Original subtitles

Bro, smoke this tree.

Bro, you gonna hit this tree?

Bro, you gonna hit this tree?

Bro! Bro!

Bro!

Wow.

This is the problem. I told you, once you smoke a joint, then the rest of the

day is done.

Weed, ganja, Mary Jane. For progressives, Kush is 2019's gay

acceptance is increasing and its federal legality seems inevitable.

Right now, it's legal in some form in 33 states and part of the platform of

nearly all of the 347 presidential candidates.

who can't wait to pull a reverse Bill Clinton. I did inhale.

It was a long time ago.

My introduction to The Chronic was from the burned CDs I hid from my parents and

the places rappers talked about, like Compton, California.

Nearly 30 years later, weed is now fully legal in California.

And what better place to celebrate our progress than with the self -described

king of Compton weed, Virgil Grant.

So where are we at?

Dee's Liquor, city of Compton, my dad's liquor store. We still own it. If you

listen to Eazy -E sipping on the 40, he gives you directions to this liquor

store and tell you what you can... This is where you get the 40s from? This is

where you get the cold 40s from. This is where you can get other things from at

the time.

You ran Compton? Oh, I ran Compton. When it came to the marijuana?

Oh. That chronic album was inspired by the weed I had in my soul.

You're like, you're an uncredited producer on most of the early Death Row

records. Those cats were smoking my weed, Purple Cush. That was my Purple

Snoop was smoking on. You're his Purple Cush guy? Man, come on. He know that.

Where can I buy legal weed in Compton? Nowhere.

What? Nowhere.

That's right. In the home of the chronic, you cannot legally buy the

Measures to bring regulated marijuana to Compton were rejected at the polls

yesterday. Compton's current ban on marijuana businesses will now remain in

place. Is that crazy that you can't get legal weed in Compton? It's crazy,

ridiculously crazy, because Compton was the place that everybody came to to get

weed back in the day. I was going to say, it's like going to Miami and not

getting cocaine, or going to any city in Florida and not getting meth.

So it is legal, but most people in Compton don't want weed sold in their

community. In fact, most cities in California, 80%, don't want recreational

sold in their communities.

So while my relationship to weed looks like this... Extra, extra.

Smoke all about it.

That might be slightly naive.

As communities traumatized by aggressive over -policing and racist sentencing

from the war on drugs have a different perspective.

You think it's a trap.

It is a trap. No doubt about it. It is a trap.

Meet Pastor Prince, who helped lead Compton's Vote No campaign.

He saw a city destroyed by drugs and doesn't think that legalization will

actually benefit the community.

Compton has had a reputation for too long being hip -hop, drug

-infested, gang warfare.

We want Compton to have a reputation, a different reputation.

There's some critics.

On the other side of the vote no campaign, getting on the ground floor of

legalization movement is one way in which to at least get a seat at the

It's an illusion of inclusion.

Illusion of inclusion.

Yes. Like back in high school when people said, oh, you're part of our

we're cool, and then you realized they had a party last weekend and you weren't

invited. Yeah, yeah.

You got it.

Yeah, I've been on the other side of that illusion before.

It's painful.

Many in the Vote No campaign felt Compton's image was tarnished and their

community was destroyed by cannabis.

Crack cocaine, PCP, methamphetamine, gangbanging.

Those were the issues that was prevalent then, and cannabis was nothing.

Ronald Reagan's war on drugs clearly had an impact on communities like Compton,

derailing lives of residents like Virgil, who spent a collective nine

behind bars for dealing.

But now that weed is legal, there are millions of dollars up for grabs. And

Virgil not only wants in, he feels he's owed it. I want a cannabis shop in every

town. Is that a good thing?

Oh, that's a great thing.

This is an opportunity for us to be in a business that could change people's

lives. Not only change lives for yourself, but it could change lives for

community. If it wasn't for the music that comes out of our culture, the

albums, the I Got Five on it, we created this market and started it. And then

you're going to tell us we can't play in it now that it's legal?

Virgil was forced to grow his empire outside of Compton. Now he has the less

flashy title, King of the County Next to Compton Weed.

These dynamics were a lot to chew on. Luckily, he has something to stimulate

appetite. It is a $450 cigar.

It is packed with a lot of cannabis.

It has shatter, wax, sauce, all wrapped in one. Slow burn.

Nice. I have never had a success that would warrant smoking a cigar that big.

That's all right. You will one day. Okay.

While the city of Compton has ended the legalization debate for now, another

city in California is trying a different approach.

One Bay Area city has a plan to give convicted criminals priority when it

to providing pot.

It sounds like they're saying if you have a record, a drug record, we want

Weed is legal in Oakland, but unlike Compton, they want residents affected by

the war on drugs to get a piece of the action. They call it the social equity

program. And I was going to celebrate American progress by supporting the

store just opened under this new controversial policy.

If I rub that on my brittle feet, I might be high as a kite. For sure.

How much is that?

It's owned and operated by the improbably named Alfonso T.

Blunt. Yes.

Literally. Her last name was actually Moore. So do you think if you were born

Alfonso T., urinalysis?

Right. Yeah, probably.

It wouldn't work. We couldn't have urinalysis and Moore's.

A fourth -generation Oaklander, Alfonso got busted for selling weed in 2003 and

wound up with five years felony probation.

This is the first store opened under the equity program? Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

January 31, 2018 is when they had the lottery.

It was 66 applicants.

36 made it through, and that's how we got into the bingo chamber thing.

Throw a bingo ball in the chamber, roll it around. If your ball got picked, you

lost. The last four balls won.

We won.

We're on the last four, and we're the first one to open out of that.

Do you think you're taking a spot from a Stanford grad who's a hedge fund vice

president and now he can't open his sixth business? He's bad.

Stanford wasn't grinding on these streets of Oakland and going to jail for

selling weed and doing all that. He just seen a lucrative company, a lucrative

market, and want to jump in.

I was convinced and eager to support a hardworking small business owner.

It's going to fix my foot, right? I want, like, elephant bone.

Drug.

I bought drugs, but I need to fly back to New York. So the big question is, can

this fit up my ass?

When I look at this, the answer is probably.

So far, Blunts and Moore is doing well. But what about others in the social

equity program?

I had to go deeper.

Let's deliver some drugs. Got it.

Today, I'm riding along with Raven in a high -stakes business transaction in the

city of Oakland.

Hi, Ms. Toothpaw. It's Raven from Community Gardens giving you a call.

there in like 10 minutes. Together with her husband, Demetrius, she delivers

marijuana. So we're officially on a drug deal right now.

I mean, you can call it that. But yeah, it's like we're delivering chocolate

-covered espresso beans.

Don't make it so uncool.

Or an electric car delivering a chocolate -covered espresso bean. Do you

this is what Ronald Reagan was afraid of? I think this is exactly it. I mean,

honestly, for real.

Raven left her marketing job over a year ago to start her own company, Community

Gardens, with the help of Oakland's Equity Program, which helps give weed

licenses to people affected by the war on drugs.

You're part of the equity program because where your husband grew up.

There's two of us full -time, and then we have, it's a family business, so my

cousin and my mother -in -law help us out part -time.

So you barely have enough for a three -on -three basketball tournament.

Exactly.

Maybe this is what a 2019 weed victory lap looks like, leaving your fancy tech

job to hop in your Chevy Volt and deliver caffeinated sundries.

The cannabis plant is a gift to the earth, for lack of a better term.

All of the negativity and bad feelings around cannabis is really based on

and lack of education and the powers that be trying to keep the status quo.

So that's why I stay in the industry, because this is really stressful.

This isn't just a job. This is about social justice.

Exactly, exactly.

So this is Miss Toussaint's house right here.

Miss Toussaint is one of their regular customers.

She met Raven and Demetrius where I assume most people meet their weed

And I would see people coming in on drug charges and all that, and that's

marijuana, you know, you would get a lot of time for that. Yeah, and through the

dispensaries, that's when I kind of started seeing cannabis in a more

light. Ms. T found that weed gave her relief from her depression and anxiety.

It also gave her a higher...

I like to, you know, get my cannabis.

Then I sit down with my Bible and I get all this insight.

I wish somebody in the Bay Area would start a song or Bible study.

You might be on something.

I'm looking at the founder right now.

Advertise on Craig's lips. That's right. Yeah, yeah. See who will come on out.

That was wonderful. Thank you very much. Nice meeting you.

She's great. She's awesome. I tell you, if you have marijuana that can make me

find God, I want it. Right.

So we have one more that we're going to drop off.

Changing hearts and minds and getting old people stoned just might be the path

to social equity for communities once ravaged by drugs.

Community gardens must be raking it in. How are you guys holding up?

Barely.

It's been really tough for us to retain our customers.

And I commend the city of Oakland for putting forth the equity program. But

is big business now, which is what a lot of people, including myself, are not

really prepared for fully.

Yes, what she's talking about is navigating a labyrinth of state

regulations.

Everything is regulated.

That's the big thing that they're going to get you on. They put regulations on

how long you can be out, what can be in your car, how much we can carry on a

type of paperwork you have.

We need your firstborn.

For every delivery, the state requires they create a manifest containing where

they're going.

Customer ID, the employee who packed the shipment, time of the order, time of

delivery, and the signature and date.

And based on zoning issues and permits, they have to work out of a fucking

shipping container.

I love what you've done with the place.

Yeah, I know, right? If you forget any of the rules, just check the 138 -page

manual that changes every few weeks.

Police aren't planting weed on people anymore. They're planting undue

regulations on people.

Yep.

So who is positioned to survive the complexities of marijuana legalization?

You are at NUG headquarters in Oakland, California.

NUG.

NUG is big cannabis. They're like Amazon, if Amazon pays taxes.

NUG is a vertically integrated cannabis company. We provide high -quality

cannabis products at affordable prices to almost everybody in California.

I want to see what big weed looks like.

Beautiful product.

100 to 150 per row.

We control the entire environment. The humidity, the temperature, watering,

lighting. Can we walk through with these little flat slides?

Sure. I think that's going to look dope as hell.

Beautiful, beautiful product. Beautiful, beautiful product.

High production.

Trimmed and manicured and beautiful, beautiful product. Beautiful, beautiful

product. I mean, it just smells very, very fruity.

Do you want to toss those nugs around?

I don't know where you're at.

Nug is enormous enough to weather suffocating regulations.

With 15 ,000 plants, over 100 employees, and a guy who's apparently some kind of

weed scientist.

But do they have the heart of community gardens, plastic tubs filled with

prepackaged weed shoes?

Sometimes you can smell through the packaging, but, you know, it's

though.

I bet the big box squares at NUG don't even know about the equity program.

In Oakland, there's a social justice program to provide opportunities in the

cannabis business for people who have been previously persecuted by the war on

drugs. Okay, they know what it is, but I'm sure they don't participate in it.

participate in that program, and we have six different groups that we're working

with, and we're providing them greenhouse space, and they'll be in

about three years.

Three years.

That's cool.

How is the equity program turning out here in Oakland?

It's slow to go, and I'm a huge supporter of the program. I would just

see maybe the regulations eased a little bit so that we can have this happen

more quickly.

Fine. Damn it. Maybe Nug isn't the bad guy. They're businessmen.

But some people in the business of cannabis have more than just one job.

Do you consider yourself an activist?

Yeah. You have to be. People who don't understand you can't make laws and

regulations that can suit you. You have to make sure your voice is heard, even

if it's just like sending an email.

And yet, incredibly, there's still another obstacle Raven faces to survive

the cannabis market. We've lost a lot of customers to the black market just

because it's cheaper. It's killing our business.

Man, I'm going to need one of those dank chews.

Thanks, man.

People like Raven and Demetrius are getting screwed by regulations and the

illegal weed market. I feel for them. They're doing everything right, working

out of a minimalist art exhibit. But they may be forced to close in a few

months. California is getting bogarted as well. The tune of half a billion

dollars lost to the underground market.

How do you feel about the underground market?

I feel a little jealous.

because I feel like they're making money right now, and they're being able to

sell their product, and they don't have to deal with, like, the taxes and all

the regulations and things like that.

And, you know, we're really struggling, trying to be compliant, trying to make

sure that we're doing the right thing.

Later that night, I went to confront one of the alleged main players in

Oakland's underground theme, Chip Moore.

Hey, Chip.

Welcome. Confront is a strong word.

pointedly discussed.

There are people who are legally selling marijuana here in Oakland who are

getting priced out because people, instead of buying legal weed, are going

underground and buying weed.

That's like an excuse to me.

We're here in the most competitive cannabis market in the world. People

afford to purchase legal cannabis in Oakland.

But it's about changing the system.

It's about granting access.

It's about being an advocate for the people.

So you become a voice of the people.

Has the people's voice always been so gravelly and sexy?

Not at all. This comes with decades and decades of being a cannabis enthusiast.

Chip runs something called Cloud Collective, a community -based

that allegedly holds weekly sessions for hundreds to allegedly illegally sell

and buy weed.

The black market's still going strong.

I don't know. Allegedly. What did you hear? I heard this might be the place to

be. I don't know.

For me, I know that this is a great place where all my friends and family

to communicate about our world. As you can see, it's difficult to have an

allegedly honest conversation about illegal marijuana in 2019.

Allegedly. Isn't there a way forward to work within the system?

I am a young African -American CEO who is not eligible for

the equity program.

Why is that?

Because I didn't meet the requirements.

I am a general applicant.

The war on drugs is affecting me now because I'm being pushed out of the

because I'm not an equity applicant.

Okay, but working outside the system clearly affects those who work within.

So do they have sympathy for those who play in the illegal market?

I want everybody to be legal, apparently.

You know what I mean? So you don't have to worry about the cops.

But everybody's not capable of getting a license in or just don't want the

paperwork. And it's like trying to change that mindset. Dude, it's legal.

Get your right paperwork and get on the show.

But not everyone is on the same page.

Do I have empathy for someone who's working without a license?

Not really, because...

I had the opportunity to stay unlicensed, but I didn't. And I was on

side. You know, I street hustled. I mean, let's keep it real.

But I didn't street hustle because that's where I truly wanted to be.

When legalization came into play, I jumped at the opportunity to get

into the legal market.

If cannabis sellers can still get away with selling it without a permit, what

the incentive to go legal? And at what point does law enforcement and

become the only deterrent?

The regulated market will rule cannabis. How we get there is up to us.

Because how it's looking right now, how we're going to get there is enforcement.

Some retailers might not mind that, but I would rather not.

Is this just a war on drugs repeating itself yet again?

I think it can be. It's up to the people in the industry who care.

to make sure it's not like that. Because I think there are a lot of people that

don't care and are like, yeah, whatever, by any means necessary, shut these guys

down. We need to turn a profit.

And, you know, we need to turn a profit too, but it's like we saw what got us

here.

So we don't want to be there again.

Right.

Legalization is more than just a chance for people like me to hit a $450 shatter

blunt. Nice.

And chase geese.

It's a path to justice.

However you feel about cannabis, one thing isn't up for debate.

Too many lives have been affected by the war on drugs.

Between 2001 and 2010 alone, there were more than 8 million marijuana arrests.

That's 8 million futures derailed by a racist crusade against a plant that now

has widespread public support.

For those on the other side, it's a bittersweet homecoming. On my way to a

little block party, Tucky's throwing.

He said I could bring something. I figured they would have plenty of...

Mary Jane.

We bring a heart conscience. Of course, the barbecue.

Crudite.

The social equity program isn't perfect, but it's a swing at leveling the

playing field. How's it going?

Brought crudite.

All right. Let's get it.

Here we go.

We got you. Hey, you're going to be stuck. I'm going to be fine. I'm not

to be stuck.

Yeah. Stuck good or bad? Stuck is good. I am going to be stuck. You're a family,

so you're good. We got you. I might be stuck right now.

We can do more to make things right, like expunging past marijuana -related

convictions from the record. And if we really want to level the playing field,

we need to make it easier for cannabis entrepreneurs to get loans.

Right now, banks won't touch the industry, and hardworking people like

need that support.

I'd like to think we have the ability to amend the mistakes of our past and move

forward as a nation to get unstuck.

Or stuck.

I'm still confused by the terminology.

Maybe I'm just stoned.

You good?

Up in the sky And I watched it all And said

goodbye And I called it trouble Trouble

in my hands