Thread: Tancredo vows to smoke pot, in promo for film about Colorado's pot legalization

Tancredo vows to smoke pot, in promo for film about Colorado's successful legalization effort

Published January 23, 2013
FoxNews.com

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  FILE: Nov. 12, 2007: Former presidential candidate and Congressman Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., at a press conference at the Marriot Hotel in Des Moines, Iowa. (REUTERS)

Tokin’ Tom Tancredo? Not exactly. But the former Colorado Republican congressman and presidential candidate vowed to smoke a joint if home-state residents voted in favor of legalizing marijuana, which they did.

Tancredo made the promise in a recently released promotional video for a fledgling documentary about the successful effort to pass Amendment 64.

He was already known to be a surprise-but-solid supporter of the referendum, saying the effort aligns with his long-held conservative views that federal efforts to prohibit adult marijuana use is a prime example of “wasteful and ineffective” government.

“I am endorsing Amendment 64 not despite my conservative beliefs, but because of them,” he wrote in an op-ed piece prior to the Nov. 6 referendum vote. “Our nation is spending tens of billions of dollars annually in an attempt to prohibit adults from using a substance objectively less harmful than alcohol.”

Tancredo, who says he doesn’t smoke pot, also argued the marijuana black market is funding drug cartels and that the United States is spending tens of billions annually on prohibition efforts while studies show Colorado alone could make $60 million a year on state-run production and sales.

Tancredo, who also ran unsuccessfully for Colorado governor in 2010, agreed to smoke marijuana near the close of the 10-minute promotional video by stand-up comic Adam Hartle, who is trying to get financial contributions through the website Indiegogo. The video was made before the referendum passed, but was recently released.

"True or false, when Amendment 64 passes and marijuana is legal, the next time I'm out in Colorado, we're going to smoke a joint together?" Hartle asks.

"Deal," Tancredo answers without missing a beat.

The video closes with text across the screen that reads: “Please help us get Congressman Tancredo rocky mountain high!”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/23/tancredo-vows-to-smoke-pot-in-promo-for-film-about-colorado-successful/

Tancredo backs out of vow to smoke pot, now that it's legal in Colorado

Published January 27, 2013
FoxNews.com

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  FILE: Nov. 12, 2007: Former presidential candidate and Congressman Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., at a press conference at the Marriot Hotel in Des Moines, Iowa. (REUTERS)
  
  Former Republican congressman and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo is going back on his vow to smoke pot if his home state of Colorado legalized marijuana.
  
  Tancredo on Friday told a local TV station that going through with the bet would set a bad example for his grandchildren.
  
  Colorado residents in November voted in support of a referendum that legalizes the state production and sale of marijuana for adult use.
  
  Tancredo, who says he does not smoke pot, made the promised to a film producer working on a documentary about the Amendment 64 effort before the votes were taken.
  
  On Wednesday, Tancredo told FoxNews.com that he would follow through on the vow.
  
  "I made a bet with the producer of the film that if Amendment 64 passed ( I did not think it would) that I would smoke pot," he said through his research and education institute, the Rocky Mountain Foundation. "I will therefore smoke pot under circumstances we both agree are legal under Colorado law.”
  
  However, he apparently changed his mind a couple of days later.
  
  “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,” said Tancredo, according to an email posted by Denver TV station KUSA. “My grandchildren are extremely precious to me and I would never want to do anything that puts them in a difficult situation.”
  
  Tancredo was a surprise-but-solid supporter of the referendum, saying the effort aligns with his long-held conservative views that federal efforts to prohibit adult marijuana use is a prime example of “wasteful and ineffective” government.
  
  He also argued the marijuana black market is funding drug cartels and that the United States is spending tens of billions annually on prohibition efforts while studies show Colorado alone could make $60 million a year on state-run production and sales.
  
  Tancredo backs out of vow to smoke pot, now that it's legal in Colorado | Fox News