http://www.digitaljournal.com/view.htm?id=2213
DECEMBER 28, 2001
SANTA CRUZ (dpa) - Marijuana motifs
and hemp mosiacs adorn the vestibule while the guests smoke a joint at
the pool or the terrace.
The Compassion Flower Inn in the
Californian coastal town of Santa Cruz is so far the only hotel in the
United States where everything revolves around the dried leaves of the
common hemp in other words marijuana.
At first glance this hostelry doesn't
look a whole lot different from others in the Victorian style. The comfortable
rooms are decorated with antique furniture and the breakfast is hearty.
Yet even innocent tourists start to wonder when they walk into one of the
"hemp" rooms with their characteristic pastel green wallpaper emblazoned
with hemp tendrils.
Smoking cannabis is officially outlawed
in California yet Maria Mallek, the German owner of this hotel, takes advantage
of a common practice in these parts, the medical prescription of marijuana.
Her guests are all smoking joints on prescription.
In liberal Santa Cruz people dying
of incurable diseases like the immune sickness AIDS or suffering from cancer,
multiple sclerosis or even arthritis are even allowed to grow hemp in their
back garden provided its use is strictly medicinal.
Mallek has put a lot of effort into
renovating what used to be a dilapidated mansion built in 1865 and around
a year ago she opened the Compassion Flower Inn. Guests have to bring their
own drugs though. "A lot of people ask if they can buy drugs here but the
answer is no since that wouldn't be legal," says the owner.
The bedding in the four main bedrooms
is woven from hemp and the soap, shampoo and towels are all derived from
the same natural source. The huge bathtub in the "Loving Couple Suite"
is surrounded by marijuana murals, just like the handmade crockery in the
kitchen.
The hotel owner and her partner Andrea
Tischler regularly light up a joint using a prescription from a doctor
who says it helps against arthritis. Yet anyone expecting to find wild
drug parties on the premises will be disappointed.
Instead of the distinctive smell
of marijuana they are more likely to detect the aroma of freshly baked
cake wafting through the corridors. Back in the l9th century though life
within these walls was more extreme.
The judge and civil war veteran Edgar
Salsbury, who had the mansion built, allegedly cured his bodily and spiritual
ailments with copious amounts of opium and morphine. Maria Mallek and her
partner have been putting their faith in the healing properties of marijuana
since the mid 1980s.
They used to live in San Francisco
and administered the drug to AIDS victims. Although the majority of Californian
voters voted back in 1996 for the legalization of cannabis for or medical
use, the federal government fiercely opposed the move.
Only recently the supreme court ordered
the closure of clubs where patients could obtain cheap "medical cannabis"
on prescription.
But in Santa Cruz, a cosy town of
50,000 residents, there's no sign of hostility towards marijuana consumers.
On the contrary, says Mallek. The police recommend the place to tourists
and point them in the right direction. Officers have even been known to
drop in themselves - for a cup of tea.
Copyright © 2000 DigitalJournal.com
By Barbara Munker