Pubdate: Fri, 24 Jan 2014
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright: 2014 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://www.philly.com/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author: Thomas Fitzgerald
Page: B3

CORBETT NOT TEMPTED BY COLO.'S POT OF GOLD

Says Tax Windfall From Legal Marijuana Not Worth It.

Philadelphia - Gov. Corbett said Thursday he is not tempted to change
his opposition to legalizing marijuana by reports that Colorado
expects a $70 million tax windfall this year from sales of the drug.

"Contrary to what some members of the [state] Senate view as
'recreational' marijuana, I don't believe it is recreational," Corbett
said at the annual "Ask the Governor" forum sponsored by the Greater
Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

"Marijuana is a huge gateway drug to the drug problems we have in this
country," said Corbett, a career prosecutor before he became governor.
"It leads to the abuse of many other drugs, including cocaine and heroin."

He was answering a question from 6ABC news anchor Matt O'Donnell, who
interviewed him in front of several hundred business and community
leaders in the auditorium of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel
University.

State Sen. Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery) has sponsored a bill to
legalize recreational use of marijuana, a move that has won him
acclaim from his party's left wing. Earlier this month, a Corbett
spokesman appeared to suggest that the governor might agree to
allowing medical marijuana in Pennsylvania - but the administration
clarified that he would do so only if federal officials approve its
medical efficacy, which seems unlikely.

At the Thursday event, Corbett also made his case for reelection,
speaking of economic growth - 151,000 new private-sector jobs - and
stabilization of state finances without new taxes.

"I was elected to do exactly what we have done," he said. "We were
going to right the ship and point it in the right direction. We have
done that. If the people of Pennsylvania decide that's not what they
wanted me to do - and I said this when I was running [in 2010] - then
I'm not going to get reelected. But I keep my promises."
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MAP posted-by: Matt