cannabisnews.com: Grandma Loving Life on Pot Farm Grandma Loving Life on Pot Farm Posted by CN Staff on May 06, 2002 at 10:46:30 PT By Jim Pfiffer, Star-Gazette Source: Star-Gazette Sherrie Wilkie has found a home where the grass is not only greener, but legal. Wilkie, a 66-year-old grandmother who was arrested in Elmira for running a medical marijuana club, is now living on a marijuana farm in California, where pot can legally be grown and smoked for medicinal purposes."It's like a big loving family here," Wilkie said of the farm on Tuesday in a telephone interview. "I'm feeling better and healthier and I'm happier." Wilkie moved March 13 to Eddy's Medicinal Gardens in Upper Lake, about 150 miles north of San Francisco. She left a few weeks after her case was adjourned in Elmira City Court.The private farm is run by Eddy Lepp, a 50-year-old Vietnam veteran and outspoken marijuana reformer. Lepp is an ordained minister who says he practices "spiritual reality."He and his wife, Linda, have been growing and using marijuana for medical purposes since 1996. Medical marijuana has been legal in California since that year, said Lepp.For the last two years, the Lepps have grown more than 50 varieties of high-grade marijuana, much of it from Europe, on a half-acre plot on the 10-acre farm. They planted about 200 marijuana plants two years ago, said Lepp.The Lepps, who both suffer from cancer, smoke most of the pot they grow and give the rest away, says Eddy Lepp."We gave away over 250 pounds of medicinal marijuana last year," said Lepp, who says he also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments he says are alleviated by smoking marijuana. "Me and my wife smoke 25 to 26 pounds of it a year. Anything extra, we give away."Wilkie learned about the Lepps through friends shortly after she was arrested in December, when Elmira police raided her Southside Elmira apartment and found nearly three pounds of high-grade marijuana and 40 grams of hashish.Wilkie said she smoked the drugs to alleviate pain from arthritis and other ailments. She also sold the pot to about a dozen club members who suffered with AIDS, cancer and other illnesses.Wilkie was busted for second-degree criminal possession of marijuana. The charge was later reduced to fourth-degree criminal possession. In February, City Court Judge Thomas E. Ramich told her the charge would be dropped if she stays out of trouble for six months.That's when Wilkie's lawyers and friends suggested she move to a state where medical marijuana was legal. That place was sunny California and the Lepp farm.Wilkie's 45-year-old son, Randy, and his live-in girlfriend, Beverly Kenney, live in Camarillo, Calif., about 500 miles from the Lepp farm.Randy Wilkie flew to Elmira, rented a moving van, and on March 9, he and his mother drove the four-day trip to California (Mom followed in her car).The Lepps converted their garage into a spacious bedroom for Wilkie. The farm is located in a rural, mountainous area overlooking Clear Lake and a dormant volcano. The weather is warm -- 80s to 90s -- and dry and clear.Wilkie lives there for free, working in the gardens, which include flowers, herbs, shrubs, trees and fish ponds.The farm is surrounded by a 7-foot-high fence and protected by high-tech security devices, including video cameras, microphones, motion detectors, infrared scopes and four dogs, said Lepp."A lot of people want to steal my marijuana," he said.Wilkie chips in and buys groceries for the six to eight people who live there, including a recovering alcoholic and a recovering drug addict. Lepp doesn't allow alcohol or other drugs on his farm."She can stay here as long as she wants," Lepp says of Wilkie.Wilkie, who survives on Social Security income, said she hopes to find her own place and maybe even get a job as her health improves."You wouldn't believe she's the same person," says Kenney, a 46-year-old medical transcriptionist. "She looks younger and healthier. She's finally sleeping at night and she's walking less and less with her cane."One of the first things Wilkie did when she arrived in California was get a doctor's prescription to use marijuana, which she calls her "medicine.""The medicine they grow here is good," says Wilkie, who smokes about 2 ounces a month. "It's right up there with the best stuff I had when I was in Elmira."The people out here are totally amazing," she added. "They love to help one another. The people who plant (the marijuana) even kiss the roots of the plants before they put them in the ground. It's planted with so much love and joy."While in Elmira, Wilkie bought her pot from a medical marijuana club in New York City. She ran her Elmira medical pot club for nearly four years, even though it's illegal to possess, grow or use marijuana in New York.Wilkie said she may return to Elmira to visit -- she has a daughter and grandchildren here -- when she can afford it and when her six-month "stay-out-of-trouble" period is over on Aug. 28."I don't think I'd want to come back to Elmira to live," she said. "I've found a quality of life out here that they don't have back East."Picture Note: Former Elmira resident Sherrie Wilkie says she is happy living on a marijuana farm in Upper Lake, Calif. Wilkie, 66, was arrested in December for running a medical marijuana club in Elmira. Note: Former Elmiran moves to California, where medical marijuana is legal. Source: Star-Gazette (NY)Author: Jim Pfiffer, Star-GazettePublished: Monday, May 6, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Star-GazetteContact: opinion stargazette.comWebsite: http://www.stargazette.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:Eddy’s Medicinal Gardens http://www.eddysmedicinalgardens.com/Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmGrandmother Tried To Help Others With Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11594.shtmlWoman Linked To Pot Club Evicted http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11559.shtmlWoman Running Medical Pot Club Busted http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11551.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #7 posted by FoM on August 28, 2002 at 12:31:03 PT News Brief from The Press Democrat Officers Confiscate 266 Pot Plants Source: Press Democrat, The (CA) Author: Ucilia Wang Published: August 28, 2002 Copyright: 2002 The Press Democrat Contact: letters pressdemo.com Website: http://www.pressdemo.com/ Eddy’s Medicinal Gardens http://www.eddysmedicinalgardens.com/ Authorities said Tuesday they plan to seek marijuana possession and cultivation charges against a Lake County man who was acquitted in the county's first medical marijuana case four years ago. Agents from the Lake County Narcotic Task Force and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration confiscated 266 plants from Charles Edward Lepp's Upper Lake property early Tuesday, task force officials said. Authorities arrested six other men found on the property on suspicion of marijuana cultivation and possession for sale. The pot garden had a sign at the entrance that read "Eddy's Medicinal Gardens and Chapel," authorities said. Lepp, 50, was acquitted by a jury in 1998 after invoking the medical marijuana initiative approved by voters in 1996. He had been arrested a year earlier with 51 plants, and said he suffered from several ailments and used marijuana to ease his pain. Authorities also plan to seek charges against Lepp's wife, Linda Senti, task force officials said. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by potpal on May 06, 2002 at 17:08:42 PT Keep your eye on... ...http://hemp.rox.com/May show up here eventually. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by FoM on May 06, 2002 at 17:00:06 PT I've looked JR and everyone, I haven't found anything but I'm not sure where to look. I went to CNN International but I just don't know where it is. Anyone please post a link to the video or the page so we can check it out. I'll go look some more. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on May 06, 2002 at 16:52:02 PT CNN video online anywhere? If anyone knows where to get this CNN footage, either at cnn.com or an unrelated site, please tell the rest of us! [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Jose Melendez on May 06, 2002 at 15:59:01 PT thanks, potpal Thanks for sending CNN footage. Video is the way to show the world the truth: cannabis is safe, effective and non-toxic. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by potpal on May 06, 2002 at 13:48:57 PT Aging... ...would like to see 'aging' considered a terminal illness. Last I checked its fatal. Slow, cruel killer, indeed."Me and my wife smoke 25 to 26 pounds of it a year. Anything extra, we give away." I'm jealous.BTW!!!!!! Just received this: Subject: MMMarch on CNN Tonight!!!!! Date: Mon, 06 May 2002 15:34:36 -0500 From: "New Orleans Pot March" To: neworleansmarch hotmail.com CC: ya-boy mail.comTonite a 10 minute piece is to aired on the Interantional MMM event on May 4 around the world... It will air between 9-10 C.S.T. that is 10-11 E.S.T.New Orleans is one of 6 American cities to be shown on the feature. We have sent 4 minutes 20 seconds of footage to CNN yesterday, so please pass the word and everyone watch you could be on CNN tonight.In N.O. on COX cable CNN is channel 29 - check the web for local channel outside new orleans.... With everyones help each year our march will be bigger and better. Glad everything was very peaceful at the New Orleans march in unity, Daisy [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Masscrusader on May 06, 2002 at 10:53:09 PT Whoever reads this article Will be outraged when the nest one shows her in handcuffs. Premptive strikes like these are worth their weight in gold. If she is ever hastled by the fedes she will have the compassionate backing of her community. Do they want to be the Bad Guys? Leave us alone [ Post Comment ] Post Comment