‘Kid Cannabis’ Opens Tonight

Jonathan Daniel Brown as Nate Norman and Ron Perlman as Barry Lerner in “Kid Cannabis.” (Courtesy photo: Well Go USA Entertainment)

Countless movies open with a title card informing the audience that what they’re about to see was “based on a true story” or “inspired by real events,” but very few movies have demanded such a notice as desperately as “Kid Cannabis.” It’s a tale of drugs, duplicity and murder that’s so crazed you almost don’t believe it actually happened. But it did, and right in our own backyard. The events that sparked director John Stockwell’s film took place in Idaho in the early 2000s, when a group of teenagers and 20-somethings, led by Coeur d’Alene resident Nate Norman, were caught smuggling marijuana across the Canadian border. Police estimated that the crew had moved and sold upward of 17 tons – roughly $38 million worth – of pot in less than two years. Norman, then 21, was immediately identified as the ringleader and sentenced to 12 years in federal prison/Nathan Weinbender, SR Spokane7. More here.

Question: Are you amazed that something like this happened in Coeur d’Alene?