Original subtitles

Narrator: Marijuana is the most widely used illicit

drug on the planet.

To many, it's an evil weed.

But to some, it's a sacred herb.

Reverend Cherms: It's our God given right to

use the tree of life .

Narrator: Still for others, it's a lifesaver.

Greg Scott: I would be dead from AIDS if I had

not smoked.

Narrator: For decades the global supply of marijuana

was controlled by criminals.

Eduardo Martinez: There in it strictly for the money

and they're willing to kill.

Narrator: But now it's a quasi-legal industry worth

billions of dollars, and business is booming.

Producers, traffickers, dealers, users, doctors,

police, they're all part of the $300 billion global

industry that is, Drugs Incorporated.

Marijuana is a psychoactive plant

commonly known as cannabis, grass, pot,

or weed.

Used by 167 million people worldwide,

marijuana polarizes public opinion,

with one side trying to legitimize the plant,

and the other trying to wipe it off the planet.

In 1970, the US Federal Government passed the

Controlled Substances Act classifying marijuana as a

Schedule 1 drug, just like heroin.

This designates the drug as having a high potential

for abuse, with no medicinal value.

But not everyone agrees.

In defiance of Federal law,

at least 14 US states now allow patients to grow or

purchase marijuana on a doctor's recommendation.

Chief among these rebel states is California.

Oakland resident Juliet Hopper works as a

management consultant.

For the past 10 years she has battled both cervical

cancer and fibromyalgia, a condition that causes

intense pain in her muscles and bones.

Juliet Hopper: From my neck all the way down I'm

in a lot of pain.

The best way I can describe, um,

an FM flare-up, which is what I'm dealing with

right now, is someone taking a baseball bat to

your major joints and just hitting you as hard as

they can for hours.

And that's the pain that you're dealing with.

It's unending nerve pain.

Narrator: While living in Ohio,

Juliet took a large number of pain medications that

slowly destroyed her liver and kidneys.

Even though Ohio prohibits medical marijuana,

her physician privately recommended she try it.

Juliet Hopper: I've been using a measuring spoon to

kinda create a diary of what works best for my

pain management and my symptoms.

Narrator: Marijuana contains a complex mixture

of more than 60 unique active compounds known as

cannabinoids.

The two most abundant are Tetrahydro-cannabinol,

or THC, and cannabidiol, or CBD.

When ingested, the compounds attach

themselves to cannabinoid receptors,

the molecules that affect neural signals in the

parts of the brain governing memory, anxiety,

appetite, coordination and pain.

Juliet uses a vaporizer to consume her medical

marijuana.

Juliet Hopper: It heats up the cannabinoids enough to

be able to release the medicine as a vapor,

but it doesn't get hot enough to where it's

combusting a plant, which is usually the biggest

problem that most people have with utilizing

cannabis as a medicine, is that they see that

combustion is, putting tars and carcinogens into

your body.

Narrator: Initially, Juliet was wary of

consuming an illegal drug.

Juliet Hopper: I was the Reaganistic child of 'just

say no' don't do drugs.

Oh my God, cannabis will lead you to heroin.

I think one of the biggest battles that any cannabis

patient has, is because we still feel guilty.

Society tells us that we're doing something horrible.

Narrator: In March 2009,

Juliet moved to California so that she could no

longer be breaking the law by consuming medical

marijuana.

Juliet Hopper: It's almost like a nice little,

meditation ritual.

Narrator: For Juliet, marijuana offers the

chance of living a normal life.

Juliet Hopper: It does just alleviate that inner

angst.

It kinda blocks that feeling of intense pain

and, I get antsy and edgy when I'm in pain and I

don't realize that I'm barking,

and in my line of work barking is not very

useful.

So it alleviates that and it literally calms my

psyche down enough to be able to focus and get my

job done, and enjoy living.

It's not necessarily a cure all for everyone but

it's definitely something to try that won't kill

your kidneys.

Narrator: California's tolerance toward medical

marijuana dates back to the early outbreaks of

AIDS in the 1980s.

Dr. Marc Conant: Hello, Greg, have a seat.

Narrator: San Francisco Dermatologist,

Dr. Marc Conant is one of the world's leading AIDS

experts.

He's been at the forefront of the fight against HIV

since 1981.

Dr. Marc Conant: We were treating them with

chemotherapy.

That caused nausea and vomiting.

So the patients would come in and say: I can't keep

the medicine down.

Have you heard, Doctor, that smoking marijuana

will stop the nausea?

What drugs are you currently taking?

Greg Scott: Currently, I'm taking Raltegraviir.

Dr. Marc Conant: There were other benefits as

well.

It relieves pain, it stimulates appetite,

and the patients themselves discovered that

smoking marijuana was more effective than any of the

other things we prescribed.

You lost weight.

Narrator: Navy Veteran Greg Scott,

a patient of Dr. Conant's was first diagnosed with

HIV in 1987.

His health rapidly declines.

Greg Scott: Well, I was very sick with Stage IV

terminal AIDS in 1993 and 1994.

Narrator: Greg's weight drops due to the

medication he takes to stay alive.

Greg Scott: There was nothing they could give me

except pretty much this one drug, AZT,

that didn't work very well.

And so I had wasted away to less than 120 pounds

and I, I was dying.

Narrator: Greg suffers from a form of anorexia,

know as HIV wasting syndrome.

Dr. Marc Conant: Sit here and face me.

Narrator: Essentially dying from starvation,

Greg begins smoking marijuana,

which is known to stimulate appetite,

giving users the so called "munchies".

Dr. Marc Conant: Take a deep breath.

Narrator: The marijuana keeps Greg eating while

better life-saving HIV drugs are developed.

Greg Scott: I would have been dead from AIDS before

those drugs were available if I had not smoked to

maintain my body weight.

Narrator: In 1996, California passes

Proposition 215, a state law allowing doctors to

recommend marijuana to patients.

Dr. Marc Conant: The doctor doesn't dispense it.

The doctor can't write a prescription for it

because the pharmacy doesn't, doesn't carry it.

All the doctor can do is to indicate that in his or

her considered opinion this patient would profit

from using marijuana.

Narrator: Once a patient has a doctor's

recommendation, they can legally grow their own or

purchase marijuana from a dispensary.

This so called "Cannabusiness" is

booming.

Like ordinary goods, marijuana is subject to a

sales tax.

California has up to 400,000

medical marijuana patients.

Serving them are an estimated 2,100

dispensaries and co-operatives,

that's more than the state's Starbucks,

McDonald's and 7-11s combined.

Juliet Hopper: I'm doing great, how about you?

Narrator: Which is good news for Juliet Hopper.

Today she's visiting the Harborside Health Center

in Oakland that supplies her medical marijuana.

Juliet Hopper: I am dealing with a flare up of

my FM today, so I need something that's got a

higher level of CBD.

Dispenser: Well let's see what we have here.

Narrator: Here patients choose from some 100

different marijuana products,

that cost between 30 and 60 dollars for an eighth

of an ounce.

Dispenser: Something like this.

This is an Aghani cross.

Narrator: The Harborside has 38,000

registered patients.

Steve DeAngelo: We have created a 100% closed loop

distribution system that insulates our patients

from any contact with the illegal market.

The way that we do that is by only serving people who

are verified as being legal medical cannabis

patients, and only accepting medicine from

people who are also legally qualified medical

cannabis patients who have chosen to join our collective.

Patient: Hey, Rick.

Rick: How you doing?

Patient: Good, how are you?

Narrator: Registered patients legally grow

medical marijuana and sell it to the Harborside

collective.

In the back office they ensure the marijuana meets

the high standards needed to qualify it as medicine.

Rick: Yeah, this is very nice.

Nice manicuring job.

Narrator: The buds are examined under a powerful

microscope to check for mold or tiny pests like

spider mites.

Harborside Official: If you put this under the

200x microscope you can see spider mites with

their little faces, and their little legs.

They look, they look scary, and,

we don't want that in any of our medicine,

we don't want any of our patients smoking bugs.

Narrator: The last 15 years have seen a medical

revolution across America.

Doctors are recommending marijuana for everything

from cancer to stress.

But critics say the system is abused by recreational

users, who exploit medical endorsement to bypass the law.

Despite being legal under state law,

dispensary owners still risk prosecution under

federal drug laws which do not recognize medical

marijuana.

Steve DeAngelo: If I was arrested by the Federal

Government and taken to prison and locked up,

the very day that they released me I would be

back here and I would be serving patients again,

and I would do so until they took me away and

changed again.

When you see people who are dying and who are

suffering, whose lives are saved by this medicine,

it's impossible not to help them.

Narrator: The conflict between state and federal

law also causes problems for patients like Juliet.

Dispenser: Will that work for you?

Juliet Hopper: Looks great.

Thank you.

It's a kind of a, a tough black cloud to live under,

that you can't go outside of a medical cannabis

state.

You run the risk of either going without the

medicine, which is not a choice that I am not

willing to go.

I'd rather risk being prosecuted, um,

than have to be without my medicine because

the pain is just not worth it.

Narrator: The California medical marijuana

revolution is powered by advances in horticultural

science.

By growing marijuana indoors,

it can be cultivated anywhere on the planet.

This revolution started more than 5,000

miles away, in Holland.

Amsterdam.

Like California, suppliers here walk a tightrope

between what's legal, and what's not.

For the past 25 years, Arjan Roskam has been at

the forefront of the semi-legal Dutch marijuana

industry.

Arjan Roskam: Pretty good.

My passion for cannabis started when I was, 18,

I was travelling around the north of Thailand.

One, it's a very very fine sativa,

and it has a very nice mental high.

And I met a very old medicine man and he was

treating heroin junkies with marijuana,

and he said to me that this plant has a very very

big value for society.

And he also said that the plant was so powerful that

in the future it could overthrow governments.

When he said this to me I thought, hm, you're crazy,

man.

He basically said to me go back to Holland and start

growing this plant, and it will give you great

benefit and wealth in the future and it will be make

you very happy.

And that's when it really started.

Narrator: Holland is a small,

densely populated country in Northern Europe.

It's famous for clogs, canals, and sex and drugs.

The climate in Holland isn't suited to growing

marijuana, so Roskam experiments with growing

it indoors.

Arjan Roskam: When I was 18 in Holland nobody was

doing this, I was the only one,

two or three more guys, I had to learn everything.

I would try out 4 different nutrients in one

plant variety.

And the next time I would have tried out 4 different

lights.

And the time after that I would have tried out 7

different companies of soil with one variety.

So at the end of the crop I can,

really see very clear which soil for which

particular plant would have been very very good.

Narrator: Growing marijuana indoors requires

powerful lamps that replicate the sun's light

spectrum.

During the initial growth period,

the lamps operate for 18 hours a day,

imitating long summer days.

Then the timers are reduced to 12 hours a day,

and the plants believe it's fall and begin to

flower.

The flowers, or buds, of the female plant contain

the most THC, the psychoactive compound that

produces the high.

This illegal grow room is owned by one of Arjan's

contacts.

The plants are grown from seeds that Arjan

developed.

Arjan Roskam: And this is Arjan's ultra haze 1.

A very nice sativa, maybe one of the best in the

world.

Narrator: In 1993 Roskam enters his pot into the

Cannabis Cup, a US competition sponsored by

High Times Magazine.

Arjan Roskam: They really liked my stuff and they

said: this is the new kid on the block and this is

the stuff we really should all smoke.

MC: Winner of best of all three.

Narrator: Winning the competition changes his

life.

The magazine puts him on the front cover,

and overnight Arjan becomes a celebrity pot

star.

Busta Rhymes: Congratulations.

Arjan Roskam: They gave me the nickname King of

Cannabis.

Busta Rhymes: This is what we call royalty,

Cannabis King Salute.

Narrator: Demand for his product soars.

Arjan Roskam: We had so much coverage that all the

tourists came to Amsterdam and came straight to us.

Narrator: Roskam founds the Greenhouse Seed

Company, a legitimate business selling marijuana

seeds around the world.

He no longer grows illegal marijuana: his plants are

now grown legally outside of Holland for the

specific purpose of producing seeds.

Arjan's seeds are hybrids of the two basic

subspecies of cannabis, Indica and Sativa.

This engineering produces different flavors and

different effects.

Arjan Roskam: The cannabis sativa is grown around the

equator.

It's a mental high, it's a long plant,

with slim leaves and slim buds.

And the indica is a smaller plant and it's

more, a body stoned.

Narrator: To create his unique strains,

Arjan scours the world for different varieties of

marijuana seed.

Arjan Roskam: With my partner Franco,

we go into the jungles of far away countries,

could be Colombia, could be Jamaica, Africa.

Narrator: The worldwide market for new marijuana

varieties is huge.

And developing new, more potent strains keeps

Roskam's seed company in business.

Arjan is travelling to Malawi,

in search of a strain alleged to be the best in

Africa.

It's known as 'Malawi gold'.

Arjan Roskam: Our expeditions are very

complicated, they cost a lot of money.

You start searching, you start smoking,

you speak to the locals, from there on you go far

and far and try to find the fields.

And try to find the original.

Narrator: In developing countries along the

equator, marijuana is easily cultivated because

of the warm tropical climate.

In countries like Malawi, marijuana is a lucrative

cash crop, and a means of survival.

Arjan Roskam: Malawi's a very very poor country.

A whole village or a whole family is depending on

this harvest, and if they lose this harvest,

some kids die basically.

Narrator: After 10 days of trekking in the mud,

Roskam and his partner Franco strike gold.

They take seed samples of the finest Malawi plants

to bring back to Holland.

Farmer: This is very good, yeah?

This.

Franco: I'm seriously impressed by this,

how long you grow?

Farmer: Thank you very much.

Franco: Thank you.

Arjan Roskam: You're a good farmer.

Narrator: Arjan keeps a seed bank that has close

to 2000 different strains of marijuana.

Arjan Roskam: These are all samples with all the

codes from where they come and which kind of

varieties.

Narrator: Arjan's creations blend different

strains to create potent hybrids,

with exotic names like Super Lemon Haze and Great

White Shark.

He then sells them for a hefty profit.

Arjan Roskam: Roughly here you will see 25 to 30

kilos, so retail price between 2 and 3 million

Euros.

Narrator: With the exception of America,

where marijuana seed is illegal,

Roskam is free to market his products around the

world.

In most countries it's legal to buy seeds but not

to cultivate them.

So Arjan brands his seeds as souvenirs.

Arjan Roskam: You see the different colors we have

here.

We have the Cheese, we have the Train Wreck,

we have White Rhino and a Great White Shark.

I came with this idea 2 years ago and it's

probably the biggest hit ever in seed business.

Narrator: Each packet of 10 mixed seeds retails for

around $75, and his company sells 400,000

packets of seeds annually.

But the seed business is only one aspect of Arjan's

empire, the other is a chain of 'Coffeeshops.'

Customers come not only to drink lattes,

but to sample exotic marijuana.

Employee: The taste is more rich.

Narrator: Holland is the only country in the world

where marijuana can be purchased legally for

recreational use, but with certain restrictions.

Arjan Roskam: The rules and regulations are as

follows: No transactions bigger than 5 grams a

person a day is allowed in any coffeeshop in Holland.

No hard drugs in the shop is allowed.

Of course that's logic.

No younger people under the age of 18 are allowed

in the coffeeshop at any time.

Employee: You all have ID's?

Narrator: Failure to comply means a shop will

be closed down.

More than a million tourists a year travel to

Amsterdam to smoke marijuana in the city's

234 coffeeshops.

The Dutch authorities believe they can keep

marijuana from becoming a gateway to harder drugs by

decriminalizing it and controlling its

distribution.

Arjan Roskam: The young people can go into a

coffeeshop and buy cannabis,

and not like on the street where they're buying a

left hand cannabis, and in the right hand heroin and

cocaine.

Employee: Filters and papers right there.

Customer: Thank you.

Narrator: The Dutch policy seems to be working.

Holland has around 85% fewer hard drug overdoses

than the United States and the lowest rate in Europe.

But when it comes to supplying marijuana,

Arjan Roskam operates in a grey area.

Although Dutch authorities tolerate the sale of small

amounts, production and large scale distribution

remains illegal.

Arjan Roskam: Having 4 coffeeshops and making

sure we have a steady supply every day,

is a very very big target.

Narrator: To obtain enough marijuana for his 3,000

daily customers, Arjan must turn to commercial

black market producers.

He supplies them with seeds that they in turn

use to grow marijuana for his coffeeshops.

Arjan Roskam: We work with 80 to 100 growers.

It's a cat and mouse game between the police and the

growers.

Narrator: Once the marijuana is purchased

from the illicit suppliers,

it must be cut and prepared in a safe house,

because coffeeshop regulations allow only 500

grams on the premises at any given time.

From the safe house the marijuana is delivered to

the coffeeshop every few hours.

Arjan has turned his greenhouse business into a

global brand.

He sells everything from instructional DVDs,

to T-shirts and hats over the internet.

Arjan Roskam: This very popular in Canada and

America.

This is also very funny these are coasters.

Narrator: And like many celebrities,

he even has his very own do l .

Arjan Roskam: The famous bobble head.

At home everybody laughs about it but in America

it's pretty popular.

Narrator: "The King Of Cannabis" is enjoying his

success.

Arjan Roskam: I think I am the most happy person in

the world.

I have the best job in the world.

I made from my hobby, I made my work.

I grow the most beautiful plant in the world.

I meet all kinds of celebrities,

I get invited all over the world.

I'm the most happy guy in the world.

Narrator: Arjan Roskam's seeds and growing

techniques have revolutionized the

marijuana trade.

Growers are now moving indoors to produce

stronger varieties, and make bigger profits.

Kingston, Jamaica.

On the outskirts of the city,

a man going by the alias 'Paul',

is a small time cultivator who grows high grade

marijuana.

Paul: Most of these strains are from Holland.

The way the rest of the country grows weed it's

not, it's not the same as this.

It's connoisseur level.

Narrator: Paul's high potency marijuana is known

as Sinsemilla, or Sensi for short.

Paul: Sensi's just seedless,

growing your harvest and not letting it pollinate.

Whenever you breed the weed and it gets seeds,

it loses it potency, and also its flavor.

Narrator: To produce marijuana without seeds,

growers remove the male plants before flowering.

This prevents the female plants from being

pollinated and producing seeds.

Sensi has higher levels of THC,

the main psychoactive compound.

Paul: It's potent.

You're up to 18, 20% THC, very strong.

Narrator: Most Jamaican marijuana is grown outdoors.

But in order to produce the high potency varieties

that many of today's smokers demand,

growers like Paul are joining the indoor growing

revolution.

Paul: Welcome to my babies.

Narrator: For the past 12 years,

Paul has maintained his secret indoor garden.

Paul: All right.

Narrator: Here, every aspect of growing is

controlled, right down to the acidity, or PH,

level of the soil.

Paul: If, if you're just pouring pipe water on a

plant, the PH is too high, the plant won't get a

chance to pick the food up out of the soil and it's

under fertilized.

I grow because I love to smoke.

And if you want the best you have to grow for

yourself.

I'm the only one I see in Jamaica that's doing this.

These strains are called Golden Back Gorillas.

It's very potent.

This is a lot money.

It sells for $500 US an ounce.

Narrator: Marijuana farmers around the world

are moving indoors to avoid detection by law

enforcement.

And growing higher potency varieties means more

money.

Paul: You're gonna get a lot of customers with good

strong weed.

Narrator: In Jamaica, marijuana is part of

everyday life.

Up to 70 percent of the island's population smokes it.

Ras Malekot: Please Jah bless us all and sanctify

us as we partake of the holy herb,

for the healing of the nation and for the

meditation of man.

Narrator: When smoked, marijuana produces a wide

variety of effects, including everything from

lethargy or an altered perception of time,

to increased appetite, paranoia,

forgetfulness or euphoria.

Ras Malekot: It lift your thoughts,

it lift your mind, it makes you more tranquil,

will make you more meditative.

It gives you more insight into yourself,

into reality.

Narrator: In the early 20th century,

recreational marijuana use spreads from Jamaica and

the West Indies to America.

Popular among Mexican migrant workers and

African American jazz musicians,

marijuana becomes a target for white xenophobia.

In the 1930s Federal Bureau of Narcotics chief

Harry Anslinger launches America's war on drugs.

He creates panic by claiming that marijuana

leads to insanity, rape, and murder.

Despite objections from the American Medical

Association, Anslinger persuades Congress to

outlaw the drug in 1937.

During the '60s, marijuana is embraced by the growing

counterculture.

For many, smoking pot is an act of defiance against

mainstream America.

To the establishment, marijuana symbolizes the

excesses of the hippie era.

Ronald Reagan: Marijuana is probably the most

dangerous drug in America today.

Narrator: Since the 1970s the war on drugs has cost

more than two trillion taxpayer dollars,

but it hasn't eliminated marijuana.

In fact, marijuana is so widespread that 41 percent

of Americans admit to trying it,

including even the President.

Narrator: Since marijuana was outlawed in the 1930s,

stopping its use has been the main focus of

America's War on Drugs.

While medical marijuana patients can legally

consume it in 14 US states, more than 800,000

people are arrested for illegal marijuana use

every year.

Cleveland, Tennessee.

Drug Task Force Director Mike Hall and his team

prepare to execute a search warrant on the

house of a suspected marijuana dealer.

Mike Hall: Well if they come out of this house and

we come in, especially if they look like one of our

two suspects, I would try to, try to get 'em.

Say a word prayer.

The Lord we thank for this day,

I pray that you keep each man,

woman in this room safe, that you give us quick

reflexes.

Give us the judgments to do what's right.

Let us fulfill that justice that you've called

us to fulfill in Christ's name.

Amen.

Alright, let's load up.

Narrator: Marijuana is big business and dealers will

stop at nothing.

The cops aren't taking any chances.

Mike Hall: The one suspect has displayed firearms to

our confidential informant and the propensity for

violence in this neighborhood is a little

bit higher than most.

Narrator: Tensions are running high as the van

pulls up to the suspect's house.

Cop: Go go go go.

Right, get over there, get over there!

Get over there!

Narrator: Within seconds, the police take control of

the house.

Out back, two more suspects are apprehended.

Agents search the suspects as the children are taken

outside.

Cop: Where's you mommy, sweetie?

Little girl: Inside.

Cop: Inside.

She'll be out in a minute, okay?

You been smoking bud out here?

Suspect: No, just, I'm waiting on a burger.

Narrator: Mike Hall questions the main

suspect.

Mike Hall: Right, is there any guns in the house?

Suspect: No Sir.

Mike Hall: Marijuana was found on you,

on your person, is this for personal use?

Is there any other marijuana inside the

residence?

Suspect: My personal.

Mike Hall: And where's that at?

Narrator: The suspect directs the agents to his

stash box.

Inside they find half an ounce of marijuana divided

into 4 bags.

The suspect is likely dealing.

Mike Hall: You got them individually wrapped up,

you gonna sell them?

Suspect: No, not those.

Mike Hall: Not those?

Suspect: Not those.

Cop: We've been looking at you longer than a few

days, I know what's going on here.

We have purchased marijuana from here,

namely you.

Narrator: Under Tennessee state law,

distributing marijuana weighing under 10 lbs is a

felony and punishable by up to 6 years in prison.

Marijuana may pass though 5 or 6 hands before it

gets to a dealer like this one.

Mike Hall: He ain't the bottom of the food chain,

but he ain't top.

This is his accounting paper.

These are sometimes what people owe him,

this is how much cash he's got in hand.

Narrator: The marijuana supply chain often works on credit.

Mike Hall: He owes his supplier right now 360

bucks.

Unfortunately the typical cycle is he'll try to find

some other dope somewhere so he can make enough to

pay off, suppliers, you know,

they're like repo men, you know,

they wanna get their $360 back so,

they'll get it one way or another, take your car,

take your TV, you know, take your blood.

Narrator: The marijuana seized by the Drug Task

Force in Tennessee most likely originated from

Mexico, which supplies nearly 40 percent of the

marijuana consumed in America.

El Paso, Texas.

Located across the Rio Grande from the Mexican

town of Juarez, this city is a high drug trafficking

area.

Every year, more than 100 tons of marijuana are

seized at the El Paso Ports of Entry.

William Molaski is the Customs and Border

Protection Port Director in El Paso.

As a Senior Customs Officer,

Molaski has been monitoring this port of

entry for two years.

William Molaski: If you can think of a way to

smuggle something into the country, we've seen it.

Yeah, you see false compartments in gas tanks,

in the spare tires, in the trunk,

in the roofs of cars, strapped to the legs of

people.

Inside of shoes, baggage.

The list is endless.

Narrator: Molaski and his team are the frontline of

America's war on drugs.

Agents from Customs and Border Protection are on

high alert as they search cars and trucks for drugs.

They suspect this vehicle is hiding illicit cargo.

Agent Thorne: We started inspecting the vehicle and

we saw some anomalies with the tank,

so then we had it brought in for further inspection.

Narrator: The agents use a fiber optic telescope to

get a better look inside the gas tank.

Agent Thorne: We believe there is contraband,

either marijuana or cocaine.

Narrator: The Customs Agents see something in

the tank, and decide to take a closer look.

Inside are dozens of packages of compressed

marijuana, vacuum-packed to prevent them from

absorbing gasoline.

The 68 pound seizure is worth $200 a pound in El Paso.

By the time it reaches cities like New York,

its value multiplies ten-fold.

This secret DEA warehouse stores the marijuana

seized on the US/ Mexican border.

Agent Todd Scott: This warehouse on any given

week is filled with, you know, 12, 15,000

pounds or more of marijuana.

Narrator: Every year more than one million pounds of

marijuana passes through here before it's

destroyed.

The cross-border marijuana trade is dominated by the

Mexican drug cartels.

Agent Todd Scott: Marijuana's important to

the cartels because it really is the life blood,

the economic life blood for how these cartels

operate.

Narrator: 60 percent of their revenue,

or around $8.6 billion, comes from trafficking

marijuana.

Agent Todd Scott: Marijuana is,

it's almost like printing press for them.

It's really the engine that drives all of their

other, narcotic trafficking activities.

Narrator: The endless demand for marijuana fuels

the bloodshed on Mexico's streets.

Two of Mexico's biggest drug gangs,

the Sinaloa and the Juarez cartels,

are fighting a war over El Paso's strategic location.

Eduardo Martinez: These organizations see

themselves as industries, they are in it for profit,

and they're willing to kill and they're willing

to do whatever they have to do to make sure that

their business continues to receive profits.

Narrator: The war over lucrative smuggling routes

has turned Juarez, Mexico into the murder capital of

the world.

Eduardo Martinez: They are fighting over their turf.

And whoever at the end is left standing will be able

to profit from this area.

Narrator: The worldwide marijuana market is

estimated to be worth $142 billion annually and the

Mexican drug cartels are fighting for their share.

In California, the Mexican cartels' profits are being

eroded by the 'mom and pop' operators who supply

the booming, legal-medical marijuana business.

People from all over America are flocking to

California to be part of the so called "Green

Rush."

Northern California.

Here, a group of medical marijuana smokers are so

fanatical about their use of the plant,

they've formed their own church.

The Reverend Steve Cherms runs the United Cannabis

Ministry.

Reverend Cherms: It's a non denominational church

so we don't try to focus people's certain beliefs,

but we do believe that the cannabis plant,

is a tree of life, and is our God given right to use

the tree of life.

Lift up your tongue.

Narrator: Every Sunday, Cherms and his followers

begin the day with a mixture of liqueur and

marijuana.

Reverend Cherms: Would you like your tincture young lady?

Narrator: The Reverend Steve Cherms has been

smoking marijuana for 39 years.

Today, he uses it to relieve pain from ruptured

disks in his back and neck.

Reverend Cherms: I just can't focus with the pain

so, a little bit of hashish, you know one,

two marijuana cigarettes and,

ready to go for the day.

Narrator: To become a part of the church

congregation, members must share Cherms' passion for

marijuana.

Woman: Thank you.

Reverend Cherms: And my favorite thing,

next victim.

Now I will be able to just kind of slow down and talk

to you guys without being like in a haze, you know.

Narrator: Reverend Cherms makes sure his followers

hold legal California Medical cannabis cards.

Reverend Cherms: Then they can, you know,

consume cannabis legally, even though we should be

able to use the tree of life legally anyway it's

God's law but, you know, we'll follow the rules in

California.

Narrator: In October, the Church's legal marijuana

crop is ready for harvest.

Reverend Cherms: We grow for everybody that's in

the church that cannot grow for themselves or

have no spot to do it.

Narrator: Church members believe freedom of

religion, no matter how strange,

is protected by the first Amendment of the US

Constitution.

Reverend Cherms: In the Constitution we have the

right to use whatever religious sacrament we

want.

And this is our religious sacrament.

Narrator: Seasonal workers pour into California to

help with the harvest.

They're known as 'clippers' and they get

paid in pot.

Reverend Cherms: It kind of averages between half

ounce, to an ounce a day, you know,

and they each come one or two days.

I think they usually go home with an ounce,

and it's enough sacrament for their week or two

weeks that they need.

Narrator: The Reverend and his followers were

recently evicted from their church,

because the landlord didn't agree with their

religious beliefs.

So now Cherms holds an informal service in his

home, while the clippers manicure the harvested

buds.

Reverend Cherms: Would anyone else like to try

some?

Narrator: Before Church begins,

Cherms and his congregation take more

sacrament.

Reverend Cherms: We're all guardians of cannabis;

we all have to have it.

And there's no kings, no queens,

no emperors of this, we're all the same and the plant

needs us to be the guardian of it.

What do they say healing of the nations.

The healing of the nations.

Anybody else like to try some hash a little?

Narrator: Eventually, the service begins.

Rather than preaching from the pulpit,

Cherms prefers a more relaxed approach to

religion.

Reverend Cherms: Sunday sermon for the United

Cannabis Ministry.

Narrator: In the comfort of his armchair,

he delivers his sermon from a laptop.

Reverend Cherms: Genesis 1-29.

And God said behold I've given you every herb

bearing seed which is upon the face of all of Earth.

Does this seem like the herb that we have in our

hands.

Is it possible this could be the herb they're

talking about?

Member: Definitely.

Narrator: Cherms champions

the virtues of cannabis over other commonly abused

substances.

Reverend Cherms: Tobacco kills 340,000

to 450,000 people a year.

150 plus thousand people a year die from alcohol

related.

And that, that's not accidents, car accidents,

that's alcohol consumption killing

150,000 people a year.

Let's talk about illicit overdose and drug use;

3800 to 5200 deaths a year,

and my favorite cannabis zero,

zero deaths every year.

Never been recorded one death from the use of

cannabis.

Narrator: Marijuana is now California's biggest cash

crop, outselling corn, vegetables, even grapes.

Narrator: While hundreds of thousands of people in

California are now legally growing and consuming

medical marijuana, there's still a thriving illegal

industry, dominated by the Mexican drug cartels.

Across California, illegal marijuana farms are

springing up in state parks.

Lake County, Northern California.

10 AM.

Agent Ryan Pontecorvo,

an Eradication Team Commander from the

Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, or CAMP,

is searching for an illegal marijuana farm

known as a 'grow.'

Agent Pontecorvo: They thin out the brush just

enough that the plants get the sunlight.

But the color is so fluorescent against the

natural foliage, it just pops,

so it's hard to hide.

Narrator: During the summer growing season,

he and his team work 12 hours a day,

6 days a week.

Soon Agent Pontecorvo spots some crops.

Agent Pontecorvo: You got, you got one, two,

three plots.

Narrator: To the untrained eye,

it's nearly impossible to see,

but Pontecorvo has spent the last 5 years busting

marijuana growers.

Armed and ready, CAMP agents hike through the

brush toward the illegal marijuana farm.

Agent Pontecorvo: When we do sneak ins that's when

the potential for violence is there.

Most of all the growers, they're always armed.

Narrator: These farmers heard the agents coming

and have already fled.

But the agents remain on high alert while they

remove the illegal plants.

Agent Pontecorvo: Right now since,

well I call it the race.

Once you see it, you got to pull it because it's

all money.

They made it this far, they want it out.

So the likelihood of potential armed

confrontation would be now.

Because basically we're taking money from them.

They bring in their food.

Narrator: Agents discover the farmers' abandoned

camp.

Agent Pontecorvo: They've just had a food drop,

this bag is full of food that just.

Narrator: Many grow farmers are illegal

immigrants.

Agent Pontecorvo: The people who are smuggled

into the United States, part of their payment back

to the smugglers is to be inserted into different

areas of California to set up Marijuana commercial grows.

Narrator: The operations are financed by

Mexican drug lords but the kingpins are rarely

caught.

Agent Pontecorvo: A grow like this probably cost

them, with all the food and getting the guys in

here I don't know, maybe $10,000

investment to get it going.

Chemicals and everything and that might be in the high end.

Depending on what the plant count is here,

they could make a profit of a million or a couple,

you know, and they sell it wholesale at the low end.

So for a small investment they're getting a big

return.

Narrator: The marijuana plantations have a

devastating impact on the surrounding environment.

Agent Pontecorvo: They cut trees,

they cut the underbrush, they clear it out.

They'll bring poisons in to kill the animals,

deer will it, 'cause deer love eating the plants.

This is all your, your typical landscape,

water pipe, you have your feeder tubes off a main

line.

What they'll do is they'll run this,

I've seen it run for miles, to a stream,

where they'll dam up the stream and divert it.

A lot of times they'll put chemicals in the water.

So they're poisoning the water,

they're taking public land,

running people off who should be enjoying it for recreation.

Narrator: Ryan and his team remove more

than 3,000 plants, with an estimated street value of

6 million dollars.

For them, the war on drugs is never ending.

Agent Pontecorvo: It is a game.

They, they try to hide it and we try to find,

and once we find we take it, so it,

it's a never ending battle.

Narrator: Whether it's an evil weed, a cash crop,

a lifesaving medicine, or simply a recreational

drug, marijuana polarizes public opinion.

And thanks to advances in horticultural science,

it can now be grown anywhere on the planet and

is used by more people than ever before.

70 years of prohibition have failed to stamp out

marijuana production, and it continues to line the

pockets of the world's most ruthless criminals.