MATTHEW SHOTWELL, whose Vallejo medical marijuana dispensary was raided by federal, state and city police in 2011, is the subject of a show premiering Wednesday on the Discovery Channel.
Courtesy photo
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
A six-part Discovery Channel series that begins Wednesday has its roots in South Solano County, where two men initially wanted to document the stories of medical marijuana, from farm to patient.
And one of the principals who proposed the initial concept for the show said his connection to the industry began when his sister and father both were diagnosed with cancer and sought to replace the conventional drugs that were making them feel even more miserable.
Matt Shotwell, whose Vallejo dispensary was raided and shuttered a year ago to the date of the show’s airing, said he hadn’t been interested in opening a dispensary until then.
A California Maritime Academy graduate, he had been piloting oil tankers, was a third mate in the Merchant Marines, had Department of Defense security clearance and had trained with the Special Forces.
But when his father and sister moved to California to have access to legal medical marijuana, “it was a new revelation to me.”
Since then, he’s studied the plant, learning, among other things, how it had been grown in his native state of Virginia by George Washington.
Inspired by the relief medical marijuana gave his family, he started a nonprofit collective, operated his “brick and mortar” dispensary in Vallejo for two years, pushed for the city’s 10-percent tax on dispensaries, urged a business license for such businesses and made donations to the Empress Theatre, Vallejo’s Main Street program and the Police Athletic League.
He was arrested Feb. 20, 2011, after federal, state and local agents served warrants in both Vallejo and Benicia. The case is still pending.
The irony that the television show debuts one year later isn’t lost on Shotwell. “God has a sense of humor,” he said.
He and producer Kip Baldwin collaborated on creating the initial concept of the show, and Shotwell is one of the stars and a principal.
Discovery Channel describes the six-part series as showing “the battle between cops, dealers and the growers looking to engineer some of the most powerful marijuana on Earth.”
It tells viewers that 18 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized medical marijuana, and two states, Washington and Colorado, have legalized marijuana for recreational use, but said farmers face high risks. In addition, certain levels of law enforcement view the operations as federal felonies.
“Will the growers win the fight to change hardline political and social attitudes?” the cable network asks. “Or will the authorities be able to bring them down once and for all?”
If the program has changed and broadened from the documentary-reality show first conceived by Shotwell and Baldwin, so has Shotwell’s views on marijuana. He now favors legalization for all purposes — but he still sees the medical need for marijuana. “People believe in it,” he said.
While some perceive medical users as modern day “potheads” using illness as an excuse for drug access, Shotwell knows of older people who have found comfort in the drug, including members of his own family who were able to use inhalers or ingest edibles and finally get sleep without the interruptions of retching and other prescription drug side effects.
Marijuana has had “a campaign of misinformation,” Baldwin said. Old tall tales survive, he said: “It was ‘Reefer Madness,’ without the basis of fact.”
The reality was also that some saw hemp as a competitor fiber for paper and nylon, he said.
Baldwin said there are studies in which rats given THC, one of marijuana’s ingredients, had their cancer reduced. “We’re not allowed to see what this drug can do,” Shotwell said. “It’s reckless politics.”
Shotwell agreed that the drug is misunderstood. He said unlike prescription drugs, alcohol or tobacco, marijuana hasn’t killed anyone. And he said regulation of marijuana should be a state issue.
“Different states get to do different things,” similar to states that have legalized gay marriage or choose whether to sell alcohol or remain “dry.”
Shotwell describes the Discovery Channel’s “Weed Country” as a portrait of that industry “from seed to sale,” and said it’s “highlighting the risks and the rewards.”
The show will air its first episode at 7 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday on Discovery Channel. A viewing party has been scheduled at The Rellik Tavern, 726 First St.
“We’re looking forward to bringing it to Benicia,” Shotwell said. “Just show up and watch, come down and shake hands.”
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I think Steve Mellon and Mike Boutin would be surprised to know where it is alleged to have started.
Machine guns and SWAT teams? Seriously, America? Those cops who think that pot is the worse thing to hit the US have it all wrong. They should look in the mirror. Legalize it, let everyone grow their own without fear and the money will go out of it. Pot should be worth no more than a tomato, except for the highly specialized breeding that can produce a corresponding high degree of medicine (CBDs, which are non-psychoactive). It would be really nifty if the cops would do some research instead of acting like Nazis, ruining people’s lives and spending taxpayer money on this insanity.
I’m a newly diagnosed cancer patient and I’m planning on using MJ instead of chemo and radiation (both of which CAUSE cancer). Anyone getting in between me and my medicine will be guilty of attempted murder. This isn’t about getting high, I really don’t want to do that; I want growers and breeders to be free to develop strains that will be high in the cancer-fighting qualities of CBD and whatever else research finds works; none of this should have anything to do with law enforcement.
Haven’t any of these thugs seen their own families get sick and need something besides corporate medication? Don’t they think that sooner or later they’ll get cancer themselves?
Seriously! That Sheriff up there in NorCal has way to much of a personal agenda. He wants to “save America” from what he thinks is bringing it down, rather than just doing what he is paid to do; enforce existing laws.
This is so ridiculous!!! It was so biased and unbelievable how it was portrayed. Really Discovery ?!
I live in one of the areas they showed on the episode and am outraged!!! My family and I walk all over the woods, camping, hunting, fishing. Imagine if I was hunting and carrying a firearm, and just so happened to wander through one of these supposed illegal grow sites. These MILITARY STYLE cops could easily think I was armed and shoot me! The whole show was propaganda and fear tactics. I can’t get over the fact of how many times they said armed growers, protecting their stash at whatever cost…
Could not agree more. How they could associate, ONE, spent cartridge, with MJ and especially in the part of the state where deer hunting is regular and consistent and has been for 50+ years.
Yes and don’t ever piss Mike Boutin off either. Apparently he’s bi polar and gets enraged over the least little thing.
Um it’s against federal law. Whether the state legalizes, you think it should be legal. Federal law trumps state law. Matt shotwell is a douche and a drug dealer plain and simple. Any idiot with 40 bucks can get a medicinal medical marijuana card on Venice beach. It’s a sham folks.
The people have voted they have changed the laws but these narrow minded police are just a bunch of vigilantes, regardless of what the people want. These are not the type of people who should wear a badge. They truely do have there own agenda. Matt Shotwell is a douche and should be locked up.
I just watched POT COPS why don’t you put a price on the cost of the police ,how much does it cost the tax payers,that would make the people think if we are wasting time and money on some thing want,, the police can do real work ,,you know like murders,rapist,child molesters ..
What are we waiting for?
From the article below:
“Has California Joined the Hemp Revolution? ”
“California Gov. Jerry Brown just signed Senate Bill 566 which legalized industrial hemp… sort of.”
Key quote:
The Father of our Country, George Washington wrote, “Make the most of the Indian hemp seed, and sow it everywhere!”
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/has-california-joined-hemp-revolution
Prior to Gov. Brown signing the above Senate Bill, state Senator Mark Leno, promotes the many benefits of hemp farming to California’s economy.
http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/industrial-hemp-%E2%80%93-golden-opportunity-california-business