The ongoing national debate over medical marijuana, so impassioned and controversial in hypothetical terms, could get a much-needed recontextualizing as bland, everyday reality thanks to the Discovery Channel, which plans to launch a show this fall that will follow the inner workings of a licensed California dispensary. Though it boasts the somewhat hyperbolic title Weed Wars—because everything, even haggling over other people’s garbage, is a war these days—the real promise of the series is that it will most likely reveal the legal pot game to be like any other business, albeit one that struggles with constant state and federal scrutiny. Granted, it probably won’t do much to change naysayers’ mental image about the sort of people who support decriminalization, as the center of the show is pot reform activist Steve DeAngelo and his Willie Nelson braids up there. But in addition to showing the many, many people who have been helped by DeAngelo’s Harborside Health Center, it could certainly go a long way toward humanizing the argument, and taking some of the imagined nefariousness out of the pot trade by revealing it to be as ordinary (though prone to soap opera-style fights) as the businesses seen on, say, Pawn Stars or Cake Boss. Also, it will also feature lots of sick close-ups of primo Cali bud.
Join the discussion...