Tired Of The Harassment, Another State Looks At Full Legalization.

greenbuddha · May 20, 2011

Pot Backers Aim for Legalization Vote in '12Posted by CN Staff on May 19, 2011 at 17:37:19 PT

By Tim Hoover, The Denver Post

Colorado -- Pot backers have filed eight initiatives with the state aimed at legalizing marijuana. All of the initiatives would ask voters in 2012 to legalize the use and possession — an ounce or less — of marijuana for those 21 and older, and all would allow the state to set up a regulatory structure for retail sales of pot.

If approved by voters, the initiatives also would allow people to legally grow up to six marijuana plants. The initiatives all specify, however, that they would not permit the public consumption of marijuana.

"I think people in this state have come to understand that marijuana is not the dangerous substance that law enforcement and the federal government have made it out to be," said Brian Vicente, executive director of Sensible Colorado, which supports legalization.

Coloradans in 2000 passed Amendment 20, which eventually led to the state's present system of medical marijuana dispensaries and grow facilities.

Critics have said the system is a nudge-nudge, wink-wink way to legally sell and use pot for those who are not truly ill or suffering from pain.

In 2006, voters shot down a ballot measure to legalize pot with 59 percent of voters opposed.

While 14 states and the District of Columbia now allow medical marijuana, no state has voted to legalize the substance. Even left-leaning California voters shot down a legalization measure last year.

Mike Turner, a spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said he didn't know what the DEA would do if marijuana were legalized in Colorado.

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Complete Article: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_18099454

Source: Denver Post (CO)

Author: Tim Hoover, The Denver Post

Published: May 19, 2011

Website: http://www.denverpost.com/

Contact: openforum@denverpost.com

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