Colorado Media Newsroom
August 28th, 2013, 04:42 PM
From The Denver Post:
http://blogs.denverpost.com/ostrow/wp-content/blogs.dir/49/files/2013/08/Ep6_008_DrugsIncIV-495x330.jpg
National Geographic Channel is hardly the first to chronicle Colorado’s marijuana legalization and ensuing political, business and cultural fallout. But their series’ focus is crime, narcotics and gangs. “Rocky Mountain High,” an episode of the series “Drugs Inc.,” (http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/drugs-inc/) will air at 7 p.m. locally on Sept. 15. And the picture is not pretty.
The hour opens with the party scene in Denver’s Civic Center Park on April 20, “the largest smoke-out in the country.” The happy festival is interrupted by gunshots, the camera catches the panic, the background music turns menacing, the voice-over is grim. This, we are told, is what pot leads to: Gang warfare.
The “green rush,” the emerging pot tourism industry, the 5,000 employees in Denver’s “weed business,” it’s all noted in the hour by executive producer Jonathan Hewes (“Man on Wire”) (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0381966/). But that’s not all. “Pager dope” (ordered by phone, higher quality than what’s on the street) in Denver operates much like pizza delivery, we’re told. The availability of legal pot in Denver is putting a dent in the sale of cheap Mexican “brick weed.” So, the Mexican drug gangs are actively pushing heroin into Denver.
To illustrate the idea that pot legalization is “adding fuel to the fire of old gang rivalries,” Park Hill is isolated on a graphic map. The Crips and Bloods are introduced with YouTube videos and disguised/distorted voices. A white-board full of the names of “dead homies” is displayed on camera. Gang-bangers have been squeezed out of the pot trade by the legal pot business, the documentary states and have graduated to harder drugs. “Ghost,” one of the biggest drug wholesalers in Denver, is depicted working out of “a wealthy suburb,” far from the hood. He and his lieutenant pack cocaine on top of a washing machine.
In some of the most dramatic scenes, Denver Police allow the film crew to tag along as they target open-air drug markets downtown, where buying and selling of crack cocaine goes on in full view. The producer makes his case: Inter-cutting scenes of heroin sales with visiting potheads on their tour bus makes the link. It’s a loaded argument. The goal here isn’t a balanced discussion of the impact of the legalization of pot, much less an overview like Sanjay Gupta offered on CNN (http://blogs.denverpost.com/ostrow/2013/08/09/colorado-at-center-of-weed-documentary-on-cnn-sunday/15978/) recently about the medical benefits of the drug.
Throughout the hour, one question nags: couldn’t anyone who knows these folks recognize them behind the little bandanas, under the hoodies and caps?
More... (http://blogs.denverpost.com/ostrow/2013/08/28/denver-as-pot-capital-here-comes-another-tv-weed-documentary/16301/)
http://blogs.denverpost.com/ostrow/wp-content/blogs.dir/49/files/2013/08/Ep6_008_DrugsIncIV-495x330.jpg
National Geographic Channel is hardly the first to chronicle Colorado’s marijuana legalization and ensuing political, business and cultural fallout. But their series’ focus is crime, narcotics and gangs. “Rocky Mountain High,” an episode of the series “Drugs Inc.,” (http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/drugs-inc/) will air at 7 p.m. locally on Sept. 15. And the picture is not pretty.
The hour opens with the party scene in Denver’s Civic Center Park on April 20, “the largest smoke-out in the country.” The happy festival is interrupted by gunshots, the camera catches the panic, the background music turns menacing, the voice-over is grim. This, we are told, is what pot leads to: Gang warfare.
The “green rush,” the emerging pot tourism industry, the 5,000 employees in Denver’s “weed business,” it’s all noted in the hour by executive producer Jonathan Hewes (“Man on Wire”) (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0381966/). But that’s not all. “Pager dope” (ordered by phone, higher quality than what’s on the street) in Denver operates much like pizza delivery, we’re told. The availability of legal pot in Denver is putting a dent in the sale of cheap Mexican “brick weed.” So, the Mexican drug gangs are actively pushing heroin into Denver.
To illustrate the idea that pot legalization is “adding fuel to the fire of old gang rivalries,” Park Hill is isolated on a graphic map. The Crips and Bloods are introduced with YouTube videos and disguised/distorted voices. A white-board full of the names of “dead homies” is displayed on camera. Gang-bangers have been squeezed out of the pot trade by the legal pot business, the documentary states and have graduated to harder drugs. “Ghost,” one of the biggest drug wholesalers in Denver, is depicted working out of “a wealthy suburb,” far from the hood. He and his lieutenant pack cocaine on top of a washing machine.
In some of the most dramatic scenes, Denver Police allow the film crew to tag along as they target open-air drug markets downtown, where buying and selling of crack cocaine goes on in full view. The producer makes his case: Inter-cutting scenes of heroin sales with visiting potheads on their tour bus makes the link. It’s a loaded argument. The goal here isn’t a balanced discussion of the impact of the legalization of pot, much less an overview like Sanjay Gupta offered on CNN (http://blogs.denverpost.com/ostrow/2013/08/09/colorado-at-center-of-weed-documentary-on-cnn-sunday/15978/) recently about the medical benefits of the drug.
Throughout the hour, one question nags: couldn’t anyone who knows these folks recognize them behind the little bandanas, under the hoodies and caps?
More... (http://blogs.denverpost.com/ostrow/2013/08/28/denver-as-pot-capital-here-comes-another-tv-weed-documentary/16301/)