It’s good to be good. It’s swell to be well. But as simple as we might want it to be, achieving authentic wellness is a real battle. We are bombarded by toxicity every day, so finding peace and balance for our body and mind is essential if we wish to achieve our full potential. Disinformation blinds us and a onslaught of new products are force fed to us left and right. Trend diets, magical supplements, and unconventional exercise routines promise us the world, but discerning between what actually has the power to benefit us and what doesn’t is an almost insurmountable task.
In the midst of this crossfire, cannabis is turning heads. More people in the world than ever can access the plant, and anecdotal stories of medical miracles are enough to get most folks open to giving cannabis a chance. As new products embrace cannabis (beware the CBD wellness-washing), it underlines the importance of exploring the power of this plant to heal. With minds opening more and more to cannabis as an alternative therapy, it opens an even broader conversation about other marginalized substances and their potential use as medicine.
That’s why we here at the MERRY JANE massive decided to cook up Wellness Week. Not just because we believe that cannabis can be an integral component of achieving a greater wellness, but because people need a starting point from which to begin their journey towards digging deep on embracing change and self-care.
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The centerpiece of our wellness walkabout is our series Healing Powers. Helmed by our number one, boots-on-the-ground, fearless, knowledge-seeking host/director/producer Mareesa Stertz, this series has taken us around the world to show the wide range of healing practices that people are exploring to help cure what ails them. This week’s episode finds Mareesa chilling with some seniors in San Fran to find out how cannabis brings together this community and organically improves their quality of life.
As you know, our video vibes are top notch, but delivering the goods wouldn’t be all good if we didn’t tap our editors extraordinaire Zach Sokol and Bill Kilby to rally the troops for a deep dive that will open our eyes to what we need to see and our ears to what we need to hear. Madison Margolin writes for us about the growing trend of using CBD flower prerolls as an alternative to tobacco and an effective method for quitting. We also explore the animal kingdom with Emily Berkey who spoke with next-level vets like Dr. Gary Richter to understand how our path to wellness needs to be mirrored by that of our pets and animals. But in that path is a political conflict in California. Assembly Bill 2215 seeks to allow vets to speak openly to pet owners about cannabis as a treatment for their animals. Tasbeeh Herwees also connects with filmmaker Chris Bell about his doc A Leaf of Faith that explores the use of another magical plant, Kratom, especially in the battle against opioid addiction… and it doesn’t stop there.
Randy Robinson does a deep dive into the future of cannabis concentrates, focusing on how innovations in extract technology and vaporizers are changing both the process and perception of dabs. Our marijuana maestro Zach Harris interviews the creators of “CannaMojo,” a (stimulatingly) experimental company combining the power of pot and erectile dysfunction medication. Speaking of where the sun don’t shine, make sure to check out the sex-positive feature from our favorite writerly witch, Sophie Saint Thomas, about how cannabis can be used to treat endometriosis — a disorder that makes menstruation and sexual penetration extremely painful. Later in the week expect great features from our resident cultivator columnists Nikki & Swami of Swami Select, as well as a new comic from the iconoclast illustrator Mike Diana.
So there you have it, MERRY JANE. If this isn’t making you feel better already, I don’t what will. The power to transform is in your hands, so dig in with us, and get ready to heal!
