Governor: Legalizing pot was bad idea

The Hill ^ | January 23, 2015 | Kevin Cirilli

[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.

[gleeaikin]

And in Washington, DC the Congressional “let’s reduce the size/influence of the Federal Government” folks are forbidding implementing the law 70% of DC residents voted for, legalizing small amounts of pot grown and smoked indoors. Such logical inconsistency will not result in continued conservative electoral success.

[ConservingFreedom]

No, causation is a leap the researchers did NOT make. From your link:

"Whether cannabis can trigger a primary psychotic disorder that would not have otherwise occurred is unclear. However, in most individuals who use cannabis, psychosis does not develop"

out of context

Prove it - quote the context that contradicts my statement.

[central_va]

Legalized pot no more undermines parental moral authority than legalized alcohol. In fact, I think legalizing the substance may give parents a bit more moral authority in discussing the use of intoxicating substances.

I disagree. When it comes to something like drugs becominmg legal the parents moral authority goes out the window, the state has deemed it acceptable. Parents cannot stop their 18 yr olds from buying alcohol in most states. In a teens mind all they can think "well it's legal what do they know".

If you plan on a legal career or anything requiring a clearance then a pot bust is going to ruin it before you even start. Yes that is a consideration and yes teens do think like that. I did.

[ConservingFreedom]

But that was before marijuana became a powerful intoxicant. If some guy had figured out how to extract and sell hash oil in 1790, I’m sure the leaders of society and government would not have been too happy about this new vice.

Opium and alcohol were powerful intoxicants - and legal - in 1790.

[gleeaikin]

Any links regarding the benefits you listed? Further down you speak of the obvious dangers of legal alcohol. One reason car accidents could be down is that alcohol can make young drivers more aggressive whereas pot makes them mellow and lazy. Middle aged drivers are more likely to drive more cautiously when they drink. A study some years ago on the Long Island Expressway on a Friday night found that many more mature commuters than predicted had imbibed substantial alcohol before driving cautiously homeward, not causing accidents.

[DiogenesLamp]

It is amazing how many Freepers are more than happy for abusive big government.

Locking up drug dealers is not abusive government. Forcing people to bake "gay" wedding cakes is abusive government.

[gleeaikin]

Your description sounds a lot like the guys who take a nip morning, noon and get drunk at night as opposed to those who drink socially Friday an Saturday evening. I was renovating a house with a fellow who would get high when we had a boring job like scraping old wallpaper off a wall to prep it for paint or new wallpaper. He was not high when we had to measure and fit the new wallpaper.

[DiogenesLamp]

The same ones would be crying if Prohibition were brought back. That worked so well, why not bring it back too?

Please stop comparing the 10 million year old experience with Alcohol to the ~70 year old national experience with weed.

They are not even remotely the same thing.

[DiogenesLamp]

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.)

For ROPE. Tell the truth.

[varyouga]

"Bunk, it is a brain altering drug with negative effects for regular users."

So is alcohol. But it is also chemically addictive and causes permanent damage to EVERY organ in EVERY abuser. There has not been ANY damage shown from the chemicals in pot to ANY cell in ANY user at ANY dose.

"I still remember my mom working prison ministry and finding all the violent offenders were pretty much always major pot users."

And I'm sure even more of them were major alcohol and tobacco users. It only proves they are more likely to seek intoxicants. It does not prove that any of that caused them to be violent criminals.

"It is a drug. Best used for the real patient dying from a cancer or other illness of that magnitude. The rest of those trying to jump the train to use pot are simple drug addicts."


Cancer or only of that magnitude?? PLEASE

What about legal heroin for tooth surgery or the classic "chronic back pain" (easy to fake)
What about psychoactive hypnotic drugs for insomnia (easy to fake)
What about highly addictive toxic benzo tranquilizers for someone with slight social anxiety (easy to fake)
What about legal speed/meth just for someone that says they can't pay attention in class (easy to fake ADHD)
What about trying various cocktails/doses of dangerous addictive antidepressants on someone that just needed a shoulder to cry on.

If people ask a doctor for the above they'll get it. I've never heard of anyone being denied. It gives them more business (more sick patients) and "gifts" from big pharma.

Yet, some people scream about a non-toxic, non-addictive plant that any patient can grow for themselves. And if people want to be dopers, I'd rather they grow and smoke their free pot at home than use my tax dollars for any of these Rx drugs.

[Future Snake Eater]

It sounds like his bitching revolves around being the first guy in the door, not b/c of any of the doomsaying associated it. It’s kind of an unknown, and it challenges his feeble mind.

[DiogenesLamp]

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.

You must not be familiar with the latest research.

http://www.healthline.com/health-news/children-cannabis-impairs-fetal-brain-development-012814

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201312/heavy-marijuana-use-alters-teenage-brain-structure

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2377581/Teenagers-smoke-cannabis-damage-brains-LIFE-likely-develop-schizophrenia.html

So how does it feel to find out that you've been telling people something is harmless when it is actually quite destructive to them?

Any guilt? Any at all?

[gleeaikin]

The DC pot bill that conservatives on the Hill are trying to stop permits growing 3 mature and 3 young plants at home, using it inside, transporting up to 2 ounces, and giving away a small amount, but no selling. It would be interesting to compare how much money these folks receive from Big Pharma compared to the ones who are not pushing denying the people of DC their electoral rights.

In DC the rationale for legalization was that 1/2 of DC pot users are white, but 91% of arrested are black, with Hispanics listed with white. DC expects to save a lot of money on court costs, prisons, and police. In addition to saving on pot arrests, no need to steal if your buddy will give you some free.

[DiogenesLamp]

The huge hideous elephant-gorilla hybrid which is an offense against nature, man, and God than no-one seems to want to acknowledge (much less address), is that the War on Drugs, the very foundation of the Federal government to prohibit drugs, is based on usurped powers and the mere color of authority.

No, it's based on real, and constitutionally legitimate authority. Drugs represent an attack on our populace, and the National government has always been empowered to respond to deadly attacks through the Defense clause.

Now people allege that it is the Commerce clause from which their authority derives, but this is incorrect. They are just using an abuse of power granted to them through Wickard v. Filburn, but the real and legitimate authorization lies in the Defense clause.

The enemy is even now sending in Drones to deliver their chemical weapon payload.

[ConservingFreedom]

“Any links regarding the benefits you listed?”

“Going to Pot? Colorado’s bold marijuana experiment is having some unexpected consequences” - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3159252/posts

“Since marijuana legalization, highway fatalities in Colorado are at near-historic lows” - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3190602/posts

“Colorado marijuana revenues hit a new high” - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3215502/posts

“Colorado Teens Smoking Less Pot Since Legalization” - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3190690/posts

[DiogenesLamp]

We learned a very valuable lesson with alcohol prohibition. Yet we think it will work with “illicit drugs.”

Please stop comparing the 10 million year old experience with Alcohol to the ~70 year old national experience with weed.

They are not even remotely the same thing.

[tacticalogic]

Now people allege that it is the Commerce clause from which their authority derives, but this is incorrect. They are just using an abuse of power granted to them through Wickard v. Filburn, but the real and legitimate authorization lies in the Defense clause.

Can you produce any historical background to back up that assertion? There is evidence to support the assertion that it's not within the original intent of the Commerce Clause, but finding it within the intent of the Defense clause seems to be a personal innovation.

[willyd]

You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

Pot is a gateway drug because people lie to kids and tell them pot is just as bad as all the other drugs.

When they try pot and find out that they were lied to, they assume the same is true for all the other drugs and that’s where they get into trouble.

[DiogenesLamp]

I live in CO. This concern about the effects of legalization on the population are way over exaggerated. It has not affected my day to day life at all. I still get up and get dressed in the morning, go to work, come home, have dinner with my family. Nothing has changed other than we are not spending my tax dollars to enforce the unenforceable.

Iran is about to get a nuclear weapon. We won't notice any problems with this at first.

How long do you think it takes for demographic trends to manifest themselves?

[DiogenesLamp]

Sounds like a defense of principle to me. Anyhow, now that there are places like Colorado, longitudinal studies should be easy. And I’d bet the price of a doughnut factory that yes, they will show pot wreaking measurable harm if consumed in sufficient quantity. But that points up the difficulty of measuring something that is in the shadows. It is hard to do. Far easier to measure something that is in the sunlight.

Sometimes you can measure usage through proxies. Here is an example of what I mean.

If product is being shipped in, it is getting used. Increases in shipments directly correspond to increases in usage.

We will probably be able to ferret out usage by looking at increases in welfare applications from here on out.