INTERVIEW: ‘Weed Country’ features growers, researchers, cops

Although the new Discovery Channel reality series, Weed Country, depicts the full spectrum of the marijuana industry, from police enforcement to scientific research to dispensary shenanigans, Nathaniel Morris said he’s most interested in raising awareness about the “human properties of the plant.”

Morris, longtime fan of the controversial plant, has become a loud voice in the chorus to legalize marijuana and inspect its medicinal qualities. The ability to broadcast his message to the Discovery Channel audience is what attracted him to Weed Country, which premieres tonight, Feb. 20 at 10 p.m.

“I’ve been a fan of the plant my whole life, and in recent years I became aware that the plant actually has much more impressive medical properties than I ever imagined,” he said recently during a phone interview. “And that kind of set me off on a whole new path of trying to develop, you know, plant-based medicines that can help seriously ill people.”

Although Morris refrained from revealing too many details about the show, he admitted that the new reality series depicts many different characters in this unusual field. “It portrays people that are, you know, desperately in need of this medication, and the process of trying to get it to them, and what a difference that makes for them,” he said. “The show, it’s a 360 view. It’s not all the medical aspect. They also follow around cops and greedy dispensary people. There’s all kinds of people on the show, but I’m really happy how deep they go into the medical aspects. I really feel like it’s the first time that’s been given a fair shot on national television.”

Morris said that his challenge of promoting the medicinal qualities has less to do with “pro-pot” folks (they’ve already been converted) and more to do with “the people that are completely closed to those arguments.” Perhaps, he said, Weed Country will reach out to skeptics and begin loosening their resolve.

“And that’s the reason I’m really excited about this show, because the show doesn’t paint the industry with rose-colored goggles,” he said. “It accurately shows some of the darker aspects and some of the bad behavior that goes on. On the one hand, I know that that’s not going to reflect great on the industry, but I feel like the industry kind of deserves that, because the industry isn’t all great. And by being honest and real about that, you know, it gives credibility to the medical aspect, which is also a real component of it that kind of gets overlooked.”

The image that Morris fights in his daily life is the public perception that “many people lie about being sick in order to get weed.” These cases have “overshadowed the reality that there’s some generally sick people that need this medicine.”

For the record, Morris said he’s in favor of legalizing all drugs. He characterized the drug war as an “enormous failure and a grotesque waste of resources.” His beliefs seem idealistic or cynical (depending on the crowd), but they are slowly becoming a reality in the United States, especially in light of recent voter approval of legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

“The laws were getting better and better, and then the Obama administration just kind of turned on us and started closing down all the legitimate actors and just waging this war on the industry,” he said. “And everyone was like abandoning their legitimate businesses and going back underground. It was looking like we were like starting to lose for the first time in a long time. And then those two states [Colorado and Washington] made the move to legalize, and that’s just changed the whole political landscape. And suddenly there’s bills getting introduced into Congress, looking at legalization. They’re talking about legalizing hemp. They’re talking about turning the ATF into the ATMF, and taking marijuana out of the purview of the DEA, which I’m very much in favor of. It’s changed everything, and I feel like over the next couple of years, we’re going to see a complete reversal of federal drug policy on marijuana.”

Currently, with many laws still intact, Morris said his marijuana work is “as legitimate as it gets.” He said his research looks into marijuana that won’t get the user high. Instead, he’s inspecting different strands for anti-epileptic properties. “So I’m definitely not the type of dude that the feds are coming after,” he said. “There’s other characters that are like quintessential targets for the feds, but that’s really not me.”

His ultimate goal is to start a plant-based pharmaceutical company to bring these “medicines” to market … if the laws change. Steeped in the R&D process, Morris said he’s found promising evidence of “powerful anti-anxiety properties” in a lesser-known cannabinoid. “You hear about different strands of weed, and it sounds like silly marketing, but you’re actually talking about different chemical compounds,” he said.

In Weed Country, which is a six-part series, all of the science is showcased, along with the law-enforcement side. Morris said he believes the timing is perfect. As the nation’s conversation over legalization continues to evolve, the show will display the current state of the industry from the inside out.

All of this, in Morris’ mind, is leading to legalization. “I think it is 100 percent inevitable that pot is going to be legalized, and it’s a question of political inertia and like American incrementalism,” he said. “But if you’re betting on it, I would say … during the Obama administration, during the next four years, you’re going to see the federal laws change.”

Morris referenced the newfound receptiveness of Washington politicians, a development he seemed to welcome. “Suddenly lobbyists that normally could never get the time of day from politicians, suddenly the politicians are calling them and asking for their input on legalization methods and how taxing could work,” he said. “It’s being discussed like in an intelligent manner instead of the stupid war-on-drugs language.”

“I think most people are ready to legalize pot,” he said, “because they realize that it’s a self-defeating exercise to not legalize it.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

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