So [bleep] what . Neighbors complain because customers smoke marijuana outside, which is still illegal. The scene creates a convenient metaphor the pot boom in colorado comes complete with growing pains. I dont feel like cooperating with you, officer. Oh, i understand you dont. Youre making my day extremely hard. Theres no reason i would cooperate with you. Sir, if you dont want to cooperate with us, itll be duly noted. We were there at the beginning. [ all cheering ]. Reporting a year ago on the blissful rollout of legal weed. Its part of history. We spoke with governor john hickenlooper, who opposed the new law, but had to implement it. I think most of us recognize that this is gonna be one of the great social experiments of the next century. Today, that experiment is very much a work in progress. But when youre doing it for the first time, theres no theres no template. Some things work, some dont. But know this theres money being made. Colorado is now home to more than 500 pot stores. One of the biggest is called medicine man. Heres an industry that doesnt even exist in colorado five years ago. Five years later, you have Cloud Technology to operate your grow rooms. Yeah. Its been a wild ride, i got to tell you. Were not a bunch of stoners sitting around in tiedye tshirts, you know, smoking pot. It is a true american industry. Andy williams and his sister, sally vander veer, along with their brother pete, run the company. Their hightech grow facility produces 120 pounds of pot a week. So, how you doing . Whats up, man . Welcome to medicine man, brother. Thank you. We do more business out of this one location than anybody else. Were opening a second, and its gonna do more business than this location. And we are drinking from a fire hose. They are pioneers in the bewildering wilderness of legal weed. The federal government still views marijuana as a schedule i drug, so most banks wont come near it. Can you bank yet . Do you have a relationship with a bank . Thats a really good story. Weve lost countless banks. Weve lost a lot of banks so. You know a bank kicked us out after we sent a check to the federal government for taxes this year. They shut us down april 14th, yeah. Its boom time in the cl of cannabis. We did about 4. 5 million last year. What do you think youre gonna do this year . A little over 9 million. Double in one year . Yep. And then next year, probably 18 million. An eighth and an eighth . Correct. Medicine man opened its doors in 2010 as a medicalmarijuana dispensary on the outskirts of denver. Youre in the middle of a Warehouse District in the middle of nowhere. Location, location, location. And we screwed that up but and yet everybodys here. That bad location and some good timing came together in a happy accident. I would suggest my blue dream. Its a really good 60 40 split hybrid. Okay. Were the closest dispensary to the airport. So people land, and they drive here, and they come here first, and then they go up the mountains and have a good time. So about 60 of our sales are tourist. So, how long are you guys in town for . A couple more days. People are getting to be connoisseurs in colorado. They want to have a large selection, and they want to try something that smells like cheese and something thats like wine. Medicine man has thrived by satisfying the palates of aficionados. But this bucket good, dense buds 30,000. Pete williams runs the growing operation, cultivating up to 70 different strains at a time. This is the girl scout cookies. Oh, it just hits you in the face. It smacks you. [ sniffs ] its a little bit fuelly, a little bit skunky. Its got a little of everything in there, and it just tastes so good, and the high on this one is more towards that topend high, the maximum high. I personally smoke this most nights. Its my favorite. An estimated 33 million americans used marijuana in 2013. Thats up nearly a third from a decade ago. Since colorado led the charge for legalization, three more states and the district of columbia have followed suit. And nearly half the country now allows medicinal marijuana. Its clearly the Fastest Growing industry in the country. Troy dayton leads arcview, a cannabisfocused investor group. In 2013, the size of the National LegalCannabis Market was about 1. 5 billion, growing in 2014 to 2. 6 billion. At a sprawling marijuanabusiness expo in las vegas, he said ancillary companies are cashing in. All right. Lets see. What do we got here . Mark twain had a really great quote. He said that, when theres a gold rush on, its a good time to be in the pickandshovel business. And that is clearly happening right now. [ sirens wailing ] you can see it on the streets of denver, where guntoting guards and armored cars protect the currency of the new marijuana merchants. Dan sullivans blue line Security Company cant train people fast enough. We went from 6 employees to over 70, so that gives you an idea of, in eight months, what weve done. And at grow big, a gardensupply center for the cannabis trade thats living up to its name, sales have quadrupled in the past year. We started at 800 square feet less than four years ago. Were at 50,000 square feet, and were not stopping there. Owner oliver poiss hosts a weekly customer meetandgreet with free pot. [ electronic dance music plays ]. Catering to a clientele with nocturnal habits. This community is night owls. Were open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. We never close. I dont even have a key to the front door. 2014 launched poiss and many others on a trip from the margins of society to the mainstream. Prior to legalization, this was difficult. Ive gradually come to realize that its changed my life so much over the past year. Hillary cooper makes artisanal pipes for pot and hash oil, some selling for more than 500. I recently got a wholesale distributor that buys all of my work. I cant even keep up with my orders at this point. Every problem this industry faces is an opportunity for another entrepreneur to start a business to fill that gap. Colorados pot trade may be moving at breakneck speed, but many here still think its a bad idea. Do you have anything thats a little bit stronger than that . As for the williams family, theyre not looking back. Do you any sort of moral misgivings about this . Absolutely not. Were not here to make people start smoking marijuana. Thats not our intent. Were here to provide safe marijuana for people who have always been buying it and who want to buy it. What are you gonna look like two years from now, three years from now, five years from now . Well, were the costco of the grow, the starbucks of the retail. Yeah, thats what well look like. Itll be big. Coming up, legalization was supposed to kill the black market, so why is it thriving . You start off with a pound. If youre comfortable with the person that youre dealing with, then you offer them more than a pound. A visit to the underground pound. A visit to the underground when we come back. Pound. A visit to the underground when we come back. Pull up a chair. Gather round. So many ways to invite people to come together. Or you could just put out the sabra hummus and let the simple, fresh ingredients do the talking. Sabra. Welcome to the unofficial meal. Of the season on the only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort, your sleep number setting. Does your bed do that . Right now our queen c4 mattress is only 1199, save 400. Ends soon. Visit sleepnumber. Com for a store near you. Running a Small Business is demanding. And thats why Small Business owners need more. Like internet thats up to the challenge. The gigspeed network from comcast business gives you more. With speeds up to 20 times faster than the average. That means powering more devices, more video conferencing, and more downloads in seconds, not minutes. Get fast internet and add phone and tv for only 34. 90 more per month. Comcast is building americas largest gigspeed network to give Small Businesses more. Call 18005016000 today. [ baroque music plays ] the legalization of pot means its now sold like this, in places that look more like a wholefoods than a head shop. The minute you say citrusy. Yeah, thats what it was. Is that it was . Yeah. For sure. Licensed, regulated, minimum age 21. Thank you. But if you think the marijuana trade is all on the upandup. Been so nice. You too. Take a look at colorados craigslist, where a booming black market in weed is just a click away. We contacted dozens of these sellers. Most wouldnt talk, but some did. You were in the army. Yes, sir. How many years . I served almost 10 years. I was in 11bravo my entire tour, with the infantry. Ive been everything from a rifleman private to a squad leader to an assistant team leader of a scoutsniper team. How many tours in iraq . Two. And. It was brutal. [ gunfire ] ben buckland left the army in 2013, physically and psychologically damaged. Hell yeah did you get injured over there . Yeah, yeah. I was injured once in fallujah, and i was injured once in basra, and i was injured once in afghanistan. I have a traumatic brain injury, so i forget things constantly. I get headaches for no apparent reason. My ability to curb my anger with the smallest ripples in life is really hindered. Like, i go off the hinge. Buckland was in desperate need of relief. What the va had to offer were pills that i could die from if i took too many at once, that i would die slowly from as i took them as prescribed. Cannabis allows me to have my life again, whereas i would probably be a threat to society. Legal weed brought him to colorado. So, you have your medicalmarijuana registry state of colorado red card. Yes. And so whats your. 75 plants. You can grow 75 yes. Thats a lot of cannabis, and buckland has found a ready market for his surplus. In a given year, what kind of income. I might make 10 grand a year. Just 60 of the pot consumed in colorado is sold legally. The rest comes from bigtime operators or homegrown suppliers like buckland. How does it work . So, i put out on craigslist i post around pueblo, denver, things like that, and people will email me and say, hey, i live around this area. I need this much. Im looking to spend this much. Right. Do you think you could help me out . Ill meet you up at that 24hour, all right . But its a commerce rationalized in a code words like donating and caregiving, not buying and selling. [ engine idling ] what up, man . Whats up, man . Theres no selling. Im not selling anything. Great, great. Great. Hes just giving me some money, and im just giving him some cannabis. Yeah, man. Just a thousand times before, you know . You know, he offers medicine to me for a donation. Ray green is a regular. Hey, thanks a lot. I appreciate it, man. He can buy in dispensaries, but buckland is just a phone call away. Being after hours, and the stores close at 7 00, and its convenient sometimes to have a caregiver. And cheaper taxes as high as 36 and purchasing limits on pot push buyers to the black market. Usually a gram is 10, but its topshelf, and its how you want it. If you like the grapetasting stuff, you can have the grapetasting stuff. If you want the gotosleep stuff, we can get the gotosleep stuff. And is it less expensive than if i went into a store . It would be. A third of the cost. Here. Got you that. Thank you. Somebodys gonna watch this and say, i dont care what his background is. I dont care what his life story is. This guy is a drug dealer. Youre a drug dealer, and what youre doing is wrong. What would you say to that person . I would say the state of colorado has decided that this particular drug is not a schedule i drug. And i would say that our president has said on tv that this drug is no more harmful or harmless than alcohol or tobacco. These people are not licensed to sell marijuana. John suthers was colorados attorney general for the past decade. A year into the new law, he says the pot underground is thriving. I think people say, well, geez. Theres legalization. How can there still be a black market . Where wheres the black market . The black market starts at a very basic level people going in, buying it legally, walking out, and selling it illegally. Thats how the kids are getting it. 38 of kids that have marijuana tell us they get it from somebody who bought it legally. The biggest problem, he says, is that colorado has become a pot exporter. The truly large black market is the extent to which were becoming the supplier of marijuana in states where its illegal. So we are the black market for nebraska. Were the black market for wyoming, utah, and apparently up to 40 other states in the United States that have indicated to us, weve seized coloradopackaged marijuana. In fact, nebraska and oklahoma are suing colorado in the u. S. Supreme court, arguing theyve suffered direct and significant harm from the pot crossing their borders. Suthers says the suit is without merit, but comes as no surprise. Youre the new mexico. We are. At least with marijuana, were competing with mexico. Are we eliminating the criminal element . Im not too sure. Theres certainly no indication that the presence of the cartels in colorado has been reduced. And then there are the wholesalers. Mike not his real name says he sells between 150 and 200 pounds of pot a year even to licensed shops. What does a pound go for . Between a range of 2,500 and 3,000. But i usually sell to people who sell it to other people. Ah. So im kind of like a broker, not really just a regular seller. How do you transport the stuff . You put it in the mail like everybody else does. I mean, you want to buy some sneakers from amazon, [chuckles] send them your address, and theyll put it in the mail. I mean, at the end of the day, right, would you get in a car and drive with a whole bunch of weed crosscountry . Mike says he keeps an attorney on retainer, though he thinks his chances of getting caught are slim. Its never really the actual weed that the police come after you for, unlike if youre in new york and you standing around and you have a blunt in your pocket or youre smoking a blunt, and theyre gonna throw you on the floor, tase you, and shoot you. Over here, theyll probably ask you, how you doing . Hows your day . So for now, mike keeps dealing. Colorado and its unofficial state flower have been good to him. You take your plant, you love your plant, you talk to your plant, and it gives you back. Up next, how far would you go to help your child . Come hell or high water, we were moving out here job, no job. Whatever it took, we were moving out here. A desperate journey for medical marijuana when we a desperate journey for medical marijuana when we continue. Colorados alluring landscape has drawn a lot of people here through the years, but its not the scenery thats bringing some folks here now. I got this. Braden fleming is 10 years old. We met him playing outside his Colorado Springs home. He and his family just moved here from texas. I know youre doing that on purpose. [ chuckles ] howdy. Im harry. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. For braden, it was a good day. Youre a handsome young man. Thank you. Youre welcome. But this is what it looks like on a bad day sudden, small, and uncontrollable seizures. Braden suffers from a form of epilepsy called doose syndrome. Can you talk about what its like for you . Well, it is kind of like closing my eyes sleeping, except im talking in my sleep, feels like. Yeah. Good job, buddy. Desperate for help they can only get in colorado, the flemings came here for one thing a rare type of medical marijuana. And remarkably, they dont even know if it will work. So, you moved your entire family, changed everything in your lives to come here to get this medicine that you havent even tried yet . Both right. Thats a big hope. Yeah, but its hope. Its hope. Bradens parents terry and wendy fleming. How old was braden when you began to realize he had some problems . He was 15 months old, and he was walking past me, and i saw his head drop, and he went. And then he just kept walking, and i went, oh, thats not good. We really didnt start to notice a lag until he started kindergarten. Thats when we really started getting concerned and saying, well, maybe hes not gonna grow out of this. And he hasnt. Do you ever watch sports . Yeah, yeah. We witnessed one right in the middle of our conversation. Or. I. Watch baseball. Was that one right there . Mmhmm. So you just had a little seizure right there. Mmhmm. But it was a short one. Just a little one. Yeah. Yeah. You cant control it, can you . Mnhmnh. It just happens. Mmhmm. Along with 12,000 other children nationwide, braden is on the waiting list for a medicine called charlottes web. Its named after charlotte figi, a colorado child with a severe form of epilepsy called dravet syndrome. [ breathing shakily ] this unsettling video Shows Charlotte before the medicine. And this is charlotte after. Shes now almost completely seizurefree. [ smacks lips ] charlottes web is a strain of marijuana that has very little thc, the property that is psychoactive, but it has a lot of cbds, the mystery compound that many believe has significant medicinal value. Im just gonna guess you are not cannabisusing people. No. No. Didnt know the first thing about it. [ laughs ] federal law prohibits transporting marijuana across state lines, so the flemings couldnt get charlottes web in texas, leaving them, they say, with little choice. We packed up our house, shoved three kids and two dogs in the van, and we drove out here. And here we are. Hows your new school . Its pretty good. I made some friends, but theres a kid next to me, and its trouble. Yeah . Really . Today he gave me a bad compliment. What he tell you . He said, hey, whereve you been, smoking weed . [ chuckling ] really . Thats what he said to you . Medicinal marijuana has been legal in colorado since 2001, with claims that it helps everything from arthritis to ptsd. But for serious scientists, the socalled healing ingredient remains something of an enigma. Cbd is something that has captured the national imagination, political imagination, the furor of the medical community. Does it work . Does it not work . Let us study it so we can find out. Dr. Edward maa runs the comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Denver Health hospital. Hes been studying the effect of charlottes web on kids with dravet syndrome. Charlottes web is one of the newest things in terms of our potential armamentarium. When we think about antiseizure drugs and the drugdevelopment pipeline, this is one of the things that has very, very exciting promise. But he cautions its overall effectiveness needs more study. Research Shows Charlottes web reduces seizures in less than a third of the children using it. The impact size is not as large as perhaps was being touted in parts of the media. 20 to 30 are having a pretty dramatic reduction, and it just tails off from there. We need to change the perspective of what people think of cannabis. Still, at least 200 families have moved to colorado just to get charlottes web a fellowship of moms and dads with nowhere else to turn. Refugee families medical refugees. We are leaving our home states for a medicine. We are going and uprooting and changing every aspect of our lives so our children have a chance at hope. Yes, its. Jennie storms and her son, jackson, moved to Colorado Springs from new jersey just two weeks before we sat down to talk. Jackson is 15 and suffers from dravet syndrome. Unlike braden fleming. Okay, come on. Hes already getting charlottes web. So thats how he takes cannabis. You know this is making a difference. Ive seen it work. My son would probably be dead today if it wasnt for cannabis. This isnt about getting high. This isnt about using marijuana. This is about giving a child and anybody with an illness or a disorder the opportunity to have compassion, to have relief, to not feel pain. So, this is it . This is it. This is the charlottes web. Thats what you get. This is what we get. What does it cost . Its 1,000 for this bottle. And thats a months supply. Could you get what you needed for jackson in new jersey . No, and to this day, i still cant. Thats why i had to move to colorado. What does that feel like to think you can get in trouble with the law when all youre trying to do is help your kid . Youre gonna make me cry. Its hard. But i need to save my sons life. And if someone doesnt stand up and say, i need this for my child its saving his life. Then whos going to . What if it doesnt work . Yeah. Well keep trying. I mean, we keep trying. Thats what we have to do. How happy would you be if you could live your life every day not having these seizures anymore. I would love that. Itd feel like im in heaven probably. Yep. Together amen. Just before christmas, braden got off the waiting list and started taking charlottes web. Its too soon to say if it will help him. Coming up, you can smoke your pot and eat it, too. Got the peach bar, the blueberry bar. Got the monkey bar. Tasty, legal, and soaked in controversy. I think thats an invitation for problems for kids. Because what ends up happening is kids inadvertently eat it. The edibles explosion when we is kids inadvertently eat it. The edibles explosion when we come back. Is kids inadvertently eat it. The edibles explosion when we come back. Im a Small Business, but i have. Big dreams. And big plans. So how do i make the efforts of 8 employees. Feel like 50 . How can i share new plans virtually . How can i download an efile . Virtual tours . Zipfile . Really big files . In seconds, not minutes. Just like that. Like everything. The answer is simple. Ill do what ive always done. Dream more, dream faster, and above all. Now, ill dream gig. Now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. Comcast, building americas largest gigspeed network. The center of the how canneighborhood . R house first, mix liquid gold velveeta with the onetwo kick of ro tels diced tomatoes and spicy green chilies. Then, find space for extra parking. Lots and lots of parking. Thats why feeling safe is priceless. 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Leonardo gear up guys a year into the brave new world of Legal Marijuana, and one thing is for sure people in colorado love their pot. [ laughter ] folks here are consuming it in every way you can imagine and some you cant. Of course, many are still smoking it, burning buds in a joint or a pipe. But more than a third of the pot in colorado is consumed in other forms. Down here, off to the side, is some very lovely shatter. And then we have some awesome wax over here, also known as crumble. All right. Ready . And go ahead and pull. This is called dabbing. This is a titanium nail that you got to heat up so itll actually vaporize this. Its a concentrate. Dabs of concentrated and superpotent pot known as shatter or wax are heated and inhaled. You guys want to join in, just step in, and someone will pass you a hose. Then there are vape pens ecigarettes that vaporize hash oil. But perhaps the most popular alternative to smoking pot is eating it. Tastes like candy, just like a pixy stick. Not for children, though. And the array of choices is staggering. Chocolate, candy, drinks. We have these incredible bars, which are ranging from 25 to 100 milligrams. What are these things right here . These are our dixie rolls. Theyre our chocolate products. Right. We also make a very highquality truffle. We make whats called a colorado bar. Chuck smith is a cofounder of dixie brands. Dixie wants to be the General Mills of edible marijuana. I still want to reinforce that dixie is the iconic brand. We are the largest what are called infusedproducts manufacturer in the state of colorado. We make sodas, tinctures, mints. We also do topicals, lotions, and salves and balms all infused with cannabis. Dixie has been supplying the medical market since 2009. But in the first two months of 2014, smith says dixies revenues jumped 500 . So, in this first year, how significant an impact has recreational sales been visavis what you were doing before during old medical days . On december 31st of last year, there were about 100,000 cardcarrying patients in colorado. On january 1st, that number turned into about a million consumers. And that was an estimate of about a half a million instate recreational consumers and then another half a million to a million tourist consumers that came in. Is there some lollipops, as well . Yeah, we do have lollipops. One million new, legal, recreational users, curious and eager. [ siren wailing ]. And sometimes inexperienced biting off more than they can chew. [ monitor beeping ] what happens clinically is that they get very sweaty, they often become nauseous, they become agitated, and their heart beats very, very fast. Dr. Andrew monte is a toxicologist with the university of colorado hospital emergency department. The problem is that somebody takes it if theyre looking to get intoxicated and they dont feel an effect rapidly, then they take more and more and more. And you can see how rapidly they can stack doses and take too much. Youve got to start low and go slow. Bob eschino is a Founding Partner of incredibles, an edibles manufacturer that has doubled in size in the last year. People think edibles are dangerous. Do you understand that concern . I understand where theyre coming from, but from the industry standpoint, the edibles now are safer than theyve ever been. They buy an edible. They sit down in their hotel room. Mmhmm. They eat a piece. They wait 45 minutes. Nothings happened. Thats all part of the problem. So then they eat the whole thing. [ laughs ] and then what happens . That is all part of the problem. What were telling people if you want to get high right now, smoke. Get a vape pen. So from your perspective, this is all learning curve . Yeah, yeah. I think its a where are we now . Were 10 months into a brandnew industry. Publicservice billboards urge beginners to use caution. [ keypad beeping ] but going slow can be tough when one recreational edible can have as much as 100 milligrams of thc. Did you ever try to eat just half a candy bar . Patients and people that use this drug need to understand that a 10milligram is a serving size. Its the equivalent to a drink. And so when a cookie comes with 100 milligrams, thats the equivalent of having, say, 10 drinks, which would be far too many for most people. The edibles industry has responded with a range of lowdose products with names like dixie one and rookie cookie. Id much rather see you get very little effect and come back than to overmedicate and not want to try an edible again. The truth is, marijuana overdoses are not epidemic. The university of colorado hospital sees a couple a week, though there have been some problems with children mistaking edibles for candy. Food giant hershey even sued and stopped one company from selling pot chocolates that looked an awful lot like the popular brands. The Denver Police were concerned enough about edibles they warned parents to look out for potinfused candy at halloween. Thank you. The threat never materialized. But the concern some say panic still remains. Theres also the issue of accidental ingestion by adults. Which led the state department of health to propose unsuccessfully a ban on most edibles. Heres what bothers some people. Yeah . If a kid sees this sitting on a coffee table, a kid is theres nothing thats gonna stop that kid from eating that. You are correct. A kid should never see this sitting on a coffee table ever. A kid should not see a pile of vicodin sitting on a coffee table. A kid should not see an open bottle of beer. A kid should not see a loaded gun sitting on a coffee table. This is a controlled substance, all right . If you want to make sure that your children dont get ahold of this, put it in the hands of licensed manufacturers. In colorado, Legal Marijuana has arrived wrapped in gourmet chocolate with a lingering aroma of controversy. Coming up, if pot is legal, why did he lose his job . If you smoke a joint at 7 00 at night and you test the next morning, what happens . You dont pass. You smoked a joint two weeks ago, you dont pass. The workplace problem when we ago, you dont pass. The workplace problem when we come back. Ago, you dont pass. The workplace problem when we come back. Who who kicked over ae run means vending machine . Agers is that who we are . No no it isnt. Sabra grab and go hummus. Pretzels. Selfrespect. Sabra. Welcome to the unofficial meal. Whats cool is, today, we have 400 people working across the globe. With office 365, we can all stay connected, from vietnam, to boston, to new york. Now with whiteboard, we can all Work Together at the same time. And 3d in powerpoint shows clients exactly what our cards look like. Yeah, having everyone working together on the new teams app is really awesome. Seeing all these people react to our cards . Thats what makes it all worth it. And butch. Aura. And tank. And tiny. And this is lauras mobile dog grooming palace. Laura can clean up a retriever that rolled in foxtails, but shes not much on articles of organization. Articles of what . So, she turned to legalzoom. They helped me out. She means we helped with her llc, trademark, and a lot of other legal stuff thats a part of running a business. So laura can get back to the dogs. Would you sit still . This is lauras mobile dog grooming palace and this is where life meets legal. [ bell dinging ] in denvers hot Golden Triangle neighborhood. [ machinery whirring ]. The noise from construction is a sign of good times. Theres plenty of work. Is that your building . Youre building that building right there . Thats my companys building, yeah. Yeah. Bryon white is one half of milender white, a growing Construction Company with more than a hundred employees and an hr problem unique to colorado. Do you worry that youve got guys on the job that may be using marijuana . You bet. What we do is a very dangerous business. When youre on a construction site, you need to have all your faculties. Whites employees are subject to random drug testing. A positive result for marijuana will get you fired, even though recreational pot is legal here. Have you had to fire anybody because of marijuana use . We have terminated one who failed a random drug test. Could you tell if hed used it yesterday or used it three weeks ago . Nope. Nope. Couldnt tell. [ rock music plays, indistinct chatter ] colorados marijuana laws are contradictory, but clear employers can still fire anyone who tests positive for pot. But not all workers are getting that message. Positive marijuana tests in colorado are up by double digits. We have a saying in our company that, every employee needs to go home at the end of the day to see their loved ones. And youve got to be sober on a jobsite to do that. And while bryon white has one eye on the safety of his workers, hes also watching the state supreme court, which is deciding a case that could influence workplace marijuana laws across the country. Mr. Coats was employed full time at dish for three years, and during that time, he never possessed, used, or requested accommodation for medical marijuana in the workplace. They are talking about Brandon Coats. When he was just 16, a car accident left him a quadriplegic. Coats is now 35 and a licensed user of medical marijuana. How important is medical marijuana to your daytoday life . Well, its very important. It allows me to live a more normal life the most normal life that im able to. Back in 2007, coats started working as a customerservice rep at dish network. Dish is headquartered in englewood, colorado. They have a ranking on the wall of where you are. I was always in the top five percent. I never had a writeup. I was always on time. I was i did good, yeah. Then he began having trouble with debilitating muscle spasms. So, it was while you were employed at dish tv that doctors recommended you try medical marijuana . Right. How would you use it . Sometimes, if i was getting a spasm attack, id do it right after work. But it was normally right before bed, kind of help me not spasm so i could sleep through my night. It would usually last 24 hours, but sometimes, after work, i would need to smoke a little bit when i got home. You know, therell be skeptics who look at this and say, this guy just wants to be able to be stoned while hes at work. What would you say to them . I would say that they need to spend about a week in my shoes not even a week, maybe a couple hours and theyll be changing their minds. One day in 2010, coats failed a random drug screening, testing positive for pot. Two weeks later, dish fired him. What was it like for you when they said, we dont want you to work here anymore . Well, it was devastating. I mean, its hard enough for somebody like me to get a job. People look at me like they probably dont think that i can do what i can, you know . Dish declined our request for an interview. Appearing before the state supreme court, its attorney argued that zero tolerance means zero tolerance. That the policy states that, the employee cannot appear at work or be on work premises with alcohol or any detectable amount of any prohibited substance. Did you think, because you had a medicalmarijuana card, that you had license to go ahead and use it . Well, i was under the impression that we had passed a law and that we had made it legal. More important failing a drug test doesnt mean he was high at the time. Problem with thc is its a tattletale drug. Its unlike any other drug that exists. You smoke it, and its there for 40 days. Michael evans is Brandon Coats lawyer. If it went away like alcohol, if it went away like cocaine, if it went away like heroin, if it went away like opiates and percocet, we wouldnt have this conversation because. They sued dish to get coats job back, claiming what he did during his off hours was none of the companys business. This case is about what happens when the lights go off, you punch out, and you go home in the privacy of your own home. Does that long arm of your employer reach into a place where even police have to get a warrant to go into . They said that, because i tested positive for thc, that i would no longer be employed there and that they were turning me in to my licensing board. This registered nurse asked not be identified. Shes 36 years old, lives in the denver area, and uses marijuana recreationally. Its just like having a glass of wine after work. I chose to do something else, which is legal. I did not go to work impaired, nor have i ever. Not only did she lose her hospital job, she might be stripped of her nursing license, pending a decision by the states medical review board. Nobodys endorsing people being high on the job, particularly healthcare professionals. Cathy klein is the nurses lawyer. She says there needs to be a better way to determine if a person is actually high or not. Its not just a colorado problem. Its gonna be a national problem. There needs to be a test to determine current impairment. And thats exactly what theyre building at Lifeloc Technologies in denver. Ravi ravishankar is overseeing development of a nextgeneration breathalyzer. Its absolutely a priority. Its probably the top item that we are working on. It will determine who is and who isnt under the influence of pot. Its not what you had three hours ago or two days ago. Its whats happening right now at the very present point in time. And while lifeloc races to make that firstever pot breathalyzer. Lets go to the playground. Brandon coats is waiting for a decision from the Colorado State supreme court. Hes already lost two lowercourt battles. This has been going on for four years. Why keep at it . Because i want to work one day. I dont want to go the rest of my life without working. Maybe i can make it so i can be employed, so i can live a regular life like everybody else. Coming up, the accidental pot tycoon. All of a sudden, it hit me like a ton of bricks, and i go, oh this isnt lavender. This is all cannabis. Riding the cannabis boom when this is all cannabis. Riding the cannabis boom when we return. Thisrunning a Small Business ris demanding. Nabis boom when we return. And thats why Small Business owners need more. Like internet thats up to the challenge. The gigspeed network from comcast business gives you more. With speeds up to 20 times faster than the average. That means powering more devices, more video conferencing, and more downloads in seconds, not minutes. Get fast internet and add phone and tv for only 34. 90 more per month. Comcast is building americas largest gigspeed network to give Small Businesses more. Call 18005016000 today. [ wind rushing ] far beyond colorados borders, you can feel the Economic Impact of the marijuana boom. 1,200 miles away in johnstown, ohio, where marijuana is illegal. Thanks, everybody, for coming out today. My names andy joseph. Pot is making andy joseph a fortune. Were here today for the groundbreaking ceremony for our new building. [ applause ] all right joseph has developed stateoftheart machinery to make hash oil, one of the most potent cannabis products. The navy veteran served on a nuclear sub and came home to get an advance degree at ohio state. What are you doing in the marijuana business . [ laughs ] i kind of fell into the marijuana business. It found me. The oil is gonna basically collect inside the separation vessel, and ultimately. He was moonlighting making equipment to extract botanical oils and noticed an uptick in demand from out west. Theres just an exorbitant amount of lavender in california. Whos using it all . So you thought these machines were going to people in california who were extracting oil from lavender plants. How did you find out that wasnt the case . I was talking to a customer, and i was like, how do you get the lavender out of the [indistinct] and they said, you know its pot, right . Joseph left his day job in 2012 to go all in with his company, apeks supercritical. When i decided to focus on apeks full time, wed done 750,000 that year 2012 in revenue. 2013, we did 3. 2 million. This year, i think were gonna close out somewhere between 9 million and 10 million. Once we get into our new facility, with the additional capability and additional space, we should be able to do somewhere between 20 million and 30 million next year. You feel like youre riding a rocket ship . Oh, absolutely. Its been a wild ride, and i think its gonna continue to be a wild ride. [ chuckling ] and im gonna hold on as tight as i can. Hed better. The national appetite for marijuana is only growing. 23 states now allow for medicinal marijuana, and 3 others beyond colorado washington, oregon, and alaska, plus the district of columbia have also voted in recreational pot, a trend that will likely continue. As it does, those places contemplating legal pot would do well to watch whats happening here. Im harry smith. Is a paid presentation for all new amla glow, brought to you by guthy renker. mellow music beautiful has never felt this good. Healthy has never looked this radiant. Skincare has never seemed so naturally you. Glowing from the inside out introducing all new amla glow, one remarkable skin rejuvenation system unlike anything youve ever tried before that reawakens and restores your skin with the look of a beautiful, healthy, youthful glow. sophia bush glowing skin is beautiful skin