How hard would it be to spot Honey Book (@honeybook1) in a crowd these days? Not as challenging as you might think. The 76-year-old is quick to introduce herself and start a conversation about anything and everything with a smile on her face and a passion for lifting people around her. But when her husband takes an old picture off their table and tells their children to point their mom out in a sea of people, it becomes a challenge. The photo is from the original 1969 Woodstock music festival, and while her kids couldn’t find her, Book admits she couldn’t either but knows she’s in there somewhere enjoying herself.
Book was born and raised in Baltimore, growing up off Park Heights Avenue. When she turned 17, she started moving between neighborhoods. She said she started acting out in part due to the environment she was in, and at the time, she was dyslexic and under the impression that no one would be around to help her. To her, acting out manifested in the form of experimenting with drugs, including Cannabis.
“At that point, it was a lot of self-medicating,” she said, with “some good, some not so good” substances. “I also did a lot of LSD, and I think that’s why I’m not a depressed person.”
After graduating from high school, Book felt the calling to leave Baltimore and see the world. Her love of music inspired her to follow the Grateful Dead around and be among the crowd in Woodstock, among other festivals and events she’s attended.
She eventually traveled internationally as well, visiting Afghanistan for a couple of months, where she said the experiences she had there set her on a better path for her future.
“I feel in life that you’ve got to experience what you need to experience to get to that next place in your life,” she said.
After her time there, she went immediately to Amsterdam, where she stayed for six months before coming back home to Baltimore.
“Amsterdam was overwhelming,” she said, adding that she also made the trip home because she had gotten sick and needed to get herself taken care of.
When she came back to Baltimore, she started working various desk jobs and soon after met her husband, Jon, whom she credits as another life-changing experience for her.
“He was playing the guitar, had my heart right there,” she said after seeing his band play.
She was honest with him about her travels and Cannabis consumption, something she initially hesitated to share, but Jon eventually came around to supporting it.
“I am always me, and that’s important. To be open and communicate … that’s the most beautiful thing,” Book said.
The two eventually married and had two children, which prompted Book to reconsider going back to school. She enrolled at Community College of Baltimore County and received an associate degree in interior design.
“It was really good for my brain and self-esteem,” she said. “My kids are 46 and 43 now, and they say what a great experience that was for them to see me struggle through homework and know that they weren’t alone, and we would do our homework together.”
In between jobs, Book would often attend various conferences and events with her husband for his work, and in 2017, she visited a booth that highlighted medical Cannabis. Leaving the conference, Book knew she had found her community and some guidance after some encouragement from Jon. She was trained as a budtender at Curaleaf and worked there for a few years at the start of the state’s medical program before moving on to being a member of the team at Evermore in 2019.
“Community outreach, that’s my thing. I like to work with people who can’t necessarily make it through life,” she said.
Between senior centers, dispensaries and industry events — to name just a few places she visits for work — you can find her with her own table, giving away swag and being motivated to help anyone she greets.
Given her previous budtender experience, Book puts education at the forefront of her work. She said that when visiting different facilities, it’s important to adjust to the type of clientele when discussing topics like terpenes and THC percentages, even if it means telling someone that Cannabis may not be what they need in their routine.
“There’s definitely a misnomer that Cannabis works for everybody, but it doesn’t,” she said. “I feel that Cannabis is an enhancer for me. You know, some people say, ‘I want to be like you,’ and I tell them they may not be able to.”
While she uses Cannabis as a sleep aid and for treating anxiety and PTSD, Book said she likes having choices. Alternating between flower, vapes, topicals and, only more recently, edibles, she’s always going to be a flower girl first.
“I was never an edible girl, but it’s because of the stigma of the brownie in the 1960s,” she said.
Admiring terpenes like myrcene and humulene, Book said she enjoys indica flower and OG strains like Blue Dream and White Widow.
Upon registering for the state’s medical program at its inception — and smoking Cannabis long enough to see its growth as a plant and as a medicine through different generations — Book said she is grateful and appreciative for how the industry has treated her and what it has brought into her life. Working on a team with younger people, she said she still feels like she learns something new every day, and likewise, she teaches her team something new in return and hopes to keep doing so.
“I’m 76, so I’d like to be alive,” she joked about what the future looks like for her, adding that someone on her team asked the same question recently. “That’s how I see my future. I’m happy to help wherever I can.”
