Dubbed “Canada’s most valuable agricultural product,” marijuana was estimated to be bigger than wheat, cattle or timber. Bud Inc. provides an inside look at the thriving homegrown industry before it became legal. Police pegged annual wholesale pot production in British Columbia alone at perhaps $6 billion, about 5% of the province’s economy. Ontario and Quebec were not far behind. Like the rum-runners of Prohibition, the underground merchants of bud blazed the path to legalization — savvy businessmen who built empires using tried and true business models. Following the evolution of the trade from rich kids smuggling a little weed in their luggage, to trans-oceanic operations involving tons of dope, this study of real-life, supply-and-demand economics is told by those involved to a long-time observer of the marijuana market providing a fascinating look at the roots of today’s thriving industry.