Mexico’s weed ‘nuns’ taking the plant back from the narcos | Women

Beneath every full moon on the outskirts of a village in central Mexico, a bunch of ladies in nun habits circle a roaring hearth, 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 will not be Catholic or another 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 USA, 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 yr.

However in Mexico, the place a drug battle has ravaged the nation and Christianity is embedded in society, the picture of a marijuana-smoking nun is extra an act of rise up, the ladies say.

The sisters often put up 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 giving freely an excessive amount of concerning 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 legal 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 completely completely different context right here in Mexico – due to how spiritual the nation is and due to the plant’s ties to cartels,” stated one of many nuns, who makes use of the moniker “Sister Bernardet” on-line and requested to not give her identify for concern of reprisal.

In her major 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 stated.