No one had any doubts over whether a Brush, CO man understood the concept of irony after he petitioned his town council to allow him to convert a defunct, medium-security prison into a grow house. Well, if this guy gets to do that, then we're converting IKEA into our place of residence.
No one had any doubts over whether a Brush, CO man understood the concept of irony after he petitioned his town council to allow him to convert a defunct, medium-security prison into a grow house. Well, if this guy gets to do that, then we're converting IKEA into our place of residence.
Nicholar Erker got the idea for the ganja jail as he was taking a leisurely stroll through the abandoned prison, as one does. “I was walking through the building one day by myself and I thought, ‘This place would be perfect to grow marijuana,” said Erker, who dreams of opening a grow facility and recreational dispensary in the 60,000-square-foot former prison. “There’s plenty of water, lots of electricity, it’s built of pre-cast, eight-inch concrete walls, ceilings and floors, it’s in an industrial park away from the population and it’s surrounded by 25- to 30-foot exterior fences with razor wire on top — and there’s also an interior fence. You’re not going to get more secure than this.” Hmm, good point. But he forgot to mention how helpful the ghosts of murdered prisoners will be at trimming the buds!
The prison closed in 2010, leaving its 85 employees without jobs. “When you lose 85 jobs in any community, it hurts,” said Erker. "In a town the size of Brush, it really hurts.”
Erker's prison-pot dream could become a reality, but first he'd have to convince his friendly local government to lift their moratorium on weed business. They'll go to vote in November to decide whether or not they'd like to become home to the world's most cleverly-located dispensary. Think of the tourism revenue, Brush people. Think of it.
In fact, Erker had that same idea. He met with Brush's mayor and his investment team, the likes of which include former Denver Bronco Joel Dreessen and his mother, to estimate the potential economic impact of a pot jail. They figured out they could create 31 jobs with an estimated payroll of $1 million, with sales tax revenues hat increase their current sales tax collections by 30 percent. That comes out to about $300,000 in sales tax for the city of Brush through excise, sales and retail taxes, and for a city that small, that's a big check.
Plus, the recreational market being so flaccid in northeastern Colorado, we can only imagine that Erker's pot penitentiary would also disband what we can only imagine is a seething underworld of rural Coloradan black market marijuana trade up there, run mostly by cows who must be stopped.
Plus, the corniness possibilities are endless. They could have strains called "Inmate No. 420," "Mandatory Squat and Cough," and "Don't Drop the Soap." They could even slang munchies through the prison's cafeteria, provide bunk beds for those who are too high to drive, and sell toilet wine! Just don't let them catch you snitchin'.
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