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[MUSIC PLAYING]
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: Colombia's landrace genetics have been on
Arjan's wish list for years, but up until now, it's been
far too dangerous to venture deep into the jungle.
The last 50 years have seen a brutal internal conflict
between a slew of armed factions allied with different
political ideologies.
It's all kind of confusing, but when it comes down to it,
it's a war over who controls the drug trade.
Though it's gotten better, things are still really bad.
After finally getting our truck out of the mud, we woke
up the next morning to startling news.
The guerrillas' second in command was killed yesterday
in a bloody shoot out.
ARJAN ROSKAM: Here's the body bags.
This is the area we are in right now.
This is the guy.
There will be some extra attention today, because one
of big leaders has passed away.
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: Our plan was to go back to Gato's place and
then head further into the mountains to
find the Limon Verde.
We were smoking weed the whole ride up.
-[INAUDIBLE].
-Jackson.
-Jackson.
Ay.
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: Every time we hit a military checkpoint,
I was sure we were ***.
Unfazed, Gato disarmed each situation.
EL GATO: --because my two brothers get killed in the
last three years by some *** in Medellin.
They kill my family and control the business now here
in Colombia, but just because they're bandits.
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: Even still, he's intensely passionate
about weed and weed culture.
EL GATO: And we're just doing our thing because it's our
*** mission in life.
And we're happy to do it.
And it's not a matter of why you do it or not.
You just do it, because you don't feel
criminal for doing it.
For you, it's like having cows and milk them.
ARJAN ROSKAM: So we're going to try to make a new attempt
today to speak to the leaders, because we need the permission
for them to go around here in these mountains.
Otherwise, we're going to get kidnapped
and have big problems.
EL GATO: [SPEAKING SPANISH]
ARJAN ROSKAM: Instead of us going up in the mountains
there-- they know where they're hanging out--
I think they just made a last moment, or they probably knew
already yesterday to surprise us.
FRANCO LOJA: Is it a good sign or a bad sign?
ARJAN ROSKAM: Yeah, it's very good.
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: With tensions so high, we couldn't
just blaze through guerrilla controlled territory without
getting permission first.
But the leaders didn't want to be on camera.
EL GATO: [SPANISH].
EL GATO: Go guys.
ARJAN ROSKAM: [INAUDIBLE].
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: The leaders granted us permission.
But before we could freely hunt in their territory, they
would need four days to verify Arjan's legitimacy and let
everyone in the area know what we were doing.
So Arjan decided that we would suspend our search for the
Limon Verde and head north to the city of Santa Marta to
look for the other two landraces we were after--
Punto Rojo and Colombian Gold.
Santa Marta is a city literally built on weed.
In the '60s and '70s, tons and tons of Colombian Gold were
exported north through the Caribbean to the US.
Hundreds of peasant farmers became drug lords overnight.
FRANCO LOJA: We are after two of the most famous landraces
in cannabis history--
Colombian Santa Marta Gold.
And then there's the high altitude strain
called Punto Rojo.
It means red dot.
ARJAN ROSKAM: Every day is a great day.
EL GATO: Soon, we'll be *** politicians, man.
[LAUGHING]
ARJAN ROSKAM: We're going to scout
landraces up from the air.
And then later, with the cars, we can go into the areas to
find the fields back with the coordinates
we have on our GPS.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ARJAN ROSKAM: And everybody says to us, yeah, in the
north, there's not so much marijuana anymore.
But yeah, everywhere you go, it grows.
It's like a green avalanche.
It's unstoppable.
FRANCO LOJA: It's a complex mix between laboratory science
and real field work.
And that's why when the big corporations get interested in
marijuana, they can't do it alone.
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: With the info obtained from the chopper
ride, we headed into the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Gato's connections would take it from there.
EL GATO: This is the area of Columbia where the old
marijuana trade started back in the 1970s.
The people produced an enormous amount of money by
exporting large quantities of landrace.
They basically built the city of Santa Marta
out of cannabis money.
-[SPEAKING SPANISH]
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: [SPEAKING SPANISH]
-[SPEAKING SPANISH]
ARJAN ROSKAM: [SPEAKING SPANISH]
-[SPEAKING SPANISH]
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: The field was full of Colombian Gold.
Punto Rojo, however, was much more difficult to find.
FRANCO LOJA: This looks really like the original.
You see the red already in the hairs,
original Punto Rojo marking?
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: And it's a little more
mature than the others.
FRANCO LOJA: And you see it's more mature.
There are seeds inside.
You see how sativa the leaf is-- no overlapping
whatsoever, extremely long leaflets.
Space in between the leaflets-- you can read a
newspaper through this leaf.
I think we can look.
We can dig.
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: Yeah, can you find the seeds?
FRANCO LOJA: I think we can dig right this second.
We can dig for some beans here.
Let's dig for some beans.
I feel it.
I feel it.
I feel it.
But it's young.
It's not--
no, this is not mature.
Let's look lower in the plant, because usually, when it gets
pollen, it gets--
earlier in the stage.
Here we go.
Here we go.
Please be brown.
Please be brown.
Yes.
It's brown enough.
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: Nice.
FRANCO LOJA: It's not really mature.
It could be a couple weeks older to be considered a very
good seed, but it's mature enough to germinate.
This is the original landrace material that I can breed,
that I can store in my library, that I can use to
create new genetics that are going to win cannabis cups,
that are going to make people rich, that are going to put
people in jail, that are going to change destinies and lives.
And this is why I wake up with a smile every
*** day of my life.
Great.
I love this.
ARJAN ROSKAM: We've got seeds, man.
Yeah.
This is a really good plant.
Let's collect all the stuff here.
FRANCO LOJA: Man, we keep this seed organized in a ***--
ARJAN ROSKAM: You think you're organized?
What kind of *** bag is that, dude?
FRANCO LOJA: Look here.
So--
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: He said a "*** bag."
ARJAN ROSKAM: This is a bag.
We seal them.
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: Then what do you do with them?
Put them in your pocket.
ARJAN ROSKAM: They go with my balls.
That's how prestige they are.
We're going to keep them here.
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: They go right here.
ARJAN ROSKAM: Let's go to the next one.
ARJAN ROSKAM: We have a big factory.
We have a factory with 800 lights.
This is where we bring our seeds back
from different countries.
FRANCO LOJA: We plant a large number of seeds--
10,000, maybe 20,000 seeds.
And then we select maybe 5, maybe 10 really good
individuals.
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: How do you get the seeds back?
FRANCO LOJA: By sending them in the mail, if it's possible,
because they're small.
They don't contain any THC.
If you clean them properly from the green materials, they
don't smell.
Dogs don't even smell them.
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: And it's legal.
It's technically legal.
FRANCO LOJA: In Holland, yes.
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: In Holland.
FRANCO LOJA: So when we land in Holland with the seeds,
nobody cares.
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: Great.
FRANCO LOJA: It's only about leaving the country where you
are with the seeds that can be an issue.
Our life is one foot legal, one foot illegal.
We juggle on this *** razor blade all our life, bro.
That's what we do.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
-[SPEAKING SPANISH]
ARJAN ROSKAM: I don't understand why governments
repress this product so much.
It's completely ridiculous.
There's absolutely no way that you can say this is a normal
way of doing things.
If this plant will be legal, many guerrillas and other
people would not have money to finance war against local
farmers or other farmers or other people, and the tobacco
industry wouldn't have such big feet in the world.
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: Business in marijuana can be like a big
*** you to big corporations, if that's right.
ARJAN ROSKAM: This is exactly the
problem of why it's illegal.
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: We found the seeds.
Everyone seems to be pretty *** excited.
It was amazing to hear what Franco had to say.
He clearly knows what he's talking about.
And this is what they come here for.
And if they're innovating business from this kind of
R&D, it sounds like a win-win situation.
Or at least, I'm having a good time.
Oh, look.
I got spotted ones.
FRANCO LOJA: Ay, ay, ay.
My man, my man.
ARJAN ROSKAM: Yeah, that's a really nice one.
FRANCO LOJA: The signature is here.
We have a Punto Rojo in the house, my man.
KRISHNA ANDAVOLU: Beautiful.
FRANCO LOJA: ***.
The library gets richer and richer, Arjan.
Our competitors dream of what we have.
Dream.
It's going to be embarrassing soon.