Would Jacques agree? A Cousteau family brand combines the sea with the grass
The Cousteau family’s first foray into cannabis began as spontaneous comment.
“Over a couple of glasses of wine, I cracked the joke, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if the Cousteaus created a cannabis line and we called it Algae?'” Ashlan Cousteau recalled in a recent interview with Leafly. “We all had to smile. But then we couldn’t stop thinking about it.”
A journalist, television host, author, educator and social entrepreneur, Ashlan began her career as an entertainment reporter before starring in Travel Channel’s Caribbean Pirate Treasure for three seasons. Her husband is Philippe Cousteau, host and executive producer of the multiple Emmy nominated series Awesome Planet, now in its sixth season. In the tradition of the Cousteau family, both lend their talents to a variety of environmental non-profit organizations.
“I’m the third generation in a family dedicated to protecting the oceans and the planet,” Philippe told Leafly. “I’ve spent my whole life carrying on in the spirit of that legacy.”
Philippe is the grandson of world-renowned marine explorer Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997), the French naval officer-turned-writer, filmmaker, conservationist, inventor and director/host of The Silent World – a documentary about the sea and the underwater world that inspired millions People and won a Palme d’Or at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.
Hence the “algae” joke that spawned SeaWeed Naturals.
surfing and lawn
SeaWeed Naturals promotional materials describe it as “a unique lifestyle brand that creates products that offer consumers the proven benefits of the cannabis plant combined with the myriad potent effects of marine botanicals.”
Specifically, the SeaWeed Naturals line of topicals, balms, tinctures, and gummies combine THC and CBD oils with seaweed and seaweed. The company’s origin story may be a pun, but the couple say they hope to make a serious impact by creating a market for restorative-sourced algae (“from Maine aquaculture farms that naturally sequester carbon, the Deacidifying the ocean, creating habitats and creating sustainable jobs”) and ocean-friendly omega-3 fatty acids (“derived from algae sustainably cultivated through a fermentation process similar to kombucha”).
According to the Cousteaus, 5% of the company’s profits are donated to protecting and educating the oceans.
SeaWeed Naturals currently offers eight premium products in select California dispensaries and by mail delivery, and plans to launch a CBD hemp wellness line in 50 states in the near future.
A fortified gummy bear changed her life
According to the Cousteaus, combining cannabis and marine botanicals was a far cry from their first business idea.
“We thought about doing a t-shirt line, but the fashion industry is a big polluter. We thought about making furniture, wine or cooking. We didn’t know what we wanted to do, we just wanted to do something.”
That something came into focus when Ashlan had a deeply healing experience eating a “sleepy jelly bean” for the first time. After the birth of the couple’s first child, she suffered from crippling insomnia.
“I’ve tried over-the-counter sleep aids, I’ve tried prescription drugs, and I never liked how it made me feel,” she recalled. “I remember that the next morning [after trying a THC gummy]. I slept well and woke up refreshed, not groggy or hungover. It changed my life and really opened my eyes to the power of this plant.”
Add sea plants like seaweed
Next came the idea of incorporating marine botanicals, which are already found in a wide variety of cosmetic and wellness products and offer their own health benefits.
“On the face of it,” Ashlan said, “seaweed is antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, moisturizes the skin, and inhibits collagen breakdown. Omega 3 helps with depression and anxiety, helps with your organs and joints, and supports your immune system.”
A curious story with “the grass”
Jacques Cousteau, the family’s famous patriarch, lived to the age of 86 and left behind 120 television documentaries, more than 50 books and a thriving environmental protection society. However, he may be best known to a younger generation of cannabis users as the inspiration for the 2004 Wes Anderson film The Life Aquatic, starring Steve Zissou.
In The Life Aquatic, Bill Murray plays a character who is clearly (albeit very loosely) based on Cousteau. One of the main differences between the character and her inspiration is that Steve Zissou enjoys smoking weed throughout the film.
The real Jacques Cousteau, on the other hand, was firmly against cannabis. And we know that because he put it in writing.
In his preface to a 1976 anti-marijuana polemic entitled “Keep Off the Grass: A Scientific Inquiry into the Biological Effects of Marijuana” by Dr. Gabriel G. Nahas compared Cousteau’s effects of cannabis to the “nitrogen narcosis” suffered by deep-sea divers, and repeatedly discredited claims.
“The deleterious biological effects associated with the habit of marijuana are of an extremely serious nature,” Cousteau wrote at the time. “If we’re concerned about the external pollutants threatening our environment, we should be just as concerned about internal pollutants — like marijuana products.”
Put that in your pipe
Both the book Keep off the Grass and Cousteau’s Foreword are now forgotten relics of a bygone era. So forgotten, in fact, that Philippe Cousteau told Leafly he’d never heard of the book and had no idea his famous grandfather was anti-cannabis.
“We’re talking about 45 years ago, when society’s perspective on drugs was very different,” said Philippe.
Obviously, it is not fair to hold a half-century-old polemic by his grandfather against Philippe Cousteau. And who knows? If Jacques Cousteau had lived long enough to witness the era of legalization and widespread acceptance of medicinal cannabis, he might have filled his famous pipe with some seaweed instead of tobacco.
Or more likely, sampled a SeaWeed Naturals gummy bear.
“I can’t speak for my grandfather now – and I have no idea how his thoughts on this evolved over time – but he was someone who definitely changed and broadened his perspectives over time,” said Philippe .
And that is a positive sign of the times.
David Beehive
Veteran cannabis journalist David Bienenstock is the author of How to Smoke Pot (Properly): A Highbrow Guide to Getting High (2016 – Penguin/Random House) and co-host and co-creator of the Great Moments in Weed History podcast with Abdullah and Bean.” Follow him on Twitter @pot_handbook.
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