REPORTER: Nick Lazaredes
At the foothills of the Rockies, Denver's always been known as the Mile High City. These days, that's taken on a whole new meaning.
MATT BROWN: Who else needs weed? We have weed, anybody else need weed?
On this bus out of Denver, the tour guide is packing bongs with high-grade cannabis - all legal under new state laws.
MATT BROWN: The state of Colorado allows me to give you my weed for free, I can't charge you for it, but all adults over the age of 21 are allowed to possess and consume up to an ounce of marijuana.
Matt Brown is a former pro-marijuana lobbyist turned entrepreneur whose bus tours push the boundaries of drug tourism by providing passengers with some of Colorado's finest weed.
MATT BROWN: We're here at Red Rocks. Just a quick reminder for all of you who are from out of town - in the state of Colorado, you're allowed to use marijuana inside. So, inside the bus - we're fine. Inside your hotel room - you're fine. Here at Red Rocks, it's not technically legal. If you do decide to take anything in, I don't want to know about it. However, this is the most beautiful amphitheatre on earth. Everything about Colorado's better with a little bit of weed.
150 years ago, Colorado hosted one of the biggest gold rushes in American history. Now, a new economic miracle is unfolding.
It was Colorado's gold rush and the completion of the transcontinental railroad that enabled westward expansion and the birth of American industry. Today, a unique social experiment is taking place here, where marijuana has been reimagined not as an illicit substance, but as a product to be regulated and taxed like any other.
With Colorado's weed revolution in full swing, I've come to Denver to see if it's turning into the new Amsterdam.
NORTON ARBELAEZ: We do not buy cannabis from unlicensed sources. We produce 100% of the cannabis that is sold to our patients.
In a downtown warehouse, Norton Arbelaez is showing me his field of dreams.
NORTON ARBELAEZ: Prepping the plant for drying and curing.
As the owner of River Rock Wellness Centre, he's riding the wave of Colorado's cannabis boom.
NORTON ARBELAEZ: This is the nursery part of the facility.
From January 1 next year, medical marijuana facilities will open their doors to anyone over the age of 21.
NORTON ARBELAEZ: You come onto the floor, where our cannabis consultants will be waiting for you.
Here, customers are treated to an experience that lies somewhat between that of a pharmacy and a bottle shop.
NORTON ARBELAEZ: What we have here now is a selection of both flowers, which is the buds of the actual cannabis plant - this is what you're going to see in these jars here. They have really colourful names, as you see. That's not by mistake. In the cannabis cultivation world, much like you have sauvignon blanc or you have a Merlot, these names actually tell us the provenance and lineage of these particular strains.
In Denver alone, there are more than 360 dispensaries like Norton's, a number that will only rise now that the right to use marijuana has been enshrined in Colorado's constitution.
NORTON ARBELAEZ: This is our tracking software. It's called BioTrackTHC.
Selling cannabis remains illegal under US federal law. But Colorado's highly sophisticated seed-to-sale system has worked so well that the federal government has announced it is officially adopting a hands-off policy.
NORTON ARBELAEZ: We actually create a bar code for every single plant, and that bar code follows the plant all the way through its life. These plants are now flowering, as you see. They probably have another six or seven weeks to go. Importantly, the same tags that we saw earlier follow the plant through its life cycle, and so at any point, the regulators can come in here, look at our records, scan the plants, and make sure that what we are producing lines up with the reports that we have.
By following Colorado's strict new rules, young entrepreneurs like Norton are sharing in the proceeds of the state's marijuana bonanza.
With its new legal status, cannabis culture is flourishing, and every few months the smoking tribes gather to sample the best products on offer. This is the 710 Cup, a two-day festival celebrating the finest hashish and the immensely popular hash oil.
REPORTER: A bottle of that would keep how many people going?
MAN: Dude, we could probably take that jar right there and get everybody here high. Yeah, everybody in this party - everybody here.
It's an opportunity to gain a glimpse inside one of the fastest-growing drug subcultures in America. It's called dabbing, due to the practice of dabbing hash oil paste on to the red-hot smoking pipes and inhaling the powerful vapour it creates.
MAN: Some of these concentrates can get as pure as 93% raw THC. That's no way... you can't get bud anywhere near that level.
For these young connoisseurs, it's all about the ultimate high. Not everyone is caught up in the euphoria.
I'm travelling deep into the Rocky Mountains to meet a man who says he's already dealing with the knock-on effects of a lax drug policy.
AARON HUEY: How many times a day do you think he's smoking pot? So he's using at school? If you find bags and scales, he's dealing.
Aaron Huey claims that since the laws were introduced, teen marijuana abuse and dependency have skyrocketed.
AARON HUEY: When was the last time you searched his room?
His Fire Mountain rehab centre for teenagers addicted to marijuana is already at full capacity.
AARON HUEY: I've got 22 people on my waitlist, and I'm not the only program out there. Other people have waitlists. But it was never 22. I never had this number and never at this time of year. This is the first time I'm experiencing this. So is it getting worse? Our numbers say so. This is the waitlist here. These are all the intake forms that we get to go through. Using at school - yes. Using at school - yes. Using at school - yes.
For teenagers at risk of drug abuse, Aaron Huey says Colorado's drug policy will provide a ready path to addiction.
AARON HUEY: Will it be easier for these kids who are struggling with addiction and have low emotional intelligence to get high if we legalise weed? Of course it will. Because more adults are gonna have it. Where do you think these kids are getting it? They're getting it from adults.
REPORTER: Would you say that American kids, generally, are at far greater risk than they were in the past? In terms of access to drugs and the variety of drug?
AARON HUEY: I'm gonna say kids are, because we've glorified it. The media's glorified it.
GIRL: Dear mom, when I was in college, I used to drink a lot. It was kind of crazy. But now that I'm older, I prefer to use marijuana. It's less harmful to my body. I don't get hung-over. And honestly, I feel safer around marijuana users.
In the lead-up to Colorado's historic vote, pro-marijuana lobbyists launched this slick ad campaign with its portrayal of pot use as a safer alternative to alcohol.
MASON TVERT: Around the world, people have been misled to believe that marijuana is far more harmful than it actually is. There's really just no excuse for punishing people who are making a rational, safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol, if that's what they prefer.
The architect of the ad campaign was lobbyist Mason Tvert, and this is the moment he'd been waiting for.
WOMAN: History in the making here, folks - amendment to the state constitution making marijuana legal here!
Mason's campaign is widely credited with securing Colorado's ground breaking new laws.
MASON TVERT: Ultimately, we can take sales out of the underground market, generate tens of millions of dollar each year in tax revenue here in our state, and really make this a safer and healthier community for everyone.
ADVERTISMENT: We all know where the money from non-medical marijuana sales...
It's the cannabis tax that makes Colorado's system unique. At 25%, it's a pot of gold.
ADVERTISMENT: ...and tax revenues would pay for public services.
This year, the state is expecting to rake in more than $250 million, a windfall that will only increase with new dispensaries sprouting up across the city.
MATT BROWN: 2009 was the gold rush year. We went from five or so in the entire city to 329 by the end of the year. It exploded. People were just grabbing up any property that they thought might work as either a dispensary or grow operation, anywhere that was seemingly commercial.
With Colorado's cannabis trade booming, Matt Brown says the benefits are clear. On Denver's outskirts, he shows me how long-dormant industrial sites are undergoing a marijuana-led revival.
MATT BROWN: We have something completely unique in this neighbourhood and in Colorado that you don't find anywhere else in the world - that is, large-scale industrial cultivation facilities on this side of the street, on the other side of the street, really on every building and every block in this entire neighbourhood. And right there in the middle, we have the District 1 police station.
Under new laws, local governments get the final say on whether or not marijuana can be sold within their boundaries, and some councils - including the neighbouring city of Aurora - have ruled against it.
MATT BROWN: We're here on the border between Denver and Aurora. When it comes to marijuana, one of the biggest differences is the city of Aurora bans all marijuana businesses. On that side of the post, you have cultivation operations, dispensaries, enormous amounts of retail and general construction build-out. The city of Aurora has missed all of that. You can see on Colfax, on this side, it's still run-down, it's very similar to the areas just a few blocks up the street that are in Denver, but because the city has said no, the city of Aurora has missed out on the hundreds of millions of dollars of investment that the city of Denver has benefited from.
ADVERTISMENT: And more vicious, more deadly, even than these soul-destroying drug is the menace of marijuana...
Nothing illustrates the hysteria surrounding marijuana better than the 1936 film 'Reefer Madness' - a period in history when Colorado was generating its own national headlines.
GREGORY DAURER, HISTORIAN: In 1937, prior to our federal legislation, it says, "New agency battles to destroy narcotic that leads to eventual insanity after making beasts of its victims."
REPORTER: Quite evocative language, isn't it?
GREGORY DAURER: Right. And this is a great bold quote. This is some marijuana they're showing in the same article and it says "Dynamite that blasts souls."
In fact, the very first prosecution under federal marijuana laws took place here in Denver, an event that was no accident, according to local cannabis historian Gregory Daurer.
GREGORY DAURER: This is Larimer Street, and back in the 1930s it was a happening night-life spot, as well as kind of a skid row area. There were a lot of bars. There were pool halls where there were a lot of marijuana vendors. If you couldn't buy marijuana on this street in 1933, something was wrong with you.
Although Larimer Street's illicit reputation is rooted in the past, an unmistakable aroma lingers once more.
REPORTER: I can smell that marijuana very strongly around here.
GREGORY DAURER: You will smell it around here, you'll smell it at bus stops in Denver, you'll smell it on public transportation...
CHRISTIE LUNSFORD, DIXIE ELIXIRS: Ahh, you can smell the delightful aroma of the raw plant material...
At Dixie Elixirs' Denver facility, I've come to see where the future of commercial cannabis is heading.
CHRISTIE LUNSFORD: This was the morphine facility for the state of Colorado. And now we make infused goods with medical cannabis. We have some examples of the 75 milligram sparkling THC-infused elixirs.
Marketing manager Christie Lunsford is eager to show me around the product lines that have been developed for the non-smoking sector of the market.
CHRISTIE LUNSFORD: Here we have the cannabis vault for Dixie Elixirs & Edibles, where we store all of our finished THC-infused goods. Here we have ginger mango dew drops, medicated rice crispy treat, chocolate truffle...
TRIPP KEBER: There's eight new states that are considering marijuana for adult use.
Dixie Elixirs is owned by businessman Tripp Keber, who makes no secret of his aim to make big bucks out of Colorado's new weed laws.
TRIPP KEBER: I'm not were wearing a Bob Marley T-shirt. I do not have dreadlocks in my hair. I'm business. And I've taken a very, very calculated approach in which to build my business to position it to be at the apex, and I don't apologise for that.
Tripp is convinced that the economic model that Colorado has developed around cannabis will spread quickly now that the federal government has given tacit approval.
TRIPP KEBER: I believe, in the not-too-distant future, potentially as little as six to seven years, we will see the tipping point where cannabis will be legalised at the federal level. I think we'll have more than 50% of the United States with some form of legalised cannabis in the year 2016. And from there, it just becomes a debate as to when, not necessarily how.
AARON HUEY: I'm frustrated. I'm sad. I'm sad that this is what's important.
Aaron Huey is ashamed of Colorado's drug-law reforms, and worries about the domino effect it's likely to have throughout America.
AARON HUEY: This argument about weed - it's crap, and it's a smokescreen. And kids are still suffering and they're still dying, and parents are still losing their children.
REPORTER: What's it a smokescreen for?
AARON HUEY: It's a smokescreen for not dealing with the real problem. I believe that, because of this move, we are going to be in a grey area where we have no specifics and no really enforceable laws because the law is gonna be we'll try to figure this out for the next couple of years.
As Colorado moves forward, its brave new world is firmly taking shape, hoping to pave the way for a more tolerant society and to serve as a legal and economic model for the rest of the world.
ANJALI RAO: The smokers and the businessmen. Nick assures us that he did not partake of any mind-altering substances during the filming of that story. It's true, he always talks like that. Our website has more detail on Colorado's cannabis law, and the people featured in Nick's story. Legalise marijuana - is it a good idea, or not? Join the debate.
Reporter/Camera
NICK LAZAREDES
Producer
DONALD CAMERON
Researcher
MELANIE MORRISON
Editor
WAYNE LOVE
Original Music Composed by
VICKI HANSEN