Hickenlooper announces candidacy

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has officially announced that he is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. Will he brag about how many young Coloradans are hooked on marijuana?

A self-styled moderate

Few people know Colorado politics better than Todd Shepherd. Todd is also a staff writer at the Washington Free Beacon. When former Governor Hickenlooper traveled to New Hampshire this week to test the waters for a possible presidential run in 2020, Todd was there to record what Hickenlooper said. Hickenlooper plans to make an announcement in March about whether or not he will run. Read Todd's account of the New Hampshire visit here.

Not enough data?

Cully Stimson reports:

A definitive study published this week by the Journal of Addiction by Professor Wayne Hall of Kings College London, shows that marijuana is highly addictive, causes mental health problems and is a gateway drug to other illegal dangerous drugs.

Hall’s research, conducted over the past 20 years, confirms what other studies have shown: that regular adolescent marijuana users have lower educational attainment than non-using peers, that they are more likely to use other illegal drugs, that adolescent use produces intellectual impairment, doubles the risk of being diagnosed with schizophrenia and that, not surprisingly, increases the risk of heart attacks in middle-aged adults.

Read more here.

Harmful to young people, but it's bringing in money

So now it has been 100 days since marijuana was legalized in Colorado. 9News interviewed Governor Hickenlooper to see what he thinks about its effects.

Hickenlooper did stress he's concerned about underage use of marijuana, citing studies which show potential harm to the brain development of young people.

Asked if he's seen adverse effects from legalized sales in the first 100 days, Hickenlooper said he's discouraged by what he hears from local hospitals about kids getting a hold of edible marijuana products, many of which come in the form of sweets like soda pop or candy.

"I've talked to, anecdotally, two emergency rooms. They clearly can see an increase in kids coming in that have been just totally drugged out on edibles," Hickenlooper said. "A lot of the edibles, they come like gummy bears. I'm worried. I'm seriously worried that it is so much stronger and some of these younger kids, they don't know what they're getting into."

Hickenlooper expressed support for new bills introduced by lawmakers aimed at tightening regulations on pot concentrates and edibles, even though they would be more stringent than the rules established by his Department of Revenue.

He said he's worried that adolescents won't accept that there are serious harms to using the drug at their age.

"Kids don't believe that, they think they're going to live forever and they think since marijuana's legal that it's perfectly safe," said Hickenlooper. "We've got to figure out how to communicate with them and make sure they're aware of these risks."

Hickenlooper gets lots of inquiries from other governors. He tells them to take a couple of years to wait and see what its effects on Colorado turn out to be. Does he wish Colorado would reverse course? Nope: legal marijuana has brought in over $4 million dollars into the state's coffers in the first two months. Politicians like money.

Read more here and watch video interview.

When Democrats are in control...

Marilyn Marks writes that Colorado is sure to become the butt of many jokes now that Governor Hickenlooper has signed into law a ridiculously absurd elections law.

After abolishing all penalties if officials or special interests tamper with local election voter rolls, and encouraging private contractors to conduct local elections for profit, how do Democratic Party proponents expect Colorado voters to maintain any confidence in elections?

Democrats defeated every amendment brought by Republicans to restore and defend election rules, including secretary of state oversight; a written set of procedures; ADA-compliant and accessible polling locations and voting equipment; a local place to vote; and a host of other long-standing voter rights and security controls.

I know of no other state with a local election code that allows a district to "roll its own" procedures. The new election law even allows the very candidates up for re-election and proponents of tax increases to determine the election rules after the fact and control the election through a private, for-profit contractor.

Any Colorado voter may now show up in any local election on the same day he "moves" into town.

Marilyn's list of objections to the new law continues here.