Meet the 'cannabis nuns' of California who are praying for survival

[Celerity]

The Sisters of the Valley have found new fans from the Leonardo DiCaprio film One Battle After Another — but it may not be enough to keep their business afloat

https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/convent-one-battle-after-another-20rjb8ph9

https://archive.ph/RDSZf



The Ford hatchback pulled up in downtown Long Beach on Friday morning and out climbed four nuns. “Shit!” said Sister Kate, realising she had left an item in the car. The burst of profanity was the first clue that they were no ordinary nuns. The second clue came when Sister Esme, dressed in a pastel blue and white habit, lit up a cannabis joint.

The nuns belong to the Sisters of the Valley, an order based in California whose avowed mission is to heal the world through plant-based medicine. Already famous in the cannabis industry, they grow it at their one-acre farm in the San Joaquin Valley, where earlier this year they were the victims of a drive-by shooting.



The order has found new fans after a cameo in Leonardo DiCaprio’s latest film One Battle After Another, but the sisters are in an existential fight of their own. They were in Long Beach celebrating a deal with a local dispensary chain that will, they hope, save their cannabis business from the fate that has greeted so many competitors in California’s tough legal market.

Although recreational cannabis has been legal in the Golden State since 2018, critics of its policies say tax and regulations are too burdensome, allowing the black market to flourish. “We’re making the move into dispensaries for survival,” said Sister Kate, 66, as she took a drag on a joint. Sister Kate founded the order a decade ago in Merced, a city in California’s agricultural heartland.

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[3catwoman3]

1. That's more than a little different.