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Former Rep. Tancredo backs off bet to smoke pot

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Reporter: Associated Press

DENVER (AP) -- Former congressman Tom Tancredo, who made a deal with a documentary filmmaker to smoke marijuana if Colorado legalized the drug for recreational use, has backed off the bet.

KUSA-TV reports (http://on9news.tv/XHQvBa) the former U.S. representative from suburban Denver said in an email Friday he would have to "welch" on the bet. He cited the negative example it would set for his grandchildren.

Tancredo launched a radio ad in October that compared marijuana prohibition to alcohol prohibition and said keeping pot illegal "steers Colorado money to criminals in Mexico."

Tancredo, a Republican, says in an email that he wouldn’t want his actions to cause turmoil for his grandkids.