This year, California became the 6th state in the U.S. to make it legal to sell marijuana for recreational use. The BBC World Service asked me to explore an all-female startup that’s hoping to become a global power house for “high tea.” Amanda Jones and Jen Chapin, the Kikoko cofounders say that their marijuana-infused teas can help with sleep, pain, mood and even sex. I interviewed an enthusiastic fan at a Silicon Valley high tea party who raved about her spectacular orgasms! But is it addictive and what are the risks? My report aired today on the BBC’s Health Check.

Listen to the BBC podcast (High Tea segment Starts at 8:54)

Or listen to the shorter High Tea segment below:

http://www.freshdialogues.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/High-Tea-Segment-BBC-Health-Check-7-mins-w-FD-intro-.mp3

Here’s a transcript of my report (edited for length and clarity):

BBC Health Check Host, Claudia Hammond: On New Year’s Day, California became the 6th state in the U.S. to legalize marijuana for recreational use. With an estimated potential market of $7Bn, it’s big business and queues soon formed outside dispensaries, with people keen to buy not just marijuana in tobacco and oils, but in brownies and even gummy bears. Now you can go to a “high tea” where the tea bags contain more than just tea leaves. So we sent reporter Alison van Diggelen along to ask what impact marijuana can have on our health?

Alison van Diggelen: Here in an affluent suburb of Silicon Valley, women in fancy hats are enjoying a little tea party. The product – Kikoko – offers you “high” tea: tea bags with microdoses of marijuana that can give you a buzz and more. Here’s Amanda Jones, one of the cofounders of Kikoko….

Amanda Jones: This is not your mother’s Earl Grey tea…however it’s good for your mother. My mother does it almost every day, she’s 82. What we offer is a cannabis infused herbal tea, very low dose… “Ritz with a twist” is what we call it. It’s very refined, all organic, top-shelf herbs, blended for the particular ailments we’re trying to treat.

Alison van Diggelen: Amanda, and her all-female team, say their tea blends can help with: sleep, pain, mood and even sex….The teas have between 3 and 10 mg of THC. THC – or Tetra-hydro-cannabinol – is what gets people high. At elevated doses it’s also been linked to anxiety and an increased risk of mental health problems.  The other key substance in marijuana is Cannabidiol, or CBD – sometimes recommended to help with pain or inflammation. A small trial recently conducted at the Institute of Psychiatry in London found this substance acts as an anti-psychotic and might counteract some of the negative effects of THC.

Several Kikoko clients enthused about the tea’s healing powers – including Tara Kaplinski, a lawyer who started drinking the tea for pain relief and to get a good night’s sleep…

Tara Kaplinski: I was taking a lot of ibuprofen for a wrist injury and I started to get pain in my solar plexus…so I went to the doctor and they said you can’t take Aleve (Naproxen)…you can’t take ibuprofen. So if you can’t take anything, then this is perfect. It does do the job, at least for me. It’s like a superfood…the health benefits are amazing…it’s better than having a beer, you’re not going to gain weight from it, be hungover in the morning…You’re not going to get frustrated with your children. I think it’s a healthier alternative.

Alison van Diggelen: Tracy O’Reilly – not her real name – is also a fan, but for quite different reasons. She’s a 55 year-old pharmacologist with expertise in toxicology.

Tracy O’Reilly: I took this “sensuali-tea” and it absolutely changed my life… I really had tremendous orgasms and I just felt wonderful afterwards and it lingered; giving me a pleasure that I didn’t think was possible post-menopause…

Alison van Diggelen: With the same partner?

Tracy O’Reilly: [...]