At the Compassion Flower Inn in Santa Cruz., Calif., there are smokers—and there are smokers. Cigarette smokers are banished to the front porch. Smokers, on the other hand, may feel they've died and gone to pot. Cannabis-themed tiles adorn the sidewalk outside. Curtains, linens and towels are made of hemp. And...say, what is that funny smell, anyway?
The five-bedroom bed-and-breakfast, just a stoner's throw from the beach, exists as a safe—and perfectly legal—haven for people who smoke marijuana for medical reasons. "Motel 6 guests probably smoke it quietly in their rooms," says Andrea Tischler, 57, who with her partner, Maria Mallek-Tischler, 46, opened the inn in a restored Victorian in April. "This is more out of the closet."
Guests who show up hoping to be provided with marijuana go away disappointed; the Compassion Flower is strictly BYOP. And, as required by California law, a doctor's note is also necessary. Tischler, who grew up in Chicago, and German-born Mallek-Tischler, a couple since 1979, have been pot-legalization activists since the 1980s in San Francisco. "We had a lot of friends with AIDS," says Tischler. "They were taking AZT, and marijuana seemed to bolster their appetite."
Out in the sunshine-soaked "toking area," a new arrival, Scott Byer, 53, of Clearlake, Calif., who smokes to ease spinal pain, has taken out a small porcelain pipe and is filling it. He doesn't even have his room key yet.
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