Dispatches from the Emerald Triangle Rec'd

The Emerald Triangle: 10,000 square miles of mountainous terrain stretching over three counties, where it’s estimated 60 percent of all of the country’s weed is grown. Keeping track is nearly impossible, but there are reportedly as many as 32,000 separate cannabis grows in the Emerald Triangle, and maybe ten percent of them are licensed. This is the home of Murder Mountain, where drug cartels hide beneath the forest’s canopy. It’s also home to a long tradition of family growers and (if all goes according to plan) the next big thing in California tourism.

Mike Strupp is something of an anomaly in Mendocino, one of the three counties that make up the Emerald Triangle. Mike is a licensed, indoor cultivator, but, like the unlicensed farmers that make up the majority here, he’s seen the effects of legalization on his community. Multi-generation family businesses are dying, big money is plotting its course, and crime is on the rise. Still, some believe The Emerald Triangle is poised to become the Napa Valley of weed. People like Chris Vardijan of The Mendocino Experience, a cannabis bus tour, are introducing curious onlookers to this traditionally guarded community.