learned from an uncle how to
remove the male plants early in the season, eliminating the pollen sacks that
fertilize female buds, this resulted in the highly prized "sinsemilla"
marijuana that made a small Sinaloa group very wealthy in the 1970's.

Pilsen, a huge gateway section of Chicago for migrants
where more than 80% of residents are Mexican

On the
streets of Seattle, Washington and San Francisco, California, the product
produced by the Díaz family was renowned for its excellent quality.

After a decade or so, dozens of family members planted trees during the day,
and guarded, watered, and tended to marijuana at night. This system worked
well, until the family became part of the middle class, owning real estate,
small businesses, and no longer faced the underlying prejudice experience by
many Mexicans in rural America. Hardworking and dedicated to theirwork of
regenerating the forest, local loggers and hippies alike offered their grudging
respect.

While the Díaz family prospered, many other new arrivals prospered as well.
Hippies and other counterculture types moved to the area from all over the
country. Some were escaping the urban decay that was permeating American
cities, but many also came to take advantage of one of the best Marijuana
growing climates in the world.

Marijuana soon supplanted other crops as the
most valuable agricultural commodity in several states. While law enforcement
authorities soon took advantage of massive federal grants to target the
growers, there were other threats as well.

In 1971 there was a small hippie commune that dominated the area. It was
populated by self-sufficient back to nature types, as well as Viet Nam vets and
outlaw bikers, who were drawn to the Wild West culture