A Documentary Profiling Weed Growing Nuns Will Release This Fall

The first time I smoked weed the friend of a friend’s mom walked in, but instead of getting mad she just murmured that if God didn’t want us to smoke it he wouldn’t have grown it. Smoking cannabis doesn’t have to be a religious experience, but to some, there is a higher purpose to cannabis.

A new documentary at the Cannes Film Festival follows a group of weed growing nuns. It is called Breaking Habits.

You may have heard of the Sisters of the Valley before. Making talk show appearances and spreading the word of their homegrown CBD wares, the Sisters of the Valley may wear veils though they are not affiliated with any church. Instead, their monastery is based on the Beguines, and functions independently and without formal religious obligations. Founded by Christine Meeusen, a corporate executive who took on the persona of Sister Kate. Seeking her own asylum from a cycle of abuse, Sister Kate and the Sisters of the Valley takes in a woman seeking sanctuary, and funds itself through sales in California’s rapidly growing and now state legal cannabis market.

Judging by the trailer, Breaking Habits will not only chronicle the origins of the Sisters of the Valley, but their struggles as they take heat from all directions. Other members of the cloth that don’t see eye to eye on their interpretation of tradition. Members of law enforcement who don’t see them as much more than drug dealers. Drug gangs that viewed them as much more than the competition.

It is the first feature film from director Robert Ryan. According to Variety, the film was picked up at Cannes by Cranked Up, a group recently founded to produce genre and horror films for streaming services like Shudder. Breaking Habits may already seem like a departure, but it’s easy to imagine audiences of a similar cloth. Breaking Habits will release this fall.