In February, Watson said the Rhode Island Legislature had their priorities right -- "if you are a Guatemalan gay man who likes to gamble and smokes marijuana."
Rather than just apologize and move on, Watson -- while a guest on a radio show soon after that misstep, and in response to the understandable outcry over his comments -- said, "I reject the suggestion that it's insulting."
Watson continued to refuse to say he was sorry. "I apologize when appropriate and/or necessary," Watson told the Providence Journal in February. "I identify this situation as representing neither circumstance."
The East Greenwich, R.I., politician recently pooh-poohed debate over the decriminalization of marijuana as not worthy of legislators' time, reports The Associated Press.
Watson was pulled over at a police checkpoint on Friday, according to East Haven police. Officers noted a "strong odor of marijuana" coming from the nervous Republican's car, and charged him with possession and driving under the influence after a search.
The loud-mouthed, bigoted legislator seems to have suddenly gotten a lot quieter.
But his office finally released a statement on Monday in which he denied he was driving under the influence. He claimed he was in Connecticut to help a friend move, and was driving home from dinner when he was stopped.
"Trace evidence of marijuana was discovered and I was charged with operating under the influence, a charge I vehemently deny," Watson said in a prepared statement.
Watson won't face immediate political consequences for his little adventure. Rhode Island's Ethic's Commission won't investigate allegations that fall outside a lawmaker's public duties. So it looks like this two-faced THC-hound will continue having a bully pulpit to badmouth marijuana despite the fact that he enjoys hit himself.
He's been released after signing a $500 bond and promising to appear in court on May 11.
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