All language subtitles for VICE - S04E04 Beating Blindness - White Collar Weed

This week on "Vice":

The amazing new progress in
restoring sight to the blind.

I think I saw something flash.

It's really, really weird.

That's okay, don't worry.

Would you advise someone
to have that surgery?

Honestly, I wouldn't
recommend it.

It can make you feel crazy.

And then, big business is taking
over the marijuana industry.

It's so enormous. I can't even
see the edges of the room.

It's the biggest tsunami ever to hit
the world, in my lifetime, of money!

(theme music playing)

(gunshot)

Sync & corrections by honeybunny
www.addic7ed.com

Modern medicine has made
incredible advances

in restoring eyesight, thanks
to cutting-edge technology

and a revolution in
cost-efficient materials.

And that could mean
a total transformation

for millions of visually impaired
people desperate to see again.

♪ ♪

(indistinct conversations)

Doctor: The white, cloudy,
substance you're seeing

is the cataract,
which is a cloudy lens,

so I'm just very gently teasing
the lens until it's free,

and now we're going
to remove it from the eye.

Yeung:
Ooh, that's it?

That is the cataract,
and it is gone.

That's incredible that you can just
get rid of it in a matter of seconds.

Stage one is getting
the cataract out.

Stage two is getting
the new lens in.

And I put it in the exact same
place where the cataract was.

So no stitches needed,
and I'm done.

Yeung: Wow. That was
incredibly quick.

Very quick.
That was insane.

Onto the next one.

Around 19 million people in the world
are blind because of cataracts,

and that number is disproportionately
high in developing countries,

which is why we're in Ethiopia.

Traditionally, if you become
blind in a country like this,

then that's pretty much it,
you're blind for life.

But we're here to see an intervention,
which is hoping to change all that.

Dr. Matt Oliva is part of the
Himalayan Cataract Project,

an NGO working tirelessly to eradicate
blindness in developing countries.

Blindness in Ethiopia is a
death sentence, it really is.

And it's a social problem,

it's a human suffering problem,

and it's an economic problem.

(speaking English)

(speaking foreign language)

Oliva: All the supplies for one
case that we need cost under $20.

While I've been working here,

the staff has been getting
the next patient ready,

and it's back and forth,
back and forth all day long.

Yeung: For each eye, the surgery
can be as fast as five minutes.

How many surgeries are you
actually able to do every day?

Probably do about 70 today.

Yeung:
And Dr. Oliva is just one

of four doctors operating
on 700 patients

over the course of a week.

The speed at which these guys
are working is insane.

It's almost like a factory line.

The recovery time is quick
as well, less than 24 hours.

This is the best moment
of every morning,

is getting ready
to take the patches off

and see all our hard work
from yesterday.

Whoa, these are--

This is everyone
who had surgery yesterday?

Oliva:
These are all 200 people.

Yeung: What do you think those 200
or so patients are going through

when you first take off
those bandages?

Oliva: I think it's
overwhelming for most patients.

Some of these people
have been blind 10 years,

sometimes even 15 years,

so there's sort of
an adaptation problem,

and you can see it
in their faces,

where there is sort of
a slow reestablishment

of the neural pathways
in the brain.

(in foreign language)

(ululating)
(laughing)

(ululating)

(cheering)

(in foreign language)

This is literally one of the most
amazing things I've ever seen.

In, like, a matter of seconds
those bandages come off

and their entire lives
are completely transformed.

(in foreign language)

Yeung: This cataract surgery
is now widely available

in the developing world

because of a revolution
in low cost materials.

And it's just one of a wave of promising
new advances in restoring sight.

And that could mean radical change
for people like Anthony Andreottola.

Anthony is an addiction
counselor in Boston.

A progressive condition called
retinitis pigmentosa

has left him completely blind.

It was in my late 30s when I lost
the ability to recognize faces.

I considered that when I crossed
the line of being blind, yeah.

And how did it impact,
like, everyday life?

Being independent,
traveling is a real big deal.

I go back and forth
to work by myself,

and, uh, that sometimes
can be a challenge.

You see some
blind people with a cane,

they're like ballerinas
going down the street.

I'm not. I go kind of slow.

Oh, I'm so sorry,
I did not see you.

It's okay. That's all right.
I'm so sorry.

No problem.

These hybrid cars now,
they're much quieter.

They can really sneak up on a
blind person crossing the street.

(car honks)

But it's--
it's just part of life.

Yeung: A part of life that
he's hoping will soon change

because in a few days, Anthony will be
one of the first few hundred patients

to receive the Argus II, the first
retinal implant approved by the FDA.

We met with Dr. Robert Greenberg,
chairman of Second Sight,

which manufactures the device.

The Argus II is available for a
disease called retinitis pigmentosa.

It's a small pill-sized device
that goes in and around the eye,

coupled with a pair of glasses
that have a video camera.

So here we've got the camera that's picking
up the signal in front of the patient.

That signal is going to the processor
that you have in your hands.

That processed signal is going
up to the antenna

and the signal is getting sent wirelessly
to the implant in and around the eye.

The retina is like
a multi-layered cake,

and in the retinitis
pigmentosa patients,

the bottom layer of the cake,
those photoreceptors are dead.

But the upper layer of the cake and the
cable going back to the brain are intact.

And we're essentially replacing
those photoreceptors.

To the brain, this signal is coming
from the retina as far as it knows.

It's like the screen has broken,

but the computer inside
is still working.

Exactly. The best description
of what they see

is something like a crude
black and white television.

Blurry levels of gray,

but it's enough
for people to get around.

It's enough for people
to see a loved one,

and it's life-changing
for a lot of folks.

Yeung: We went with Anthony
to Johns Hopkins Hospital

where he had
the device implanted.

So they've just put him to
sleep, so the surgery can begin.

Man: Okay. We're ready
for the device.

This is what goes
inside the eye.

Yeung: Dr. Handa's just attaching
the actual device now,

and then wrapping it around with a
sort of belt to keep it in place.

Those little dots there are the
60 electrodes? Handa: Correct.

It's incredible that what looks like
this tiny little piece of plastic

could possibly give the gift of
sight back to someone's eye.

Handa: So now I'm putting
it into the eye.

Yeung: Wow, so you can actually
see the device going in.

All right.
Everything good?

Yeah. So, when will you
turn the device on?

Probably in about a month or so.

Then he has to learn how to see.

Mm-hmm.
(chuckles)

Yeung: But learning to
see will be a challenge.

The Argus II is only a
second-generation technology,

and at this early stage the images
it transmits are rudimentary.

Whoa. Okay.

So, this is what
people with Argus II see?

Dr. Greenberg: Yes, this
is our best approximation.

I can see black
and white shapes.

That was my shoulder.
This is your face.

Yup.

It really is a case
of learning how to see

in a different
way then, isn't it?

It is. It's learning
how to see again.

And it's really crude vision.

Expectations are
really important,

and one of the worst things
that could happen would be

if a patient went into the surgery expecting
to see perfectly when they came out,

and then they're likely
to be disappointed.

Yeung: A month later, Anthony
returned to Johns Hopkins.

How are you feeling about
getting this device turned on?

I guess I'm hoping
not to be disappointed.

But I guess
any improvement's gonna be...

it's gonna be meaningful.

Yeung: The first step for Anthony
is testing and calibrating

the strength of the 60 individual
electrodes in his implant.

Ready?
Yeah.

Here we go.

(computer beeps)

I think I saw something,
like, flash.

Okay. Here's
another one.

(computer beeps)

Yeah, I saw something
else then, too.

(laughing)

That's okay, don't worry.

(Yeung speaking)

Does it feel weird?

It's like this eye,

but I feel like
I see it over here.

It's really, really weird.

Yeung: After a night's rest,
Anthony returned with his daughter

to finally have the device
fully powered on.

I think we're ready.

What do you see?

I see stuff, like...

There, you're picking up
Dr. Handa.

This is a white coat.

Something going like this.

So, that's easier.

Yeah. (laughing)

What's up, kid?
Nothing.

I just got an image of you
right over here.

Look up and tell me if you
can see the ceiling lights.

Right there.

Okay, now keep looking,

and see if you can pick up
more of the ceiling lights.

Right there.

Yeah, there's
another one, right.

Do you feel like
it could be useful?

Is it like, the greatest
thing in the world,

to have, you know,
this limited vision?

I can't say yet,

but I think it's better than
not having it at all.

Yeung: Although the Argus II shows
promise for patients like Anthony

who once had vision and lost it,

some experts are warning that for all the
advances we've made in fighting blindness,

we haven't actually stopped to consider
what it means to restore sight

to someone who's never
had it at all.

Dr. Ione Fine is a psychologist
at the University of Washington,

who studies how blindness
affects the brain.

In the case of someone who is born blind
and has been blind all their life,

their visual system is very different
from that of someone with normal vision,

and restoring vision is going to result in
a very different perceptual experience.

Yeung: She's talking
about people like Marti,

who's been blind since birth.

At the age of 42, she began
a series of surgeries

that reconstructed her iris, and implanted
a new lens into one of her eyes.

She now has vision just below
the threshold of legally blind,

enough for her
to begin painting.

I don't know which one this is.

This is a lot of specks,
and you can see the sky.

(gasps) Oh, wait a minute.

Is this one...

Does it look like an ocean?

There's a lighthouse.
You see a lighthouse?

Uh...
A little bit?

Is it in the distance?
Mm-hmm.

Oh, wait a minute.

Holding it the wrong way?

I think we're holding it--
Yeah. Makes more sense.

You can turn it different ways
to make it what you want.

Yeung: But while Marti is now trying
to make her way in the sighted world,

her transition out of total
blindness wasn't easy.

What was your immediate
reaction after the surgery?

Ugh, I wanted to die.

So what does that say?

The brain wouldn't shut off.
It was just... overload.

Did other people have expectations?
Oh, yeah.

They felt like...

That it was so wonderful,

and I could just get up and
walk around and be fine.

And people say, "Well, shut
your eyes and do things blind,"

but it's-- you can't do that.
It's a big difference.

When I was blind,
I didn't see black.

And now, when I shut
my eyes, I see black.

It's not the same
as being blind.

Would you advise someone who was
in the same situation as you

to have that surgery?

Honestly, I wouldn't
recommend it.

Why?

Because when you live a certain
way for so many years,

and you're adjusted to life
and everything around you,

and then all of a sudden
there's a change like this,

it can make you feel crazy.

If people are blind
early enough in life,

they do in fact
lose the ability,

or never gain the ability to
make sense of the visual world.

And we think that perhaps one
of the reasons that happens

is that the back of the head
starts responding to other senses,

like audition and touch.

It becomes specialized
to help blind people

make their way through the world
using these other senses.

That can be a huge problem
if sight is ever restored.

And maybe putting our efforts into
making the world easier for blind people

to navigate
and be independent in

is at least as valid as trying
to fix them and be like us.

Yeung: Even so, for those
desperate to see again,

the technology we've developed
can be life-changing.

Hi.
Hi.

Can you see me?
Yeah.

I can see your shape.
Hi.

How are you doing?
Good.

We met up with Anthony three months
after his implant was turned on,

to see how he's adapting.

Can you see these
people walking past?

Yup.

That's good.

Anthony: I still have to
use my cane to navigate,

but it does work.
I can see you.

And I feel more involved
in what's going on around me.

That was a truck, a big truck,
a bus or something. Yeah.

Rather than being totally blind,
I have, like, visual cues

that I didn't have,
that I lost years ago.

I see it as a start.

There's a lot more advances,

but until that day comes, you
know, this is as good as it gets

so I'm, I'm grateful.

♪ ♪

Marijuana legalization is gaining
huge momentum across the country.

But it isn't just pot smokers
who are celebrating.

Big business is also investing
heavily in this hot new market.

And if the current trend
in legislation continues,

it seems that they're going to realize
a huge return on their investment.

♪ ♪

Okay, guys, if this is your first
marijuana tour, which I'm assuming it is,

thank you for coming
to Colorado Cannabis Tours.

We're gonna go ahead and get
you started with some joints.

Morris: This is what the end of
marijuana prohibition looks like.

Now that marijuana
is legal in Colorado,

companies like Colorado Cannabis Tours
are cashing in on the excitement.

$99 for the ticket,
$20 for an artisanal pipe,

two dollars for the cupcake,
Thank you.

However much money for the weed
they bought at the last location,

how much money they're gonna
spend at the next location.

This is the team building
portion of the exercise.

If you can help your neighbor
light that at the other end.

(coughing)

Oh!

Who's next?

We're about to go
into a... into a dispensary.

Is this it?
Is this the...

Oh, okay.

Okay. I'm off
to the dispensary.

We are much further along
than I ever imagined us to be.

Morris: Andrew Freedman is the
Director of Marijuana coordination

in the Colorado
governor's office.

Freedman: There are more dispensaries
than there are Starbucks.

We estimated the size of
the industry in its first year

to be about 700 million,

and now we think it tops
one billion dollars

as an annual revenue source.

What makes this
massage different?

This massage is different

because our massage cream is
infused with THC and CBD.

All right, I think I'll try
the extra strength.

Great choice.

Is that pressure okay?
Yeah.

Morris: Maybe it was the extra strength
THC oil, but I started to wonder,

where is all
this weed coming from?

I'm standing in what may be Colorado's
largest cannabis grow operation.

It's so enormous,

I can't even see the edges of the
room from where I'm standing.

Look at what we've created here.

I mean, is this something?

This is John Seckman,
the COO of LivWell.

This is the most exciting
thing I've ever done.

It's a business, and it's
a new exciting business.

The other thing I'll tell you is I voted
against the legalization of marijuana.

You voted against
the legalization of cannabis?

Yes. I figure
we have enough vices.

One more wasn't gonna
make the world any better.

Have you tried it?
No.

Really?
Never.

And I don't intend to.

I couldn't tell you
what it tastes like

or something special
about a certain plant.

I just-- You know, it's just
not something I understand.

It's a product. This is
a manufacturing facility.

We're not making Ford cars,
we're making marijuana.

Morris: Companies like LivWell are
giving marijuana a corporate makeover,

and that has some long-time
weed growers on edge.

Mike and Wendy have
grown pot for decades,

and they push for the right
to do it legally.

But as more big players
get into the business,

the small-time farmers
who started the movement

are having trouble competing.

Snip out the very tip top of it.

What strain is this?

This is Purple Train Wreck.

This is one that will
help your appetite.

If we renew our vows
at sometime in the future,

I'm going to use these as a
bouquet walking down the aisle.

(laughing)

Mike: 1974. That's when I
planted my first pot plant.

I baby these girls, each and
every one of them every year.

I mean, look at that thing.

Morris:
This is enormous.

It's over 10-foot tall.

It's a massive plant, for sure.

You get these big outfits coming in,
it's just gonna ruin it for everybody.

Like Starbucks. Or Walmart.

They move into a city and you can just
watch and see how many stores go down.

They're going to pull the rug
right out from under us,

and we're gonna be left
flat on the floor.

Morris: While farmers like Mike and
Wendy are beginning to feel the heat,

the big guys are just
getting started.

We went to Washington
to meet the competition.

I'm standing outside
Privateer Holdings,

a cannabis oriented
private equity firm

that recently received the largest infusion
of cash in the history of cannabis.

Five years ago,
in the cannabis industry

there were no leaders,
there were no standards.

What was lacking were professional,
mainstream companies

that could change the typical stigma
associated with the industry.

Morris: I flew with Brendan
to his facility in Canada

to see what the industry
looks like in a country

where medical marijuana
is legal nationwide.

Welcome to Tilray.

Morris: Tilray is a 26 million dollar
high-tech cultivation facility

that's positioning itself to corner
the market on weed production.

So, they're still, you know, six
weeks away from being harvested.

How many rooms of this
do you have?

There's essentially 36
like this.

How much does it cost
to run all these lights?

Annual electrical costs are in
excess of two million dollars.

This is a vault door
similar to a bank vault.

It's a solid steel door.

All of these materials are essentially
ready for sale and distribution.

You're starting to see the emergence
of mainstream, professional companies

that are trying to compete
with those illegal producers.

That's one of the reasons
for ending prohibition.

Morris: Legalization's
only just beginning,

but we're already seeing the effect
it's having on small farmers.

Jeff and Gwen have been growing marijuana
here in Mendocino County for decades.

The price of cannabis
has plummeted.

Morris: But if this is your
primary means of income,

you must have felt the impact
of this price change?

Oh, yeah. I used to be able to
afford some help in the garden.

I cannot afford that now.

I would hate to think that all
of us who've risked everything

paving the way to make
the herb available

wouldn't have a slot
in the future.

To me, that would be very sad.

Um...

But it remains to be seen.

Morris: But in some states, the
future is already being written.

In New York State, medical
marijuana was legalized in 2014,

but only five companies are
allowed to grow and sell it.

One of the five permits went to 24-year-old
Hillary Peckham of Etain, LLC.

We're gonna have about
13,000 square feet

of greenhouses in
this initial building.

Morris:
Hillary's dad, John Peckham,

is the CEO of a massive construction
conglomerate called Peckham Industries.

Hillary: My family
business is 91 years old.

Mostly government contracts,

and so we had a lot of experience with
how New York government programs work.

Could you tell me about
the application in detail?

Yeah, the application was a
$10,000 fee just to submit.

And then, as well, $200,000
that you had to submit,

but it was refundable if you
were not given the license.

We expect to probably invest somewhere
between six to eight million

in the startup period.

Morris: You know, a lot of the
biggest players right now

are people with really
serious business backgrounds,

and it's made some of the people feel like
they're being pushed out of the game,

that there's no room for
the mom-and-pop grower.

It's definitely where
the industry is moving,

is towards mass consolidation.

They're gonna start buying
up licenses in other states

and just consolidate
into one major brand,

and so you'll start seeing that
as more states come online.

Would you sell your company
if that became an opportunity?

I wanna be one of
those companies.

Morris: Although it takes a ton of
cash to get a license in New York,

at least there's
an application process.

In Ohio, where legalization
was on the ballot in November,

the corporations tried to
choose the winners in advance.

Welcome aboard
the Green Rush Bus Tour,

part of a campaign to convince
Ohioans to vote yes on legalization.

We're gonna try
and legalize marijuana.

Morris:
This is Buddie,

the face of a multi-million
dollar endeavor

designed behind closed doors to benefit
10 hand-picked investor groups.

And as Ohio representative
Mike Curtin told us,

a plan like this one would
set a dangerous precedent.

It would create a monopoly
in the state constitution

by expressly giving 10 owners of
10 sites, 10 farms, essentially,

the exclusive, constitutionally
sanctioned ability

to grow, process, and sell
marijuana for commercial purposes.

Why do you think they did this?

To make a ton of money.

This has no place
in the Ohio constitution.

It has no place
in any state constitution.

The constitution's supposed
to protect all the people.

They're trying
to protect 10 guys.

Morris: And those 10 are
the same 10 that put in

millions of dollars
to fund the campaign.

This is a tidal wave
moving so fast,

it's gonna shock the world to see
what the United States just did.

Morris:
Alan Mooney was one of them.

Not one human being
on the planet Earth

has ever seen a tsunami of this
magnitude moving at this speed.

That's why Wall Street's still going, "It
ain't real. Oh my God, it ain't real."

It's the biggest tsunami ever to hit
the world, in my lifetime, of money.

What about the fact that only
10 growers can participate?

People are calling it a
monopoly Oh my gosh, this is--

or an oligopoly.
To the voting public of Ohio,

that makes zero difference
to the voter.

You know why? They want this
100% controlled and taxed.

Then why are they written
into the amendment itself?

Why isn't it something they
apply for like in New York?

Would you rather let the
politicians make that decision?

Sir? Sir? Or would you rather let
private capitalists do that?

I'm a capitalist. Blue blood.
I love America. I love Ohio.

I am a capitalist,
and I'm not ashamed of it.

Morris: The amendment became
a flash point in Ohio,

and this time, legalization
went down hard on election day.

Voters here in Ohio
overwhelmingly decided against

a constitutional amendment
to legalize marijuana.

The decision came after
months of controversy

and debate about the group
backing the legislation.

Morris:
But the campaign showed

that capitalists like Mooney
are trying to call the shots

as legalization
sweeps the country.

Twenty-three states have
legalized medical marijuana,

and four states plus DC have
ended prohibition entirely.

At least 21 other states are
gearing up to do the same.

All this has made marijuana the
fastest growing industry in America.

And researchers predict that if
marijuana's legalized in all 50 states,

revenue could reach
$35 billion per year.

But just like when alcohol
prohibition ended,

big business is dominating,

and small farmers are still being
treated like illegal bootleggers.

(knocking) Sheriff's
office, search warrant!

(glass shattering)
Demanding entry!

Morris: The Humboldt County Sheriff's
Department suspected this local farmer

had violated state regulation,

so they confiscated
his entire crop.

Profiting from the cultivation
of marijuana is illegal.

And it's a lot easier to cut
down, you know, 130 plants

than it is 13,000 plants.

This is what was found
in this room.

Each of these is
at least two pounds.

Ireland: Who these people are and
what kind of lives they live

has no factor
in what I'm gonna do.

'Cause it's my job.

Morris: The property owner, who believed
he was following the letter of the law,

returned to find his entire
garden destroyed.

To date, Barry hasn't been
charged with any crime.

But small farmers like him
are easy targets,

and they're only one raid away
from financial ruin.

Barry: I don't understand that.
Why me?

You know, I'm so small compared to
what these other people are doing.

You know, it just doesn't
make sense to me.

Morris: Caught between the
machetes of law enforcement

and the bank accounts
of businessmen,

the small-time growers are going
to have to fight to survive.

I had such a dream of being able
to grow legally my whole life.

We're kind of hanging on
by our fingertips,

but we're gonna fight. We're gonna fight
for our place all the way to the end.

Morris:
Will you do it again?

I doubt it.

I doubt it. It's just,
you know, why bother?

Sync & corrections by honeybunny
www.addic7ed.com