Reefer Riches, which premiered on CBC last night, looks at the highs and lows facing users, retailers, growers, cops and governments after the oft-stigmatized drug is brought into the mainstream from the black market.
TV documentary filmmaker Cynthia Banks pitched the CBC on a pot film long before the Liberals began their late surge in the polls and legalizing the drug in Canada became a real possibility. Banks decided to see if any lessons could be learned a year into the state-sanctioned recreational sale of weed in Colorado and Washington.
Reefer Riches, which premiered on CBC last night, looks at the highs and lows facing users, retailers, growers, cops and governments after the oft-stigmatized drug is brought into the mainstream from the black market. The Globe and Mail spoke to Banks about potpreneurs, feeling sick on the job and the road to legalization.
What surprised you the most while filming this documentary?
The refreshing point of view of law enforcement officers. In the States and Canada we've done the same thing for a long, long time in terms of law enforcement and [pot] being illegal and it hasn't worked. When the sheriff of King County, [Wash.], the largest population [of any county] in the States that has legalized marijuana, says "Hey, it's time for things to change. We've been dealing with this the wrong way for decades and it's time to try something new," that's just refreshing.
What was the most difficult thing about interviewing dozens of cannabis users?
You know what they love to do? Blow smoke into the camera; they all blow smoke into the camera. I have so much respect for my director of photography because they just kept doing that. I felt sick – that's what I felt – very sick.
Even in the grow ops, well, a lot in the grow ops, because it just permeates everything, all your orifices. It would be in my nose, in my throat, I'd be coughing, our clothes would reek. We were setting up for an interview with Lieutenant Henning in Colorado and he walked into the press room, he had to be 30 feet away from us, and went, "I know where you've been today."
I couldn't imagine working in a grow op. I thought I liked the smell of pot; now I know I don't.
Did you do any gonzo journalism?
I haven't consumed marijuana in over 10 years, but I [used to]. I don't like to feel anything but what I feel now, naturally.
Is Colorado's so-called Green Rush as big a boon as it is being hyped?
When you look at this story, you go "Of course it makes sense to get rid of the black market." The potpreneurs and the pro-advocacy groups are saying there's going to be billions of dollars in tax revenue. Well that first year they didn't have as much tax revenue as they thought. The first year was $76-million (U.S.) in Colorado, now it's up to $141-million.
The big drug czar down there, that was one of his main messages to me and to other countries, provinces and states that are looking at doing this: "If a country wants to do this specifically for tax revenue, I wouldn't do it."
Was it strange seeing the marketing and shiny retail sales of a drug that once [exemplified] the counterculture of the hippie era?
Not many people want to grow their six plants at home [allowed under Colorado law]. It would be like me deciding, "Hey, I like to drink wine. Maybe I'll brew my own." How many people have that expertise and that time? So they'd rather go down to the local budtender. It's easy and they can get quantities that they need. A country really has to look at if they want to go full commercialization or if they want to go something in between. The counterculture, the old pot guys, for them legalization means nothing but everybody's allowed to grow it, give it, use it and there is no corporatization. That's full-out legalization for a lot of people.
What was your favourite scene to shoot?
Being out with trooper Jackson. She's such a stand-up cop who is just not biased toward youth in any way but wants people to be safe and to get help if they need to get help. She was an incredible character who wanted to spread the word about consuming safely.
And I must say being in Euflora … with iPad ordering was out of this world. This is history, these people are making up an entire new industry. Most generations never get that experience, so to watch people ordering electronically and the amount of product that they had was pretty far out.
Coming from Canada, where a culture of relative governmental secrecy exists, was it strange getting so much access south of the border?
We asked Justin Trudeau, we asked Stephen Harper, we asked Health Canada and we asked the RCMP – and everybody declined. All I can hope for is when we trudge that road to legalization there's going to be an open discussion.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
Reefer Riches premiered Thursday, Oct. 29 on CBC's Firsthand series and can be streamed online.
Mike Hager