Nuns Fighting for Medical Marijuana

Two nuns decided to change their entire life and work with a plant that is not typically connected to religion: cannabis. These two sisters are called Sister Kate and Sister Darcy, also collectively known as “Sister of the Valley.” The two women live on a farm in Merced, a Central Valley town. However, they are not Catholic nuns. Instead, they claim themselves to be “spiritual nuns.”

“It’s about honoring the people honoring the wisdom,” according to Sister Kate.

The cannabis cultivated on Sister Kate’s farm has low levels of THC, the main psychoactive ingredient found in marijuana. Kate adds that the marijuana she farms cannot get you high.

“Our products have less than 0.3% THC,” Kate added.

Because of the low levels, she could send her products across the globe. She makes a lot of money off of her product. Kate reported to ABC 10 that she makes almost $1,000 daily in online sales. She also made it very clear that she does not work with solely with cash and also participates with banks. At the moment, Sister Kate’s business is entirely legal. However, the placement of her business is in the patches.

California passed a few medical marijuana regulations, which were passed into law during 2015. These regulations are going to the sisters’ business. During the beginning of 2016, California gave counties the ability to create their own medical cannabis laws. At the moment, it is not legal to cultivate or sell cannabis in Merced.

“This is a temporary ban. We just needed to get something on the books so we could re-visit this later,” Kevin Blake, the Merced City Councilmember, stated.

The ban was rushed because the regulation put a deadline on municipalities to have new medical cannabis rules done by March 1st. However, that deadline was an accident, state legislators admitted. It was later changed, but still had adverse effects for business owners such as Sister Kate.