Heather Donahue first burst onto the scene back in 1999 when the movie “Blair Witch Project” hit the movie screens across the country. At the time of its release, the movie was described by some viewers as absolutely terrifying, but now, not so much. You will not see Donahue on the big screen anytime soon though, as she has put acting on the backburner to pursue a new career in growing marijuana.
Growing marijuana for a living is a very odd, yet interesting career choice, but Donahue says that it is a decision she hopes to make some profit from very soon. She has published a memoir titled “GrowGirl: How My Life After ‘The Blair Witch Project’ Went to Pot.” The book will be released on January 5, 2012.
On Donahue’s website, she explains the reason for leaving Hollywood behind and delving into the world of farming.
“I wanted to change my life, see what else was out there for me, what else I might become,” she says. “So I burned most of the stuff from my life in LA (resumes, headshots, lingerie, lint) in the desert.”
Back in 2007, Donahue received her first prescription for medical marijuana, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The prescription was to treat PMS, leading her to start cultivating the herb on her own, with the majority of it for medical use. Donahue cultivated weed for one year in ‘Nuggettown,’ a town in Northern California that is known for growing marijuana.
“I had no idea what to do next, and growing pot was what presented itself,” it says on her website. “I felt better about putting medical marijuana in the world than I did about about making another terrible movie.”
Lately, Donahue decided to leave her marijuana growing business in the dust in order to write her memoir. She admits that she decided to stop growing marijuana when one of her fellow growers was busted for doing so.
Donahue believes that medical marijuana is here to stay but she said she would hate to see the big business industry eradicate local growing communities, which are thriving because of medical marijuana at the moment.
“‘Cannabusiness’ has been a place that some people have been able to turn to in this tough economy,” she writes. “I’d hate for legalization to take that away. I’d hate to see corporations suck up large swaths of land and leave the mom-and-pop small time growers who have built this business no option but sharecropping.”