420
Founder
Denver voters will decide Tuesday whether it will be legal for adults over 21 to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. Seattle, Oakland, Calif., and a couple of college towns already have laws making individual possession the lowest law enforcement priority.
Supporters in Denver have launched a "Make Denver Safer" campaign that contends the change will help curb domestic violence because adults will opt for pot over alcohol.
"There's no doubt that if people choose to use marijuana instead of alcohol we would not have the same number of problems," said Mason Tvert, the 23-year-old campaign organizer.
The argument has angered local officials.
"It's a deceptive and deceitful campaign," said Councilman Charlie Brown, who spent a recent Saturday night ripping the signs up from public parks and medians -- where they are banned -- and throwing them in the garbage. "Domestic violence is not on the ballot. Alcohol is not on the ballot. Marijuana is on the ballot."
Despite the attention the campaign has drawn, critics of the proposal are quick to point out that a "yes" vote won't matter much. City police will simply file marijuana possession charges under state law, which carries up to a $100 fine and a mandatory $100 drug offender surcharge fine, said David Broadwell, a Denver assistant attorney.
From 2002 to August of this year, some 6,800 people in Denver were charged with possession of less than one ounce of marijuana, according to the city attorney's Office. Of those, only 74 were charged under the city ordinance. Authorities say an ounce can be used to make about 60 joints, or marijuana cigarettes.
"The initiative isn't going to change the way we do business. Ninety- eight percent are charged with state penalties. If the ballot initiative is approved then it will be 100 percent of cases," said Vince DeCroce, director of prosecution for the attorney's office.
Tvert argues that the vote is more about changing the image of marijuana than anything else.
"All you hear is that marijuana is the devil and it's going to cause you to ruin your life," Tvert said. "And that's not true. We are simply trying to inject some of the other side into the argument, because currently it's been kept out.
"What is it about adult marijuana users that is so scary?"
The campaign in Denver and similar, nonbinding initiatives passed by students on two of the largest college campuses in the state are only part of larger plan to move the state to a system of taxation and regulation for the drug, Tvert said.
"The thing is, we can't get there without doing this," Tvert said. "We need the power of the people of Denver to lobby the state."
Bruce Mirkin of the Marijuana Policy Project, one of the largest national groups that opposes jail time for pot use, said change often comes from the local level.
"It's part of starting the discussion, and I think hopefully creating momentum for at least the broader society to have the conversation about the country's marijuana laws," he said.
Last year, 64 percent of Oakland voters told police to make marijuana possession its lowest enforcement priority and required the city to develop a plan for licensing and taxing the sale, use and cultivation of pot for private use. A similar vote is on Tuesday's ballot in the Colorado ski resort town of Telluride.
In Denver, critics of the proposal are wary of the reputation a "yes" vote might bring to the Colorado capital.
"People will flock to Denver to use marijuana," said Jeffrey Sweetin, head of the Rocky Mountain Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Even if possession of one ounce is legal, people would still have to illegally buy the drug, Sweetin said, and "people don't realize all that money goes to organized crime."
Source: Casper Star-Tribune (WY)
Copyright: 2005 Casper Star-Tribune
Contact: letters@casperstartribune.net
Website: trib.com
Supporters in Denver have launched a "Make Denver Safer" campaign that contends the change will help curb domestic violence because adults will opt for pot over alcohol.
"There's no doubt that if people choose to use marijuana instead of alcohol we would not have the same number of problems," said Mason Tvert, the 23-year-old campaign organizer.
The argument has angered local officials.
"It's a deceptive and deceitful campaign," said Councilman Charlie Brown, who spent a recent Saturday night ripping the signs up from public parks and medians -- where they are banned -- and throwing them in the garbage. "Domestic violence is not on the ballot. Alcohol is not on the ballot. Marijuana is on the ballot."
Despite the attention the campaign has drawn, critics of the proposal are quick to point out that a "yes" vote won't matter much. City police will simply file marijuana possession charges under state law, which carries up to a $100 fine and a mandatory $100 drug offender surcharge fine, said David Broadwell, a Denver assistant attorney.
From 2002 to August of this year, some 6,800 people in Denver were charged with possession of less than one ounce of marijuana, according to the city attorney's Office. Of those, only 74 were charged under the city ordinance. Authorities say an ounce can be used to make about 60 joints, or marijuana cigarettes.
"The initiative isn't going to change the way we do business. Ninety- eight percent are charged with state penalties. If the ballot initiative is approved then it will be 100 percent of cases," said Vince DeCroce, director of prosecution for the attorney's office.
Tvert argues that the vote is more about changing the image of marijuana than anything else.
"All you hear is that marijuana is the devil and it's going to cause you to ruin your life," Tvert said. "And that's not true. We are simply trying to inject some of the other side into the argument, because currently it's been kept out.
"What is it about adult marijuana users that is so scary?"
The campaign in Denver and similar, nonbinding initiatives passed by students on two of the largest college campuses in the state are only part of larger plan to move the state to a system of taxation and regulation for the drug, Tvert said.
"The thing is, we can't get there without doing this," Tvert said. "We need the power of the people of Denver to lobby the state."
Bruce Mirkin of the Marijuana Policy Project, one of the largest national groups that opposes jail time for pot use, said change often comes from the local level.
"It's part of starting the discussion, and I think hopefully creating momentum for at least the broader society to have the conversation about the country's marijuana laws," he said.
Last year, 64 percent of Oakland voters told police to make marijuana possession its lowest enforcement priority and required the city to develop a plan for licensing and taxing the sale, use and cultivation of pot for private use. A similar vote is on Tuesday's ballot in the Colorado ski resort town of Telluride.
In Denver, critics of the proposal are wary of the reputation a "yes" vote might bring to the Colorado capital.
"People will flock to Denver to use marijuana," said Jeffrey Sweetin, head of the Rocky Mountain Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Even if possession of one ounce is legal, people would still have to illegally buy the drug, Sweetin said, and "people don't realize all that money goes to organized crime."
Source: Casper Star-Tribune (WY)
Copyright: 2005 Casper Star-Tribune
Contact: letters@casperstartribune.net
Website: trib.com
