The Opposite of Woe: on Drugs


1989: Arrested for drunk driving; did community service

In 1989, something not so great happened. On my way home from an employee's birthday party, I was arrested for drinking and driving. I didn't fight the charge of "driving while impaired." I did what I did and it was stupid and dangerous. I could have killed myself, or worse, someone else. I did my community service, but also changed the way the Wynkoop did business. We became the first restaurant in Colorado to offer a designated-driver program.
Source: The Opposite of Woe, by John Hickenlooper, p.183 May 24, 2016

First state to regulate legal sale of marijuana

[With the 2013 legislative session] We became the first state in the nation to pass laws to regulate the legal sale of marijuana. Every other regulated industry has benefited from years of trial and error, and could look to other states or even other countries for models of what has worked and what has not. That was not an option here.

The General Assembly agreed to a 15 percent excise tax to an initial 10 percent sales tax for recreational marijuana. For the sake of public safety, we set a legal limit of active THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, that drivers can have in their blood so that juries have a benchmark to judge whether someone was too high to drive. The Colorado Department of Revenue created an innovative seed-to-sale tracking system. The rules were written. Recreational sales of marijuana would begin on January 1, 2014.

Source: The Opposite of Woe, by John Hickenlooper, p.317 May 24, 2016

  • The above quotations are from The Opposite of Woe
    My Life in Beer and Politics
    by John Hickenlooper & Maximillian Potter    .
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Drugs.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by John Hickenlooper on Drugs.
2020 Presidential contenders on Drugs:
  Republicans:
Gov.John Kasich(OH)
V.P.Mike Pence(IN)
Gov.Mark Sanford (R-SC)
Pres.Donald Trump(NY)
Gov.Bill Weld(MA) 		Democrats:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO)
V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE)
Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN)
Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX)
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC)
Rep.John Delaney (D-MD)
Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK)
Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
Gov.Larry Hogan (D-MD)
Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Mayor Wayne Messam (D-FL)
Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA)
Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX)
Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA)
Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Adm.Joe Sestak (D-PA)
CEO Tom Steyer (D-CA)
Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Marianne Williamson (D-CA)
CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY)

2020 Third Party Candidates:
Rep.Justin Amash (L-MI)
Howie Hawkins (G-NY)
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
V.P.Mike Pence (R-IN)
Howard Schultz(I-WA)
V.C.Arvin Vohra (L-MD)
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Page last updated: Aug 10, 2019