Full coverage: The green rush

8:50 PM PST, January 20, 2013

Mendocino County spars with feds over conflicting marijuana laws

Mendocino County is fighting efforts by federal prosecutors to get records on medical marijuana growers who signed up for a program intended to sanction their businesses under state law.

12:23 AM PST, December 26, 2012

Roots of pot cultivation in national forests are hard to trace

Mexican cartels' role seems smaller than once believed, but the crops and the dangers they pose have proliferated in the last decade.

December 23, 2012

Pot farms wreaking havoc on Northern California environment

Burgeoning marijuana growing operations are sucking millions of gallons of water from coho salmon lifelines and taking other environmental tolls, scientists say.

5:03 PM PDT, September 29, 2012

Veteran growers see their way of life ending

Pioneering marijuana cultivators in the hills of Mendocino and Humboldt counties are being pushed to the margins by the legalization they long espoused. Photos

5:25 PM PDT, September 6, 2012

Medical pot returning to underground

Under increased legal pressure, 'Ricky' closed his dispensaries and resumed selling marijuana — but only to those with a doctor's recommendation.

June 17, 2012

Dispensing profit

Documents in pot shop cases show a cash-infused world bearing little resemblance to the one pitched to voters for '96 medical marijuana law.

March 25, 2012

Cultivating a higher grade

A new breed of connoisseur is producing pot that is potent, tastes smooth and has a pleasing aroma -- the kind of product now expected by ever-more discriminating consumers who frequent medical cannabis dispensaries. Photos

February 12, 2012

Testing pot in a legal vacuum

Few standards apply to quality of marijuana, because the federal government considers all use illegal.

December 2, 2011

Prep work is a payday

An international, countercultural labor force prepares pot on its path to market. Trimmers can make $200 a day plus lodging, sometimes 'with a crazy guy in the middle of the woods with an AK-47.'