Justice

What Surprises Whoopi Goldberg the Most About Marijuana

July 1st 2016

It's a twisted hypocrisy. You can buy or sell a gun online, but it’s much tougher to buy Whoopi Goldberg's cannabis-infused menstrual products, a line of various balms, salves and edibles meant to relieve cramps.

And if you ask her — and many women — that’s bullshit.

Whoopi is a known trailblazer. She has an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and an Emmy Award, and she co-hosts "The View" on ABC. She also happens to be a big advocate for the legalization of marijuana. ATTN: spoke to her on the phone about what life is like since helping to launch the line with Maya Elisabeth, one of the leading ladies in the marijuana industry.

Whoopi Goldberg launches female marijuana productsTimothy White Copyright 2016

ATTN:: What’s your life been like since you launched these products? What new adventures are you on these days?

Whoopi Goldberg: The products are really good and I think people are really happy with them. Women have been really annoyed that they can’t get their hands on the products because, of course, they’re only available in California right now, and we’re trying to explain to people that you can’t smoke them. A period is something doctors should be able to prescribe things for, and nobody ever includes things for things you need to prescribe for. You don’t have to do anything except rub it.

ATTN: How do you try and work on getting these products to women in other states?

WG: We’re talking to legislators and we’re also trying to get women to say, "Hey, we want these products here, we want to be able to use these products," specifically because they’re not things that get you high. You can’t smoke them. You can only rub them.

Whoopi & Maya cannabis productsMichael Osborne

ATTN:: What's the response so far?

WG: We’re hearing good things, we’re reading good things. You want to be able to say to your daughter, "Yeah I know this is out there and we can get it." But they’ve made it impossible to get. It has a different groove, so there should be some kind of leeway so that we can get this to women in the country. It is stupid that you can’t.

ATTN:: Are there any challenges to working in the marijuana world and media world? Is there a stigma to getting behind cannabis publicly?

WG: If I was putting on a sock line, I couldn’t sell my socks on my show. It’s not my show. There’s no stigma. I was just with Jimmy Fallon, talking about the product, telling people about it. It doesn’t seem to be an issue.

Whoopi Goldberg and Jimmy Goldberg Take a SelfieYouTube.com/The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon - youtube.com

I think the things people are most surprised about, and what I’m surprised about with them, is when I have to say to them, "You can’t smoke this. That’s not what it is. It’s not going to get you high. It’s going to make your cramps relieved a lot." It’s trying to get people to recognize that there are many ways to get what you need from this plant. So that’s the mixed sort of battle, is trying to get this product to the women who need it and trying to get everyone to understand.

ATTN:: What’s the response from women since you launched this product with Maya?

WG: What I’m surprised at is that there aren’t more women involved. I’m surprised that the period seems to be something that nobody knows anything about. As hip as marijuana growers are, there’s a lot of stuff they don’t know. That’s the biggest learning curve. Also, there are lot of people who have their names on their product and they’re going to get you high, but we might not be as attractive to — name a magazine. We’re more like, "You feeling bad? We got something to help."

Thank God it works. I have a friend who has young girls who have just begun their cycles and they’re really painful and the rub has been helping them. We don’t have billionaires saying, "Hey we want to help you do this." I get it, but it’s kind of like, "Y’all had mothers, didn't you?" Where are the billionaires saying, "We want to help you in this battle"? No one’s doing that with us.

ATTN:: Do you think marijuana should be a big part of the 2016 election?

WG: I think that to bring this to the forefront of the election would be a mistake. It has to be on the down low and slowly people need to start talking about moving it out of Schedule 1 into the arena. We know Schedule 1 is bullshit for this product so let’s start with that. Now people are looking at it more like a martini, let’s look at it that way.

In the interim, I’m happy more states are coming to their senses, and I'm happy that we’re having these discussions because there are questions that need to be answered, especially for how do I deal with a teenager who might get into weed. To pretend that it’s still this kind of horrifying gateway drug is like ... come on now. We all know, if you have predisposition to addiction, then everything [might be].

ATTN:: How did you react to the recent Supreme Court decision to protect women's health?

WG: I’m thrilled. If you have to sneak your legislation in, then there’s something wrong with it. The Supreme Court voted for what women are entitled to. Slowly, all these things have been f---ed with in different states, so the Supreme Court said, "Stop."

ATTN:: What other issues should women fight for?

WG: If you’re going to beat people up or slap your wife around then you can’t have a gun. The idea that they’re having a discussion about it and they seem to be getting a lot more done ... let’s hope it continues, so they get back to being for the people.

ATTN:: Do you plan on jumping back into acting?

WG: I haven’t really focused on it, because I’ve just been trying to make sure everything is good in my life with my family. There’s a lot in the world to do. I’m just trying to make sure that I’m on top of my stuff.

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