NARRATOR: When I was young, my fatherused to pride himself on having a perfect yard.I would watch him as he sprayed the weedswith various deadly concoctions sold at the local hardwarestore.I would ask him over and over, Dad,who gets to decide which plants are weeds and which plants not?

FATHER: Now, son, you don't have to keep questioning everything,you know.It says right here on a label which plant is a weed.

NARRATOR: Dad, how did nature survive these millions of yearswith weeds growing freely?

FATHER: Dammit, son.It's called progress.Now, when are you going to get with the program?[COUGHING]

NARRATOR: Dad, how does the spray know only to kill weedsand not to harm anything else?

FATHER: Well, son, if you'd ever bother to read the label,you'd see that these Monsanto scientists knowwhat they're talking about.And I, for one, think it's marvelousthat we live in this age of modern wonderswhere we can finally do somethingabout this whole mother nature situation.

NARRATOR: Not long after that, my fathergot very upset by another weed.But this time it was a weed my older brotherwas caught smoking, marijuana.This weed didn't just ruin your perfect lawn.This weed could drive you insane while causing you to goto prison and an early grave.[MUSIC PLAYING](SINGING) Then a call came in that we needed to go,and got to stop it.

NARRATOR: Now, I looked up and admired both my fatherand older brother.But one of them was paying money for a chemicalthat killed weeds, while the other paid money to have weed.[MUSIC PLAYING](SINGING) Sounds, the feds come and everything [INAUDIBLE],

FATHER: How about rock with no roll?[CHEERING]

NARRATOR: November 6, 2012.After millions of arrests and hundreds of thousandsof nonviolent users sent to prison,a century of marijuana prohibitioncomes to a tiny partial end as Colorado and Washingtonstate vote to legalize marijuana for simple recreationalconsumption.

WOMAN: That means people can smoke it justfor the fun of it.

NARRATOR: Meanwhile, people suffering with cancerin places like Texas and Florida are denied accessfor any type of us.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Uh, the war on drugshas been an utter failure.And I think that we need to rethink and de-criminalizeour marijuana laws.

ETHAN NADELMANN: In the first yearthat Obama was in the White House,he did pull back on the reins a bitAnd that opened up a lot of running roomfor medical marijuana in America.More states began legalizing marijuana.States began adapting responsible regulations.But what happened is he stopped paying attention.And he appointed a drug czar who was not committed to reform.He reappointed the Bush nominee, renominated the Bush appointee

ETHAN NADELMANN [continued]: of the DEA, Michelle Leonhart.I mean, he basically put in placethe same old troublemakers, the same old mindset,drug war mindset, that had been there before.

NARRATOR: So the big question looms, nowthat two states have totally legalized, how hardand how long will the federal government and those who profitfrom the prosecution of marijuanafight against the will of the voters?

ROB KAMPIA: Once we can get it up to 26 or 27 states,that will allow us to then file a federal lawsuitto try to see if we can declare marijuana,or at least medical marijuana prohibition,to be illegal under the US Constitution.

NARRATOR: Along with a landmark vote of two states allowingrecreational use, Massachusetts became the 18th stateto legalize marijuana for medical use.However, already established patients living in Montanawere not so lucky.

HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Most Americansagree that the war on drugs, this drug prohibition,is an abject failure of policy.There is no return on the investment of the trilliondollars we spent.Drugs are cheaper, stronger, readily available to our kids.And parents now in my age of being 60,

HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE [continued]: they've gone through this thing as first as teenagers.And now they're parents and even, like, I'm a grandparent.

NARRATOR: In Montana, a young couplereceives what is undoubtedly any parent's worst nightmare.Mike and Callie Hyde learned that their two-year-old son,Cash, has a stage four brain tumor.Cash is quickly rushed into, surgeryfollowed by chemo and radiation.But after 40 days without eating,the doctors prepare the Hydes for the worst.

MIKE HYDE: In May of 2010, Cashiewas diagnosed with a stage four brain tumor.We had open-brain surgery on the 5th of May.The doctors confirmed with us that hehad a malignant peanut brain tumor that was inoperableand that he needed high-dose chemo.Bone marrow transplants were his only chance of survival.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: And even then, it was an 80% chancethat we weren't going to be taking him home.All right.Here's camper.Camp Cashie right there, a little slice of paradise.

NARRATOR: After pumping massive doses of chemointo Cashie's body, the doctors informed the Hydesthat Cash has reached the end of the line.

MIKE HYDE: And they told us, they go,guys, Cashies not going to make this.He just finished his sixth round of high-dose chemo.His body is so stressed from all the chemo and drugs he's on,or was on, that he's going to have organ failure.He's going to have brain damage.And there's no way his body's evergoing to rebuild his lungs.He's basically, he's going to die.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: And he went to the ICU.They put him on life support.And we went through this two-week roller coasterof his heart stopping from the drugs they were giving himin the ICU, to resuscitating him, to literally asking us,do you even want us to resuscitate him anymore?He's not going to make this.There's no way he's going to make this.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: He's going to have brain damage.He's going to have organ failure.

NARRATOR: Out of options and willing to try anything,the Hydes discover a man on the internet whohad cured his own cancer with a modernized versionof an extremely potent homemade cannabis oil.

MIKE HYDE: So that day, Callie and Istarted sneaking the oil into his G-tube.And they started weaning him off of all those drugs I named off.And over a course of two weeks, we literallypulled him off of all eight of those medications.We had him sitting up in bed, eating again, laughing.He had a quality a life that wasn'tpossible on the drugs they were giving him.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: And the whole time, the nurses and the doctorswere saying, god, this is just miraculousthat Cash is doing so well.So as all these doctors are saying,god, we don't understand how he survived all of this,this don't make any sense to us, Ipulled that patent out the governmenthas on cannabis as a neuroprotectant antioxidant.

NARRATOR: As of October, 2003, our government,represented by the Department of Health and Human Services,acquired an official patent titledCannabinoids as Antioxidants and Neuroprotectants."Yet even with this patent, the governmentclaims that it can arrest nonviolent Americansfor possessing and distributing a substance that could never be

NARRATOR [continued]: considered legitimate medicine.

WILLIAM L. COURTNEY, MD: The factthat the federal government has a patentmeans that there is someone therethat recognizes it has novelty.It has market value.In order to issue a patent, you haveto demonstrate very important criteria.

MIKE HYDE: And he walked out of the ICU seven daysbefore Christmas.We were told he was a Christmas miracleand that he would be referenced toand talked about for years to come at the [INAUDIBLE] CancerInstitute of America.That's when we sat there.And we taught Cashie how to walk again, how to crawl-- well,

MIKE HYDE [continued]: how to crawl, then how to walk againbetween the end of December going into January.And in January, we did our brain scans.They told us that we were cancer-free,that we were in remission, and that wecould come back home to Montana at that point in time.That's when I told the doctors that Cashie was a cannabispatient and that he had been on medical cannabis.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: That's why I believe that he survivedthe septic shock, the stroke, the pulmonary hemorrhaging.That's why we were able to get him off the nausea and paindrugs.And that's why Cashie was the Christmas miracle.That's when all the doctors there just literally shut up.They had nothing to say.And they didn't want to have any more comments.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: They basically locked up.They were like, what?Um, ah.

NARRATOR: All miracles aside, growing, processing,and possessing cannabis is still a federal offense,making it very difficult to not only obtain butto keep a steady flow of the high doseamounts needed to treat cancer.And like most people in their situation,the Hydes found themselves relying on a single person.

MIKE HYDE: It's easier for these doctors to believe in miraclesthan it is for them to believe in cannabis.So it was like, oh, it was not the cannabis.It's the prayers, man.And I'm like, well, you're a doctor.And you're telling me that this scientific research and allthis information has no weight, and now it's just a miracle?Well, I believe in miracles.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: I believe in prayers.But I believe in numbers.And at the end of the day, it adds up.You know what I mean?It just all adds up.All right, Cashie, you ready?

NARRATOR: Feeling like they had all witnessed a miracle,the hospital staff gathered to bid a happy farewell to Cashieas he heads back home, cancer-free.(SINGING) Happy trails to Cashie.Keep smiling [INAUDIBLE].[CHEERING]

WOMAN: Federal agents in Spokane raidedseveral medical marijuana dispensaries today,enforcing federal law that makes selling or possessingmarijuana illegal.But for some families, that drug isa godsend in treating a variety of diseases.Two-year-old Cash Hyde was diagnosed last yearwith a stage four brain tumor.He nearly died more times than his family can count

WOMAN [continued]: and was miserable from the high-dose chemo coursingthrough his tiny body, until his dad turnedto a controversial place and gave cannabis to his young son.

MIKE HYDE: The Missoula sheriff's department and countyprosecutor, Andrew Paul, came in.And they took all of my caregiver's growwho was drawing our medicine for us.And they confiscated all of it.They didn't write him any tickets.And basically, they took all of our medicine.So we had no way of taking care of Cashie,

MIKE HYDE [continued]: because the Missouri sheriff's department and countyprosecutor, in their opinion, medical cannabis wasn't valid.One more kiss for Mama.

NARRATOR: With Cashie's primary sourceof cannabis oil being cut off, the Hydeswere unable to maintain their son's recommended dosesand soon received the worst possible newsfor a second time.

MIKE HYDE: So basically, we lost our medicine in June or July.And Cashie's cancer started growing again asof end of July.And we didn't know about it, because wedid three-month scans.So we didn't even know Cashie's cancer was backuntil October of 2011.We went in for his three-month check-up.And his tumor was two and a half centimeters.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: And we were already looking at stage four cancer.Last few days has been like a, just a total flashbackof last year, just seeing everything that's going down.Cashie got really sick, as you guys already know, you know.We about lost him last week.So it wasn't good.It was the second time, reoccurring brain tumor.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: And the numbers weren't good at all.We decided to come home and try and fight itwith a natural diet and using cannabis oil.But we couldn't find very much cannabis oil.And we were only able to get him to up to, like, 400 milligramsa day.

NARRATOR: Canadian Rick Simpson hasbecome an underground legend for tweaking a 1,000 yearold recipe for cannabis oil and usingit to cure his own cancer.Known as Rick Simpson or Phoenix Tears Oil,Rick's recipe is reportedly curing cancerall over the world.One would think that the Canadian government wouldconsider Rick a hero, but because of the drug war that

NARRATOR [continued]: has long ago spilled over into Canada,he is considered a fugitive.It was not easy to track him down,but we were able to reach Rick via Skypesomewhere in Eastern Europe.

RICK SIMPSON: Back in 2005, they came in,[INAUDIBLE] and committed a raiding.And then they came back and raided me again.I had 1,620 plants in my backyard in 2005.Then they come back and raided me again in 2006.I had another 1,100 plants.And I kept thinking, you know, like these people haveto wake up.You know, their families and loved onesare dying from cancer, too, and all

RICK SIMPSON [continued]: these other horrible illnesses.But you know, the police, they don't care.They're just doing their job.That's what they always tell you.You know, when I produce this oil-- I want to tell you,I'm scared of it.I had no medical knowledge about this.But I mean, with the condition I had with the headringing 24 hours a day, I couldn't sleep.I needed something to put me to sleep.So this is what I used the oil for.

RICK SIMPSON [continued]: But while I was doing that, it healed all these other things.And then I even cured my own cancer.And then it just went on from there.

KEVIN SABET: We do not want individualsto be creating their own medicines in their homeswithout the standardization that science brings us.We had that 100 years ago.They were called snake oil salesmen.So for people that are interested in cannabis oilsand things like Mr. Simpson, I wouldsuggest to become a scientist.

NARRATOR: Every year, the FDA approvesa long list of mind-altering drugs for public consumption.Regardless of these drugs' known dangerous and even deadlyside effects, over 20 million Americans rely on themto get through the day.Back in the '70s, my parents usedto blame the Beatles and other rockbands for introducing drugs to my brother,

NARRATOR [continued]: while at the same time supportingNixon's new war on drugs.They and many other like-minded peoplefeared a future where everyone including childrenwould become drugged out zombies.Well, my parents are half-right, because today, millionsof Americans are addicted to powerful drugsBut what my parents got wrong wasthat it's not pot, heroin, or acid beingsold by the pusher around the corner.

NARRATOR [continued]: The drug dealer of the future has a college degreeand profits from pushing powerful, deadly, addicting,but legal prescription drugs.Back when my mother passed away, the doctorquickly prescribed an anti-depressant called Paxil.Now, in my life, I've tried acid, ecstasy, and mushrooms,but nothing could have prepared me

NARRATOR [continued]: for the powerful mind-altering experience of Paxil.It was as if I had invisible fish hooks in my mouth forcingme to smile against my will.

WOMAN: Last year, one in 20 peoplereported abusing prescription drugs.Some of the polled were as young as 12 years old.

NARRATOR: Every year, children younger and youngerare being diagnosed with attention deficit,post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety,and an endless list of new ailments that generate billionsof dollars for the pharmaceutical and otherhealth-related corporations.

NARRATOR [continued]: While driving around looking for a gas station,I realized that new pharmacies were popping up on practicallyevery street corner.Soon, I came to an intersection wherethere are two pharmacies across the streetfrom each other, both bearing the same company name.It was much like seeing two Starbucks side by side.It reminded me of a news story thathad come out a few years back, sayingthat in the city of Los Angeles, there were now more marijuana

NARRATOR [continued]: dispensaries than coffee shops.But I had now counted over 20 pharmacieswithout seeing a single dispensary.If one was to strip away all the labelsand simply call it as it is, hereis the standard place you go to buy drugs our government labelsas having medicinal value.Here is the currently unregulated placeyou have to go to buy drugs our government labels

NARRATOR [continued]: as having no medical value.Why does the government regulate assault rifles, gambling,and pornography, while refusing to regulate a naturally growingherb that now over 100 million Americans,including myself, admit to have tried at least once?Not able to have children of our own,my wife and I decided to foster with the goal of eventually

NARRATOR [continued]: adopting.Many of these children had been removedfrom homes of birth parents that committed crimeswhile abusing crystal meth, crack, heroin, alcohol,and even marijuana.I myself had returned to using medical marijuanaafter reinjuring my back while snow skiing.After battling with pain pill addiction,I found the use of the herb very helpful

NARRATOR [continued]: and a way to stay off the highly-addictive opioids.But if I wanted to become a foster dad,I was no longer allowed to use my homegrown remedy.Weekly searches of our home by seasoned Californiacaseworkers with sensitive noses kept me on the up and up.Right before Christmas, the agency

NARRATOR [continued]: sent my wife and I an 11-year-old girlwhose mother had been in prison for several years.Along with our new foster daughter,Stephanie, came prescriptions for the powerful amphetamine,Adderall, and a very powerful anti-depressant sleeping pill.Before becoming our foster daughter,Stephanie had been living in a home with 10 other childrenfor over three years.

NARRATOR [continued]: During that time, she was regularly sedated and putto bed by 7:00 PM and then woken up at 6:00 AM with Adderallin order to go to school, as weremost of the other children living in the home.Of course, we wanted to stop her regiment.But not only would it be physically dangerous,she would be taken away from us for not following court orders.

WOMAN: And do you feel like they'vechanged you, the medicine?

STEPHANIE: Yeah, because I used to be more better than this.

WOMAN: In what way were you more better?

STEPHANIE: Like, I used to be, like, helpful all the time.I used to be, like, nice.

WOMAN: Because I think you are helpful and nice.

STEPHANIE: I know.

NARRATOR: Stephanie's mother has beenworking the program in a desperate attemptto get her daughters back.

DIANE VIGIL: They put Stephanie on Adderall, whichis an amphetamine, which, yeah.I see that she's just a different child,you know, like kind of sometimes like zombie sometimes.It all depends.

NARRATOR: Stephanie's mother getsher to describe the effects of the drugs.

STEPHANIE: They make us act weird.

DIANE VIGIL: Like how?

STEPHANIE: Like, sometimes they can make us, like, crazy.

DIANE GOLDSTEIN: As a society we over-medicate our children.It's OK to give them Adderall, which is justbasically a legal speed.You know, I think that doctors needto be making those decisions, and not politicians, and notsocial workers, about what's best and what type of drugsare best for our kids.

NARRATOR: Stephanie fears being moved into a group homeif she is not take her court-order prescriptionmedications.

STEPHANIE: It's only because If the foster moms tellsthe doctor if the kids are acting up,then the doctor makes a decision to put you on medication.

NARRATOR: Newly-diagnosed as being schizophrenic and druggedaccordingly, Stephanie's sister, Brittany,was also placed in foster care.

BRITTANY: I started the medication in the group home,but before I had the medication, I was good.I was good.But then I don't know what happened.And they just put me on medication.

NARRATOR: As foster parents, the moreproblems we could list our child with, the more we got paid.If a child throws something or makes a threatening gesture,we could raise their category of care.More drugs for the child equals more moneyfor everyone, including the agencies, doctors,and on a grand scale, the pharmaceutical companies.

JUDGE JAMES P GRAY: But we overdothe use of prescription drugs, of, quote, unquote,legal drugs, and aghast with regardto the possibility of using illicit drugs.

STEPHEN DOWNING: It's easy to outlaw something.It's easy to say, give it to the police.Let the police enforce it.It's a little more difficult to find strategiesother than law enforcement strategiesto solve social problems.

DR. PAUL CHABOT: I think there's too much emphasisput on medicating youth today.When I was a kid, we grew up in a worldwhere you had the sniffles, hey, you took some Kleenex.You went outside and played in.And you got through it.We should not be pushing meds unless it'sabsolutely necessary and required for our youth today.

STEPHANIE: I'm 11 years old.And I feel kind of sad being taken away from my mom.And I didn't know it would be like that.And I've been in foster care for so long, I'm ready to go home.

NARRATOR: A new report by our own government's officeof accountability shows that children in foster careare 13 times more likely to be prescribed mind-altering drugs.

STEPHEN DOWNING: We don't drug our children.We raise our children, and nurture the,and take care of them.But the institutions that they end up indo it just to keep the logjam from getting worse, you know.

NARRATOR: Recently on Ventura Boulevardin Encino, California, the favorite gathering placeof many children was closed to make roomfor yet another pharmacy in a neighborhood thatalready had over 25 of them.

WOMAN: Dozens of residents held a loud protest todayoutside a San Fernando Valley bookstore.

CROWD: We need a bookstore, not another drugstore.We need a bookstore.

WOMAN: They're angry the Barnes and Noble on Ventura Boulevardin Encino is slated to close.The nation's largest bookseller will shut down a locationat the end of the year.Officials say the company is closing several locationsas it re-evaluates their business model.a CVS drugstore has already leased the space for next year.

WOMAN: We do not need another pharmacy.

ROBIN PERMAUL: We have a pharmacy right over there,a pharmacy right over there, and over 20within a two-mile radius.And we have lost our bookstore, our community gathering place.

NARRATOR: We live in a market-driven economy.People vote with their wallets.And in Los Angeles, it appears that peoplehave less time for books and more need for drugs.One would think that the same basic principlesapply to everything in a free economy.Not only polling, but simple economics of supply and demandprove time and time again that thereis a massive market for safe, regulated medical marijuana.

NARRATOR [continued]: And yet, while the country teeterson a financial disaster, our tax dollarscontinue funding policies that appeardetrimental to the nation's recovery.

SYLVIA LOPEZ: The LA city councilhas voted to ban medical marijuana dispensaries.

NARRATOR: Watching Los Angeles news,it's almost impossible for even a weekto go by without a marijuana-related headline--too much pot, too many dispensaries, total banon dispensaries, dispensaries to close to schools, dispensariesto close to other dispensaries, city council decidingthe fate of all pot smokers.For marijuana users, LA has transformed from cannabis

NARRATOR [continued]: heaven into a pot purgatory.

WOMAN: This is messing up and destroying our neighborhoods.

NARRATOR: One thing is obvious.Stories about marijuana must be generatingrevenues for the media.[CHANTING]

MAN: They're demonstrating in Californiato keep medical marijuana legal.

CROWD: No jail for pot.DEA, go away.

NARRATOR: In downtown LA, former deputy chieffor the Los Angeles Police Department, Steve Downey,addresses a group of protesters directly in front of the DEA'sheavily-fortified office.Steve is one of a growing number of retired officerswho once backed President Nixon's drug warbut have had their hearts and minds opened,many due to having a loved one needcannabis on their deathbed.

STEVE DOWNEY: I was a commander wholed the war on drugs in the city of Los Angelesafter Nixon announced the war on drugs in 1971.Since that time, I have come to seethat the damage that prohibition has brought to our communities,to our young people.

STEVE DOWNEY [continued]: And I'm here to do something about it.[CHEERING]

NARRATOR: In America, when a business is notabiding by the laws, they are usuallyserved with some sort of threatening legal documents.I don't remember SWAT teams breaking downthe doors of Goldman Sachs, Fannie Mae, or WellsFargo in 2008 when they drained the assets of millionsof innocent people.Yet even under Obama, the violent, threatening tactics

NARRATOR [continued]: of kicking down doors, shooting dogs, and pointing gunsin the faces of employees seems to bebusiness as usual under a president thatcampaigned on hope and change.

REPORTER: Why are you harassing and raidinglegitimate patients?

MAN: I'm not doing anything.

REPORTER: Really?What are you doing here, then?

MAN: Hanging out, man.

REPORTER: Really?You're just hanging out?It sure like you're raiding legitimate patients.

NARRATOR: During my life, the one statisticthat America beats the rest of the world inis the number of people we have behind bars.Yet the government claims that prisons are notfilled with simple drug users.

KEVIN SABET: So drugs are not driving the prison increaseover the last 10 years.That is not-- that was from the '80s to 2000, yes.But the Sentencing Project and other reputable sourcessay that from 2000 onward, drugs have not beenthe majority of the reason.

DR. PAUL CHABOT: And we cannot buy into the fact that peopleare imprisoned for minor possession.Federally, it's less than one-half of 1%.Trust me, the people-- go to our prisons here in California.Tattooed head to toe, gang bangers, part of the MexicanMafia, Aryan Brotherhood, Black Guerrilla Family-- connecting,who would cause a lot of harm to you and I if let out.

DR. ROBERT J MELAMEDE: Well, if no oneis in prison for possession, why do wearrest 860,000 Americans a year if we're notputting them in prison?Why are we arresting them, just to extract the money outof them?As far as I'm concerned, prohibitionis welfare for law enforcement.

NARRATOR: With decades of victims,it's no surprise that many intelligent, powerful,and influential people have dedicated their liveswork to bringing an end to the drug war.[CHEERING]In downtown Los Angeles, thousandsof highly-motivated and well-connected activists

NARRATOR [continued]: meet at a convention focused on the failure of Americanand global drug policy.Known for being one of the youngest lobbyists in DChistory, Aaron Houston now heads up a national organizationcalled Students for Sensible DrugPolicy that is popping up on college campusesfrom coast to coast.

AARON HOUSTON: There are only three groupsof which I'm aware that are very interested in keeping marijuanaillegal.They are the police-- and a lot of people know about them.And that tends to take the form of chiefsof police, police unions trying to hold onto overtime pay, prisons, private prison industry.The other is cartels, because cartels

AARON HOUSTON [continued]: make 70% of their profits from marijuana sales alone.70% of the profits from cartels in the United Statescome from marijuana sales alone, and that'sbecause it is the most easily-produced drug out there.And it grows from widely.It grows freely on a huge percentageof the Earth's surface.It's the only minimally-processed

AARON HOUSTON [continued]: agricultural commodity in the world that was made illegal.And so it's so easy to make money from it.

MAN: Is crack worse for a person than marijuana?

MICHELE LEONHART: I believe all illegal drugs are bad.

MAN: Is methamphetamine worse for somebody's healththan marijuana?

MICHELE LEONHART: I don't think any illegal drug.

MAN: Is heroin worse for someone's healththan marijuana?

MICHELE LEONHART: Again, all the--

MAN: I mean, either yes, no, or I don't know.I mean, if you don't know, you can look this up.You should know this as the chief administratorfor the Drug Enforcement Agency.I'm asking you a very straightforward question.Is heroin worse for someone's health than marijuana?

MICHELE LEONHART: All illegal drugs are bad for--

MAN: Does this mean you don't know?

AARON HOUSTON: And the third groupof people who are really concerned with keepingmarijuana illegal are intelligence agencies,like the CIA, like the DEA, like the NSA,like foreign intelligence agencies,because like the Mexican federal police,probably, in many instances.All of these intelligence agencies-- and this

AARON HOUSTON [continued]: isn't stuff I'm making up.This isn't some crazy conspiracy theory stuff.This is the kind of stuff that's actuallybeen documented in congressional recordwith the Iran-Contra scandal, et cetera.And the list goes on and on.Those intelligence agencies make a lot of off-book moneyfrom the drug war.They make a shit ton of cash from off-book sales of drugs.

NARRATOR: I lived in Texas for 20 years.In Texas, you either got a very expensive marijuanathat was locally grown by expertsor you got what we refer to as dirt weed that undoubtedlycame from Mexico.Now that I live in California, the ideaof buying marijuana that is grown in Mexicoseems ridiculous.And even if I wanted to, I probably

NARRATOR [continued]: couldn't buy the dirt weed.

ETHAN NADELMANN: It's hard to knowwhere exactly that Mexican marijuana is going.All we know is it's still a multi-billion dollarmarket in the US.

AARON HOUSTON: Who wants Mexican brick weed?I mean, who wants weed that's been-- Imean who in California wants to have marijuana that'sbeen packed in dryer sheets?I mean, the quality of marijuana is so high there.And it can be, because it's allowed to grow.The market price goes down, as it should.The market price should go down.It's an outrage that it's so expensive.And it's also how these really, really bad people

AARON HOUSTON [continued]: make a lot of money from it.

NARRATOR: Juarez, Mexico, directly linkedacross the border from El Paso, Texas, used to be a nice placeto spend the day shopping.But today, it's become known as ground zerofor the cartels' turf killing over drug routes.I was lucky enough to cross the bridge into Juarezwith veteran journalists, Brent and Craig Renaud,who report for "The New York Times."

BRENT RENAUD: The battle between the police and the cartelshas really heated up.And the cartels are saying they'regoing to kill one police officer every day.And that in the last month and a half,they have killed about 19 local police officers here.And just last night in this area, two more were killed.

NARRATOR: The three of us were escorted by a private securityfirm.The owner of the firm, a former Delta operative,explains how the cartels acquire their firearms.

MIGUEL ANGEL MACIAS AVITIA: Have programslike "Fast and Furious" and send to the criminal guns.So what part to you work, in both or only in one?

NARRATOR: The agency assigned us a young female bodyguard to drive us and escort us throughout the city.

ELSA SANCHEZ: Elsa.

REPORTER: Elsa?

ELSA SANCHEZ: Elsa.

REPORTER: Elsa?

ELSA SANCHEZ: Uh-huh

REPORTER: How long have you been doing this?

TRANSLATOR: Cuando Tiempo [INAUDIBLE]?

ELSA SANCHEZ: [INAUDIBLE] aqui?Cuatro anos.

TRANSLATOR: Four years.

REPORTER: Four years?

ELSA SANCHEZ: Mhm.

NARRATOR: We were taken to a neighborhood thatcan only be described as the end of the road.I myself have been to many poverty-stricken places.But this neighborhood, for lack of a better term,named Colonia Panfilo Natera sitson top of what used to be the Juarez municipal garbage dump.The powerful odor, toxic dust, and flying trash

NARRATOR [continued]: was unbearable for me but inescapablefor the inhabitants who mostly live in cardboard boxesand cinder block cubicles.

BRENT RENAUD: Yeah, we're probablyabout five minutes from the border with Paso, Texas rightnow.And this is one of the poorest, oneof the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city.And really have a perfect storm of circumstances what'shappening in Juarez right now.You've got the drug routes to the UnitedStates, which pose the opportunityfor unlimited profits.

BRENT RENAUD [continued]: You got and also have an unlimited numberof young, poor people from the countryside whoare willing to come here and workand to kill for the cartel for just a small amount of money.And then on top of that, you have a corrupt police forcethat is totally incapable of controlling the situation.And all those three things together, really what youhave is a devastated community.

BRENT RENAUD [continued]: And the people of Juarez are the peoplewho really suffer the most.

NARRATOR: Ruth Rodriguez, whose son was just arrested and putin prison, has the mutual respectof all the occupants of a neighborhood usedto recruit cartel members.An ultimate mother's nightmare, Ruthtells me that while her son has been in jail,the cartels have been making him job offers.

RUTH RODRIGUEZ: Said if he wants to be with them,they will give him a motorcycle when he gets out.So I told him, well, you don't need nothing, mi hijo,you have everything at home.

NARRATOR: The brutally poor circumstances of Juarezmake many of the children perfect marksfor cartel recruitment.

RUTH RODRIGUEZ: If you don't want to go into the cartel,they won't force you.They like for you to go by yourself.Because if they force you, you can go and tell the police.And they will help you sometimes.But if you'll go by yourself, theywill ask you to do anything.And you will do it.

RUTH RODRIGUEZ [continued]: We're not going to have 60-year-old people because allthe 20s are gone now.

TERRY NELSON: Most of the killing in Mexico,or the 40,000 people that have died in the last five years,are a direct result of different cartels fightingfor control of the transit zone to move that valuable productto market, the market being the United States of America.And they're no different than FedEx or UPS or anyone else.They're good businessmen.And they're going to get it through the cheapest

TERRY NELSON [continued]: way they can, pay off the least amount of people they have to,to it increases their profit margin on the other end.

NARRATOR: Former cartel pilot, Greg Yocum,talks about a flight path known as Gringo Pass thatwould allow certain drug shipments into the UnitedStates without detection.

GREG YOCUM: I was hired again by the Serrano cartelnot to fly drugs into the US but to land in Naco, Mexico,where they told me that there was two uniformed border patrolagents that were going to drive cocaine across the border.

NARRATOR: Hundreds of millions of our tax dollars every yearare spent on 12 tethered blimps name the Aerostat RadarSystem run by our Air Force.These zeppelins are designed to detect everything comingacross the Mexican border.Greg tells of a route used by drug-running pilots knownas Gringo Pass, in which certain loads being run by insidersand informants are given routes and transponder numbers

NARRATOR [continued]: that allow undetected passage.

GREG YOCUM: It's far away from everybody.And I guess it's not really on the map.It's Gringo Pass.It's just something that, you know, we all knew about.

REPORTER: But why did they call it Gringo Pass?

GREG YOCUM: Because a lot of gringoswere carrying through there.

REPORTER: Right.

GREG YOCUM: That was it.And there were multiple state and federal agents--I mean, DEA, a narcotics strike force, Pima County Sheriff'sDepartment, Tucson Police Department.I mean, everybody was-- Four Corners Narcotic Strike Force.They got all these bullshit agencies.

GREG YOCUM [continued]: It's amazing that I can remember this many.And they give you a transponder number to squawkthat's a little off the norm.And so an ATC, air traffic control,sees you going across the border.They go, oh, that guy's with the cops, you know.And they call off everybody.And they let us go.

GREG YOCUM [continued]: And that's how a lot of drugs came in, like the 800and almost 50 pounds of cocaine that I flewturned into 750 pounds.And I asked the guy that was in charge, the cops,what happened to that 100 pounds?And he only told me, he said, oh, that's leakage.

GREG YOCUM [continued]: I go, leakage?And he says, yeah.What we do this we take a little bit off the top.You know, we can sell it and arrest the guys,or we can sell it and see where it goes, you know,and track it, like I said walk, kind of like "Fastand Furious,"--- same thing.

DR ALEX WODAK: So 52,000 people have lost their livesfor nothing.And I think it's a great illustrationthat the more vigorously the forces of drug law enforcementare deployed in the war against drugs,the more violence there will be.

NARRATOR: At the Juarez newspaper "El Diario"headquarters, journalist Luz Sosa fearlessly reportson the daily cartel violence.Banners hanging on the outside of the buildingpay homage to Luz's predecessors whose liveswere taken by the cartels for gettingtoo close to their business.

REPORTER: Some people are making so much money,and other people are just the victims.

LUZ SOSA: [SPEAKING SPANISH] It's not just the cartels thatare making money.It's also the people who sell weapons from the United Statesthat are making a lot of money.So until the politicians are sincere about stoppingthis problem, it will never change.

ROB KAMPIA: And there is now Mexican gangsthat are operating in a couple hundred cities in the US,because it's a massive marijuana distribution network.

NARRATOR: As a clear indication of how the money is flowing,there is an obvious disproportionate numberof new banks popping up on the US side of the Mexican border.

REPORTER: The money laundering stretched across the world.HSBC's Mexico unit shipped $7 billionin cash to the bank's US affiliate.Law enforcement officials say the only wayto account for that much money is if it was drug money.

REPORTER: Wells Fargo has admitted in courtthat Wachovia failed to report suspected money launderingby narcotics traffickers.

HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: They control almost the entire illegal drugmarket.Everybody knows this.And we all know that we can get rid of themwith the stroke of a pen.

NARRATOR: Few other industries haveattempted to regulate themselves as heavilyas the medical marijuana industry.And at the forefront is Dan Rush,who heads up the Medical Marijuana Labor Union.

DAN RUSH: There's a million cannabis transactions thatgo on in California every day.It's insane that we're not gettingthe tax money off of that.And it's insane that we're allowing that to go onwithout keeping an eye on it.

NARRATOR: Lack of transparency isthe leading reason the DEA uses to conduct raidson dispensaries.Some dispensaries may serve 50 or so truly in-need patientsa day, while other dispensaries have lines around the block.Designed by a former dispensary owner,a new technology bridges this gapand governs the quantities a dispensary can sell.

VINCENT MEHDIZADEH: The federal governmentdoes not condone this industry.They simply tolerate it as long as people aren't willfullyprofiteering.These dispensaries are supposed to be nonprofit entities,and by keeping the dosages low, like my machine does,by limiting amounts dispensed, by making surethe right person is at the machine

VINCENT MEHDIZADEH [continued]: through fingerprint recognition.

DEBBY GOLDSBERRY: Well, the governmenthas created this Wild West environmentthat we're in right now, because they don't want to regulate it.But the lack of regulations just leaves an open doorfor people who aren't good players to sort of slip inand start cannabusinesses.

NARRATOR: In order to tear down the wallbetween federal and state laws, ithelps to examine how different states have dealt with alcohol.

HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: You know, every statedoes it differently.At the Costco where I live in Maryland,you can't buy beer at the Costco.If you go across the river in Virginia,you can buy beer at a Costco.So every state regulates and sells alcohol differently.And this is what we need-- 50 laboratories, 50places for people to find best practice,and what works best for their state.

VINCENT MEHDIZADEH: The state of Arizona, for instance,if somebody gets amounts through our technology,the state would automatically knowexactly what's been transacted.Now, in states like California, wedon't have those kind of regulations,which is why I invented the machineas a self-regulating tool for these dispensary operators.

DEBBY GOLDSBERRY: Are we going the FDA of high pharmacy?Gosh, I hope not.Because we're not qualified.It's a plant medicine that grows out of the Earth.Or are we going to route of herbal medicine?Well, we can do that.But we have to shape that direction ourselves.

VINCENT MEHDIZADEH: Even though Californiais the birthplace of medical marijuana,it's clear that other states have done a betterjob at actual implementation.These other states are learning from California'a mistake.And they're actually setting forthrules and guidelines and laws on how the medicine issupposed to be dispensed.

NARRATOR: It's ironic that an invention createdto regulate cannabis can also be usedto control legal narcotics in situations wherehospital employees are known to sometimes abusetheir privileges.

VINCENT MEHDIZADEH: We're also concentratingon the pharmaceutical market in orderto help regulate inventory management in doctors officersfor traditional medications.These machines can be used in small hospitalsin order to document how employeesare managing and acquiring heir inventory to then dispense

VINCENT MEHDIZADEH [continued]: to patients.

NARRATOR: A dispensary that sits on a large inventoryof medicine and/or large sums of cashcan become a sitting duck for not only federal raids,but also robbery and burglary.

VINCENT MEHDIZADEH: I always tell the Medbox clinicoperators to keep the medicine amounts low as needed.So at any given clinic, they wouldn'thave more than five pounds of dried marijuana.And the dosages inside the machineare a gram, and an eighth of an ounce,a quarter of an ounce at most.

NARRATOR: Like it or not, we will neversee legalization until Uncle Sam figures outa way to get his share.

VINCENT MEHDIZADEH: And this machine and the technologyhelps track every single transactionso that tax dollars can be paid and law enforcementcan rest easy that things are being done by the book.

ROB KAMPIA: If marijuana were taxed and regulatedlike alcohol, there might be about $10 billionworth of tax revenues.I think with alcohol, it's something like $14 billionin tax revenue, so it's sort of analogous.So there are some similarities and thereare some differences between comparing the two prohibitionregimes.

NARRATOR: Medical use of the cannabis plantdates back to the beginning of time.But it's only in recent history that people couldbe sent to prison for its use.Among the government's top reasonsfor keeping cannabis out of the modern daypharmacopeia is the fear that smoking anything greatly raisesthe threat of lung cancer.

KEVIN SABET: If a scientific body came out and saidthat smoking anything is a good wayto deliver a drug, a safe and healthy wayto do that for the general population,that would be in contradiction to 200 years of evidenceabout the effects of smoking anything on someone's body.

DR DONALD ABRAMS: I'm Donald Abrams.And I'm chief of hematology oncology at San FranciscoGeneral Hospital and a professor of medicine at the Universityof California, San Francisco.I do research in medical cannabis applications.

NARRATOR: Dr. Abrams discusses an experimentin which thousands of people were testedfor cancer over a 10 year span.

DR DONALD ABRAMS: The people who were regular cannabis users,to a mild extent, actually appearedto have a decreased risk of developing lung cancer comparedto people that didn't ever use cannabis.And it was sort of astounding.It wasn't statistically significant.But it was definitely a trend.And people say, well, how could this possibly be?And I think cannabis is a medicine that

DR DONALD ABRAMS [continued]: is anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and probably hassome direct activity against cancer cells.

DR PAUL CHABOT: If marijuana cures cancer,you've got my signature right there next to it, absolutely.If it cures cancer, I would be a absolute foolto be called a so-called drug warriorto look at a compound that can cure cancer.I would push everywhere I could to make surethat we looked at that to cure cancer, absolutelywithout a doubt.

DR DONALD ABRAMS: Does cannabis really havean anti-cancer effect?I mean, we've see the work of Tashkin.We've seen the data from the Kaiser cohort.There was an animal study that the National Toxicology Programdid as well, where they fed mice and rats increasing dosagesof THC via a tube in their stomachand found at the end of two years

DR DONALD ABRAMS [continued]: that the animals that got the highest dosages actuallyhad fewer tumors, both benign and malignant,and lived longer.

RICK SIMPSON: Well, in the early 1900s,John D Rockefeller got together with his rich friends.And they started all these medical foundations.And they took over the medical schools.And all they taught the doctors that were being trainedis allopathic medicine, medicine from chemicals and poisons.And of course, they owned the chemical.And you know, what a great way sell their summon products.

RICK SIMPSON [continued]: So they brainwashed the public and all these doctorsinto believing that this was the wayto go, when in reality, the only thing that actually healsis empiric medicine, medicine from plants.And old John D Rockefeller himself, as I understand it,he lived to be almost 100 years old.And he wouldn't even take his own medicine.But what he took was empiric medicine, medicine from plants.

RICK SIMPSON [continued]: But they didn't mind, you know, selling the chemicals to us,did they?

NARRATOR: In Colorado Springs a 63-year-old leukemia patientnamed Robert Crouse stands trial for growingthe 75 plants that were needed for making his own oil.

ROBERT CROUSE: And patients can't afford this.They can't afford the $5,000 or $10,000a month that it's going to take in raw productto be able to manufacture this oil.It's not possible.

NARRATOR: Only about 100 years ago, cannabis oil derivativeswere a main staple in every doctor's kit.It was used for pain, headaches, menstrual cramps,as an anti-inflammatory, and even an antibiotic.Back then, people did not really understandhow the cannabis plant with its 6o-plus cannabinoidsand wide array of compounds worked.All they cared about were the results and the fact

NARRATOR [continued]: that it was completely safe from the dangerous sideeffects caused by other drugs, such as opioids or cocaine.Ironically, today it's Western medicine's inabilityto understand the natural synthesis of cannabinoidsproduced by the plant that has allowed the oppositionto keep it classified as being dangerous with no medicalbenefits.

DEBBY GOLDSBERRY: The pharmaceutical companyand the way that they operate, ithas to be a molecule, you know, no more than five molecules,in fact, to make up a drug to get approved through the FDA.Cannabis absolutely does not qualify.I think the pharmaceutical company figured out, well,this extremely popular plant medicine that everybody couldgrow in their backyard is not available for us to make profitat this time.

NARRATOR: At the University of Colorado,a renowned college professor takes his yearsof research public as he sets outto create a way of mass producing the cannabis oil sothat it's safe, consistent, strong and pure enough to killcancer cells.Curing cancer remains the holy grail of all medicine.In this country and the rest of the world,treatment is big business with over a trillion dollars

NARRATOR [continued]: spent per year on cancer therapies.

DR ROBERT J MELAMEDE: Most peopleare touched in a very negative way by cancer,by arthritis, by pain, by all of the things that are currentlysupporting the big pharma industry as it exists.And people are sick of it.People don't want to take 20, 30 pills a dayand have bad results when they can take a little cannabis

DR ROBERT J MELAMEDE [continued]: and have good results.And we will make that demand.

NARRATOR: In order to facilitate clinical trialsand regulatory submissions to the FDA,cannabis science has brought on boarda former assistant surgeon general,and a former executive from the FDA,and a former head of research and developmentof a major pharmaceutical company who conducted over 400successful clinical studies.While many pharmaceutical companies

NARRATOR [continued]: are busy patenting single synthetic cannabinoids basedon the cannabis plant, cannabis scienceis working to bring natural derivativesfrom the organically-grown plant into the modern daypharmacopeia.

DR ROBERT J MELAMEDE: And probably the most importantthing cannabis science is doing as we progress through the FDApath is to continue with the education,spread the underlying foundation that I described regardingthe nature of life, the nature of health,and the unique role that cannabanoids play in it.And people will demand the change.And change will happen.

NARRATOR: Until now, marijuana patientshave been forced to rely on various unreliable sourceswith agendas and conflicting information on howto treat themselves at a critical and fragile juncturein their lives.

DR ROBERT J MELAMEDE: The more peoplelearn that they can, for example, cureskin cancer topically without surgery,the more people will demand it.Why should something that's so relatively inexpensive comparedto conventional treatments not be available to people?

ROBERT KANE: This is jobs.You know, this is helping patients.And that's what cannabis science really is about.Our goal is to help the world heal, patient by patient,in the science of the endocannabanoid system.

DR ALAN SHACKELFORD: If we engage our patients as partnersand allow-- and I use the term intentionally--allow their input, and we must.And we should, as physicians.

DR ROBERT J MELAMEDE: Absolutely.

DR ALAN SHACKELFORD: Now, we have the opportunityto say, well, the side effects of this are going to be this.You end up constipated.And you may have-- you know, if you take too many of these,they're going to kill you.Or they'll certainly make you-- this, on the other hand,will be equally efficacious.And you're not going to have a problem with it.And it isn't going to kill you.So which one do you want to use?[LAUGHTER]And of course, if you give a patient the opportunity

DR ALAN SHACKELFORD [continued]: to involve him or herself in the process,now you have a partnership.And that's what a doctor-patient relationship is.It's not me dictating.It's the patient engaging.

DR ROBERT J MELAMEDE: Well, it's not only not you dictating,it's not the drug company that educated you dictating.

DR ALAN SHACKELFORD: Precisely.

DR ROBERT J MELAMEDE: We have this interesting balanceoccurring as maturation of individualsfulfill their kind of cannabis destiny,whether or not they produce enough to beopen-minded or close-minded.And if you look historically at the nature of mankind,we've been ruled by people quite clearly that are whatI would call on high people.

NARRATOR: In early 2011, federal agenciesswept the remaining dispensaries in Montanathat had survived the initial raids and shut them all down.It was at this time the Hydes were forcedto head west for one of the country's few proton radiationfacilities.

MIKE HYDE: We basically put all of our belongingsthat we had in the car that we needed.And you know, that's-- fighting cancer really teaches you thatnone of this stuff matters, the hows.food None of it matters, man.All we needed was a gym bag of clothes, our juicer.And we loaded Cashy and Colton up.And we hit the road.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: Our friends watched our pets for us,and we took off to California.

MAN: Montana is a very interesting case,because actually, it has been affirmed now in their SupremeCourt that the state law does not supersede federal law.And the Montana case is also an interesting case,because there's this huge backlash resultingin what happened when they passed medical marijuana.And this is the problem with these initiatives.People vote for these initiatives in good conscience.

MAN [continued]: They vote thinking this is about the sick and dying.They vote thinking this is about--could be about themselves or their ailing parents.

MIKE HYDE: The law changed, So weneed to get where the medicine and the good produce is.Sunny state of California, here we come.We started proton radiation.And we had hopes of finding an oil maker down there thatcould help us get enough oil to at least keep Cashy offof the nausea and pain medications for protonradiation, hopefully work as an anti-cancer

MIKE HYDE [continued]: and neuroprotectant but keep the damage from the radiationto a minimum.And so when we got to California,we had our consultation.That's when the doctor told us, like, hey, guys.The chances that this tumor is going to shrinkis slim to none.We will hopefully keep it from metastasizing.And we can go into experimental chemos next year,

MIKE HYDE [continued]: but we're just basically buying time.You guys are fighting a reoccurring PNET brain tumor.And the numbers aren't good.And we just want you guys to be realisticthat we're not going to be able to shrink this tumor.I'm just hoping for a miracle, you know.I'm hoping for an angel to come to me tonight and tell mesomething that I need to know that I don't know.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: Cause seven months ago, I thoughtI had it all figured out.Now, I feel I like I don't know shit.I feel like I don't have anything.Feel lost, lost in Southern California.And so from our history from the first year,I knew that they would start out with Ativan and Zofran.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: And I knew that that stuff doesn't work.And that's when they start stacking on the cocktail.And so I told them, I go, well, we'renot going to use Ativan or Zofran.This stuff is scary bad.It's dangerous.It didn't work on him last year.We're going to take care of our nausea and paincontrol on our own.And we'll go from there.And they were like, OK, fine.

NARRATOR: The Hydes work in tandemto make sure that someone is by Cashy's side at all times.

MIKE HYDE: You've got to switch out every 24 hours, or every 12hours, really.But basically every other day, one of us will stay the night.And so last night was Kalli's night.That night before that was mine.Here she is, coming out.

NARRATOR: Cashy's mom, Kalli, is a registered nurse.And although some say it's not necessary,she always insists that the oil be sterilizedin a professional laboratory.

CHILD: Here, Cashy.

KALLI HYDE: Daddy's got coffee.

CHILD: Here, Cash.Cash.

KALLI HYDE: He don't want it.

MIKE HYDE: Cashy looks really good today.

NARRATOR: Mike shares one of the many regrettable situationsthat Cashy and many other children with cancercommonly endure.

MIKE HYDE: They weren't even going to try and removehis infected port til Sunday.I had to actually them that they were stupid.And so every day, they had to pull this patch offof his chest.And they had to pull the gauze stuffed into the woundhole that was in it.[CHILD SCREAMING]Now, that's fighting cancer with the American Cancer Society.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: That's fighting cancer with pediatric oncology floors.This is the answer to all of our prosecutors, sheriffs, policeofficers, governors.This is what they say to be the best way for our kids,right here.I say bullshit.That's torture, man.

INTERVIEWER: Have you ever seen a personwho had cancer and used marijuana to help themor to alleviate their condition of so much sufferingfrom terminal cancer?

MICHELLE LIONHEART: No, I have not.

INTERVIEWER: And if you had, and I have,and seen that it helps them with their appetiteand makes them smile, would you agreethat it has some benefit to society for somebodywho's dying and that marijuana is the only thing that makeshim eat and makes him smile?Is there not an efficacious situation there?

MICHELLE LIONHEART: I think that's between himand his doctor.

INTERVIEWER: Well, if it's between him and his doctor,why does the DEA take a position that medical marijuana iswrong, which you've taken?You've taken the position it's not between him and the doctor.You have a publication, which on page sixof your publication in 2011, has the most insane and banalparagraph.The legalization movement is not simplya harmless academic exercise.

INTERVIEWER [continued]: But moral danger of thinking marijuana is--

MODERATOR: The gentleman's time has expired.The gentlewoman from California, Ms. Chu.

NARRATOR: After starting the powerful radiation,the Hydes realize that nausea wasgoing to be a huge issue for Cash,so they decided to take a quick trip upinto the Emerald Triangle of Northern Californiato meet up with a man named Ringowho is known for helping total strangers sufferingwith cancer.

MIKE HYDE: So we loaded up in the car.And we had been put in contact with Ringo with SoHum seeds.And we drove up to Santa Rosa, California.It was a big journey, took the whole weekend.And we got up there.And we met Ringo.He gave us a 90-day supply of oil for free.And it was really cool, because he told me, he goes,Mike, I drew this cannabis under the sun.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: And I made the oil using solar energy and love for Cashy.

NARRATOR: For a second time, the Hydes received newsthat Cashy's tumor was gone.

MIKE HYDE: Cashy's the first cancer patientto ever go through 30 rounds of proton radiation to the spineand brain without using any nausea or pain medicationsbesides cannabis oil.

NARRATOR: When the 90-day supply of oil ran out,Mike found it nearly impossible to keep upthe same doses that Ringo had gotten them accustomed to.

MIKE HYDE: He went into remissionfor the second time in January of 2023.We came home.My [INAUDIBLE] CO2 has CBD in it,my [INAUDIBLE], CBD, CBD crew, CBD, [INAUDIBLE], CBD.But guess what?They all have THC as well.

NARRATOR: Without a single reported overdosedeath to this day, the worry of having dangerous druginteractions with cannabis is far lessthan with any other conventional drug.

MIKE HYDE: Parents call me all the timeand say, god, Mike, where do I start at?I say you start with putting oil in the kids.just Get it in them and go from there.And you're giving these patients a neurological medicine.If you look at who's studying cannabis oil,it's neuroscientists every time.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: It's neurologically a godsend.They can't replicate it.They're amazed by it.So when you start giving a patient this medicine,you're going to notice eye movement changes.You're going to notice drowsiness.You're going to notice cotton mouth.You're going to notice hunger stimulation.You're going to notice all this stuff, and it's all good.

NEWS REPORTER: Two years ago, little Cash Hydewas diagnosed with stage four brain cancer.He endured bouts of chemo that made him sick, made him ill.He didn't eat for 40 days and was vomiting severely.As his parents watched helplessly, as many have,they made a crucial decision.They asked doctors to take Cash off his anti-nauseaand his pain medication and secretly

NEWS REPORTER [continued]: gave him marijuana oil, cannabis oil made from marijuana.What they did was illegal.In addition, they didn't tell his doctors.Today, three-year-old Cash is in remission and doing well.Kalli, let me talk to you.You're an RN, right?

KALLI HYDE: Yeah, this is Kalli.

NEWS REPORTER: OK, Kalli, do you understand my concernsabout people coming into the hospitaland just administering substances, illicit or illicit,without the team's involvement, you know I mean?I mean, you worked in hospitals.It can really make things unravelif the team is not there taking care of the patient.

KALLI HYDE: I do understand the controversywith coming in and giving our son cannabis.But he was laying there dying, shaking, shivering.His skin was peeling.He was vomiting every two hours.He was vomiting.He couldn't--

NEWS REPORTER: Let me ask the question, Kalli.Kalli, I get it.Let me ask the question a different way.

KALLI HYDE: OK.

NEWS REPORTER: Let's say you had medication XYZ, and it's legal.And you describe that same scene to us.You just bring that in from the outsideand give it, because you wanted your child better no matterwhat.You go to any length, even if it means upsettinghow a hospital functions.Is that what you're saying?

KALLI HYDE: Exactly, yes.

NEWS REPORTER: OK.OK.Hold on one second.Bob, you've been sitting here listening to this.Do you have anything--

KALLI HYDE: These doctors are, you know, they'rekilling our children.[INTERPOSING VOICES]

NEWS REPORTER: Hold on.We weren't there.Listen, people are trying to do their joband trying to-- the child is better because of proton beamand chemotherapy.We know that, too, because that's what they could expect.Yes, and all this other stuff made him sick.

NARRATOR: With the creation of the DEA in 1973came the concept of putting all drugs into oneof five categories, known as the drug scheduling.At this time, cannabis was categorizedinto the most dangerous category, schedule one,alongside of commonly agreed-upon scourged drugs,such as PCP, crystal meth, and crack cocaine.

DR DONALD ABRAMS: A bunch of us whowere sort of cannabis thought leaderssuggested that instead of rescheduling cannabisto schedule two, for example, or schedule three,which is what dronabinol is, which is basicallythe delta-9 TCH, that it just shouldn't be scheduled at all.And it should be sold as a botanical, just like echinacea,

DR DONALD ABRAMS [continued]: or feverfew, or saw palmetto, because it'srisk-benefit ratio.

NARRATOR: Many years ago when marijuanawas labeled as a dangerous drug, unknowledgeable zealotsalso labeled the plant's non-psychoactive cousin, hemp,as being dangerous.Fifth generation soap maker David Bronnerwho runs the very successful DoctorBronner's Soap Company is forced to buy huge amounts of hemp oilfrom Canadian farmers in order to manufacture

NARRATOR [continued]: products that are legal to sell in the United States.So while American companies can buy and sellhemp-based products, American farmersare not allowed to grow hemp, and as a result,are losing an immensely profitable marketto other countries such as Canada and China.

DAVID BRONNER: I mean, what does thattell you when one of the most repressive governments on Earthis getting behind hemp, putting millions of dollars behind itas an ambitious plan to employ two million farmersand workers in the hemp industry and to use hempto help impoverished farmers out of poverty throughout China?And they're processing hemp fiber

DAVID BRONNER [continued]: into not only textiles and clothing--they're the largest supplier of hemp clothing in the world.So the Chinese are just, like, they're light years ahead,while our government is systematicallytrying to destroy our industry, isgetting in the way at every turn,ending our efforts to do the R&D that we-- we've lost 80 years,basically, to the drug war.

DAVID BRONNER [continued]: There's a global hemp Renaissance going on.And the United States is being shut out of it.And Obama has been a huge disappointment.We thought with Obama, we'd have, finallyhave a rational drug policy, at least with regard to cannabis.

NARRATOR: While the US economy struggles along,it's interesting to note that Americais the only industrialized nation on Earth that does notallow farmers to grow hemp.As a form of protest, the very unassuming heirof the Doctor Bronner's Soap Companylocks himself into a steel cage with living hemp plantsdirectly in front of the White House.

NARRATOR [continued]: [SAWING]

DAVID BRONNER: Reefer madness shall be buried.American farmers will grow hemp again.

NARRATOR: In our struggling capitalistic society,the laws in California and several other statesthat allow medical marijuana dictate that no onemay profit from growing.I wonder just how hard it would beto do a small grow on my own.

MIKE HYDE: Even when I take care of Cashy,I've still got to pay back all the people that helped me.And so, it's a big exchange.And like right now, Montana legislaturesays if you do a caregiver-to-caregivertransaction, we're going to kick your door down,And we're going to arrest you for a felony.

NARRATOR: Back in November of 2009,I was given a single pot plant I named Potsie Weber.Panic-stricken, it was a huge responsibility,as if someone had dropped a baby off on my doorstep.What does it eat?What does it drink?I can't let Potsie Weber die-- laying awake at night,the sound of helicopters hovering overhead,visions of the DEA breaking down my door.

NARRATOR [continued]: Better call my lawyer.Better buy an expensive growers license.Quietly, I started rounding up old lights.But none of them produced the correct light frequencyfor marijuana.Poor, fragile, little Potsie Weber never stood a chance.Ready to hang it up, I was given 10 new clones.So I raced down to the Home Depotto buy fluorescent grow fixtures.

NARRATOR [continued]: Next, I bought a grow tent and a stackof how to grow pot books off of Amazon.Now, I lay in bed, fearing that the UPS man will blackmail me.Hundreds of man hours later, I realize I needed more lights.My wife tried tirelessly to talk me out of it.But I was convinced that I was on the road to becomingan official California cannabis grower.Just a few more thousand dollars on the latest high tech LEDs,

NARRATOR [continued]: and voila.Ah, all the plants, all covered with mold-- as it turns out,you have to control the humidity.Time for some professional advice.

PAUL DRUCKER: If I didn't smoke it, I wouldn't be doing this.No way.

NARRATOR: Better genetics, several thousand more dollarson lights, sulfur burner, full temperature and humiditycontrol, and another 90 days of hard laborand all buds covered with seeds.As it turns out, one male plant can ruin everything.Another 2,000 watts of sodium vapor and metal halide lightswith the latest digital ballast, a full line advanced nutrients,

NARRATOR [continued]: medical marijuana grow solutions with names like big bud, voodoojuice, rhino skin, cushy chush, and bud factorX. I also got more fans, computerized programmableatmosphere controller, CO2 with full-on hydroponic system.One year after getting Potsie Weber,I had my first decent batch of California-grown medical

NARRATOR [continued]: marijuana.So I headed down to my favorite neighborhood dispensary,thinking that they would all be blown away.The buyer took one look and told methat he already had more product than what he could sell.Back at home, my wife got an electric billfor several thousand dollars.And all my so-called friends who were neveraround when I needed help suddenly expected free weed.

FRIEND: Do you love having this thing in your house, Trey?

NARRATOR'S WIFE: I don't like the noise.It's kind of a pain in the ass.And look at the-- it's ugly, let's be frank.

NARRATOR: The lesson I take from this?Yes, anyone can grow medical marijuana.But thinking that you're going to beable to compete with the California growers whohave been doing this for decades wouldbe like growing grapes thinking that you'regoing to make better wine than youcan get a highly-rated and highly-profitable vineyards.The idea that people who dedicated their livesto becoming expert growers are not allowed to make a profit

NARRATOR [continued]: appears to be just another ploy to keep it in the black market.But if I was sick and I need large amountsof high-grade product, there is no wayI could do this on my own.

TERRY NELSON: You take a worthless plant,and you make it into something more valuable than gold.I mean, alchemists have been tryingto do this for thousands of years.They wanted to turn straw into gold.Well, the United States governmenthas turned cannabis into gold, turned cocainto gold by prohibition.It made it more valuable.It's a worthless plant.On its own, it's a worthless plant.But with prohibition, it's very, very valuable.

NARRATOR: Back at the remote site,the expert growers prepare enough clean,organic leaf material for yet another wayof consuming the plant that dates backbefore the invention of fire.What could the future hold if the cannabis plant was totallylifted out of all restrictions, and people are allowed to growand use as much as they wanted/

WILLIAM L COURTNEY: I'm involved in the raw use of cannabisas a dietary essential.In that capacity, you can use 60 times more than youcan tolerate if heated.And in that capacity, it's a very potent anti-inflammatorythat will find a very broad population of interestin this country.

DR DONALD ABRAMS: I mean, if cannabis were discoveredin an Amazon rain forest today, peoplewould be clamoring to make as much useas they could of all of the potential benefitsof the plant.

WILLIAM L COURTNEY: Five years ago, Iwouldn't prescribe cannabis for a fellowI went to medical school with, because I was such a skeptic.And now, it's real clear to me that cannabis, it'sa vegetable.It's not psychoactive until humans alter it chemically.No other animal alters it.So the whole psychoactive thing is a human aspectof the plant that has nothing to dowith the 34 million years of evolution that the plant has.

KRISTEN PESKUSKI: My name is Kristen Peskuski.And I went from being bedridden and on over 40 medicationsa day to control my health problems to being a mother,to being healthy, happy, and vital,thanks to using green leaf, that I do on a daily basis.

WILLIAM L COURTNEY: CBT is a molecule that's coming outof the shadows from THC.It doesn't produce that psychoactive.The majority of my patients don't want to get high at 8:00in the morning and be high all day long.But a lot of them do have arthritis,and car accidents, autoimmune disorders, rheumatoid.And they start out their day in pain.And they're in pain most of the day long.

WILLIAM L COURTNEY [continued]: And so they're looking for relief but clarity.And that's what these-- eating the plant raw.And that's-- you not only need CBDCBD is a non-psychoactive, whether it'sCBD acid, which is how it's found in the raw plant,or CBD, which is what happens after youcook it, or heat it, or steep it, or turn itinto tea or something.But THC acid is the real tricky molecule-- in the raw plant,

WILLIAM L COURTNEY [continued]: totally non-psychoactive, phenomenally beneficialas a molecule.Once it's heated, it turns into THC.And then the tolerable dose drops from hundredsof milligrams a day to 10.And with 10 milligrams, you stimulate the CB1 receptor,you get the psychoactive effect, either dysphoria or euphoria.But you walk away from 99% of the benefits

WILLIAM L COURTNEY [continued]: of this plant, which are bone remodeling,intestinal function, neural function, inflammationcontrol, cancer and precancerous detection.

KRISTEN PESKUSKI: I've had 16 surgical procedures.And I'm resistant to most antibioticsand have chronic infections.And I can't take a lot of Western medicine drugs becauseof the allergies that I have.

WILLIAM L COURTNEY: This plant can do phenomenal things,but not if you're taking 10 milligrams rather than the 600milligrams that the FDA is currently approvingas an investigative new drug.

KRISTEN PESKUSKI: And I moved to Californiato be able to use cannabis legally.But I still didn't have the type of healingthat I anticipated with smoked and heated cannabis.So after talking to several cannabis physiciansand attending different lectures,

KRISTEN PESKUSKI [continued]: I found out that there is the THC acid and CBDacid that you get in the raw form havemedicinal properties that are betterat helping my immune system to communicate.So as soon as I began doing that, it took about six weeks.And I was infection-free.

KRISTEN PESKUSKI [continued]: And all of my conditions went into remission.

WILLIAM L COURTNEY: They pick the whole plant,strip the leaf and flower juice, that good indicationthat the roots are also useful.Stalk is a little fibrous, can destroy,can bind up a lot of juicers and ruin the juicerbecause it's just so strong.So I gently strip the stalk and throw that away,because it's just too fibrous.But juice that-- it produces a small amount of juice,

WILLIAM L COURTNEY [continued]: very concentrated, quite acidic.That has to be diluted.You can dilute it with fresh vegetable juice, fruit juice,or something that you buy off the shelf.

KRISTEN PESKUSKI: The only time I'veneeded antibiotics in the last four yearsis when I was unable to do the juicing regime because Iwas overseas.

WILLIAM L COURTNEY: Once the world knows that this is,it's a vegetable-- that's all it is--I'm hoping that the DEA, which is lagging behind,will, on cue with the whole organization,decide that, OK, well, let's go ahead and reschedule this.Because clearly, we can't have a patent on its utilityand say it has no utility.I mean, the conflict is just, it's patently absurd.

DEBBY GOLDSBERRY: So the next big innovationI think that's coming is regulatelicense and regulated testing laboratorieswhere patients know that the data that comes out of that labis real.

NARRATOR: When you buy Tylenol, chancesare it's going to be exactly what you expect.When you buy a can of Budweiser or a pack of Marlboros,chances are it's going to be exactly what you expect.Probably the single biggest problemin legalizing a drug that anyone can growis that the consumer will never really know what he is getting.

ANGEL STANZ: I surely wouldn't walk into a pharmacy,put all the different aspirin bottlesor Robitussin bottles up, and choosemy-- wouldn't put out the Robitussin in the little dishesand choose by the color and what it would smell like.I'm going to take a look at the package.I'm going to take a look and say, which one of theseis going to be better for my stuffed up nose?Which one of these is going to be better for my cough?

NARRATOR: The old saying, don't mess with mother nature,has never been truer.Because due to the government's misguided attemptof prohibiting mankind a plant, nature ironicallymade the plant stronger than ever.However, because of years of prohibition,breeders have only sought to increase THC levels in orderto fulfill the sole black market need of getting people stoned,

NARRATOR [continued]: thereby ignoring all other potential compounds.

KEVIN SABET: This is not your Woodstock weed.The marijuana of today is between five and six times morepotent than the marijuana of maybe my parents' generation.We're still trying to figure out why more people aregoing to treatment, non-criminal justice [INAUDIBLE] to treat.In other words, on their own, themselves or their familymember, told the counselor that the reason they're in treatment

KEVIN SABET [continued]: is because of marijuana.

DR DONALD ABRAMS: I mean, I work at San FranciscoGeneral for 30 years.And every day, I had met patientswho were ravaged by abusive substances--crack cocaine, heroin, tobacco, alcohol, sugar, you know.I never have admitted a patient in my lifewith a marijuana excess problem.

DR ROBERT J MELAMEDE: What science clearly shows,and what most people certainly know use cannabis,is that you take enough to achieve a certain level and notmore.It's not like cocaine, where you justkeep doing it because you become a fiend.You're looking to change your body's biochemistry in a waythat you feel is beneficial and which science basically

DR ROBERT J MELAMEDE [continued]: shows is beneficial because of its anti-aging properties.So when someone is using stronger cannabis,if they're smoking it, that meansthey smoke less, which is actually better.

DR DONALD ABRAMS: Unlike opiates,where there are receptors on the brain stemthat is the part of the body where regulates respirationand breathing, there are no cannabinoid receptorson the brain stem, so you can't reallysuppress your breathing to the pointwhere you're going to kill yourself.

NARRATOR: Recently, researchers have uncovered ancient strainsin Spain that contain several highly-beneficial cannabinoidsthat were almost driven extinct due to the common black marketTHC cannabis.

WILLIAM L COURTNEY: I would be verycurious as to what the profile of this plantwas after 34 million years of evolution.

NARRATOR: Older people who are notopen to smoking their medicine are findingnew relief with professionally-manufactured THCand CBD-infused drinks and edibles.

WILLIAM L COURTNEY: Those that find outthat they can reduce the amount of Western medicinesthey need have better effects, bettercontrol of their symptoms, and have less side effects.Those people will win this war.They're the ones-- it's this group herethat are going to win the war, because youget this elderly group, very well-off, very educated.If you relieve their pain, you've

WILLIAM L COURTNEY [continued]: given them a sweet spot in the afternoon thatdoesn't cause constipation.They're a vocal group.They've got time on their hands.They will tease through, well, whatwe do with a huge prohibition industry thatwants to incarcerate people?

KATE PIPPINGER: I don't like it personally,but it's time for a conversation about legalizing marijuana.

NARRATOR: Today, it's almost impossibleto go three clicks on Facebook without runninginto yet another pro-weed page.

ROB KAMPIA: I don't think that it'swise to think that legalization is inevitable.It's not inevitable.We're at a tipping point right now.But a tipping point doesn't mean you're guaranteed victory.A tipping point means it could tip in either direction.What we saw the 1970s when more people were using marijuana,the polling was increasing.Some states were decriminalizing marijuana.Everyone in the 1970s was saying, oh, my god.

ROB KAMPIA [continued]: Marijuana is going to be legal soon.And now, here we are.

MAN: If you want have an honest discussion about the benefitsof certain cannabanoids that are in marijuana, let's do that.But let's not have the dope headsaround the table trainwrecking that conversation.Because quite honestly, we're notgoing to get rid of that crowd.You all that want to legalize or talk about the cannabanoids,let's have a fair discussion.But don't bring the nuts to the tablebecause they support your cause.

NARRATOR: Today, many people in the legalization movementhave expressed extreme disappointment in Obamaover what they see as broken promises.

GARY JOHNSON: Rhetoric sounds better.But the reality is, is that I thinkthere are just as many raids being conducted todayas there was with Bush.The threats are still there.

NARRATOR: Former Republican and thenLibertarian presidential candidate, Gary Johnson,is widely known as the two-term governor of New Mexico whowaited till his second term to attemptthe decriminalization of drugs.

GARY JOHNSON: It's one of many issueswhere we're spending a whole lot of moneyand getting no benefit whatsoever When it comesto the drug war, no benefit.

NARRATOR: Because of his 2012 victory,second term President Barack Obamawill never have to campaign again,leaving many of his supporters hoping that he could finallybecome the president of change and actually endthe federal prohibition of marijuana.

TERRY NELSON: Today, there's 114 million peoplehave admitted to using, almost a third of the population.And this is after 40 years of war on something,and a third of the population has used it.I don't think you can call that a successful war.So the policy is not working.

NARRATOR: Thinking that Cash was cancer-free,along with the hardships related to keeping a high dose oilregiment going, the Hydes reduced Cash's dosefrom a cancer-fighting 1,000 milligrams per dayto an appetite-stimulating 400 milligrams per day.Several months into the lower dose regiment,they received test results showing that the tumor hadcome back a third time.

MIKE HYDE: I know it's a great medicine.I have watched it work.Is it the cure to cancer?I don't know.I think with the right dose, with the right medicine,you could do wonders.

NARRATOR: Kalli Hyde has been a registered nurse forover a decade and has a very realistic graspon the situation that tears many families apart.

KALLI HYDE: When we first heard about it, when we firstfound out he had cancer, his tumor was 4.5 centimeters big.So I mean, his eyes were popping out.Like, if it would have grown much more--we don't have the time frame to just only treat himwith cannabis.And we didn't know.

MIKE HYDE: Well, the thing about itwas, was not only did we not have the time frame,we didn't have the amount of oil that Rick Simpson eventalks about available.So even though it was a hope that you treat cancerwith cannabis oil, there wasn't any cannabis oil available.

NARRATOR: Back in Montana, the Hyde familydecides to no longer pursue the Western treatments of chemoand radiation, while offering help through the Cash HydeFoundation to other families in the same predicament.

MIKE HYDE: Doing everything we can as a family tokeep Cashy alive.And a lot of it's very controversial.And it's put the whole family at risk.Basically, big brother knows that at any time,the cops could come here and arrest us.I've already told them, hey, man, any night, the FBIor the DEA or the sheriff's department,

MIKE HYDE [continued]: they could kick down our door.They'll throw a flashbang through window.If that happens, don't be afraid.Just know that it's going to be OK.Don't worry about it.But know that that could happen.Know that they could come here with assaultweapons and the whole rigmarole and rip our whole house apart.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: they're going to tell you scary things.And you need to not be afraid, because we've already seenthe worst of the worst, bro.We've already seen little Cashy almost die several times.We've already been told that we weren't going to take him home.We've already prepared for all that.So what they threaten us with isn't scary.Because at the end of the day, it's all going to be OK.

NARRATOR: Back at home, we enrolled our foster daughter,Stephanie, into the local junior high.My wife worked with her counselors and psychiatristto get her doses of Adderall and the antidepressants lowered.As hard as it was for us to admit,we could see her ability to focus waning as we decreasedthe Adderall doses.

NARRATOR'S WIFE: [INAUDIBLE].

STEPHANIE: I'm off the drugs.

NARRATOR: You're back with your mom.

STEPHANIE: Back with my mom.And we're ready to start our new path.

NARRATOR'S WIFE: Your new life.And we're still friends.And we're like a second family.

STEPHANIE: Yes.

NARRATOR'S WIFE: So.

STEPHANIE: You guys are like a family to me.Kind of makes me sad for the kids,because they have to take these drugs.And the people that make them, I just don't like those people.Because I had to use their drugs.And the Adderall was also supposedto be helping me in school to do my work and focus.But before the Adderall, I always focused.

NARRATOR: During the past two years while making this film,our 10-year-old dog, Accoda, nicknamed Buford,stopped acting like himself.Multiple trips to the vet with blood testsand other diagnostics kept turning up negative,with the vet telling me that he was just getting old.One morning, his breathing was so labored,we rushed him to the doctor who x-rayed him to discover that hewas riddled with tumors.

NARRATOR [continued]: In a panic, I started to call anyonewho might be able to get me some cannabis oil.But only two minutes after being told he had cancer,he went into full cardiac arrest.And we were forced to make the decisionto give on the dreaded pink shot.

RICK SIMPSON: All animal life has cannabinoid receptors.And I've treated dogs back in Canada many times.And usually, you can cure a dog with terminal cancer usuallywithin a week to a week and a half,because their metabolism is so much quicker than a human's.They heal very quickly.So I'm very sorry to hear that, Kevin, because your dog couldhave been saved.

NARRATOR: My dogs and I breathe the same air,drink the same water, and eat much of the same food.Was Buford a canary in a coal mine?It's just hard for me to believe that his death wasa random occurrence when it seemslike more and more people I know aregetting diagnosed with cancer.Back in the '60s, my older brother became schizophrenia.

NARRATOR [continued]: Blaming his use of marijuana was an easy scapegoatfor a condition that modern medicine to this daystill does not understand.

DR DONALD ABRAMS: I like the story about cannabis causesschizophrenia, because a lot of young peoplewho use it go on to be schizophrenics.And what we're really understanding nowis that young people who are pre-schizophrenicfind that use of cannabis helps control and regulatetheir thought processes.So it's actually that they're self-medicating.

DR DONALD ABRAMS [continued]: And maybe they're preventing themselvesfrom needing expensive anti-psychotics.

NARRATOR: For millions of years, every living creature'ssurvival depended on the instinctto naturally self-medicate when threatenedby injury or disease.But all those years of evolution havebeen disrupted with our modern industrial age of quick fixes.After winning World War II and surviving the Cold War,my parents' generation had no reason

NARRATOR [continued]: to question anything if the government labeled itas being dangerous.Back in the '70s, we would play in the fog createdby the mosquito trucks that sprayed DDTthrough our neighborhood.Not even for a moment did my parentsdream it could be harmful.After all, as proud taxpaying Americans,the government always had our backs.But times have changed, maybe as the internet,

NARRATOR [continued]: a financial crash, endless wars, soaring cancer rates, or maybepeople are getting smarter and realizingthat true freedom only exists with the fundamental humanright to consume anything as long as it does nothurt or disrupt the freedom of others.

MIKE HYDE: Yesterday, he just started breathing hard.And you could tell he was just really tired.And ironically enough, it two years from when wewere in the ICU in Salt Lake.And two years ago, we gave Cashy to God.And He gave him back to us.And we were able to do a lot of amazing things with himand accomplish a lot of amazing things,

MIKE HYDE [continued]: as far as pediatric cancer goes.And yesterday, we gave Cashy back to God, you know.And he passed away in my arms on the couch right there.And he went with such ease and dignity.It was really peaceful to watch him finally pass away.He didn't even flinch at death's door.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: He accepted it.And he passed away with all the family around.And it was just, it was a perfect closureto a long battle.At the end of all this, that everythinghappens for a reason.And we all are part of a journey,

MIKE HYDE [continued]: and some are a shooting star, some justthe flame the burns the night, and some of us live lifetimes.But legends never die.And so I know that Cashy's name will live forever in the factthat his battle has brought more awareness to pediatric cancerand we've done more in pediatric cancer research

MIKE HYDE [continued]: than has been done up to this point.And so I feel confident knowing that no matterhow this battle ends, that Cashy's flameis far from burned out[MUSIC PLAYING] (SINGING) I never want to make you sad.I wouldn't want to make you cry.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: Everything I have, I have to, have to say goodbye to you.Heaven must need angels to take you away.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: Don't know what we'll do without you in our lives.Never wanted to have to know what life was like without you,love, all the joy you bestow.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: Heaven must need angels to take you away.Don't they know we need you?We need you to stay.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: I can still see the look in your eyeswhen I had something crazy to say.You were always someone I could confide in.Miss you in so many ways.

MIKE HYDE [continued]: Heaven must need angels to take you away.Don't they know we need you, need you to stay?

MIKE HYDE [continued]: Heaven must need angels to take you away.