The former medium-security High Plains Correctional Facility in Brush. (Lisa Jager, Brush News-Tribune)

Former Brush prison will not be marijuana grow after council vote

The city council in Brush has rejected a plan to allow a former medium-security prison to be used as a marijuana grow operation.

The council on Monday voted 4-3 against a proposal to drop its moratorium on recreational marijuana, continuing the ban through 2016, according to Monty Torres, city administrator.

In March, Nicholas Erker purchased the 60,000-foot High Plains Correctional Facility in northeastern Colorado for $150,000. He hoped the operation would help replace jobs lost when the prison closed in 2010.


Original story: Learn more about Nicholas Erker’s ironic dream to convert a former prison into a marijuana cultivation and recreational sales facility


“I am disappointed in some of the council members for not taking the time to educate themselves for the betterment of the community,” Erker told 7News.

Erker had petitioned the council to review the moratorium.

The council’s decision followed several heated public meetings where town residents emotionally voiced their opposition to the proposed operation, according to The Brush News-Tribune.

Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jesseapaul


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This story was first published on DenverPost.com