After battling 20 seizures a day at the height of her struggle with epilepsy, and eventually losing her ability to read, walk and talk, Heidene Lawrence reluctantly turned to medicinal cannabis for a solution.
At the time, Lawrence, the founder and CEO of Tubby’s Kitchen, a cannabis tea, spices and condiments startup company, was unwilling to explore cannabis fully and only went as far as taking it in micro-doses as part of her diet.
She didn't want to consider smoking it or consuming it in edibles such as in brownies. But she had noted a significant difference in the frequency of her seizures, and she was willing to try an alternative so she starting having it as tea.
When she was 27 years old, Lawrence, who had been enjoying a brilliant career in consulting, was diagnosed with epilepsy and managed to adjust well to her new reality until 2018, when her seizures became markedly worse.
Desperate to get back on her feet, she took to the kitchen to blend cannabis teas with her grandmother, drying the marijuana leaves in the oven and packing them in makeshift tea bags, and Tubby’s Kitchen was born.
“I started doing research … I started reading about decarboxylation and how to dry out the cannabis in the oven because I didn’t want to smoke it. I was looking for alternatives, then I discovered I can make tea, I can make spices and chillies. I can go the opposite direction,” said Lawrence.
The startup, formally founded in 2020, operates out of a 265m2 facility in the north of Johannesburg. It will soon be retailing with Labat-owned Cannafrica, adding to a list of other cannabis speciality stores such as Turtle House, and The Joint, among others.
Today, Tubby's kitchen produces a range of teas, spices and condiments. Its teas include two rooibos variants, a honeybush, a lemongrass and a buchu tea, while the spices include a herb and olive fusion and a Moroccan spice medley, among others.
Before settling on the types of teas for Tubby's, Lawrence experimented with a myriad of teas from different parts of the world, including some from England and China.
But eventually, the decision came from Tubby’s cannabis supplier, Druids Garden, who nudged her to settle on local teas.
While the use of cannabis in the treatment of epilepsy patients remains ubiquitous, some significant advances have been made.
In 2018, the US Food and Drug Administration approved an oral solution with CBD for treating seizures associated with two rare and severe forms of epilepsy. It was the first approval of a drug containing a purified substance derived from marijuana.
For Lawrence, taking cannabis in micro-doses consistently and continually taking taking her medication was key, she said.
“It's about consistent use; with me it was a matter of I needed to use it specifically for my epilepsy, and it’s worked for me,” she said.