Exclusive: New Discovery Channel series ‘Pot Cops’ chronicles marijuana crackdown

A scene from the new Discovery Channel show “Pot Cops.” (Handout)

When one thinks of California, images of gunfire, booby traps and deadly cartels don’t usually come to mind. However, the Discovery Channel is aiming to expose the state’s dark side in the new series “Pot Cops,” which follows a drug enforcement unit in Humboldt County, Calif. who work to bring down both cartels and the “average Joe” growers operating in the area.

And that’s no easy task.

“The drug trafficking organizations that generally come from Mexico will sometimes put booby traps coming [for] people that are trying to steal or for law enforcement trying to eradicate their crops. A drug cartel is a serious criminal organization, there’s a lot of money to be made and when there’s a lot of money to be made, there is a higher potential for violence,” SWAT team member, Deputy Greg Musson – who stars in the show – told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. “Obviously there is a level of the unknown… One of the guys on the team and on the show has been involved in a shooting during a marijuana crackdown.”

“Pot Cops” will give audiences an unprecedented look at what it takes to conquer growers who are running a large weed farm in the Redwoods and shooting at local children on a reservation, as well as a bizarre, slow-speed chase of a stoned grower and investigations into parents who may be putting their own children at risk while hiding a huge grow somewhere in the surrounding hills.

But what Musson anticipates viewers will be most surprised to learn more about is the heavily-debated “medical marijuana” issue, and he claims that in his decade-long career as a law enforcement officer, he can “camp on one hand the amount of legal growers” he has encountered.

“We are not interested in interfering with people who have a legitimate marijuana license for their own personal use, and contrary to popular belief, it is not legal to grow marijuana for profit. It is illegal even with the license,” Musson insisted. “It is also illegal to give it away, just as it is to sell it. Even if you have a medical need. That’s the main thing we would like to get out there to people.”

New Series “Pot Cops” Premieres Wednesday, February 20th at 9pm ET/PT

Danielle Jones-Wesley contributed to this report