Was Colorado ‘Reckless’ Legalizing Marijuana? Its Governor Thinks So

Colorado’s Governor, John Hickenlooper, has declared that he feels his state’s voters were “reckless” to make it legal.

Hickenlooper has long been opposed to the state’s decision to make the product available legally, and according to The Internation Business Times, while taking part in a gubernatorial debate, he was asked whether he would advise other state governors to follow suit.

“I would view it as reckless before we know what the consequences are… 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.”

Bob Beauprez, who is his Republican challenger, is then believed to have agreed with his assessment. In the past, Hickenlooper has warned other governors that they should be extremely careful when considering whether to legalize reform laws, while he has admitted that he “hates” that Colorado has become the “experiment” state for marijuana.

However, the clearly candid Hickenlooper did then try to insist during the debate that while he clearly has his own reservations, he didn’t want to label the reform as completely “reckless.” But, he then immediately abandoned this pretense and came out in opposition to it completely and confirmed that it was indeed “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. All right, what the hell — I’ll say it was reckless.”

The Huffington Post have reported that after the debate, Hickenlooper’s interim spokeswoman, Kathy Green, was then forced to try and explain the governor’s response.

“In the face of inaction from the federal government, Colorado voters had no choice but to act on their own. While the governor believes it was reckless for Colorado to be the first state to violate federal drug laws, it is clear that Colorado voters saw no other choice — and we are committed to carrying out their will, as democracy demands.”

The upcoming governor election in November promises to be a very tight affair. 55 percent of the state approved the decision to legalize marijuana back in 2012, while Hickenlooper was only elected with a 51 percent margin.

Washington and Colarado are currently the only two states that have decided to make the purchase of Marijuana legal in the USA, but voters in Washington, D.C., Alaska and Oregon are set to decide whether they’ll join them next month.

Marijuana is available for medical purposes in twenty-three states, and many critics of the War On Drugs are extremely fed-up with people being incarcerated for the recreational use of Marijuana by adults. Supporters of legal Marijuana also feel quite strongly that the billions in tax revenues spent to enforce draconian pot laws are better spent on improving people’s lives, instead of locking them in a cage for several years.

Do you support legal Marijuana or do you support criminal penalties including imprisonment for personal use?

[Images via Reuters and Natural Health Warriors]