TV Takes a Close Look at a Marijuana Haven, Just Before the Law Does
Orange County and Beverly Hills have “The Real Housewives.” The San
Francisco Giants had “The Franchise” on Showtime last summer.
Now, Oakland is getting ready for a reality television close-up. Naturally, it is a show about
marijuana.
The Discovery Channel will broadcast the first episode of “
Weed Wars”
on Thursday. The four-part series offers an inside look at the medical
marijuana business at Harborside Health Center in Oakland, the largest
dispensary on the West Coast. The show stars the colorful crew that runs
the dispensary: Steve DeAngelo, the silver-pigtailed co-founder and
executive director; Luigi Zamarra, the nervous accountant; and Dave
Wedding Dress, the bearded, dress-wearing co-founder, among others.
The day-to-day routine, it turns out, is a mix of the achingly mundane
and the risky. In one episode, as Terryn, a Harborside “bud tender,”
frets about aphids killing his plants, Mr. DeAngelo stares into the
camera lens and says, “At any moment federal agents could break through
these doors and lock me up for the rest of my life.” In fact, the
Justice Department announced a
big crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries across California soon after the series finished its scheduled shooting, though Harborside remains open.
“Weed Wars” is not the first marijuana reality show. It is not even the
first featuring Oakland. That honor goes to “I’m in the Marijuana
Business,” an episode of the MTV “True Life” series that was broadcast
last summer. While “Weed Wars” is straightforward, “True Life” was more
typical reality TV fare, with a cast of volatile individuals prone to
fighting, crying and flashing money.
MTV followed a friendly 20-something named Chris who moved to Oakland to
pursue his lifelong dream of growing marijuana. But “he’s been afraid
to tell his family for fear they’ll disown him,” the announcer intones
dramatically. It also features a Colorado hippie couple, Gemma and Pa,
as they struggle to make marijuana bars in between stoner ruminations
and screaming matches.
Mr. DeAngelo wanted to avoid this type of portrayal. He said that before
the Discovery Channel offer, he turned down 10 other companies because
“I could tell they had some sort of agenda.”
“We have been stereotyped as slackers, profiteers and criminals,” Mr.
DeAngelo said. “With this show, they will see that we are decent people
who are providing medicine for patients in a responsible way.”
The first episode of “Weed Wars” centers on a tax-bill fight between
Harborside and Oakland’s Business Tax Board of Review (in what is
undoubtedly the television debut for the solemn and obscure entity).
To cope with the stress of the ordeal, Mr. DeAngelo turns to his own
form of relief. The camera cuts to a darkened room. “I don’t want to
forget how to relax, and cannabis really helps me remember how to
relax,” said Mr. DeAngelo as he lovingly inhaled.
At another point, Mr. DeAngelo, who has a medical marijuana card, rips
into a marijuana-laced piece of gingerbread to calm his nerves as he
drives across the Bay Bridge to a speaking engagement. It does not take
effect for 45 minutes, he tells the camera in an effort to explain that
he is not driving while high.
Although Discovery could not know it at the time, the dispensary’s
skirmish with the tax board was a precursor to much more serious weed
wars. Soon after the crew turned off its cameras, Harborside was hit
with a $2.5 million bill from the Internal Revenue Service. The
Department of Justice crackdown on California dispensaries came the
following week.
In an interview this week, Mr. DeAngelo acknowledged that when he opened
his doors to the cameras last year, the legal climate was decidedly
sunnier. The Obama administration had indicated that it would not go
after medical marijuana dispensaries.
“I wasn’t expecting to find us in the middle of a huge reversal of federal policy when we made this,” Mr. DeAngelo said.
Indeed, after the announcement from the
United States attorneys,
the Discovery crew returned to collect more video. When asked if it
added more drama to the show, Mr. DeAngelo deadpanned, “Just a touch.”
Some people in the medical marijuana industry were alarmed by Mr.
DeAngelo’s decision to open up his operation to the cameras.
“I think they’re absolutely nuts,” said William Panzer, a criminal
lawyer who represents medical marijuana dispensaries in the Bay Area. “I
think they risk getting shut down. They risk getting raided.”
The Discovery producers, however, seem careful with the dispensary’s image.
“With this show in particular, because there’s a lot on the line for
Steve and his business, we wanted to make sure we were getting it
right,” said Nancy Daniels, executive vice president of production and
development at Discovery.
Mr. DeAngelo is hoping for the best. “There’s no question in my mind
that the show will help the movement,” he said, though the dispensary
still faces some harsh realities. “Whether or not it is going to protect
Harborside from the wrath of the federal government, I don’t know.”
zelinson@baycitizen.org
Se siete convinti che si fuma perche' e' piacevole, cambiate pagina.
Non avete nulla da guadagnare in cio' che leggerete in seguito. Ma puo'
darsi che siate curiosi di sapere perche' le persone fumano e perche e'
cosi difficile per loro smettere. Di sapere perche' alcuni fra questi
dovranno morire. E vogliate comprendere perche' tutto questo sembra
molto normale. Per saperlo occorre entrare nella sala macchine della
piu' grande impresa di ingegneria del consenso che sia mai stata
concepita. E' un'impresa complicata. E' un insieme di uomini e
istituzioni divenuti ingranaggi di un sottile meccanismo, in grado di
infiltrarsi nella cultura e nelle scienze, di stravolgere la medicina e
di corrompere a tutti i livelli. E per condurvi in questo dedalo. Robert Prroctor vi portera'' per mano.
