cannabisnews.com: I'll Have The Bellhop Carry Up Your Bags of MMJ I'll Have The Bellhop Carry Up Your Bags of MMJ Posted by FoM on April 22, 2000 at 07:15:25 PT By Knight Ridder Newspapers & Los Angeles Times Source: Seattle Times They call it the nation's first "bed, bud and breakfast." Or you could call it hotel hemp - Santa Cruz's latest paean to pot. Making its debut Thursday in a restored, 1860s Victorian home with a cannabis-leaf mosaic on the front walk, the Compassion Flower Inn invites the ill to smoke medicinal marijuana openly while visiting the coast. "This inn will be a comfort zone for people with a medical need for marijuana," said co-owner Andrea Tischler, a former schoolteacher. "While it may be the nation's first, many more will follow." Not sick? That's OK, too. The inn welcomes all travelers who appreciate the wacky weed's wonders, even if they don't smoke it. They can relax over parlor books on hemp and herbal healing, feast on hemp-flower pancakes, wash with hemp soaps and shampoos, and dry off with hemp towels. Guests from as far as Florida and Illinois booked all five rooms three months before the grand opening at prices running from $125 to $175 a night. "Our phone's been ringing off the hook," said Maria Mallek-Tischler, Tischler's partner. It's difficult to imagine a more sympathetic site for such an enterprise. The Santa Cruz City Council last week unanimously approved a law sanctioning medicinal-marijuana clubs. The ordinance, modeled on a 1998 Oakland law, aims to bolster medicinal-marijuana protections that California voters approved in 1996 under Proposition 215. Santa Cruz's law, which takes effect May 11, came as a fortuitous coincidence for the Compassion Flower's owners, who had begun work on their business three years ago. "It seems like synchronicity of some kind," Mallek-Tischler said. Even before the law, weed wasn't exactly unwelcome in Santa Cruz. The town is so liberal that some locals think the socialist councilman who wrote the marijuana law is conservative. County voters gave a resounding thumbs-up to medicinal marijuana four years before Proposition 215 passed. "I couldn't get this kind of care or support or love anywhere else in the country," said James Greenbaum, a 45-year-old AIDS patient who came to Santa Cruz from Philadelphia to join a medicinal-marijuana collective. Greenbaum was among dozens of local patients and marijuana activists who gathered at the inn for grand-opening festivities that included a pagan blessing on an altar with a marijuana plant. "This is a sanctuary," local activist and medicinal-marijuana user Theodora Kerry said. "Most places in the country don't even recognize a patient's right to medical marijuana. This will disappear a lot of fear." The co-owners have been medicinal-marijuana activists since the 1980s, when they noted the drug's benefits to friends dying of AIDS. They also restore old homes for a living, and originally considered opening a hemp-oriented restaurant. They switched to a bed and breakfast at the suggestion of their architect. The Compassion Flower Inn, named after the passion-flower herb, requires medicinal-marijuana users to have a doctor's recommendation or show that they are being treated for a disease for which the illicit drug is considered helpful. The owners also warn that guests won't find complementary joints on their pillows at night, and may smoke only outdoors in a "toking area" beside the clothing-optional hot tub. City officials said the inn appears to satisfy terms of their law. "I support it," said Councilman Mike Rotkin, co-author of the law. "It wasn't the kind of thing we were thinking about, but I think it's probably covered by our ordinance." The Santa Cruz law and the inn are being monitored closely, not only by cities statewide, but also by the Clinton administration. "Our position continues to be that marijuana remains a prohibited controlled substance," said Gretchen Michael, a Department of Justice spokesman. "What we say to people in Santa Cruz is that no matter what laws you pass, the federal government could still come knocking." Rotkin said the city is not looking for a fight. "But the need for this law is so great, it's worth the risk," he said. "How do you tell a cancer patient enduring painful chemotherapy they can have morphine but not marijuana? It's just so illogical." Even though the Compassion Flower Inn is just blocks from a high school and across the street from a Foster's Freeze, no complaints have arisen. Boosters say the inn is a grand idea, noting the owners' efforts to restore a crumbling historic home. "It's beautifully refurbished," said Maggie Ivy, chief executive officer of the Santa Cruz County Conference and Visitors Council. Published: April 22, 2000 Copyright © 2000 The Seattle Times Company Related Articles & Web Site: The Compassion Flower Innhttp://compassionflowerinn.com/Bed, Bud and Breakfast Opens in Santa Cruzhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5478.shtmlMedical Pot Users Welcome, Says New Inn http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5470.shtmlPictures from The Compassion Flower Innhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/cfinn.htm Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #2 posted by Nicole on July 11, 2001 at 15:39:43 PT: Good Job! This is a wonderful thing you are doing for people in need. I have a medical marijuana permit from my state and would love to come and stay with you! Hopefully someday I will make it down there! Thanks for the great service and keep up the good work! http://www.legalize.com/herbgarden/herbalgirl [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Luis Ojeda on January 30, 2001 at 21:31:22 PT: Can't wait to see you guys. This is a great site. Can't wait to come and stay over.Do you guys have passionflower joints. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: