City of Merced, Don't Shut Down Sisters' Healing Enterprise
- by: Susan V
- recipient: Merced City Council
Merced, California’s Sisters of the Valley say they just want to “do a positive thing for the community” by providing healing salves and oils made from THC-free Cannabis. However, the Merced City Council has been seeking to shut down theirs and other similar operations.
Sister Kate and Sister Dorsey are not affiliated with the Catholic Church, however they consider themselves nuns and their quest a spiritual one. They told news sources that they are not only making a product with healing power, but they’re also creating jobs, particularly for women. "We can make jobs out of that which is the only thing we want to do - make easy, honorable, spiritually filled jobs for the women of the central valley," Sister Kate told ABC 30.
Accordong to Sun Times Network, the Sisters are among other residents advocating for regulation instead of banning cannabis-based products. Nevertheless, the City Council chose last week to ban sales within town limits while they take time for more research.
But these self-proclaimed Sisters are not giving up on their spiritual quest and vow to move their work to a farm outside the city if necessary. However, according to Truth Out the ban will not take effect until March 1, so there is still time to sway council members to change their minds.
Sign this petition to support the Sisters of the Valley in their quest to heal and provide jobs to local residents. Ask the city to drop its proposed ban that will interfere with these positive goals.
To Merced City Council Members:
Although California’s new law on regulation of medical marijuana “allows cities and counties to ban medical marijuana businesses within their borders," the Merced Sun-Star reported that the city’s Planning Commission "recommended loosening the constraints of an ordinance that would ban marijuana commerce or cultivation entirely within the city limits."
As Sister Kate has pointed out, she is not opposed to regulation or paying taxes, and she cannot be wrong in asserting that businesses like hers will bring much-needed revenue to the city. Furthermore, all evidence about growing marijuana shows that cultivating this plant is not only beneficial to the soil, but it is done without need for pesticides or excessive amounts of water. Therefore this is a way to bring revenue to the area without the deficit that comes with luring polluting industries to an area to boost its economy.
Not only will the city benefit from this regulated enterprise, but testimonies given at the Planning Commission meeting add to many more spoken and written around the country providing anecdotal evidence of the healing powers of CBD oil. Further supporting these testimonies are numerous peer-reviewed medical studies finding use of CBD beneficial in treating PTSD, multiple sclerosis, pain, cancer and HIV/AIDS.
Per the Merced Sun-Times, Commissioner Bill Baker said "that the stories from many of the members of the audience…convinced [him] that we need to take more thought into this.”
Despite opinions presented at that meeting in opposition to the ban, Sun-Times Network reports that Merced City Council decided to ban "medical marijuana sales and cultivation within the city," while taking "more time to implement good policy around medical marijuana regulation…"
This ban is neither necessary nor logical, and it is forcing the Sisters’ enterprise to move where it will no longer benefit the local economy.
Therefore on behalf of the Sisters of the Valley, the residents of Merced and all those who benefit from the Sisters’ product, we request that the Council reverse its ban. As Commissioner Peter Padilla is quoted as saying, “Let’s get into the 21st century and move forward.”
Thanks for your time.
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