High Landz (2022) Movie Script

1
-[crickets chirping]
-[calm music plays]
[Luka] So what,
can you not grind weed
for sick people?
-[man 2] No sick people.
-[Luka laughs]
My weed's
for healthy, strong...
good-looking people
who just wanna get high.
Drug users and abusers.
My weed is, like,
so strong, it's like...
If you gotta-- if you can't get
high off of it,
you gotta, like,
probably start doing heroin.

[Anonymous] They keep it
legal to the states,
so the states are able
to collect their revenue.
But at the same time,
the feds are able
to come in whenever they want.
Clean house.
That's anywhere from, you know,
the dispensaries
that are perfectly legal,
up into the hills
where you find everybody
doing their thing.
But, they have
their own problems
with trying to keep
the law down, too,
'cause a lot of people
don't want marijuana
growing in their neighborhood,
and they don't want to have
their kids exposed to it.
So, that's where
respect comes in.
Some places have more respect
because they--
Their community
all wants to do that,
where some communities
don't want so much.
But then, they're creating
a black market
because other places,
they're going to grow
and they're still
gonna bring it in.
[chuckles]
There's a big desire for it
and need for it.


[indistinct chatter]

[Luka] This story started
in the streets of Hollywood,
when a 20-year-old me first
came to the westest west side.
Way before I knew anything
about the green rush
that was happening
in California.
Through my passion,
which is filmmaking,
I was lucky enough
to run into this guy.
My Russian buddy Alex,
from Vladivostok.
He introduced me
to the Emerald Triangle.
A place where
money grows on trees,
and pigs fly
in the sky.
So, I abandoned the city
and went to live up
in the sticks.
Beyond the valleys
hidden in the mountains.
I want to welcome you guys
to High Landz.

Man, I think
it's paradise on earth.
Like, I used to be
in the military,
and I traveled
all over the world, man.
I've been
to a lot of places.
I haven't been everywhere,
but I've been
to a lot of places
and California is for sure
the best place in the world.
And then Northern California?
[scoffs]
It's even better.
[Katalyst]
Coming from LA,
NorCal is San Francisco,
and then there's Oregon.
Like, you don't know
about Sonoma County.
You don't know about Mendo,
you don't--
None of that shit
exists to you, you know?
So, my homie's like,
"Yeah, man.
There's this place
in Northern California
that's, like, Amsterdam, bro."
Like, 'cause to us,
Amsterdam is the shit,
you know.
And I was like,
"Let's go to Amsterdam."
There's this imaginary
line up there.
And as soon as you cross it,
it's like, anything can happen.
And it's all about
your intentions.
And, you know,
you just come up,
you go that way
with goodness in your heart,
and you never know
who you're going to meet,
you know.
[Luka] The place
where Alex grows weed
is about 567 miles away
from Los Angeles.
Folks around here
call it simply "The Hole."
It's literally
in the middle of nowhere.
Nothing but endless forests,
mountains and valleys
all the way around.
Electricity
only from a generator,
water only from the well.
Nearest police station
is all the way in town,
which is 40 miles away,
down long winding roads.
Let's just say
it's a pretty remote place.
[woman]
Yeah, you keep missing.
I'm just practicing. Jesus.
[Luka] The remoteness
definitely creates
perfect conditions
for illegal weed grows.
Although the cops are aware
of what's going on here.
And after recent years
of raids,
a lot of people were forced
to leave the area.
[Alex]
So, the strategy is,
if the cops come
flying over us,
most likely they're gonna come
pull the plants this year.
Normally,
they'll do a bunch of flies,
and then
they'll pick and choose
who they're gonna raid.
But, last year and this year,
Shasta County
has been insanely bad.
Like, I grew up in the city.
To me, living
in the forest was crazy.
Like, when I-- when I first
came up here and--
Or even thought about
living in the forest
or living in a place
like this, it was--
it was like fucking,
you know, insanity.
But-- Ow! Motherfuck.
[hisses] Fuck,
I just got a splinter.
[laughs]
Fuck.
So, anyways, um--
Ah, that hurts.
It, like,
went right under my nail.
[laughs]
Fuck.
Fucking forest, man.
But then we started
growing weed,
and the beautiful thing
about growing weed is,
you know,
you get in touch with nature.
And, like, you form
a special relationship
between a man
and a plant, you know.
You get to realize
that the plants are alive,
and they respond to how you--
how you treat them.
So, the amount of love
that you give them,
they give that
back to you.

[Luka] On the other hand,
the mountain life gives you
a lot of freedom.
And when the work
for the day is done,
there is plenty of things
to do still,
like jumping off
the waterfalls and shit.
The mountains is like
a giant playground.
There's hot springs,
waterfalls, lakes.
You can go off-roading, uh,
on bikes, on cars.
You go swimming.
It's just, like, waterfall
after waterfall,
after waterfall.
And they're all unbelievably
beautiful, you know?
And they're all,
like, in one area.
It's all,
like, condensed.
And it's just--
There's all these hidden spots
that are just,
just, just--
To me, it's like
a Garden of Eden, you know.
[Luka] It was a wild transition
to the mountain life.
We entered a different world
with its own rules.
Or should I say, no rules?
[Alex]
I mean, you can do
whatever the fuck you want,
really.
There's nobody over here
telling you what to do.
So...
Which is a good thing
and a bad thing, you know.

[man]
You see that?
-[Luka] Can we film this?
-Yeah.
[Luka]
'Cause people wanna know...
That's good. Nice camera.
[Luka] Thank you.
I'm recording, you know.
-Are you? Okay, cool.
-[Luka chuckles]
[Luka] Jacob was
the next grower we met.
He was just chilling
in front of his property
as we were passing by
on the mountain road.
Alex already knew the guy,
but I was still surprised
how open he was
about his grow.
Jacob showed some pictures
of his plants,
told us a few stories,
and even invited Alex tonight
to come check out
the hippie festival,
where Jacob said
he can get us in.
-You wanna go for it?
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely.
We're shooting
a goddamn documentary.
Of course,
we're gonna go.
I can get you in Reggae
on the River, too.
-Yes, please.
-I can get you into both.
-Please.
-All right.
[both laughing]

[Luka] The festival was
happening in Mendocino County,
which is part
of the Emerald Triangle,
one of the world's
most exclusive destinations
in cannabis culture.
This region is also known
for cultivation,
dating as far back
as the 1960s,
following San Francisco's
LSD revolution,
also known
as the Summer of Love.
-[Matt] Too fast.
-[Alex] Sorry.
Uh, what the fuck
is this camera doing?
[Luka] You don't want me
to shoot you?
-[Matt] Nah, I definitely do.
-[Alex and Luka laugh]
-[Alex] Right on.
-[Luka] All right.
Nice, okay, yeah, so,
Right next to the Toyota
over here.
You guys are fucking lit.
Keep that camera work up, dude.
-[Luka] All right.
-Hey. Hey.
Hey, put that on [indistinct].
I want it!
[laughs]
[Matt]
Much love.
There's the fucking booth
over there,
where you get
your shit at.
Fucking--
It should be simple.
-Okay, we got a car.
-[Luka] All right.
Nothing could be healthier
for the world
than what the young people
today are doing.
Listening to music,
going to these
electronic music festivals.
I don't care about any
hallucinogenic they're doing,
because if you look at
all their faces,
they're smiling.
Black, yellow, Latina,
-it doesn't matter, you know.
-[Luka] All together.
Mexican, Pakistani,
they're all together.
They're all
in the same vibe.
If you're on psychedelics--
If you're not on psychedelics,
it's just a festival.
If you're on psychedelics,
and you're all fucked up
in the head,
then the festival becomes
this magical
fucking fairy tale place,
and you can't even
capture it on camera.
Yeah.
[man] Today, I learned
that you can't run
from your demons.
Sooner or later
you are going
to have to deal with them.
[electronic music playing]
So, this kind of, like,
enlightenment
that we're going through,
through psychedelics,
through the exchange of ideas,
through the music,
you know,
where DJs are getting paid
more than bands,
this is the new era
of good times.
[Alex] And it's, and it's like,
you end up in this, like,
Alice in Wonderland,
uh, fairy tale land,
'cause they come
from a psychedelic mind.
And it's all these people
are smoking weed
and doing, you know,
shrooms and-- and acid.
Those people are extremely,
extremely creative.
[Luka] Festivals like this
are a part of the culture here
in the Emerald Triangle.
Originating
as far back as 1960s,
it's amazing to see how
the community has evolved,
yet still remains in touch
with their roots.
[festival goer]
It's the power of life, right?
-Spiritually, right?
-[Luka] Yeah.
[festival goer] So, it's,
like, the work you put in
is the work
you get back.
The more you trust,
the more risk you take with it,
then the more reward
you get back.
[electronic music playing]
[Luka's voice echoing]
[Luka] On acid,
it felt like we had entered
a different dimension,
light years away
from the real world.
With its own magic,
characters and creatures.
[Alex] Everyone
is wearing these, like,
woodsy-- woodsy
fairy tale costumes.
And when you're on shrooms
or an acid, it just--
You're, like, in this
other world, that's it.
Like,
you're in this other world
that's-- that's--
that's unbelievable.
[electronic music playing]
[David]
Psychedelics in general,
really, at one point,
should be ingested.
I mean, someone out there
wants to kill me right now,
but they're gonna eat
an orange for the vitamin C.
They are.
They're gonna go eat broccoli
for the iron.
Our body's just
one big chemical party.
It's what it is.
Everything's chemicals,
and how we relate
and interrelate with the world
around us.

[Luka] During the festival,
I connected closer with Jacob.
And he was down
to take me up to Oregon
to check out his farm,
while Alex went back
to The Hole
to take care
of his plants.
And I have to say
it was quite a good time.
So on that note,
we'll be heading north
on the 101
to Cave Junction, Oregon,
to a very special
place of mine, right now.
[electronic music playing]
This is where
it all started,
back in the '60s.
Growing marijuana,
hippies running up here
away from the city
to come up here and live life.
They started
growing marijuana
and this is where
it's all at right now.
You can legally grow
fields of marijuana
with the right
documentation and paperwork
in Humboldt County.
[Luka]
Jacob was a true hippie,
almost like an ultimate guide
to the growers' lifestyle.
Born and raised
in Humboldt,
he seemed like a real
rebel spirit of this land.
He was stoked
to show me the redwoods
and walk me through
the history of his home,
Humboldt County,
the heart of the triangle.
[electronic music
with indistinct lyrics plays]
Don't just
get it from anybody
Get it from me
[electronic music
with indistinct lyrics plays]
[Jacob]
Okay, this way.
What you have right here
is my four-month auto-flowers.
They're a skunk,
and they have a tendency
and I guess a couple other ones
got mixed in there,
but there's, like, a nice
fat bud right there for you.
[cicadas chirping]
As you can see, my plants,
all these plants
when I started, were this big.
The neighbor's plants
over there
and the neighbor's plants
over there.
And their plants were this big
when they put 'em outside.
And as you can see,
my plants have...
almost outdone
their plants over there.
So, it's not how big
the plant is,
it's how much love
you give the plant.
[Luka] How old were you
when you started to grow?
15 years old.
[Luka]
What did you start with?
Just little tiny seeds
inside a plastic napkin.
Stealing my dad's Mexican weed.
[Luka chuckles]
[Bobby Waters]
Back then, we had--
The only seeds we had
were Mexican.
Uh, because the seed--
the pot wasn't
[indistinct]
which means that
it had seeds in it.
Everybody had a shoebox lid
and a playing card,
and you would grind up
your pot,
and then you take your card,
and you'd have
all the seeds roll down,
and then you'd smoke it.
But the original pot
that we bought,
it wasn't weighed.
It was four finger lids.
So, you'd have a baggie,
and you measure, you know,
four fingers up, that's a lid.
Ten bucks.
Uh, it was stems and seeds
and leaves and everything.
Somebody could cut down
a pot plant,
and that's what you got.
-[dog panting]
-[Luka] What do you like more?
Sativa.
-I like it all.
-[Luka chuckles]
You see? Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
That's what you call
a donkey dick.
[Luka chuckles]
Big ass donkey dick
right there.
Make anyone smile.
Save that for the media.
Roll it, toke it,
light it, smoke it
Crumble, strumble,
pass it, smoke it
This is Rob.
Plants been around
longer than humans.
[Luka] Cannabis
was everywhere you look.
Alex's farm seemed
like a kindergarten
comparing to
what was going on here.
All Jacob's neighbors
were growing weed.
Like this dude right here.
[Ryan]
Marijuana for myself has--
has helped me, I mean,
in more ways than one.
Not only is it--
Have medicinal qualities,
obviously.
Um, but,
this has been the only thing
that's fed me my whole life.
You know,
my whole life I've sold, grew,
helped some sort of way,
have been involved
in marijuana,
and this is the only thing
in my entire life
that's never turned
its back on me.
You know,
it's always been something
that I can fall back on,
and make a living and eat.
[Luka] Awesome.
What can you say to people
who doesn't like marijuana?
-Stay away.
-[Luka chuckles]
Stay away.
From him.
He likes only potheads.
Come steal my weed.
All the growers
across the Emerald Triangle,
like, they all-- We all do
the same shit at the same time.
Like, you wake up
at fucking 7:30,
everybody's posting a picture
of themselves watering.
You know, everybody's fucking
posting a picture
of the fires
and it's, like, yo...
All these people
are on the fucking same beat,
you know,
and some hippie dippy shit.
Like that's some
vibrational shit, you know?
It's like this whole stretch
of three counties,
like, everybody wakes up
at the fucking same time,
does the same shit.
Um, you got motherfuckers
pull the tarps,
you know, whatever.
Like, it's all this,
just, same routine.
[Luka]
As laid back as it seems,
work on the farm
actually never stops.
Jacob's worker, Rob,
is preparing
to foliar feed
the plants.
Explain what are you doing
on the camera.
I am filling up this sprayer
with water and kelp
so that I can spray
the plants with it.
[Luka]
What is it for?
It's to keep the plants
nice and green.
[Rob grunts]
[Luka] Is there
a lot of chemicals in it?
No, it's all natural.
It's from the ocean.
Kelp is seaweed.
-[Luka] Oh, shit. It's seaweed.
-Yeah.
-[Rob] Let's go.
-[Luka] Let's go.
[crickets chirping]
Just make sure
you get 'em nice and good.
We're not spraying
for bugs right now,
but when you are spraying
for bugs,
you gotta hit
the underneath of the leaves
'cause that's where
the bugs hide.
Normal ones.
They're just
still in little pots
'cause we don't have room
right now.
[Luka] Mm-hmm.
You can't have that light on.
It's too bright.
[Jacob] Come on, Rob,
get that shit going, dude.
[generator whirs]
[reggae music playing]
I met Rob in Arcata
walking down the street.
And, uh, one of his buddies
had a shirt on
about something
in reference towards LSD.
So, I started
talking to him,
and he ended up being
a really good, hard worker.
So, I put him up in Oregon.
[Alex] Well,
you have to work hard.
You have to work
really fucking hard.
You ain't gonna
fucking get it.
It's not easy work, but,
If you love it, man,
it's not really work.
I love it.
I get to be outside, you know.
It's exercise to stay in shape.
You're not
in a fucking cubicle.
You can drink, smoke weed,
whatever the fuck
you wanna do, you know.
Like, people come and go.
You hang out, kick back, relax.
Go-- go swimming.
I've been doing it
for six years, man.
And it's just, like,
every year
is more and more fun.
Man, this would be
so much easier
if the camera man
would help me out.
[Luka chuckles]
[Jimmy Kimmel] ...college up
in Northern California
that has an interesting
new program.
The school's opening
what they call
the Humboldt
State Institute
for Interdisciplinary
Marijuana Research.
-Now,
-[audience laughing]
I've never heard
of Humboldt State before...
We are working
on the marijuana farm.
And you know what?
Feels good
when you are surrounded
by a lot of trees, you know.
Fucking Rob.
Didn't water them enough,
and they're all hurting
like a motherfucker.
These things
can never get enough water.
He just doesn't seem
to get that.
One thing I've had
a problem with him
with was his watering plants.
You can see they're all
wilted on the tops.
[Luka]
To an average person,
it might seem that growing pot
is a relaxed job.
But imagine being
in 100 degree sun
all the time,
watering plants by hand,
one by one,
day after day.
Isn't it weird
that you can grow here,
like, legally,
a bunch of plants?
You have no idea.
Like, this blows my mind.
It is so cool.
And it's so cool
because like,
I'll tell my kids
and my grandkids and stuff,
like--
We're, like, bootleggers.
Or like,
how it was in the '30s
and shit, you know?
It's such a fun thing.
It really is cool.
[engine rumbling]
[Luka] Before we took off back
to California, last minute,
Jacob literally stacked
like 40 pot plants in his car.
Which seemed like
a big deal to me,
but apparently
didn't phase him at all.
Okay, so we're about to drive,
like, 200 miles
with the plants in the back.
And this is
the rock and roll dude
who-- who's saying that
he's gonna make it with no--
Fuck you. Here we go.
[Luka] Okay, describe
what we're doing right now.
We're about to
drive through two states,
transportating...
marijuana plants
across state lines.
Oh, fuck, how are we gonna
cross that spot?
[gasps]
Oh, no.
[Luka]
What spot?
[Jacob] I forgot
about the checkpoint.
[Luka] Which one?
The fucking agriculture?
[Jacob]
Yeah, fuck.
Oh, here--
Shit. Oh, shit.
Here we go.
Inspection station.
One mile.
All vehicles must stop.
We're gonna be going
through a checkpoint...
from Oregon to California.
California has a checkpoint.
So, you know,
we're going through
with all these plants.
So, we're about
to drive through here,
so keep the camera low.
Here we go.
It's a brother too,
from another mother.
[guard]
Any fresh fruits on board?
-Nope.
-[guard] Well, have a good one.
-You too, brother.
-[guard] All right.
We fucking made it.
See that? Jedi mind trick.
With 30--
20 plants in the car.
[Luka laughs]
[exclaims] Happy, happy!
Cut.
[Luka] After my first week
in the mountains,
it was clear to me
that we were getting into more
than just growing weed.
It was an outlaw lifestyle.
A different
society of stoners
where I naturally found
a place for myself.
We all had
something in common
and that was the excitement
of being a freak.
A rebel.
An outcast.
Each one
in their own unique way.
[Alex] Well, yeah.
This is a trip, man.
So, you take a little seed.
I mean,
what else can you, like--
You can take
a little tiny seed, right?
This is like, let's say
this is a seed right here.
This is an NF 1--
this is an NF 1 seed.
NF 1 will get to, like,
ten fucking pounds, man.
So, you take one little seed,
you put it in the ground,
and by October--
By the end of October,
fucking NF 1
will produce anywhere
from five to ten pounds, right?
And then you sell that
five to ten pounds for like--
if you sell it here, like--
Let's say you're just
trying to get rid of it
for a $1000 a pound.
That's $5000 to $10000
just from one little seed.
From one little seed.
It's fucking crazy.
[Luka]
That some people buy it.
So, people should
grow it themselves, right?
Everybody can do it.
Uh. [smacks lips]
Man, maybe they should
keep buying it.
[both laugh]
Leave the growing up to us.
Okay. You know? Yeah.
You can grow it yourself.
It's cool--
You should totally
grow weed yourself.
We've all got
disconnected from nature.
Especially when, you know,
people that live in the city.
Complete disconnect
from nature.
Nature is like some other
fucking inconvenience to them.
Oh, bugs and fucking trees
and weeds, you know.
They like their little--
Nice, little grass,
uh, lawns and stuff,
and that's as close as they get
to nature, you know?
And you just get that one
brave person that's like,
"You know what?
I'm gonna move to California."
And so now what you're seeing
and what you have been seeing
is this huge
migration of people
from everywhere
part of the country
and move to the state,
especially since the laws
are a lot more lax.
And, um, you have
what was called the green rush.
And so,
kind of, like,
get the magnitude
of how much weed comes from,
not just even California,
just these three counties,
you know.
[Bobby] I think that's why
we all do it right here
because we have
the best sunlight.
There's only two spots
in the whole world
that get
the best sunlight.
And our spot is called
the Emerald Triangle.
You know,
we get the most direct,
but not too hot of sun
to where you can grow luscious,
big plants outside.
You know,
making money off the sun,
You know, making plants grow.

-Hella vibe.
-[Luka chuckles]
And the state of California
passed laws where
they can't confiscate
your property
if you're growing pot on it.
If you grow under 100.
But now, if you register
with the state of California,
you can grow
up to 40,000 plants
if you have over
20 acres of land.
It's called
a commercial growing license.
Costs 10,000 bucks.
-[Luka] 10,000? That's it?
-Mm-hmm.
And then it's legal.
But, the thing is,
if the feds don't like you,
they can still arrest you.
Even if you do have
a state license.
[helicopter whirring]
[Alex singing]
Do do-do-do
Do do do do
Do do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do do do do
Do do do do do
do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do do
We are coming up...
on the...
super top secret
marijuana...
uh, guerilla grow.
A normal grow is when
you just grow in your property,
and, uh, you know,
you got
your pot plants fenced in,
and it all looks
nice and pretty.
But, uh, guerilla grow
is when you're just
trying to keep it hidden.
That's all it is.
Yay, we're here.
All right, so, there's about
50 plants at this garden.
[breathes heavily]
Which will produce
maybe about like, I don't know,
20 pounds of weed,
nothing crazy.
[Waters] We've been growing
pot here in the--
in the wilderness here
in California, for...
probably since the '40s.
[Luka] In the--
just, like, illegally?
Illegally, yeah.
And the thing is,
the pot used to be
a lot smaller
because you had to
hide it from aerial.
So, you planted it
on the edge of a clearing
in the forest.
And then you--
Some people bent it over,
so it didn't look
like a pine tree
because that's a--
It's a dead giveaway
'cause pot doesn't look
like anything else.
Some people grew it
in the Manzanita,
so it'd be hidden.
And they piped in water for,
some cases, miles.
[Alex] Ah, man.
It's basically a secret grow.
That's all it is,
a guerilla grow.
Most of the times
people just put it
on government properties.
[Luka]
What do cops do
if they find about
a guerilla grow?
They try to find out
who's the owner or something?
[Alex]
No, they just pull it out.
They'll just pull
the plants out.
But sometimes they don't even
fuck with guerrilla grows
because they're--
they're in environments
like this and it's just
too much of a pain in the ass
to even get
to the guerrilla grow for them.
So, if it's a relatively small
guerilla grow,
they're-- they're not even
gonna fuck with it.
'Cause, yeah, like,
what's the point?
[Luka] How big could be
the guerrilla grow?
[Alex] Oh, man, you can have,
like, thousands of plants.
Fucking buried
out in the forest.
So, that's how
Mexican cartels do it.
[helicopter whirring]
Despite the fact
that weed is legal in Cali,
cops continue
to fly helicopters,
and raid properties.
All because
there is a conflict
between the state law
and the federal law.
On the federal level,
marijuana remains a schedule I
controlled substance,
which gives DEA
and other agencies
the authority to seize land,
and bust people
at any time they wish.
Before it was recognized
as legal and recreational,
medicinal, you know,
all the legal weed
was coming out
of Emerald Triangle.
That's what made north Cal
such a hot spot, you know.
The best weed in the world
came from Northern California.
[Johnny]
Why can't we just have it?
It's a plant,
it's a medicine.
We can grow it ourselves,
like any other herb
that we can ingest.
If we wanted to bake, or cook,
any other way with it.
Why can we have alcohol?
How can people
can distill alcohol?
That stuff could kill somebody.
It's all for taxation purposes.
[Anonymous]
We're not hiding from anybody.
You know what I mean?
You fly over my place,
you're gonna know
exactly what I'm doing.
I'm not hiding it
from anybody.
Okay?
But what you're creating
is your "gangsters"
that are tired
of getting robbed.
You know,
who wouldn't?
Who wouldn't be tired
of getting robbed
on a yearly basis?
Somebody comes through
and takes everything
that you've been working for.
You know, like, demolishes
and ruins all of your...
Your equipment
to your plants,
to, you know,
basically your property.
Your own personal,
private property
that you paid money,
you earned it
just like everybody else.
[Alex] Yeah, man.
I don't know, man.
The cops might come
and fucking, for--
Take all this shit out.
But maybe we'll get some
good footage, you know?
Who-- who--
who can knows, man.
[Luka] Yeah.
[Alex] But it doesn't really
matter, man.
[Luka] What about--
what about [indistinct]?
[Alex]
The cops are here.
Uh-oh.
[Luka] Cops showed up
the very next day,
blocking the driveway
to Alex's house
and the guys next door.
This really spooked us out.
It was just yesterday
that they were flying
overhead.
Plants on the land
were right there in the open.
We thought
we were going down for sure.
So, the least I could do
is go ahead
and try to interview
the sheriff.
[Alex]
Oh, there's Luka.
Luka's on the job.
[Luka]
I'm shooting a documentary.
Can I take an interview
about what happened?
[Sheriff]
What's that?
[Luka] Can I take
an interview with you?
What happened?
[Sheriff] No, we're just
doing warrant services.
[Luka] No?
No, we're just doing
warrant services right now.
I have to fill out
a bunch of [indistinct]
-so I'm kinda busy, but, sorry.
-[Luka] Okay. All right.
As it turned out,
the cops weren't here
for the weed.
Yet.
They just arrested
the neighbor
for some tweaker shit.
No,
I'm just doing my job.
[Alex]
You can't hide, Joe.
We got you
from both directions.
[chuckles]
[Luka] All right,
do you feel paranoia?
Do I feel paranoia?
A little bit paranoid.
-[Luka] Like, a little bit?
-Yeah.
[Luka]
How are you feeling, Joe?
[birds chirping]

This is Joe.
He's one of the people
who are not excited
about pot growing anymore.
Old man was raided
couple previous seasons,
and decided
to abandon the weed craft.
But he still lives
in this place,
on the dark side
of the hill.
Now, his lifestyle
is more like a Western
with lots of guns and liquor.
[Joe]
I don't think you can get
any skinnier than that.
[Luka]
Fertilizer? [chuckles]
[Joe] Fucking critters
gotta eat too.
Around here,
tweakers have been shot dead.
Uh, because they're thieves.
[motor rumbling]
[Luka chuckles]
The big difference
between meth and pot,
that I've noticed,
is that
I've never seen somebody
high on pot get into a fight.
I have seen tweakers
get into gun violence.
It's a hair trigger,
and you roll it back,
and it's gonna fire.
[Luka] Mm-hmm.
[gunshot]
[Alex] Ah,
my fucking ears, man.
-[laughs]
-[Joe indistinct]
[gunshots]
[Alex]
After we had all this fun,
shit got out of control,
and then this whole place
went to hell.
Everyone started doing, like,
fucking, really shitty drugs.
And then
people started stealing,
and then this whole
fucking neighborhood
just went to shit, so--
Well, you know, that's, like,
the balance in the universe.
We had some fun,
and then the shit
went to hell, you know?
But-- So, everyone moved out.
So, right now,
there's only, like,
the core, old school
mountain people left.
And, uh, and a few tweakers.
But, uh-- but the people
that are left
that's, like,
our-- that's--
that's--
that's the mountain family.
[rock music plays
through radio]
Everything gonna
be all right
[Anonymous]
You can't even consider them
on the same level.
You look at
any person that uses
fucking any other drug
on a regular basis
for a year or two years,
compared to marijuana,
they're not even--
You know what I mean?
Like, the person that uses
marijuana doesn't even--
Wouldn't even look
any different.
[Luka] It's like
in the Rolling Stone song,
like, like all the cops
are criminals.
All the sinners
are saints.
That's exactly
what it is.
Exactly.
That's how it is.
It's funny because people
look at people like me,
or people like Chris,
and they look at us
like I'm a jerk.
Like-- like, they're like,
"You're an asshole."
"You grow weed,
you do stuff."
Like, I work my ass off.
I work harder than the majority
of people
that I work just
for the little bit of money
that we do make.
I don't do anything wrong.
I don't steal.
I'm not a criminal.
I don't hurt anybody.
I'm not hurting anybody else.
The pot that we smoke
isn't hurting us.
It doesn't hinder me
from working.
I work 15 hours a day.
I don't understand
why we're looked upon
like such criminals and jerks
and assholes and freaks.
You know,
there's no reason for that.
[hip hop music playing]
Smoking loud, blah, blah,
blah, know what's on my mind
[dog panting]
[engine thrumming]
All I see is people
trying to fight
You don't have to tell me
how to live my life
[Caveman]
We're suspicious people.
Be careful what questions
you ask in these woods, dog,
you'll get buried.
Just eating my mushrooms.
But that tastes like caca.
I ain't eating that part.
-Where's my Pepsi?
-[Luka] Pepsi?
Is that one full?
You fuckers drink all my Pepsi?
-No.
-I'mma kick the shit out of you.
[Luka]
So cops know you in this area?
Yeah.
-[Luka chuckles]
-[metal bangs]
-Are you cops? [laughs]
-[Luka] No, man.
Man, I let the sun grow it
and I just keep it watered.
When it's done, I smoke it.
[Luka] So you're not selling,
right?
No. That's all my weed.
[Luka]
Just for you, right?
[Caveman]
I like to smoke,
and I don't wanna
have to pay for it.
So, I grow
so I can smoke for free.
Costs a lot less money
to spend a couple
hundred dollars
during grow season,
you know, the nutrients,
than it does to spend
a couple hundred dollars
on an ounce,
you know what I mean?
I'll go through that
in a fucking...
a week, maybe.
-Couple days.
-[both laugh]
[Luka indistinct]
I-- yeah,
I smoke a lot of pot.
[engine rumbles]
[Luka]
In one way or another,
everybody here is connected.
Meet Alex's stepdad,
the most wanted man
on the mountain.
Greg Galucha,
aka Greg Dog.
He also grows,
but his style
is a little bit different.
[Greg] He calls me,
man, he calls me.
I've given him
too much of my medicine.
He keeps taking
my medicine.
[Greg indistinct]
I've been in a two reps.
Two years in a row.
Lost everything,
and still can grow something
from seed and make it happen
and work out here
and try to succeed.
And so what
do we got is, uh,
just, you gotta have will,
you gotta want it.
You're gonna just have
some weed and be happy still.
But, if you wanna be successful
with a huge crop
and lots of, uh...
That takes
a lot of determination,
that's for sure.
There are a lot of people
don't make it.
[Alex] Gonna get like
two fucking pounds of weed.
Hmm, this is,
like, one pound?
That's like one
and a half to two pounds
-[Luka] Shit.
-[Alex] Yeah.
I can't believe
that I was gonna--
This plant is gonna produce,
like, even a pound.
That's insane.
[bird chirps]
So, it's 2016.
And this is
my first auto-flower.
[Luka]
Are you shooting a selfie?
A selfie.
Yeah.
[shutter clicks]
[shutter clicks]
-Now, closer.
-[Luka] Yeah.
I'm not gonna fucking jump
all over the place.
[both laughing]
[shutter clicks]
-All right. Not much.
-Wait.
[Luka] One. Smile!
[shutter clicks]
I wonder how much weed that is.
All this.
Come on, machete.
Here they come.
Here comes my little helper.
She's got
some nice ta-ta's on her.
[Luka chuckles]
Some nice little titties.
It's always nice, huh.
[groaning]
[Luka]
Picture. Smile.
[shutter clicks]
How many trees is--
is legal to grow in Oregon?
-[Luka] 48.
How many are you growing?
Um, about a thousand.
[cheering and applause
sound effect]
I was put in prison
for two years
for selling
three grams of marijuana.
I'm getting mine back.
This was in 2003.
People like me are the reason
why it's illegal.
Still, back when I...
was younger,
you could go to prison
for just a little bit
of weed.
In 1996,
they voted and passed it
to grow in California.
And they blew it up
in California,
so I came and rented
a spot in Oregon.
Shortly after,
I rented this spot
in Oregon,
out of state patients
were no longer allowed
to buy prescriptions.
So, I spent $50,000
on a piece of property
that I was not allowed
to grow marijuana on.
So, I did it anyways.
And it's August 1st,
and I'm harvesting
my three-month
auto-flowers today.
And there should be
about 30 pounds.
[Luka]
We went back to Humboldt
for the biggest gathering
of the year.
Reggae on the River.
Rasta music festival
that brings
the island vibe
to the redwoods.
Where we sat down
And there we wept
When we remembered
Ganja bud
[man]
[indistinct], bro.
Now for the wicked
Carried us away, captivity
Required from us a song
Yeah, now, can we sing
King Alpha's song
In a strange land
Sing it out loud
My name is Rasta Shaggy
from the island of Jamaica.
-[laughs]
-[woman] You're Rasta Shaggy.
If you don't smoke weed,
then you're dead
Said
if you don't smoke weed
You're gonna die
Said
if you don't smoke kush
And you don't smoke
chronic
Please get off
my planet, boy!
[man]
Greetings, music lover.
Ah!
[Luka]
Everybody comes together
and creates
an amazing community.
Rastas, growers,
hippies and rednecks
celebrate
the herbal culture.
People hang out,
smoke weed,
connect with other growers
and listen to great music.
Historically,
it's known for being
a meeting place
for growers and buyers
that are looking to get
the best quality stuff.
Marley Brothers,
Anthony B, Sizzla,
they all been performing
in the stage of reggae
for years.
[man's voice echoing]
Red eye.
[David] You can divide humanity
into two types of people.
Those who smoke pot,
and those who don't.
Once you do smoke pot,
are like me.
People who,
um, get along
with other people
who smoke pot.
[man]
I've been smoking 46 years.
[Luka] Do you remember
your first smoke?
Yep.
My aunt took me on.
And I gave up alcohol then.
I haven't drunk any alcohol
in 46 years either. [laughs]
[Luka] You can see people
vibing, enjoying themselves.
And it's just natural
to make friends
and meet strangers
when it comes down
to a massive
smoke-out party.
Whoa, wow.
-I feel like I'm on a ship.
-[Luka laughs]
[Luka]
That is exactly how I met
my new friends,
Matt and Fernando.
They just shared some weed
when I was in need.
[Fernando] Luka
comes in to the table
as we're lighting up,
sparking up, and, uh,
"Hey, man. [chuckles]
Could I join you?"
[laughs] "Of course,
dude, here you go."
Boom, boom, boom.
[inhales smoke audibly]
And it was great
to just meet somebody
who is,
uh, who's there.
Not-- not needing
to be anywhere.
Don't need to be anywhere.
Just be there.
And we want to talk
about the positive things
that we connect
with each other.
[indistinct chatter]
Yeah.
We do risky business.
-Risk?
-[shutter clicks]
-This life for real, dawg.
-[shutter clicks]
[whooshing sound effect]
["Grammommy"
by Christian Ricks playing]
This is the way
it would happen
[indistinct lyrics]
Ooh, girl,
you got the love that I need
Everything is right except
I keep on falling
Keep on runnin'
And the runnin'
and the runnin '
And wonderin'
and wonderin' and wonderin'
Sometimes I wonder
how I keep on goin' under
Then I remember
How you're loving me,
surrenderin'
Like the time my heart
and mind was [indistinct]
[indistinct lyrics]
I started slippin'
and drippin'
The smokin'
and the trippin'
And my papa
got locked up, man
Here in my heart,
I knew I should stop
But I just had to go cocky,
I just had to go cocky
Now, here come Johnny,
gonna take him to jail
We gonna give him no bail,
we won't give him no bail
[music fades]
Back home,
do you know what we say?
-[audience cheering]
-We say no to Monsanto.
[cheering and applause]
[reggae music playing]
[indistinct lyrics]
So yes, man,
it is in the Bible.
Psalm 1:04, you know,
causing the grass to grow
for the cattle, and plant
for the service of mankinds.
Plants and seeds.
Everything for mankind.
Yes.
So the Bible tell you so.
Cannabis is in the Bible.
Cannaboys.
You could check it out.
Google it.
So, just keep asking
for your blessing ya'll.
I'm telling you the truth,
it's in the book.
Genesis 1:29.
Yeah, man.
The seeds for men, all right?
The seed is for man.
Yeah, man.
All bearing seeds.
So nobody can lie to you,
and try to corrupt you.
All right?
Use the Bible on them.
Rastafari.
["One life to live"
by King Ras Pedro playing]
One life to live,
one life to live
[indistinct lyrics]
[helicopter whirring]
[Luka]
As much as we were hoping
for the cops
not to show up.
-They did.
-[Zack] Oh, the cops...
found the guerilla grow.
-Everybody's got their...
-Where did the cops go?
...walkie-talkies,
all the neighbors
and everything.
And then all of a sudden,
you hear someone chirp us.
And they go,
"The feds are in town."
When they say that,
that means they're coming down,
and they're shooting
through the neighborhood
and who knows
where they're gonna hit.
And it's probably
30 black SUVs going,
you know,
30 or 40 miles per hour
on these dirt roads,
just tearing it up, you know.
And they got
big horse trailers,
and they got helicopters,
and they got everything.
[Alex] So, they cut
all the hoses about,
like, three,
400 feet of hose over here.
Sucks.
They cut all the plants.
You sort of get
the full grasp
of, uh,
what they're capable of,
how much money they have
to put towards this cause
of taking down
this plant that's not doing
anybody any harm
or anything.
[Jacob] It's insane,
it's insane that--
that there's human beings
that can tell you
that something
that this earth produces
is something
that you're not allowed
to use.
-You know what I mean?
-[Jacob] It's scary.
They come
with a bunch of guns
and start
breaking your shit
and kicking doors and...
take you to jail.
[Luka]
I got a chance to talk
to a guy who was right there
when the cops rolled
into the neighborhood.
His name is Gary.
He was working
for a big time grower
at one of his properties
for the season.
I wanted to interview
him firsthand,
to understand more
about how police is treating
pot growers
in situations like this.
So, originally, here there was,
I think, 99 plants.
Fucking law came through
and cut 'em.
And now,
I have their scraps.
[chuckles]
[Luka]
You call this scraps?
[Gary]
I don't. This is nice.
And fucking dude
takes me down to his shit
and says,
"Here, this is your job.
You fucking water
these 60 plants,
and that's good."
You know, "12 of them
are mine, the rest--"
-[Luka] So, cops came.
-Cops came.
[Luka] Do you remember
what day was that?
[clears throat]
Um, it was around Aug--
The 1st of August,
somewhere around there.
-Yeah, 1st of August.
-[Luka] It was in the morning?
[Gary] Yeah,
it was in the morning.
I just got down
to water them.
I was behind the fucking
water tank over there.
And he fucking
pointed a big gun at me.
AK-47.
[indistinct] Yeah.
And I was looking--
They're pointing the gun
this way,
so I'm like this, you know?
[coughs]
And then the dude
comes up behind me,
kicks my leg.
"Fucking get down."
And they took me
back up to the hill,
asked me what I was doing.
You know, I said,
"I'm here working."
You know?
"I'm here working from Ohio."
-You know, I had ID.
-Uh-huh.
I just fucking
showed 'em my shit.
[Zack]
It was like a warzone, man.
People with giant machine guns
pointed at everybody, you know.
Running around,
tearing shit up,
yelling at people,
you know.
Just something you don't ever
wanna be a part of.
That's for damn sure.
Fucking murder, man.
Murdered all of our children.
It's a beneficial plant,
but at the same time,
as long as our government
keeps it federally illegal,
it's a cash crop for them.
They can pick and choose
wherever they wanna go,
and wherever they wanna go
they can spend their money,
or they can take the
money from the people.
DEA is so reliant on...
marijuana confiscation
and busts,
that if overnight
that was to go legal,
then we've got a giant
unemployment line problem.
And they know that.
So, they play
a little game, you know.
[Luka]
They arrested you, or no?
No, they handcuffed me
and let me go.
[Luka]
Oh, right. Yeah?
Yeah, they let me go.
[Luka] Okay.
So, fucking-- I'm walking
back up the fucking hill,
and here comes Kenny
to come get me.
Somebody called him and said,
"The cops are on the mountain."
-And he went down?
-And he-- No, he stopped.
I ran to the truck and we
[makes whooshing sound].
[Luka groans]
So, I went to Sam's
and Kenny hid in the woods.
You know, so,
coming from Ohio
to California and dealing
with something like that?
It kinda sucked.
You know,
what the fuck, man.
[Luka] The cops are mainly
focused on big time growers.
As I was told,
they fly the helicopters first
to see in which direction
they should go
to get the most
out of the raid.
Or they have
an exact target.
In the case of this mountain,
it was Kenny G.
-[saxophone playing]
-No, not that Kenny G.
The real G.
Uh, how did they bust you?
[Kenny]
The day they busted me?
[Luka] Mm-hmm.
It was fucking--
One of my workers was here.
Came at, like,
eight o'clock in the morning.
I told him to come at, like,
eight o'clock in the morning,
he's was gonna stay in the--
stay in the cabin.
And he shows up
at eight o'clock
in the morning, we're sitting
and drinking coffee, like this.
Smoking a joint.
Talking about
what he's gonna do.
Then, I can hear
something like the stones,
like someone pulling
in the driveway.
You know, you can hear,
like, the stones.
[gravel churning]
I looked out the window,
it was fishing game.
[indistinct
police radio chatter]
-[car door creaks open]
-Calm. And we fucking...
-[porcelain shattering]
-...grabbed the coffee cup,
grabbed the joint...
-[footsteps echoing]
-...ran to the safe.
Had 82 grand in there,
grabbed that
and took off
running out the back door.
Dog caught me back there,
by the solar panels.
[Luka]
Did you start running away?
I was in my socks,
sweatpants, t-shirt.
[Anonymous] They really like
putting on their face paint
and their, you know,
their combat boots
and getting out there
and acting like
they're in a fucking war zone,
you know.
Which-- It's not the case.
New day and age.
There's younger people
out here.
There's people that...
you know,
can see this as a business.
And, you know,
it very well should be.
There's no reason...
you know,
things can't work hand in hand
and we all
can't make money.
As long
as it seems like
it's gonna stay illegal
at the federal level,
they're gonna continue
to keep raiding everybody.
They're gonna keep
looking for
the bigger
and be-- better fish
to try to catch or fry.
And, uh, it just
keeps putting everybody up.
Trying to just keep
everybody down.
[indistinct]
They took 82,000.
All them cars,
all my weed.
They took, like,
600 pounds of weed.
600 fucking pounds.
And on top of that
they put me on probation.
And they're like,
[indistinct]
"Of course,
your fine is $5,000."
[chuckles] I was like,
what the fuck.
You just took
82,000 from me.
Why don't you, like,
fucking, get it from that?
[hissing] What the fuck.
Good news. Good news.
We have a survivor.
[Luka] The guerrilla grow
and big farms were gone.
But lucky for us,
cops missed Alex's property
and a few other
small farms.
[Zack] You know,
they can't stop everybody.
And that's the whole
beauty of it, you know.
It's like-- Well,
that's what it was anyways.
You know, it was, you know,
everybody taking a risk
and, you know,
not trying to do too much
and being respectful and...
you know,
understanding our limits.
And now with legalization
we see these mega grows
come in and...
It's interesting to-- to wonder
where it's gonna go
from here, you know.
Are they gonna keep busting
small farms like this,
or are they gonna
just leave us alone
and let us do our thing?
I guess
only time will tell, though.
These hands you see,
why they make many things
Make wars, make peace
Making seeing believe
[Katalyst] People started
getting busted up
doing that shit
during the '90s with,
like, the fucking DEA and CoMET,
and all these
other fucking ABC teams
that came in
to fucking arrest people.
And that's where you start
having the indoor grows
because
all these people were like,
"Well, we can't grow
weed outside, let's go inside."

[Luka]
It's truly fascinating
how people always find a way
to get around the system.
Indoor grows
still carry that low-key vibe.
And in fact,
most of the strains
we know today
were created indoors.
Sometimes, it even creates
a topic for discussion
between growers.
[Bobby] You know, you have to
have the right environment,
so you have to have, um,
you know,
the right humidities,
the right temperatures.
Right kind of soil.
Everything from the ground up.
[Alex]
I don't know, man.
It's not-- You know,
they don't get the natural sun.
They don't get that
energy from the earth, man.
They're, like, you basically--
It's like the difference
between a human being
that is raised in the real
world and one that's raised
in a fucking lab,
you know what I mean?
So, we'll keep these
all in line for next year
for [indistinct] gardens.
Yup,
this is where they come from.
[Alex] You know,
and then people smoke that weed
and then, you know,
and then, and then they get
that type of energy
inside them.
But man,
I don't really wanna talk shit
about indoor growers, man.
You know what I mean?
They're also trying
to make money.
[David] But the problem
with weed, too, is it's been,
um, it's been grown
chemically and indoors.
And they use a lot
of strange chemicals.
It's unregulated.
That's a big thing.
It's unregulated meaning that,
you know, we're gonna go
buy some sticky icky wicky weed
from a clinic,
but-- you know,
some "medical clinic".
But man,
that pot's been grown by,
you know, some scientist
in his lab grow room
in Los Angeles
that doesn't wanna have bugs,
so he uses every form
of non-organic everything
to kill everything
and anything,
even probably
the person smoking it.
[Katalyst] I challenge anybody
to fucking do this, you know.
So, You just go to downtown LA,
go to weedmaps,
click the lab tested option,
and you'll see
all those
fucking shops disappear.
And that means that
people are just going in,
get-- Turning in whatever.
And it's even worse
when it gets to concentrates.
You can see
how-- how easy it is
to cover up mistakes and just,
like, let shit pass, you know.
All this shit could be covered
in fucking powder mildew,
and we could just
fucking blast it in the oil,
and you'd never know, 'til
your fucking doctor told you
you got spots
in your lungs, you know?
And then you gotta
figure it out,
but that's what was
happening, you know,
a lot of people
were just running trash.
They take their trash
and turn it into gold.
Well, of course,
the modern day gold rush,
people are
in it for the money.
They come to California,
or any of the--
of the other 29 states now
that have medical marijuana,
which can make-- Which
people can profit off of.
That's what
a lot of people are afraid of.
Like, the big industries,
the big pharmaceutical
companies is making money.
Taking money away
from the meds
and going back
to natural resources.
Of course, that's what--
that's what starts it all.
It just needs to be a plant
that grows that we can sell.
We all know the pharmaceutical
companies don't like it.
Blah, blah, blah.
'Cause they lose the money,
but who likes them anyways?
Dude, government organizations
that have wasted
everyone's time
when it comes to marijuana.
The DEA might've
done some good stuff.
Maybe. Maybe with cocaine.
I'm not sure,
but I don't think so.
Yeah, anyways.
They've always been the enemy
for all I'm concerned,
to the people.
Enemy to people.
[Riley] This is for the
reporters [indistinct].
We grew a lot of weed,
[indistinct].
You're blurring
out my face, right?
This multi-billion
dollar operation.
I-- I changed my voice for the,
you know,
the safety of myself
and the other people around.

[Maddison] Well, I mean,
for me too,
like, even just trimming
I make good money.
You know, I'm not--
I'm not having to go sell it
or get rid of it or anything,
but I just get to trim it up
all pretty and send it off.
And, you know,
there's my paycheck
for the week, like,
that's what pays my bills.
[Luke] What kind of people
that grows the most?
Like, if you can categorize.
I think my generation
grows the most.
20-somethings
right now,
uh, you know, the will,
the urge, the possibilities,
the options to do it.
And our generation is one
of the biggest generations
to come yet, you know.
And we're looked at
as one of the worst generations
and one of the best.
But we do grow
the most weed.
So, rock on.
[laughs]
[Luka]
This was only my first season
in the California weed game.
And I've watched it
grow bigger over time.
I realized that these people
become like family,
who are connected
by a mysterious force.
I came from the other side
of the planet,
and was still able to find
my place here in California.
I truly couldn't appreciate
these people enough
for exposing
themselves to my camera.
[birds chirping]

So, we are at this wonderful
time of the year.
Right before harvest,
when we are broke as fuck.
We have absolutely no food,
no gas, no propane.
-[dog growling]
-Yeah, see?
Shaba agrees.
So, this is the brokest period
before we start making
a shit ton of money.
I call it the humbling period.
This is where
you get to appreciate
what it's like to have
a shit ton of money.
[Luka laughs]
It happens every fucking year.
Right before
we make bank,
we always go broke...
and everyone always panics.
They're like, "Oh, no."
But then, time passes
and everything turns out okay.
[Luka]
What's up?
[Alex]
Ah, good morning, ladies.
Good morning, good morning,
good morning. [sniffs]
Mmm, damn, look at
all these crystals, man.
Yeah, the girls
are getting cold, man.
Look, the leaves
are starting to turn purple.
In the mountains,
we get those cold nights.
And those cold nights
cause the bud to tighten up.
It makes the bud a lot harder
and a lot more dense.
Um, you could grow pot
in the valley,
but you'd have warm nights
and you'd end up with...
larfy weed.
[Greg] Yeah,
i-- it's interesting.
There's a lot to learn.
I'm always learning.
And you can learn
everything,
but if you don't have
the resources...
you've gotta learn how to make
the resources out of nothing.
[both grunting]
-[engine rumbling]
-[grunting cheerfully]
[Luka] Greg was
the wildest one of all,
when it came down
to grow with a little
to no money at all.
Right.
So, kitchen number one.
These license plates
lead back to you.
So, use somebody else's car.
[laughs]
It looks like it's vacated
and nobody's using it,
from here.
So, nobody's gonna wanna
walk over and look around
because right there,
it looks empty.
But, it's small
and hidden, so.
Now you see...
this half
of the crop looks empty,
but down here,
there's lots of little plants,
and they're hiding.
It's hard to tell
from the air
that there's plants here,
because...
they're not big.
It isn't easy out here
'cause you always have
challenges.
You have dead plants,
you have people
who cause problems,
and sometimes,
they get cut down.
[Bobby]
Most people work, um,
in hopes that they get paid
at the end of season.
'Cause plants grow,
and a lot of things can happen.
I mean, you can--
you can fall out
in a season for many things.
All those things
can happen in one season, too.
So, you think
you'll have 100 plants?
Oh, now it's down to 50
because of rain and mold,
or whatever bugs, you know.
And then of that 50, now
your partner wants all of it,
and it's his yard,
so he gets whatever,
and you get screwed.
Yeah, I'm happy, though.
I didn't have to spend
any money for new soil.
He's gonna be digging
a new hole now.
He's making
the holes bigger.
He, uh,
he does most
of the digging around here.
A backup plan
is what these plants were.
Um...
I figured if I got
ripped off in another spot,
these plants would be
my backup plants.
So, no matter what,
if they come
and rip these plants off,
I will put new plants in.
Just because.
Just not giving up on what
you believe in is probably...
uh, more solitude
in that than anything.
Little more rewarding
to know you didn't give up.
This year,
I hope it works out.
[Luka] My new friends
from New England invited me
to join them
for some trim work.
Some strains mature
earlier than others,
and so 1st of October,
the trimmigration season
is officially open.
[indistinct chatter]
[laughter]
-[indistinct]
-[hip-hop music playing]
People start to fly in
from all over the world
and are very excited
to get their fingers sticky,
cutting the fresh bud.
-Peace, man.
-[Luka] Peace.
Weed isn't a job for me
because I just smoke it
regularly, you know.
I go about it
on a day-to-day basis.
It's part of who I am,
and it's part
of who all my friends are.
And it creates
a great culture,
especially with young people
around my age.
There's all sorts of people
coming around to work
in places like this,
and I'm lucky enough
to be here
and to take those people
and say "Come work."
You know what I'm saying?
They called me up
one night and said,
"Hey, it's money making season
in the wild, wild west.
You comin' through?
Well, I got you on a ticket.
Be ready Monday morning."
Here I am in the wild,
wild west
a week in,
and I fucking love it.
[David]
Such a fun thing.
You go up north, and there's
all these young people
that are all excited
for the fall season
to get their scissors out
and then start trimming
pounds of weed.
They get to work for themselves
with young people,
listen to music, watch movies,
and sit and trim.
Trim, trim, trim, trim.
You know.
And it's created
this huge industry
where we get, you know,
a lot of influx
of people coming
from South America,
from-- from Europe.
I'm from south of Spain,
I'm Miriam.
And she's one
of my best friends,
Rebecca,
and is from the same town.
[indistinct]
Rebequilla.
Say something.
I'm from Almeria,
in Spain.
This is another
friend of mine.
I'm from Czech Republic.
Uh, we met one guy,
which help us
and we--
Now we're trimming for him.
Yes.
Yeah,
we come here to California
because we love marijuana.
-[reggae music playing]
-[indistinct lyrics]
[Mad Dog] Marijuana ain't no
drug. It's just a, um, a plant.
A useful fucking plant,
you know.
Useful in every way.
I mean, just aside
from the physical uses
of the plant, look at this,
it creates jobs.
It creates happiness.
It creates a life to live,
a purpose to live.
Even if
you're the fucking lowest,
bottom feeding
motherfucker like me.
It gives me some purpose
to fucking make some money
and, you know, keep on going.
So, you know,
it's-- it's-- it's not a drug.
It's a product.
Product of, uh, a lot.
[Luka] To really grasp
how much weed is being grown
in Northern Cali,
you would have to visit.
One fact though is for sure.
It's way above the average.
How many of your friends,
like, people that you know,
grow pot?
Like, in percentage?
Uh, a good 95%.
[chuckles]
I'm like--
Every one of my friends
out here grows.
I'm not from here,
and it just so happened,
and I'm like, "Oh, everyone
I'm friends with grows weed."
-[woman] Yeah.
-It's the--
The real question is,
who out here doesn't grow weed?
-About 5%.
-About 5%.
[grunts] [indistinct]
Perfect timing.
[hip hop instrumental]
This is Granddaddy Purple.
[indistinct]
This is Blue Crack.
It's a mix between
Blue Dream and Green Crack.
And that one
might be the Super Silver.
[Luka]
How tall are you?
6'1", 6'2".
[Luka] So that plant is,
like, 13 feet.
12 feet. 12 feet.
So, how much pound is one plant
like that behind you?
Uh, that's a smaller one.
So, I mean,
that one will probably get,
like, anywhere from,
like, four to seven.
And then the big ones
can get ten, 12, you know.
As far as I know...
it's a beautiful plant.
And there's no reason
any plant should be illegal.
If you made
raspberries illegal,
how big of a freaking
problem that would be?
Everyone would have raspberries.
Everyone would grow raspberries
'cause they like them.
It's the same thing
with this.
So...
back to work.
[Alex] The moment
we've all been waiting for.
Dun dun-nuh-nuh.
Dun nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh.
[Luka]
And so it happened.
Sunshine happy days
[Luka]
A long-awaited Croptober.
Harvest time, cash in,
or whatever you wanna call it.
Basically, we are one
of the ones that survived
through all the bullshit
and nonsense.
-And...
-[Alex] Oh, my God.
...we're ready
to count the money.
[Alex] You're broke,
you're basically broke
the whole year
you're growing weed.
You don't have any money.
You're-- For the next six--
six to eight months,
you're basically--
you're committed
to growing weed.
Raising the little clones,
then prepping the dirt,
putting them in the dirt,
taking care of them.
And then
you're worried as fuck.
You-- you're hoping
that the cops don't cut
your fucking
weed down, you know.
So, you go through
all this stress,
and then finally
you cut the weed down,
you dry it,
and, you know,
if you did a great job,
it comes out
super fucking dank as fuck,
and then you sell it.
And this is the best part.
I love it,
'cause then you start
getting just these stacks
and stacks and stacks of cash.
[indistinct chatter]
[man] They struggle.
[indistinct]
[David] You know,
it's a neat thing
if you think about it.
You get these kids come
from all over the world,
and they sit out around--
At a round table,
and they're trimming weed,
and they're discussing things
like music, ideas,
culture, politics, right?
And, so, in a way,
it's become a form for,
um,
for their world conversation.
A peaceful minded
people, mind you.
[Fernando]
I mean, don't--
don't go for it to find weed.
Go for it
to find that experience.
That person you're smoking with
should be a new person,
a new day.
And it's an incredible
thing to experience that.
Because guess what, weed,
you could buy it.
You could have that.
You could find it
on the streets.
That's everywhere.
What's not everywhere,
is the person you get it from.
The love that they
might've put into it.
And the knowledge
that could come with it.
You never know
who you're gonna meet.
[Luka] I fell in love
with this culture.
I went in
with a purpose to find out
what it was all about.
And I discovered way more
than just the high.
I discovered a land
full of opportunities.
I went for the weed,
but what I really found
was my pirate family.
My ganja smokers.
My real brothers
and sisters.
Just in this
little piece of land
called the Emerald Triangle,
I've met people from all over.
Places like New England,
Chicago, Puerto Rico, Mexico,
Spain, Utah,
Arizona, Ohio, Tennessee,
Russia, Italy,
Panama and South America.
It's truly fascinating
how something
like a weed plant
brings us together
because we share
the same views and beliefs.

[Jacob]
It's the end of the season,
and we're hanging
and drying and cutting.
And bucking.
You know,
you keep the humidity at,
like, you know, 65,
and it's perfect
with this
light temperature.
I got pulled over
the other day
in Mount Shasta.
Went to a gas station.
Somebody smoking marijuana
hated on me
and called the sheriffs
and they pulled me over
with 40 pounds of weed
in the trunk.
Went to jail.
But I'm out,
and back up in Oregon.
So if I got pulled over
with one trunk load,
well just think
how many trunk loads
this has to be.
It's a lot of
trunk loads.
[Luka and Jacob laugh]
[Luka]
Soon after this interview,
Jacob ended up going to jail
for the same old thing.
Transportating marijuana.
All because
of a possession of a handgun.
While in jail,
Jacob also lost his wife,
and his son, Ocean,
was taken away from him.
[Greg]
There's a big desire for it,
and need for it.
So, they don't know
that by doing that,
they're creating
uh, more crime.
Uh, people doing,
uh, worse crimes.
People are killing people
over it.
Where if people just smoke
and educate their families,
children and friends about it...
it's not a problem.

[Luka] Gregory Galucha
was shot dead
on December 7, 2019.
Who shot him?
His neighbor.
Yeah.
The same old man, Joe,
that we were once hanging out
and shooting guns with.
Crazy life.
Now, Joe is facing
life in prison.
Greg was only
44 years old.
This wasn't weed related.
This was... meth.
The cards fall both ways,
you know.
I mean, some cop somewhere
could've got shot over,
freaking--
Someone having a pound.
You know,
or him pulling someone over
for a pound of weed.
Stressful business
on that aspect.
And it's definitely
not for the weary.
You know,
'cause it's a lot of work.
But...
it's a...
The lifestyle in itself
is addictive, you know.
[Luka]
Marijuana is definitely
the number one reason
why we come here.
The culture
is why we like it here.
And the lifestyle
is why we stay.
...by myself and
got about ten feet deep
Had a few things
on my mind this time
Sort of childish
but my heart's now fine
I walked and walked
couldn't walk no more
My feet are sore,
I fell down to the floor
Swam and swam,
couldn't swim no more
My arms were sore,
couldn't breathe no more
I started
from when I was 16 years old
learning how to do this shit.
Sneaking it in my backyard
in New Hampshire from my mom.
Hiding it behind my shed,
trying to get it
on the edge of the field.
Nothing is as easy
as they say
Nothing is as easy
as they say
Marijuana is kind of
like a newspaper.
There's, you know,
gold rush over here.
And it gets people going.
So, that's a very positive
thing about it.
Uh, it gets people moving,
and it gets people
communicating.
And that's what
got me here.
Talking, communicating.
[chuckles]
It brought me out.

I wouldn't be in the city
and let some random dude
up my whip
just to come hang out
and come help me
in my construction job.
You know what I'm saying,
'cause your boss would probably
tell him to fuck off.
But around here, we have
people that are really nice.
And that's the beauty
of it, man.
It's all-- it's all
laid back, it's all relaxed.
And, um...
it's all one, man,
we're all--
we're all here for the love
and happiness, you know?
And I think that's--
that's what
we're pushing for here
is not only our love
and our happiness,
but other people's.
You guys,
you know what I'm saying.
Summertime
And they say
it's a good life
[imitating wolf howling]
Sometimes
it could seem so hard
Nothing is as easy
as they say
Just goes to show
the whole world.
We all-- we all want
the same thing.
We all want love.
We all want peace.
We all want food.
We all want survival,
and that's it.

And they tell me
It's a good time
Summertime
And they say
it's a good life

Blah, blah, blah,
know what's on my mind
Smoking that, na, na, na,
know what's on my mind
Smoking that, na, na,
na, know what's on my mind
Smoking that, na, na, na,
know what's on my mind
All I see is
people trynna fight
You don't have to tell me
how to life my life
Bitch, bitch
don't kill my vibe
I don't need
a fucking wife
I am just a white,
smoking weed is not a crime
With some gringos
with the hype
Call me hippie
But you should know
that I'm a pirate
Call me skinny
But you should know
that I am violent
Hear the sirens
Nah, I am blind
The red light
got me stuck in my third eye
Smoking loud, blah, blah,
blah, know what's on my mind
Smoking loud, na, na, na,
know what's on my mind
Smoking loud, na, na,
na, know what's on my mind
Smoking loud, na, na, na,
know what's on my mind
Smoking loud, blah, blah,
blah, know what's on my mind
[Russian lyrics]
Smoking loud, na, na, na,
know what's on my mind
Smoking loud, na, na, na,
know what's on my mind
[Russian lyrics]
Smoking loud, blah, blah,
blah, know what's on my mind
Smoking loud, na, na,
na, know what's on my mind
Smoking loud, na, na, na,
know what's on my mind
Smoking loud, na, na,
na, know what's on my mind