Nuns growing medical marijuana
Holy Smoke! From the LA Times to ABC Nightline, everybody loves the Sisters of the Valley, a group of nuns from Northern California who make and sell cannabis-infused medicines.
Nightline tracked them down in their remote off-grid growing location near Merced, CA and screened a short report – here is the transcript:
NIGHTLINE ANCHOR: Religion, something so personal for many of us. But the self-proclaimed weed nuns you’re about to meet put their faith in an all-encompassing, cannabis-based farm where the key to healing is hemp. Here’s my “Nightline” co-anchor Juju Chang.
NUNS (GROUP)
Bless our food and bless our folk, and keep us in your grace.
JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)
(VO) Prayer. Ministry.
CHRISTINE MEEUSEN (“SISTER KATE”)
Lead the way over to the abbey.
JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)
(VO) Servitude. But these are not your typical nuns.
NUN (FEMALE)
How much have we had today?
JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)
(VO) Meet the Sisters of the Valley, the self-styled weed nuns, putting their faith in the healing power of cannabis. And their sermons, so to speak, aren’t just shaped around the sticky icky, they’re political, radical feminists to boot.
CHRISTINE MEEUSEN (“SISTER KATE”)
My big, dirty sin is I voted for Ronald Reagan. But I grew out of it and I think I see more clearly now.
JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)
(VO) Their convent is nestled deep in northern California farm country, where I traveled to meet the unorthodox sorority.
NUN (FEMALE)
W for weed nuns.
JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)
(VO) But before I could enter the premises, a peculiar request.
CHRISTINE MEEUSEN (“SISTER KATE”)
We’d like to ask you if it’s okay to cleanse you and sage you. We ask anyone who comes, invited to our to house to be cleansed before they enter. Is that okay?
JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)
(OC) Of course.
CHRISTINE MEEUSEN (“SISTER KATE”)
Thank you.
JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)
(OC) What is this?
CHRISTINE MEEUSEN (“SISTER KATE”)
This is sage, it’s a white sage the natives used to cleanse your aura, to cleanse emotions.
JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)
(VO) On this sun-drenched property tucked among vineyards and apple orchards, the women grow cannabis, using a strain of marijuana that eliminates THC but still contains CBD, touted for its healing properties.
CHRISTINE MEEUSEN (“SISTER KATE”)
It’s medical marijuana. So, just like over the years they’ve been able to develop strains that get you super high, we’ve also developed strains that don’t get you high at all.
JUJU CHANG (ABC NEWS)
(VO) Which is the variety they grow in their “Garden of Weeden.” Sister Kate says their top seller, a topical salve to soothe achy joints, which rakes in $3,000 a day. A few of the ladies live in the compound, and a total of six sisters work in the business alongside two brothers.
CHRISTINE MEEUSEN (“SISTER KATE”)
We do …
