Meet Sharon Letts of Secret Garden Productions from Redondo Beach

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sharon Letts.

Sharon, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up on the beach in Southern California, graduating from Redondo Union High School in 1977. When I was 24, I started my own business, designing, planting and maintaining flower beds in Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills Estates.

Gardening turned to television when I was asked to host and produce a gardening show for local television. In and Out of the Garden ran three years in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, and Riverside counties. I went on to produce a travel series in California for PBS, Off the Beaten Path; then worked in-house in Los Angeles on documentary and magazine shows, as Segment and Field Producer for national television.

It was during this time (2007) I was brought up to Humboldt County to produce a news show for the now-defunct Eureka Reporter; then ended up as lead Feature Writer at the Times-Standard in Eureka. While working in media in Humboldt, I presented with Lobular carcinoma, a cancer mass in my right breast.

Since I was in the cannabis capitol of the world, Southern Humboldt farmer and remedy maker, Pearl Moon, of The Bud Sisters, gave me about 60 grams of very strong cannabis oil in a small glass jar, telling me it would make the cancer go away. She instructed me on an oral step-up protocol to get used to the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which measured upwards of 90 percent activated THC, the psychoactive compound of the plant, once heated. I had been in mainstream media for more than ten years at that point, and asked if this worked, why didn’t I know about it? I’ve been asked that question many times since.

The first night I no longer needed the sleeping pill I’d taken for years; the second day I didn’t need the pain killer needed for chronic pain in a challenged knee; in two and a half weeks, up to ten prescription medications, along with numerous supplements needed to treat Thyroid Disease with menopause, were gone – in two and a half months, the cancer was gone. No surgery, no chemo. This experience changed my life and work forever, and for the past six years, I’ve written internationally on the subject for many publications. The first feature I wrote was for High Times Medical Journal on Dr. Molly Fry, being the first doctor to be incarcerated for using cannabis as medicine in California.

My focus continues to be on patient profiles, including celebrities, such as Willie Nelson, Melissa Etheridge, and Tommy Chong. Highlights have been interviewing former NFL player, Kyle Turley, on cannabis and concussions; and Jay Jackson, aka Laganja Estranja, with a focus on cannabis and chronic pain as a professional dancer.

The most impactful patient profiles I’ve written to date have been on pregnancy and cannabis; and replacing opioids with cannabis and other plant-based remedies, referred to as PAT, Plant Assisted Treatment for addiction recovery.

I’ve come full-circle back to television, and have developed documentary, reality, and magazine shows, profiling the many aspects of work being done by people and patients in the cannabis industry – because the healing is being done globally with cannabis – ahead of legislation or regulations. I’ve also penned two books of fiction based on fact from my time in Humboldt County, Humboldt Stories, winner 2016 Tokey Awards; and Cannaopolis, telling the story of small cannabis farmers and caregivers facing the hardships of legalization in Northern California.

With my writing partner Renee Carly (NBC/Universal), we’ve combined characters from both books, and have written a screenplay for television series, Cannaopolis, being shopped now.

I was a stoner from the 70s – or identified as a stoner, because they told me that’s what I was if I smoked weed – even though it was the one thing that helped me focus in high school, and took away the menstrual cramps. I just didn’t realize cannabis was always my medicine until I presented with breast cancer.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Writers typically don’t get paid enough to live on. When I was writing for television and working in mainstream media, I was highly employable with a strong resume in media. Now, I struggle to do this important work as a calling.

I’m one of the few writers from mainstream media- as a features writer, that tells the stories of healing with cannabis. The stories are often referred to as “anecdotal,” but enough of them through the years, repeatedly can’t be ignored. It’s actually called, epidemiology – the study and analysis of patterns, causes and effects of health and disease – where anecdotal findings become facts.

Until the Federal Government removes cannabis from Schedule 1 (currently alongside heroin) and admits it’s not a drug, per se, but a beneficial herb – one of our superfoods, then I’m writing for weed magazines at little to no pay; and working to get the subject into the mainstream via television.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Secret Garden Productions – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I’m a features writer or a human interest storyteller for print. In television, I’m a documentarian and research writer, as a segment producer.

In the cannabis space, I’m all of that, and an influencer, blogging via my website and sharing information on Social Media on Apothecary – plant-based remedy; and Kitchen Apothecary, remedies made at home.

Since coming into the cannabis space, I receive correspondence from people all over the world, asking for help with cannabis and plant-based remedies. I’m not a doctor, my doctors learned as I did when I took the oil for cancer. I’m an Educated Stoner, a Cannabis Evangelist, sharing what I know across the fence, so to speak, friend to friend, neighbor to neighbor – that’s how the healing stories with cannabis have been shared, and what I’m most proud of – starting the conversation via my own stories of healing.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I have many projects I’m working on, but my series for television, Cannaopolis, is what I’m most proud of for the future. Due to the Federal stance on the plant, all anyone sees of the industry is through stories of crime or all the money now being made.

Cannaopolis is an intelligent look at the grassroots of the industry, delving into the struggles of small farmers and caregivers just trying to make a living while helping people heal, as they’ve done for decades – as the caregiver that made the oil for me has done.

To give you an idea of the situation, there are an estimated 15,000 small cannabis farmers in Humboldt County alone – the birthplace of the plant we know today – yet there are less than 2,000 permits given so far, due to the many restrictions and expense of coming into compliance. That story needs to be told.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sharonletts.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharoneletts/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharoneletts/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SharonLetts

Image Credit:
Willie Nelson, Kyle Turley, Josh Fogel, Jeannie Herer

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