San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Wellness:
Ellementa hosts gatherings with experts to share advice, new products and services. It’s one of myriad resources for women interested in learning more about cannabis.
Aliza Sherman suffered debilitating neck pain that led to insomnia, and menopause symptoms that she had been unwittingly exacerbating every evening with red wine.
After exploring cannabis — initially as a new market for her digital marketing services — she learned that its antiinflammatory and anti-spasmodic properties could allow her to sleep and become “virtually pain-free,” she says.
Cannabis was an unexpected treatment for Sherman — her eighth-grade science project was “Close Encounters of the Worst Kind,” about marijuana being a “gateway drug” to heroin.
“This is what I was taught. You would go to the library
and that is what every book said, and we were indoctrinated at this young age to believe these lies,” she says.
Her experience later in life provided an “aha” moment. “Suddenly what I thought was a ‘gateway drug’ turned out to be medicine that had been misrepresented — and I realized that other people can benefit if they have the right information.”
She started with a cannabis-centric lifestyle site called Her Canna Life in 2016, and in 2017, expanded that into Ellementa, a company that hosts events for women to learn about cannabis, with a focus on those older than 35.
At the time, she says, “Every cannabis company was reaching out to what they felt was the obvious target market: young men and ‘stoner’ culture. As a woman in my early 50s, I am looking at this going, ‘I am so over that. I can’t identify,’ ” Sherman says.
Ellementa events in cities such as New York; Anchorage, Alaska; Portland, Ore.; and San Francisco usually have about 20 to 30 attendees; the Walnut Creek group has gone “gangbusters,” and Sherman had to cap the group at 40 people. Ticket prices range from $10 to $20, and vetted sponsors share product information while guest speakers tackle a range of topics relevant to the demographic. “The mature woman is the optimal demographic for cannabis because she reaches everyone — if you educate a woman like us, that means you are reaching our parents, our friends and our children,” she says.
Ellementa is just one of myriad resources for the average consumer who wants to learn more about cannabis. Many have similar questions: “What can I use it for, what dosage and what product?” So rather than being a gateway drug, cannabis is being seen as a gateway to a range of medicinal and recreational benefits — and as a gateway to profit. Many founders, like Sherman, come to the industry after a personal experience renders them converts.
“Cannabis is the exit drug to the opioid epidemic,” says HelloMD co-founder Pamela Hadfield, who struggled with migraines for 25 years before trading Vicodin for marijuana. HelloMD provides video consultations with doctors, answers and research from a network of experts, and a marketplace, in addition to themed events. Its weekly newsletter, which has 500,000 subscribers, is regarded as a comprehensive source of information. HelloMD’s audience represents a spectrum of consumers between purely “recreational” users and the very sick, split between men and women and ranging from their mid 20s into their 70s, Hadfield says. Women, many of whom grew up during the war on drugs, often want “permission,” she has found. “They want you to say, ‘It’s OK.’ The conversation around CBD has changed the framework with how people approach cannabis. It’s made it OK because they are beginning to understand they don’t need to get high or smoke flower to consume cannabis. If you are able to give someone a sachet of tea, it is a lot easier to wrap your head around than if you are giving them a bong or a bowl or a joint.”
Often, the cannabis-curious will start out with a familiar format.
Jamie Evans, who hosts cannabis and wine-pairing dinners through her business, the Herb Somm, says that about 15 percent of attendees are brand new to cannabis and are trendy early adopters in their late 20s to early 40s. Her dinners include conversations with the chef and other industry experts.
“Going to a dispensary, where there are no windows and they check your ID at the door, is a different type of experience than enjoying a meal and learning in a social setting,” says Evans, who pivoted from a career in the wine industry. Her main guidance is for guests to “go low and start slow” as they learn the ropes of infused food.
“Brands are very sophisticated,” says Lucky Box Club co-founder Eliza Maroney. “Now it is a high-society vibe and (consumers) are getting the best of the best.” Lucky Box Club delivers monthly, personalized CBD and THC product boxes; early reads on the customer demographic are about 60 to 40 women to men, with about 70 percent between 30 and 35, she says. Rather than knowing what questions to ask, many of her customers know which fears to relay.
“People will say, ‘I don’t
want to be high’ or ‘I don’t want to feel like a stoner.’ ‘I had a brownie and it was the worst experience of my life and I don’t want to feel that ever again,’ ” she says. “Tolerance levels vary person to person, and our goal is to find your magic dose. And we are educating on other modes of application, like tinctures and topicals. There is so much to talk about.”
A reframing of past experiences is a common goal among cannabis educators. “It takes one negative experience for someone to say, ‘That’s not for me and I don’t want to do that again,’ so we lead with information and content,” says Ozzie Ozkay-Villa, whose website, OOV, offers articles meant for the average person. Her audience is mostly women 25 to 35, 60 percent of whom are parents. Ozkay-Villa says that people often need a relatable person — she has two children — to reconsider cannabis.
“It’s very important that our customers feel informed about the products they consume,” says Bryce Berryessa, who is chief executive officer of cannabis-infused cookie and tincture brand La Vida Verde. He works with dispensaries that carry the products to educate budtenders, in addition to answering customer questions directly on social media.
“We are mostly trying to educate older cannabis users,” Berryessa says. “Cannabis has evolved rapidly in a short amount of time, and while the younger demographic knows what are the hottest products on the market due to social media, the older, less techsavvy demographic needs that education in a way that reaches them.”
Dispensaries often host classes and demonstrations.
Events at San Francisco’s Harvest dispensaries range from tastings called “dim sum and dabs” to classes on microdosing and meditation. Magnolia Oakland offers classes for both new and seasoned users, says registered nurse Barbara Blaser, who is director of clinical services at Magnolia Oakland and didn’t try cannabis until she was 68. Classes range from introductory primers to those on starting a “cannabusiness” and a new series for medical professionals.
“Many are returning to cannabis after using in the ’60s,” Blaser says. “Some want to get high and experience their youth.”
On a blustery August evening, a group of about 35 women met in downtown San Francisco for an Ellementa gathering hosted by Tavi Eisenberg, who was wearing large pink earrings that combined the shape of the marijuana leaf with the female gender symbol. Before getting started, guests were invited to put rose petals and calendula into their Kikoko tea, which — no surprise here — is infused with cannabis. Among the questions from guests were, “How can cannabis be used topically other than in pain relief?” “What can it do for irritable bowel syndrome?” and “How can I be posting about it on social media?”
Eisenberg said that she would attempt to cover all questions by the end of the two-hour meeting, and she was highly motivated. As a health practitioner, she says, “I have never met a plant this helpful in my life.”
Maghan McDowell is a freelance writer.