I’m wondering if you’re familiar with the history of cannabis (and illicit drug more broadly) prohibition? If you look into any drugs were criminalized to begin with, you’ll see that prohibition was a very strategic political move the ramifications of which are still felt today (disproportionately among Black communities). Doing so might be empowering in the sense that you’ll see that the encounter you describe here was orchestrated long before your birth, and the woman was effectively doing the government’s job for it.