2023 Social Impact Fund Partner: McMaster University

Last updated September 8, 2025 | Published on September 8, 2025

As legalization becomes more entrenched, cannabis-related surveillance, stigma and punishment still looms large for marginalized communities. The Wading Through the Weeds project built on a small body of critical health and social science research that focused on cannabis use during pregnancy, breastfeeding and the postpartum period. It aimed to translate and mobilize new knowledge to improve public health approaches to supporting Black, Indigenous and other unjustly marginalized individuals who consume cannabis during pregnancy and breastfeeding. This project co-created culturally responsive, trauma-informed knowledge tools, including an animated video and support tool kit, to better inform and support pregnant and lactating parents who consume cannabis. 

Impact

• One harm reduction tool kit with pull-away resources: Wading Through the Weeds – Harm Reduction Toolkit for Supporting Parents and Lactating Individuals who Consume Cannabis
• Three advisory boards engaged: scientific team, community partners, regional community advisory
• One animated video: Supporting Pregnant and Lactating Parents Who Consume Cannabis and the Providers that Work with and for Them
  

Meet the McMaster team

The McMaster team is made up of Black, Indigenous and settler academic and community-based researchers, and people with lived experience with intersecting identities.

GABRIELLE GRIFFITH

Gabrielle Griffith is a queer, non-binary and neurodivergent individual advocating for inclusivity, holistic well-being and progressive research. They are a birth parent, a full-spectrum doula, an educator and a vocal cannabis consumer, promoting anti-oppressive, harm reduction and trauma-informed practices to support mental health and empower individuals and communities.

DR. SAARA GREENE

Dr. Saara Greene has a long history of engaging in participatory arts-based research focusing on reproductive and maternal justice, and barriers to care. Dr. Greene has led research with women and cannabis since 2018, including the needs and experiences of mothers who consume cannabis during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

BREKLYN BERTOZZI

Breklyn Bertozzi is a community researcher at Women’s College Hospital and a medical cannabis advocate. She brings 13 years of community-based research experience, including contributions to research on cannabis use during pregnancy and lactation. The Wading Through the Weeds logo was designed by Breklyn Bertozzi.

MARISA BLAKE

Marisa  Blake is a Senior Project Officer on the Health Team at the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) of mixed white settler and Ojibway ancestry. She has led several cannabis and health–related projects at NWAC.

DR. CHELSEA GABEL

Dr. Chelsea Gabel is a Red River Métis woman who is committed to community-based, participatory Métis health and well-being research. She has been working with Métis scholar and Canada Research Chair Dr. Cindy Gaudet and NWAC to lead several cannabis-related projects.

ROCHELLE MAURICE

Rochelle Maurice is a doctoral student in the School of Social Work. Her research aims to better understand Black parenting people’s experiences of consuming cannabis while breastfeeding.

MARY VACCARO

Mary Vaccaro is a lecturer in the School of Social Work and coordinator of a gender-specific Safer Drug Use Space at YWCA Hamilton. Her work is in harm reduction, pregnancy and reproductive justice.

For more information, visit wadingthroughtheweeds.com