Introducing: Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto

What happens when a city on the verge of collapse tries to reinvent itself? How much will it cost? Who will pay the price? Reporter David Weinberg spent years following one city in California’s Mojave desert as it tried to transform itself from a city of prisons to a city of pot. And it worked…for a while. Until it, spectacularly, didn’t. From Crooked Media, this is Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto. Listen to Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto starting June 7th, wherever you get your podcasts.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
In twenty fourteen, Adelanto, California, a small town in the
Mojave Desert, was so broke there was talk of dissolving
itself completely. Then along came John Bug Woodard Junior, a
sixty three year old, gun toting conservative hippie who had
a wild idea to save Adelanto.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
If I got an old Google, I did a little googling,
and I found out the secret.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
The secret, according to Bug via Google, was cannabis.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
I've heard those cannabis shops make a lot of money.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Bug's plan was to make Adelanto the first city in
California to legalize commercial cannabis cultivation, which it turns out
is a very difficult and complicated thing to pull off.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
It's hard to overstate how much risk skier, and more
dangerous the cannabis industry is because of the inconsistency between
federal and state law.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
But still Bug persistent and his idea started to catch
on with the rest of the city.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
The wheels are in motion. Ain't nobody getting in a way.
I don't care if you're in the sheriff. I don't
care if you're the governor. I don't care who you are.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
What started as a simple solution to revive this small
town would lead to a series of backroom dealings and
a shocking scandal that would spread far beyond the city limits.
I knew the cannabis was going to become just absolutely
a fucking battleground for the wealthy.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
I've seen that deffel bag of money come in and
it didn't go to the bank.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Adelanto is a Spanish word that means progress, but Adelanto, California,
has a history of outsiders with big plans that often
seem too good to be true, and of its leaders
taking advantage of the citizens and ending up on the
wrong side of the law.

Speaker 4 (02:05):
To developing news, the FBI served several search warrants this
morning in Adelanto. According to the Victor Valley Daily Press,
agents raided city hall and the mayor's home.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
This is the story of what happens when citizens decide
they've had enough and take matters into their own hands.

Speaker 3 (02:26):
I didn't have a choice but to get up and
to fight. We got up and it got to work.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Let's go. I'm David Weinberg, and this is dream Town,
the story of Adelanto from Crooked Media, coming June seventh,
wherever you get your podcasts