Denver Pot Measure Wafts To Victory

[Guest]

Posted by CN Staff on November 01, 2005 at 21:15:28 PT
By Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News
Source: Rocky Mountain News

Denver, Colorado -- A measure that would legalize adult possession of small amounts of marijuana in Denver was approved by voters Tuesday, following a heated campaign that saw pot backers accused of exploiting residents' fear of crime.
The measure was leading by more than 7,000 votes with just over 100,000 votes counted when the Rocky Mountain News called the contest.

The central theme of Initiative 100, the Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Initiative, is that adults should have the right to legally choose marijuana, because it's a safer alternative to booze, which supporters argue — citing national and local studies — fuels violence, deadly car wrecks, collegiate binge-drinking and alcoholism.

While other big cities, such at Seattle and Oakland, Calif., have passed laws making adult pot use a low police priority, supporters say passage I-100 would make Denver the first major city to legalize adult possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana.

The pot-beats-booze battle cry "is the new message in the war against the war on marijuana," said I-100 campaign coordinator, Mason Tvert, a 23-year-old Denver resident vowing to take the crusade nationwide.

But Denver officials said an I-100 amendment of local law would change nothing, because the vast majority of marijuana possession busts — which were a mere 3.2 percent of all city arrests in 2004 — will continue to be prosecuted under state law.

Gene Moffett, a TV cameraman, rejected the initiative voting at a church in his south Denver neighborhood.

"No. I just think that would just open up more cans of worms," he said.

Eighty-year old Republican Lila Fehrer was also wary of the proposal.

"I voted against that. Drugs are just too prominent everywhere," she said. "And to make it legal I think it would get out of hand."
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[omega7]

Thanks for the info NOWM. Some of my favorite weed that i have ever smoked came out of denver. Anyone want to share a minibike out to colorado. Dumb and dumber style. I'll supply the minibike, you bring the dog truck. Anyone named Seabass in the crowd?

 

[Guest]

Kudos to the wise citizens of Denver!

 

[Guest]

Denver voters make adult possession of one ounce or less of marijuana legal.

Denver became the first city in the nation to make the private use of marijuana legal for adults 21 and older as an alternative to alcohol, a far more harmful drug. By 10.45 p.m. Tuesday night, with 100% of the votes tallied, the Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Initiative had passed 53.49% YES to 46.51% NO.

The Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Initiative is the first local measure in the nation to draw a comparison between the harms of alcohol and marijuana.

The successful I-100 campaign focused on the vast number of health, safety and social problems associated with alcohol use, promoting marijuana use to avoid the prevalence of such problems. The campaign pointed to government reports and scholarly studies that show alcohol is a contributing factor in domestic violence, sexual assaults, and other violent crimes, as well as overdose deaths, whereas the use of marijuana has never been linked to such violent behavior and there has never been a marijuana overdose death in history.


Colorado Medical Marijuana certificate
"It is time our laws reflect the facts, and it is an indisputable fact that marijuana is safer than alcohol, both to the user and to society," said Mason Tvert, executive director of SAFER and coordinator of the I-100 campaign. "Current laws accept and even encourage the use of alcohol over marijuana, thus pushing people toward using a more harmful substance. Why on earth would we prohibit an adult from making the rational, safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol in their own home?"

By approving the I-100, the use of marijuana in public, the use of marijuana by people under 21, driving under the influence of marijuana, and the cultivation and distribution of marijuana would all remain illegal, much like with alcohol.


Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) is a Colorado-based non-profit organization whose mission is to educate the public about the harmful consequences associated with alcohol, as compared to the safer — yet illegal — substance: marijuana.

Here is the language of the Initiative-100

Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Initiative

WHEREAS, according to the National Institutes of Health, an average of 317 Americans die annually as the result of alcohol overdoses; and

WHEREAS, there has never been even a single fatal marijuana overdose recorded in the medical literature, as noted by the British Medical Journal in September 2003; and

WHEREAS, according to U.S. Department of Justice, “About 3 million crimes occur each year in which victims perceive the offender to have been drinking at the time of the offense. Among those victims who provided information about the offender’s use of alcohol, about 35% of the victimizations involved an offender who had been drinking”; and

WHEREAS, extensive research, documented in official reports by the British government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and the Canadian Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, among others, shows that -- unlike alcohol -- marijuana use is not generally a cause of violence or aggressive behavior and in fact tends to reduce violence and aggression;

WHEREAS, it is the intent of this ordinance to have the private adult use and possession of marijuana treated in the same manner as the private adult use and possession of alcohol;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER

________________________________________________________________________

TEXT OF PROPOSED INITIATIVE
(proposed addition in all caps, underlined)

Amend Art. 5, Div. 3, Sec. 38-175 (Revised Municipal Code)

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person UNDER THE AGE OF TWENTY-ONE (21) to possess one (1) ounce or less of marihuana. If such person is under the age of eighteen (18) years of age at the time of the offense, no jail sentence shall be imposed and any fine imposed may be supplanted by treatment as required by the court.

 

[Guest]

CNN NOW!!!

they jsut advertised the upcoming story onit!!!

 

[Guest]

gosh i love my DVR!! still a commercial.. but watching!!

 

[Guest]

they said at the end: to Note: That you could still be charged by the State and Federal Government... but we knew that...

I do think any step in that direction is the right one... and I really like what SAFER stands for... :smile:

 

[mellow]

hooray, weed!

 

[mellow]

i used to think that weed wouldn't be legalized in my lifetime. but i'm starting to have hope.

 

[bartender187]

I do think any step in that direction is the right one... and I really like what SAFER stands for...

exactly... anything is something.

props to alll the people who went out and voted.

 

[Guest]

I didn't think it would pass myself, this was the subject of the day at work for me. Later that night it passed... we got together at the Capitol (Denver) and smoked till about Midnight... Denver/Boulder has one nice crowd on April 20th...

 

[Jahminded]

Although I applaud the move in the right direction I would still be worried if I lived in Denver and carried cannabis with me regularly. At least with States that have passed medical marijuana legislation you are dealing with the entire state. If in Denver I would be worried if the local smokey called his state poolice buddy to come over and bust you. Is that possible?

 

[aeric]

This is late but...Having visited the area quite a few times I'm not all that surprised it happened there, just REALLY happy that it finally did!

 

[Guest]

Jah it sure is a risk still, We still have to worry about the Fed$ like always, its a nice place to live as well