An emphasis on corruption and enforcement downplays the very real influence of regulation and taxes on California's booming black market.
The Los Angeles Times has released a heavily researched, heavily reported investigation on the many, many ways that California's legalization of marijuana has been a disastrous mess.
Titled "Legal Weed, Broken Promises," the four stories of the series painstakingly illustrate the breadth of the illegal grow operations scattered across much of the rural parts of California, the political corruption and bribery that has come from the way the state has given politicians control over licensing, and the spread of unlicensed dispensaries that are seemingly uncontainable.