Black Market Marijuana (Full Episode) | Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller

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(footsteps) (keypad beeping) (door beeps) (electricity buzzing) ♪♪ VAN ZELLER: California is the epicenter of a massive social experiment -- legalized marijuana. ♪ There's not many roads left to follow ♪ VAN ZELLER: Supporters claimed it would rein in the world's largest marijuana black market or crush it altogether. ♪ You are the kind, can't be denied ♪ ♪ Oh, I'll never let you go ♪ VAN ZELLER: But four years in, no one could have predicted that legalization would have the opposite effect, energizing the illicit trade that's now three times larger than the legal one. JUAN: The black market for weed? It's exploding right now, man. OFFICER: Go. ♪♪ ♪♪ Captioned by VITAC ♪ Concentrate, now concentrate, now concentrate ♪ ♪ Now concentrate, now concentrate, now concentrate ♪ VAN ZELLER: Drive anywhere in L.A., and before long, I guarantee, you'll pass a weed shop. They're everywhere. ♪ Bright out tonight ♪ VAN ZELLER: The telltale green crosses of weed shops are now just as much a part of the landscape as the palm trees and taco trucks. ♪ Ready, with the box cutters and the machetes ♪ ♪ Level than most like angels smokin' dope ♪ VAN ZELLER: But all is not what it seems. VAN ZELLER: Tell me some of the examples of people -- you don't need to say names if you don't want to -- but people that you've sold weed to. Well, a little bit of everybody, high and low. Homeless people, people that appear to be out of their mind, doctors, lawyers, rock stars, rap stars, you know, athletes. You know what I mean? Everybody knows about me. -VAN ZELLER: Is that true? -Yeah. What do they know you by? Saying I'm the king of the $5 gram. I started $5 gram. What's $5 gram? That means that people could smoke on a budget. If you didn't have a lot of money, I would give you a gram of some, you know, fair weed for $5. Is that still profitable for you, though? If you get 1,000 of them in a week, it can make sense. The man behind the wheel, NNERG, is taking me to his dispensary in South L.A. ♪♪ ♪♪ (buzzer) ♪♪ NNERG: Thank you, sir! Enjoy that. What's up, man? What you need? A gram? ♪♪ VAN ZELLER: You're weighing everything here? CLERK: Yes. Ah, it's the $5 gram! NNERG: Yeah, it's $5 gram. Due to the hefty taxes -- as high as 45% in California -- a gram of weed can set you back 15 to 20 bucks. So you might be wondering how NNERG's dispensary can afford to sell weed at such rock-bottom prices. The answer is simple. So the business you're running here is illegal? Yeah, technically. Get this. Four years after California legalized marijuana in 2016, up to 80% of dispensaries in the state are just like NNERG's, illegal. ♪ Suite and a balcony, forget what time it is ♪ ♪ I'm alive, bitch, bitch, I'm alive ♪ VAN ZELLER: They're part of a bustling $9 billion black market that's blossomed in the wake of legalization. And I'm itching to understand how the state got it all so wrong. VAN ZELLER: When you think about illegal marijuana, you don't think about dispensaries. People think that they're all legal. After it was legalized, the black market actually grew. Right now in California, there are more unlicensed dispensaries than licensed dispensaries. VAN ZELLER: And that's what you're going after today? Correct. VAN ZELLER: Wow. There's another surveillance camera right above the door here. Here's the thing about these underground shops. Do you want to be licensed? Yeah. Why not? They just got so many hurdles. Many of them wanted to go legal, but the path to licensing is fraught with problems. It's taxed like three or four times the amount that alcohol is taxed. All of the hoops that you have to jump through. We won't have the capital, the licenses are too expensive. It's an entrepreneur's worst nightmare. Someone like NNERG faces a minefield of complex regulations. And above all, they need cash, lots of cash, often hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for up-front costs, license fees, and rent for an unopened storefront. And good luck getting a loan, since virtually no banks will issue them while cannabis remains federally illegal. And guess who doesn't have access to that much capital. You know, and just by our history in this country, I didn't think we had anything coming as a people. And I was right. The same communities that were locked up the most for cannabis offenses are the ones getting locked out of the legal market. They're saying that out of 187 dispensaries, only three of those people are black owners. -In all of L.A.? -NNERG: Yeah. VAN ZELLER: Do you think that's why so many people just prefer to stay in black market? Yeah, because it's easier. With so much money being made in marijuana, they aren't about to close up shop, either. BILL: Right now, the mission is basically serve the search warrant, seize all cannabis and all the ill-gotten gains. So the state is going after them... OFFICER: Police! Search warrant! ...and using a portion of the tax revenues from legal sales to bust many people who would love to be paying taxes. (dog barking) You'll spend more money locking me up than I probably made. While crackdowns from cops are on the rise... VAN ZELLER: Today, you guys busted three of these illegal dispensaries. How many more do you think there are out there? Thousands, thousands. ...robberies and break-ins are rising, too. REPORTER: Armed and violent. Putting a gun to the neck of an employee. Points the gun right in her face. Grabbing several thousand dollars' worth of cash out of the till. I've had a robbery attempt where I had to fight the guys off with a gun. I had people come through the ceiling, come through the walls, come through the doors. That's why you have the surveillance cameras -here, as well? -Yeah. Yeah. REPORTER: Suddenly, a man outside rushes in and opens fire. One woman is killed. A man is wounded. I've been arm-robbed, home-invaded, burglarized. Really? I've been tied up, left naked, zip-tied. -No, really? -Yeah. Oh, yeah. VAN ZELLER: What's crazy is that the chaos swirling around these dispensaries is just one of many unintended consequences of legalization. The legal supply chain is competing with a parallel universe of black market growers and distributors. So who are the players making all of this money, and how are they getting away with it? That's exactly what I want to know. ♪♪ One of the hot spots for growing marijuana is a place you'd least expect. The middle of the Mojave Desert. ♪♪ ♪♪ VAN ZELLER: How often do you guys do these raids? RICH: Every week. We try and do between 3 and 12 search warrants a week. -Wow, that's a lot. -RICH: Yeah. Criminals can't grow it fast enough to satisfy the high demand. Luckily for them, marijuana is, well, a weed. With the right know-how, you can grow it almost anywhere. -VAN ZELLER: This is it? -RICH: This is it. Okay. This is it, guys. Just be careful, slowly behind them. Yeah. RICH: Hit it. ♪♪ ♪♪ (pounding on door) OFFICER: Sheriff's department. Search warrant. Demand entry. Sheriff's department. Search warrant. RICH: Go ahead. Moving up. ♪♪ Clear the truck. OFFICER: Clear. Take it, go, go, go, go. Sheriff's department. Search warrant. Going through the rear. ♪♪ Left center. VAN ZELLER: Wow. This is a lot of plants. It smells. Really strong smell. They're currently looking for people they know that they are workers here, people actually living in the trailer. RICH: No one here. VAN ZELLER: So you think they knew you guys were coming? RICH: They may have seen us as we were driving in. We'll count the plants, we'll go in and cut them all down and load them up in our trailer, and then we're on to the next one. And this is your typical day on the job. This is a typical day. Yeah, we do this all day every day. Growing weed used to be a felony. It's now a misdemeanor with just a $500 fine. If you were risking it before legalization, there's less cause for concern now than ever before. Six gardens in this -- just this location alone. A street value of around half a million dollars. It's created a new Wild West green rush for the 21st century. ♪ Give me that money, g-g-give me that money ♪ VAN ZELLER: And everyone is scrambling to get a piece of the pie. SHERIFF: If you're successful at your marijuana grow, you stand to profit quite handsomely. ♪ Give me that money, g-g-give me that money ♪ VAN ZELLER: The underground supply chain works like this -- growers from all over the state cultivate weed for three to four months, then it's harvested and brought to the market, where sellers meet buyers. ♪♪ ♪♪ VAN ZELLER: We've been given a GPS location where we're going to meet some people. We don't have a lot of information. Still not sure what we'll be given access to. I'm heading to the weed cultivation epicenter in Northern California, an area that retains bragging rights for growing some of the world's best bud. This is like such an idyllic, beautiful place, right? Not where you'd expect illegal stuff to be happening. Or maybe it is the perfect place, actually. Out in these remote hills, it's anyone's guess what's waiting at the end of the road. ♪♪ Okay, so, now we just stop here and wait for somebody to come and pick us up. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ VAN ZELLER: I've been in this situation a lot over the years, heading to meet a contact... It's a pretty secluded spot. ...with no idea what I'm walking into. Check this out. It says, "Smile, you're on camera." Whoever is at the end of the road -tends to be packing heat... -Is it here? ...escorted by an armed entourage and generally suspicious of our intentions. I think this is our guy. Hi. Nice to meet you, too. Thanks for having us. But the big boss man waiting for me defies all these expectations. BUDDY: Welcome. Come on in. VAN ZELLER: So this is your property. -It's beautiful. -BUDDY: It sure is. I'm lucky. Buddy kicks off the grand tour. And at first glance, it hits every stoner cliché you could think of -- chill vibe, eccentric art, and, of course, a true love of the ganja. I have been growing my whole life since I was a teenager. You know, selling pot in high school, eighths and stuff. But taken it seriously for the last 12 years. Has anyone ever told you that you look exactly like a younger version of The Dude from The Big Lebowski? BUDDY: My whole entire life, yes. First off, there's his grow, inside the garage... I have 148 plants, $360,000, I think. VAN ZELLER: $360,000 a year, if you're lucky, just from this room alone? BUDDY: Just from this room. ...and out in the backyard. VAN ZELLER: Oh, wow. BUDDY: Yep. There's a vibration, there's a frequency that we create that the plants receive. I tell all my employees that every tickle's a nickel. Touch as many branches as you can. Every time you touch them, you send them positive vibes, and that makes more money off of that plant. VAN ZELLER: Every tickle is a nickel. Legalization was supposed to grant outlaw growers like Buddy a five-year grace period to establish themselves before big companies could get licensed. Were you excited when you found out that it was going to be legalized? BUDDY: Not at all. I did not want it to be legal. VAN ZELLER: Why not? BUDDY: It wasn't protecting people like me. But the regulations undercut this with a loophole allowing single growers to obtain multiple permits. Big business came right in, bought up tons of property, and really took over the industry. Smaller growers couldn't compete at that scale, so only a tiny fraction of the estimated 60,000 outlaw growers like Buddy has gone legal. We were all upset at the way the law was written. We saw that it was just a corporate takeover. I spent $60,000 on lawyers and permits only to find out there's more permits and more hoops to jump through, which they didn't explain. So the police could come in here right now, and you would have no warning that they were coming. BUDDY: Exactly. -Have they done that to you? -BUDDY: Oh, yeah. I got raided on a 100-acre property that I was expanding. Lost a quarter-million dollars. I lost 60 pounds of pot. I've lost 5 pounds at a time. 10 pounds here. Hasn't that made you think that, "Maybe I should continue trying to become legal"? BUDDY: Not really. I pay my taxes. I don't just -- I just don't pay it to the IRS. (singing indistinctly) ♪ Do not care what you do ♪ ♪ But you better know who you know ♪ ♪ I go for mine, don't waste no time ♪ ♪ And I ain't never stoppin' ♪ ♪ I got moves to make, and I'm bad, yeah ♪ VAN ZELLER: That night, Buddy introduces me to a couple of his fellow outlaw growers. -VAN ZELLER: K. Pete. -MAN: Pete. Pete. Buddy Powers, you have a different mask situation on. so I could barely recognize you. Unlike Buddy, K and Pete didn't bother dealing with the legalization process. What do you guys think would happen to you if you weren't wearing masks, if you just did this interview openly? BUDDY: Sheriffs. (laughs) They'd come down on us. They would come down on you guys? BUDDY: Exactly. ♪ I'm back in the groove, in the ride till the wheels fall off ♪ VAN ZELLER: These outlaws aren't part of any organized criminal group. They're mostly independent farmers who've built relationships over the years with underground operators up the supply chain. This isn't just, like, throw some seeds on the ground and you have $10 million and never work again. It's not like that. You know, there's a whole bunch of pieces. What about the licensed growers or licensed operations? BUDDY: They're paying their taxes, creating a legal business. But their farm is going to sell crap to the legal market, and they're gonna sell all their good stuff out the back door to us. That's right -- In his experience, those few thousand growers who managed to get licensed, nearly all of them are still operating in the black market. So their quality stuff they're selling the back door. Why are they doing that? BUDDY: Because they don't want to pay taxes on it. VAN ZELLER: How many people in the legal business of marijuana do you think are still in the black market? BUDDY: Every farm I work with that is legal sells to me. And I'm not legal. ♪♪ ♪♪ Of the 60,000 estimated outlaw growers like Buddy, only a tiny fraction have managed to get licensed. ♪ My heart ♪ VAN ZELLER: Many others have dropped out of the game entirely. ♪ Rolls out to you ♪ VAN ZELLER: With demand for weed higher than it's ever been, dangerous criminals are rushing in to fill the void. Do you think there will always be an illicit side of this business? BUDDY: So, everything in life, there's always going to be a shadow in the bright light. ♪ 'Cause I need you ♪ VAN ZELLER: There's one group of growers making even more money, a group that few people know about. ♪ Oh, I need you ♪ -YU: Good Morning -VAN ZELLER: Good morning. So this is it, huh? YU: This is it. ♪ Whoa ♪ The curtain here, you're gonna leave it. And then behind that curtain, you're going to put plywood. VAN ZELLER: So the neighbors outside will see the curtains. But, in fact, this is all hidden? YU: Correct. VAN ZELLER: This could be any family's dream home. You have water sources everywhere, so, you know, watering the plants with the water pump and timer would be ideal. But some buyers have other intentions. This is where the biggest grow will take place. Tom Yu is a former gang detective with the LAPD. He's raided hundreds of homes just like this one. The biggest activities of organized crimes is indoor marijuana grows. Here in California's pricy real-estate market, criminals are shopping for homes exclusively to grow weed. These groups of people, they don't want attention. Their goal is to make money. And how much money can you make from an indoor grow like this? $2 million or $3 million, minimum. -VAN ZELLER: A year? -Yeah. Wow. That's a lot of money. A lot of money, and the punishment is virtually none. Lessened penalties have only emboldened growers to expand operations and, in return, caused law enforcement to expand their crackdowns. RICH: Well, we got several complaints from neighbors about the smell of the marijuana. Our guys went out there, heard the humming from the equipment inside. So, you're pretty sure that there's an indoor marijuana grow in there? Yeah, my guys, they're very rarely wrong. And in terms of the approach, anything we should be cautious about? Grows have been getting hit with a lot of home-invasion robberies. So a lot of the growers have started to arm themselves. So, we always keep in the back of our mind that these guys could open fire, so... VAN ZELLER: Hence the body armor? Hence the body armor. This is police body-cam footage of officers executing a search warrant on a suspected grow house in San Bernardino County, outside L.A., one example of many, many others. OFFICER: Police! Stay where you are! Police! All across California, authorities are busting multimillion-dollar marijuana grows... REPORTER: Hundreds of plants, rooms are now greenhouses. VAN ZELLER: ...right in the middle of residential neighborhoods. On this street alone, the sheriff's department identified seven problem houses. What the community don't want to do is have a bunch of indoor marijuana grow in a community where their kids play outside. They attract robberies, assaults. YU: We've seen murders, we've seen kidnappings arising from these type of indoor grows. An average pot grow house draws an enormous amount of electricity... REPORTER: Holes drilled in walls for impromptu electrical wiring and a bypass circuit breaker. VAN ZELLER: ...enough to rack up an electric bill costing almost $100,000 a year. But these criminal groups have a workaround for that, too. Using makeshift wiring, they bypass the home's electric meter, allowing them to draw power without being charged and, more importantly, without drawing attention. They're paying less power here than what would be in an apartment. But even more surprising is who's growing all of this illegal weed. OFFICER: We have two Asian suspects in custody. They're both from China. Since legalization, the authorities have continued busting scores of grow houses operated by Chinese syndicates. REPORTER: Officers arrested two Chinese nationals at the home. I would say 99.9% of all indoor grows are Chinese nationals or criminal enterprises. REPORTER: The story involving drugs, guns, millions of dollars, and a rocket launcher. We've seen everything from an AR-15 to AK-47s to your traditional semiautomatic, you know, handguns. VAN ZELLER: They fly the workers over, put them up in a newly purchased home, and task them with growing weed until their debt is paid off. RICH: They're working off almost indentured servitude. VAN ZELLER: And when the people at the bottom are busted, the top dogs simply move on to the next one. YU: Unfortunately, 90% of apprehensions do not involve the people on top. They're insulated. Do you think these places will keep popping up? YU: 100%. Your demand is higher in a post-legalized marijuana world. So where does supply come from? It comes from dispensaries or these type of engagements. VAN ZELLER: The criminal underworld. YU: Correct. Although the Chinese gangs are big players, I want to see how the biggest ones operate. I'm told the biggest black-market growers are also not from the United States. They are the Mexican cartels, and they're growing in our national forests. You may think of the Mexican cartels as smuggling weed over the border. The truth is, they're planting it right here in American soil. Ironically, legalization has created a kind of safe haven for them to operate in California. We're heading to an area where cops are finding a lot of cartel grows, where land is free and abundant. Our national forests. ♪ When you are near me ♪ They're literally just picking up and dropping two guys at a time into the field, into the mountains there. ♪ I'm trembling so ♪ ♪ I feel... ♪ VAN ZELLER: Nowadays, if you head out for a hike, you might just wander into a multimillion-dollar drug operation. OFFICER: Drugs. (speaking indistinctly) RICH: Yeah. People don't bring their kids out here anymore because they ran into cartel members with guns and they just were fearful for their safety. VAN ZELLER: Oh, wow! RICH: So, with all these plants standing up under this cover, it's pretty much a little forest in here. VAN ZELLER: And who's coming out here and growing this? RICH: All of the forest grows that I've encountered have all been Mexican nationals. I've never seen anyone other than Mexican nationals in the forest. It's estimated that at least 40% of all of California's black-market weed is growing on public lands just like this. So you see this bottle right here, carbofuran. Skull and crossbones. This has been banned in the United States because it's so toxic. They leave in their wake a trail of environmental damage, dead animals, and toxic chemicals. This is to stop the animals from eating the plants -or destroying the grow? -RICH: Yeah. Yeah. They'll mix that carbofuran into the water supply. And it's so toxic that about a quarter teaspoon will kill a black bear. So if we got a good dose of that, we're gonna die. Even with all this stepped-up enforcement, the authorities are only able to eradicate 20% of the state's harvest. RICH: This is a good vantage point to just look out over the valley and see all the different marijuana grows. One there. One right there. Another back there. VAN ZELLER: Oh, my God. They're not even trying to hide. Are they dangerous? Are they armed usually? RICH: They are definitely armed. We've had hikers and hunters get guns pulled on them. We've had people get snatched up. REPORTER: The raids have found growers that are heavily armed. A game warden got shot through both legs with an AK-47. SOLDIER: Don't move. Stay down! Shocking twist in the murder of an El Dorado County sheriff's deputy. VAN ZELLER: The massive amount of product and cash being generated by these operations has led to violence. It's just getting really concerning and scary. SHERIFF: To say that the California laws that have been passed are gonna be able to adequately deal with this situation is a fallacy. The profits from illegal weed growing on our public lands is helping the cartels pay for all manner of sinister operations. The single-biggest source of the money for the guys with the horrific violence along the border on the Mexican side and on our side now are making it from marijuana. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ No matter if it's Mexican cartels, Chinese home growers, or outlaws like Buddy, the most dangerous part of the game is the next link in the supply chain... distribution... when millions of dollars of product and cash are in the same location at the same time. ♪♪ ♪♪ VAN ZELLER: So do you think they're catering for the weed businesses around here? SARAH: Oh, for sure. The distro that I work out of, there's people selling hundreds of pounds a day in that one location. I'm meeting a contact in an area that she says is the distribution epicenter of the state's multibillion-dollar black market. Ironically, these few blocks in downtown L.A. where it all goes down is just around the corner from the Hall of Justice. People that I meet all the time in the business are telling me that they have distros downtown. Sarah's what you call a small fish. She works as a trimmer inside distribution warehouses in this area, some legal and some not, so we're hiding her identity. We're going to meet George, who is a big player in this industry. He has several distributions moving millions of dollars a day of product. That's right. A million dollars a day. This is the big leagues. But even with so much on the line, her contact has agreed, reluctantly, to meet with me. I know that you've been trying to help us get access to this world. How long have you been trying to convince him? SARAH: For about two months. VAN ZELLER: Has George made any requests in terms of what we can and cannot film? SARAH: Yeah, a pre-mixed vocal changer. So not only does he want us to distort his voice once this episode airs, he also wants to distort his voice immediately. SARAH: Exactly. That's the first time we've ever been asked to do that. SARAH: Yeah, people are scared in this industry. ♪♪ VAN ZELLER: Okay. ♪♪ ♪♪ (birds chirping) (sirens wailing in distance) VAN ZELLER: This is sort of a distribution center for weed? I found my way inside a distribution warehouse in L.A. in an area considered the heart of the marijuana black market. ♪♪ ♪♪ (elevator bell dings) ♪♪ One of the big players in that world, someone I'm told moves more than a million dollars' worth of product daily, has agreed to meet me. Well, kind of. -Okay. We ready? -GEORGE (distorted voice): Yeah. VAN ZELLER: So I'm currently in an empty room and in front of a table with nine pounds of all sorts of different kinds of weed. George, I'm just explaining what's happening to the cameras 'cause it feels really weird that it's just me here, -so I'm just explaining. -GEORGE: Yeah. Yeah. George didn't want his actual voice recorded. George is actually out of view. Didn't feel comfortable being on-camera. But he can hear me because of my mic. So we're using a voice changer that alters it while he speaks. If I were a buyer, I would come in here. You'd have all these bags out here with the different samples. -They look at it, smell it. -GEORGE: Yeah. Yeah. VAN ZELLER: Possibly try it. Smoke it. And then they place orders. Is that it? GEORGE: Yeah. On the table is a variety of high-end, exotic, indoor and outdoor weed. Each pound bag costs between $2,000 and $4,000. What's the largest order you've ever received? GEORGE: I mean... Just one order that size is worth around a million dollars. How much money is there to be made in illegal weed? I decide not to push it. So, George, you operate just a black-market business, or do you operate also a legal business? A licensed, as well. If you were to give me a general sense of how much money you make with your legal versus your illegal business, what would you say? (George clears throat) Wow. So why operate a legal business if you're not even making money out of that? You know, you don't feel comfortable with even being in the same room. Why do you think there is so much fear and mistrust? Do you carry a gun? ♪♪ ♪♪ Okay. So I think we're close, guys. Getting people to talk to us has been insanely hard, but we got sent a location somewhere downtown where we're going to meet with someone. Not entirely sure who yet. Unlike George, who operates on both sides of the law, I'm told that this new contact runs a distribution warehouse that is 100% illegal. It's known as a trap house, and it's just a few blocks away. Oh, here. Is it here? But the only other information I'm given is where to meet him. Kind of looks like a -- just a parking structure. ♪♪ ♪♪ At first glance, there's nothing out of the ordinary. Are we sure this is the right place? Once we reach the top, I can't believe my eyes. ♪♪ (sirens wailing in distance) (horn honks) (wailing continues) (helicopter blades whirring) (horn honks) I'm meeting a contact who supposedly operates a trap house, selling bulk purchases in the weed black market. VAN ZELLER: This is very strange. It turns out this location is more than just a meeting point. They're looking at us. I would put cameras down. It's the trap house itself. Hi. How are you? Mariana. Nice to meet you. (indistinct talking) ♪♪ Right there, at the top of this random parking garage in downtown L.A., they're dealing millions of dollars' worth of illegal weed. CASPER: You're more beautiful than I thought. Oh, thank you. You're making me blush right off the bat. CASPER: I might have to ask you out on a date. Depends on how you answer my questions. -CASPER: Oh, okay, okay. -Wait, so this is your place? CASPER: Uh, maybe. Their operation is so brazenly out in the open that I'm amazed they can pull it off. So, yo, why are you doing this, though, for real? VAN ZELLER: Why am I doing this? CASPER: Yeah. And are you the cops? VAN ZELLER: No, I am not the cops. CASPER: Are you DEA? VAN ZELLER: No, I'm not DEA. But as we talk, they lay out the upside to a location like this. So you sell -- Is it sort of a distribution center? CASPER: This business is based on a black-market model. We're a trap. You know what I mean? A glorified trap house. It's kind of like the Costco for weed. Ample parking, bulk purchases, and lots of free samples. VAN ZELLER: So people come in here, and that's what we're seeing is customers coming up here and buying weed from you guys? CASPER: Yeah, they come in and they donate their funds and capital. And they get to leave with some great flowers and products. Weed grown all over California by outlaws like Buddy, the Mexican cartels, the Chinese syndicates, it all ends up moving through an underground distro just like this. VAN ZELLER: How much money do you think is made here every day? CASPER: Um, it pays the bills. Pays the bills. VAN ZELLER: I mean, it does more than just pay the bills, I assume? CASPER: What would you say, what we doing? MAN: $700,000 a week. $700,000 a week? No. CASPER: I mean, this is a billion-dollar industry, so, you know, I'm just somebody getting a little piece of the pie, you know, a little, small piece. Their shelves are stocked with bags of what looks like brand-name marijuana, some of the same kinds I've seen sold at legal dispensaries. We have no way to confirm. But they swear it's the real deal. And if it is, then buyers are getting some of the world's best weed without having to pay a cent of those hefty taxes. So the weed that you sell here, where does it go to? CASPER: I really don't know. I don't ask any questions. VAN ZELLER: I mean, if they're buying this amount, all these pounds, they're probably going and reselling it, right? CASPER: Yeah, the black-market businesses, that's what you do. You buy tennis shoes at one price, and you flip it and sell it for another price. In the supply chain, think of it as the place that dealers go to get their weed in bulk before selling it to individual consumers. Do you guys -- because we were able to pretty much just drive up. Do you have lookouts? Do you have people knowing who comes in and out? CASPER: Yeah. I mean, there's a strategic system in place. Is that your security guard behind you? CASPER: No. VAN ZELLER: This guy with the gun behind you? -CASPER: That's not a gun. -VAN ZELLER: That's what? -CASPER: That's not a gun. -VAN ZELLER: That's not a gun? -What is it? -CASPER: I don't know. Okay. CASPER: I can be honest with you, though. -Please. -CASPER: I got things around. And there's a problem, somebody's going to be attentive to it, for real. Got it. Okay. I won't ask you again, then. CASPER: Aw, you're so sweet. I knew you were sweet. I'm about to get that date, I'm telling you. I asked if I can talk to any of the buyers, but he's not willing to risk losing a potential client. VAN ZELLER: Would you want to be legalized? Would you want to run a legal operation, if you could? Or do you prefer the black market? CASPER: No, I'd rather go legal. VAN ZELLER: So, what do you think would happen to you if you got caught? Why do you say it's a risky business? CASPER: Because firepower. Hmm. Guns. CASPER: Right now, you know, it's jungle rules. You know, the bigger dog wins. Still, after seeing the massive size of this operation, the question remains, who's buying all of this weed? And where is it headed? ♪♪ ♪♪ I still have one question that I need to answer. So I'm heading to an old connection. (siren wailing in distance) ♪♪ ♪♪ VAN ZELLER: So we're meeting a guy I know here in L.A. that traffics guns and fentanyl and meth and a bunch of other drugs. ♪♪ ♪♪ There's police everywhere. ♪♪ ♪♪ Dude, I can totally smell it from here. (Juan laughs) -VAN ZELLER: Right? -JUAN: Yes, ma'am. I've been all over the state, working my way through the supply chain. What I want to know is, where is all this weed going? VAN ZELLER: So what do you have here, Juan? JUAN: Got a little bit of crystal meth. Is that a pound? JUAN: Yeah. It's about a pound right here. We got a little bit of different kinds of marijuana. We got a little bit of everything, you know. In the 10 years that you've been in business, what's made you most money? JUAN: The marijuana. VAN ZELLER: Where do you get it from? JUAN: Different sources. Can't say. VAN ZELLER: But do you grow it, or do you buy it? JUAN: Yeah, we buy it in bulk. And then you package it. -Is this your packaging? -JUAN: Yes, ma'am. -And then you sell it. -JUAN: Yeah. This right here is about an ounce. VAN ZELLER: Ooh. That's so intense. JUAN: Yes, this is the good stuff right here. (knock on door) Oh, excuse me. I got somebody, real quick. -Is it a client? -JUAN: Yes. -Customer? -JUAN: Yes, ma'am. -Come on in, guys. -MAN: How are you, brother? JUAN: Pretty good. Pretty good. -VAN ZELLER: Hi. How are you? -MAN: Alright. JUAN: I hope you guys don't mind, I'm doing a little documentary in here. But we good. We good. VAN ZELLER: Obviously, you guys are covered already. MAN: It's that COVID. We gotta be like this. MAN #2: Right. MAN: Oh, yeah. VAN ZELLER: Do you guys live in L.A.? -MAN: Nah. -Oh? Where? MAN: We live in the south side Brooklyn. -VAN ZELLER: Where? -MAN: South side of Brooklyn. -You're from New York? -MAN: Hell, yeah. Did you come all the way to California to buy weed? MAN: Hell, yeah. VAN ZELLER: You're serious? MAN: Yeah. ♪ Do-do-do-do-do-do-do ♪ ♪ Kisses left unkissed ♪ MAN: Light that up. VAN ZELLER: In fact, up to 80% of the weed grown in California ends up in the hands and the lungs of consumers outside the state. MAN: So what kind of questions you wanted to ask me? VAN ZELLER: So you're going to fly -- Do you fly or do you drive back? My mind is blown. So do you fly? -(laughs) You teleport? -MAN: Teleport. VAN ZELLER: That means you don't want to answer my question? MAN: That means we teleport. That's the weed talking right here. MAN: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ♪ You held me tight ♪ ♪ You felt desire ♪ VAN ZELLER: Transporting weed over state lines is a felony. MAN: Gotta risk it to get the biscuit. You know what I'm saying? Their preferred destinations? JUAN: Here we go. States where weed is still illegal. BUDDY: They'll end up close to the East Coast or Midwest, Illinois, Wisconsin, Florida. REPORTER: The drugs were found inside a car being hauled cross-country from California. And it will go as far as Flushing, New York, to Atlanta. REPORTER: The drugs were headed to New Jersey. VAN ZELLER: Where it sells for double, even triple the price. Where you're really going to make your money is black market in other states. MAN: The marijuana in California is about $1,000 a pound. Ships it, drives it, sends it wherever it's illegal. MAN: Once you get to Alabama, the price may be $3,500 per pound. VAN ZELLER: The way it's transported... MAN: Every way you can possibly think of. Air. Mail. Train. Bus. Mules. MAN #2: RVs. We have people that put it in their luggage on airplanes. Grandmas driving. I mean, literally, if there was camels, it would be camels. But I'm told if you're truly a big player in the game, you're in the trucking business. ♪♪ REPORTER: Police unloaded 500 pounds of marijuana from a semi. REPORTER #2: 60 bags piled high with marijuana. REPORTER #3: The drug-sniffing dog pointed police to boxes of narcotics in the trailer. You put on a shirt, tie, put a little cross in the rearview mirror. And if you get pulled over when you're driving pounds of weed, you just go, "I know that God brought you here for a reason. Do you believe in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?" (horn honks) VAN ZELLER: Since 2012, recreational marijuana legalization continues to gain approval at the ballot box, one state after another. If California is any indication, get ready for some black market grows in your forests and in the house next door. That is, if they aren't there already. BUDDY: We're all black market. We always will be. One thing seems certain. Until the U.S. decides to legalize weed nationwide... OFFICER: Sheriff's department! Search warrant! ...the outlaws will have the upper hand. MAN: The black market will be here as long as the legal market keeps screwing up. VAN ZELLER: Did you think that legalization was gonna change anything? I honestly thought that, "Okay, that's it. The marijuana team's done. There won't be any need for them anymore." OFFICER: Sheriff's department! Search warrant! Search warrant.

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Channel: National Geographic

Views: 1,381,762

Rating: undefined out of 5

Keywords: national geographic, nat geo, natgeo, animals, wildlife, science, explore, discover, survival, nature, culture, documentary, perpetual planet nat geo, photography, full episode, Black Market Marijuana, Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller, wild journey, Mariana, California, black market, weed, Marijuana legalization, Explore with us, Illegal drugs, Mushroom cultivation, Weed culture, Exploring drugs

Id: c5GbodqKVT8

Channel Id: undefined

Length: 44min 24sec (2664 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 27 2022