Moving Cannabis Into The Home
Take a step inside Jenny Rhae’s home and you’ll immediately smell the delightful aroma of lavender. Sit down to dinner, and you may enjoy a meal cooked in avocado oil, paired with a refreshing, tall glass of lemon tea. Afterwards, you may sample a couple drops of coconut oil lotion from the restroom and forget what dry hands felt like. The only difference between an evening at Rhae’s home and your favorite relative? The air you breathed and the food you ate were infused with cannabis oil.
Jenny Rhae, co-founder of Infuzions, dreams of a world where cannabis is not merely an activity in and of itself, but a continuously integrated part of one’s life.
Rhae, born and raised in Trinidad, California contracted Lyme disease in her early teens. After years of trying various unsuccessful Western medical treatments, Rhae turned to Eastern medicine in search of relief. She found relief in the use of both essential oils and cannabis. She soon became a practitioner of alternative health, incorporating essential oils into her treatments.
Infuzions, the realized dream of Rhae and her partner Hugh Cole, is a company specializing in infusing cannabis with essential oils and consumables. This might mean using a CBD avocado oil while sauteing vegetables, or diffusing a lavender and master kush oil into the air in your in home, in lieu of a chemical fragrance. A popular product sold by Infuzions among many of the area’s 420 farmer’s market goers, is an ice cold cannabis infused lemonade. The result of Infuzions’ blends, according to Rhae and Cole, are products that heighten the senses and restore the body to a balanced level.
“The goal when using one of our products is to compliment something you already do, and enhance it, not necessarily as something just to get you high” Rhae said. “We envision cannabis being something that you consume throughout your day to keep you balanced and healthy, whether in your air, your food, or in oils for your skin. It doesn’t have to be smoked periodically, or taken in doses.”
The idea for Infuzions came from Rhae and Cole’s self experimentation with essential oils and cannabis blends. Rhae, for symptoms of lyme disease, and Cole, for joint and back pain. The two became fascinated with terpenes and learning how to target specific ailments and discomforts. Terpenes are the organic compounds in plants that give them their fragrance, and have long been a healing force within Eastern medicine. Terpenes are a key component within the science of essential oils, and the essence of aromatherapy.
They found that by combining particular cannabis oils with essential oils aimed at the same ailment, for example anxiety, they could create infusions that were usable throughout the day and in dozens of ways. “They have an entourage effect,” Rhae said. “The terpenes in essential oils and cannabinoids compliment each other, they work better in unison.”
Rhae and Cole use both THC and CBD oils in their infusions. They are perhaps best known for their infused lemonade, which features an entire lemon with a choice of CBD or THC oil, or a blend of the two. The drink, described by Rhae, often actually sobers up the consumer if they’ve been smoking heavily during the day. Additionally, the lemon peel in the drink has a dozen proven health benefits such as improved bone density and heart health. Infuzions also offers cannabis oil skin rubs for joint pain. Their “Fractionated Coconut Oil” blend, for example, is a mixture of lavender oil and 100 mg of CBD. Their infused oils sell for $25 a vile.
Rhae and Cole handcraft all of their products, using cannabis oils derived primarily from strains such as Rigo’s Gift and Swiss TSU from Southern Humboldt. They will be growing all of the herbs used in Infuzions. “We started off by just making things that healed us, and it’s amazing how people gravitate towards that.”
Rhae says the medical and healing aspect to Infuzions is the most important part. “The goal isn’t to be just another way people consume cannabis,” Rhae said. “We want to change how people think about it, and how they incorporate it into daily life.” Rhae and Cole dream of offering an Infuzions’ Bed and Breakfast, where people can come and treat their bodies to all the medicinal and relaxing benefits of their products. The hope is to show people how they can incorporate cannabis into their daily lives without interruption or interference.
“It’s about working with what’s in your environment, before trying things outside of it,” Rhae said. “Getting Lyme disease here as a child, and then using the natural things that grow here to treat it seems natural, it seems normal.” Rhae looks at Infuzions as just that; a compliment to one’s natural ecosystem, using the fruits of the land to cure illness and to enhance daily life.
Leave a Reply