EastEnders soap opera star Pam St. Clement got a taste of American cannabis culture on a road trip featured in a new documentary on ITV. For those in the U.S. unfamiliar with St. Clement, she’s a well-known and beloved character on the popular British melodrama EastEnders. In the role of Pat Butcher, St. Clement acted in the soap opera for 26 years, making her one of the longest-running cast members.
This week, however, she’s making headlines across the UK for smoking—and eating—weed on TV.
‘EastEnders’ Star Pam St. Clement Takes A Cannabis Cruise Across America
Apparently, the fact that Pam St. Clement smoked weed on TV is something of a shocker for her UK fans.
Maybe it’s because she’s 75 years old and has been such a large figure in British popular culture for so long that it’s strange to see the little old lady taking a bong rip. Then again, Pat Butcher always loved a smoke, so maybe the pivot to pot isn’t too big of a leap after all.
But what’s she doing smoking weed on a tour of the varied landscape of legal (and not-so-legal) cannabis in the U.S.?
Pam St. Clement joined a handful of other UK celebrities on a U.S. road-trip for a three-part series on ITV called Gone To Pot. The documentary series looks at the topic of marijuana use in the United States and interviews people who have experienced its highs and lows.
Stops on St. Clement’s cannabis cruise included a puff-and-paint style art class where participants get high and try to paint a cactus.
It’s a clip from this stop on the tour that lit up entertainment headlines.
Along the way, there’s the obligatory “hippy-party” in San Francisco with an expert cannabis culinary experience.
“It was like going back in a time capsule to the 1960s. I didn’t think that still existed, that hippydom,” St. Clement remarked on the experience.
Another highlight is a visit to the cannabis and hemp farm run by the “Sisters of the Valley,” a collective of nuns who’ve devoted their lives to the spiritual beliefs of a 13th-century religious order called “The Begins.”
Finally, Pam St. Clement and her celebrity compatriots all visit a licensed physician to obtain their medical cannabis recommendations in California.
Tour Transforms Pam St. Clement’s Views On Pot
All in all, the trip racked up three weeks of weed-focused adventures, and the experience transformed the celebrities’ views on legal weed.
While certainly light and humorous, St. Clement’s appearance on Gone To Pot illuminates the generational sea-change transforming cultural attitudes about cannabis.
Sure, it’s funny to see a 75-year-old mesmerized by a bong and floored by weed’s new levels of potency. And St. Clement herself clearly enjoyed her new experiences smoking weed and eating edibles.
At one point, St. Clement and celebrity Bobby George end up literally ROFL.
“I love it when you get the giggles when you shouldn’t. It’s wonderful—just crying we were—so refreshing to do that, it really is,” St. Clement said of her puff and paint experience.
That’s the recreational side of things.
But St. Clement has had a knee replacement and also suffers from polymyalgia rheumatica, an inflammatory disease cannabis can help treat.
And it was exactly this medical side of cannabis that opened Pam St. Clement’s eyes. Now, she’s throwing her support behind medical legalization in the UK. It’s a cause that’s gaining considerable momentum in the British parliament, with recent high-profile actions from MPs.
Citing the story of two of her friends who used cannabis to treat their MS, Pam St. Clement believes sick people shouldn’t have to break the law to get the medicine they need.
“You shouldn’t have to be forced to break the law, but when you’re desperate what are you going to do? The only way to control it, I presume, is to make it legal,” St. Clement said.
‘EastEnders’ Legend Pam St. Clement Smokes Weed In New Documentary
So it seems Pam St. Clement’s tour of weed across the U.S. was certainly a mind-expanding experience for her. Maybe it can change viewers minds on legal weed, too. If not, they’ll at least get a laugh out of seeing a TV icon rip a bong on air. Gone To Pot: American Road Trip will air Monday, November 13 at 9 p.m. on ITV.
