| Jesse Watters visited the very Mile High City for The O’Reilly Factor. |
When Jesse Watters, a correspondent for The O’Reilly Factor, visited Denver last month, he interviewed a number of colorful homeless characters about marijuana. He spoke briefly with a guy who said he was “medicating” but couldn’t name his ailment, and another guy who said he’s been smoking dope since he was a kid and spends his day perusing Facebook on a library computer. He encountered a cat named Kush lounging in his owner’s arms, and a fellow named Kush who was smoking in a park.
“Watters’ World: Stoned Homeless in Colorado” was just the latest national story to suggest that Colorado’s legalization of marijuana increased its homeless population. This summer, Yahoo trumpeted, “Pot Seen as Reason for Rise in Denver Homeless,” and the Huffington Post pronounced, “Marijuana Legalization Could Be Causing Increase in Homeless Young People in Denver: Officials.” As the Washington Post pointed out in July, the headlines implied “a city filling up with drug addicts whose habit put them on the streets.” But is that the reality?
Denver Westword has more.