DENVER VOTES TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA POSSESSION

DENVER -- Voters here approved making Denver the first major city to
legalize small amounts of marijuana, but the mayor warned that state
law still makes possession of the drug illegal.

"OK of pot issue gives new meaning to Mile High City," said
Wednesday's headline in the Rocky Mountain News. The measure, which
passed Tuesday with 54% of the vote, says adults 21 and older may
possess up to an ounce of marijuana without penalty in the city.

A few other cities, including Seattle and Oakland, have laws that
make marijuana possession a low priority for police. A dozen states,
including Colorado, have decriminalized possession of small amounts
but still issue fines.

Unlike Denver, the Colorado ski town of Telluride, population 2,300,
narrowly defeated a measure Tuesday that would have made possession
of marijuana the lowest police priority. It might be already: Just 17
citations were issued there last year for pot possession.

Don't expect clouds of marijuana smoke to fill Denver's thin air.
Mayor John Hickenlooper said police will continue to arrest and
charge people for marijuana because state law still makes possession illegal.

Hickenlooper said the city can adopt an ordinance that is stricter
than state law on marijuana but not one that is weaker.

Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project in
Washington, D.C., said Denver's vote will spur initiatives in other
cities to legalize and regulate marijuana like alcohol or tobacco.

"It's certainly likely to energize people. This is the wind in the
sails of reform," Mirken said Wednesday. "Rethinking marijuana
prohibition is mainstream. This is the heart of America saying, 'Hold
on, maybe our current marijuana laws don't make a lot of sense.' And
the fact is, they're right."

Mason Tvert, who led the Denver campaign for legalized pot, said he
will encourage people who are charged under state law to fight their
arrests in court.

In Colorado, having an ounce of marijuana or less is punishable by a
$100 fine but no jail time. "It's like a speeding ticket, and only a
fraction of people end up going to court over it," said Tvert,
founder of SAFER, or Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation.

Tvert said his group also will seek a state initiative to license and
regulate the sale of marijuana. His campaign argued that legalized
pot is a safer alternative, considering the problems that arise from
alcohol abuse such as violent crime and health risks.

The mayor said he opposed the measure because he considers marijuana
a "gateway" drug that can lead to harder substances and "much more
self-destructive behaviors." Hickenlooper acknowledged, however, that
Denver's vote "does reflect a genuine shift in people's attitudes."

Although Denver's marijuana vote caught attention, the main issue
Coloradans approved Tuesday will let the state government keep $3.7
billion in tax revenue over the next five years. The money otherwise
would have been refunded to taxpayers under a 1992 constitutional
amendment, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which has strict caps on
state spending. The statewide referendum passed with 52% of the vote.