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CNN Live Event/Special
High Profits: Caitlin's Law; Shooting at Event Featuring Prophet Cartoons in Texas. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired May 03, 2015 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:17] BRIAN ROGERS, CO-OWNER, BRECKENRIDGE CANNABIS CLUB: So we'll be in, in five minutes or less. You have all your money?
CAITLIN MCGUIRE, CO-OWNER, BRECKENRIDGE CANNABIS CLUB: Yes. I need to use my computer bag because I don't have a backpack or anything.
ROGERS: So it doesn't look like a giant bag of money. OK.
MCGUIRE: I have my phone on me so I can call you if I'm getting robbed.
ROGERS: I'll drop you off behind this guard. Hopefully, he's here. I got to tell you, I don't see him.
MCGUIRE: I don't either. I don't really know what to do if the security guards aren't there. I don't know who to go tell that I've got a bag full of cash I need to pay taxes with.
ROGERS: I'll be right there looking over. All right?
MCGUIRE: OK. I'll be right back. Wish me luck.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Marijuana, pot, grass, whatever you want to call, it is probably the most dangerous drug in the United States.
RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I shall continue to oppose efforts to legalize marijuana.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I inhaled. Frequently. That was the point.
(SINGING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we're doing now is creating the next big tobacco of our time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a highly regulated business. We're talking about daylighting a black market activity.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are on the cutting edge of a brand new industry. And she's got you UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is absolutely the next gold rush. This is
the green rush.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now the dominos are falling, especially in the C.B. economic revenue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's $2 billion to be had next year. I plan to take more than my fair share.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROGERS: For us, with the green rush being over, we are now in a competitive marketplace. Colorado is no longer the place to be if you want to get into the marijuana industry. You're going to have to start with one of the new states that comes online. That means it's time to fight. Who can attract the most customers and move the most units? "We've gone from tourists are willing to pay anything for a gram of marijuana, they won't mind these insanely high prices," to "every viable customer is a customer we need to attract."
MCGUIRE: In the springtime, we had a few new council members that got elected.
ROGERS: We campaigned all spring. Erin Gigliello, Elisabeth Lawrence, Mark Burke were the three bright shining stars to us.
JOHN WARNER, BRECKENRIDGE CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: Brian from the Breckenridge Cannabis Club and partner, Catlin, asked if we could revisit our decision of December 2013 of not allowing retail sales in the downtown corridor.
ROGERS: The whole point is to be where the people are. The people in this town are downtown. They're on Main Street.
GARY GALLAGHER, BRECKENRIDGE CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: Most recently with the marijuana issue was a 4-3 vote, so a very, very close vote. It's probably the most controversial issue that I've experienced in the two and a half years that I have been on council.
WENDY WOLFE, BRECKENRIDGE CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: We have the pressure now with one establishment on Main Street to either remain there or allow more pot shops to come to Main Street.
GARY FREESE, BUSINESS OWNER: Been close to 40 years in living in Breckenridge, there's never been an issue that has polarized this community as this issue has.
ROGERS: Here we are 4-3 this summer. Sitting pretty right now.
DAVID LEOPOLD, BUSINESS OWNER: My wife and I always wanted to move to ski resort community and live near a mountain.
Not good. Too hot.
I just view these companies that have moved into town, want to sell this stuff, I mean, they're parasites. They're pariahs. They're preying on our community and our tourists and our residents and our kids.
Last year, the town council got it right. 6-1, they voted against it. And it's all changed here in less than a year.
MCGUIRE: This could go anywhere from them allowing us to stay forever to them kicking us out in under 60 days.
ROGERS: The powerful elite have definitely put the pressure on.
MARK BURKE, BRECKENRIDGE CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: -- warrant, sale of recreational marijuana might look like. I think this is an important issue to hear from our citizens and we're welcome to hear what you have to say.
[22:05:14] LEOPOLD: My name's David Leopold. I'm probably one of the biggest offenders on the e-mail list. I am beside myself that you would consider putting pot shops on Main Street.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we have to protect Main Street. It is the most important thing this town has.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have not met one second homeowner who, in fact, supports pot on Main Street.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think this is going to solve problems by allowing me more sales and more people here to buy this stuff? You're crazy.
BEN BREWER, BRECKENRIDGE CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: As I was thinking about this issue, the Salem witch hunt came to mind. If you were the Cannabis Club, if the community was up in arms about your business, how that would make you feel.
BURKE: We have a parade. There's open container law. People can walk around drinking. We have a big bonfire. People have gotten naked in our parade.
(LAUGHTER)
And I don't hear anybody yelling about that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE; It's going to be the second homeowner kids, going to be the local kids, going to be the tourist kids. They're going to try it when mom and dad aren't looking. Right now, the stuff is so toxic they're going to end up two places, the emergency room or the morgue. I am adamantly opposed to this. Thank you.
KATHERINE GRIMM, RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA BUSINESS REPRESENTATIVE: When people say family friendly, what they're really saying is conservative. And this town has never been conservative.
ROGERS: My name's Brian Rogers. My request to ask council to let us stay downtown should not have been a surprise to anyone. I was very vocal during the election and, honestly, the three people who endorsed our position during the election won out of eight.
GRIMM: I don't know why people are so afraid of something brand new changing the image.
ROGERS: We didn't want to have this enormous topic burden a brand new council that may have had what I thought were real issues to deal with because I thought the voters had spoken.
GALLAGHER: The voters have spoken with respect to the legalization of marijuana. To specifically retain for the local jurisdictions were the rules and regulations to include location, hours of operation and many, many other things.
BRANDON EVANS, BUSINESS OWNER: It's up to each community, each county, each township to decide if they want to allow it in there or not.
GALLAGHER: At the end of the day, we're still a 4-3 and I think it's only prudent that we take this decision ultimately to our voters. Yes or no?
BURKE: Any other comments.
GRIMM: My name is Katherine Grimm, and I'm here as a representative of the three recreational marijuana businesses on Airport Road.
I've been hired by some of Brian's competition out here to help them navigate the waters.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:10:] GRIMM: We respect the will of this council and will of the voters, and we're behind you is 100 percent. We simply ask for the opportunity to provide some input.
Ultimately, the goal of the businesses downtown have been a fair and equal playing field. If there's only one person downtown, the tourists are going to shop here. If we're seeing about $1 million a month during tourist season and Brian's seeing 80 percent. That means, in a month, Brian is grossing $800,000. The four shops that aren't downtown are splitting the remaining $200,000.
Brian is holding all the cards right now and the other dispensaries are a little bit empty handed.
Essentially, we're asking for an opportunity to be involved in that, considering we're the ones who are going to be trying to find real estate, essentially.
MCGUIRE: A lot of things potentially change for us today, for the whole industry in Breckenridge.
(CROSSTALK)
ROGERS: The times have just changed.
MCGUIRE: Our competition has organized to hire someone to represent them. At this point, I believe they're lobbying for downtown zoning as well, so they can come downtown. ROGERS: These other guys down here, they were not for the sea change
we saw in the legalization movement, and now that it's here, like carpet baggers, they want in and want a part.
MAURA FLOSS, EMPLOYEE, CHRONIC THERAPY: I work here at Chronic Therapy. I left BCC because we had fundamental differences, I think, in perspectives, opinions, and really it turned out to be almost everything we disagreed on. I'd say that the safety conditions were probably the catalyst to me really saying I got to get out of here.
Everyone in Breck sees the lines. Everyone knows that it's a successful business. And if you do even a minute of research, that it's all cash. They're going to have a target painted on their back and I really hope they see that coming.
ROGERS: Turn it, turn it, turn it.
NICK NEIDLEIN, MARIJUANA GROWER: All our money is going into this project and the longer this project takes, the less money we have. People know this is marijuana place and say they have deep pockets. That's not true. We have no money.
ROGERS: It's a big expensive baby. We're banking everything on this guy. Or else we won't have the supplies we need. We won't have the money we need to keep going. We can't profit off what other people charge for wholesale marijuana. We have to grow it here.
Yeah, you're good.
So we decided to build a second story which is going to make it 16,000 square feet. Once built, we'll definitely be one of the larger fully functioning warehouses.
JACQUES LEMANE: Right now, things are really small scale because of the construction aspect of it. If you're lucky, we got this warehouse going in time to where we can be at the forefront of this new industry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is looking all right, dude.
ROGERS: Can't wait.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many plants --
(CROSSTALK)
ROGERS: I think we're going to put another table there, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like 900 plants in this area.
ROGERS: If it all pulls through, which I'm confident we can do, it's going to be the biggest payout probably in the company.
Right here, we have the power supply for this whole place. It's eventually going to be 1,200 amps of power, which is just enormous. Our operation is sucking up all of the rest of the power for this half of town. Our electric bill could be as much as $20,000 a month when this whole place is built. It's going to be insane.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's up with this pipe over here you were telling me about the other day?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This pipe right there?
NEIDLEIN: Now we're three weeks behind, almost a month behind probably by the time everything gets done. That's hundreds of thousands of dollars behind schedule.
JOHN FULLING, EMPLOYEE: Brian, with this new facility, he's pushed it beyond anybody. This is a big boy operation now. No more games. If you're going to do it, you have to do it like Brian. So good for him, man. We're going to be pumping out some great product here real soon.
[22:15:12] SONNY STOWELL, BUD TENDER: Got to inventory everything we have here. We have to make sure that no one is stealing from us, make sure no one is ringing things up wrong. We have to have accountability for the business and make sure we're making money and not losing money.
Edibles, one. 80 milligram blue. I pay attention to the details and see that that's not a 40, whereas, sometimes, you know, inventory gets messed up pretty easy.
ROGERS: Sonny is our new bud tender. Sonny knows a lot about the product. He does a lot of research. He's always calling the vendors and asking any questions that customers have if he doesn't know the answer, which is great. So he's probably as knowledgeable as anyone in the company about the consumer side of cannabis.
STOWELL: I have two passions. Helping people and helping people.
So, Laura, did you hear what's happening?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've heard rumors.
STOWELL: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's an Octodad?
STOWELL: An Octodad is Josh's creation and, essentially, a Hinckley and Schmidt jug with a huge PVC down-stem in it and a huge nail on top with eight tubes coming off.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So essentially like a hookah?
STOWELL: A hookah, yeah.
I moved out here to work at the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center and lead backpacking trips for people with traumatic brain injuries, epilepsy, cancer, and stuff like that. Unfortunately, they're a federal non-profit. As of now, I haven't really been asked back because of this job.
ROGERS: So it's tax day in the marijuana industry. Because it's federally illegal, the banks don't accept our cash. So we have to show up with x number of dollars. Today, it's $21,000. At times, it's been as much as $80,000 and close to $100,000.
MCGUIRE: I feel like people are waiting for someone like me to get out at this government office with a backpack and go pay their marijuana taxes in cash.
ROGERS: If you're not going to stop a state from legalizing marijuana, at least allow them into the banking system so that it's not dangerous. They don't want us to enrich cartels, yet they make us do it all cash. If it was in the banking system, they would know where it's going, it would be trackable.
MCGUIRE: Are these in piles, is this $1,000 right now.
ROGERS: So this is $1000.
MCGUIRE: We have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 15, 17, 18.
ROGERS: That's $500.
MCGUIRE: $500. $600. $700. Twenty. Forty-two. Perfect.
ROGERS: In good shape.
Worst-case scenario, we have to have a crisis to say, hey, now we got the Caitlin's Law, the marijuana people can put money in the bank because Caitlin had to get shot depositing money. I mean, worst-case scenario, no one wants anyone to get killed. But that's the kind of thing --
(CROSSTALK)
MCGUIRE: I would be 100 percent fine if there was never a law named after me.
(LAUGHTER)
ROGERS: Yeah.
MCGUIRE: Leave it at that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:21:37] ROGERS: Hey, John. Come on in.
FULLING: I got your money here.
ROGERS: All right. Cool.
FULLING: We got it all counted up. Should be good.
ROGERS: We're going on $15,000, right?
FULLING: $15,000 today. ROGERS: Hundreds are my favorite.
FULLING: Beautiful. It's much better than $20s.
(LAUGHER)
ROGERS: Don't worry. It's not all $100s.
FULLING: Oh, my god.
ROGERS: The marijuana industry is extremely cut throat, very competitive. Outside of that, one of our biggest problems is many businesses don't want to do business with us.
FULLING: I'm starting to get tired.
ROGERS: My thumbs are well trained.
FULLING: It's different. It is what it is. Green money. I don't care if it's paper, what kind of paper, I'll take it.
ROGERS: So we got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.
Let's get it packaged up for you.
FULLING: If you see me running real fast, call the cops.
(LAUGHTER)
Good thing we live in Breckenridge.
ROGERS: That's how I feel, too. This would be awful in Denver.
FULLING: Thank god my bank's right next door.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have built what I consider one of the most major family ski areas in the country. I don't think parents should have to walk past a sign and try to explain to a 7-year-old what is that store? Main Street is a jewel. We have to protect and if we let one store on it, I think we hurt ourselves.
It's quiet this morning. Brian, I think he's an aggressive young man. I think he's probably a pretty good businessman for even getting the town of Breckenridge to turn around an existing law and let him stay there. I mean, the law was that he couldn't be here.
See the fellow who just got off the fence? That's exactly what I don't want on Main Street. You see him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've never had homeless before. Or not to this extent. I'm sure we have. I mean, I'm sure we've had people tent camping, but not like this. This is different.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Came here for the weed and the great weather. Smoking that, man.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have their little pans out and they're asking for anything green meaning pot or money. And we really don't want that for our town.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Denver has two streets. They're pretty notorious for pot shops, Colfax and Broadway. That, I never want to see Breckenridge look like that.
I'm going into the Cannabis Club, the Height-Ashbury of Breckenridge.
Marijuana existed in Breckenridge. I mean, it was made up of baby boomers like me. And we smoked more than we drank. Quite opposite of today.
MCGUIRE: Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.
MCGUIRE: I'm Caitlin.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice to meet you. I saw you briefly.
ROGERS: We met at the meeting the other day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure. Two weeks ago.
ROGERS: Time is flying by.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Main Street is so dead right now. Can't figure out why. You chased them all away.
(CROSSTALK)
MCGUIRE: Probably not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not necessarily annoyed. He's a young man trying to make a living in a brand new field of, you know, a new opportunity. It's a big one.
ROGERS: I can show you in this room if you want kind of what we do. You're familiar with weed, right, Karen?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was in high school and college in the 1960s and '70s.
ROGERS: It comes in these jars inside hi this bag.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. In those little jars?
ROGERS: These are predetermined bags of 30. So we know for stock.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who do you find your customers are?
[22:25:09] ROGERS: You.
(LAUGHTER)
ROGERS: People your age, people in your circles.
I think it hasn't been spoken about in a lot of family circle circles. But we're finding a lot of the baby boomer crowd, maybe little younger than them are coming in. They're our major clientele. I don't think that those people are ruing Main Street and attracting those people to Main Street.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know you think you're being singled out but we don't have fast-food on Main Street, except Subway.
ROGERS: Subway.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That part of Main Street is hardly even Main Street anymore. We don't have alcohol sales except for the little grocery store that I never knew sold alcohol.
ROGERS: Local liquors.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah --
ROGERS: And the 75 restaurants that sell alcohol.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yeah.
ROGERS: They sell it on site, as a matter of fact, sop everyone who leaves there is intoxicated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. I'm just not for it being on Main Street, so, that's it. I have nothing against you. I think you're pretty smart, except your last -- your last comment at that town council meeting when you took credit for getting those four guys elected, I thought, why would he say that?
On one hand, I respect him because he managed to turn around the town council. But I'm afraid of who else it might attract besides him.
Did you see the guy on -- probably just threw him out of the store and said get out of here because you don't look good for our image.
If we felt it was necessary which we might, we would ask him to politely move on.
ROGERS: Jesus Christ.
What's up? How you doing? I'm Brian.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sebastian.
ROGERS: Sebastian? Can we turn this down for just a sec?
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.
ROGERS: You live here in Breck?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just got here yesterday.
MCGUIRE: From where?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New York.
MCGUIRE: I don't know if you've been caught up to speed on what's happening in Breck right now, we're in a battle to stay downtown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure, yeah.
ROGERS: So, like, what we're trying to prove is that we attract, you know, a lot of these high-end middle America types to come here with their kids and their family to spend a bunch of money. What we're trying to do is make our image not stereotypical marijuana, not rolling joints out front, not playing music. I was hoping I could convince you to sit on a different bench so that I could not have that fight with council that, like, hey, this guy was rolling a joint outside or I can't have anyone show up at council --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll definitely leave, but, damn, I thought Breckenridge was way cooler, you know what I'm saying? Something like, oh, we're -- I'll move my stuff.
ROGERS: OK. That's awesome. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope you win it.
ROGERS: I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
I hope you enjoy the --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure. Cool. All right.
[22:30:13] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love Breckenridge. I intend to be here for the rest of my life, and I'd like it to be as perfect as it can be.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:30:50] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
JOHN VOSS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this hour from Garland, Texas, there has been a shooting at a free- speech event featuring cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Two gunmen armed with automatic weapons opened fire outside the Curtis Caldwell Center. The suspects are dead and a police officer has been hurt. There are concerns the gunmen's vehicles may contain explosives.
On the phone with us, CNN producer, Christopher Lett, who was at today's event in Garland, Texas, just outside Dallas.
Christopher, right now, you're inside the building. What more can you tell me?
CHRISTOPHER LETT, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): I'm no longer inside the building, John. They've moved us to a media staging area just down the street from the building.
VOSS: OK. So explain what has happened in the last few hours. These two alleged gunmen in the vehicles drove up to this center that was hosting this exhibit of the Prophet Muhammad and then gunfire erupted.
LETT: Exactly. So according to police, they opened fire. They were engaged by the law enforcement there on standby. From there, they told everyone who was still inside the event to go to the auditorium and usher the people who were outside to go back in. SWAT teams corralled all the people and as we moved on, we just waited until those who actually witnessed anything were separated, taken for their statements. Those who were there as guests who did not witness anything were taken to an undisclosed location. Media like myself were then sent to a staging area down the street.
VOSS: What do you know about this keynote speaker who was advertised as having a prominent role at this exhibit?
LETT: Yes, yes. So he is a politician from the Netherlands, Girt Welders (ph). Correct me if I'm wrong on the pronunciation. He definitely had some things to say, basically, echoing his solidarity with the movement to protect free speech in the West. A few of the things he said, I can tell you now, he said, "We will never allow barbarism, we will never allow barbarism."
I know my own experience, how dangerous it is. He spoke about how he's on the death list of al Qaeda. And he said new leadership is required to defend our freedom of speech and resist the ongoing Islamization of the West.
VOSS: OK, so Girt Wilders (ph) was on this al Qaeda hit list. We have the wanted poster which al Qaeda put out featuring Girt Wilder (ph). So he was meant to be one of the key speakers at the exhibit of the Prophet Muhammad. As we know, any depiction of the Prophet Muhammad is considered blasphemy by Muslims. We do know the identities or the authenticity of those who were, in fact, involved in the shooting, who were driving the cars, who are now dead. But we do know that right now their vehicle is surrounded by police because there are concerns there could, in fact, be explosives inside that vehicle. And police are continuing to check. We've also been told that nearby businesses, a Walmart and a number of other stores, have been evacuated because, of course, there are concerns that these may not be only two suspects involved in what does, in fact, appear to be, at this early stage, an attack at this exhibit of cartoons and depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. It was a very controversial exhibit from the get-go. A lot of concerns. There was heavy security in place.
We'll have a lot more details on this shooting at the top of the hour. I'm John Voss. Keep up with the latest developments over at our website, CNN.com.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ERIC ANSHUS, MANAGER: Hi, Jeff. We got you rocking over at the Breck store today. We got just a shade over five pounds for you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right on.
ANSHUS: Roughly 3,000 joints. You'll be picking up just under 5,000 from the store and coming back here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right on.
[22:35:15] ANSHUS: Let's get all the weed out. Let's get it counted.
Every one of these is 30 grams so this is just over an ounce of weed. Just a shade over $30,000.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basically, my job, I'm at the different gardens. I pick up all the product depending on what the store needs and I'm just driving to a different store locations on a daily basis.
I always catch myself looking around constantly, especially when we go into cities. I try to take a different route every time, you know, there's only so many ways to get to a place, but switching it up on a daily basis can definitely help throw somebody off. A lot of people shoot first and ask questions later. So a lot easier than an armored bait car.
Ali --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Delivery for you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: $25, $30, $35, $40, $45, $50, $85, $90, $95, $1,000.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now we walk down the street with $5,000.
MARK BURKE, BRECKENRIDGE CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: This is starting my fifth year on council. Literally, this has been the most uncomfortable and un-enjoyable last three months we have allowed this to continue.
ERIN GIGLIELLO, BRECKENRIDGE CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: We can show the rest of the country that this world-class ski town can do this well.
WENDY WOLFE, BRECKENRIDGE CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: We're in the business of tourism. Normally, it's -- in Breckenridge, it's really been a lot of fun to be on the town council. The issues that we are usually dealing with here are delightful things.
BEN BREWER, BRECKENRIDGE CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: This is the first one that has really shown us an impasse in terms of being really divided.
BURKE: I'm just not convinced that, you know, it's going to destroy our brand.
GIGLIELLO: When they talk about brand, they talk about friendliness and fun and I don't think it excludes marijuana sales, honestly.
ELISABETH LAWRENCE, BRECKENRIDGE CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: That had a lot of people say to me, you ran on this family-friendly platform then now you're OK with marijuana. Those two don't jive. I disagree with that.
GIGLIELLO: For me, it's about doing the right thing. It's because this is a legal business just trying to do what everybody else is doing.
BURKE: This council put in two weeks --
GIGLIELLO: Right.
BURKE: -- vote to our stay if we could come up with the restrictions that we all can agree upon.
WOLFE: It's important now that we do the rules and regulations so that we can best live with this.
BURKE: We want to restrict it away from schools and away from residences.
GIGLIELLO: I think it's one per block. Anything upstairs, I think second story is what they're saying, so even like my spot could become a pot shop.
WOLFE: Do I wish that it weren't this way so fast? Yes. You know, what's the hurry?
GIGLIELLO: When people look back at allowing women to vote and people say, oh, I wish we just went a little bit slower on that.
BURKE: Yeah.
(CROSSTALK)
GIGLIELLO: I'm ready for it to -- for us to make a decision and move forward.
BURKE: I think everybody is.
GIGLIELLO: I mean, they can change our town in just a short period of time. I don't know that they can change it back.
BRIAN ROGERS, CO-OWNER, BRECKENRIDGE CANNABIS CLUB: Hello? Hey, Katherine. Yeah. Yeah, we can meet. We'll see you then. Thanks.
That was Katherine.
CAITLIN MCGUIRE, CO-OWNER, BRECKENRIDGE CANNABIS CLUB: Really?
ROGERS: Yeah, she wants to meet, 2:15. MCGUIRE: Wonder what she wants to talk about.
ROGERS: So do I.
MCGUIRE: Hmm.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is no more profitable drug in the world right now than marijuana. It's the reason why you have drug cartels.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last time I checked, the cartels were not wiped away from Colorado or Washington. They're still there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's because it's an opportunity for them.
UNIDENTIFIED SECURITY GUARD: Right now, we're in a big armored truck. So it's ideal for transporting large amounts of money.
I was a police officer for eight years. I definitely never thought I'd be working in the legal cannabis industry. Two years ago if you could me I'd be doing this, I would have probably laughed. Is a lot of people are more reactive than proactive in security. It's kind of the thing where it's never going to happen to me. It's always going to happen to the other guy. Once it does happen to them, it's generally when they call us.
ROGERS: Jeff, my mom just sent me an e-mail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah?
[22:40:] ROGERS: And there's a guy out in California who owned a medical dispensary, guys came out, tried to rob him, and he was stashing all his money in the desert.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No shit?
ROGERS: And they cut his penis off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?
UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: Mexico's growing drug war is spilling over into the U.S. and getting worse by the day.
THOMAS GORMAN, DIRECTOR, ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH INTENSITY TRAFFICKING AREA PROGRAM: This is the perfect storm because if you're making money selling marijuana, how hard is it for me as a cartel member to say, hey, I want 40 percent of your profit as extortion? You're going to say, no, I'm not going to give it to you. Well, you know what? Here's a picture of your little girl. You want to see your little girl again? You know if you call the cops, you're dead.
If you know anything about cartels, when they say they're going to kill you or string you up or torture you, we know they do that.
ROGERS: I mean, we're just getting bigger and bigger. What do we have, 50 employees? I don't even know some of our employees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know half the employees anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the most part, someone wants to rob someone they're going to hit a soft target instead of a hard target. Hit someone who doesn't have security or they do it unarmed transports.
ROGERS: Would you feel more comfortable if we did have a guard?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, definitely. If we had somebody armed on this site 24 hours a day, there would be nothing to worry about.
ROGERS: Someone who is trained, not a mall cop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely.
ROGERS: You only get one penis.
RICKY BENNETT, VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS, BLUE LINE PROTECTION GROUP: Carrying your own money, even if it's to pay your taxes, it just doesn't make a lot of sense. Why are you putting the business at risk and/or any of your employees when there are people who are trained and in business to do so?
ROGERS: I'd rather be safe than sorry. Worse thing we'd ever have is somebody get hurt.
I want a secure room where we can keep the money, a safe room. I want to be able to use a bank. That's what I want for Christmas.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KATHERINE GRIMM, RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA BUSINESS REPRESENTATIVE: How you doing?
MCGUIRE: Good.
ROGERS: Good. Busy.
GRIMM: Yeah?
ROGERS: (INAUDIBLE) and everything else.
GRIMM: How many locations do you guys have?
ROGERS: Two stores, two gardens.
GRIMM: (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
ROGERS: Yeah. We're trying to open up two more stores.
GRIMM: OK.
ROGERS: Yeah. This year.
GRIMM: So you're all over the place.
ROGERS: We're all over the place. GRIMM: Good.
[22:45:06] ROGERS: I think she wants to unite all of the stores. We disagree philosophically too much. They're anti-legalization, anti- stores downtown, and now they want to take advantage of anything they didn't help anyone to build and positively they helped to destroy.
GRIMM: What do you want? What's your end goal? Best-case scenario for you?
ROGERS: Real simple.
GRIMM: OK.
ROGERS: We want to be able to stay downtown.
GRIMM: OK.
ROGERS: That doesn't mean we want to exclude other people.
GRIMM: Fair enough.
ROGERS: We're not willing to fight for other people to come downtown.
GRIMM: Why would you?
ROGERS: Yeah, why would we?
GRIMM: Right.
(LAUGHTER)
You're holding a monopoly. I would maintain that monopoly.
ROGERS: We're good enough at business to ensure that we destroyed the competition.
(CROSSTALK)
ROGERS: No everybody is screaming there's a monopoly down there, when, in all reality, what happened anyone could have come down there, some people chose not to. The people that chose to got put out of business and now these guys are upset that they made the bad choice not to be there in the first place.
GRIMM: My client has never been trying to fight against the Cannabis Club. They've simply been trying to fight for a fair, equal, rational playing field.
Sometimes I laugh at things. I get the whole, as a state, let's let the towns do whatever they want, and then we can have all our little buckets of experiment. In reality what you've done is -- I'm going to get yelled at for saying this -- but you've given it to student council presidents or local governments to say, how do we do this? You're asking people who are excellent council members to make these decisions, no necessarily people who are marijuana experts or zoning experts or planning experts.
MCGUIRE: The opposition that is worried about marijuana stores is worried that marijuana is going to change the image of Breckenridge and it's going to become Brecksterdam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you recommend?
(CROSSTALK)
MCGUIRE: We have worked very hard to create a great image not only for us but for the industry.
ROGERS: And if these guys bring the reputation they have now to downtown, it's going to make it worse, not better or not neutral.
I don't believe they bring the right philosophy to downtown. So I wouldn't want people to confuse their store with mine.
GRIMM: That's just coming out and saying I just want you to give me this because I've been here. That's not really a fair request.
ROGERS: It's not what I said, though.
(CROSSTALK)
ROGERS: I said I don't want their bad choices.
GRIMM: May I finish? They open up directly next to you, unless they suddenly change their name to "Brackenridge" Cannabis Club.
ROGERS: Sure.
GRIMM: You have built your brand around your name. You're building your location. Everybody recognizes your yellow store front. You have a name. To tell me that just because someone opens up next to you, someone is going to confuse your reputation is a bit of a stretch.
ROGERS: Not just mine, the town of Breckenridge.
GRIMM: Does Brian really think that? Doubtful. The real answer is he wants to protect his bubble.
I would much rather we're all fighting for the same thing.
ROGERS: But I haven't heard where this benefits the Cannabis Club.
GRIMM: Where it benefits the Cannabis Club, we can get behind the same things.
MCGUIRE: For the record, we never have nor do we want to work against you.
GRIMM: Sure.
MCGUIRE: It's just we don't want to hurt ourselves. GRIMM: And I get that entirely. And you have to understand that we
aren't working against you either. But it has -- we're working against a monopoly on a market on Main Street. We're talking about millions of dollars. You have to understand, we have to do something.
If we're talking that everybody has an opportunity to get onto Main Street prior to this tour season, then we're looking at who really does have the best quality? Who's got the best price? Who has the right marketing? Who's drawing the crowds?
MCGUIRE: There's no reason for us to put our name on something that is tied to them in any way, shape or form.
GRIMM: I hear you, but I don't think we're going to come to an agreement.
ROGERS: They're just going to be bad for Breck's brand. I don't want to have any affiliation with at least one-third of all the stores on Airport Road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next order of business, February 2nd.
ROGERS: You're saying roll back the date. I'm saying, it's working, why mess with it? Why fix something that isn't broken? To me, it's not broken. Main Street is working.
GALLAGHER: Does that mean the Cannabis Club just stays where it is for the next year or two and we continue to create their monopoly for them and we know in the high season they get 50 percent of their sales? That strikes me as being very, very unfair.
WOLFE: On the one hand, understand what Gary is saying about getting on it with, but on the other hand, this is so important that we must get this right.
GRIMM: The council, they don't know what they want right now. It is a tough political environment. Marijuana is such a complicated issue and it's a very emotional issue.
GALLAGHER: I think by giving February, we're going to drag this to February.
LAWRENCE: I don't know that the date so much matters to Breck Cannabis Club because we already know, or at least four of us are in agreement that we're not moving that business. We're not comfortable in that ordinance. It has to do with the overall vision of the town in regards to the legislation of other businesses.
[22:50:05] JOHN WARNER, MAYOR OF BRECKENRIDGE: We're not fixing potholes. We're not doing parking structures. We're just talking about G.D. marijuana --
(LAUGHTER)
-- and I would like to move forward. How about if we stick with an extension for BBC and we, the body, make some decisions for November 4th? That way we haven't strung the Airport Road people out, we've tried to solve it ourselves.
(CROSSTALK)
BREWER: That's the most lucid path forward that I've heard yet.
GRIMM: My fear is that the people that want to slow that down are just now going drag that out continually. I see us in February back in that room having this exact same conversation. Where Brian's, again, fighting for another extension because we haven't finalized any regulations and Brian is doing just fine and he hasn't made any problems.
WARNER: Can I have a roll call please?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Miss Wolfe?
WOLFE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Miss Lawrence?
LAWRENCE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Brewer?
BURKE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Miss Gigliello?
GIGLIELLO: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Burke?
BURKE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mayor Warner?
WARNER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Gallagher?
GALLAGHER: My vote is yes, but let the record show that based upon these assumptions that we're going to have a decision made by November 4th.
(CROSSTALK)
MCGUIRE: Unanimous.
ROGERS: A unanimous vote.
MCGUIRE: Unanimous.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll take six months.
GRIMM: What it continues to look like is that Brian gets whatever Brian wants and everybody else is just picking up scraps.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sounds like we're going to stick the way -- will not be an introduction to change the date. In a second. Can I have the roll call, please?
BREWER: We voted 7-0 to keep the Breckenridge Cannabis Club on Main Street until February 2nd so we can have some time to set the rules around what retail marijuana will look like in Breckenridge.
MCGUIRE: At this point, it looks like the majority of council is supportive of allowing us to stay in our position.
GRIMM: They extended Brian through February 2nd and made somewhat of a commitment to finalize regulations to get other people on Main Street by November 4th.
GARY FREESE, BUSINESS OWNER: I personally don't think there was a need for the extension and especially an extension through an additional ski season.
[22:55:05] GALLAGHER: The longer we keep this issue out there, to me, it's like a festering wound. I think it's time to lance the boil, make the decision, because the longer we keep it out there, it will continue to be in the minds of the council, our citizens, our guests, the media, and the country.
ROGERS: Oh, I'm so excited.
(CROSSTALK)
ROGERS: Been looking forward to just --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoever's got shatter, we need you to make, like, a nice rope probably four inches long. We need five of them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 80 percent THC at all once, a dab. I'd have to smoke a whole joint to feel a little bit of a dab.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you're seeing right here is going to be way more than any normal person would ever do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or need to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or need to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it's an --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, but we're getting eight people high.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a friendship dab. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To work just in the best place ever with the best
people ever.
(CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cheers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right side.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's up, boys?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready? Here it comes. Go.
Left side. Go. Right side, covered.
Oh, yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One more time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People in authority in town don't seem to have a problem with this, and I can't understand it. This is a drug. Right and wrong is not that difficult.
DAVID LEOPOLD, BUSINESS OWNER: We are in some respects blazing a new trail and trying something new. Being bold and hopefully we'll be rewarded for that. I think if we do it right, it won't destroy Breckenridge, in fact, I think it will enhance Breckenridge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel fantastic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Teamwork.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Worked together to do Octodab.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your show is nice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, it's also, we're not going crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, god, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little dab will do you. A big dab will do you. We're just high, sitting around chilling.
(LAUGHTER)
We're not hurting anybody, you know?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No damage done, right?
(LAUGHTER) LEOPOLD: I disagree with the rule. It's illegal. I can't do anything about that. We sure as heck don't need it on Main Street.
What really infuriates me, one of the town council members admitted to being supported in this campaign by the marijuana industry in town. That tells me you've been bought and paid for.
GALLAGHER: There are even folks out there basically saying maybe we ought to be thinking about a recall for a couple of the town council members. It does show that it is on the forefront of a lot of people's minds.
ROGERS: This is our burn house. We've been here since Mayish. We rented this whole home. It's just amazing.
This is the master bedroom. You can almost wingspan this thing. And then the closet is through this spiral staircase.
MCGUIRE: Kind of a disaster right now, but it's a huge closet.
ROGERS: Nice copper top bar. Artisan propane fireplaces. There's a copper sink and a wine cellar.
MCGUIRE: It was a pretty good deal, and it was a mansion compared to anything else that we've ever lived in.
ROGERS: Hardwood floors in one of the guest bedrooms in the basement level. They have a ballet wall. Now it looks like a sex wall because there's a bed in here, but that's just -- that's just my opinion.
GRIMM: I'm sure Brian already is rich at this point. Is Brian going to get richer? If things stay exactly the same, absolutely, Brian is going to get richer.
MCGUIRE: Look at this picture I found of you.
ROGERS: I was so little.
MCGUIRE: Baby Brian.
(CROSSTALK)
MCGUIRE: This was Brian.
ROGERS: I think was 16 years old.
MCGUIRE: Before you were the drug lord you are now.
ROGERS: Right.
(LAUGHTER)
MAURA FOSS, EMPLOYEE CHAOTIC THERAPY: They have this, like, awesome monopoly on the town of Breck, but if they lose their spot on Main Street, they are looking at a whole different world. They have this opportunity, this awesome window, but that window is going to close. MCGUIRE: Do you see these little snail things, by the way?
ROGERS: Millipedes?
MCGUIRE: Is that what they are?
ROGERS: Yeah, they're everywhere.
MCGUIRE: I feel like we live outside in a mansion. I vacuumed this place four days ago.
ROGERS: I don't know where they came from.
(LAUGHTER)
Look, you can't stop them. They're everywhere. There's a half dozen over there.
FOSS: They get maybe one more year is what my guess would be before they're either kicked off Main Street or other places are opening up on Main Street with them.
GRIMM: Right now the tides are kind of shifting a little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have profited in an unprecedented fashion.
LAWRENCE: It's marijuana and it's not that big of a deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To have someone speak the way you're speaking, it's offensive.
LAWRENCE: That is a real threat. It's my job.
GRIMM: So now these council members' personal lives are being affected.
ROGERS: When you get backed into a corner, come back swinging.
GRIMM: Do I think it could potentially come back to bite him in the ass? Absolutely.
ROGERS: Now we're a target.
MCGUIRE: Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People don't realize the hoops you have to jump through, the rules you have to follow.
ROGERS: If it was easier, everybody would be doing it.
[23:00:07] MCGUIRE: I just thought it was supposed to get easier.
(LAUGHTER)
