Entertainer Whoopi Goldberg and cannabis industry veteran Maya Elisabeth. (Timothy White, courtesy of Whoopi and Maya)

Whoopi Goldberg hopes her new weed line will offer menstrual cramp relief

Entertainer Whoopi Goldberg has started a medical marijuana business in San Francisco — and she hopes her products will provide “an alternative for relieving the pain and discomfort associated with menstruation,” Goldberg said in a release.

Goldberg paired with award-winning edibles maker Maya Elisabeth, who founded Om Edibles in 2008, to launch the brand — called Whoopi & Maya. The topicals and edibles aimed at women will be available in California dispensaries in April.

“This was all inspired by my own experience from a lifetime of difficult periods and the fact that cannabis was literally the only thing that gave me relief,” Goldberg, who serves as chairwoman of Whoopi & Maya, said in press materials. “The only products available to us were filled with ingredients we couldn’t even pronounce, and I discovered that I was not alone in this. When I looked further, I learned that this area was considered a niche … a niche that includes half of the population!

“I was fortunate enough to be connected to Maya, and this company is the result of that collaboration.”

Added Whoopi & Maya CEO Elisabeth: “Every month women experience pain and discomfort associated with their period. Cannabis is a wonderful remedy, and combined with other superfoods and medicinal herbs, can provide the type of relief many women need.”

The Whoopi & Maya line’s first four products will be:

• A raw sipping chocolate infused with either CBD or THC, which can be mixed in liquids (such as warm milk) or eaten.

• THC-infused tincture.

• A THC-infused bath soak described as “profoundly relaxing.”

• A topical rub.

The first shops and services to carry the Whoopi & Maya brand include Berkeley-based delivery service C.R.A.F.T. Collective, Oakland’s Blum dispensary, West Hollywood shop Alternative Herbal Health Services and CBCB in Berkeley.

“For me, I feel like if you don’t want to get high high, this is a product specifically just to get rid of discomfort,” Goldberg told Vanity Fair. “Smoking a joint is fine, but most people can’t smoke a joint and go to work.

“This, you can put it in your purse. You can put the rub on your lower stomach and lower back at work, and then when you get home you can get in the tub for a soak or make tea, and it allows you to continue to work throughout the day.”