We are in a documented loneliness crisis, and one of the quiet casualties of legalization is that cannabis — historically one of the most reliably communal substances there is — got optimized for solitude. Passing something around is a technology for staying in a room together. August is the last stretch of the year where the weather does the hard part for you; Use it.

• The hangout deficit is measurable. The Surgeon General's 2023 advisory on loneliness and isolation, and time-use data showing steep declines in hours spent socializing in person over the past two decades. This isn't vibes; it's tracked. (Will pull American Time Use Survey figures –  gets cited widely and are worth sourcing directly rather than secondhand.)

• Third places are disappearing, and cannabis never got to have one. Ray Oldenburg's framework — the places that aren't home or work, where community actually happens. Bars have them. Coffee shops have them. Cannabis consumption lounges are still rare, heavily restricted, and in most of the country illegal. Legal weed built retail, not gathering and that is supported, obviously, by legislation

• Passing is a ritual, and rituals do structural work. Puff-puff-pass isn't etiquette for its own sake but a mechanism that keeps attention shared and time unstructured. Something to do with your hands that isn't your phone. There is a ritual that is inherently communal. Laws are against it, mostly. The sesh predates the industry by centuries and does something the industry hasn't figured out how to sell and that it also won’t legalize.

• Solitary use isn't the problem but maybe it being the default is. Nothing wrong with a solo evening. But delivery, single-serve, and dose-for-one design have made alone the path of least resistance, and the shift happened without anyone deciding it should.

• Hanging out is a skill that atrophies. Sheila Liming's Hanging Out: The Radical Art of Doing Nothing argues we've lost the tolerance for unstructured, unproductive time with other people. Everything is now a plan with a start time and an exit. The best hangs have neither.

• The seasonal argument. August is the last month the environment does the work — light until 8, no coats, porches and stoops and backyards still functional. After Labor Day, hanging out requires effort and indoor space. The window is closing and everyone can feel it.

• What actually makes a night not end. Low stakes, no agenda, nowhere to be after, something being passed around, nobody filming it.

Miss Grass is built for the shared kind. Minis and pre-rolls are made to go around a circle. All Times for the long afternoon that turns into evening; Quiet Times for the part of the night where everyone gets honest.

Find Miss Grass near you. Bring enough to share.