Sold American

In the late 1970's and early 1980's, a new set of pioneers came to Mendocino, Humboldt, and Nevada Counties in California. Within just a few years, they would prove to have as great an effect on the state and nation's agriculture, economy, and culture as their more famous contemporaries, the vintners to the south. SOLD AMERICAN is their story. This documentary reveals the methods, self-sufficient and often very basic lifestyles, motivations, fetes, risks, and economics of the secretive colony of first-generation growers of high-grade cannabis for the market. Plus, interviews with law enforcement, government officials, and local townspeople offer a variety of perspectives on their presence. What emerges is an insightful and often funny account of how lawbreakers, law enforcement, and the community in between deal with each other. SOLD AMERICAN is the reality, without the haze of nostalgia or justifications in hindsight, but of great significance to our world of medical marijuana, decriminalization, and proposals for legalization and taxation.