Meet Iceland's Queen of Cannabis

Þórunn Þórs Jónsdóttir and the Movement Changing Iceland From the Roots Up

In a country known for fire and ice, black sand beaches, volcanoes, and ancient folklore, one woman is quietly and steadily leading a modern-day green revolution. Her name is Þórunn Þórs Jónsdóttir, known around the world simply as Tota. She is not only Iceland’s most visible cannabis and hemp advocate, she is also its pulse.

While cannabis remains illegal in Iceland for both medical and recreational use, the conversation is impossible to ignore. And much of that is because of Tota’s work. As the Founder of Hemp for the Future, Co-Founder of Hampur Fyrir Framtioina, Co-Founder of Reykjavík Hemp, and a leading force within the Icelandic Hemp Association, Tota has become the voice connecting patients, farmers, scientists, lawmakers, and the global cannabis community.

Her mission is not built on hype or trend. It is built on human need, scientific education, sustainability, and moral responsibility.

From Patient Advocacy to National Movement

Tota’s work did not begin in boardrooms or conferences. It started with people. Real people. Patients who have cancer, chronic pain, neurological disorders, and autoimmune diseases. For over a decade, she has worked directly with individuals using cannabis based therapies to improve quality of life when traditional medicine fell short.

Through firsthand experience, she saw the gap between what science proves and what law allows. While patients found relief, they did so in silence and often in fear. That contradiction became the spark.

Her advocacy grew into action. She helped cultivate over 10 hectares of hemp across three years, a groundbreaking agricultural project that was later documented in the film The Green Revolution. This was not symbolic farming. It was proof that hemp could thrive in Iceland’s climate and that it could support a sustainable industry from the ground up.

Today, her work spans public education, applied research, sustainability, agriculture, and policy development. But at its core, it remains deeply human.

Hemp for the Future and Exit to Nature

What started as grassroots education evolved into one of the most crucial cannabis and hemp conferences in Northern Europe.

Hemp for the Future, now evolving under the broader identity of Exit to Nature, brings together scientists, doctors, policymakers, farmers, activists, and entrepreneurs from around the world to Iceland. It is a bridge between what is and what is possible.

The Vision

To make Iceland a Nordic leader in education about cannabis, natural medicine, and sustainability. To position the conference as a real platform for future policy change based on science, compassion, and international collaboration.

The Values

• Honesty and transparency

• Science-based education

• Social responsibility

• Humanity and patient access

• Harm reduction

• Respect for nature

• Holistic health

• Global collaboration

This is not cannabis as a product. This is cannabis as a tool for healing, environmental repair, and social reform.

What Makes Tota Different

Tota is not a corporate cannabis executive. Stock prices or investor optics do not drive her. She is driven by:

• Patients who need access without fear

• Farmers who want to grow responsibly

• Scientists who want data to shape policy

• Women who want safe education around plant medicine

• Communities that want sustainability over shortcuts
  
  

She often says that hemp and cannabis must never become soulless commodities. They must remain regenerative, accessible, and rooted in ethics.

In interviews, she speaks openly about:

• The danger of billionaires overtaking grassroots movements

• The lie of greenwashing in modern sustainability

• The outdated fear is embedded in global drug scheduling.

• The failure of governments to separate hemp from high-THC policy
  
  

Her voice is not aggressive. It is honest. And that makes it powerful.

The Reality of Cannabis in Iceland

Cannabis was only criminalized in Iceland in 1969 and formally written into law in 1974. Yet despite prohibition, consumption never disappeared. At one point, Iceland was reported to have one of the highest cannabis usage rates per capita in the world.

CBD flower is legal and sold openly in Reykjavik. Patients seek guidance quietly through community networks. Cultivators experiment far from city centers. Knowledge flows even when law lags.

Tota operates within that reality. She does not encourage recklessness. She promotes education, harm reduction, legal reform, and science-driven policy.

Women, Cannabis, and Health

One of Tota’s most important initiatives is the Women and Cannabis track, featured within Hemp for the Future. Women openly gather to discuss hormone health, autoimmune conditions, pain management, trauma, menopause, and wellness through plant medicine.

International educators, doctors, and cannabis advocates join these sessions. The goal is never to sell. The goal is to inform, empower, and remove stigma.

As Tota often emphasizes, women’s health has historically been under-researched, and cannabis education for women is still decades behind where it should be.

Reykjavik Hemp and the Industrial Vision

Beyond medicine, Tota is intensely focused on industrial hemp applications:

• Hemp-based building materials

• Bioplastics

• Textiles

• Paper

• Carbon-negative manufacturing

• Regenerative agriculture
  
  

Through Reykjavík Hemp, she is helping position hemp as one of Iceland’s future sustainability pillars. Hemp is not framed as a cannabis side project. It is framed as a climate solution.

Political Resistance and the Long Game

Tota’s work is not easy. Iceland faces:

• Strong political resistance

• Limited funding

• Advertising restrictions

• Ongoing confusion between hemp and THC

• Government hesitation to publicly engage

Even so, she continues forward.

Her long-term objectives include:

• Establishing an international advisory board

• Creating consistent educational programming year-round

• Securing partnerships with universities and public health institutions

• Achieving at least one official policy working group on cannabis reform by 2026

• Expanding international media and sponsor involvement by 50 percent

The Moral Core of Everything She Does

Tota operates from a simple belief:

What is legal is not always ethical. What is ethical must eventually become legal.

Her work challenges stigma without creating chaos. It invites policy instead of demanding rebellion. It honors science over ideology and humanity over fear.

She is not trying to force Iceland into legalization. She is preparing Iceland for responsible legalization when the time comes.

The Icelandic Queen of Cannabis

Tota does not wear a crown. She wears responsibility. She stands at the edge of agriculture, medicine, activism, sustainability, and policy, building bridges between worlds that rarely sit at the same table.

From patient rooms to international stages, her work proves that cannabis is not a trend, a vice, or a headline. It is a tool for healing and a mirror for social values.

And when Iceland is finally ready for reform, the roots will already be deep because Tota planted them.