I Make $60K a Month Smuggling Californian Weed into New York | WEEDIQUETTE

[Music] he's hauling ass up there yeah he must have seen something you can have a healthy debate all you want to about alleged benefits of [Music] marijuana but there's no debate of the criminal Behavior that's associated with the traffic digital skill it's the marijuana residue there's always something [Music] America's legal marijuana boom has massively reduced the demand for illegal pots smuggled into the US curtailing cartel run imports from South America and Mexico and pushing the industry into regulated grow houses and tax dispensaries but legal pot cultivation on the Pacific coast has intensified illicit trade through another route instead of going to North illegal marijuana is now flowing west to east so I'm going to meet up with a guy named ghost who alongside his uncle runs a successful legal growhouse to see how legal pot in States like California is feeding black market supply and distribution across the [Music] us all right as I understand it you guys are in business business together right yes like what is the business the business is marijuana anywhere they want it and they want it in a lot of places they want it in a lot of places I mean California so itself everybody around the world know that California got the best weight in the world California is the land of the 3w is Women Weed and weather so he's a business man on the street here aha so you're a licensed legal yes grower business that's everything with wow so you have basically a totally legit side yes but then you also are in the other side in the illegitimate side and you right I do a lot of runs from state to state mhm make a lot of runs from here to Chicago to New York so you're a sort of like product and your distribution yes ah I see oo so what's like what's the scale of the operation like how much money do you guys bring in I think he's trying to hustle I'm not sure if that would be very wise look at the house and look around you that'll tell you we making enough money to do what we need to do but come on give me some numbers we talking at least minimum 60,000 a month easy I can go from here to New York in the price I get it for here I could sell in New York for 34,000 basically you can sell the same way that you're growing here in California in New York for more money than you could if you just kept it in state yes the most state lines I cross the price increases why is that every single line that I got across is a chance not an opportunity but a chance that I'm taking mhm is risky look you going to conversate for that my uncle he wants to be the Costco of marijana he on the other hand I want to keep bringing in as much revenue as possible who's winning at our pool game here the me nobody while uncle has long-term plans to build his legitimate dispensary it's ghosts skimming off the top scheme that's keeping them both the cashr in the short term California's currently lack seed to sale tracking regulations make this an opportune time to divert weed with Smugglers trafficking bulkloads by Road as well as by mail tomorrow night ghost will move 50 lbs of pot to New York unwilling to have his car filmed during the day he agreed to show me how to hide that much weed in my car what I'm not going to do is give you like my phone but I will let you know things that used to happen mhm it's like a big puzzle you see these things right here they pop out so this whole panel can come off it can pop out right and then you take the light out you put everything that you need to put around the light put it back in the light still going to work so you come around the whole bag of the SE come off cuz all this stuff is nothing but glue uhhuh you take it off now you got to take all the leather off take the leather off of the seat don't come off and then what's underneath the leather nothing feel it feel like yeah you can fit like one two three four in here 4 lbs in each seat each back to the seat so a car like this a car like mine like how many pounds of pot could you fit in it I can get 50 in here easy 5 5 listen man all this stuff comes off is what I'm trying to tell you this stuff is cheap we can take all this stuff off everything now let me see how I can flatten this up and put as many of these things in here as possible why don't you just put it in a backpack or a duffel bag and like put it in the back seat I mean I I somewhat do that now yeah kind of explain it to you a little bit not fully but my bags and I'm going to put the weed in mhm you take the bag turn it inside out uhhuh you clean the whole bag the whole bag with the rubbing oil it's a chemical inside the rubbing oil that gives off a different smell but the other thing that we put on top of the rubbing oil that do sniff all through my bag he sniff that bag he going to go right past it but I'm not even going to get to the point to let him pull me over I'm doing 220 oh I'm going in the next I'm throwing them they got to go you're going to throw the out of the car they gone they gone that's why I got to keep it close uhhuh I keep it close if it's in the trunk I got to stop I on the trunk get out the trunk and then throw then get back in I want to be able to keep moving fast as H to where they got to call ahead to stop me and once I get far enough ahead I just just St won't you get a speeding ticket you want to go to prison or you want to pay a speeding ticket right for ghost to drive 50 lb of weed from California to New York in under 45 hours he will need to take one of three rots each with its own risks the southern route would take him through Louisiana Mississippi and Virginia all three of which could give ghost up to 30 years in prison if caught the northern route would be safer passing through weed legal Colorado but he'd still have to cross Illinois where he could get up to 60 years in prison the middle route would avoid Illinois but ghost would pass through Oklahoma where he could get life in prison worse still once the cops report ghost to the DEA they may Trace his weed back to Uncle's large legal grow operation where their assets could be seized their accounts drained and they could spend anywhere from 5 years to life in prison it's almost a risk I'm not sure if that I would take yeah these foolproof friend he never foolproof but you Ain going to make it tell you [Music] nothing I'm bringing this over here sir what is that salmon yeah salmon this is my last meal before I leave what kind of seasoning is this I told you have the KE this is a secret you're not going to tell me I eat a nice healthy big meal so I nice and full mhm and my body can feed off that from my trip all damn so not going to stop to get on food so is this kind of like the kind of meal that you've always sort of been eating salmon asparagus you know not always my family members can cook you know uh so the typical uh Soul Foods yeah where did you grow up I grew up in the Hood the cheese in the Box type situation cheese in the Box government issue you realize that you broke when you go to somebody else's house and you start to see actual Vita cheese MH you like what the hell is this he like it's cheese no it don't like oh you going have how did you get into the business for me it wasn't even a choice I've been out there since 7 8 9 years old wow you was a guy holding the back cuz you can't go to jail as a juvenile what kind of stuff crack H run whatever you know at what point did you have a realization that you didn't want to deal in harder drugs anymore that is terrible I don't want to be that guy mhm I didn't want to be it then but at that moment I had to do what I had to do I just make a long story short after the health scare that's when I completely just was like y'all can have that life tell me about the health scares this thing called sepsis mhm I was dying my liing was faing everything the doctor literally told my significant her to find somebody to bury him that wasn't the biggest scare of my life it it made me realize that you know I didn't want to be a bad guy no more so I really had to change my life for so I knew I got to do this and do this alone what's this Mar one maybe someone else not in my position would be like you're still illegal well you call me what you want to call me I know what I am and what are you a man trying to look after a [Music] family I can't make any mistakes so I'm my mind I'm not going to deliver no drugs I'm just headed to New York to go kick it just like a good oldfashioned American road trip exactly with pounds of pot in the [Music] car I got good lawyers in place where I'm coming right home you know you never know that's a lot off your shoulders when that pack is out your goddamn possession to see the other side of America's pot traffic and ecosystem I've come to Louisiana where weed is still illegal to hitch a ride with a local police force specifically tasked with stopping drug trafficking these guys are specially trained to recognize peculiarities in traffic Behavior will give them some reasonable suspicion that that vehicle is carrying drugs he's hauling ass up there yeah he must have saying [Music] so you know you know they'll run the plate see if it's clear and when they're not then they'll shut down that unit 216 dispatch down with one 26 he refused to cons he's saying he's refusing to search when's the last time you did any meth I've never done meth you never did did you your friends no I've know actually I've never even seen so no okay what does it look like check it check it if he suspects that he's carrying dangerous quantities of drugs then we're going to ask permission to search if they don't give permission to search then you take the dog out then you take the dog out yeah he's in Old all over the [Applause] place the dog alerted on something okay that means we have proba call search a vehicle all [Music] right [Music] i' I've never seen a vehicle search when a dog alerted that there was nothing mhm there always [Music] something they have a false floor but it's nothing in it unfortunately the digital skill it's a marijuana residue it's residue in there to smell of marijuana very pungent if you even if you just had some personal usage marijuana in there and you know why would you need a scale well it could be for cooking if you find a scale in the kitchen sink you know then it's probably for cooking if you find it next to an astrad probably for measuring marijuana what you did advise me earlier that that you played with this in D Colorado and you was uh with marijuana wi marijuana correct correct I'm not going to bring you to jail for just this little drug preferia charge just let you go okay cheers this guy gets to go home but if he had the kind of weight that ghost is carrying he'd be on his way to [Music] jail I'm following ghost as he transports pounds of marijuana from California where it's legal to New York where it's illegal but much more lucrative if ghost gets busted he could face anywhere from a couple months to the rest of his life in prison depending upon which state he gets caught [Music] in Hello Ghost what's going on nothing man I just want to see how you're doing what's going on I feel like I'm a UPS driver going to deliver a Christmas party have you you know rolled by any cops yet oh yeah and you're laughing course I mean I I think it's funny because they have no idea you're in Colorado right now like you you're in a legal state but what is it going to be like when you cross state lines and go into an illegal State again there's going to be absolutely no changes no I'm call Y back I got to get off this line all right ghost I got you I got you [Music] yeah while Highway interdiction teams are fanned out across the country the odds are still in ghost's favor as he Blends in with millions of regular commuters and travelers to get some insight on what other dangerous dope Runners face I'm meeting up with David victorson a legendary Smuggler who in the 1970s moved boatloads of weed into the United States hey David hop on in people have been smuggling weed forever it seems like but how was it done when you did it I mean like how much were you bringing into the country 250 tons over a period of8 years how many joints is that or something well I have no idea man I have no idea yeah right that's crazy what is it like that moment that like coast is clear you did it well the coast is never clear okay okay there's no doubt that you'll be caught eventually when we got busted the Coast Guard showed up and they boarded our Freer and seized all the pot and arrested me and I was sentenced to two fiveyear sentences I was never arrested in in my life so the first time you were arrested it was for 37 tons of weed yeah and that's why I stopped do you think cops are catching all the pot that's moving across the country right now no of course not the cops never catch all of everything but the problem is they don't have to because what happens to people is they say I'm only going to do this once I just want to make this once and they get away with it once you think this is pretty easy but eventually you'll get caught but the cops don't want them what the cops really want to do is find out who it is that is the money person behind it all and then you kind of have to worry about getting ratted upon yourself exactly most crimes people commit they don't get caught at the scene of the crime they get caught later just because you drove something to New York you got the money you brought it back nothing happened wow we got away with it no you didn't you know like you just got away with it at that point in time you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow nobody keeps them shot anymore like you did 5 years for 37 tons but today you could get 10 years for 50 lbs right sentences have gotten really serious like if you're going to get 10 15 20 years that's a lot of time so if you were to get three to five years you may say something like I could do that standing on my head right right but you start thinking about 10 15 20 25 years that's like a third of your life and that's probably one of the the reasons why people um started riding each other out more quickly mhm because the the judicial system now is trading years of your life for information for the people smoking it it's great right because they got weed to smoke and they took no risk yeah the risk is in the people that are actually doing the driving and bringing it across state lines and for them it's not cool because for sure whoever you meet that's doing that go look them up in 5 years they'll be in a federal prison [Music] somewhere I've arrived in Brooklyn New York but I haven't heard from Ghost in 2 days and I don't know if he's made it hello hey hey man it's Krishna what's going on how you doing where you at I'm in Philadelphia right now okay so you made it to Philly yeah I'm Philadelphia right now so how's it been man how's how's the journey been so far I mean the journey the journey has uh had a couple ups and downs we originally playing you know to meet you meet you uh in New York but along the way man changed they want me to get them C prices in New York and that's not happening so that that makes it that makes it dang don't give information especially when you coming to somebody else's City I'm not from there so they can go home say they never told on anybody from New York you got this West Coast yeah I guess what you're saying is that like when before you left you're talking about cops being maybe a problem uh getting caught but what you're saying is there more problems basically from like opposing people or competing people in the game when you get to cities like New York so that's pretty much that's pretty much what it is so then what's next for you you've made the drop in Philly the package is going to go to New York what happens next for you I'll go home all over me with ghost unwilling to come to New York I'm going to meet up with Cesar a street level dealer who had to travel to Philly to buy the package from Ghost to see the last steps of running marijuana from pot legal California to New York tell me what we're up to man oh man I just touched down from Philly I didn't see the big homie ghost of course so he's like yo meet me over here and do me this favor I'll give you a better number I'm always looking for better a number so pick up a couple of peas ready to do what we do tell me what you do this just call the breakdown look my brother you got yourself a nice pee right there smell that oh yeah that that's like definitely from California when you peep the bud look at the fluffiness like just like beautiful you know what I'm saying smell this when you get weed there are three things that are important about weed we how's it look what's the smell mhm and can that get me high yeah totally it's like science class ready so right now I'm just throwing in some we baby we're going to get this rocking why do you keep going back to California cuz it's like pizza you get pizza from La no you get pizza from New York why it's the water puppy it's the water right so we call that's 23 2 gries in a house I come off with like off the whole piece $6,400 m is 28 so it's probably something where what 3200 that's 100% profit or higher that's what I'm talking about so basically 10 lb every 2 weeks you're pulling in like $10,000 a week you can make that much yeah yeah yeah yeah that's a fat eth right there that's too much buddy come on I can't do that money everything's bread baby yeah it's a little fat it's nice it's very nice I guess the question is like how has California legalization influenced your life as someone who sells retail in New York everybody's doing it now you know I turn around I see people that used to buy from me now they're going over there to get it Aha and and and in New York I get caught with 10 of these this is a slap in a r so it's like decreased enforcement in New York plus increased production in California equals a pipeline of pot hell yeah all day exactly what you just said it's a pipeline of weed just coming [Music] in when you think about sort of the way that legal marijuana Works in this country it exists in these sort of like imagined borders which is to say like States exist laws exists but we live in a country that's one continuous land mass you think about ghosts and like these are guys that are partaking in the legal industry in California and all they have to do is pinch a little product off the top put it in a car and bring it to New York and all of a sudden their profit margins are increased substantially it's an attractive opportunity especially when law enforcement despite their best efforts will never catch everything and so whether or not this new Administration tries to crush the marijuana industry as it exists like it will always exist cuz people will always want podt without Federal legalization this Shadow Army of unremarkable cars will continue to fill the void of a regulated supply chain crisscrossing the country and delivering hundreds of tons of illegal [Music] pot

Channel: VICE

Views: 1,778,296

Keywords: documentary, documentaries, docs, interview, culture, lifestyle, world, exclusive, independent, underground, videos, journalism, vice guide, vice.com, vice, vice magazine, vice mag, vice videos, film, short films, movies, weed, marijuana, weed news, weediquette, weediquette autism, medical marijuana, drugs, drug, vice weediquette, cannabis, california, cali weed, new york weed, new york marijuana

Id: ELxBPQYffKw

Length: 22min 33sec (1353 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 03 2024