Weed Country: Stars Arrested for Cultivation

Viceland continues to highlight the impact the cannabis laws have on the citizens of the United States with this six part docuseries, “Weed Country.”

Despite being legal for medical use since 1996, at the time of the taping, California had some of the most severe penalties for the illegal cultivation of cannabis. Since Prop. 64 went into effect last January, the laws have changed but the risk for illegal growers remains.

Filmed in 2013, the show follows the lives of those directly involved in the illegal cultivation of the plant, based in the area known as the “Emerald Triangle”. Deep in the forest near the border of California and Oregon, the show focuses on both growers as well as the police trained to seek them out and destroy their crops.

In the first episode, we are are introduced to illegal growers operating deep in the triangle, as well as the elite members of the Jackson County Swat Team, that are preparing to hunt down all black market cultivators. Mike Boutin, a veteran, and his wife Tawni, who are marijuana growers and co-owners of Grace farms, are shown working on the opening day of the grow season.

Check out Season 1, Episode 1, for free!

Update: Mike and Tawny Boutin were arrested in May and charged with “knowingly and intentionally manufacturing, attempting to manufacture, possession with intent to distribute and attempting to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana and marijuana concentrates” (according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee)