The Whoopi & Maya Team: (from left) Evan Nison, Rick Cusick, Whoopi Goldberg and Maya Elisabeth.
Just about every marijuana celebrity has announced plans to join the Green Rush with some kind of pot product. Count Whoopi Goldberg among them. She co-founded Whoopi & Maya in 2016, which offers cannabis lotions and bath oils to soothe menstrual cramps.
On May 23, Goldberg called on New York's legislature to pass a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal that would add extreme menstrual cramps to the state's list of qualifying medical marijuana conditions. She noted:
"I'm glad to see states like New York starting to get serious about this and when it gets to Gov. Cuomo's desk we hope he recognizes and champions this conversation, and allows these decisions to be made between patients and their doctor by signing this very important bill. Women have used cannabis for menstrual pain for as long as time, and this pain is real for a lot of us."
Goldberg teamed up with Maya Elisabeth, an edibles and topicals maker; former High Times associate publisher Rick Cusick; and NORML board member Evan Nison to form the San Francisco-based company.
"Our topical rub is not going to get you high, but it will take your pain level from a 50 down to at least a 20," said Goldberg in 2016. "And, you can pronounce everything that's in it."
The products are dubbed Soak, Savor, Rub and Relax. The rub is made of number of oils and barks "specially formulated for menstrual relief," according to the company's website. The soak is for bathing, and includes epsom salt and a variety of oils. Savor is made of raw cacao butter and is eaten. Relax is a tincture made from oils and elderberries. All include "sun grown cannabis" in their ingredients.
Elisabeth founded Om Edibles and has won numerous Cannabis Cups, hence the connection to Goldberg, who's friends with Cusick. In an interview posted at the website, Elisabeth explained:
The celebrity (Whoopi Goldberg) and the infuser (Maya Elisabeth)>
"About eight years ago I established Om Edibles after having worked in a dispensary right after I graduated from San Francisco State with a degree in psychology. When the dispensary got shut down, I started making medicated truffles. In California we have Prop 215, so we called it Queen 215. It was me and my best friend. We switched the name to Om Edibles in 2012 and won our first High Times Cannabis Cup that year. In 2015, we earned six more awards between U.S. and Jamaican Cups. That lands us at the lucky number seven and leads us up to today, where we are beginning the birthing of Whoopi and Maya. Om will most likely become aligned with Whoopi and Maya, which is awesome."
Over the last few years Goldberg, who hosts The View, has taken a stance in favor of marijuana legalization. She suffers from glaucoma and uses a vaporizer to reduce pressure in her eyes. But rather then create products for her condition, Goldberg decided to focus on PMS because "I have grown granddaughters who have severe cramps, so I said this is what I want to work on.”
Whoopi & Maya products are available at more than 300 California dispensaries.
