Raiding California – Medical Marijuana and Minors

“Raiding California – Medical Marijuana and Minors” for Reason TV

Producer/Editor: Ted Balaker
Camera/Editor: Rick Ray
Reason.tv editor: Nick Gillespie
Director of Photography: PF Bentley
2nd camera: Alex Manning

In 2006, my life took a turn away from traveling when I met Charles C Lynch, a medical marijuana dispensary owner from San Luis Obispo, California, who was facing (and later convicted on) Federal charges of selling marijuana from his city and state sanctioned dispensary in Morro Bay, CA. While I had never really given much thought to the issue of medical marijuana, Charlie’s compelling story led me to the conclusion that there is a huge disparity between the State laws of California, where medical marijuana is legal, and the Federal laws of the U.S., where marijuana is considered a Schedule 1 substance along with heroin, PCP and LSD. Since this short film was produced with Drew Carey, I have begun a full length feature film on the subject called “Lynching Charlie Lynch”, which is due to be released in 2010. – RR