say to begin to ease these tensions? we just learned for the second consecutive week new york city police officers arrested and issued summons to far fewer people than they did the previous year. so suggesting a concerted sort of deliberate slowdown in work. in addition to the back-turning at both of the funerals that you alluded to. of course, commissioner bratton sent a memo last week asking police officers -- politely asking, not ordering but asking them to not again turn their back on the mayor when he appeared at the officer's funeral. a number of them -- a large number of them did not comply with that request. so here we are. and people again just looking to see what the mayor can begin to do to ease tensions here and he'll be relying on his police commissioner to do a good part of that. >> zach roth thank you for that very much as we wait for the mayor and police commissioner. let's bring in nbc's perry bacon and mark clayton.

as we reported once again, nypd officers turned their backs to the mayor as he was giving the eulogy for officer wenjian liu. do you think it's appropriate for officers to turn their backs on this mayor in this situation? >> no it's not appropriate. it's highly unprofessional. more importantly, was disrespectful to the family of the fallen officer, detective liu. it was disrespectful to the family of detective -- it's a disrespectful attitude and atmosphere and does not bode well for future relations. it should be noted that this friction that exists between city hall and the police unions is nothing new. it is business as usual. i suggest that the mayor and the police commissioner go about business as usual until this thing plays out. >> perry, police unions are typically a powerful force in politics and gallup polling shows police u.n.s are among the

most trusted institutions. but you have a mayor being a not incidental part of his political platform. a key driver of his election, in an election he won in a landslide. what are the relative political forces here? is the nypd officers who have essentially gone into open revolt against the mayor in a strong as political position as they think? >> it's a great question. they are in a position of strength and the mayor has to win re-election. he's not like obama and washington, for instance. he has to think about his political future. this divide between him and the union. he has to think about how to reduce that. the data we show about the arrest and citations going down could also be problematic. if crime went up while de blasio was mayor, that would be a big challenge for him. at this event today with he and bratton, he has two paths to take. one path where he tries to keep working with the union keep trying to built relationbuild relations. he had a two-hour meeting with them last week. he could take that approach

maybe a commission or committee to work with the mayor and the police. the other option i think for him and bratton is to say, the officers can't, you know de facto go on strike. he could take the case of a public and say, i've been the best i can. the officers won't listen to me. maybe try to move the public toward him and try to get them to change the police behavior through public means. >> to what perry is saying here as we await the mayor and commissioner bill bratton coming out and speaking is there anything the mayor can do or say at this point to mend fences with the police officers with the rank and file who are upset with him? it seems like their grievances go far back beyond even eric garner? >> sure. i mean there's a backdrop to many of the grievances. mainly, the ongoing and very contentious contract the labor negotiations. the contract negotiations are a key component in much of the disgust the pba and the dea and the sba, the five police unions have with city hall.

that's really the basis and the core for a lot of dissension. the problem we're going to face now is that you have to realize that the rank and file of police officers on the street whether they be sergeants, detectives, et cetera, don't necessarily take their marching orders districtly from union leadership. it may appear that way and there may be a mood and a tempo set by union leadership, but much of what you're seeing now with the back turning from some officers indicates there are really wildcat actions that are going on. there's not much that this mayor or this police commissioner can do to stem that tide because this is the normal friction-filled relationship that has always existed between the unions and city hall. >> well and to mr. claxton's point there, this contract that expired did so under the previous mayor bloomberg. so this is that a long-running thing. as for the funerals to the extent it relates to a contract dispute, i think it feels more inappropriate if you're bringing the contract dispute to the

funeral, which says nothing. perry, i think that says nothing about the underlying issues there. a lot of us think that -- whether you're straight forward, mr. lynch has not been direct or respectful or honest at every turn. i think that's complicated things. my question for you, nationally, perry, as we broaden out, you were writing about this and hillary clinton saying black lives matter. we've definitely seen a national embrace of some of these concerns, including some republicans speaking out about the garner case. but we are not yet seeing any changes on the ground. can you help unpack that? you allude to that problem in your new article. >> i think what you're seeing here is you had a month or two -- you had a month after the garner and after the brown rulings and those cases in ferguson and staten island where you had a lot of push toward police reform ideas. this idea of body cameras you talk about on your camera. this general idea there was a

movement in the country around, is our policing working, is our policing discriminated too much against black and brown people. i do think now you're seeing much of a backlash. there was a great story in "the washington post," actually noting that this is not just in new york. there's police officers around the country who are now complaining their view that attorney general holder president obama, mayor de blasio have been anti-police in their actions. so, i wonder -- you know, we had a movement i thought was going to change things about police negotiate country. now you're seeing a welcome backlash and politicians, as you know, tend to react to tend to want to find where the public is. it's not clear where the public is. you basically have politicians to choose between police on one hand and the civil rights movement on the other hand. that's a hard choice for them. that's the place de blasio is in right now. >> mr. claxton, we've seen the statistics on the nypd recently. overall citywide arrests are down year over year significantly. 66%. that is gigantic.

and for smaller everyday sort of citations like parking and traffic, massively down versus a year ago. this week a year ago. a lot of people are saying this appears like a work stoppage by the police. do you think it is appropriate for the police to do this sort of a work stoppage given the massive civic import of policing? >> well so many components to the question. but it is not appropriate for the police to stop being the police. however, i must say i think what people haven't factored into this equation is the trauma these police officers across the city have sustained and had to endure over the past couple of weeks. it's quite naturally going to be a decline in productivity and activity, so i think moving forward, over the next several weeks, you get a clearer picture. because it's rare. in the private sector if there is a murder in the workplace and two colleagues are killed there is immediate grief counseling. there are psychological services

to the place of employment. there's no expectation that business goes on as usual. the difference between professional policing is there is an expectation that regardless of what occurred, business goes on as usual. however, we're talking about human beings who have to now face their own mortality, deal with their own vulnerability and continue to do work. so i think some of the crime drop can be attributed to the emotional impact and trauma they're facing. and moving forward. we'll get a clearer picture as to whether there is some action whether sanctioned by the union or not. >> interesting perspective there. we have to be sensitive to the human needs of the nypd at an extraordinary difficult moment in their history. marquez claxton, perry bacon, thank you for that. we'll bring you that news conference, de blasio and commissioner bratton, as soon as it happens. but up next the latest of not one but two air crash mysteries. how did a 7-year-old girl survive a plane crash in kentucky that killed everyone else on board? an incredible story.

what took down airasia 8501. investigators may have just gotten a break in that case. "the cycle" is rolling op first show in 2015. alright, so this tylenol arthritis lasts 8 hours, but aleve can last 12 hours... and aleve is proven to work better on pain than tylenol arthritis. so why am i still thinking about this? how are you? aleve, proven better on pain.

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cycling right now, two midair mysteries captivating the country a week after arizonair airasia flight 8501 disappeared. the bad weather is keeping divers out of the water as indonesia cracks down on everyone who allowed flight 8501 to take off in the first place. meantime, here at home everyone is still talking about this absolutely incredible story of survival. a 7-year-old girl stumbles away

from a crash that killed her entire family. she then walked through the pitch dark kentucky woods to find help and then she led the police back to the scene of the accident. nbc's gabe gutierrez is in kentucky with the details. >> reporter: investigators with the national transportation safety board have moved the wreckage from this location to try and get a closer look. they're trying to find out exactly what caused this crash but also how this young girl 7-year-old sailor gutzler, survived. her family was returning from a vacation in florida. on their way to illinois. the crash killed her mother her father her 9-year-old sister and her 14-year-old cousin. their funeral arrangements have now been set for later this week. but this was a horrific crash. friday evening the plane went down and landed here in kentucky. the plane was upside down and somehow this young girl managed to get out of an opening in the plane. she tried to light a branch on

the plane's burning wing. when that wasn't successful it didn't stop her. she walked about three-quarters of a mile to a nearby house and that neighbor called 911. first responders are calling her survival divine intervention. now, the ntsb is looking at this crash. they expect to issue a preliminary report in about ten days. but still, no word on the official cause of that crash. >> nbc's gabe gutierrez, thank you so much. now, halfway around the world, the search zone for flight 8501 is expanding because of strong currents. they're also churng up muddy waters that are making underwater visibility near zero. so, dive teams are back on standby. new sonar did just deployed by u.s. navy and it's giving investigators hope. >> this uses a different kilo kilohertz. we can find something as big as a golf ball. >> we'll go to a wider swath.

>> should we find targets out there, we'll switch over to a very high resolution. we'll go very slowly. we'll get very clear images. >> the indonesian government is offering to take the families of the 162 people on board to visit the crash site and to lay flowers as more bodies are recovered. nbc's kelly cobiella is in indonesia with the latest. >> reporter: the captain and crew of an indonesian navy ship claim they've seen what appears to be the tail section from this plane. there's no confirmation of that. if true and if it is intact it could contain those crucial black boxes. but there have been no eyes on any of these five large objects found on the sea floor. objects which searchers believe are wreckage of this flight. they can't get below to see them because the weather conditions are really against them. they're dealing with low visibility, very strong currents

and high waves at the surface. waves 13 to 16 feet today. those conditions make it very difficult for divers to see anything if they do get below the surface for them to use those remotely operated cameras below the surface and the hydrophones, which listen for the black box pings. five ships in the region just focused on the black box search but so far no pings yet. the weather is expected to improve a little bit tomorrow. the waves coming down to six to ten feet. but still fairly substantial wave size. the pace of this search and investigation is going extremely slow. particularly for the families. just 37 bodies recovered so far out of 162 passengers and crew. krystal? >> nbc's kelly cobiella, thank you for that report. let's now bring in ocean scientist dr. ellen prager. thanks for being with us today. >> thank you. good afternoon. >> so we're of course all

waiting for these divers to be allowed back in the water. meanwhile, the longer they're out, the further afield this debris field is going to go. give us a sense of what it is like under water 100 feet down right now. >> well right now it's no place you want to be. i mean this is a really dangerous situation for those divers. they're talking about mud. it's almost like you have a false bottom. if there's a lot of waves and mud, it stirs up the sediment so much that not only is it dark but it's chock-full of mud and sediment. so, you cannot see even your hand in front of you when it gets like that. >> wow. >> so not only do they have a problem then on the bottom but just deploying equipment over the site puts those people in danger. so you know they've got it both at the top and subsurface. >> wow. so doctor we can see why the would call in something like their side-scan sonar. what is that? how does it work and how will it help them? >> it basically sends out swaths

of sound or a beam of sound that goes along the bottom and the sound reflects off of the bottom and objects on the bottom and then it creates an image. so because you're using sound, you don't have to worry about the optical properties of the ocean. so even if it's rough or if there's a lot of, you know, mud in the water they can still use side-scan sonar. >> doctor hold on a second. we're going to jump to the press conference. mayor de blasio and commissioner bratton addressing the city. >> of a full year, the year 2014. and you will see the facts, you will see the numbers that make clear that it was possible to create a safer city and take fairer city. it was possible to create the kind of cooperation that would reduce crime even when compared to the record previous year that we saw before we came into

office, 2014 proves to be the most extraordinary year of all. i've said to some of you, i'd like to repeat, it when i was preparing to take office a lot of people in this department, a lot of people who watched these said to me with a certain reverence that it would be nearly impossible to repeat the achievements of 2013. that this nypd had done such an extraordinary job, was probably as good as it gets. but you're about to hear from the leaders of this department you're about to see the charts and facts that make it clear that 2014 was a year of even greater achievement, record-setting year an extraordinary year. this department did things that previous years were unimaginable in bringing down crime. they did it with ever fairer approaches and a greater closeness to our communities. so much to the credit goes to commissioner bratton.

i was certain when i chose him as our commissioner that he would lead us to places we had never been before. better places. he has fulfilled that promise so clearly. his leadership, the leadership team he has assembled around him, and most importantly the men and women of the nypd -- 4.6%. 2014 compared to 2013 overall crime down 4.6%. the lowest number of homicides since the modern policing era began in 1993. since what we call the comstat era. the lowest number of homicides we have ever seen. 2600 fewer than the year before. there are so many powerful numbers you'll see today, but think about the everyday lives of our people.

2600 new yorkers did not experience robbery compared to what we are seen the year before. that's an extraordinary impact on people's lives, also setting a record. and in our transit system our subways, outstanding success. major crime down 15%. 15% in 2014 compared to 2013. only two homicides in our subway system for the entire year of 2014. these are numbers for those of us who have lived in the city for a long time, these were numbers once unimaginable. this is a time to appreciate what all the people around me have achieved. want to thank them. so many gathered here today. first deputy commissioner, ben tucker, chief of department jimmy o'neill, chief of patrol, carlos gomez, deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, john

miller. our deputy commissioner of operations dermott shea tom galotti, chief of detectives bob boyes, chief of housing, james credo. this leadership team is one for the ages. commissioner i want to congratulate you for really having brought together the best and the brightest. now, again this is not just about numbers. numbers are so important but every number indicates a human life or a family and every number we show that's made progress means a family or an individual who didn't go through the pain of a crime. this has been progress that has had a deep impact on our neighborhoods all across the five boroughs. and some of these numbers specifically are absolutely outstanding. one example in our public housing, stapleton houses in staten island. last year crime was down over 40%. 40%.

compared to the year before. and that was due in part to the over $200 million investment we made in the housing authority with a focus on security measures like additional lighting that made residents' lives better but also made the work of our police better and safer. and the human impact in these situations goes beyond just being free from crime. it improves people's lives, their sense of well-being. so many people in our public housing dwoms have been able to feel their lives getting a little better. be able to be outside a little more. have a sense their kids would be safer, because of these actions, because of the men of the nypd. now, we know this is very difficult work. i've spent the last year all

over this city police precincts and talking to officers who did extraordinary things giving accolades to those who were such positive examples of the work this department does. talking to everyday new yorkers about what it means to them. people of this city appreciate our police. they appreciate how hard the work is and they see the progress we're making. yesterday tens of thousands paid their respects to detective liu and his family. so many people who couldn't be at funeral talked to me and so many members of my administration about their feeling for the families, their willingness to do everything they could to help those families because they understand what a profound sacrifice was made on behalf of the people of this city. people feel a lot for detective liu's family. they feel a lot for detective ramos' family. that is a commitment that with

will keep for the long term for those families. this department has a proud history of standing by the families of all those we lose and the people of this city feel the same way. they feel a deep commitment to the men and women who do this work and to their families. 35,000 people protect us as you're going to see, they do it very, very well. these two brave men we lost, they contributed to this outstanding progress from last year. they didn't get to see the end of the year. they were part of that success. they dreamed of doing this work their whole lives. you know their stories. they wanted to wear that uniform. they wanted to help others. they wanted to work for just the kind of success we're able to tell you about today. if you know something about detective ramos and detective

liu, they were both extraordinarily devoted to communities they come from devoted to their families their neighborhoods. they wanted that closeness to deepen. that's what we're dedicated to. and all this is based on the notion when you bring police and community closer together it is not only an act of fairness it's an act of safety for all. you can see it in the numbers that will be laid out today because as we have driven down crime, we have seen substantial decreases in the stop and frisk approach. and substantial decreases in low-level marijuana arrests. so, a lot of changes happening and the change is happening while at the same time the city is becoming safer. another important fact 2014 11% fewer complaints by new york city residents.

the civilian complaint review board. another indicator of the fact that we're going in the right direction. as we begin the new year, we have a lot to do. we've already announced substantial investments of close to $400 million in additional resources beyond that that we put in the last city budget so that we can make the work of our officers more effective and safer. particularly exciting is the investment in technology. the fact that every patrol car will have tablets. every officer will have a smartphone. the information they need will be at their fingertips instantaneously. something we never could have imagined years ago. but now whether we're trying to find an everyday criminal or whether, god forbid there's a terrorist threat to the city our officers will have all the facts, all the pictures all the descriptions, everything they need immediately. that will make us all safer.

that's the kind of investment we need and we will deepen -- we will deepen our commitment to training. that will be an ongoing part of the work of this department, tactical training. training that will make officers more effective and safer. training that will help them work more closer to the communities they serve. a lot to be done but we have momentum. we have momentum in terms of reducing crime. we have momentum in terms of keeping officers safe. we'll build upon that momentum in 2015. this is the world's greatest police department. there's no doubt about it. i've said it many times. i never have any fear or contradiction when i say that statement. the world's greatest police department. i travel all over the world and people speak rev rently about nypd. they want to learn from the nypd. they want to visit this building, talk to leaders, learn about its technologies strategies. it's been particularly true since this man brought us the

comstat approach and so many other innovations that have been the basis for the constant improvements of safety made over two decades plus. and it is the world's greatest police department because it is constantly committed to getting better. this is not a department that rest on its laurels. this department believes in innovations. believes in constantly working to build upon previous successes. i keep saying that records were set this year, this past 2014. records were set particularly unimaginable particularly compared to that extraordinary year of 2013. i believe we'll set more records in 2015. because we have the talent commitment and leadership to do it. let me close by saying that rather than get lost in the daily back and forth by the loudest and most disrespectful voices -- let's talk about a

positive vision. let's talk about what the people of this city want us to do together. i'll tell you, this is division we'll see play out in the near future of new york city. i see a new york where our streets will be even safer. i see a new york where citizens and police officers are partners in the endeavor of making us safer. respectful partners. working together for the betterment of our neighborhoods. i believe that positive vision will win the day. i believe in what the people are demanding of us. the people want us all to come together. the people believe we can do better. that positive vision will prevail over the negative visions.

we're the loudest voices of disunity and discord dominate the news cycle. we will be as good as the people we serve. we're going to find a way forward together. that, i'm convinced of. let me say a couple words in spanish before i turn to commissioner bratton. >> you've been listening to mayor bill de blasio talk about the nypd which he described as the world's greatest police department and touting the results of a record-breaking year as he put it in 2014. if and when the mayor gets asked about the ongoing tensions weaver seen manifested between city hall and the rank and file police officers we will certainly bring that to you live. we'll be back with more right after this.

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thursday's forecast is 20. >> yikes. jury selection begins in the trial of accused boston marathon bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev. the jury pool is made up of nearly 3,000 people. lawyers for dzhokhar tsarnaev lost their bid to move the trial out of boston. history is being made in miami today. florida's first same-sex marriages are taking place as the court battle over the state's ban makes its way through the courts. other parts of the state are expected to start marrying couples at the stroke of midnight, including a mass wedding in ft. lauderdale. congratulations. >> mass wedding in ft. lauderdale lauderdale, i guess. congress starts its new session tomorrow. among top agenda items for the 114th is a keystone pipeline vote. a potential challenge to the president's immigration action and several national security items. president's secretary defense nominee ash carter needs to get

through. for a full 2015 national security preview, we turn to the guys at defense one. joining us from washington is kevin barren defense one's executive editor. you have a number of things on your preview here including this ash carter nomination and also sequester cuts that will start impacting the defense budget. what do you think will republicans and democrats deciding whether they're going to sort of continue that spending restraint at the pentagon? >> you know the big word around town is it's got to be over and done with. nobody wants it anymore. the political value of it has just exhausted itself. i mean it's just really exhaustion. i think what we've all learned of anything in this town is pollties run everything, even national security. john mccain coming to wield the gavel, doesn't hold the sway of the speaker and majority leaders and minority leaders going up against the white house. so, there's real hope that that would be put to bed real fast in

a new era of work can be done with ash carter coming in as secretary. >> thank you for saying that. i'm constantly telling josh, politics runs everything. no, it's economics! so in 2015 the presidential race will begin heating up. so how is this going to have an impact on national security? obviously, none of the people running currently have any impact, direct impact on but surely folks in washington and the pentagon must be thinking about we're about to change presidencies not too far in the future. how is that going to affect 2015? >> i think people in the national security community care about this and no one else. like you said maybe it's politics, maybe it's economics, but certainly national security doesn't run washington. it's important. and it's important to lay out and find out these -- the platforms and the differences between the candidates early. and i think often. we intend to do that at least at defense one. i think a couple things -- i don't think you'll see anything

like the 008 years where there was the debate about the horrible iraq war and what we have just come out of. maybe you'll see something closer to what we had in 2012 where there wasn't that much difference between republicans and democrats. you're not going to find any candidate, any candidate with any credibility or lead who's going to come forward and say, enthe wars and get the united states out of militarization or out of military involvement in the middle east and around the world. you will see a lot of nuances. you will hear people saying we should have been in syria or involved in the syrian conflict or iraq sooner. or maybe a little more. a lot of we want more we want more. without having to define what that means because that's scary and doesn't get you any votes when it comes to the presidential campaign. >> it will be interesting to watch it unfold. because the lines are unclear and a little more nuanced. some on the republican side who aren't taking this traditional hawkish approach. you write about a coming potential robot army and the upcoming world cup of robotics. tell us about those things. >> yeah. this is true.

so there's a group called darpa. if your audience doesn't know the defense advanced research projects agency. they're like the cool kids on the block. they come up with the fun stuff like internet and velcro and robot armies. there's been a lot of talk after the war years, about the technology that was created. you know, mainly drones and autonomy. it's the big thing, according to my editor patrick tucker who you have on very often, who will say, you know automatic systems take humans out of the component as much as possible to save lives and also make a lot of work able to be done very quickly. the biggest, scariest thing ever that we're all waiting for is an actual robot army. robot infantrymen with robot abilities to kill other robots. that's the one thing the pentagon says they're never going to let happen but get as close to it as possible and keep trying to develop it. they keep trying to develop robotics that are auto ton mouse. we said the army this year put out a request they want to know by the end of the year, should

we fear artificial intelligence or not? is it a threat or not? kind of a once and for all determination. whether they make that determination, i don't know. but it's exciting stuff. >> what do you make of this change that we're going to see at the top of the pentagon? there's a sense, at least i have the sense that hagel was a little bit of a fall guy for problems that are much broader in this administration than him. are we going to see big differences with ash carter running the pentagon? >> fall guy, you think? yes, there is that sense. look you know my take on hagel is if you purposely try try to make yourself into a nothing man, you become a nothing man. he wanted to be the quiet leader of the pentagon. not the senator anymore. he was -- he wanted to be that background guy. he said this, he thought it was john kerry's guy to be the voice of the -- of u.s. foreign policy abroad. this was part of a

demilitarization of policy movement since the bush years. that's kind of what happened. i don't think any of the criticisms that hagel faced are going to go away because there were criticisms of the administration, like you said. so when ash carter comes in for his confirmation hearing, i think he'll pass 99-0. i think -- i don't think, we've been told that they'll use those hearings to go after obama on iraq, on iran deal o cuba now i'm sure is on the table. you name it, they'll go after him. they'll sneak up on him like a panther and really take the chance to hit obama any way they can just like usual. >> kevin, i'm reading through this article. here's what to expect in national security in 2015. i'm thinking somewhere in this article should be the idea that we don't know what to expect. national security always has that element of ah something happened that nobody gamed for, nobody expected. that's always part of the challenge. >> nobody expected the inquisition inquisition, nobody expected

russia to invade ukraine. a lot of people did anticipate isis but not like this. not like this. you're absolutely right. so, there's been a lot of talk in the pentagon about being certain about uncertainty. how do you plan for the constant change that we're in now? there's no cold war face-off. even the russia thing it's not the cold war like it used to be. but we do know there's going to be a lot of terrorism to fight in a humongous region i've been outlining that goes from the edge of india to the edge of turkey into nigeria, boko haram down to the bottom of africa. this is an enormous area. it's not going away. it's only going to get more volatile, more conflict, more instability. one thing america doesn't want. one thing washington has always fought against. forget democracy, forget arab spring. security and stability is the pentagon's job to do and national security council and the entire apparatus. that's what they focus on. that's the thing we're trying to draw out of the pentagon leaders in our own reportsing of events,

how are we going to live in this new era where we know we don't know what's coming next? how can you be the most agile and flexible to use the army leader leader's own words, how can the budget be that flexible? how can congress and oversight be more flexible? how can every aspect of national security be able to handle the 21st century? >> an unpredictable year ahead as always. thank you for your guidance about it. >> my pleasure. up next one year after colorado's first in the nation pot legalization, cnbc returns to the mile high city to see what has and hasn't changed and how residents get high. >> the most popular alternative to smoking pot is eating it. >> taste just like candy. not for children, though. it, dad? yeah, i can fix that. (dad) i wanted a car that could handle anything. i fixed it! (dad) that's why i got a subaru legacy. (vo) symmetrical all-wheel drive plus 36 mpg.

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i take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn. because it gives me... zero heartburn!

prilosec otc. the number 1 doctor-recommended frequent heartburn medicine for 9 straight years. one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. marijuana has been legal in kol for a whole year. in that time the state has not fallen apart or become a stoner wasteland. marijuana use among colorado teens has dropped. and the state has added $60 million in revenue. and the state has lured the great harry smith to come for a visit. >> reporter: uncertainties loom but know this, there's money being made. colorado is now home to more than 500 pot stores. one of the biggest is called medicine man. here's an industry that doesn't even exist in colorado five years ago. it begins. you're growing plants in the basement. >> yep. >> reporter: five years later, you have cloud technology -- >> state-of-the-art.

>> reporter: -- to operate your grow rooms. >> right. it's been a wild ride i've got to tell you. >> we're not a bunch of stoners sitting around in tie-dye t-shirts smoking pot but a true american industry. >> there's over $3 million spent on that room as i'm told from harry smith, from cnbc's "marijuana country: the cannabis boom." hi. harry, talk a little about medicine man, which we just saw a little bit of, the most successful entrepreneur in the state. they have millions of dollars behind them. we have some idea of what they're doing right. tell us more about what they're doing right. >> one of the things they talk about, they call themselves the costco of pot. they grow really good pot and they sell it relatively cheaply to the rest of the market. they're in a warehouse. >> they're a distributor. >> no, no no. you go to their store. you go to their store. they're making twice as much money as they made a year ago. this store -- their place is in

the middle of a warehouse district, in the middle of nowhere in northeast denver. you have to work to find it. and there's a steady stream of customers in and out of the door all day long. >> they're willing to put in that work. >> oh, believe me. >> this estimate that 40% of marijuana sales in colorado are still in the illegal market. >> yeah. >> why is there still an illegal market for marijuana? >> it's cheaper. >> mostly those avoiding the tax? >> market forces at work. you know some of it may be vestiges of old days but a lot of people now -- you can grow your own marijuana. any person can have six plants of their own if you have a medical card can you grow more plants depending on the level of disability. can you have even more plants. we met people who have serious disability and selling their surplus surplus. they sell it over craigslist. it's easy to find. >> i wonder about the inverse, about how the legal market is able to compete with an illegal able to compete with the illegal market.

>> because people don't want to break the law. >> but bring it to your house. >> and on the other hand you have this very legal market and the stuff is -- serious quality cele there, you know exactly what you're getting, you know exactly who you're getting it from, so there's -- you don't have to worry about subterfuges, is this guy going to hit me over the head. versus over here you get it privately? >> well part of that is also the stigma and as this legalization becomes more and more part of normal life so to pell -- sorry -- the stigma. it's interesting, as you've been out there so much this year some of the people are just absolutely crazed opposed to it are softening up a bit. >> as it becomes normal. >> well you hear about veterans, for instance people who come back from iraq or afghanistan and they say i don't want to take barbiturates i don't want to take opiates.

you want to to have the v.a. fill me full of poison. let me just have some weed. you hear that a lot. >> to that point it's not all recreational. you have families who are moving to colorado in the hopes of really a medical miracle. let's take a look at a bit of that. >> you moved your entire family changed everything in your lives to come here to get this medicine, and you haven't even tried yet. >> right. >> it's a big hope. >> yeah. but it's hope. >> tell us a bit about that aspects. these are not quacks these are not crazy people. these are people who have very ill children and they're looking for some kind of answer. the strain they are looking for is something called charlotte's web. very high in ka nab anoticed, but very low in thc, which is the psychoactive stuff. the stuff in about a third of

kids works real miracles with people with epilepsy. but, you know that's about the same as a lot of other drugs that could applied to that. so these people are taking a real chance but a lot of them feel like it's the best chance they've got. >> colorado is one of 22 states that as legalized marijuana, but the federal -- >> 23 p mel marijuana. you have colorado, washington state, oregon alaska and the d.c. have all theoretically legalized theoretical -- >> but the point is the federal government is not recognizing -- not legalizing. and the challenge for some of these businesses is that banks won't work with them. so a lot of them -- >> so eric holder comes out twice and says hey hey hey, no no, we're not going to bug you, because it's still a schedule i drug, don't forget we're not going to make you crazy. banks do business. they'll come in for two months and sake we really don't want

to do this and they will literally walk out the door. there's still a huge cache business. a lot of security firms can't hire people fast enough. one guy told me he wanted to pay his federal taxes with cash. one state paid their federal taxes with cash. the guy said here's a 10% surcharge, because we have to process all this money. it's crazy. >> what? >> so often when we hear about problems with legal -- it's focused an edibles, they don't feel it then they eat more and then get way too high. >> you read a story about that? >> no no there's a lot of adetect dotal evidence. walk around the building my sister-in-law went to a wedding and said i'm going to try one, so the edible business is working really hard to get that better under control. they're sort of start ser bars that they're selling, rookie cookie is the name of one of

them. so all that stuff, and lowering the dosages, so a bar that might have been 500 milligrams a year ago is maybe 100 milligrams now, and they're all marked 10 milligrams per bite. every bud tender they're very specific. you walk in the door they'll walk you through what you're supposed to do. but human nature tends to be a little impatient. >> as you said you try to eat half a cookie of any sort of cookie cookie, very difficult to do. thank you, harry. the special looks fantastic. before we go i want to say good-bye to a man who was always as cool as the other side of the 3i8o, stuart scott, he died on sunday after a long battle with cancer at the young age of 49. stuart was beloved to the style and swagger he brought to "sportscenter" infusing the show with a flavor it never had. they would acall him butter if he what on a roll or ay papi i did not know you could do it

like that. or the lord said you've got to rise up. i interviewed him once for "rolling stone" he was as classy off the air as fun as being on it. we -- it's always easy. it's easy to be afraid to let the people see the real you. if they rejikted real you, that's painful. he wouldn't tone it down for the world and that inspired a generation of broadcasters and after we learned he was fights cancer, we saw another side. stuart, gone at 49, he will be missed.

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that does it for "the cycle" "now with ari mel beener start now. >> mayor bill de blasio says we'll find a way forward together. it's january 5s 5th and this is "now." >> they've got to find a way to some common ground. >> a big news conference. >> bill de blasio holding a joint press conference with the police commissioner bill bratton. >> when you bring police and community closer together it is not only an act of fairness, it's an act of safety for all. >> the mayor's first news conference since police officers turned their backs on him now twice in the past week. they blame bill de blasio for supporting protests they say are anti-police. >> the move ignored pleas from

commissioner bratton. it looks like an effort by police to test theirs elements see how much they can get away with. >> i think they have to be very careful they don't go too far or they're going to lose their supporters. >> when bratton says don't turn your back don't turn your back. >> what's the end game? >> i'm time for the city blue the blue line to find common ground. >> that vision will prevail over the negative vision. aim ari melber in for alex. you saw it moments ago, the commissioner finishing an address here days after hundreds of police officers turned their backs on the