For Asheley Krutsinger (@hashyashey), known by many as Hashy Ashey, Cannabis is medicine. The content creator got a medical Cannabis card when her Ehlers-Danlos syndrome symptoms began to worsen at 18. She has long opted for Cannabis over prescribed opioids or gabapentin, which made her feel “like a zombie.” But her longtime Cannabis patient status has not spared her from stigmatization in a medical setting. This experience, plus a lack of representation in the community, drives her content.
In 2021, Krutsinger developed severe gastrointestinal discomfort. Unable to keep food down, she sought answers and treatment from her doctor. Cannabis was the only thing that helped her eat as she continued losing weight at an unhealthy rate.
“I did bring this up to my GI doctors that I was using Cannabis to treat the nausea and lack of appetite, and unfortunately, that caused my GI doctor to do almost 180 in my case and pretty much claim that I had Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome,” Krutsinger shared in an interview with Leaf Magazines.
She did not meet the diagnostic criteria for CHS, but doctors saw Cannabis use and stomach discomfort and made a quick assumption. For many, a CHS diagnosis changes their life for the better, providing relief from a somewhat new syndrome. Unfortunately for Krutsinger, it was detrimental to her case.
Krutsinger quit consuming Cannabis for three months to see if it would provide relief since cessation generally quells CHS symptoms. It didn’t. Instead, she dealt with increasing pain and weight loss before ultimately fighting for more tests. It wasn’t CHS; a ligament had completely cut off an artery, effectively ceasing blood flow to her liver and stomach.
The diagnosis required surgery, and she believes that CHS being brought into her case was to the detriment of her mental and physical health. This experience was a spark that inspired her to advocate not only for Cannabis consumers with GI issues but for those with disabilities, too.
Krutsinger still wasn’t open with all family and friends about her medicine, and she set out to show that people using Cannabis can be productive. She began by educating people on Instagram about things that budtenders may not have time to cover in a quick transaction. Over time, her disability progressed, and in the last year or so, the push has been toward more representation in the Cannabis culture for people with disabilities. This means featuring disabled people in advertisements and considering disabilities when planning events and even store layouts.
“I’ve been in the industry and talked to people and been to events and been to dispensaries; it’s just such a huge lack of accessibility in an industry that is so medical focused, that has so many people with medical conditions and disabilities that use this medicine, that it’s just crazy how much we’re, you know, left out of advertising,” Krutsinger said.
The creator advocates for disability representation with “wheels and weed,” often featuring both her customized pink and purple wheelchair and the plant. In the last few months, the page has taken off, likely because of a cheeky PowerPoint created specifically for Puffco.
Disabled Cannabis consumers praise Puffco, and most e-rigs, for multiple accessible features. And when she saw that the new Plasma colorway matched her wheelchair, she had to have it and published a presentation complete with subliminal Plasma messaging. Puffco sent one her way. Krutsinger then brought fellow disabled creators together to film a thank-you video for the company, and a Proxy arrived in the mail. But she has her sights on something higher: seeing people with disabilities featured in a Puffco commercial — specifically, her.
Hashy Ashey has big goals, and they all center on building a world where disabled people have the same access to the culture built around their medicine as everyone else. And honestly, it just makes sense.
