MY CANNASTORY

My name is Ariadna Mondragon. I am an activist, business woman, and a mother. I have lived, worked, and paid taxes in this country for almost 14 years. I wanted to share a little about my cannabis journey, my case, and how to support.

Since my early teens I have battled cyst and fibroids. My situation was so bad that my doctor was not sure if I was going to be able to have children. I was put through a treatment and was prescribed a number of pharmaceuticals which had a number of adverse side effects like fatigue, depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, mood swings, nausea, loss of appetite, that then led to gastritis and other stomach issues, just to name a few. After 8 years of treatment, my situation got so bad that I ended up in the hospital for intensive care in 2015. Months later I obtained my DC medical marijuana card, that is when my cannabis journey began. Since then, I have experienced a full recovery, my fibroids and cysts are gone, and I just celebrated my daughter's first birthday this past July.

In August 2019, my brother-in-law fell victim to gun violence back in Mexico. Devastated, my husband and I flew to Mexico to attend his funeral and help my sister pick up the pieces of her now shattered life.  It was one of the most difficult experiences that my family has had to endure. Following the funeral, upon my arrival to the US, at Dulles International Airport, my passport was scanned but was flagged in the system. TSA immediately escorted me back into a holding room, where I was detained for six hours, and was stripped of my telephone. I was told, “This is Immigration; you have no rights here.” For hours I sat, without being informed of the reason that I had been detained. Finally, as I was being interrogated, I explained that this had all stemmed from a possession charge in Virginia from the year before. The case had been cleared, there was no arrest, I paid my fine, and eventually Virginia legalized marijuana. They did not believe me and insisted that I was lying. In order to process me out, they had to fill out a litany of paperwork, which required them to list my charges. When they could not seem to locate my exact charge within the system, they decided to equate it to a DUI (Driving Under the Influence) and Assault in 2nd Degree. I refused to sign. Before my release, they confiscated my Permanent Green Card and Mexican Passport, and issued me a notice to return to the airport for further investigation and review.

It’s been three years since that experience, and I continue to receive inaccurate information by immigration in an attempt to disorient me, which we all know too well that this is one of their tactics to have immigrants expeditiously deported. The fear of deportation looming over me everyday, it has drastically affected my mental and physical health. I can’t imagine being ripped away from my daughter, my businesses, or my life. I am being severely penalized for a case that I have already paid penance for and that has been cleared. 

Now, I sit here preparing for my upcoming case on Wednesday September 8th, 2021. I continue to organize around immigration, equality, cannabis reform, and empowerment of black and brown communities. I co-founded an organization called Dia de los Muertos DC, our mission is to create community-building events to support and fundraise for various social causes affecting black and brown communities. We have supported nonprofits like The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, a champion for the rights and best interests of unaccompanied immigrant children coming to the U.S, and Rostros Sabios, De mi Corazón a Tu Corazón, a program dedicated to providing childcare, as well as educational, nutritional and medical services for the children of working mothers in Mexico. For more information on how you can support or assist, please give me a call at (202)744-5497, or email me at removethepoint1@gmail.com.

Respectfully,

Ariadna “Ary” Mondragon

Activist │ Business Woman│ Wife │ Mother

(202)744-5497

removethepoint1@gmail.com