She is better known for a love of copper pots than pot brownies. And the only cherry pie she seems to indulge in has a crust and is baked in the oven. But Martha Stewart, who built an empire as the doyenne of domesticity, has teamed up with a Canadian cannabis company to create and promote a new line of hemp-based CBD products.
Could this be a new era of kush cuisine?
Bruce Linton, chief executive of the Ontario-based company, Canopy Growth Corporation, said Ms. Stewart would have an advisory role and assist with the development and brand positioning of a new line of offerings for humans and animals. He said they hoped to introduce something for pets soon, which they are currently developing.
“I am delighted to establish this partnership with Canopy Growth and share with them the knowledge I have gained after years of experience in the subject of living,” Ms. Stewart said in a statement. “I’m especially looking forward to our first collaboration together, which will offer sensible products for people’s beloved pets.”
Ms. Stewart, 77, is the latest celebrity to team with a cannabis company to bring its products to a more mainstream audience. In 2016, Whoopi Goldberg announced a line of marijuana products targeted at relieving pain from menstrual cramps. That same year, Melissa Etheridge announced that she too was starting her own line of goods.
But it is the rapper Snoop Dogg who was a pioneer, creating his own brand of marijuana products in 2015, along with Merry Jane, a media company that promotes marijuana culture.
Ms. Stewart knows Snoop Dogg well. The two partnered in 2016 on the VH1 cooking show “Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party,” which featured guests like Usher and Queen Latifah. Canopy works with Snoop Dogg as well, producing products sold under his brand.
Ms. Stewart told The Hollywood Reporter last June she had been approached by manufacturers seeking brand partnerships.
A worker attends to marijuana plants in the mother room at Canopy Growth in Smiths Falls, Ontario.CreditDave Chan for The New York Times
“I’ve been asked to design recipes and even ointments, healthy ointments for humans as well as for animals like cats and dogs,” she said. “I’ve had two companies recently in my office bringing in very interesting ointments, rubs and massage creams.”
Mr. Linton said he met with Ms. Stewart in New York last summer and pitched her the idea of a collaboration. He said she had just come from getting her hair cut and had a few strands left on her collar. “I asked for a lock of her hair and it got quite fun after that,” he said.
Ms. Stewart declined to comment beyond her statement.
Last fall, Mr. Linton said, Ms. Stewart visited Canopy’s factory in Smiths Falls, Ontario, and exhibited a curiosity about all aspects of marijuana growing and production.
“She talked about gardening and wondered about the scent,” Mr. Linton said. She schooled him on plant aroma and how it can be used to brighten a room.
He said Ms. Stewart did not try any of the company’s products, which include oils, capsules and dried leaves.
Ms. Stewart, though, told The Hollywood Reporter in her interview that Snoop Dogg had introduced her to CBD-infused cream. She recalled an episode at her estate in Bedford, N.Y., where she was having lunch with the rapper, friends and her daughter, Alexis. A rock fell on her toe. So Snoop Dogg raced to his car and fetched a tube of CBD-infused ointment, which she rubbed on her foot. “I must tell you, my toe got better within two days,” she said.
The cannabis plant contains dozens of cannabinoids, among them THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol). THC has the psychoactive properties that make people feel high but are toxic to animals. CBD, on the other hand, offers the benefits without the buzz. Industrial hemp, used to make textiles and paper, is also used in pet products because its THC levels are negligible.
CBD products are increasingly popular with pet owners, which is, perhaps, one reason Ms. Stewart is entering the fray. The Food and Drug Administration has not approved cannabis for pets, in part because there is little research showing its effectiveness. It acknowledged, though, that it had not received reports of adverse effects of hemp or marijuana-derived products on animals.
Still, many pet owners swear by CBD, saying that their animals are less anxious, that they have less pain and that it fosters better health.
