MARIJUANA MEASURE RAISES STINK

Amendment 44 Proponent Disputes Bluebook Analysis

DENVER -- Amendment 44 would make it legal to give up to 1 ounce of
marijuana to anyone ages 15 through 20, as long as no money changes
hands or other compensation is involved, according to a
ballot-information booklet the Legislature has prepared for Colorado
voters.

"This was not our intention," Amendment 44 proponent Mason Tvert
insisted to members of the Legislative Council last week.

It's also untrue, Tvert said Monday, because anyone giving marijuana
to anyone under age 18 could still be charged with contributing to the
delinquency of a minor.

Tvert, a spokesman for Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation,
announced Monday that SAFER intends to go to court to try to postpone
production of the voters' guides because of the inaccurate analysis
his organization contends the booklet gives for Amendment 44.

Amendment 44 seeks to make it legal under state drug laws for anyone
age 21 and older to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana. Under current
Colorado law, anyone of any age caught possessing an ounce or less of
marijuana can be charged with a Class 2 petty offense, punishable by a
fine of up to $100.

However, the Legislature's staff has told lawmakers that Amendment 44
would also void another aspect of the state's current drug law against
possessing small amounts of marijuana: a prohibition that also makes
it a "possession" offense to transfer up to 1 ounce to another person.

That's a petty offense now, also punishable by a $100 fine, as long as
there is no payment or other compensation for that marijuana transfer.

"This initiative was only intended to address the possession of
marijuana by adults," Tvert told state lawmakers on the Legislative
Council last week.

"We do not believe that the use or possession of marijuana by minors,
especially by individuals under the age of 18, should be legal," Tvert
said at a Thursday hearing on language legislative staffers had
drafted for the Amendment 44 section of the voters' guide.

Tvert said SAFER would propose that next year's Legislature adopt a
bill "to cure this matter" if voters approve Amendment 44 in November.

Tvert said last week that SAFER is asking lawmakers to make it a $100
fine for the noncompensated transfer of less than an ounce of
marijuana to 18- 19- or 20-year-olds, and a $200 fine to give
marijuana to 15-, 16- or 17-year-olds.

Tvert said Monday that initiative proponents discovered after last
week's Legislative Council meeting that another section of Colorado
law makes it a Class 4 felony -- punishable by up to six years in
prison and a fine of up to $500,000 -- to aid or encourage a child
under age 18 to violate any federal or state law.

At the very least, Tvert suggested, the voters' guide language should
be rewritten to say that Amendment 44 would make it legal to transfer,
without compensation, small amounts of marijuana to individuals "18
years of age or older," Tvert said Monday.

Giving any amount of marijuana to an individual under age 15 is now --
and under Amendment 44, would continue to be -- a Class 4 felony crime.

Tvert noted that the measure also would keep it a petty offense,
punishable by a fine of up to $100, for anyone under age 21 to possess
marijuana, if Amendment 44 passes.