We’ve progressively navigated away from restrictive stereotypes, boxing cannabis consumers into narrow categories when we are well aware all kinds of people love cannabis. And we mean ALL kinds, including the Sisters of the Valley, or the weed nuns, a women-own-and-operated business selling CBD tinctures, oils, salves, and other hemp-grown products, grown and harvested at its California property.
Sister Kate leads the group of women, members of a self-proclaimed group of nuns who identify as not only healers and feminister but business people. They also don’t represent an official religion, BBC reports.
The newly born new-age group of Sisters describe their mission: “to get plant-based medicine into the hands of those in need—and to do that in a responsible and sustainable manner.” The mission is supported by the business’s founding principles, to honor Mother Earth and the cannabis plant, provide a valuable product to the public, empower other women to succeed and to participate in peaceful and progressive activism.
Sisters of the Valley is located in Merced County in California’s Central Valley and began operations in 2015. Though, just like the cannabis industry as a whole, the group has faced its own fair share of challenges in the last several years. Sister Kate told BBC the business was grossing $1.2 million annually before the COVID-19 pandemic; since then, profits have halved.
“I chose an industry that is messed up,” Sister Kate said. “It’s going to probably be messed up and I’m probably going to have to do a lot of dancing and sidestepping.”
California’s model has specifically created a number of challenges for business people in the cannabis space, given the state’s high taxes and operating costs. Additionally, some counties and cities allow cultivation and retail while others don’t, creating additional hurdles for business owners and potentially aiding the illicit market. Nearly two-thirds of California cities have banned cannabis businesses and others make it extremely challenging to secure a permit for operation.
Sisters of the Valley face this same dilemma. Located in Merced County, their 60 plants don’t technically fall within the law. However, Sister Kate indicated that law enforcement hasn’t cracked down.
“The sheriffs know that, they just let me do this,” she said. “But there’s really no reason for them to let me. They could have shut me down by now just because it’s illegal to grow hemp [cannabis] in this county.”
Sister Kate added that she believes law enforcement knows the business would challenge the law, “get it changed” and extend the same benefits to the county as a whole
“And I think they know it would be a fight they don’t want to undertake,” she said, though Sister Kate also indicated that she would prefer the business operate within the law, especially as it sells products online and through pop-up events and markets.
“The truth is, I’d love for them to permit us because that would be a win. And because we believe in paying taxes,” she said. Even though selling its products through a dispensary could help Sister of the Valley to rebuild, it would also come with further regulations and higher taxes.
The initial application fee for a California retail license is $1,000, and upon approval, businesses are then faced with a number of annual state and regulatory fees that can rack up tens of thousands of annual fees, sometimes pushing $100,000 for larger operations.
According to the business FAQ, there are about 30 Sisters part of Sisters of the Valley. Each sister must take six vows to be part of the group, including several that focus on service and activism.
Sister Kate formerly lived in the Netherlands and told ABC News in 2018 that the Sisters hope to create an environment of “healthy socialism.”
“We believe quite frankly that America’s culture of starving the tax system is wrong, it’s morally wrong. Most of us have lived in other places where the tax system actually works,” she said, adding that about 50% of income in the Netherlands goes toward taxes.
“But guess what? They never pay a hospital bill. They never worry about their retirement or being homeless. So, yes, we are very, very for a reasonable sort of socialism and that is paying your taxes and taking care of the marginalized.”
