Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper Upbeat on Marijuana Legalization

Phoenix New Times ^ | September 10, 2015 | Ray Stern

[ConservingFreedom]

[...] Hickenlooper, founder of a beer brewery and a former mayor of Denver, opposed the historic 2012 measure that legalized pot for adults 21 and older. But in the interview published on Wednesday in Westword, he says legalization hasn't been so bad, after all.

"Now I look at how far we've come, and I think there's a real possibility that we'll have a system that works... if you eliminate the black market, make it harder for kids to get marijuana. We can put more money into education for kids," he says. "The sky isn't falling. People thought it was the end of civilization as they know it. It wasn't: The sky is mostly still up there with the stars and the clouds."

Twenty-one months after the roll out of recreational-marijuana stores in Colorado, the one thing Hickenlooper wants everyone in or out of Colorado to know about ending marijuana prohibition is: "Most people who were not smoking marijuana before it was legalized still don't."

In Arizona, between 400,000 and 500,000 people already are occasional or regular consumers of marijuana. But except for the 80,000 medical-marijuana patients, most buy it from unregulated dealers. With the proposal offered by the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which plans to put a ballot initiative before Arizona voters in November 2016, most of those consumers would obtain their marijuana from licensed stores and pay a tax that benefits schools. According to a recent report by Arizona State University's News21, legal marijuana now supplies more than half of Colorado's estimated demand. [...]

[ConservingFreedom]

they should have proposed less regulation and taxes

I agree with that - but the best shouldn't be made the enemy of the good. Every dollar redirected away from criminal hands is a gain.

[ConservingFreedom]

Rape, pedophilia, dog fights, kidnapping, human trafficking, and organ harvesting from runaway youth have unwilling victims - pot sale and use in and of itself does not.

[Trailerpark Badass]

I’m just curious, do you smoke a lot of pot currently?

[ConservingFreedom]

conservatives by and large don’t give a sh*t for their cause.

Opposite - legalization is the conservative position, just as conservatives of the day opposed the War on Alcohol aka Prohibition.

Their day in the Sun is coming to an end as Americans have had it with all the social deceit on many levels.

Opposite - support for legalization has been steadily growing for decades.

[ConservingFreedom]

I’m just curious, do you smoke a lot of pot currently?

I haven't used pot in two decades. I’m just curious, do you plan to say anything about the topic of this thread?

[Hostage]

ALright, I have had enough of your brand of bullsh*t. Take it somewhere else and don’t bother me anymore.

[Smokin' Joe]

Have you heard how our last attempt to do so turned out?

Ya think? It built the sort of criminal organizations we have now peddling the next profitable item when Prohibition was repealed.

Considering I will never get (short of winning the Powerball) to retire, and not because of MY drug use (nonexistent) but that of a relative, do not bother to try to sell me on the alleged virtues of any of it.

The only reason I do not like the Drug War is that it has been used as a convenient excuse to feed the habit of those addicted to something even more alluring than drugs: POWER.

[ConservingFreedom]

legalization is the conservative position, just as conservatives of the day opposed the War on Alcohol aka Prohibition. [...] support for legalization has been steadily growing for decades.

ALright, I have had enough of your brand of bullsh*t.

You have no reasoned arguments to make, I see.

Take it somewhere else and don’t bother me anymore.

*I* started this thread that *YOU* barged into with a bunch of hot air (including one mod-deleted post). Can't take the heat, stay out of my kitchen, crybaby.

[ConservingFreedom]

do not bother to try to sell me on the alleged virtues of any of it.

Never did, never will - my point is the ills of criminalization. I think alcohol, tobacco, and pot should be legal and that people should be smart enough to use none of them.

[BlueMondaySkipper]

Never did, never will - my point is the ills of criminalization. I think alcohol, tobacco, and pot should be legal and that people should be smart enough to use none of them.

GASP, that sounds like conservatism

[Trailerpark Badass]

Probably not. I am very ambivalent on the subject. I just like to get an idea of where the more passionate voices on the subject are coming from.

I smoked pot pretty much daily for 25 years, in the interest of mutual candor.

[Govtplsleavemealone]

So many people on here are in Lala land when it comes to Marijuana. I used to be an occasional alcohol user. It never did much for me and I would never drive after using it so it was an inconvenience more than anything. At a friends party I used it for the first time in my fifties. I only used a very small amount and all it did was relax me and lessen my social anxiety. I also liked the fact that it's influence left after a couple hours and I could have safely driven if need be. I don't agree with edibles for so many reasons but smoking. Little marijuana legally is far better than alcohol in so many ways. People who use it to excess or drive while under it's influence are morons and they will always find something to do to excess anyway.