CNBC: Marijuana USA

Video on the Colorado pot boom, where dispensaries outnumber Starbucks 2 to 1. From "Marijuana USA", reported by CNBC's Trish Regan and premiering on Wednesday, December 8th at 9PM ET/PT.

CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, takes viewers back inside the flourishing pot industry--as the world’s most commonly used illicit drug comes out of the shadows and into mainstream. As more states pass laws permitting the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, the once vilified weed is being met with a newfound acceptance. Some hope--and others fear--the whole country may soon be going to pot.

CNBC’s Trish Regan travels the country and finds that in many places, marijuana has shed its back-alley stigma. In Colorado, this thriving industry is infusing much-needed capital and jobs into a weak economy. It’s attracting savvy, young entrepreneurs who are re-branding pot as a natural herbal remedy that can be sold openly at a dispensary near you. Astonishingly, it’s regulated, licensed and taxed, just like any other legitimate product.

But even in this bold new era of relaxed state laws, the drug remains in clear violation of federal laws. Law enforcement officers and federal officials vow they will not surrender. CNBC travels to the frontlines of America’s weed wars -- from the fierce political campaign to legalize the drug in California to the ambitious air and ground campaign to search for marijuana plots deep in the mountainous terrain of eastern Kentucky.

"Marijuana USA" goes inside the rapidly changing business of a drug whose popularity -- and profitability -- is spreading like never before.