Mayor, four on council fess up to pot
Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News
Published August 28, 2007 at midnight
Denver Councilwoman Marcia Johnson didn't inhale either.
Her only experiment with weed, Johnson said, took the form of a marijuana-laced brownie.
"I even scraped a bowl," she said.
No, not that kind of bowl.
The east Denver councilwoman, who said the pot gave her the giggles, is among five city officials who told the Denver Daily News that they've smoked or ingested bud.
The other four: Mayor John Hickenlooper and council members Rick Garcia, Carla Madison and Jeanne Robb.
The revelations came in advance of a council vote Monday on whether to let Denver voters decide if adult possession of less than an ounce of marijuana should be the "lowest priority" for police.
Lindy Eichenbaum Lent, a senior adviser to the mayor, said Hickenlooper wouldn't encourage making his youthful "personal choices" public policy.
"This type of issue is such a moot point these days," she said.
David Kenney, president of the Kenney Group, a political consulting firm, agreed.
"I don't think (marijuana use) is the political death knell that it may have been in previous generations," Kenney said.
Council members Charlie Brown, Peggy Lehmann, Doug Linkhart and Judy Montero declined to say whether or not they've ever used pot.
Carol Boigon and Chris Nevitt were coy but hinted they had.
"I graduated from (the University of Michigan) in 1969," Boigon said.
Haley Foster, program director for the Denver-based Council on Substance Abuse and Mental Health, said the admission of pot use by city officials tells the public that it's OK to use weed.
"I think it does legitimize it. 'Who cares? I've done it, and I'm OK.' I think that's what it tells people," Foster said.
But council President Michael Hancock, who said he's never used pot, said many of his colleagues are from a different era.
"I didn't grow up in an era that they did, where that was a more acceptable thing to do," said Hancock, who is 38.
chacond@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5099
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