Pubdate: Sat, 12 Mar 2016 Source: Denver Post (CO) Copyright: 2016 The Denver Post Corp Contact: http://www.denverpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122 Author: Marshall Zelinger, Denver7 HICKENLOOPER TO STATES: "THINK TWICE" ON POT Gov. John Hickenlooper on Tuesday cautioned other states about the economic impacts of legalizing marijuana. At a conference in Dallas on public-private partnerships-like the U. S 36 expansion and toll lanes - Hickenlooper was showing a slide dealing with the boom in the millennial population when he said: "You get all those young people who do certain things that some of us oppose and aren't crazy about, like legalizing marijuana. Let me tell you, if you're trying to encourage businesses to move to your state, some of the larger businesses, think twice about legalizing marijuana." Hickenlooper's office later issued a statement noting that pot is part of the conversation in recruiting companies to Colorado "it has not had any measurable impact to the economy." Hickenlooper's State of the State speech in January noted Colorado has added 9,000 new jobs since July 2014. Those include online employee benefits company Gusto, which plans to hire 1,750 people. Legal pot wasn't a factor in Gusto's decision to open a Denver hub, co-founder Joshua Reeves said. "We chose and are really, really thrilled to be in Denver because of the people, because of the culture, because of the outdoor environment, because of the public transportation." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom