Kelley Bruce first began using cannabis as an alternative to pharmaceuticals. It helped ease the symptoms of her ADD and major depressive disorder, as well as soothe the chronic pain she’s endured in her neck and back ever since a car accident left her with a herniated disc. “I choose cannabis versus five pills a day,” she says. “I truly believe it’s a powerful plant.”
The mother of three with a fourth on the way has made it her mission to help other moms suffering in similar ways by launching a cannabis cultivation non-profit called CannaMommy. The company, based in Humboldt County, California, where Bruce and her family live, sells a variety of CBD products, including bath bombs, salts, and lactation cookie kits. It’s also a “safe place” for mothers and families to find information about cannabis in order to make the best choices for them regarding using plant-based solutions. “I love being able to help people who are suffering end their pain—that’s my biggest joy,” says Bruce, whose children are well aware of her business and are often right beside her as she works.
Bruce is just one of more than 200,000 people, including legions of moms, who are finding work within both the recreational and medical cannabis industry. Because the industry is so new, there's endless room for development in nearly every sector—sales, marketing, cultivation, science, legal, and administrative. The glass ceiling that so often exists for women in other industries isn’t as much of an issue in the cannabis world. Mothers are taking on roles from the ground floor up, and in fact, hold about 27 percent of executive roles in cannabis companies compared to 21 percent in traditional industries.
The booming industry comes in response to the breakthroughs in legalization across the country. At the time of publication, cannabis is medically legal in 33 states. And it’s recreationally legal in Washington D.C. as well as Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. In most of these states, it is also legal to grow between plants for personal use and there are typically limited restrictions for those with a commercial grower’s license. Elsewhere, advocates are pushing for imminent legalization.
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