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New Year's Celebrations; Countdown to Legal Pot Sales in Colorado; Will Markets Continue Record Run?

Aired December 31, 2013 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Showing you as the world celebrates New Year's as only CNN can.

You saw there Dubai and just what a spectacular show. They were going for a record. Unofficially, I would say it looks like they made it.

We're less than nine hours away from, of course, the new year hitting on our shores. And as 2013 ticks away, the crowd is coming into New York Times Square. About a million people are expected there this evening.

And in case you're wondering, the Times Square ball is all set, put out its own tweet, saying -- quote -- "Here we go again. We need to rehearse, seriously? One-hundred-plus years, I got this" -- unquote.

CNN's Margaret Conley is live in Times Square with all of her friendly revelers.

What are people doing while they're waiting for that ball to drop, Margaret?

MARGARET CONLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Martin, there are snow flurries now. I'm a California girl. I am not used to this. But we have a lot of people out here that are all bundled up.

They have been here since early this morning.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CONLEY: This woman right here, she just got a pizza delivered right here to the middle of Times Square. Very smart move.

And, Antonio, you're from Texas. This is your first time in Times Square. Is that right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I'm from Amarillo, Texas. First time with my brother Gus (ph) and my buddy Joe David (ph).

CONLEY: What's your impression been so far?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's cold. It's freezing out here. It's a lot more fast-paced than Texas.

CONLEY: And you guys got here at 9:00 this morning? And you're going to stay here all the way through to the stroke of midnight?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, all the way until midnight, probably past after to see everything, experience everything.

CONLEY: And you were saying you have your friends here, but then the people that you have met in the crowds, they have become like your family in these last few hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I met my buddy right here. He's from Cali. Zack (ph) back here, he's the loud one out of the bunch. We just started a wave, doing the wave from over here. We got it down to the light.

CONLEY: OK. Let's see what you got. Let's see what you got.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, guys, you all ready, you all ready?

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CONLEY: All right. You got a few more hours, Antonio. You get that wave down.

All right, Martin, back to you.

SAVIDGE: Oh, that is well-choreographed, Margaret. They did a great job. Thanks very much for sharing that with us. Enjoy the evening. Nothing like Times Square.

CONLEY: Happy new year.

SAVIDGE: Thank you, and to you.

It's going to be blistering cold for certain areas of the nation for the new year start. 2014 is just hours away and coming with it, below-normal temperatures and some pretty chilling winds.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

SAVIDGE: Stay warm and watch all the festivities from home. Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin ring in the new year live from Times Square. Tune in starting at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

We showed you the amazing New Year's show from Dubai and Moscow live at the top of the program. They weren't the only cities that brought in 2014 in spectacular style. Look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: The people of Colorado voted to legalize marijuana sales. And in just a few hours, that law will go into effect. Anyone over 21 years will be allowed to buy marijuana in specialized shops and smoke marijuana on private property. That is only in Colorado, where the state will watch over the marijuana business from seed to sale.

But it's not the adult users that have some people concerned.

Ana Cabrera reports, the state of Colorado has a pot problem in schools.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How many people around your age do you know who have smoked marijuana?

MARCUS CARRASCO, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: Almost I want to say nine out of ten students.

CABRERA: Really? It's that prevalent?

CARRASCO: Yes, definitely.

CABRERA (voice-over): Colorado schools have a pot problem.

(on camera): Where do people get it?

SHAWN BAILEY, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: I don't know exactly, but just, like, I know that kids smoke it a lot.

MELIK ELLISTON, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: Now that it's legal, everybody's just getting it.

CABRERA (voice-over): While still illegal for anyone under the age of 21, younger people are finding ways to get their hands on marijuana and we found they don't shy away from talking about it.

ELLISTON: I see people selling it, and I think it's easy for people to get now.

CABRERA: Even for somebody who's under age?

ELLISTON: Yes.

TAYLOR MCCORMICK, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: I know lots of people, most of my friends use it.

CABRERA: Why do they want to use it?

MCCORMICK: I feel like that it's not typically classified as, like, a harmful drug, like, as meth or whatever.

CABRERA: Do you know of anybody who comes to school high or gets high during lunch break?

CARRASCO: Oh, yes, definitely. CABRERA: Not that uncommon?

CARRASCO: Yes, it's not uncommon at all. There's a bunch of people that come to the school high.

CABRERA (voice-over): While some teens seem to think using marijuana is OK, schools are trying to send a message that it's not. Pot is now the number one reason students are kicked out of Colorado public schools, 230 expelled last year because of marijuana according to the Colorado Department of Education. Pot proving to be a bigger problem than alcohol, disobedience or weapons violations.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The message we'd like to get out from the School Safety Resource Center is we really need parents to be talking to their children about the risks.

CABRERA: Eighteen-year-old Chris Collins knows about the risks all too well. He says he began experimenting with marijuana when he was just 10 years old. By age 14, he was hooked.

(on camera): What did you get out of it?

CHRIS COLLINS, MARIJUANA USER: Bad grades and trouble, pretty much.

CABRERA (voice-over): Kicked out of school. He's been in and out of jail 10 times in the past four years.

COLLINS: When I was 14, that was the first time I got my first drug paraphernalia ticket and possession of under an ounce. And now I have, like, six drug paraphernalia tickets, five possession of under an ounce tickets, and it like slowly got worse.

CABRERA: Collins warns marijuana isn't as harmless as some may think.

(on camera): Did you ever think you were going to become addicted to it? Did you really realize even what was happening?

COLLINS: Like, I didn't even think it was possible to, like, become addicted to marijuana, I guess.

DR. PAULA RIGGS, ADDICTION SPECIALIST: The evidence is very clear that it's addictive.

CABRERA: Adolescence and addiction specialist Dr. Paula Riggs says one out of six kids that tries marijuana as a teenager will become addictive. The marijuana sold today has a higher concentration of THC, a chemical that impacts memory and learning, reaction time and motor skills. Riggs says a developing brain is most vulnerable.

RIGGS: Daily or near daily use can be associated with six to eight-point reduction in their adult I.Q. It looks like you don't get that back.

CABRERA: Collins has a lot in life he wants to get back. Now drug free for eight months, he's focusing on small goals.

COLLINS: To graduate, get my license back.

CABRERA: And he hopes sharing his story will help prevent others from going down the wrong path by using pot.

Ana Cabrera, CNN, Denver.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Up next, first on CNN, we're getting word that a gun from the infamous Fast and Furious operation has shown up at a shoot- out in Mexico. Wait until you hear this story.

Plus, a gay couple getting married on a float tomorrow during the Rose Parade. Not surprising not everybody's happy about it. I will speak live with the couple, who respond to critics coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: A number of stories coming into CNN we want to update you on.

Word is that a threat has been made on a Southwest Airlines flight. We are told that a passenger on board a flight from Albuquerque to Houston became verbally abusive toward a member of the flight crew. The captain declared a threat and asked for police to meet them at the gate in Houston. The plane has landed safely without incident. The passenger apparently is allowed to continue traveling.

We have another story just coming in to our newsroom first on CNN. One of the hundreds of guns that was sold to suspected smugglers in the U.S. government's Fast and Furious drug sting was apparently just used in a shoot-out not that far from the U.S. border.

We want to quickly go to Washington now and CNN justice reporter Evan Perez.

Evan, what can you tell us about this?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Martin, a U.S. official tells me that there was this December 8 shoot-out in Puerto Penasco, Mexico. And one gun that was recovered near the scene there has been traced back to Fast and Furious.

Now, Fast and Furious is the operation run by the ATF back in 2010 that allowed about 2,000 firearms to be bought by suspected smugglers. Most of those are believed to have ended up in Mexico in the hands of cartels, most likely.

And a lot of them have turned up in crime scenes. We have some audio and video here from a tourist who captured a lot of this December 18 shoot-out between Mexican authorities and some cartel gunmen. We will let you listen to some of this. Now, in the background of this audio, you can hear some helicopters, which we're told is authorities -- Mexican authorities were using helicopter gunships to fire on the suspected cartel gunmen who were trying to get away from this resort in Puerto Penasco.

It's called -- in Arizona and California, it's a very popular tourist destination. It's also known as Rocky Point. Five people were killed, including a senior leader of the Sinaloa cartel, we're told. But, at this point right now, authorities in the U.S. have traced back at least one firearm from the scene of this shoot-out back to this Fast and Furious operation.

And this is something obviously the ATF knows has been going on and will probably keep going on for many, many years. They issued a statement to us, which I will read right now. "The ATF has accepted responsibility for the mistakes made in the Fast and Furious investigation and at the attorney general's direction, we have taken appropriate and decisive action to ensure that these errors will not be repeated. We acknowledge that, regrettably, firearms related to the Fast and Furious investigation will likely continue to be recovered at future crime scenes."

Now, this is obviously something that was very controversial, as you remember. The Republicans voted to censure the attorney general in a fight over documents when this whole operation was exposed. But it's something that, you know, everyone knew that for years we were going to be dealing with. Guns from this operation will be turning up in Mexico and here in the U.S., Martin.

SAVIDGE: And the fallout continues. Evan Perez, thanks very much for bringing us that from Washington.

Tomorrow marks the 125th year of the Rose Parade in California. But this year, it brings something that has never been done before, a same-sex marriage on a parade float. Not everybody's happy about it. Next, we're talking live to the couple who's tying the knot to see how this came about and what their message to their critics may be.

Plus, today's the final trading day of 2013 after a record- breaking year on the stock market. The big question, will this trend continue next year? We will break down the numbers next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: All along the waterfront there in Dubai, where, as we have said, they are going for a record. That's Dubai.

Meanwhile, there are other countries such as the upcoming host of the Olympic Games that's less than six weeks away. Russia brought in the new year in winning style just a short time ago. Here's how the skies lit up in Moscow. Fabulous view there in Red Square.

Well, you don't have to be a day trader to love last year. Stocks kept going up, up, and up. If you have got a 401(k), well, you probably already know that. You saw that Wall Street had a great year. The big question now is, can next year be just as good?

CNN's Alison Kosik joins me now from the New York Stock Exchange.

And, first, why don't you tell, just how good 2013 was, Alison? ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How good was 2013, Martin?

Record after record after record, repeat, repeat 51 times. In fact, you may have to repeat it 52 times, because it looks like the Dow could close in yet record territory again. It's been quite the crazy year for the Dow. You look what happened a year ago today, we were on the verge of falling off the fiscal cliff. Who could have seen this rally coming? What a rally it's been.

The Dow's up 26 percent for the year. The Nasdaq's up 38 percent. It's been a great year for tech stocks. And the S&P 500, which is what most of our retirement and mutual funds track, it's up 29 percent. In a typical year, you're looking at a gain closer to 8 percent. And your 401(k) is probably looking pretty darn good at this point, even if this is not considered a -- quote -- "normal year for stocks" -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: And, as we tragically learned, though, what goes up can and has gone down. So, should we worry about a correction perhaps in 2014?

KOSIK: You know, some traders on the floor that -- that we talk with here, they really say they are waiting for a correction to come.

You know, it is hard to say when that may happen.