Joint Ventures: Inside America's Almost Legal Marijuana Industry - Hardcover

by Trish Regan (Author)

CNBC anchor Trish Regan takes you behind the scenes of America's thriving pot industry, to show readers things only drug dealers know about this secret world. Forget amber waves of grain. Today, it's marijuana plants that blanket the nation from sea to shining sea in homes, in backyards, and even in our national parks. In Joint Ventures, Trish Regan takes you behind the scenes to explore every aspect of this flourishing underground economy. Her focus is the so-called Emerald Triangle Northern California's Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity counties where many small-time, part-time marijuana growers contribute to a trade that generates roughly a billion dollars a year.

• A fascinating investigation into the inner workings of today's exploding American marijuana industry
• Based on extensive research and interviews by Trish Regan, whose Emmy nominated documentary Marijuana, Inc. attracted more viewers than any documentary in CNBC's history
• Regan examines all aspects of this new culture. She reveals how small time growers get their start, make (or lose) a fortune, struggle with violence, try to keep up with constantly changing laws and regulations all while walking an increasingly fine line with the Feds
• Regan reports on the current and potential impact of legalized marijuana on local economies, uncovers the link between marijuana and violent Mexican cartels, questions whether decriminalization would work on a national scale, as it has in Portugal since 2001

As the decriminalization and legalization debates gather steam, Joint Ventures arms you with the facts on both sides of the issue.

Front Jacket

Pot has moved out of the shadows and into the mainstream. Thousands of new medical marijuana dispensaries and growers have opened for business in Colorado, California, and other states where medical marijuana is legal. In fact, Denver now has more dispensaries than it has Starbucks and liquor stores "combined." This is America's new "green rush."

Doesn't this mean that, now, anyone can put a couple of seeds in the ground and a couple of months later walk off with thousands of dollars? Well, not exactly.

In "Joint Ventures," CNBC anchor Trish Regan offers an in-depth and up-to-date report on America's newest (and oldest), most exciting (and riskiest) start-up industry.

Pot is often called America's number-one cash crop, with tens of billions of dollars and millions of people involved. As a business journalist, Trish Regan wanted to understand the story behind the numbers. Drawing on interviews with marijuana growers, sellers, investors, and would-be brokers, Regan reveals the opportunities and drawbacks presented by the hybrid legal status of marijuana. From Mexican drug gangs to suburban moms supplementing their incomes, FBI raids to legalization in Portugal, gourmet cannabis cafes to businesses making money on seeds, manuals, and "gardening" equipment, Regan shows you just how this industry is booming and what it means for the communities and economies affected.

Of course, the market for illegal pot still dwarfs the medical demand. Regan takes a close look at the domestic and international pot-smuggling trade and assesses its many costs, from gang violence and big profits for criminals to billions of dollars in lost tax revenues, and the potential boon of legalization to local economies across the nation.

As more states consider following the legalization trend, "Joint Ventures" takes you behind the scenes to discover how America's exploding marijuana economy operates today, painting a picture of what is likely to happen on a national scale.

Back Jacket

Regan finds . . . that things are hardly that simple, or mellow, in the marijuana game. It long ago became a big business and today in many areas is moving toward legitimacy.
--RICHARD HUFF, New York Daily News

"A crisp, informative report on America's creeping legalization of reefer in the guise of medical marijuana. The momentum only grows as businessmen and bureaucrats get addicted to the cash that legal marijuana generates."
--GLENN GARVIN, The Miami Herald

"[Regan] cuts through the smoke and sheds light on the booming billion-dollar trade some now call the new gold rush. [She] reports from northern California's 'Emerald Triangle'--long considered the U.S. pot growing capital, and follows the tales of growers--otherwise average law abiding citizens--and the law enforcement officials who work to shut them down. Regan delves into the increasingly dark side of the biz that is rife with gangs, violence, and agricultural pollution."
--Don Kaplan, New York Post

"Trish Regan explores the inner workings of an industry that lights up the economy by an estimated tens of billions of dollars nationwide. But according to the program, every American is an unpaid, unwitting party to the process: pot gardens have been established by outlaw growers in national parks and other public lands, where an estimated 70 percent of domestic, outdoor marijuana is now grown. Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it."
--FRAZIER MOORE, Associated Press

"A solid special with a well-supported and inescapable conclusion: the commerce is unlikely to change, and the law has only a slim chance of doing more than containing the most violence-prone offenders. When it comes to marijuana, a whole lot of people voted some time ago to just say yes."
--DAVID HINCKLEY, New York Daily News

Author Biography

TRISH REGAN co-anchors "The Call" every week-daymorning on CNBC. A multi-Emmy-nominated journalist, she also reports for CNBC's documentary unit, "Today," and "NBC Nightly News." Her 2008 documentary special "Marijuana," Inc. and 2010 sequel "Marijuana USA" garnered more viewers than any other documentary in CNBC's history.