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Title: Governor who called legalization 'reckless' now says Colorado's pot industry is working
Source:
L.A. Times
URL Source: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na ... 60516-20160516-snap-story.html
Published: May 17, 2016
Author: David Kelly
Post Date: 2016-05-17 12:55:09 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 12154
Comments: 97
When Colorado voted to legalize recreational marijuana four years ago, one of the move's chief critics was Gov. John Hickenlooper. The moderate Democrat said that if he could "wave a magic wand" to reverse the decision, he would. Then he called voters "reckless" for approving it in the first place, a remark he later downgraded to "risky." “Colorado is known for many great things,” Hickenlooper said. “Marijuana should not be one of them.” But the governor’s views have softened. During a recent panel discussion at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles, he said that despite opposing the legalization of pot, his job was to “deliver on the will of the people of Colorado.” “If I had that magic wand now, I don’t know if I would wave it,” he said. “It’s beginning to look like it might work.” It was the latest in a series of comments Hickenlooper has made signaling what looks like an evolution of his views on marijuana. In April last year, during an interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, Hickenlooper said legal weed was “not as vexing as we thought it was going to be.” And during an appearance on "60 Minutes," he predicted that Colorado might “actually create a system that could work” in successfully regulating marijuana. Why the change? “The predictions of fire and brimstone have failed to materialize,” said Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, a national group working to reform pot laws. “Most Coloradoans, including the governor, recognize that the law is working.” From the start, Hickenlooper saw the legalization of marijuana as a great national experiment, something utterly new in this country and fraught with potential public health and safety issues. He fretted about a potential rise in drug use among children and was clearly uncomfortable with an amendment directly conflicting with federal law, which considers pot an illegal drug on par with cocaine. There were plenty of snags at first. Marijuana edibles proved especially problematic because few people had experience with them. High-profile overdoses made national news. Just last week a lawsuit was filed against the maker of a marijuana-laced candy, alleging the product triggered a "psychotic episode" that caused a man to kill his wife in 2014. Still, none of Hickenlooper’s worst fears were realized. Colorado is booming. The state has a 4.2% unemployment rate, one of the best in the country. High-tech companies are moving in. Small towns across the state, some once teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, have been saved by tax revenues from pot dispensaries. And the $1-billion-a-year cannabis business will pump $100 million in taxes into state coffers this year. Andrew Freedman, director of marijuana coordination for Colorado, said the governor’s views reflect a growing sense of optimism about how the industry is regulated. “In the short run, there have been a lot fewer public safety and health issues than the governor feared in the beginning,” said Freedman, who is often referred to as the state’s marijuana czar. “In the beginning, we had problems with edibles and hash oil fires but now, for the most part, Colorado looks a lot like it did before legalization.” Marijuana consumption has not changed much from pre-legalization levels and there has been no significant increase in public health and safety problems, he said. As for the $100 million in tax revenue, Freedman noted, that's out of a $27-billion state budget. Some 70% of the money is earmarked for school construction, public health initiatives and other projects. The rest goes back into regulating the industry. “The governor has called this a grand experiment from the beginning. He looks at data points as he goes along and I think he’s pleasantly surprised that there were not as many challenges as he thought,” Freedman said. “He would say the jury is still out on this experiment but he’s optimistic.” Some are less circumspect. “The state’s image is actually rising. We were just ranked as the best place to live in America,” Tvert said. “The idea that businesses would not relocate here or conferences wouldn’t be held here was untrue. In fact, attendees at conferences are now offered pot tours as day trips.” Kelly is a special correspondent based in Denver.
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#29. To: Gatlin (#20)
Now THIS is a theme song:
They paid taxes on the purchase, correct. PLUS, some of that money goes to pay for the wages (and taxes) of the people who work at the store. And some of that money goes to pay corporate taxes. People fail to realize that the consumer pays all the taxes the government receives. They're just hidden.
lol ...
Should it go nowhere? Don't the citizens of Nebraska and Oklahoma have a valid point? Don't they have a right to protect their children from drugs crossing from an adjacent state? If noxious smoke was drifting from Colorado to other states, must that be allowed also? What about factories dumping pollutants into rivers that flow to other states? We can stop that behavior but not drugs?
Great movie.
Another point … One article touts that Colorado had a $53 million dollar increase in taxes off the sale of legalize marijuana. Legalization proponents consider that to be “found money.” To that, I say … bullshit. They fail to consider that hospitalizations involving patients with marijuana exposures and diagnoses increased from approximately 803 per 100,000 to 2,413 per 100,000. So what Colorado is really doing, it is “stealing” $53 million from insurance companies, Medicare and Medicate for their increased costs to cover the radical increase in those hospitalizations. Money is not being created, it is just changing hands … robbing Peter to pay Paul.
"Even though SCOTUS declined to hear Oklahoma and Nebraska's pot suit against Colorado, the plaintiff states can still take their case to U.S. District Court" The dullard didn't even read the article he posted. And the two states are already moving to join a pending suit in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
The U.S. aims to stop the flow of illegal drugs from Mexico into this country. Nebraska and Oklahoma should be able to stop the flow of an illegal drug from Colorado into their states.
Continue to hammer Colorado with lawsuits ... fire with both barrels.
Dr. Andrew Monte, a toxicologist at the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado, said he's not surprised to see an increase of hospital and ER visits related to marijuana use. "When the availability of any drug goes up," you see more hospital visits, said Monte, who was not involved in the new study. "That goes for a new high blood pressure drug to marijuana." Monte, who co-wrote a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine on marijuana tourism in February, said there are usually three reasons people come to the ER after using marijuana. He said in his experience, people come in for treatment if they exacerbate underlying symptoms with the drug, for example, irritating their lungs if they have asthma, for cyclic vomiting related to high concentrations of THC ingestion and general intoxication from marijuana. The smallest group is made up of "people who come in intoxicated," Monte said. "We only see one or two for marijuana intoxication. I would say disproportionately we see edible agents lead to more intoxication." From above :“In the short run, there have been a lot fewer public safety and health issues than the governor feared in the beginning,” said Freedman, who is often referred to as the state’s marijuana czar. “In the beginning, we had problems with edibles and hash oil fires but now, for the most part, Colorado looks a lot like it did before legalization.” The dullard didn't even read the article he posted. Did I say "has reached the end of the road" or did I say "is going nowhere", dullard and coward? A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. "determine if the visit indicated possible marijuana exposure or used a diagnosis /billing code indicating marijuana. Use of these codes does not mean that the visit is motivated by marijuana exposure but simply that it is a possibility." [emphasis added] - cdpsdocs.state.co.us/ors/...rts/2016-SB13-283-Rpt.pdf A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. Yes: "A decision in the Plaintiff States’ favor will hinder Colorado’s ability to channel demand for recreational marijuana into a regulated and monitored market. This is more likely to aggravate, rather than subdue, the cross-border trafficking on which the Plaintiff States’ allegations of injury rest. The Plaintiff States seek to invalidate only those laws that enable Colorado to regulate the supply side of its recreational marijuana market. Compl. at 28–29 (seeking invalidation of only COLO. CONST. art. XVIII, §§ 16(4) and (5) and related statutes and regulations, which authorize marijuana-related facilities and empower the State to strictly regulate them). They do not challenge Colorado’s authority to legalize marijuana generally, nor do they seek an order compelling Colorado law enforcement officials to take any particular actions against marijuana traffickers. They in fact disclaim any intent to do so: “Plaintiff States are not suggesting the CSA requires Colorado to criminalize marijuana or to strip Colorado authorities of prosecutorial discretion.” Br. in Supp. at 15." - coag.gov/sites/default/fi...usbriefoppositionneok.pdf A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. Are you saying there's a difference between those two expressions?
Of course - one can be in motion without getting any closer to one's desired destination. A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. That's the problem. Colorado is NOT channeling demand for recreational marijuana into a regulated and monitored market. If Colorado is unable, or unwilling, to regulate it's own industries to the point where it's negatively impacting other states, then that right to regulate should be removed.
I agree. Now, back to my question. What's the difference between "has reached the end of the road" and "is going nowhere"?
Right. (Wink...Wink) It more of a POSSIBLITY they all had ingrown toenails. (Snicker).
Being in motion means one hasn't reached the end of the road; not getting any closer to one's desired destination means one is going nowhere. A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. Marijuana "exposure" doesn't mean the visit was in any way caused by marijuana - oxygen "exposure" is at 100% for hospital/ER visits.
A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. So unregulated legal pot will less negatively impact other states? A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. This is even funnier and more ridiculous, the second time I read it. Marijuana is made legal … hospital visits increase fourfold … and we are suppose to believe that the increase in the hospital visits has no correlation with marijuana being made legal, but maybe with ingrown toenails.
Right ... Sure. Got it. Oh, BTW - how many people are admitted to the hospitals from "exposure" to oxygen?
What's funny and ridiculous is that you think this is what the report said. A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. Not "from" - "with". And I already told you the answer: 100%. A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. It has already gone to another court. Nice foot shot.
Obama enforces federal law differently in different states as the potheads cheer him on.
Where it will continue to go nowhere. A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. I never said it should be unregulated. I said Colorado shouldn't regulate it because they've shown they're incapable.
consider source
His feelings.
That's where the suit would leave it - as I already quoted: 'They do not challenge Colorado’s authority to legalize marijuana generally, nor do they seek an order compelling Colorado law enforcement officials to take any particular actions against marijuana traffickers. They in fact disclaim any intent to do so: “Plaintiff States are not suggesting the CSA requires Colorado to criminalize marijuana or to strip Colorado authorities of prosecutorial discretion.”' A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. Keep going, dullard.
That's where the source I quoted stopped, halfwit. That is, their regulation of legal pot, whose end would leave unregulated (by Colorado) pot. Do try to keep up. A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. Too dim to find and read the actual decision. So predictable.
Colorado's regulation of pot legalized the manufacture, possession, and distribution of it. Ending Colorado's regulation of pot ends that legalization and places marijuana under federal control.
What "decision"? A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. Wrong - ending regulation in no way implies re-establishing penalties, and the suit does not call for such. A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. Actually, Colorado decriminalized pot at the state level. It remains as illegal as ever. Hypothetically, a President Trump could decide to enforce the Federal law and to withdraw any and all form of Federal benefits to renegade states, or perhaps the Federal government could charge, try, and convict the Governor for aiding, abetting, facilitating, or promoting the citizenry of Colorado in the violation of Federal laws. That there is no State criminal statute against pot does not change the fact that there is a Federal statute that President Obama is failing to enforce. A different president may choose to fully enforce the Federal law. Or not.
Nope. Colorado actually legalized it for those 21 and older. No penalties. You can grow it, buy it, smoke it, carry it around and give it to friends. It is still, however, illegal at the federal level but Obama has said the DOJ will not enforce federal law in states that legalized marijuana for recreational or medical use. Yes, Trump can change that policy. I hope he does. And I agree with you that the Governor of Colorado should be arrested and charged with sedition, along with anyone in the state legislature who voted for legalization.
Once again you're putting words in my mouth. Ending regulation ends the Colorado legalization program. The federal government would then be responsible for enforcing federal marijuana laws in Colorado. Colorado cannot be forced to enforce federal law. Nor can Colorado be forced to write state laws making marijuana illegal. But then you'd have a free-for-all -- children smoking dope, cartels moving in and growing tons of it, dealers on every street corner. You know what? I'm with you on this one. Colorado should NOT re-establish penalties. Let's see what REAL Libertarian freedom is like.
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Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest"I leave you with with this, for your listening pleasure: S.W.A.T theme song."
#30. To: Gatlin (#17)
"The drug dealers were spending the money they received from selling black-market pot on fancy cars, flashy clothes and numerous other lavish items … on which they PAID taxes."
#31. To: misterwhite (#29)
#32. To: ConservingFreedom (#5)
(Edited)
"The suit is going nowhere"
#33. To: Gatlin (#31)
#34. To: misterwhite (#30)
#35. To: misterwhite (#32)
#36. To: misterwhite (#32)
#37. To: Roscoe, misterwhite (#35)
And the two states are already moving to join a pending suit in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
#38. To: Gatlin (#34)
They fail to consider that hospitalizations involving patients with marijuana exposures and diagnoses increased from approximately 803 per 100,000 to 2,413 per 100,000.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts
#39. To: Roscoe (#35)
"Even though SCOTUS declined to hear Oklahoma and Nebraska's pot suit against Colorado, the plaintiff states can still take their case to U.S. District Court"
#40. To: Gatlin, Deckard, misterwhite (#34)
hospitalizations involving patients with marijuana exposures and diagnoses increased from approximately 803 per 100,000 to 2,413 per 100,000.
#41. To: misterwhite (#32)
Should it go nowhere?
#42. To: ConservingFreedom (#39)
"Did I say "has reached the end of the road" or did I say "is going nowhere",
#43. To: misterwhite (#42)
Are you saying there's a difference between those two expressions?
#44. To: ConservingFreedom (#41)
"A decision in the Plaintiff States’ favor will hinder Colorado’s ability to channel demand for recreational marijuana into a regulated and monitored market."
#45. To: ConservingFreedom (#43)
"one can be in motion without getting any closer to one's desired destination."
#46. To: ConservingFreedom (#40)
Use of these codes does not mean that the visit is motivated by marijuana exposure but simply that it is a possibility."
#47. To: misterwhite (#43)
Of course - one can be in motion without getting any closer to one's desired destination.
#48. To: Gatlin (#46)
#49. To: misterwhite (#44)
If Colorado is unable, or unwilling, to regulate it's own industries to the point where it's negatively impacting other states, then that right to regulate should be removed.
#50. To: ConservingFreedom (#46)
#51. To: ConservingFreedom (#48)
Marijuana "exposure" doesn't mean the visit was in any way caused by marijuana - oxygen "exposure" is at 100% for hospital/ER visits.
#52. To: Gatlin (#50)
hospital visits increase fourfold
#53. To: Gatlin (#51)
how many people are admitted to the hospitals from "exposure" to oxygen?
#54. To: ConservingFreedom (#39)
did I say "is going nowhere"
#55. To: Gatlin (#37)
Continue to hammer Colorado with lawsuits ... fire with both barrels.
#56. To: Roscoe (#54)
It has already gone to another court.
#57. To: ConservingFreedom (#49)
"So unregulated legal pot will less negatively impact other states?"
#58. To: ConservingFreedom (#56)
go nowhere
#59. To: misterwhite (#42)
Are you saying there's a difference between those two expressions?
#60. To: misterwhite (#57)
I never said it should be unregulated.
#61. To: ConservingFreedom (#60)
“Plaintiff States are not suggesting the CSA requires Colorado to criminalize marijuana or to strip Colorado authorities of prosecutorial discretion.”
Plaintiff States are not suggesting the CSA requires Colorado to criminalize marijuana or to strip Colorado authorities of prosecutorial discretion. Just that Colorado's affirmative authorization of the manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana presents a substantial obstacle to Congress's objectives under the CSA to establish a national, comprehensive, uniform and closed statutory scheme to control the market in controlled substances in order to prevent the abuse and diversion of those substances.
#62. To: Roscoe (#61)
Keep going
Colorado's affirmative authorization
#63. To: ConservingFreedom (#62)
That's where the source I quoted stopped, halfwit.
#64. To: ConservingFreedom (#62)
"That is, their regulation of legal pot, whose end would leave unregulated (by Colorado) pot."
#65. To: Roscoe (#63)
Too dim to find and read the actual decision.
#66. To: misterwhite (#64)
Ending Colorado's regulation of pot ends that legalization
#67. To: misterwhite, ConservingFreedom (#64)
Colorado's regulation of pot legalized the manufacture, possession, and distribution of it. Ending Colorado's regulation of pot ends that legalization and places marijuana under federal control
#68. To: nolu chan (#67)
"Actually, Colorado decriminalized pot at the state level. It remains as illegal as ever."
#69. To: ConservingFreedom (#66)
"Wrong - ending regulation in no way implies re-establishing penalties, and the suit does not call for such."
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