A view looking east in the nursery of the old Montana Cannabis, after federal agents raided in March 2011
profile
The Jail Interview federal prosecutors threw the book at PROLIFIC mONTANA GROWER CHRIS WILLIAMS & his 1,500 plants. As the OffenderConnect telephone system lags to connect Chris Williams to the outside world, it’s hard to stomach the contradiction that life in Missoula County Detention Facility presents. Before his incarceration, Williams, a practicing Buddhist, lived in harmony with nature to produce a medicine that helped many sick people and provided him a simple living for him and his son. The only threat that faced his way of life was a government that has refused to respect his medicine, his way of life and ultimately his freedom. Now his plants and greenhouse have been replaced by steel bars and a coveted Montana lifestyle furloughed indefinitely for a world without sunlight.
BY WES ABNEY | PHOTO BY ELIZA WILEY/INDEPENDENT RECORD
ARTICLE CONTINUED PAGE 40
jAN. 2013 FACEBOOK.COM/NWLEAF
/39