Colorado’s Governor Realizes Calling Pot-Legalizing Voters ‘Reckless’ Was Reckless

As Peter Suderman
noted, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper called the voters who
approved marijuana legalization in his state “reckless” during a
debate
on Monday. Yesterday, having reconsidered the wisdom of disparaging
the people he is counting on to re-elect him in a close
gubernatorial race, Hickenlooper
took it back in a statement to the International Business
Times:

Context is everything. I was asked if I thought it was reckless
to legalize marijuana in Colorado—perhaps risky is a better word.
While I believe it was risky for Colorado to be the first state to
step away from a failed federal policy given all of the unanswered
legal questions and implications, the adoption of Amendment 64 by
Colorado voters sent a clear message to the federal government that
marijuana should be legal and regulated. 

We have a robust regulatory enforcement system that would not
have been possible without the partnership of the marijuana
business owners, activists, law enforcement officials, regulators,
parents, policy experts and stakeholders. Together we have
worked tirelessly to ensure a safe and fair system that protects
the public health, diminishes the underground market, and educates
and keeps marijuana out of the hands of our children. We remain
committed to carrying out the will of the voters, including
providing marijuana businesses access to banking and maintaining a
fair regulatory system.

That is more or less what Hickenlooper
had been saying about Amendment 64 until Monday’s debate with
his Republican opponent, Bob Beauprez. His use of the term
reckless was not exactly a slip of the tongue, since
he said it four times. First he said it would be “reckless” for
other states to follow Colorado’s example before all the relevant
data are available. Then, when the moderator asked whether it was
“reckless” for Colorado to legalize, Hickenlooper replied:

I think for us to do that without having all the data, there is
not enough data, and to a certain extent you could say it was
reckless. I’m not saying it was reckless because I’ll get quoted
everywhere, but if it was up to me I wouldn’t have done it, right.
I opposed it from the very beginning. In matter of fact, all right,
what the hell—I’ll say it was reckless.

Perhaps Hickenlooper, in the lukewarm heat of this sedate
debate, did not quite realize that he was talking about
55 percent of the electorate.

[Thanks to Marc Sandhaus for the tip.]