The marijuana industry is one of the most lucrative in British Columbia.

A Kelowna film-maker hopes a feature film documenting the marijuana industry can be just as lucrative.

'The Union: the business behind getting high,' recently made its world premier at the Winnipeg International Film Festival.

The film was named the top documentary in Winnipeg.

For film producer, Adam Scorgie, the award couldn't have come as a bigger shock.

"There were some really big films there like, 'Let's All Hate Toronto,' that a lot of people were talking about and I thought, well, we're closer to Toronto so it will probably win. It took me a minute to realize we won --- I'm saying like, did we just win? " says Scorgie.

He says his mother and girlfriend had gone shopping instead of going to the awards ceremony.

Scorgie says he's been working on the documentary for about four years. He says he got the idea when he came home for a visit from film school in New York City.

"The marijuana industry is so open here, people almost joke about what they do. You say what do you do and they say, oh, I'm in the Union or Landscaping that's where the name came from. It's a code word for what they did."

"Being in the film industry, I wanted to do something different and original. When I took on the idea to do the documentary, I originally wanted to do an expose on the BC marijuana industry, but when I got the opportunity to interview all kinds of people, I realized the impact of the BC industry is becoming an international issue."

Scorgie says when he began the project, he wanted to make a neutral documentary that just laid out all the facts.

"But, as we kept learning and interviewing these professionals it was like wow there's not a huge argument. Listening to the former Police Chief of Seattle, or undercover cops in New Jersey who have been fighting this for years saying it makes no sense, we don't find violent pot smokers."

"We're spending millions of dollars fighting the drug war, and the only people profiting from it are the drug dealers. When we interviewed dealers for the film and asked them if they wanted to see marijuana legalized, they're the ones saying no way. They're worried that BC or Canada will legalize it because they're making a killing off of it."

Scorgie says he was blown away by the audience that viewed the film in Winnipeg.

He says not one of them left the theatre when it was time to talk to him and his director, Brett Harvey.

Scorgie says the film has been accepted to the prestigious Rhode Island International Film Festival.

"I'm really hoping we can get it accepted at the Vancouver and Toronto Film Festivals as well."

Scorgie was born in Trail and grew up in Kelowna. He graduated from KLO then moved on to film and acting schools in New York.

He says he hopes to get a distribution deal for the movie to get it shown in theatres. Scorgie says he's been offered about $200,000, but says he poured in more money than that to get it made.

Link: The Union Website Includes Trailer