"Most of our patients and our staff were really skeptical about doing a reality TV show because they were watching Jersey Shore and The Kardashians," says Andrew DeAngelo, general manager of Oakland, California's Harborside Health Center, the largest medical marijuana dispensary in the world. Andrew and his brother, Harborside's Executive Director Steve DeAngleo, are co-stars of Weed Wars, a new show by the Discovery Channel that looks into lives of those who run Harborside, the patients that seek out their services, and the politicians looking to shut them down.
"There are a lot of stigmas about medical cannabis patients, that we don't work hard, that we're a bunch of stoners, that we are lazy, that we are really criminals or drug traffickers," explains Andrew DeAngleo. "All that is a lie that has been perpetrated by the feds and the media." By opening up their work and lives to cameras, the DeAngelo brothers hope to present a side of the medical marijuana debate that is rarely seen on American television. "This is our chance - and our patients and our staff's chance - to shine."
Reason.tv sat down with the DeAngleo brothers to discuss the show, the multi-agency crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries and how the Obama Administration's recent reversal of policy is creating an opening for Republicans this election cycle.
Weed Wars airs Thursdays at 10pm on Discovery.
About 8.20 minutes.
Produced and edited by Meredith Bragg. Interview and camera by Anthony Fisher.
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