In a place with a mysterious name, the emerald triangle. At its heart, the infamous humboldt county, with thousands of illegal pot farms. We are the center of Marijuana Production right now. In the United States . Yes, the United States. But thanks to a new law, things are changes. Proposition 64 has passed in california. Lemonis as of new years day, any adult can buy pot here without a prescription, and the black market is starting to go legit. Im marcus lemonis. This summer, i traveled to l. A. Were ending prohibition and were mainstreaming pot. And the desert. Did the vote passing increase the odds of you becoming a billionaire some day . Absolutely. Now ive come to where it all began and where the money is pouring in. So all the real estate you work on is for the Marijuana Industry . Yeah. Its going to be a huge market. Californias now the largest Legal Marijuana market in the world. Will the feds step in and try to stop it, or is it time for me to invest . My journey began on the avenue of the giants, a magical drive through the largest stand of untouched redwood trees in the world. Welcome to marijuana country humboldt county, california. People have been growing pot up in the hills here since the 60s. It turns out some of them are still at it. But if you want to meet these pioneers of pot, and trust me, you do, you have to work for it. Think over the river and through the woods, and then some. It took me half an hour to drive just six miles of unmarked dirt roads. Hi there. Hi. Very nice to meet you. And at the end tom and Karen Hesslers 40acre farm. Honestly, if i had to describe your land to somebody, i couldnt. Its like in a fairytale book. Its so beautiful and so removed. Thank you. How long have you lived up here . Since 1971. Now i dont want to make you feel a little bit older, but thats before i was born. I know. Thats what i was thinking. Karen is a nurse with a green thumb. Toms an artist. Originally from new york, they came up here to get away from it all, literally. So, when you left, you said im moving to california, and im going to grow marijuana. No, no. We came to be selfsufficient and for tom to be able to do his artwork. It was mostly we make all of our own food. We make all of our own electricity. Lemonis this farm is their lifes work. They built the house by hand, raised two kids here, and helped put humboldt county on the map. Tom we were people who started this industry. There was nobody growing weed. There was nobody here, marcus. Every piece of land was for sale when we started you could have bought the whole mountain for a hundred bucks. 36,000 for the whole valley you want to buy it everything you see . Thats not today. No. Today it will be 36 million. Yeah. What did you pay for your land. [ chuckles ] you dont even want to say . 9,000. For all 40 acres. 40plus acres. This was the poorest county in the United States when we came here. Logging was completely gone. Fishing was wiped out. This was a depressed area. And so is the depression of this area the reason that cannabis came to be . Yes. Nowadays theres plenty of competition. Get this out of here. But tom and karen still do things way they always have. Come on bella. And for a couple in their 70s, i got to say, its very impressive. Karen we grow it outside. You do . Yes. We only started in the greenhouse. They call the place amaranth farms. They grow 18 kinds of pot, but specialize in strains for medical use. And who planted all this . You did . We had a help with some. Time to roll up my sleeves. Okay, hold on. I want do a little bit of this. Mines going to grow. Tom now, dont fill it too thats it. Little more. Hey, im taking instruction from her. Okay. Karen you have to get it out of here. You hold it on the side gently. You dont want to hurt the roots. Yeah, there you go. Good. Little hole. Yeah. And then put it in there. [ laughs ] i saw that marcus. No, you didnt. Dont tell the boss. Youll need more soil so it stays up. Okay. This is team work. Which ones mine, by the way . This was yours. Okay. I think mine looks better than yours. Ive just got to be honest with you. You know, i meet people all the time. I dont know what id do for a living. Yes. But i invest in small businesses. Yeah. Okay . And im always having to deal with Family Businesses and their struggles, and husbands and wives working together. Is the dynamic between the two of you always this good . Yeah. Id say pretty much. Is it because of this . [ laughter ] or is it because youre legitimately always in agreement . I love her lemonis tom and karens story is the story of pot in humboldt county, right down to the seeds. Where did you get your first seeds from . Mexico. From stuff we smoked over the years. Okay. Then a man went to afghanistan. A man you knew. We dropped him off at the airport. He went to afghan a local guy. He said, give me a ride to the airport, ill bring you a seed back. Yeah. Lemonis from what i hear, those seeds and the plants they produced would cement humboldts place as pot capital of the United States. Man this area called humboldt county doesnt seem like california. Lemonis it was the mid70s. Man they say people here are different, that they think differently. Lemonis and as that weed grew in reputation, folks here realized they could make some serious money. By the 1980s, humboldts economy was riding high on pot, and supplying cities across the u. S. , and that caught the attention of law enforcement. Man ready to go. Even after california legalized medical marijuana in 1996. Man theres another big batch. The crackdowns continued. Through it all, tom and karen stayed up on the mountain, tending their crop and raising their family. Their son, nya, and their daughter, elan, both helped out on the farm, but it wasnt always idyllic. Lemonis did you know what your parents did when you were young . Did you understand that they were essentially involved in illegal activity . Oh, yeah. You did know that . Yeah. Yeah, we knew. Yes. And how old were you when you say you found out . Probably seven or eight. Same for you . I think so. I think, you know, it was just kind of the way they raised us. It was just so natural, and then you started going to school and it was like, oh, boy. And certain kids in school you avoided, because their dad with a sheriff. Did you ever wonder if your parents were going to go to jail . Oh, yeah, all the time. Yeah. So youd be riding the School Bus Home and watch the sheriff vehicles heading out, loaded down with what they had taken. From you guys . No. No. But you didnt know when youre coming home and theyre passing you, and im thinking, is my mom or dad in that car . Are they going to pick up at the School Bus Stop . You just kind of worry until you get there and see if theyre there to meet you or not. That is scary. You know, ive been right here when ive woken up if were watching the house when the parents are gone and i wake up with a guy with a machine gun and in a helicopter pointing it at you, you know. Come on. Oh, yeah, no, multiple times. And, actually, that one time, they chased me all the way through the woods with a helicopter for, like, 45 minutes. With you running . Yeah. I just finally stopped and just sat there and waited. They finally just flew off. Lemonis but even that couldnt keep nya and elan from joining the family business. And now theyre helping their parents fulfill a lifelong dream, getting a permit for their farm. Theyve already spent 75,000 to get everything up to code. Why did you decide, after all those years at the top of the mountain, where it takes an hour to get up the road and its bumpy, and its not easy, why did you decide that it was appropriate to follow the law . Well, you finally get tired of helicopters. The harassing gets to you. And maybe youre sleeping with both eyes closed now, as opposed to one eye open . Yeah. Yeah. Lemonis when it comes to the law, they got lucky. Not everyone in the neighborhood can say that. Johnny casali lives just down the road. Tom and karen consider him family. We know where you live and youre so special to us. These days, his life looks a lot like there is, but it wasnt always that way. You love this land, dont you . I grew up here, and theres just something inside me that i just cant shake it. Johnny has lived on his 40acre farm since he was five, and growing marijuana is in his dna. Who taught you all this . This is mom. Mom taught you how to do this . Mom was one of the greatest horticulturalists ever, and i just learned with her. I learned a lot of things from my mother, but growing pot, well, that wasnt one of them. She just always had a love for plants, and that kind of just transferred to me, and i just started following her around and enjoying it just like she did. Family, his farm, freedom, these things mattered to johnny because he knows what it feels like to have them taken away. Coming up, johnny casalis story takes a dramatic turn. I woke up at 6 00 in the morning, 30 federal agents showed up at my door, guns to my head. Whoa. Heres a razor that works differently. The Gillette Skinguard it has a guard between the blades that helps protect skin. The Gillette Skinguard. Original crown molding, walk in closets. We do have a ratt problem. Round and round with love well find a way, just give it time. At least geico makes bundling our home and Car Insurance easy. It does help us save. 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Xfinity xfi can because its. Simple, easy, awesome. [ barking ] lemonis i didnt know what to expect when i got to humboldt county, but it definitely wasnt the story like johnny casalis. Johnny is a marijuana farmer, easy going and soft spoken. He was raised on this land, and its the place where his life would change forever. One morning i woke up at 6 00 in the morning to 30 federal agents showed up at my door. Whoa. Guns to my head. They searched my property. They searched the house. It was 1992. Johnny and his best friend were caught growing 1,500 marijuana plants. [ helicopter blades whirring ] at that time, there was a lot of eradication going on in humboldt, and they were trying to make an example out of us. And you stopped. All the plants went away. Oh, we stopped because you had a gun at your head. He was charged with eight federal counts, including conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana. We told the judge, hey, look, were guilty. But i thought it was super important to tell the judge, i want you to know before you sentence me that im somebody that i would never hurt a Single Person and i care about [ coughs ] i care about my family and my friends. [ clears throat ] why did you want him to know that . I dont know why it was important to me, but it was. And, you know, his hands were tied. Growing more than a thousand plants meant the mandatory minimum sentence, ten years in prison. Johnny had no prior criminal record. He was 29 years old. Your mom was able to come see you there . My mom was able to come see me, and then how was that for her . That was probably the toughest thing for me, because she held a lot of guilt inside and she blamed herself. Maybe if she wouldnt have brought me up here maybe this wouldnt have happened. But i never felt that way. Johnnys mother died when he was behind bars. He ended up serving nearly eight years. How long have you been out . Its like 13 years now. And now youre standing in the middle of and now im back doing something that i have so deeply embedded in me. This farm is about showing the Cannabis Community that theres a right and a wrong way that you can grow cannabis. This time its all legal. Hes got a permit. How many plants are in here . So on this whole farm theres, like, 2,200 plants. So theres more here today than when you went to jail. Yes. Its ironic, isnt it . Its ironic, and its scary. You scared that somethings going to change and youll have to go back . No. Does it haunt you a little bit . Well, it haunts everybody thats ever lived here. The minute you hear a helicopter, its a whole different feeling. I dont care if youre permitted. I dont care if youre not. I heard about that fear again and again from the farmers i met. Decades of hiding from the law cant be erased overnight. But now those choppers arent going after farmers like johnny casali, theyre chasing bigtime illegal growers. Sheriff. Yes. Nice to meet you. Pleasure to meet you. Billy honsal is the sheriff of humboldt county, a local guy born and bred. For him, the fight against pot is in his blood. When you were growing up, you knew, really, what the dirty little secret was about the county . Absolutely, because my dad was in law enforcement. Okay. My mom was in education. No matter what part of humboldt county you grew up in, you saw marijuana and the people that were associated with it. And most of those people have decided to stay outside the law, because going legal means paying taxes. Sheriff honsal has just two officers in his marijuana unit, doing battle against 10,000 illegal grows. How many can you get to a year . Maybe 125. And while youre getting to the 125, how many are popping up at the same time, 225 . Possibly. You want to take a ride . Yeah, lets go. Ill show you all around here. Lets go. To see exactly what the sheriff and his men are up against, i wanted to get a birdseye view. Man all right, everyone, were lifting. Lemonis we took off from a town near the coast and flew inland over miles of dense forest and snaking rivers. Just one of every ten farms is going for a permit. From the air, i couldnt tell the difference between whats legal and whats not. While were up here, is it safe to say that people down below are tracking our whereabouts . This helicopter flying here is causing a lot of angst and anxiety with a lot of people. But for the sheriffs deputies, its the best way to find illegal growers. Once they do, they roll in, over roads that are unmarked, unpaved, and unwelcomed. How much organized crime is running through these hills . Theres a lot of it. You have International Drug trafficking organizations that are here. Anywhere where they can go and make money, theyre going to come. And the sheriff suspects one of those cartels is here, trespassing on the hoopa valley indian reservation. As officers fly over the area, they spot a clearing packed with cannabis plants. After a hike deep into the forest, they discover a camp pitched in between the trees, gun drawn, a deputy moves in. The suspects get away, leaving everything behind. Based upon the food thats here, it looks like mexican nationals might be here. But we dont know which organization they might be tied to. This is a methamphetamine pipe right here. It looks like theres two people. Thats all it takes. All this speckled white grayish substance on these leaves, thats them spraying it. That not fertilizer. Thats a pesticide, and thats going to hit the streets. The team works its way uphill, destroying the crop. Five hours later, theyre air lifted out. Whats the plant count . Total number was 4,608. Fully grown, those 4,600 plans would have produced some 4,600 pounds of pot. In california, at a thousand bucks a pound, thats worth about 4. 5 million. But drive that weed to new york city, where it can sell for five grand a pound on the street, were talking 23 million. The sheriff says that kind of money is driving crime in his county. You know, we have one area of humboldt that weve nicknamed murder mountain because so many murders have happened there. Every year we have people that call us and say, my son or daughter, my friend who went to humboldt county to work in the Marijuana Industry, i havent heard from them in months, and we dont know where they go. Is there a lot of this marijuana a dea issue . They were really a big help in the 1980s. The federal resources kind of they turned off the faucet and weve had a hard time keeping up ever since. Another big concern, the illegal grows are killing the environment. You see how greenhouses are growing right next to the creek. All of the nutrients that people are feeding their marijuana, all of their insecticides are now flowing into this river and killing off all of the fish out of there. Well, that seems like, for me, if i was in your job, the first place i would start is run the river trail. Yes. I mean, you can see this here is a natural salmon creek here, and theyre got these terrible structures right on the creek. The state has spent millions to restore the endangered fish populations. Its also beefed up environment laws, which are now one of the sheriffs biggest weapons. Its a misdemeanor to grow marijuana in california. So you just get a citation . You can get a citation. But where the real felony happens is the environment crimes. So growing marijuana, you know. Yeah. And then damaging the environment, thats what makes it a felony in california. Its like al capone went to jail for taxes. Yes. As opposed to killing people. Thats right, exactly. Grow a thousand plants, its a misdemeanor. But hurt the environment, thats a felony. The sheriff is determined, but hes up against a ton of resistance in a county peppered with outlaws. What i saw out there and what ive heard sounds more like the wild west than it does some organized applyforapermit process, and somebodys going to get shot. It has happened. Youre in a real drug war here. Unfortunately, yes, we are. This is the last thing i want to deal with is freaking marijuana. Up next, going big or going broke, a new generation betting the farm on pot. Are you the first grower in humboldt county . Our company was probably one of the first, for sure, at our scale, by far. engine revving soft beeps little choices make a big difference. Like nutritious fruit smoothies. However you healthy. Naked. Tide cleaners is offeringe Free Laundry Services you. To the family of frontline responders. Visit hope. Tidecleaners. Com to learn more. And i like to question your im yoevery move. N law. Like this left turn. Its the next one. You always drive this slow . How did you make someone i love . That must be why youre always so late. I do not speed. 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Claritind. Get more airflow. Heres a razor that works differently. The Gillette Skinguard it has a guard between the blades that helps protect skin. The Gillette Skinguard. Stimulant laxatives forcefully stimulate i switched to miralax for my constipation. The nerves in your colon. Miralax works with the water in your body to unblock your system naturally. And it doesnt cause bloating, cramping, gas, or sudden urgency. Miralax. Look for the pink cap. Lemonis if somebody ever writes a book about the history of marijuana in modern times, the two of you would have a chapter. [ laughs ] a sentence anyway. Youd be in the book. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Meeting the hesslers was one of the highlights of my time in humboldt county. Tom and karen had been through a lot, but not nearly as much as their neighbor, johnny casali. I did ten years, im not a rat. It would have been really easy for me to have turned in a friend of mine and not done any time. After hearing their stories, i had a pretty good feel for the history of humboldt. But what about its future . Well, i think i found it. Im marcus. Alex. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. How many acres do you have here . 900. Holy cow. Alex moore has invested millions in Honeydew Farms, and when it comes to weed, bigger is definitely better. What happens on this 900 acres . We have cultivation sites spread out in different locations on the ranch. Honeydew has nearly three acres of openair plants and 22 greenhouses all of it legal. So if you see a helicopter, you dont care. Oh, no, the Sheriffs Department is welcome to come over any time they want. I mean, were completely transparent at this point. You know, i dont want to be looking through, you know, a jail cell at my kids. Lemonis alex runs honeydew, along with his wife, miranda. Its a far cry from the years he spent working in the shadows. Did you wonder if you were gonna potentially go to jail on certain days . Absolutely. You did . Absolutely. And what did you tell people you did for a living . Well, i mean, i did do construction back then during the day, but then maybe early in the morning or late in the evening i had a few plants in the woods. And the thing i think i would be worried about is, okay, the state of california said it was legal. Yeah. And then humboldt county gave me a license. But what if the federal governments like, nope, we dont agree . If the federal government is going to start somewhere, i would hope they would start with the big blackmarket producers crossing state lines. I want to see more. How can we do that . Hop in my truck and go for a tour. Lemonis born in philadelphia, he came to humboldt in 1991, when he was just 19. This is our house, but were going to run up to the top of that side of the ranch. Alex never even told his mom what he did until recently. Well, i didnt tell her about the marijuana until we were, like. Legal. Completely legal, because, yeah, i got like my moms like your typical jewish mother. Yeah. She literally would have parked herself in my driveway, you know. Youre not going. Locked herself to the gate, you know. Youre not doing this anymore if youre watching, mom, relax. Your son has come a long way since he headed west 27 years ago. Weve already passed a couple greenhouses. This one we planted yesterday. Okay. Whats it cost to put up a greenhouse like that, 50,000 . Youre looking at about 50. The feds may say its illegal, but the county is happy to collect its share. So how do they tax you . Theyre taxing us on Square Footage right now. Lemonis honeydew has more than 250,000 feet of growing space and a tax bill to match. You got to pay half up front, so they split it in two installments just like your property taxes. Whether you are growing or not . Whether i pull this crop off or not, i paid the county 140,000 to have the permits to do it. For the rights to do it . For the rights to do it. And then come november, i owe them another 140,000. A license to grow pot is not a license to print money. Outdoors, a thousand things can go wrong. Bad weather or a bug infestation can ruin a crop. Miranda says, you better knock on wood, and i can tell you ever single time this is agriculture theres a problem every single time. Are you intimidated by how fast this is growing . Its concerning, especially because its just alex and i for owners. We dont have outside investors, and so this is all of our eggs in one basket, which, you know, obviously is recommended not to do. The stress can add up, but so can the profits. Miranda and alex are banking on what could soon be a 6 billion Legal Marijuana market in california. But for every grower working with the law, paying taxes, there are many more who arent. I think most people up here have decided not to go legal, or the ones that have decided not to go legal have done it for all the same reasons. The costs are phenomenal. We met one farmer who asked us to hide her identity because shes not going legal, at least for now. It wasnt worth it for me to do the compliance because ive always been a small farmer. The costs in doing it were monumental compared to the income i have had. Heres a thousand. Part of the decision not to comply was simply a financial one. I would not have been able to afford it. Probably at least 100,000 to get my farm into complete compliance. Steep costs like that favor the big operators. At Honeydew Farms, theres a lot riding on each crop. How many harvests a year do you get . We get two. Two, thats it . Two, thats it, yeah. Indoor growers get four. We get two. Those indoor grows are the new wave in industrialized pot production. I saw it firsthand in the Southern California desert, climate control, hightech, and highly popular. They pose a serious threat to the farmers in humboldt county. People like indoor. They do . I think that its basically cannabis on steroids. Its amped up. Its amped up. It looks pretty amazing. Doesnt have the variations in the weather and stuff that we have. Its like every day is ideal. Alex says that indoor pot is creating a glut. Thats driving the prices and the profits down. Back in the 90s, humboldt weed was selling for more than 6,000 a pound. You were a king if you grew five pounds back then. Today, hes only getting about 1,000. So how do you regulate overproducing, meaning that theres more supply than this is demanded . Yeah. How do you find that balance to make sure that you maximize your margin . Ultimately, it would be great if all the farmers got together and, you know, would say, well, you know what, this year, just like opec, were not going to expand. But if everybody goes, well, you know, i have to double what i did last year to make the same amount of money this year, theyre ultimately driving the market into the ground and that is ultimately putting people out of business. Weve got this main line coming in here. Lemonis overproduction and falling prices arent the only challenges facing alex and miranda. Coming up, everybody and their brother is looking to buy a pot farm in humboldt, and she wants to help. What prompted you to actually become the pot girl . Socially distant, right . I mean, humans need other humans. Even if we cant stand closer than six feet, or touch each other. Theres still ways to. Touch each other. Like picking up food, or supplies, or, dropping them off. After all, cars were invented to bring us closer together. So, carmax is doing everything we can to keep you going. And thats the way it should be. Keeping our customers, employees, and communities safe. 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Helping you weather storms like this one, introducing tide power pods with cat nat. That is such a large load, dont the stains sneak through . New tide power pods can clean that. Whole situation. Its like two regular tide pods and then even more power. Even the largest of loads get clean. Its got to be tide. Lemonis at Honeydew Farms, alex and Miranda Moore havent hit pay dirt yet, but they think theyve planted the seeds. Theyre convinced the full legalization of pot will bring a surge in demand from thousands of new recreational users. But i couldnt help wondering what if their expectations dont meet reality. Lemonis do you think theres that many people that are waiting until january to try marijuana for the first time . I dont know if theyre waiting until january. I think that the Consumer Market is going to get gigantic. I just worry that the demand isnt going to be what everybody expects it to be, because this is iknowaguy business. Oh, yeah. I know a guy. Yeah. Everybody that wants it can get it. They know a guy or they go get the medical license. Yeah. And i share that concern. Lemonis and theres Something Else farmers need to worry about more competition. Wealthy investors are scouring humboldt, buying land and looking to get in on the cannabis crowd. Dana wallace makes her living by helping that happen. What prompted you to actually become the pot girl . Because i saw the potential and i saw these properties that these investors were going to start going after, and somebodys got to do it. Dana is different from any realtor ive ever met. She specializes in one thing selling pot farms. You look at all the properties in the state of california that are for sale today, for this type of venture, would you say its 100 million, 200 million across the whole state . We could be looking at over a billion dollars. Im marcus. Brennan thicke. How are you . Nice to meet you. Brennan thicke is one of danas clients. Hes the son of the late actor alan thicke. After a decade running dispensaries in Southern California, brennans come to humboldt looking to buy a pot farm. So lets say that you called me and you said, marcus, i know you invest in all sorts of crazy stuff, i want you to invest in the marijuana business, and heres my pitch i want you to put up 5 million. I would say that as the legal market expands that this is going to be a 10plus billionayear industry. But what happens if everybodys wrong about the demand side and the supply is just through the roof . Yeah. Unbelievable supply, Commodity Prices drop. Instead of being 1,200 a pound or 1,500 a pound, its now 400 a pound or 300 a pound. Its really going to come down to branding and quality. If youre producing an excellent product, and youre creating a beautiful flower, then theres going to be good money in that as well. Good money . Maybe. But theres a fear among many growers that big agriculture or big tobacco could one day move into pot production. Its challenging because of the talk on the street. Everyone is very doomsday right now. What are they doomsday about . Doomsday just that. Big ags going to come in. Big ag is going to come in or the price is going to be, you know, 100 a pound in five years, and, you know, this is just like big plasma tvs used to be five grand, and now theyre 399. Yes. Or walmarts going to come in and youre going to get, you know, an eighth for 10 at walmart, and thats a concern. Do you really think that walmart will sell marijuana at some point . I dont know. I mean, when its federally legal, im sure they will, right. When do you think that will happen . Oh, you know thats not up to me, unfortunately. Lemonis up next, high in the mountains there are millions in pot profits. But where does it all go . Every single business on main street is funded by the cannabis industry, whether people want to admit it or not. Its a like, a dagger . A worm a tiny sword . Bread. Breadstick . A matchstick a lamppost coin slot no . Uhhh. 10 seconds. A stick a Walking Stick eiffel tower, Mount Kilimanjaro ding time sorry, its a tandem bicycle. What . What . as long as sloths are slow, you can count on geico saving folks money. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on Car Insurance. Stand up to moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. And take. It. On with rinvoq. Rinvoq a oncedaily pill can dramatically improve symptoms. Rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. And for some. Rinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. Thats rinvoq relief. With ra, your overactive immune system attacks your joints. Rinvoq regulates it to help stop the attack. Rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. 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Lets go murph here, yellow 50 50 [ cheers and applause ] its smalltown charms can almost make you forget that this is the nations cannabisgrowing capital. As much as a quarter of the economy here comes from pot. Hidden in these hills is an industry estimated to be worth more than 2 billion. I wanted to find out where all that money goes. And whether it flows down to the towns along highway 101. I started in fortuna, population 12,000. Its actually a pretty conservative town, but even here, almost everyones tied to the cannabis economy. Hello. My husband, greg. Cara and Greg Knostman have run lotus Mountain Screen printing for close to 20 years. We started it to have more family time, because he was working at a you started a business to hamore family time . I know, ironic, isnt it . So whos the one who made it big . That would be, i mean, i guess probably me. And it would be us. Yeah. Us, yeah. It takes a woman to make it bigger. Yeah, it does. [ laughs ] lemonis lotus mountain prints customdesigned tshirts, hats, and decals for humboldt businesses. They dont grow pot, but they sure do profit from it. A third of their revenue comes from cannabisrelated companies. And how has that grown over the last four, five years . In the last year, its probably at least doubled from what it was before that, and another two years before that, it was probably maybe and in dollars . We did about 850,000 in sales last year. Nice job. With competition between marijuana businesses on the rise, establishing a brand identity is critical. And whats more american than announcing yourself to the world with a bunch of tshirts and hats . And have you seen the business really explode since prop 64 passed . Totally. Our spike was october of last year. Right before the election. Right before. Everyone could feel the tide turning. All this cash is being generated up in the mountain. How does it end up on main street . Everyone. Every single business on main street is funded by the cannabis industry. Whether people want to admit it or not, i would say the numberone moneymaker in this county. Why wont they admit it . I think that people, especially in the smaller conservative towns, want to pretend like its not happening. And if they pretend like its not happening then its not happening. Then its not happening. But we all know whats happening. The shops that line the main drag may be flush with marijuana money, but the industry priming the pump hasnt been paying taxes. And thats my thing, bring the people out of the shadows, have them start paying taxes. Have you guys visited South Fork High School . The classrooms are practically falling apart. The tax base isnt there. Yeah, theres no taxes, and its gotten more money in that community than just about anywhere, and theyre not paying taxes. Theyre not utilizing what could be. On paper, humboldt county is one of the poorest counties in california, with a poverty rate well above the national average. Look, theres a possibility that marijuana may one day help this region turn a corner, but that hasnt happened yet. I left fortuna, and headed to a city thats opened its doors to the pot business. Eureka wants its share of the 7 million in Marijuana Tax money the county expects to take in each year. But even here, not everyones on board. Hi there. Hows it going . Im marcus. Im adam. Nice to meet you. Adam, how are you . I met adam dick. Hes the cofounder of a craft chocolate company. Its one of the holdouts against the marijuana movement. Thats amazing. Thank you. Have people approached you about make cannabis edibles . Yeah, weve been approached about that. Thats just not kind of our scene. I think that, to a certain degree, it would cheapen our brand. Adams not in the Marijuana Industry, but hes definitely feeling its effects. With all the pot businesses moving onto his block, rents are climbing. Why are rents so high . Because of the zoning for cannabis in this particular area. Oh. Its certainly something that keeps us up at night every night. Its expensive to just move. Oh, yeah. Looking around, i was impressed with adams commitment to his craft, but i wondered if hes fighting a losing battle. But youre paying 65 cents. Right. But youve been in a lease prior to prop 64. Yes. And so a building across the street in the same zone, what would that rent be if you were starting today . Im guessing, like in this same block, its probably north of 225 a square foot. Really . Yeah. If the rent suddenly triples, its going to be nearly impossible to make ends meet, unless you infuse your chocolate with pot and raise the prices. I was surprised no one had ever offered to do just that and buy the business. You wouldnt sell it 3 million, 4 million . [ chuckles ] yeah, i dont know. 5 million. Sure. Okay, im going to become your friend. If they ever call, you call me first. Okay. [ laughs ] ill negotiate. Ill get us to 6. Yeah. You give me like some free chocolate for a while, were good. As i left adam, i wondered, how much of eurekas embrace of the pot industry actually make a difference. Driving through the town, i felt it could really use a shot in the arm. Look, if humboldt county is churning out billions of dollars worth of pot each year, where is all of that money . I asked someone who should know sheriff billy honsal. As i spent more time through the town, i scratch my head a little bit. Right. I saw homelessness like i would not have expected to see right. I see vacancies and boarded up buildings. Right. Where is all the money . Is money leaving here . Lots of money is living here. A ton of money is leaving here. Where is it going . Its going all over the world. Ive heard of people buying houses in the grand caymans. Ive heard of people buying property in south america with their marijuana money. Because marijuana is illegal under federal law, its hard for pot businesses to deposit cash or take out loans. The sheriff says their money does flow down the mountain, but in ways you might not expect. When i think about hospice centers, therapy centers, community centers, how are those actually being funded . We have a very Generous Community here. So, if i go to a fundraiser here at town hall, are people dropping a bag of cash . Yes, they are. Bags of cash show up at schools, and there are people that actually have so much money that money is buried. Several hundred Million Dollars a year in tax evasion here in the county . Easily. Easily. Coming up, harvest time for alex and miranda, and heres trouble on the farm. This year has been a battle, with one thing after another pretty much. There are times when our need to connect really matters. To keep customers and employees in the know. 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Man wildfires are still raging across california. Lemonis in early october, disaster struck part of the emerald triangle. Woman entire neighborhoods are being destroyed. Lemonis one of the worst wildfires in the States History consumed nearby counties, and more than 30 pot growers were destroyed. Neighbors in humboldt county nervously watched the fires spread. Luckily, they were spared. But its still been a tough season for some the growers here. When i first met alex and miranda at Honeydew Farms in the spring, they had just begun planting their outdoor crop. Weve invested everything in this, yeah. Your life savings. Oh, yeah, everything. Everything you have . Yeah. This definitely could be a complete crash and burn. Lemonis by october, those three acres of thin seedlings had grown into thick trees, and the fall harvest is about to begin. These are monsters. Got some big buds here. But there were problems, including an invasion of microscopic critters called russet mites. Theres going to be, you know, significant loss. Lemonis fighting them off sent his labor costs sky high, just as wholesale prices were dropping. Alex this year well probably go down, i would imagine, as probably one of the worst, because theres so many people that have jumped into this right now. Its pretty out of control, really, that, you know, so many unregulated, unpermitted farms are all competing in the same marketplace. Lemonis but alex and miranda know its a marathon, not a sprint. In five years were going to be, hopefully, on every shelf in every dispensary in the state of california. I mean, thats our plan. I think theres going to be a lot of people that are going to be out of it. A lot of the people that dont know what theyre doing that think theyre going to get in here and get rich in one year. You know, those people dont understand farming. Lemonis for these early settlers, its not just a living but a way of life. Unlike some of their neighbors, tom and Karen Hessler had one of their best summers ever. The weathers just been perfect, absolutely perfect. Growing legal allowed them to grow more marijuana than they had ever dared before. Lets go get marcuss plant. Okay. Back in the spring, i had given them a hand. That little sprout turned into this. Its nice and full and looks really aromatic. Really aromatic, beautiful. Its just solid. Everything is perfect on it. Couldnt get it better. Its been a season of mixed emotions for tom. Sure, hes relieved to not be running from the law anymore, but hes also angry over the getrichquick newcomers with no ties to humboldt county. Weve been doing this for 50 years, and for almost 50 years, people have been chasing us, chastising us, and trying to destroy us. Now they all want to be in with us, so sometimes i feel like telling them all where to put it. Theyre like carpet baggers, and now theyre trying to take everything, our way of life, and its kind of disturbing, you know. It really is. Lemonis the hesslers are facing a pivotal moment. So are the other growers i met traveling humboldt county. The supply glut is driving prices down. Steep taxes may hurt them even more. And theres still the threat of federal enforcement. California is about to become the largest Legal Marijuana market in the world. Its one of eight states to pass laws legalizing recreational pot. As more states join, the black market with probably shrink. Investing in the Marijuana Industry seems tempting but ive decided to leave that to others. As for the farmers of humboldt, i wish them success, making an honest living. Im marcus lemonis. Im craig melvin. And im natalie morales. And this is dateline. And i told him i loved him. He said hed be right back. I could hear a commotion of some sort, and then i remember hearing gunshots. To see him lying there, it was bad. Natalie morales its the website where lovers go to meet and cheat. Chad mcdonald this was someone looking to have an affair. Natalie morales but this affair was about so much more than deceit. Cindy lutz you couldnt write this as a movie. You couldnt write this as a book. Natalie morales this affair became a game, a wife and her lover spying