Editor’s note: Watch “Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports: Weed 8: Women and Weed” at 8 p.m. ET Sunday, April 19, on CNN and streaming on the CNN app on April 20.
When I began filming the first “Weed” documentary in 2012, I could not have predicted where this journey would lead me – or the stories that would unfold long after my initial exploration into the world of cannabis.
At the time, I thought I was making a single self-contained film about the controversial plant and its place in modern medicine. What I didn’t know was that I was starting a long, evolving conversation about hope, healing and who should be taken seriously when talking about something as provocative as medical marijuana.
Over the past year, I have traveled across the country to film the eighth installment of this decade-long series. This latest chapter focuses on women and weeds – a natural progression, and one that felt overdue.
Ebony Jones hosts a bonfire party in her backyard in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jones calls herself a “canopreneur” and hosts educational cannabis programs for women in the community. – CNN
What I quickly learned is that cannabis has become a lifeline for countless women who feel ignored by traditional medicine. They are grandmothers trying to minimize the side effects of cancer treatment, athletes managing endometriosis, teachers navigating the insomnia and mood swings of menopause. Everywhere I went, I heard versions of the same story: “I tried everything else, and nothing really worked. Cannabis was the only thing that helped.”
As we have learned, this is unfortunately a familiar pattern rooted in a long history. As long as medicine has been practiced, women’s health concerns have been minimized, misdiagnosed or dismissed.
As a young doctor, I saw this with my own mother, and then again 20 years later with my wife. Conditions such as autoimmune disease, postpartum depression and chronic pain syndromes were often linked to stress or hysteria. Even now, women are underrepresented in clinical trials, even though biological sex can dramatically affect how drugs work or even if they work. This exclusion has left a huge gap in our understanding of how to best treat half the population, and women have undoubtedly suffered as a result.
When it comes to menopause, the situation is particularly problematic. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) once promised relief, but warnings and controversies about potential risks left many women worried. Faced with few good options, it’s no wonder so many are turning to cannabis. In the data, you see it clearly: women now outnumber men when it comes to cannabis use, especially among middle-aged and older adults.
In the stories I gathered last year, I heard something profound: a quiet rebellion against the ignored.
One of the most amazing places I found this revolution unfolding was in Oklahoma. The state that once had the strictest drug laws in the country is now somewhat affectionately known as “Tokelahoma”. Since medical marijuana was legalized there, an entire industry has sprung up overnight – scrappy, local, female-centric and driven by a can-do ethos that can only exist in the heartland of America.
April Ayers, right, advises Brenda Soukas on cannabis products Soukas is looking into for pain relief. Ayers owns Cowboy Kush Dispensary in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and says her primary customers are women between the ages of 45 and 60. – CNN
I met women who became potential entrepreneurs, building businesses powered by equal parts grit and compassion. April was a mom in Tulsa who went from selling house to house to distributing cannabis-infused foods that help women manage chronic pain. There was Bonnie, a young businesswoman in Tulsa who could help women with everything from sexual dysfunction to insomnia. And then Ebony, a trained chef who moved to Oklahoma to make food, is now a community doula and cannabis educator at the heart of a community of users called Canamom.
What struck me the most was how mission-driven these women were. For them, cannabis wasn’t about escaping reality; This agency was about reclaiming.
These women are rewriting the narrative around cannabis—rooted in scientific data, which they are slowly accumulating. They are creating products specifically for women, guided by empathy and experimentation rather than stigma or shame. It is a movement born in kitchens, home gardens and local dispensaries, not in laboratories or boardrooms.
The larger conversation about medical marijuana also continues to change at a record pace. This year alone, several major medical organizations have called for re-evaluation of cannabis’ classification as a Schedule I drug, arguing that the evidence for its medical use cannot be ignored. There is promising research on cannabinoids for neurological conditions, chronic pain and autoimmune diseases. There is also the leadership of women. Dr. Stacey Gruber, a pioneer in cannabis research at the Marijuana Investigation for Neuroscientific Discovery in Massachusetts, known as MIND, is putting the spotlight on cannabis for symptoms related to endometriosis and menopause. Dr. Hilary Marusak, a developmental neuroscientist at Wayne State University in Detroit, is at the forefront of how cannabis affects the brain at every stage of life.
But for every scientific breakthrough, I find there is still a frustrating lag in policy—and a profound human cost for that gap.
Meeting Charlotte Figi more than 10 years ago, and hearing her story, changed everything for CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. – CNN
To that end, I can’t talk about this without mentioning Charlotte Figi and her mom, Paige. Charlotte’s story changed everything for me. She was a little girl with a rare form of epilepsy – Dravet syndrome – who suffered from hundreds of violent seizures a week with almost none, thanks to a high-CBD cannabis extract. Telling her story in my first “Weed” documentary opened the world’s eyes to the true medical potential of cannabis and made the abstract heartbreakingly personal. Charlotte’s life—and her death in 2020—continues to guide my thinking about this plant and its power.
When we spoke with Paige again recently, she told me that she still hears from families who have started their own journeys because of Charlotte: mothers desperate to help their children and women desperate to help themselves. Her grace and tenacity have become an anchor for my thinking about the subject, a reminder that behind every “case study” is a family trying to survive and a woman who refuses to be told there are no options left.
That spirit drives “Weed 8.” This is not a story about drugs; This is a story about dignity.
It’s about women learning to trust their own experiences even when the medical system doesn’t. It’s about community where science, storytelling and compassion collide. I’ve seen women in Oklahoma farm fields and urban greenhouses who talk about marijuana with the same seriousness they would about any other treatment plan. They study and teach all about terpenes and cannabinoid ratios; They share lab results; They hold each other accountable.
It is truly “grass-roots” medicine.
What makes this moment extraordinary is that we are witnessing two revolutions intertwined: one social, the other biological. The first is the broader destigmatization of cannabis, as the state dismantles old laws and old myths. The second is more intimate, taking place in boardrooms and small businesses across the country. It’s the feeling that you don’t have to wait for permission to heal.
Cannabis is not a cure-all. I want to be clear about this. But for many women, it’s just the beginning. It is a way to soothe what is broken, to regain relaxation, to reconnect body and mind. And perhaps most importantly, it’s a conversation started on their own terms.
As we present you with “Weed 8,” I find myself thinking about Charlotte, the person who lit up this entire journey. Her story reminds me that change often starts with a brave person willing to challenge the status quo.
The women I met last year are carrying that light forward. Together, they are cultivating something bigger than any single crop or product. They are growing a movement based on faith: women’s pain matters, women’s research matters and sometimes, the path to progress begins in the most unexpected soil.
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