Hickenlooper Says Marijuana is 'Reckless' But Doesn’t Back it Up on Edibles

On Mon., Oct. 20, Dr. Larry Wolk, executive director and chief medical officer of the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, publicly called for a ban on marijuana edibles in Colorado. In a matter of hours, the department walked back its proposal with a statement crafted by marijuana coordinators working in the office of Governor John Hickenlooper.

A CDPHE employee, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of losing employment, reported that Dr. Wolk was pressured to withdraw the proposal and points to the transmission of an e-mail sent to Dr. Wolk by J. Skyler McKinley, deputy director of marijuana coordination. The message’s subject line is “Statement from CDPHE on edibles?,” and it is time-stamped 3:03 p.m., Oct. 20.

“Here’s what we came up with. Feel free to adjust, edit as you see fit …” McKinley wrote when guiding CDPHE officials on how they should withdraw the department’s call for an edibles ban.

In the ensuing thread, Dr. Wolk sent a message acknowledging he had “no choice at this point” but to go along, the CDPHE employee also reported. Before the e-mail exchange, Dr. Wolk had received a call from Andrew Freedman, director of marijuana coordination, the employee also said.

“You better ask for a copy of this e-mail because messages like this have a way of disappearing very quickly,” the CDPHE employee said.

Indeed, we filed a Colorado Open Records Act request on October 22nd, seeking the e-mail that CDPHE employees have copies of — and the State of Colorado told us this evening it has no such record.

Sure it doesn’t.