As Lisa Cadan took her seat at a recent Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation meeting for cannabis cultivators, she could not help but take in the room before her: the audience was almost entirely men, a vast majority of them accompanied by their attorneys.

The purpose of the discussion was to review Gov. Gina Raimondo’s recent proposed bill regarding recreational marijuana, but for Ms. Cadan, of Bristol, and her business partner, Cassy Heneault, their company, Elle-Cie, had always represented much more than that; there was no way they were going to continue on through the industry ignoring their roots.

As far as they are concerned, Elle-Cie — Rhode Island’s first women-owned cannabis cultivation team — will always be first and foremost focused on growing marijuana for use as medicine — by doing so safely, legally and passionately. As Ms. Heneault puts it: “We are a different place in cannabis.”

From patients to cultivators

Though Ms. Cadan is now a proud advocate for using marijuana as medicine, it was initially a treatment option she never seriously considered for her numerous health problems, including multiple sclerosis, migraines and arthritis. It was not until she suffered an anaphylactic reaction to a prescription drug five years ago during her daughter’s birthday party that she decided to give it a try. Having never been a regular user of the drug, she was surprised to find that, in her case, it seemed to work.

The experience inspired her to begin testifying at the Statehouse where, eventually, she met her future business partner. Similar to Ms. Cadan, Ms. Heneault also found cannabis to be beneficial in treating her severe back pain — an issue she has been dealing with since she was 16 — and, more recently, her PTSD from her mother’s death.

“For me, it was like, what can I do to get me out of bed and make sure that I can function?” she said.

As the pair became closer, conversations about starting their own cultivation slowly began to emerge, with Ms. Heneault as the master horticulturist and Ms. Cadan as the brains behind operations. They began filling out their application, calling themselves Elle-Cie after the phonetic spelling of each other’s first initial (which, coincidentally, loosely translates to “her company” in French). In May of 2017, their application was approved; two months later, they were officially issued their cultivation license, the thirteenth in the state and the first fully-female team to do so.

Both women realize that in a number of ways, they do not fit the bill of what some people perceive as the “typical” marijuana user. Yet by sharing their own personal experience with cannabis, they hope that stereotype will begin to change. Said Ms. Heneault:

“There’s just so much more to today’s pot smoker than there was back in, like, the ’70s.”

Nurturing growth

When they first began cultivating out of their Providence facility 18 months ago, the women had only growing medicinal marijuana in mind, striving to create products they themselves would use.

“We are not looking to be super rich,” said Ms. Heneault. “We really care about what we grow.”

Today, she and Elle-Cie’s sole employee, Josh Benoit, are busy testing out ten different strains of the drug, utilizing virtually the same growing process that Ms. Heneault and her husband use at home. Starting from infancy, the plants are nurtured through their various life phases over the course of roughly 14 weeks: from childhood, known as the seedling stage; through the teenage years, or the vegetative stage; and into the workforce, referred to as the flowering stage. All the while, their exposure to temperature and light is carefully monitored, and the use of pesticides is forbidden.

By the time the buds have reached the drying stage, they have reached retirement; once placed in the locked safe, they are in what Ms. Cadan refers to as “the grave.”

From there, the buds can be sent to any of the three compassion centers located in the state — the Slater Center in Providence, Greenleaf in Portsmouth and Summit in Warwick. Nearly all of their product goes to the latter two, with the hybrid Vancouver Island Haze routinely ranking as their biggest seller. Most of what Elle-Cie grows, in fact, are hybrids — unique combinations of cannabis’ Sativa and Indica strains. Just as with any other type of medication, however, the overall impact each strain will have can be just as unique as the individual user behind it.

“It’s not like a written prescription, one size fits all,” said Ms. Heneault. “It’s completely patient-specific.”

Taking the risk

No matter how much care and attention they put into producing high-quality buds, however, Ms. Cadan

and Ms. Heneault realized early on that in order to sustain Elle-Cie long-term, relying solely on medical marijuana sales may not be possible. Though being patients helped clue them in to many of the industry’s rules and regulations before getting started, the women were unaware that they would not be the ones pricing out their products — it would be the compassion centers.

With the demand for medicinal cannabis simply not enough to keep their self-funded business going, having the option to additionally sell for recreational use has become critical in order to keep Elle-Cie afloat. Not knowing whether or not Gov. Raimondo’s bill to legalize, regulate and tax cannabis for 21+ use — potentially as early as 2020 will pass, has been stressful.

“There are so many things that are not up to us in our business, and that’s challenging,” Ms. Heneault said.

All they can do in the meantime, then, is keep pushing forward. Establishing their brand and social media presence will be a major focus in the coming weeks as Elle-Cie strives to set itself apart from the other 75 approved cultivators within the state. They hope to be able to employ both their own artistic talents along with those of local designers to create an identity that is both unique and approachable.

Regardless of every up and down they have faced — from health concerns and personal loss to the perpetual uncertainty of their business — the women have come to realize that one of the most rewarding aspects of pursuing Elle-Cie has been the bond with each other.

“We’re business partners,” Ms. Heneault said, “but we’re friends, and we’re family.”