Cannabis entrepreneurship, an industry by and large dominated by white men as BuzzFeed discussed last month, got a huge boost from Whoopi Goldberg this week. The comedian and co-host of The View who holds a coveted EGOT — for those who didn't watch 30 Rock, that's a combination of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards — has joined forces with another decorated professional, the High Times Cannabis Cup award-winning edible marijuana maker Maya Elisabeth, to launch a line of female-focused medical cannabis products — Whoopi & Maya — to alleviate menstrual pain. Midol, consider yourself disrupted.
“This was all inspired by my own experience from a lifetime of difficult periods and the fact that cannabis was literally the only thing that gave me relief,” Goldberg told the New York Times.
Her team's products include an epsom salt soak in the flagrance "amber moon," described as "warm, woodsy, and inviting," which includes 25 mg of THC. Another item, "Rub," is specifically formulated for menstrual pain relief and includes not just 50 mg of THC but also the other active ingredient in cannabis, cannabidiol or CBD, in the amount of 15 mg. For more direct effects through ingestion, sample "Relax," a tincture of cannabis and elderberries — approx. 100 mg THC per bottle.
Whoopi & Maya's products will only be sold in California — for now. Forbes contextualizes Goldberg's business, noting that other big names like Snoop Dogg have released cannabis product lines. The Times points to Willie Nelson, who has a "premium cannabis lifestyle brand."
However, Whoopi doesn't necessarily want you to get baked with her wares, as she explains further. “For me, I feel like if you don’t want to get high high, this is a product specifically just to get rid of discomfort,” she told Vanity Fair. “Smoking a joint is fine, but most people can’t smoke a joint and go to work.”
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