Posted on 01/23/2015 7:13:21 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Colorado’s decision to legalize marijuana was a bad idea, the state’s governor said Friday.
Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who opposed the 2012 decision by voters to make pot legal, said the state still doesn’t fully know what the unintended consequences of the move will be.
If I could've waved a wand the day after the election, I would've reversed the election and said, 'This was a bad idea,’” Hickenlooper said Friday on CNBC's “Squawk Box.”
“You don't want to be the first person to do something like this,” he said.
He said that he tells other governors to “wait a couple of years” before legalizing marijuana as Colorado continues to navigate an unknown, non-existing federal regulatory landscape for the industry.
“There's a whole regulatory environment... that really regulates alcohol,” he said. “We're starting from scratch and we don't have a federal partner because [marijuana] is still illegal federally.”
In February 2014, the Obama administration released guidelines for the marijuana industry indicating the federal officials would not target financial institutions or businesses engaging in selling pot as long as those businesses were compliant with state laws.
Despite the guidelines, banks are reluctant to finance marijuana businesses in states where it is legal because federal law still lists marijuana as an illegal drug. Congress would need to pass a law removing that language.
Marijuana is legal in four states: Colorado, Oregon, Alaska and Washington. Congress has blocked the District of Columbia from legalizing pot after voters in November cast ballots that they wanted to make the drug legal.
There was no bill per se. It was a proposition voted on by the electorate and only the fact of the outcome of the election was signed by Hickenlooper and the setting up of a committee to facilitate the accessibility of the now legal Pot.
I am no fan of Hickenlooper...on the contrary I hate him for his push for and signing of the antigun law. But the people responsible for the Pot Law travesty are the voting population of Colorado... a 55% plurality
No excrement, Mr. Holmes.
Hickie had nothing to do with marijuana passing. He didn’t sign the bill into law.
It was law based on a state proposition the voters passed.
That being said - Yeah, she should still resign.
He’s a chicken-looper, alright. But, I think his reasoning is off. I think pot should be legal. I also think that banning alcohol is a bad idea.
So, putting the two thoughts together, I ask, “what would have happened if Prohibition had been lifted in only one or two states, instead of nationally?” Many of the problems that have occurred in Colorado with pot legalization would have occurred with booze, IMHO.
Is it wrong for me to gloat in this "told you so" moment?
So a gateway drug like Pot is taken legally by the populace. It is not enough and people seek out a stronger replacement. So pot is sending people to more dangerous and illegal drugs. And your point is???
Yeah. And so is the homeless population. Pretty soon the numbers will come in showing increases in crime, poverty, unemployment and incarcerations.
I read the article and I did not see where it detailed what the “unintended consequences” were. All we have is an article of Chickenpooper whining. The uninteresting consequences are probably a drop in revenue that came from grinding people up in the legal system and reduced playoffs from cartels.
It is amazing how many Freepers are more than happy for abusive big government.
Cannot put bad stuff back into Pandora’s box once it has been opened. Now we ALL must deal with the consequences. Our country is long gone on the road to Hades.
The same ones would be crying if Prohibition were brought back. That worked so well, why not bring it back too? Wait, no beer ads during the Super Bowl ? Can’t have a Super Bowl without the beer ads ! /s
Another bad-eye deer?
“Unintended Consequences” would be a good motto for the state of CO. Forget “Centennial State”.
My wife and I are strongly considering relocating our family to another state. We have a lot of flexibility about where we can go. Prior to Colorado legalizing pot, the state would have been on our shortlist. There is no way we will move there now. We don’t want our kids being exposed to the cultural spiral that has started and will continue. As such, all signs are point toward Texas as our next home. I hope y’all got room for us down there!
If it’s a bad liberal idea it won’t be long until Obama ‘evolves’ in support.
For most of our nation's history, the tradition was to allow the cultivation, possession, and use of marijuana. (Many of our Founding Fathers were agriculturalists heavily invested in marijuana.)
The illegalization of marijuana is thus a relatively recent "blip" in our nation's history - hardly what I would call a "tradition" worthy of upholding.
Regards,
That is a migration issue due to the different state laws. It is due to homeless people moving, not the creation of more homeless.
If you suddenly made liquor illegal in your state, the alcoholic homeless would migrate to other states. However, it would create worse problems that come with prohibition.
When more states abandon pot prohibition, there will be no incentive for homeless addicts to migrate for that reason.
“A people incapable of successful self government finally will be ruled by despots”
—txrangerette
Self-Government
“The object of the republican form of government and of the principles that are essential to that form, is to enable a people to govern themselves to the most practicable extent possible. Not every nation of people are capable of self-government, and many expected the experiment of the Founding Fathers to fail. But it did not fail, and the experiment proved that an educated and enlightened people are capable of self-government. The question remains, however, the extent to which government by the people themselves may be extended.”
—Thomas Jefferson
The Foundation of Self-Government
“Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.” —Thomas Jefferson: 1st Inaugural, 1801. ME 3:320
“At the formation of our government, many had formed their political opinions on European writings and practices, believing the experience of old countries, and especially of England, abusive as it was, to be a safer guide than mere theory. The doctrines of Europe were, that men in numerous associations cannot be restrained within the limits of order and justice, but by forces physical and moral, wielded over them by authorities independent of their will. Hence their organization of kings, hereditary nobles, and priests.” —Thomas Jefferson to William Johnson, 1823. ME 15:440
Qualifications for Self-Government
“The qualifications for self-government in society are not innate. They are the result of habit and long training.” —Thomas Jefferson to Edward Everett, 1824. ME 16:22
“[If a] people [are] so demoralized and depraved as to be incapable of exercising a wholesome control, their reformation must be taken up ab incunabulis. Their minds [must] be informed by education what is right and what wrong, [must] be encouraged in habits of virtue and deterred from those of vice by the dread of punishments, proportioned indeed, but irremissible. In all cases, [they must] follow truth as the only safe guide and eschew error which bewilders us in one false consequence after another in endless succession. These are the inculcations necessary to render the people a sure basis for the structure of order and good government.” —Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1819. ME 15:234
While alcohol abuse is GUARANTEED to rot the brain and every cell in the body. Usually the liver is the first to go and results in death but alcohol rots everything.
The ONLY proven side effect from pot is temporary impairment. There has NEVER been a single before-after imaging or twin study confirming ANY permanent damage or changes. While the damage from alcohol can be seen crystal clear in every alcoholic.
Link to page with Jefferson quotes on self government, posted in my comment, above:
http://famguardian.org/Subjects/Politics/thomasjefferson/jeff0600.htm
i’m actually conflicted a bit on this issue. I don’t do drugs. But the libertarian in me says to live and let live. But the conservative in me says: bad, bad idea Colorado.
But in the end I’m going to go with the “let the people of Colorado decide” position. If it’s a mistake then they need to find out it’s a mistake. And it is certainly an interesting experiment.
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