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Break The Cypher

Break The Cypher

Written by: Mike & Emerson
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Break the Cypher: Season 2

“The Trapdoor”

What happens when a state-licensed cannabis business is forced to choose between telling the truth — and losing everything?

Season 2 of Break the Cypher dives into the legal, constitutional, and personal fallout of a licensing question that shouldn’t exist. Set in Telluride, Colorado, this season follows the real-time battle of Alpine Wellness as it faces regulatory pressure to admit to a federal crime — just to stay in business.

From public hearings to ignored legal motions, from small-town coercion to statewide silence, we expose how a single checkbox threatens everything legalization was supposed to protect.

This isn’t a story about taxes. It’s a story about power.

Turn on, Tune in and Break The Cypher.

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www.breakthecypher.com

YouTube: @breakthecypherpodcast

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Re:solution, LLC 2024
Economics Political Science Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Guilty by Application: Trapped in the Leary Loop | BTC S2E6
    Sep 10 2025

    In this episode of Break The Cypher, we connect the dots between a U.S. Supreme Court ruling and a small-town cannabis fight in Telluride. The 2024 repeal of Chevron Deference means courts — not agencies — must now interpret vague laws. For Alpine Wellness, that shift could change everything.

    👉 Cannabis businesses are forced to incriminate themselves just to stay licensed.

    👉 Telluride ignores motions, withholds records, and even scrubs objections from the record.

    👉 A federal precedent, Leary v. United States, ruled that forcing self-incrimination violates the Constitution — yet the same trap remains today. With Chevron gone, agency overreach faces new scrutiny under the Constitution. This isn’t just about cannabis — it’s about silence, power, and the fight for due process.

    🎙️ Tune in as Emerson and Mike unpack how Alpine’s battle reveals a constitutional loop that affects businesses everywhere.

    🔗 Support the show & join the conversation at breakthecypher.com

    #BreakTheCypher #CannabisNews #Telluride #AlpineWellness #DueProcess #ChevronDeference #OnTheBus #OffTheBus #KenKesey #MerryPranksters #ElectricKoolAidAcidTest #FurthurBus #Counterculture

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    43 mins
  • Due Process Denied in Telluride | BTC S2E5
    Sep 10 2025

    In this episode of Break The Cypher, we dig into the Alpine Wellness battle with the Town of Telluride — a case that exposes what happens when due process is denied.

    👉 A hearing officer acting as judge vanishes from the town’s website.

    👉 Motions, objections, and constitutional arguments are erased from the record.

    👉 The town applies double standards and silence instead of law.

    Alpine Wellness refuses to play along — filing under protest and pushing the fight into court. This isn’t just about cannabis. It’s about rights, fairness, and government accountability.

    🎙️ Tune in as Emerson and Mike unpack how one small-town case speaks volumes about the bigger picture in the cannabis industry.

    #BreakTheCypher #CannabisNews #Telluride #AlpineWellness #DueProcess

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    50 mins
  • THE 4TH WALL | Rescheduling vs. Retaliation S2 E4
    Aug 27 2025

    Before stepping into Round 4 of the Alpine v. Telluride saga, Emerson and Mike riff on the week’s madness: San Francisco self-driving cars, gentrification on fast-forward, the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary, and what it feels like when a robot Uber makes you feel safer than a human one.

    Then — the wall comes down. Rescheduling marijuana is suddenly back on the White House radar, cannabis stocks surge, and the infamous 280E tax code sits in the crosshairs. Meanwhile in Telluride, Alpine Wellness makes a shocking move: surrendering its license under protest to keep the case alive. And in a 4th wall break, Mike reveals it’s not just any case — it’s his.

    This episode unpacks the lobbyists, the loopholes, and the local government overreach that pushed Alpine to the edge. It’s rights, retaliation, and rescheduling colliding in real time. 🎧 When the storytellers become the story — tune in.

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    35 mins
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