Residents of the Mile High City have voted to legalize the possession
of small
amounts of marijuana for adults. Authorities, though, said state
possession
laws will be applied instead.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting early Wednesday, 54 percent,
or
56,001 voters, cast ballots for the ordinance, while 46 percent, or
48,632
voters, voted against it.
Under the measure, residents over 21 years old could possess up to an
ounce of
marijuana.
"We educated voters about the facts that marijuana is less harmful to
the user
and society than alcohol," said Mason Tvert, campaign organizer for
SAFER, or
Safer Alternatives For Enjoyable Recreation. "To prohibit adults from
making
the rational, safer choice to use marijuana is bad public policy."
Bruce Mirken of the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project
said he
hoped the approval will launch a national trend toward legalizing a
drug whose
enforcement he said causes more problems than it cures.
Seattle, Oakland, Calif., and a few college towns already have laws
making
possession the lowest law enforcement priority.
The Denver proposal seemed to draw at least as much attention for
supporters'
campaign tactics as it did for the question of legalizing the drug.
Tvert argued that legalizing marijuana would reduce consumption of
alcohol,
which he said leads to higher rates of car accidents, domestic and
street
violence and crime.
The group criticized Mayor John Hickenlooper for opposing the proposal,
noting
his ownership of a popular brewpub. It also said recent violent crimes
-
including the shootings of four people last weekend - as a reason to
legalize
marijuana to steer people away from alcohol use.
Those tactics angered local officials and some voters. Opponents also
said it
made no sense to prevent prosecution by Denver authorities while
marijuana
charges are most often filed under state and federal law.
The measure would not affect the medical marijuana law voters approved
in
2000. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that medical marijuana
laws in
Colorado and nine other states would not protect licensed users from
federal
prosecution.
I'll allow the replys to separate the informed from the propagandized.
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