Voices of TaosBernie Ellis on why he gave away 25 pounds of cannabis and why New Mexico is the best state to grow pot
Join Assistant Editor Geoffrey Plant as he talks with Bernie Ellis, a Peñasco cannabis grower who gave away his crop this year instead of accepting the low price retailers offered him. Ellis believes federal cannabis prohibition is why he and other growers aren't fairly compensated for their pot. A former career public health epidemiologist who helped launch the nation's first state-level substance use disorder research program in New Mexico in the 1990s, Ellis discusses his underground weed-growing days in Tennessee, where for 15 years he donated his cannabis to AIDS and cancer patients. That, and his career in public health all came crashing down after federal agents busted his farm in 2002. On the day this episode was recorded, he received notice that the state is investigating what he calls his "Great Ganja Giveaway.”
