Governor John Hickenlooper Responds to Sean Spicer's Comments on Marijuana

After White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that we should expect “greater enforcement” of marijuana laws, particularly regarding recreational sales, Colorado politicians responded.

Governor John Hickenlooper appeared on MSNBC on February 24 and then on Meet the Press on February 26 when he was in Washington, D.C., for a governors' conference. During both appearances, he noted that he did not approve of marijuana legalization when it passed in Colorado, adding that he continues to be wary despite the fact that legal marijuana raked in over $1.3 billion in sales last year in this state alone.

“I opposed the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado. I spoke openly against it, but it passed in Colorado by 55 percent to 45 percent. It is now part of our Constitution,” he said on MSNBC. “I think it’s the wrong time to pull back from this experiment, and if the federal government is going to come and begin closing in and arresting people who are doing what’s legal in different states, my God, it creates a level of conflict that’s going to be very difficult,” Hickenlooper said. “We are trying to regulate and enforce public safety around both medical and recreational marijuana as aggressively as we possibly can.”

On Meet the Press two days later, after hailing Hickenlooper as a "possible bright spot" for the Democrats, Chuck Todd asked Colorado's governor if he would be in favor of marijuana if he had to vote on it today. “I don’t think I’m quite there yet, but we have made a lot of progress,” he said. “We didn’t see a spike in teenage use. If anything, it’s come down in the last year. And we’re getting anecdotal reports of less drug dealers. I mean, if you get rid of that black market, you’ve got tax revenues to deal with, the addictions, and some of the unintended consequences of legalized marijuana. Maybe this system is better than what was admittedly a pretty bad system to begin with.”

Read more: http://www.westword.com/marijuana/governor-john-hickenlooper-responds-to-sean-spicers-comments-on-marijuana-8833109