PRO-POT GROUP AIMS AT STATE LAW IN '06

Opposition Ready to Give Legalization Debate Center Stage

The same pro-pot group that persuaded Denver voters to approve a
measure legalizing adult marijuana possession in the city is now
firing up a statewide campaign to place an identical initiative on
Colorado's fall 2006 ballot.

The group, Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, plans to hold
a news conference this morning outside the State Capitol announcing
the launch of the effort. The statewide "Colorado Alcohol-Marijuana
Equalization Initiative," seeks voter approval to make it legal for
people 21 or older to possess 1 ounce or less of weed.

Even if the measure passes, it would remain illegal for people to
publicly display or smoke pot, sell it or drive under its influence.

The group will need nearly 68,000 voter signatures to qualify for the
ballot, but SAFER Campaign Director Mason Tvert said he plans to
gather about 100,000 signatures.

Tvert said the statewide campaign is largely driven by frustration
that Denver authorities, rejecting voter passage of local Initiative
100, continue to cite small-time marijuana violators under a state
law that imposes a $200 fine for possession of an ounce or less. The
initiative gives adults in Denver the right to privately possess that amount.

"Elected officials in Denver have been true to their word and
completely ignored the will of the voters," Tvert told the Rocky
Mountain News on Tuesday. "We only have one option left and that's to
change state law."

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said he welcomed a "head-on,
outright debate about legalization." He expressed frustration with
the state medical marijuana initiative passed by voters in 2000,
saying: "It was obviously advocated by legalization advocates, but
they didn't want to take the issue on head-on."

"But," Suthers added, "my personal opinion is it would be terrible
public policy to legalize possession of any amount of marijuana. The
information that we now have is that marijuana is a dangerous drug."

Pro-pot forces also are itching for the coming battle.

"Bring it on," Tvert said. "I'll gladly challenge the attorney
general to defend current public policy that pushes people to use a
deadly drug (alcohol) when they otherwise might use a far less
dangerous drug (marijuana)."

Countered Suthers: "The premise of this group seems to be that
marijuana is better than alcohol, therefore it's OK. I just don't buy
that. I never engage in the moral relativism that this is a lesser
evil . . . therefore we ought to promote this evil."

The 23-year-old Tvert surprised political observers in the Nov. 1
election by winning nearly 54 percent support to pass Initiative 100.

SAFER drew criticism from local leaders and made international
headlines for an unconventional campaign that argued marijuana is a
safer alternative to alcohol.

Now, Tvert already appears to be reaching out to Colorado's more
conservative voters outside Denver by pitching the statewide measure
as "a big issue of local rights and home-rule."

"If this initiative passes, it's not going to suddenly make marijuana
completely legal for all adults in Colorado," Tvert stressed. "All
home-rule cities and towns in Colorado, which is about 90 percent of
the state's population, will have the ability to fine or penalize
marijuana users if that's what they want to do."

"But in cities such as Denver, where . . . voters have chosen to
allow residents to make the rational decision to use marijuana
instead of alcohol, state law will no longer force police and
prosecutors to punish marijuana users," he added.

Political analyst Eric Sondermann noted, "There are two huge
differences" between pushing a pot measure in Denver and campaigning
for one statewide.

It was easier to persuade Denver voters to pass a "primarily
symbolic" measure, Sondermann added, because they knew it would have
no consequences, given that Colorado drug policy is set by state law.
"If and when they take this statewide, it will have consequences.
They will be amending state statute."

More importantly, Sondermann said: "Delta is not Denver," referring
to the conservative Western Slope town. "The biggest factor is simply
the demographics, cultural attitudes and political performance are
very, very different just going to the Denver suburbs. But
particularly when you go to the outlying areas, they get
night-and-day different."

Indeed, the day after Denver's pot initiative passed, Republican Gov.
Bill Owens said he'd love to see a statewide marijuana showdown.

"The governor doesn't believe the Denver vote is representative of
what the entire state vote would be on this issue," Owens' spokesman,
Dan Hopkins, said Tuesday. "He believes that we would get an entirely
different result."

"Obviously this is something that he doesn't support and wouldn't
support," Hopkins added.

But national marijuana reform advocates think it's a mistake to
dismiss SAFER's success.

"For anybody who would underestimate SAFER, I would say a lot of
people underestimated them in Denver," said Bruce Mirken, spokesman
for the national Marijuana Policy Project. The Washington, D.C-based
group has qualified a statewide November measure in Nevada that asks
voters to tax and regulate pot.

"I certainly wouldn't brush them off by any means," he added.

Mirken noted that SAFER convinced many Denver residents to rethink
the marijuana issue and the local victory "means increased momentum
for consideration of the whole issue."

Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown criticized SAFER's Initiative
100 campaign for lawn signs reading "Make Denver SAFER," calling it a
blatant attempt to fool voters into thinking it was an effort to fund
more city police officers.

"Now that the word is out about how they, in my judgment, tried to
mislead people, I hope that their statewide campaign is not based on
mendacities and half-truths," Brown said. "I hope they can come
straight with the Colorado voters and we'll see who wins."

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, while expressing concerns about
marijuana being a "gateway drug" that can spawn harmful addictions,
didn't actively campaign against Initiative 100.

The mayor's spokeswoman, Lindy Eichenbaum Lent, said she doubted
Hickenlooper would take an active role against the measure. "Clearly,
going statewide was always (SAFER's) strategy - and understandably so
since municipal approaches like Initiative 100 are trumped by state
law," she added.

[sidebar]

EASING POT LAWS

States that have passed laws imposing little or no fines and no jail
time for possession of small amounts of marijuana:

Alaska

California

Colorado

Maine

Minnesota

Mississippi

Nebraska

Nevada

New York

N. Carolina

Ohio

Oregon

States that have passed medical marijuana laws:

Alaska

California

Colorado

Hawaii

Maine

Maryland

Montana

Nevada

Oregon

Vermont

Washington