SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) — Women in the marijuana industry say they can't wait to see stigmas about the drug go up in smoke.
Now that recreational pot is legal, they say they've seen an increase in customers who are professional women.
At Torrey Holistics in Sorrento Valley, women play a huge part in running the show.
"I think that it's a unique opportunity for women to really come to the forefront of an important industry," said Christine Bordenave who is the director of purchasing and compliance at the location.
Several of her employees are women and so is their clientele.
"We see professionals across the board coming the coming in: attorneys, doctors, accountants," said Bordenave.
Which is exactly what a new magazine called "Broccoli" caters to - successful women who use marijuana.
"So, we're looking at cannabis from an art, culture and fashion perspective," said "Broccoli" founder and creative director Anja Charbonneau who spoke to News 8 via Skype from her Portland home office.
Together, with her all female staff, this is where they create a lot of the material used; like shooting photos of floral arrangements using pot leaves, designing fashion spreads, and choosing topics to cover: everything from medical research to profiling women in the industry.
"There's been a lot of creativity with the brands and the shops in Portland, so I wanted to bring that same treatment into publishing," said Charbonneau.
With the second issue coming out soon, Charbonneau says word continues to spread, including on Instagram where they have more than 21,000 followers from all over the world.
"Once the first issue started landing, we were hearing from women in Hong Kong, in India and South Africa, Brazil," Charbonneau said.
Between the dispensaries and this new magazine, these women say the ultimate goal is to change the stigma of marijuana and the people who use it.
As for critics who believe marijuana should not be glamorized?
"I think that the most important thing is that it should be every adult's choice whether or not they wanna consume," Charbonneau said.
"[People can] learn how cannabis has helped people and how it can help them in their lives as well," said Bordenave.