Highway 101 serves as a key route for seasonal marijuana laborers traveling to California's Emerald Triangle, a major cannabis cultivation area. About 150,000 workers from various backgrounds converge here each season in search of opportunities in the cannabis sector. The article highlights the personal journeys of some workers, particularly Isabel, a Spanish woman who sought better prospects than her former life as a waitress. Despite the lucrative opportunities, the region is also fraught with dangers linked to the illegal marijuana trade, illustrated by violent encounters among workers in this hidden economy.
The historic Highway 101, the so-called drug highway, connects California's Emerald Triangle, where seasonal marijuana laborers or trimmers look for work on farms along a 250-mile stretch.
Five years later, she explains by phone that she has just concluded her journey to the United States. Requesting anonymity like the rest of the interviewees, she is one of that small, invisible army of Spaniards.
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