Uruguay’s largest grower goes to jail, then tells Supreme Court why they’re wrong. And that’s how cannabis was legalized.

This is a great story that restores our faith in the power of the people.

Normally, drug kingpins don’t sit well in the eyes of the legal system, and they surely don’t sit on the side of influencing policy change. Yet that’s exactly what Uruguay’s largest cannabis grower, Juan Vaz, did after serving nearly 2 and a half years in prison for possessing marijuana plants.

This story not only invigorates our hope for government, but it proves the aptitude and expertise of the folks that built the cannabis industry — namely the growers. You will see Vaz is no criminal, he’s a botanist, whose passion and vision enabled change for an entire country.