The Union: The Business Behind Getting High Page #7

And then two deep,

each one is two deep.

Down here, two deep, down

the next one, two deep.

Three, four,

there's numbers on the wall.

And then what they did is they

cut them to make doorways,

and that's how you have your

hallways going into each one.

There are water reservoirs here,

and you see one, two, three.

You're like,

"Okay, that's quite a bit."

But then there's this one

and that one

and another one at the end.

Look at these things.

Like, no wonder the cops

just left it.

Moving this sh*t

would be a pain in the ass...

These train carts, I see why

they bought them.

They got a deal.

They're all rusted

in the bottom.

We could start

growing here tomorrow.

There's still dirt and

fertilizer ready to go.

Oh, here, who wants a little

leftover plant there ?

Look at this.

Look at all this wiring

right here.

You can see the cops

have come, severed everything.

( man )

What are those chains for ?

Chains are where they were

hanging the lights.

Reason why they

use the chains,

'cause then they

can adjust the height.

Actually, you wanna get me

a run all the way down

to see how far away I am ?

So I'm going to go the end here

to show you how deep this is,

and this was all filled

with plants.

Whoa, I'm at the end.

I can hardly see over there,

it's just like lights to me.

This is how far away, like,

to give you an idea

just how big this is.

God, it's a trek just to get

back to where you guys are.

Now, you're gonna see

a lot of repetition,

because here

it goes again.

Bang, all the way down.

When it said in the paper, 20,

it's probably--

it's gotta be ten long

and two deep each one,

'cause then

you've got your 20 carts.

Man, I wish we could have seen

that while it was still rolling.

That is crazy.

You wouldn't know

there's a law here.

Check this out--

Cannabis Day.

An actual day dedicated

to marijuana.

And take note,

this takes place

on one of the busiest,

high-traffic blocks

of BC's largest city,

Vancouver.

Marijuana ?

It's everywhere.

Consumed and sold in every

imaginable way.

Pipes, bongs,

joints, baked goods.

It was hard to imagine that

nearly every person

attending this event

was breaking the law,

and yet no one

seemed to care.

The police were there,

but not to bust people.

They held traffic for the band

to play for Cannabis Day.

Now they went back

to their side of the street.

Sure, no problem, brother.

( man )

Thank you very much.

No problem--

complying with the 5-0.

One of the organizers told me

that in all the years

this event has taken place,

there's never been a violent

incident, except once,

by a man who was believed to be

under the influence of alcohol.

We heard there was

a jazz festival

happening at the same time

on the other side of the block.

It wasn't doing quite as well,

but there was one group

doing all right.

Right up there,

as you can see,

is still Cannabis Day

going on,

but right here, not even a block

away, is a church retreat,

and they're selling doughnuts.

I was like, "Well, what do you

guys think about the rally ?"

And they're like,

"We need to pray for them."

Then I was like, "You guys are

selling food for them, right ?"

I'm sure they've sold record

amounts today, I guess, too,

so we'll see.

We'll get an interview here

shortly, hopefully.

The interview never came.

There was so much marijuana,

it was unbelievable.

I think we almost

all got contact highs

just from being around

the smoke.

But I did get a doughnut.

I did purchase some of these

on the way out.

Those church girls got me.

A culture of marijuana

has been established in BC,

from paraphernalia to caf?s,

from seed selling,

to its very own political party,

the BC Marijuana Party.

Even bakers.

Hey, everybody,

I'm Watermelon,

and welcome to my

vaudeville cooking show,

"Baked and Baking,"

where we're gonna

revolutionize the cooking show,

and we're gonna let you guys

in on the action.

Meet Watermelon Girl.

She's made a name for herself

as BC's only drug-dealing,

nudist, comic,

pin-up baker.

Did I get all that in ?

She was arrested for selling her

cookies down on Wreck Beach--

a nude beach...

is this for real ?

( Watermelon Girl )

I'm like the Heidi Fleiss

of weed.

I tell everybody, like,

lawyers, doctors, like,

there's no proverbial,

"Yo, G," you know ?

Like, none of those.

Like, all professionals come in

through my house, you know ?

A lot of people with money,

a lot of people in politics.

You don't wanna know who

comes through here, you know.

My mother was a baker,

and her mother was a baker,

and we just--

we just bake.

So I made these pot cookies

and I started selling them.

It's hard to ignore

such a large demand.

So you got arrested one time

on Wreck Beach, right ?

Yep, yeah, I've been

arrested more than once.

Allegedly trafficking

gingersnap cookies.

Allegedly trafficking

gingersnap cookies.

So I'm assuming not regular

gingersnap cookies, right ?

The one that packs,

"snap, crackle, pot" ?

But even the judge

was like, "Uh-huh."

You know what I mean,

like, he's just--

He's seen violent crime

after violent crime,

and then along

comes the cookie girl.

Cops are supposed to come

and remove undesirables

from communities,

and I clearly was not

an undesirable person

in my community--

( phone rings )

Uh, somebody else

needs cookies.

Actually, I just got picked up

by the National Speakers Bureau,

so I actually go on speaking

tours to universities

and talk to kids

about marijuana.

Oh, really ?

Yes, like, the most genius--

I'm like, "You want me

to talk about marijuana ?"

Okay, and they pay me

to do it.

Lock up your kids,

this is a heinous crime.

So at some point,

one might ask oneself,

how does an industry of this

size function

while remaining illegal ?

Where does the money flow ?

Who's profiting off of it ?

Is there really $7 billion

floating around the province

unaccounted for ?

Maybe people are

feeling the effects

and they don't even know it.

Turns out there seems

to be a system.

Some have even

given this system a name.

Well, a lot of people here

in town and stuff

consider it a union.

Union ?

Yeah, a union, and you know,

it's like a different term

for pretty much "industry."

It's this underground thing

where there's so many

different tradesmen

and different people

all working together.

You have to work together

with people that you trust,

because it's illegal to do what

people are doing here.

So this is how the so-called

union breaks down,

and of course, there

are many exceptions to this,

but this is the typical

set-up.

First you have

a home or landowner.

He doesn't take on much

responsibility.

He is simply

the legitimate owner

of where the grow operation

will take place.

All he has to do is pick up

a briefcase every three months

and pay off his mortgage.

His hands are clean because

he can claim ignorance

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