Xzibit: It’s the Lasagna Ganja Podcast. I am Mr. X to the Z, Xzibit.

Tammy: And I’m your girl, Tammy, a.k.a. The Cannabis Cutie.

Xzibit: And we have another exciting episode of Lasagna Ganja Podcast for you today.

We are talking to one of the staples of cannabis podcasting.

Tammy: With the coolest name!

Xzibit: Yes. Her name is Mary Jane. She is here with us from…

Tammy: Weed + Grub. She co-hosts with Mike Blazer. It’s so funny.

Xzibit: Her take on cannabis is exciting. We’re going to talk about it, how she got into podcasting, how she met with Mike, and more.

Mary Jane: I’m so excited to be here today. Congratulations on the podcast!

Tammy and Xzibit: Thank you!

Xzibit: Doing our research before the podcast, we found out that there are not a lot of cannabis podcasts that deal with trying to be informative, creative, and entertaining at the same time.

So we really look up to you for what you’ve done.

Mary Jane: Thank you!

Xzibit: Is there any advice you can give us going into this?

Mary Jane: Consistency is key. It’s the most boring thing to say, but it’s the thing I’m most proud of.

Mike and I have never missed an episode. No matter what’s been happening, we’ve always been able to come together and make something happen.

And being honest on the podcast. If one of us is going through something, we talk about it on the pod.

I feel like consistency and relatability is what has kept us going this long.

I love your vibe together. That’s also the thing-finding the banter that you two obviously have!

So relatability, consistency, and vibe are the most important things.

Xzibit: Before podcasting, give us a little history about where you came from.

Mary Jane: I grew up in Newfoundland, Canada. It’s the rock off the East Coast where the Titanic sank.

My dad was a fishery scientist. He moved the family to Newfoundland.

The first time I experienced anything that would elevate me was with mushrooms. We would pick them up off the golf course.

It was an open door policy. It was the eighties. We were latchkey kids, so we would come home any time.

Xzibit: Well Canada is safe.

Tammy: Compared to us.

Mary Jane: Where I grew up, the cops didn’t even have guns. They didn’t have guns until 1998.

My first cannabis experience was hash imported from Europe. I did ‘hot knives’ with my friend Doug in his basement. It blew me away. It was a little too intense.

Then I moved to Montreal where I smoked good BC (British Columbia) bud. I mean, it wasn’t good bud, but it was good people.

So I was born in the States. I have dual citizenship.

After a long time working abroad, I graduated from theater school.

Xzibit: Theater school. Let’s talk about that.

You mean plays? Singing?

Mary Jane: Not so much singing. I love to sing, but I leave the music to the professionals.

But I went to a conservatory program. It’s into theatrical classics. A lot of my classmates are in the big festivals.

I graduated in the ‘90s. Then I moved around Europe and did acting. Then I moved to Seattle to practice acting more. Then I landed in New York.

My career took me all over.

Xzibit: Theater is hard. I have a friend that does Shakespeare. He’ll rattle off a soliloquy like it’s nothing. And I’m like, he definitely doesn’t smoke.

Mary Jane: The theater community is mostly nerds who don’t smoke a whole lot.

Xzibit: Ok, you got out of the theater. You’re in New York. Then you go where?

Mary Jane: So I was acting in New York. It’s impossible to live there. Actors make zero money.

I had a friend who was the Managing Editor at High Times. We all hung out. They were a real family at that time.

She was like, if you need extra money to support your acting habit, let me know.

She invited me to come up and be a proofreader and copy editor.

Then I got my first writing assignment. I’ll never forget it. It was a 100 word book review on a memoir for the lead singer of a band whose name I can’t remember.

I got paid 100 dollars. That was the beginning of me moving up as a writer.

They offered me the position of Culture Editor in 2014. I jumped on board.

At the time, I was going to all the Cannabis Cup events. It was right when we had medicinal use in a few States but hadn’t gone full adult use anywhere. It was just a heady time.

I moved out to LA to open up the west coast office for High Times. Ended up leaving there.

And now I write freelance. Rolling Stone mostly. Playboy.

Xzibit: Did High Times do a good job transitioning into the digital era?

Mary Jane: I think that when the digital age hit, a lot of places were doing it better than High Times.

But High Times was the legacy brand. People were giving blood, sweat, and tears to make that magazine happen.

They were on lists. They were risking their lives to report on the cannabis movement.

Everyone I worked with had a pen name because they couldn’t write under their real names. They thought that I was a narc because my name was Mary Jane.

And then when the digital era hit and recreational markets opened up across the country, all of a sudden it was harder for High Times to play that game. It’s been interesting to watch.

And podcasting! I think it’s interesting with all the information that is coming out with podcasts like this.

People will tune in more easily to a podcast than buy a magazine.

Tammy: You have to adapt to the times. We had so many single use camera brands once. Then digital cameras rolled around and disposable ones disappeared.

Xzibit: It’s going to be interesting to see where cannabis is reported in the mainstream. When it has its place. When we can advertise on race cars, boxing matches, and stuff like that.

Mary Jane: There are a few journalists out there who are doing a great job reporting on mainstream media.

But with most publications, when they assign someone to the cannabis beat, that person is so steeped in Drug War propaganda that they don’t even know that they are already biased.

They just refer to cannabis as a gateway drug.

Tammy: It’s what they’ve been taught.

Mary Jane: There’s a guy named Kevin Sobat. He pretends to be pro-marijuana and his messaging is so anti-marijuana. He gets a lot of mainstream coverage.

I think there is a lot of work we have to do as writers to disabuse people of commonly held misconceptions.

Xzibit: Well we need to answer that motherfucker.

Tammy: We need him on the show.

Xzibit: I’m going to do an anti-cannabis spin and really be pro-cannabis. I’m going to be the reverse Kevin.

Tammy: I think people know where you stand, though!

Mary Jane, I see you as a woman activist with your pen and voice.

I knew the name Mary Jane Gibson. So when your big article came out, everyone was posting about how I need to read it.

I read it and was like, “Holy shit!”

Mary Jane: High Times reached out to me and asked if I wanted to contribute to their op ed series called “Weirdos.”

Every week they’ll publish a rant from someone that you love or hate in the cannabis space.

They reached out to me and I asked what I could write about. They said anything. And I decided I was going to write about sexism.

When I moved to California, Prop 64 hadn’t passed yet. But when it passed, it was an amazing time. You had all these women who felt like they were going to build the industry.

We thought that we were not only going to get a seat at the table, but at the same time we thought we were going to get to build the actual table.

We thought it could be equitable. Fast forward a few years and it’s not.

People talk to the same people that they always talk to, which is the white dudes from Wall Street.

There’s also sexism from within the industry, not just with investors. Within the industry, I see a lot of misogynistic behaviors that I think are getting worse because of social media.

So I wrote that in the article. I tried to put in jokes. We get to make this industry look however we want to. It can be fantastic for all of us, so why don’t we do that?

The bros hated it. In the comments on the post, they were saying things like “Sexism is a myth. Shut up and make me a sandwich.”

I had so many women, like Tammy, writing to me and saying how fantastic the article was while I was fighting off all these dudes. And these guys were just proving my point.

Look at the women around you and in your life. They are massively impacted by this baked in system that doesn’t work for us and it doesn’t work for you guys!

So I started to interact with the comments and all the dudes who were telling me to make them a sandwich. I didn’t know that it was a saying!

I realized that this is something that is said all the time. And so I started writing to the guys, “I didn’t know you couldn’t make your own sandwich. I’m so sorry sandwich impotence is a thing.”

The bros went nuts.

So now I have a video series where I make a sandwich and talk about a topic while I make it.

And it all started because of cannabis. We have so many allies in the industry. We just need them to speak up.

Tammy: Like with the plant, we have to deal with a lot of BS that’s unwarranted.

Last year, at one of the biggest weed conferences in the nation, there was a brand called Buy Weed From Women.

It’s just a brand to highlight the fact that there are women brands on the shelves and they deserve just as much attention. It’s just a call to action.

At the biggest conference in the world, you have triggered men that wear shirts that say “Buy Weed From White Men.”

And of course that pisses you off because Buy Weed From Women is a black-owned company. The owner’s name is Jasmine. She had very good intentions.

Now people want to troll. People think it’s funny. Why does our attempt to bring attention to our efforts always have to result in this?

Xzibit: You guys are talking about a problem that has been around for quite some time in any industry that is male dominated.

I think the strength of people like Mary Jane is great. This has been going on. It’s something we’re exasperated with.

But I think Mary Jane and her message are going to bring everybody together because there is a nurturing feeling with having that creative process.

Women like to build and grow things. Guys just want to come through and go for the gusto, the macho, the bravado, the overpowering feeling.

This is a real topic that needs to be brought to everyone’s attention.

We had Anna Wiley here. She’s a great example of what women can be in cannabis.

Tammy: She’s a dope woman who’s doing it right and uplifting communities. Jasmine’s intention is good, but when you see those other shirts, you know there’s malicious intent.

It’s dope to see people who have power and who write things for High Times and then take the hit for us, too.

Mary Jane: Thank you for saying that. Taking the hit has felt like such a fight worth fighting. I’m fueled right now by righteous indignation.

I’m seeing the crazy injustices of the American political system play out in so many ways that I just feel like I'm fueled for the fight.

Xzibit: And you do it with humor.

Mary Jane: Right. I call them dumb names like Ding-a-Ling or Ding Dong. They go crazy. It’s so fun.

Tammy: Speaking of great ways to troll men, I love it when they are going bat shit crazy in my DMs and I just leave it on ‘read.’

You can see that it drives them crazy.

I had a guy who kept going for 2 days straight. I finally blocked him. He came from another page, so I blocked that one. Then he came from another page, so I blocked that one, too.

Mary Jane: Sometimes I will take the worst of the worst and share them to my story.

Tammy: I made that mistake. People searched and found his LinkedIn. I never responded to him.

Mary Jane: The projection is wild. Everything they say about you is really about them.

Tammy: Somebody found a comment that he had tagged me in with a heart. It was ‘tag your favorite something.’ And the person that found it noted that I never responded to him.

He got triggered because he felt rejected so he wanted to take it out on me. It was borderline harassment. But it was fun to watch.

He was trying to hurt my feelings and in the process he hurt his own.

Xzibit: Let’s talk about Weed + Grub. You guys have been on for 5 years. Tell us about that.

Mary Jane: It started when I was still with High Times. I wanted to start a podcast for them. I knew I needed a co-host.

So I had seen Mike’s Buzzfeed videos where he was eating something and getting high.

I asked him if he wanted to come record a podcast with me and he said yes. We recorded a couple of videos that never got released.

But then I left High Times and I asked if he still wanted to make something. He said yes.

So we started it. We knew the day we met that it was going to work out. Even the way we ordered our food was in sync. We both ordered dessert first.

We both love weed. We want to hang out and talk all the time. And that’s what has sustained us—the enjoyment.

And he brings different stuff to the table. He grew up in St. Louis, he’s a comedian, he plays hockey, and he’s just this total ‘guy.’ And obviously I’m me.

It’s this vibe and ‘edutainment’ that are important.

Tammy. I enjoyed being on your podcast.

Xzibit: How’s the format?

Tammy: They’ve got snacks!

Mary Jane: We snacks and we hang. We just try to be buds in people’s ears. We just want to eat and talk about it.

We call it ‘loose mooses’ when it’s just us. We talk about things like corn loading. It’s like carb loading, but it’s eating a lot of corn before a road trip to clean you out so you don’t have to stop to go to the bathroom.

We have fun talking about food and all the things happening in the cannabis world. Sometimes we have guests.

We drop on Wednesdays. I think we’re coming up on 400 episodes.

And we’ve started live shows. That has a lot more variety. We have, for example, comedians doing sets. I have a potato costume.

The potato is a really good time. My character is very silly.

Xzibit: You’re using your theater experience, too.

Mary Jane: Thank you, yes. When I moved away from acting into just writing, I missed being on stage so much. So this dovetailing of cannabis and performance makes me really happy.

Come to our live shows! We’ll be hosting the MJs in Las Vegas.

Xzibit: I think we’re going, too.

Tammy: We’re going to try and present there.

Mary Jane: Good to see you there.

Xzibit: It’s the Lasagna Ganja Podcast, I’m Mr. X to the Z, Xzibit.

Tammy: I’m your girl Tammy, aka The Cannabis Cutie.

Xzibit: Mary Jane, how do they get in touch with you?

Mary Jane: You can follow me @thisismaryjane_ on Instagram. My podcast is @weedandgrub on all platforms on Wednesday.

And if you want to check out those sandwich videos, that’s called It’s The Mayo For Me.

Thank you so much for having me. This is such a joy. I love what you’re doing. Congratulations on the pod.

Xzibit: Thank you. We love having everyone.

We will see you guys next time!