At times, it’s amusing when John Hickenlooper speaks before thinking. But sometimes, it’s reckless – and even comes across as clueless – which was the case when Colorado’s junior U.S. senator made an appearance at the Denver Press Club last week.

After confirming for the media he would seek a second term in the Senate in 2026 as anticipated, he held forth on the Biden administration’s deliberations over relaxing federal laws against marijuana possession and use. The White House is considering reclassifying pot so it carries lower penalties.

“I don’t like the reclassification,” Hickenlooper said, as reported by The Gazette. “I think it should be declassified…” He continued, “We had an incredible Healthy Kids survey in Colorado, and it demonstrates over the last 12 years there has been no increase in experimentation, consumption and frequency.”

Then, Hick mused aloud: “In many cases, we are probably better off with more marijuana consumption and probably less alcohol consumption…. People smoking pot as a part of their relaxation … is not any worse off than people who have been drinking.”

Without making excuses for society’s widespread alcohol abuse – where shall we begin debunking Hickenlooper’s ill-informed nonsense about pot?

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Perhaps with the irony that this is the same politician who, as Colorado’s chief exec, opposed legalization. Weeks before the state’s voters approved a November 2012 ballot proposal allowing recreational marijuana sales and use, then – Gov. Hickenlooper famously uttered, “Colorado is known for many great things – marijuana should not be one of them.”

He added, “It sends the wrong message to kids that drugs are OK.”

He was right back then.

What’s changed? He seems to think it’s the data.

Only, he’s wrong.

While we all should welcome limited evidence of a relatively recent dip in marijuana use among Colorado youth – between 2020 and 2021, amid COVID, according to the state’s annual “Healthy Kids” survey – the broader trend line is far more troubling.

Healthy Kids survey data from previous years revealed pot use among the state’s children had skyrocketed between 2017 and 2020, suggesting the pandemic-related drop was temporary. The federally commissioned Monitoring the Future Survey of the entire U.S. in 2022 seemed to confirm that; it found the pandemic-related decline in pot use among youth hasn’t continued.

Over the longer run, research by Oregon Health & Science University last year found adolescent pot use in the U.S. has increased dramatically – by about 245% – since 2000. And among other leading indicators, the Monitoring the Future Survey also found pot use by young adults 19 to 30 reached an all-time high in 2021, 29% – vs. 21% five years earlier.

Even more troubling was Hickenlooper’s glibness about the effects of pot use – that we are, somehow, “better off with more marijuana consumption and probably less alcohol consumption.” It’s unfathomable how a member of the U.S. Senate could be so oblivious to the growing body of research on marijuana’s crippling impact on kids.

Typical is a Columbia University study released just this past May that found teens who use pot are two to four times more prone to psychiatric disorders, depression and suicide.

Colorado’s own official state webpage on pot use points out its dangers to youth – that it causes learning and memorization deficiencies “weeks after” marijuana use; that it’s especially addictive for young people; that it makes them likelier to attempt suicide.

And that’s not to mention pot’s peril on our roads, especially for young drivers.

You’d think Hickenlooper, at 71, the father of two – including an eight-month-old – would choose his words, and facts, more carefully on the subject. At least as carefully as he chose them a dozen years ago.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board