Cannabis advocate Les Crane was murdered nearly 20 years ago, and a newly announced documentary tells the story and analyzes who might have killed him.

On November 18, 2005, multiple gunshots were heard in Crane’s home in Laytonville, California. At first it was called a home invasion, but over the past two decades, Crane’s closest family and friends who remain believe it may have been law enforcement. “The documentary seeks to unravel the case by interviewing a number of people involved,” a press release published on Kym Kemp. “In addition, it will include footage of law enforcement and cannabis from the time to give the flavor of what was occurring.”

The promotional teaser for Who Killed Les Crane? NorCal Cannabis Murder Mystery includes brief clips from different people who knew Crane, such as Sean Dirlam (the “only surviving witness to the murder of Les Crane”), Tim Blake (local cannabis advocate and founder of The Emerald Cup), Jeremiah Crane (Les Crane’s son), and Jennifer Crane (Les’ widow).

According to Blake, the mid-2000s were a tumultuous time for the cannabis industry. “You had the DEA all over the place, they’re looking for everything, shutting down the indoors, coming after all of us, gauntlet on the road, it was intense,” Blake said. “And here comes this, you know, boisterous, loud guy from the east coast, [with] east coast accent, wanting to all these, you know, things. You know, they were going to take him out,” he said of Crane.

An unnamed speaker in the trailer described Crane as being responsible for growing thousands of pounds of cannabis every season.

Another interviewee, Patrick Duff, described Crane from his own point of view. “He was the one that tried to change the industry before anybody did,” Duff said in the trailer. “He was the one that tried to make the cops honest. His gonads were difficult to fit through a garage door.”

Ever since Crane died, there has been much uncertainty revolving around his murder. Dirlam was in the house when Crane was killed, and described a large individual who entered his room and assaulted Dirlam with a baseball ball while he was still in bed. A 2013 news report from The Willits News stated that Crane was “shot in the back of his head, in the arm and his abdomen,” and that “Dirlam suffered facial injuries.” 

However, both Jeremiah Crane and Jennifer Crane have their suspicions. “The whole thing of them even being alive was suspicious. You know, like, I’m sorry that’s just how it is,” said Jeremiah.

Everyone has their assumptions about the unsolved case. Kym Kemp conducted interviews in November 2022, which marked 17 years after Les was killed. Les’ sister, Laura Smith, claims that he had more than one million dollars on him when he was killed. “From the understanding I had,” she told Kym Kemp at the time. “There was $1.2 million in the safe.” However, Dirlam explained that he handled Les’ money, and that he only had approximately $7,000 in his possession.

Documentary producer Seth Ferranti posted on Instagram about the progress of Who Killed Les Crane? NorCal Cannabis Murder Mystery. “Who Killed Les Crane? will be out later this year from Outlaw Films and director Seth Ferranti. A harrowing trip into cannabis country, the Emerald Triangle, when the War on Drugs was raging, and bodies were dropping left and right. We investigate the murder of pot activist Les Crane, which remains unsolved to this day,” the post stated.

The film is presented by Gorilla Convict and Outlaw Films, which is produced by Ferranti, the same person who wrote and produced the Netflix film White Boy (2017). At the height of his crimes, Ferranti said that he was on the Top 15 U.S. Marshal most wanted fugitive list. Ferranti received a 25-year sentence for trafficking LSD, and took advantage of his prison time to create new purposes for himself. “But despite the unjust sentence, Seth decided to rise above his past and focus on his future. He began building a writing and journalism career from inside the belly of the beast,” Ferranti’s website explained. “With unlimited access to criminals and their stories Ferranti started crafting raw portrayals of prison life and crack era gangsters. Discovering a passion and talent for writing Ferranti also studied the trade earning an associates, bachelors, and masters degree while in prison.”

Ferranti wrote multiple books and published 500 blog entries before he was released from prison after serving his sentence for 21 years. Afterwards he took up freelancing for outlets such as Vice, Ozy, The Daily Beast, Dazed, Merry Jane, and many others, while also creating documentary films including Night Life (2023), Dope Men: America’s First Drug Cartel (2023), and more.

Recently in May, Ferranti also teased the first episode of a documentary called Tangled Roots: The True Story of Humboldt County, which is a four-part series that is slated to release on Amazon sometime this summer. “The legacy of the pioneers of cannabis culture of the past half century has been deeply rooted in the hills and valleys of Northern California, and particularly Humboldt County- America’s Cannabis Heartland. The Napa Valley of the weed game,” he described.

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The Drug Abuse Resistance Education, aka D.A.R.E., has been teaching kids about substance abuse since 1983 with a mission of delivering science and evidence-based curricula. Recently, a D.A.R.E. documentary published by Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan on April 12 spoke with numerous individuals regarding the D.A.R.E. program and discussed the failure of the War on Drugs. Callaghan attended D.A.R.E.’s annual conference, which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada last July. An estimated 500 attendees were present for D.A.R.E. officer training.

Part of the conference included presenting awards for 2023 D.A.R.E. Student of the Year and 2023 D.A.R.E. Officer of the Year Mark Gilmore, from Kosciusko, Mississippi. Gilmore commented on his ability as a D.A.R.E. officer to apprehend any students who possess any amount of drugs, which includes even the smallest amount of weed.

D.A.R.E.’s 2022 Officer of the Year, Alex Mendoza of the Irvine Police Department spoke with Callaghan about shifting D.A.R.E.’s approach to drug prevention deterring kids from using drugs. “For me, it’s really about educating the youth that are out there,” Mendoza said. “To give them the tools necessary to navigate whatever pain that they’re going through. I think that if you don’t have that self-love for yourself and that resiliency, then you’re gonna go to that external source, whatever that might be.”

Callaghan asked, “Do you feel the same way about alcohol?” to which Mendoza replied, “Absolutely. I mean, alcohol is a gateway drug.” Callaghan then asked Mendoza if he drinks alcohol, and Mendoza confirmed that he does so rarely, or “maybe once or twice within a month period of time.” He gave an example, stating that he recently had an alcoholic drink at his daughter’s wedding during a toast.

Callaghan addressed this issue in the documentary, citing the validity of calling alcohol a gateway drug. He asked Mendoza if he felt cannabis could be treated in the same way as alcohol. “You know, there’s so many things about marijuana that go far beyond, I guess, really our understanding, right?” said Mendoza. “From a lot of the statistics that are out there, obviously, they say that it can be more dangerous than tobacco products.”

However, he did note that there are many instances where cannabis is being used to help patients to deal with the symptoms of their condition. “I think the problem that you run into is that you have the people that truly legitimately have a need and a purpose behind it and will use it to help them navigate their pain,” said Mendoza. “My brother-in-law recently passed away of cancer, and he didn’t want to go with any type of prescription medication. He wanted something natural and he resulted to using THC to deal with his pain. And it helped him. He passed away, but it helped him navigate that, right? And then you have, unfortunately, people that will use that as an excuse to try to use that product for recreational purposes.”

D.A.R.E. President and CEO Francisco Pegueros, who formerly worked for the Los Angeles Police department, concluded the conference with a speech. In a one-on-one interview, Callaghan mentioned that people being critical of the War on Drugs, Pegueros said “Well, there was some evidence that certain governmental agencies were involved in a lot of activity that were kind of contrary to the whole concept of the war on drugs,” Pegueros said. Callaghan called the “CIA giving crack to Freeway Ricky Ross,” or how the federal government was supplying Ross with cocaine for illegal sales. “It’s an unfortunate part of our history. But evidently, it’s reality,” Pegueros said.

The documentary also interviewed one individual named Hailey, who was the only protester outside of last year’s D.A.R.E. conference last year. “We don’t try to outlaw sex. We don’t try to outlaw driving. We don’t try to outlaw guns,” Hailey stated. “We don’t try to outlaw all these things that come with risk but can be easily have these safety measures put in place, much like we do with pharmaceuticals.”

Callaghan briefly spoke with Bill Russel, also known as RETRO BILL, who has spoken to kids across the country for more than 25 years in partnership with D.A.R.E. to warn kids about how drugs, including cannabis, are harmful and dangerous.

The documentary stated that the D.A.R.E. program cost American taxpayers up to $750 million per year in the 1990s, up until a 1998 University of Michigan study showed that drug use continued to rise between 1992-1995, despite the nationwide prevalence of D.A.R.E.

It also reviewed the rise of the War on Drugs through actions from former presidents Richard Nixon and later, Ronald Reagan. Former President Bill Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1994, and D.A.R.E. lost its federal funding in 1998.

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On the anniversary of Brittney Griner’s release from a Russian prison, ESPN shared that Olympic athlete and WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner will be working with both ESPN Films and Disney to produce a documentary about her story. Griner was detained in Russia in March 2022 for being in possession of cannabis vape cartridges, but after many months of suffering in prison, was eventually released by December 2022.

“The last two years have been the most harrowing, transformative and illuminating period of my life, and I am grateful to be in a place now to share my story with the world,” Griner said. “I’m proud to partner with ESPN and Disney to share this very personal story because of its incredible potential to inspire hope around the world and their proven ability to do just that.”

Griner’s ongoing imprisonment was constantly in the headlines, with frequent updates about her case, including incomplete translations by her Russian/English translator, pleading and being found guilty in court, and being sent to a penal colony in an unknown location. Support came from many sources, such as LeBron James, Dennis Rodman, and President Joe Biden, but few were as prominent as Brittney’s wife, Cherelle. “Throughout BG’s detainment and in the time since, ESPN, ABC and Disney were supportive and caring in regards to the human side of this saga,” Cherelle Griner said. “Love and family were at the center of the fight to get BG home, and with that in mind, there is no better, more trusted partner to tell that story with us.”

ESPN described the story as a scripted series that will be developed by ABC Signature, and will also include an exclusive interview with Robin Roberts of ABC News. Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, and Jon Leibman, Chairman and CEO of Brillstein Entertainment Partners, are executive producers on the project. In a press release, the project was also described as using “exclusive footage and rare archival material” to tell the story.

“Brittney is an exceptional athlete whose hardship and resilience are nothing short of extraordinary,” said Burke Magnus, president, Content, ESPN. “We are thrilled to be working with her to tell the nuances of her story and feel confident that this documentary will captivate audiences everywhere.”

“BG is a hero—across sport, culture, and humanity. We are privileged to serve as a part of her life’s storytelling journey, and to partner with her and Cherelle to bring Brittney’s legacy to audiences worldwide. Through Disney, ABC, and ESPN’s, global wide-ranging TV and film platform, Brittney’s story can be realized and experienced both creatively and realistically.”

“We are honored that Brittney has entrusted us to share her story of hope, faith and determination across our platforms,” said Debra O’Connell, president, Networks and Television Business Operations, Disney Entertainment. “Her unwavering perseverance that helped shape her as an athlete has now influenced her leadership as a human rights advocate.”

There’s no release date for the project at this time, or how prevalent the topic of cannabis will be approached, but she is expected to talk about “her advocacy for the release of other wrongful detainees.”

Marc Fogel, now 62 years old, is another U.S. citizen currently detained in Russia for cannabis possession, having originally been arrested in August 2021. The most recent news reports of Fogel’s imprisonment are from this summer, where Sen. Steve Daines and Sen. Jon Tester petitioned Biden for Fogel’s release. “One of the key differences between Brittney Griner and Mark Fogle’s cases is that less than three months after Griner’s arrest, the State Department classified her as wrongfully detained. Fogle deserves the same justice. And we should be using every tool at our disposal to bring him home,” Daines said, according to the Billings Gazette. “I’ve had the privilege of getting to know some of Mark’s family, some of whom are Montanans. They have been fierce advocates here stateside. But they fear they will never see their brother’s face again, or hear their father’s voice, and we can’t let that happen.”

It’s incredibly important to emphasize that “wrongful detainees” exist both abroad but also here in our own country. There are numerous U.S. prisoners serving sentences for cannabis convictions, a fact that was recently covered by Last Prisoner Project in its State of Cannabis Justice Report. “Justice is not achieved through mere legalization alone but by undoing the harms caused by cannabis prohibition,” Last Prisoner Project announced in October. “Twenty-four states have enacted cannabis-specific record clearance laws, and ten states have enacted cannabis-specific resentencing laws. Our report allows the public to compare, contrast, and learn more about each state’s effort to ameliorate the consequences of cannabis conviction.”

The study covered a large amount of data about prohibition, and a breakdown of each U.S. state’s legalization policies, pardon policies, and an overall grade. Only two states, California and Minnesota, received an A grade, while New Mexico, Maryland, and New York, received a B+. The states that received an F grade included South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Nebraska, Iowa, Idaho, and Wisconsin.

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It doesn’t feature any supersonic jets or red carpets and Tom Cruise is nowhere to be found. Despite this, a new film, The Doctor has been racking up accolades on the international film festival circuit.

That said, if there was a person in the European cannabis industry who has always taken a “highway to the danger zone” albeit of a medical kind, it would be Dr. Franjo Grotenhermen.

The film, directed by Eduardo Hernandez, is a biographical look at the life of Franjo so far. And that is certainly an interesting journey. Per Hernandez, “Anyone who knows Franjo knows that his story is incredible. He is a person who has dedicated his life to fighting for the rights of patients and pushing the boundaries of science. As a filmmaker, it seemed to me that the general public would be interested.”

Who Is Doctor Franjo Grotenhermen?

The elevator pitch on Franjo, as he insists on being called, is easy to do in just three words. Pioneering cannabis doctor.

Yet this is still a fairly radical proposition, particularly in Germany, but also, rather sadly, still pretty much everywhere else too. As a result, this description also means a great deal, even today, as the medical profession as a whole still struggles with overcoming the stigma surrounding the efficacy of the plant.

Grotenhermen’s is certainly a dramatic story. From the beginning, Franjo, who also suffers from a debilitating condition himself, has put himself at the forefront of the fight. In Germany that is still a highly hazardous place to live and work.

“The goal was to reach an audience that is not academic and that does not know what medical cannabis is,” said Hernandez by email when reached by High Times.

The film takes place during the 10^th Conference on Cannabinoids in Medicine, right before the onset of the Pandemic in late 2019. The IACM, which Franjo also helped found, has been one of the most influential global medical cannabis conferences for several decades. The Doctor also features interviews with among others, famed Israeli cannabis researcher, Dr. Raphael Mechoulam.

So far, The Doctor has made the festival circuit (even winning quite a few awards) and is about to have its world premiere this Friday, in Amsterdam before continuing on an international journey that is literally taking its message around the world.

Doctors Are Still on The Frontlines of The Medical Fight

While it is unfortunately still not common knowledge, doctors have frequently paid a heavy price for being cannabis advocates. This was certainly true in places like California as prescribing doctors could have their licenses stripped for prescribing the drug (thanks to the Clinton Administration, both before and after the historic vote in California in 1996).

That threat has never really gone away in many places. Indeed, in Germany over the last five years since “medical reform” doctors are visited frequently by the police who are still conducting “investigations” that all too often leads to interrogations of both patients and doctors if not arrests, criminal charges, and jail time.

Franjo has never wavered from the challenge or the path. Indeed, he went on a hunger strike in 2017 over the restrictive language in the first medical cannabis reform legislation in Germany, which to this day prevents the majority of patients who need the drug from accessing it (legally).

It is often a thankless journey.

The Doctor, beyond being a biographical profile of one of the most fearless medical crusaders for cannabis reform, is also an educational look, and from a medical and scientific perspective, of the importance of reform on the eve of what is hoped will be full and final German cannabis legalization.

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A new cannabis film documentary entitled Lady Buds, releasing this weekend, explores the lives and challenges of female business owners.

The cannabis industry has heavily benefitted from niche documentaries, which present a professional way to educate viewers about the stigma of cannabis, its history on the War on Drugs or its effectiveness as a medicine. Films such as WEED (2013), featuring CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta, who opened up the conversation about medical cannabis to the nation. Weed the People (2018) explores the effectiveness of medical cannabis for children. Grass is Greener (2019) examines the history of music and its depiction of the War on Drugs.

Now it’s time to enjoy a new cinematic adventure in the form of Lady Buds—a unique perspective about female cannabis business owners from all walks of life.

Lady Buds recounts the lives and businesses of a diverse cast of individuals in Northern California, varying in race, age and sexual orientation. Seven women, who represent six cannabis businesses, are featured in Lady Buds: Sue Taylor, Chiah Rodriques, Felicia Carbajal, Karyn Wagner and The Bud Sisters (Pearl Moon and Dr. Joyce Centofanti). From cultivation to dispensary ownership and topical creation, these women all faced numerous challenges during the 2017-2019 window when the documentary was filmed. Lady Buds presents an intimate look at the lives of each subject, but also challenges the stereotypes both of “stoners” in general, as well as those of women in the industry.

Check out this exclusive clip from the film, featuring Karyn Wagner who shares an experience that her business ran into shortly after legalization in California went live. Enjoy this sneak peek!

High Times conducted an exclusive interview with Director, Producer and Writer Chris J. Russo in the High Times’ November Issue, aka the Women’s Issue, where she offered an inside look at her film and what kind of experience it presents to audiences. According to Russo, Lady Buds is the first of its kind—and it all began with a statistic about women in the industry that stuck with her. A few key studies have produced some shocking data about women in the industry, or lack thereof.

Back in 2015, according to a study conducted by Marijuana Business Daily (MBD), 36 percent of women held executive roles in the industry. By 2017, that percentage dropped by 26.9 percent, and then increased back up to 36.8 percent by 2019. MBD’s 2021 report entitled “Women & Minorities in the Cannabis Industry” shows a continued decline both in women, as well as people of color.

Lady Buds illuminates the issues that women face in this industry, but also highlights the challenges of all small cannabis businesses fighting to compete with larger cannabis corporations. “This film is kind of nothing like you’ve ever seen before because there hasn’t ever really been a film that’s showed such a wide range of areas that’s just like seeing it through a female lens,” Russo told High Times. “In my film, you explore the challenges of the entire supply chain with the women who are directly engaged in it. I like to make films that I want to see, so I want see more women in the positions of power in roles that are very positive.”

If you live near Los Angeles or San Francisco, check out the following live theatrical events:

November 26-27: Glendale Laemmle Theatre, 207 N. Maryland Ave., Glendale, CA 91206

November 29: Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St. San Francisco, CA 94103

The film will be releasing in select theaters on November 26, and will also be available on video on demand services such as iTunes.

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