Citing the negative example it will set on his grandchildren, former Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo has backed out of his bet to smoke marijuana.

Tancredo bet a documentary filmmaker that if Amendment 64 – which legalizes recreational marijuana – passed he would smoke pot. The amendment passed.

He originally said that he would honor the bet, but in an email Friday, he stated he will have to “welch” on the bet.

The email reads in part:

“I am especially concerned that the publicity may cause my grandkids to have to justify my actions to their peers and afraid that no matter how many times I say I am NOT condoning the use of marijuana, that that message will not get through.”

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