From Sandra to Sanja Ganja

Her first time smoking ganja was at 13, out of an apple. Her friends would try it, and she quickly realized that, for lupus, it offered immense relief. 

Plus, as she says, “If you have straight A’s, you’re good,” continuing that she has smoked weed ever since. 

This was my first time hearing the origin story of Sanja Ganja, a medical cannabis pioneer who went from budtender to boardroom, her life paralleling the path of the maturing cannabis industry. 

Having moved to Colorado in 2007 at the age of 17, Sanja was unfamiliar with the state of legal cannabis. 

“I was couch hopping through Cherry Creek and Boulder with all the trustafarians and Boulderites,” she recalls. “This was when I was not Sanja Ganja; just Sandra." 

A preschool teacher who made the switch to dispensary receptionist, Sandra soon transformed into Sanja Ganja.