Thursday, April 10, 2014

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.

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