Since coming out as a medical marijuana user during her bout with breast cancer in 2005, Etheridge has gone further, advocating for full legalization, in part because
“I don’t want to look like a criminal to my kids anymore.” The singer and advocate has now joined the growing ranks of female potrepreneurs with her delicious cannabis-infused wine, announced in late 2014.
This year Etheridge opened the Americans for Safe Access conference in DC and keynoted the Cannabis World Conference in LA, and she rocked out the Concert for Social Justice in LA with renditions of Brandy Clark’s “Get High” and Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up.”
For her courage, her vision, and her creativity, Tokin’ Woman is proud to bestow this year’s Tokin' Woman of the Year award to Melissa Etheridge.
SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR
Mixed martial artist and former UFC bantamweight titleholder Ronda Rousey made headlines
this year when she questioned the suspension of fellow fighter Nick Diaz because he tested positive for pot. Rousey has since clarified that she is not against testing for performance-enhancing drugs, which she has undergone since her teens, before becoming the first US woman to win an Olympic medal in judo in 2008.
this year when she questioned the suspension of fellow fighter Nick Diaz because he tested positive for pot. Rousey has since clarified that she is not against testing for performance-enhancing drugs, which she has undergone since her teens, before becoming the first US woman to win an Olympic medal in judo in 2008.
In 2015, Rousey was the third most searched person on Google and she had film roles in Entourage and Furious 7. After defending her UFC title in five different bouts, she lost of Holly Holm in November. A rematch with Holm is scheduled for July 9, 2016.
TOP POLITICIAN
Kirsten Gillibrand, the stellar senator from New York, is a co-soponsor of the CARERS act, the best medical marijuana bill in DC. She’s been a firebrand in favor of the availability of medical marijuana for patients in her state, and the country.
Honorable Mentions:
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown,who signed legislation in June allowing those with past marijuana possession convictions to have their criminal records expunged.
ACTIVISTS OF THE YEAR
Cristina Barbuto – fought for employment rights in Massachusetts
Yami Bolonos – campaigned for Organ Transplant Bill in California
Linda Horan – won patients rights in New Hampshire
Theresa Nightingale, Pittsburgh NORML – fought for decriminalization in her city
Lynnette Shaw - won court ruling against federal interference in medical marijuana
Lynnette Shaw - won court ruling against federal interference in medical marijuana
BEST REPORTING
Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes takes this prize for bringing to the mainstream a story that others have covered in the past few years: the US government recruiting undercover informants in the drug war over petty marijuana offenses, often with disastrous results. Stahl focused on college students, but this has been happening even in high schools.
Honorable mentions
Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post
Jacob Sullum, Forbes
Matt Ferner, Huffington Post
Jon Gettman, Pot Matters
BEST COMMENTARY
Diane Goldstein, Ladybug
Amy Povah, CAN-DO Foundation
Lea Grover, Good Housekeeping
Ian Millhiser, Think Progress
#comingoutgreen, Green Flower Media
MOVIE OF THE YEAR
Marijuana-using women showed up in a lot of films this year, with largely predictable results (the munchees, giggling); however the actresses playing them weren’t always so expected.
Accomplished actress (and mother of Gwynneth Paltrow) Blythe Danner starred in I’ll See You in My Dreams, featuring a pot party with June Squibb, Rhea Perlman and Mary Kay Place. Meryl Streep, playing a rock and roll mama, shared a joint with her family in Ricki and the Flash, and Lily Tomlin knew what to do with a baggie in Grandmother. Kristin Stewart played a pot-puffing girlfriend in American Ultra, and Amanda Seyfried fired up a bong while playing a lawyer in Ted 2.
But it was writer/director/star Helen Hunt’s movie Ride(pictured) that takes the top prize in 2015. In it, Hunt learns to surf, smoke pot, and enjoy life, while playing a high-powered editor and mother. Read more. OUTING OF THE YEAR
When Oregon TV news anchor Cyd Maurer was fired this year after a post-fender-bender drug test revealed that she smoked marijuana, it highlighted the injustice of employment drug testing and of the prohibition on pot. Maurer, 25, released a videoexplaining how she was fired by a corporate attorney who never met her, coming out as a “normal and responsible marijuana user” whose only stereotyping has been as “an overachieving goody-goody.” She’s now started a website, http://askmeaboutmarijuana.com/ to keep the dialogue going.
Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart were interviewed for Culture magazine, and Joan Jett toked up for High Times photographers and spoke about the time Miley Cyrus came to her hotel room and she was smoking.
Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie Perez defended marijuana legalization on The View; Molly Ringwald and Kelly Clarkson came out for legalization, and Olivia Wilde spoke about "...that unfortunate semester in high school when I simultaneously discovered Krispy Kreme and pot" in People magazine.
Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart were interviewed for Culture magazine, and Joan Jett toked up for High Times photographers and spoke about the time Miley Cyrus came to her hotel room and she was smoking.
Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie Perez defended marijuana legalization on The View; Molly Ringwald and Kelly Clarkson came out for legalization, and Olivia Wilde spoke about "...that unfortunate semester in high school when I simultaneously discovered Krispy Kreme and pot" in People magazine.
Susan Sarandon told High Times “the world would be a better place” if marijuana were legal and Roseanne Barr said she is using marijuana to treat macular degeneration and glaucoma. Jane Fonda admitted at the age of 77 that she still enjoys pot “every now and then” and Chelsea Handler tweeted a picture of her medical marijuana card in February, writing: "I'm a legal marijuaner. Just in time for my 40th bday tomorrow. Now I just need to get a lighter."
TV SHOW OF THE YEAR
Grace and Frankie, Netflix
Honorable Mentions:
Modern Family, The Big Guns
Broad City, Kelly Ripa Gets Ripped
BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Johann Hari, Chasing the Scream
Susan Cheever, Drinking in America
(and, of course, Tokin’Women: A 4000-Year Herstory)
COMEDY MOMENT OF THE YEAR
There were so many of these this year it’s hard to name them all. Jennifer Aniston did a funny “lipflip” with Jimmy Fallon in January, announcing she was backing the Seattle Seahawks
in the Superbowl because “We got the weed, man.”
in the Superbowl because “We got the weed, man.”
In March, President Obama joked at a Gridiron Club appearance, “I’m not saying I’m any funnier.
I’m saying weed is now legal in DC.”
Lily Tomlin opened a mock medical marijuana dispensary on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Ellen Degeneres reported on a Yelp review of the Buds and Roses dispensary in LA.
But my top three moments were these:
Ellen Degeneres reported on a Yelp review of the Buds and Roses dispensary in LA.
But my top three moments were these:
BEST CANNABIS RESEARCH STUDY
Deborah Malka, MD - Cannabis Therapeutic Use in the Elderly
Honorable mentions:
NOTABLE GOVERNMENT NEWS
The National Cancer Institute, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, finally updated its website to admit that cannabinoids have anti-tumor effects in pre-clinical studies. Read more.
BEST PRODUCT
BEST EVENT
Honorable mentions:
The Emerald Cup, Santa Rosa, CA
Dank Tank: A High Minded Conversation, Los Angeles, CA
A FOND GOODBYE TO:
Elizabeth Bing, Founder of Lamaze International
Cilla Black, singer
Betsy Drake, actress and author
Frances Oldham Kelsey, scientist
Cynthia Robinson, trumpeter and singer
Oliver Sacks, scientist and author
John Trudell, activist and musician
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