Beneath every full moon on the outskirts of a village in central Mexico, a gaggle of ladies in nun habits circle a roaring fireplace, cleanse themselves with burned sage, and provides thanks for the moon, animals and crops.
Then they inhale deeply from a joint and blow clouds of marijuana into the flames.
Regardless of their clothes, the ladies usually are not Catholic or every other faith. They’re a part of a world group based in 2014 known as Sisters of the Valley, which has pledged to unfold the gospel of the therapeutic powers of hashish.
In the US, the place round two dozen states have legalised leisure marijuana, the group has additionally launched a profitable small enterprise, promoting CBD tinctures, oils and salves on-line, and raking in over $500,000 final 12 months.
However in Mexico, the place a drug warfare has ravaged the nation and Christianity is embedded in society, the picture of a marijuana-smoking nun is extra an act of insurrection, the ladies say.
The sisters continuously publish on social media, primarily Instagram, the place they are often seen caring for hashish crops, giving workshops and attending cannabis-related occasions.
Their product gross sales are a fraction of that of their US sisters – round $10,000 yearly.
Whereas distinguished on-line, the ladies – 5 in complete – are cautious about making a gift of an excessive amount of in regards to the location of their operations. They conduct enterprise out of a two-storey concrete false storefront with one completed room.
As a result of hashish sits in a authorized gray space in Mexico and far of its manufacturing continues to be tied to felony organisations, they fear police or native gangsters may arrive to threaten or extort them. Bundles of marijuana dry in clandestine crevices – hanging from a tucked-away laundry line, or hidden within the range.
“The Sisterhood is in a very completely different context right here in Mexico – due to how spiritual the nation is and due to the plant’s ties to cartels,” mentioned one of many nuns, who makes use of the moniker “Sister Bernardet” on-line and requested to not give her title for worry of reprisal.
In her fundamental job as a homoeopathic practitioner, she prescribes marijuana to her sufferers with most cancers, joint ache and insomnia.
“We need to take the plant again from the narcos,” she mentioned.
