You know what Medical Marijuana has done for Oregon that NOBODY talks about?

[Jesus Malverde]

27. I think California might disagree with that claim...

However the largest American marijuana trafficking organization came out of Kentucky.

70 descendants of the county's starving bootleggers would be arraigned in federal court under the RICO Act and charged with organizing the largest marijuana trafficking ring in U.S. history. The operation spread across 10 states, and had produced 182 tons of grade-A marijuana. Investigative journalist James Higdon tells their story in The Cornbread Mafia.

The man behind the enterprise was Johnny Boone. Born in neighboring Washington County, Boone was an agricultural whiz kid who won awards from the state 4-H program for the tobacco he grew as a teenager. By the time he reached young adulthood, he was a regular in Marion County saloons. Returning Vietnam vets exposed Boone to weed. While some locals were initially skittish about smoking herb, especially considering the condition of soldiers returning from the war zone, Boone loved it. By the mid-1970s, he was growing gourmet kush in the land of Maker's Mark bourbon.

Boone would eventually serve 15 years in federal prison, from 1988 to 2003. Shortly after his release, he was found to be growing yet again; he is currently on the run.