PRO-POT GROUP SEEKS STATE VOTE

SAFER Will Pursue Ballot Initiative for November

Just two months after persuading Denver voters to legalize possession
of small amounts of marijuana, proponents today will announce plans
for a similar statewide initiative.

The group Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, or SAFER, will
hold a news conference in front of the state Capitol today to
announce its filing of a proposed 2006 statewide ballot initiative.

Mason Tvert, SAFER's campaign director, declined Tuesday to give
specifics of the campaign. The group would have to gather 67,829
signatures from registered voters to get the issue on the ballot.

The effort drew sharp criticism from Colorado Attorney General John
Suthers, who said it would have a drastic impact on law-enforcement
efforts in the state. While federal authorities could still pursue
large-scale marijuana trafficking, local and state law-enforcement
authorities would be forced to change their practices if the measure
passed, Suthers said.

"On this statewide ballot initiative, law enforcement will weigh in
significantly to say what a bad policy legalization would be," Suthers said.

While supporters of the initiative argue that marijuana is a benign
drug that is safe compared with alcohol, Suthers said marijuana is
addictive and could snare adolescents in more harmful behavior.

"If you want to have a debate for legalization of marijuana, then
let's have a full-out debate, which I think this initiative will
engender," Suthers said.

Nevada voters will face a similar ballot initiative next November
that seeks to have marijuana taxed and regulated like alcohol.

Only two other states - Alaska and Nevada - have seen such
initiatives since 2000, said Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the
Marijuana Policy Project. Both of those initiatives were defeated,
although they drew more support than past efforts, he said.

Denver residents in November passed Initiative 100 by 54 percent to
46 percent. The measure changed the city's ordinance to make it legal
for adults age 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana in
the city. Denver and state police continue to cite individuals in the
city under state law.

In Denver, SAFER ran a provocative campaign. It tried to draw Mayor
John Hickenlooper into the fray by labeling him a hypocrite for
selling alcohol in his brewpubs when he opposed the effort to
legalize marijuana.

SAFER also drew fire from domestic-violence groups and eventually
pulled a controversial billboard that showed a battered woman and her
abuser with the slogan "Reduce family and community violence in
Denver. Vote Yes on I-100."

John Straayer, a professor of political science at Colorado State
University, said he suspects supporters of legalizing possession of
marijuana will have a harder time passing a statewide measure because
many areas of the state are more culturally conservative than Denver.

Still, he said, a libertarian strain among some conservatives could
help draw support.

"I would bet 100 bucks it wouldn't pass," Straayer said. "But I
wouldn't put my mortgage on the line."