the amazing coworkers of the first dispensary I worked at, the Social Impact Center, and to Dr. Robert Chlala. Thank you so much to all my coworkers for being the smartest people to learn about cannabis from and for being some of my most profound friendships to this day. Thank you to The Social Impact Center for bringing me on as a Fellow so I can grow through my involvement with their queer and cannabis programming. and Thank you to Rob for being such a mentor and sponsor to my academic ambition.

Website: https://www.hadisonmernandez.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hadisonmernandez

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madison-hernandez-4765b069/

Other: Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/user/madisonmine?si=0660fdf94de84f7a