Hickenlooper says governors shouldn't look to pot legalization as a source of revenue. Hickenlooper warns govs on pot

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper urged fellow governors Saturday to be cautious about following his state’s lead in embracing marijuana.

The Democrat worries other states will legalize pot so that they can tax it and fill budget shortfalls.


“The jury is still out on this thing,” he said in between meetings at the National Governors Association in Washington . “It’s going to be one of the great social experiments of the 21st century. As we implement it, we want to make sure that our society is no worse off than it was before this was passed. If we were legalizing whiskey, I’d be doing the same thing.”

( Also on POLITICO: Feds help banks with pot shops)

Hickenlooper opposed a 2012 ballot measure that legalized marijuana, but he’s worked with the Legislature to regulate the drug after it passed.

The state of Colorado estimated this week that stores will sell $1 billion of the product in the next fiscal year, generating $134 million in tax and fee revenue.

He said “several” other governors asked about the revenue projections on marijuana taxes, and he said they should watch to see whether legalization reduces his prison population.

“We’re trying to look at this and say the tax revenues we’re raising are not to reduce other taxes or reduce government spending,” he said. “I don’t think anyone should be looking at it as a source of revenue.”

( Also on POLITICO: Lawmakers ask Obama to change marijuana classification)

Hickenlooper proposes using the windfall on programs aimed at treatment and prevention.

“It’s like promoting gambling,” he said. “It always makes you nervous when you see government promoting gambling or any of those sin trades. They are revenue sources. … We know people are not going to be better off smoking pot. It doesn’t mean they should be arrested … but we know it doesn’t make you smarter.”

Hickenlooper fears that pot use will spike among younger people. He cited neurological studies about the risk of permanent memory damage if kids smoke pot.

( Also on POLITICO: The Millennial-industrial complex)

“There’s no more adults smoking pot than there used to be,” he said. “We do have polls that show a larger number of kids expect to experiment with it because they think it’s not as dangerous as they used to think because now it’s legal.”

The governor cited a news story last week about a child in Madrid who went into a coma after eating marijuana-laced brownies.

“We are going to very, very closely monitor the number of kids who slip off the tracks,” he said. “Those kids are expensive to get back on the tracks.”

Hickenlooper had been mentioned as a potential 2016 presidential contender, but his approval rating has slipped over the past year and Republicans now express hope he can be defeated in November.

( Also on POLITICO: Medical marijuana gains in South)

The governor said he knows he and Sen. Mark Udall, also a Democrat, will both face competitive reelection campaigns, but he expressed confidence and defended his push for universal background checks and other gun measures.

Republicans think the unpopularity of Obamacare also creates an opening. Hickenlooper responded by mentioning a new study that he said found less growth in health care costs over the past three years than any time over the previous 50 years.

“So I don’t think it will be an issue,” he said Saturday. “The issue in Colorado is going to be jobs.”

“Our own exchange is doing fine: 210,000 people signed up already, we’re meeting our goals, everything’s going the way it should,” he added. “But that rollout affected everybody in the country one way or the other. He [Obama] knows that.”

In a conversation this week, Hickenlooper said an Obama administration staffer compared the botched rollout to the 1981 movie “Chariots of Fire” about runner Eric Liddell.

“That one race where he starts out on the blocks and he falls down on his face,” the governor recalled. “He’s got that moment where he’s either got to get up and run or just sit there and do better the next time. And he gets up and he runs, and he wins. That was the metaphor: When they ran out of the blocks, they fell. But they’re not staying down. They’re doing a much better job.”

This article tagged under: Governors

Colorado

John Hickenlooper