In a room upholstered with pictures of her many idols sits Jane Fonda, an evergreen icon so cross-generational she’s revered by grandparents, parents and their kids alike.
Looking over her, from the wall, are Harvey Milk, Rosa Parks, Millicent Rogers – who happens to be an ancestor of Jane’s, as well as Cesar Chávez, Dolores Huerta, Howard Zinn, and Jane’s father.
Her collar is popped, one of her many fashionable trademarks, and her make-up and skin are beyond perfect. On this, she has a secret that will be revealed later in this article.
Jane is ready for a unique interview: Despite the fact that she’s far from being a stoner, or even a cannabis activist, she is willing to talk weed. After all, Jane has always been known as a person who’s free of prejudice.
“Needless to say, I have smoked pot in my life,” she commences, quickly clarifying she’s never been an avid consumer: Cannabis has always made her feel paranoid and overly hungry. Munchies can be, indeed, Hollywood stars’ worst enemies.Focus has also been a problem. “I’ve never been able to work: either act, or write, or read, or go to the movies. I’ve never been able to really do anything that I wanted to focus on if I was stoned.
“Then came along all the scientific approaches to cannabis. And it’s really amazing what’s happened, the way they’ve been able to segment out different parts of the weed. It’s very impressive.”The evolution of cannabis science and the increasing variety of intake methods available has opened up a whole new world of possibility for cannabis consumers. People can now select the right varieties and ways to ingest them to achieve very specific, desired effects.
And in this new paradigm, Jane too has reconciled with cannabis.
“At dispensaries, they know how to steer you,” she explains.
“About four years ago, to help me go to sleep at night, I would take a very microdose of Valium. And I would always have to take a short nap in the middle of the workday during the lunch break because I would have a kind of hangover,” she remembers.
“One day, my very good, progressive doctor said, ‘I would like you to stop taking the sleeping pill, and I suggest that you move over to a CBD [product] that helps you sleep.’”
And so, she did.
With the help of her local dispensary and its budtenders, Jane found the product that was right for her: a Dosist-brand vape pen.“And boy, does it work for me,” she says, with a smile on her well-rested face. “I mean, you have to want to go to sleep; you have to be already in bed… But then, I’m out and I have no hangover the next day.”
And A Long-Standing Fascination With Hemp
While weed was never really Jane’s thing, hemp is a completely different story. That plant, she loves; and has done so for a very long time.
“I wear hemp clothes,” she says. “I’m sorry to say that all of my clothes come from China because fabric made from hemp was outlawed in the United States. Big industry, I think, was behind that.
“I am really, really interested in having the U.S. bring back hemp as a major part of its materials economy,” Jane adds.
But why does a Hollywood star like Jane Fonda choose to wear clothes made out of hemp? At least in the popular imagination, hemp fabrics feel more like a burlap wrap than like something a fashion icon would strut about in.
Well, times have changed. Nowadays, beautiful, soft, silk-like fabrics are made from hemp as well.
“I fell in love with some pieces of clothing and then found out they were made of hemp and I was like: ‘Hemp? I thought it would be like a potato sack!’
“But they weren’t. They were lovely and soft, and flexible and pliable.”
Beyond fashion, hemp can help change the world for the better, Jane continues.
“You asked me why I think hemp is important. I’ll tell you why: We have to stop fossil fuels; we have to phase out fossil fuels from our economy, and we have to do it quickly. We need to be looking for things that can be integral to a national economy that is democratic.”And, for Jane, hemp is as democratic as it gets: it can be grown across the U.S., and the entire world, for that matter.
“A lot of the hemp that is currently being grown, is being grown by indigenous women in northern parts of this country. But in the formation of this country, our forefathers, including George Washington, grew hemp in Washington, D.C. It can grow in a lot of different places. It was a major part of life and the economy back in the seventeen hundreds.
“They probably smoked it too, old George Washington, Benjamin Franklin,” she jokes, air-toking a pretend joint.
Witticisms aside, Jane is serious about hemp. As serious as it gets.
“It can be a homegrown, local, decentralized product that can be in the control of people who’ve been marginalized in the past. And that’s why I like it.”
Under The Influence (Of Winona)
As Jane’s activism starts to show in the conversation, one name begs to be brought forward: Winona LaDuke.
Long-time friends Jane and Winona are currently protesting the $7.5 billion crude oil pipeline being constructed by the Canadian company, Enbridge, in Minnesota.
The project, Jane explains, poses a major threat to the environment; the pipelines would traverse two hundred bodies of water, including the headwater of the Mississippi River.
“These pipes transport tar sands, the most poisonous, damaging, dirty oil. And when it leaks, it sinks to the bottom of the water. It’s very toxic and very hard to clean up,” she says. “Tens of millions of people depend on the Mississippi for their water. I went up there to try to bring national attention to this Enbridge Line 3, and I succeeded in that.”
Interestingly enough, it was Winona LaDuke who brought the Enbridge issue to Jane’s attention, just as she had done in the past with hemp.
“She’s the one who told me about Henry Ford’s hemp car. She’s the one who made me understand the value of a hemp economy,” the artist declares.
Then, she moves on to quote her dear friend: “There was a moment in North American history when we had a choice. We could have chosen a carbohydrate economy, or a hydrocarbon economy. And we chose the wrong one.
“Now we have a chance to decide over. We should choose a carbohydrate economy in which hemp would figure centrally. I love that,” Jane adds.
She really does love hemp. Her face lights up as she mentions the tens of uses hemp has.“You know, it could be made into plastic, man! I mean, you could get rid of fossil fuel-based plastic, create a plastic equivalent out of hemp. Put that in a pipe and smoke it!”
So, if hemp is so great. Why aren’t we using it more?
Well, prohibition had a lot to do with it. But also, money.
“It’s capitalism. Competitive companies didn’t want hemp around and so they outlawed it. They lobbied the government to outlaw it,” she assures.
Beauty Rest
Taking a bit of a breather from heavier subjects, Jane turns to her partnership with hemp CBD products Uncle Bud’s.Last year, Uncle Bud’s was featured on Forbes on two separate occasions. In the first article, NBA legend Magic Johnson shared his history with CBD and explained his partnership with the company. In the second piece, the sports superstar revealed exclusive news about the brand’s launch in China via a partnership with Alibaba’s Tmall.
“As you see, I’m interested in hemp. And then this company [Uncle Bud’s] came along. They made skin products out of hemp. I tried them and I really liked them, and so I said, ‘sure, yeah, I like the idea. I mean, my God… All those skin products, hemp is like a miracle product,” Jane explains.
In fact, the actress uses the products herself on a regular basis.
Uncle Bud’s roll-on helps her relieve the back-and-shoulder pain caused by her arthritis, while the night-time mask keeps her skin “nice and moist.” And results are clear as day: at age 83, Jane’s skin looks as soft as a baby’s bottom.
“Hemp is a magical plant,” she concludes.
Uncle Bud Is Thriving
China has become a very large market for Uncle Bud’s. And CEO and co-founder Bruno Schiavi sees a lot of room for growth left.
However, recent chatter about a potential ban of hemp and CBD products in the country could pose a major hurdle for the company and others in the space. Yet, Schiavi seems confident Uncle Bud’s will make it one way or another.
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