High Price: The Luke Scarmazzo Story

High Price takes readers deep into the chaotic early days of California’s medical markets, when bold risk-takers had a rare shot at building something historic. Luke Scarmazzo, a kid from Modesto with working-class roots, opened one of the first state-licensed dispensaries in the Central Valley—right in the heart of a community that wasn’t exactly welcoming to the idea. With a crew of longtime friends, Luke seemed poised to carve out lasting success in what would eventually grow into a billion-dollar industry. Instead, the dream unraveled, and his pioneering efforts collided with the full weight of federal prosecution. Written years later from solitary confinement while his clemency request sat unresolved, High Price is both a gripping rise-and-fall story and a powerful reflection on ambition, inequality, and the lasting scars of America’s War on Drugs.