LIBERTARIANS SPEAK AGAINST STATE'S DRUG-WAR SENTENCING

Colorado Libertarian Party candidates and advocates of medicinal
marijuana protested drug-war criminal sentencing Saturday at the
Statehouse at a Millennium Marijuana March.

The gathering, which had about 100 participants, drew at least one
state official -- Rep. Penfield Tate, D-Denver -- who asked advocates to
urge other legislators to examine the war on drugs.

"A study of drug sentencing in Colorado was the No. 1 priority for
(the) Legislative Council this year," Tate said. "But a bill to
authorize funds for that study was defeated in the Senate
Appropriations."

He said the state's Department of Corrections is housing many
nonviolent drug offenders. He said he wants a study of the economic
impact of those decisions on taxpayers and on the families and
children of those incarcerated.

Chuck Wright of Louisville, a Libertarian candidate for state Senate
District 17, agreed with Tate. "One of my major issues, is to bring
attention to the injustice of the war on drugs," he said. "People who
grow marijuana in their yard are sometimes sentenced to more prison
time than those convicted of murder, rape or robbery."

Unlike other marijuana-related Statehouse protests, the march did not
feature individuals smoking marijuana in public.

Dr. Shawn Glazer of Wheat Ridge, a family practice physician and a
Libertarian candidate for the Colorado House in District 24, said she
wants to educate the public on the drug issue.

"I'm not allowed to even talk about the potential benefits of
marijuana to my medical patients ... like nausea control for cancer
patients ... because of the hysteria about the drug," she said.