Murder Mountain: by Netflix

     So, Netflix puts some money where its mouth is, this time in a docu-drama made for its vast audience of streamers.  Californians are familiar with cannabis, cannabis growers, cannabis smugglers, cannabis laws, cannabis law enforcers(federal and state), cannabis medicinals, cannabis edibles, etc.,etc.  We know cannabis; really, since the '60's with hippies.  In 1998, medicinal marijuana was legalized in California for sale and for medical treatment to approved patients.  Thus began the long road to legalization of recreational usage.  And here we are: growers, users, sellers, enforcers, politicians, and judicial figures all coping with these changes.  Back in the growing fields, things are changing also: new participants, new money, and new approaches are appearing all over the hub of the industry: Humboldt County.   And Netflix wants in.  They got in with a series devoted to a known incident of murder.
      In true docu-drama style, the producers took one incident and used it as a springboard to the story.  Law enforcement, in the form of the county sheriff, was part of the drama.  The sheriff did not appear in the series as the most astute investigator.   In his opinion, much of the story was omitted, which of course, would have given a different side to the producers' spin.  It has long been known that years of federal attemps to eradicate the business met with regular failure to halt anything on  the ground.  Despite a few publicity busts, it was business as usual among local growers/packagers/trimmers/harvesters.   With the lumber business in sharp decline across the Northwest, not much else was happening in NorCal.  Most of NorCal is forested, mountainous, and underpopulated by any measure.  Hard to get to, and short of all services, the area remains a backwater: favored by growers for all the same reasons.
     So, a series focused on all the above.  The local rag, the Eureka TIMESSTANDARD, has written extensively on the industry, making the effort to keep locals abreast of all involved, for better or worst.   The Federal law enforcement agencies have backed off California, given the State laws in place and the attitudes of the state judicial system which is overcrowded to begin with in the 21st century.  Until the federal government changes the designation of marijuana as a class 1 drug, not much will change.   Yes, it makes for cheap entertainment for non-Californians; but for us locals: B-O-R-I-N-G.
     Maybe Netflix will do a story on Grandma and Grandpa who use lots of high quality grow that has altered their retirement life:it's different!
What next Netflix?