Marijuana is now legal in California – but the weed industry is going through serious growing pains. A costly permitting process, a thriving black market, and a rigorous testing process are making the new policy difficult to adapt to. For the farmers who have been growing this plant off the grid for decades, the struggle to become mainstream business owners is real. And, for local law enforcement, there is a new black market to fight. Neha visits northern California to look at how the cannabis industry is evolving.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

California’s Cannabis Regulations
https://cannabis.ca.gov/cannabis-regulations/

An Emerging Crisis: Barriers to Entry in California Cannabis
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/emeraldgrowers/pages/3249/attachments/original/1519106158/An_Emerging_Crisis.pdf?1519106158

The U.S Legal Marijuana Industry is Booming
https://money.cnn.com/2018/01/31/news/marijuana-state-of-the-union/

CREDITS
Producer: Neha Shastry
Camera: Ilie Mitaru, Zack Haskell
Editor: Nick Blatt
Supervising Producer: Allison Brown

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