|
|
| Calif. Innkeepers are Mellow About Marijuana |
|
Posted by FoM on February 25, 2002 at 09:03:13 PT By Yvonne Daley, Globe Correspondent Source: Boston Globe 
Occasionally a guest will show up expecting some revisitation of the '60s or a complimentary joint left on the pillow at night. However, while partners Andrea Tischler and Maria Mallek-Tischler are ardent advocates for the legalization of cannabis and proponents of medical marijuana, they neither dispense nor sell pot at the Compassion Flower Inn, the first - and maybe only - bed, bud, and breakfast establishment in the country. Instead, they consider their cozy inn, quartered in the handsome 1876 Gothic-Revival Victorian they spent three years and more than a half million dollars refurbishing, as a place where medical marijuana patients can relax about their treatment and guests can experience gracious hospitality. Pot-smoking privileges are reserved for those who have a doctor's recommendation under California's Compassionate Use Act, which allows patients with conditions that range from glaucoma to cancer to use marijuana as a medicine. Smoking is confined to a patio behind the inn, surrounded by climbing passionflower vines and gardens and adjacent to the clothing-optional hot tub, discreetly hidden behind lattice fencing. Those who qualify must supply their own stash; cigarette smokers are banished to the front steps. Nestled on a residential street adjacent to the bustling downtown, the inn and its owners fit right in with nonconforming, counterculture Santa Cruz, famous for surfing, jazz, and a gamut of alternative lifestyles. Tischler grew up in Chicago, Miami, and Illinois and lived several years in Guam where she taught school rather than fight in the Vietnam War. She lived as a male until 1971, when she moved to San Francisco and soon after enrolled in Stanford University's sex-reassignment program. Mallek-Tischler grew up in Germany and met Tischler while visiting San Francisco in 1979. The two have been together ever since and have two biological children, Leah, 13, and Damian, 18. Together, they have refurbished dozens of houses; the Compassion Flower Inn is their most ambitious joint venture. The inn is really a work of art. Mallek-Tischler's luscious watercolor paintings of flowers reminiscent of Georgia O'Keefe are found throughout the house, and she has created intricate faux finishes and Victorian details on door panels, lintels, and borders. Four upstairs guestrooms are furnished with antique double beds and dressers decorated with Mallek-Tischler's detailed hand stenciling. Walls are painted in warm faux finishes with decorative borders following a passion flower or marijuana theme. The Lovers' room has a double sunken tub. Along with the open atmosphere toward medical marijuana and sexual orientation, there's much that's downright traditional about this family and their inn. You're more apt to hear opera or National Public Radio than Jimmy Hendrix's wailing guitar, and the interchange between the couple and their children is the same as in any family - who's picking up the kids after school; what's for dinner and the like. Breakfasts of apple pancakes or eggs scrambled with herbs and served with homemade scones and passionflower jelly are served family-style in the large dining room where amber light filters through stained-glass windows. Plates were designed by an artist friend and feature the inn's icons: the passionflower and the marijuana leaf. In the evening, the family gathers for dinner before the children do their homework. Leah, in particular, turns her nose up if she smells pot wafting in from the back patio, but she and her brother seem unfazed by either the guests or their parents' political views. Life at the Compassion Flower Inn is casual: Guests gather before the fireplace in the living room or around the dining room table to discuss books, art, and politics. The inn attracts lots of artists, such as a recent group of alternative filmmakers. Political activism is nothing new to this couple who once made marijuana brownies for San Francisco General Hospital patients and friends suffering from AIDS. After losing many friends to AIDS and feeling uncomfortable about raising their children in the hardscrabble San Francisco neighborhood where they lived, the couple moved to Davenport, just north of Santa Cruz, in 1988. Tischler became famous for appearing in local parades and public hearings as Nurse Mary Jane, dressed in a miniskirted uniform and wearing a marijuana-leaf necklace. The couple was among those who worked to create Proposition 215 - the statewide compassionate use act, which was approved by voters in 1996. When they bought the house in 1997, the building was in disrepair. The City Council had considered tearing it down in the 1950s. During remodeling, the couple found nearly 200-year-old stained-glass window panels under the house. Inside they discovered the diary of Edgar Spalsbury, a constable, judge, and Civil War veteran who lived here and wrote of his frequent use of laudanum, morphine, and tincture of opium to treat a long list of ailments. A published edition of Spalsbury's diary quotes historian Viola Washburn: commenting that, ''Today, we would call him an addict. But such are the ways of homeopathic medicines.'' The couple initially considered opening a restaurant or medical marijuana dispensary but came to see the need for a safe and compassionate home away from home for medical marijuana patients and their supporters. They say they have been surprised that so many of their guests have no desire to smoke the herb but rather are attracted to the inn's tolerant atmosphere. In that, the bed, bud, and breakfast reflects community attitudes, says Deputy Chief of the Santa Cruz Police Department Jeff Locke: ''Department policy reflects that of the community. Over 75 percent of Santa Cruz voters gave approval of Proposition 215. In my opinion, we're talking about medical problems with a medical solution. If we find someone possessing, we try to determine if a person has one of the ailments that marijuana helps and a physician recommendation. While there's debate over whether marijuana is harmful or not, in my 30 years as an officer, I've seen many more problems caused by alcohol abuse than by marijuana use.'' That view is not universal. Patty Haymond at the Santa Cruz City Council said the city enacted an ordinance that allowed the distribution of medical marijuana by recognized providers and doctors but, after the US Supreme Court ruled last spring against California's application of Proposition 215, the city attorney told Santa Cruz officials they could not enforce their ordinance. Tischler says the fight over state versus federal rights is far from over. In the meantime, ''we're being diligent about following the law passed by California voters. At the same time, we want to honor the rights of our guests to a safe and supportive environment.'' If you go . . . Compassion Flower Inn Cost: $125 to $175 with winter discounts and discounts for medical marijuana patients Yvonne Daley, a frequent contributor to the Globe, writes and teaches in Vermont and San Francisco. This story ran on page M12 of the Boston Globe on 2/24/2002. Complete Title: Calif. Innkeepers are Mellow About Marijuana - For Patients Source: Boston Globe (MA) Related Articles & Web Site: Pictures From The Compassion Flower Inn Bed, Bud and Breakfast Opens in Santa Cruz Use of Marijuana OK’d Without Prescription Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
 |
| Comment #3 posted by DdC on February 26, 2002 at 11:57:17 PT |
| No D.E.A.th Allowed!!! We have prop 215 and our own Measure A initiative and about every doctor and cop in the county on our side. Though its mainly focused on the city of Santa Cruz. I visited the CFI and it is a normal baby boomer like Victorian, outside of a few cannabis icons and decorations. But not a hippy hangout or even a buyers club. Santa Cruz Buyers Clubs donate the cannabis so no money is exchanged. That seems to be a major factor in who the D.E.A.th target. Valerie from WAMM is working with Locklear the Attorney General. Plus we also only legalized organic ganja so large commercial grow ops won't be better off here, on the contrary. Its still a long battle ahead. Now the hemp initiatives are back and hopefully we can start growing and producing products. I've been sending the city council and county sups info and now with Bushit's budgets going to the rich gutting poor programs this could be helpful as a stimulus to local economies. And we have the people to do it. The times they are a changing... WAMM Santa Cruz Legalizes Cannabis if its Organic! Bed Bud and Breakfast Inside the Remote Farm That Supplies WAMM Declaration of Arnold Leff, M.D. [ Post Comment ] |
|
Comment #2 posted by Dan B on February 25, 2002 at 11:17:03 PT:
|
| . . . but I think you mean hostels, not hostiles, p4me. We wouldn't want people thinking that our friends in the Netherlands are hostile. With reference to the article, the people of Santa Cruz continue to inspire me. I greatly appreciate their stubborn resolve to create a community of compassion--real compassion, not the trumped-up version touted by George W. God bless Santa Cruz, the sanest city in America! Dan B [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by p4me on February 25, 2002 at 10:36:45 PT |
| California is leading the way. Now the question is "Do you think that the DEA is stupid enough to raid this compassionate hotel?" The question for the politician remains "How many more times are the marijuana laws than the substances in marijuana?" Now when I answered this question for myself, the best number I could come up with is 100 times. It may be more than that considered the absence of MJ news in the media and the lying by the government about MJ, and the people that are served by the "sieze and execute" Kevlar Army. If any politician actually tried to to say that marijuana is still more harmful than the laws I would think him very warped and completely unqualified for office. To say that would be absurd and yet we as Americans let them and the press get away with it. If the college kids do not start going to Europe and give up the alcohol toxic society and choose MJ as their recreational drug I really worry about them. Someone should teach them something when they are in college. I wanted to post a link saying that the recommendation is coming for the Dutch style coffeehouses in the UK. Then there will become a law that allows for the manufacturing side to become legal and regulated. Good news http://www.drcnet.org/wol/225.html#ukcommittee VAAI [ Post Comment ] |
| Post Comment |  |
 |  |