Pubdate: Sun, 06 Apr 2014
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Page: 5P
Copyright: 2014 The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/send-a-letter/
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author: Tod Robberson
Note: Dallas Morning News editorial writer Tod Robberson conducted
and condensed this Q&A.

COLORADO'S POT EXPERIMENT

Other States Should Wait to See Consequences Before Legalizing, Gov.
John Hickenlooper Says

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, finds himself in the
difficult position of defending and executing the state's
marijuana-legalization statutes after voters overwhelmingly approved
them in 2012, over his personal objections. Points asked him to assess
Colorado's experience in the three months since the first legal
marijuana stores opened in his state.

You've counseled other governors to wait a couple of years before
following your state's course. Is Colorado having buyer's remorse on
legalization?

It's not buyer's remorse. The approval rating, as I understand it, has
gone up. So slightly more people support it now than when the vote
passed, 55-45 [percent]. But I do think we don't know what the
unintended consequences are. A number of neuroscientists are very
concerned about the effect of the high THC level in pot now on
teenagers, kids whose brains are still maturing. ...

There are no long-term studies, and we're not screaming and crying
alarm, but what I've told people is: You ought to wait a year or two.
. Let's see whether we can keep it out of the hands of kids. Let's
see that people aren't driving while high. Make sure there aren't
unintended consequences. Have you noticed a change in pot usage so far
among minors?

I have seen one poll ... that showed a dramatic increase. It increased
by about 20 percent, the number of kids who said that they might try
it. It was prospective. That's a lot. In one year, that's a large
change in the number of kids who said they might be willing to try it.
It does seem to indicate that more kids are not as fearful of it as
they once were.

What have been some of the broader implications, beyond the youth
question?

A POINT PERSON

Almost every elected official I know in Colorado opposed the measure.
And we opposed it basically because we didn't want Colorado to ...
become the butt of late-night TV jokes. Jimmy Fallon making cracks
about the Stoner State, or whatever. But that doesn't mean that we
didn't all recognize that this war on drugs ... was one of the worst
social policy failures in the history of the country. ...

We would have preferred to have legalization on a national basis or
have it roll out much more gradually or do it in a couple of test
states to see what the unintended consequences are. Most of us would
have preferred it be a different state than ours. But once it
happened, once our voters passed it, I think we have a responsibility
to try and regulate this as appropriately and fairly as possible, with
the same rigor that we regulate alcohol.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry gave a speech in Switzerland several weeks ago
supporting a move toward decriminalization of pot. Did that surprise
you?

It was interesting. I was a little bit surprised about it, but I don't
know Rick that well. We're going through a period of real change in
how the country and, really, how the world thinks about various drugs
and activities like gambling. ... I think the pot part, this is going
to be one of the great social experiments of the 21st century: seeing
what happens when you legalize pot.

Should enthusiasm for the war on drugs in Colombia and Mexico be
diminished as they see Colorado and Washington state go the opposite
direction?

In 48 of the 50 states, it's still illegal. ... That's why [Attorney
General Eric] Holder is in such a tough position. The attorney
general's job is to uphold the law of the land, and yet here are two
states that have, by broad popular edict, said we believe marijuana
should not be illegal. So they're trying to figure out how to split
the middle there, and it's not easy. As long as the country still
thinks it's illegal, there's still going be a war on drugs. But they
[Mexico and Colombia] are watching closely what's going on in
Colorado, I can guarantee that.

How have you worked out an accommodation with the Obama administration
on this? They still have to enforce federal law.

That would've been the easier solution for them, right? Just come down
and say: It's still against the law, and we're going to enforce U.S.
law. But that means they would have gone against 55 percent of the
population in two states, and they didn't think that was a good idea.
And I think they're right.

This is going to be something that should devolve, as people's
attitudes change, down to local jurisdictions.

The word "dude" now seems to be permanently attached to Colorado's
name. Are you worried people don't take you and your state seriously
anymore?

I hung out a couple of weeks ago with Jeff Bridges [of The Big
Lebowski fame]. ... The Dude abides. He made a couple of very funny
cracks about how well the Dude would do in Colorado today. We spent
our lives working real hard to make Colorado a model state. You know,
how it could be pro-business but at the same time have high
environmental standards, high accountability on every level. This
becomes a distraction, which is unfortunate. That's a large part of
why a lot of us opposed this. It takes the focus off what we're really
trying to work.

But, again, you don't get to choose what happens to you in life. You
do choose whether it makes you stronger, weaker, happier or sadder.
And we're trying to make this thing work. ... And we're going to do it
the right way.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D