Before Heidi Perhach graduated with her latest degree, she told a story about assuming a family member — who had no experience with Cannabis at the time — would be able to keep up with her preferred dosage. At the time, honey sticks with RSO infusions were popular, and she gave a relative about half of a stick of honey. As it turns out, she said, it was too much for them to handle. She thinks back on that story now and laughs at how much her understanding has grown since then and how important it is to start low and go slow.
“That moment when I went to school and learned how to dose people, I’ll always remember the moment of not knowing how to do it and then learning how to apply it and take it to work,” she said.
Growing up on Kent Island, everyone knew everyone in the small communities spread across the shore, Heidi said, who still calls it home. After graduating from high school and community college, she commuted to the University of Maryland, College Park, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in English language and literature.
At the time, her career goal was to be a writer or an editor, but after learning about a class focused on Cannabis offered in Colorado, she learned about a similar degree program offered in Maryland through the University of Maryland’s School of Pharmacy.
“I just thought that was the coolest thing ever, and I wanted to go out to Colorado so bad so I can take a class,” she said. “Although I loved writing, Cannabis was always there in the background, and I would have loved to take that route. And that’s what I did.”
Heidi tried Cannabis for the first time when she was around 13 with some friends and realized soon after that its effects, for her, were more uplifting than intimidating.
“It was something I was going to keep doing, and it was doing something more than just make me high,” she recalled, adding that it helped her better function as a person and helped with her anxiety. “I had a lot of anxiety growing up, and it helps keep it down, not be in your head as much and just think happier thoughts.”
Once Heidi was accepted into the program, she also made the leap into working in the industry around the same time. When she turned 21, she got her medical card and began applying for jobs and landed a harvest tech job. After a year of working in the production side of the industry, Heidi started budtending at Goldleaf in Annapolis, where she became a beacon for her co-workers to pull from for knowledge and advice. “I wanted all the budtenders to be on the same level of knowledge as me,” she said. “If I learned something in school, I’d be sure to come and tell them about it.”
Heidi was also working additional part-time jobs while going to school and budtending, adding that it’s always been something she’s done and has had no effect on her educational discipline. “I thrive in stressful situations like that,” she said while expressing that she would love to go back to school and get her Ph.D. if it became more affordable.
“There’s this stigma — at least when I was in high school — that if you smoked weed, you’re lazy and you’re never gonna get a job. Well, look at me and these other people,” she said. “We all have these degrees, we all smoke weed. And I’m working two jobs on top of all that.”
Heidi graduated from the program with a Master of Science in medical Cannabis science and therapeutics. Soon after, she left Goldleaf to work as a brand representative for Curaleaf, traveling to different shops around the state and talking with patients about different products. Still in a position to flex her education, Heidi said she enjoyed getting to “spread her wings” outside of working in the same place every day. But after a year and a half of traveling, she said that it began to wear on her.
“I’ve been all over. Since I turned 21 and could be in the industry, I went for it 100%,” she said, adding that she rejoined the Goldleaf team last year in a managerial role that works closely with products. It’s a different role, she said, but at the same time, it empowers her to act more like herself and put her head down and work.
Even though she hasn’t been smoking as much recently, Heidi prefers a heavy indica rich in myrcene, caryophyllene or linalool terpenes, singling out Ray Charles from Grassroots as her favorite flower. Recently, she said edibles and RSO are what she switches between when she needs some relief.
With her other degree and interest in English and writing, Heidi said she’s been working on a fiction novel inspired by her fascination with true crime, “with a little bit of a futuristic AI element to it.” She also hopes one day the opportunity will present itself to combine her interest in writing with her love of Cannabis into a job writing policy, adding the chance to eventually work with the law can help to shape things that move the industry forward.
“Education plays a big part in advocating for Cannabis, like being educated in it and knowing it’s more than just culture,” she said. “There’s science and research to back it up now.”
Follow Heidi on Instagram: @heidistayshigh444
