If you’re a woman who relishes a toke, you’ll love this new podcast from Michelle Bilodeau and Jen Newton. HIGHTEA is for intelligent and creative women who use cannabis to enhance and expand their daily lives. 

“We confabulate on anything and everything that has to do with weed,” explains Newton. “This is a thoughtful and blunt exploration of pot and its magic. We’re talking to some of the most interesting names in the industry and outside of it, sharing stores, trying shit first, and connecting like-minded people around the world who use cannabis creatively.”

You’ll hear from names like Jodie Emory, professional athletes, proud smokers in entertainment, and everything women want to talk about, told through the lens of today’s cannabis user.

We asked them about it this week.

SDTC: Why is it important for you to make using cannabis mainstream?

JN: Cannabis already is mainstream, but the openness about using isn’t. For too long there’s been a negative stank surrounding cannabis, and much of my work attempts to dispel and de-stigmatize that outdated and outlandish point of view. So she fucking smokes.

Marijuana is a gift from Mother Earth that possesses many magical properties. It is truly a beautiful plant that has incredibly positive physiological effects and psychological, spiritual and creative ones too. A plant helping connect us to ourselves–I believe it helps to illuminate and engage, when used correctly. Bob Marley said it best: smoking herb just reveals you to yourself.

For too long, people (women especially) have been made to feel wrong or shamed for partaking in this plant that helps in so many ways. It’s been hidden, or at least not outspoken. I think it’s time all of these kickass women stand up in the light and take a toke together. 

MB: For too long people have been told that cannabis is an illicit drug, and with that comes shame around using it, even for medicinal purposes. The shame is also very real for mothers who choose to use cannabis as a way to relax, to help with sleep deprivation or anxiety. But grabbing a glass of wine, (mommy juice) is okay. I disagree with that notion on many levels, so I am happy to see these conversations coming up in mainstream media as we get closer to legalization. 

What is the biggest misconception about cannabis that you’d like to dispel?

JN: All around the world there are women just like you and me–intelligent, curious, creative and connected–using cannabis to enhance and expand their daily lives. These people are not lazy; they are functioning and fucking fun.

In what way has cannabis use enriched your life?

JN: I started smoking in my late twenties and my creative juices started flowing. It allowed me to connect and dig into parts of my imagination that I’d otherwise ignored, most likely for the TV or phone.

It allows me to open up to new insight and ideas, to consider the things I’m currently pondering in a new way. And as someone who suffers from anxiety (and severe menstrual cramps), the right strain (read: CBD!) can deliver a sense of peaceful reprieve that I won’t be able to get elsewhere.

MB: I use cannabis to unwind on the weekends. This allows me to have a little fun, relax, tune into myself, and still be able to wake up the next day feeling like a functional human being, and more importantly, still be the same person for my young daughter.

Fave strain, and why?

MB: I currently don’t have a favourite. But I am excited to find my jam.

JN: Guava, no question. If you ever find that flower, call me.