POT PROPOSAL JOINS 13 OTHER MEASURES ON NOV. BALLOT

Colorado voters in November will decide whether to legalize adult pot
possession. The Colorado Secretary of State's Office on Wednesday
ruled that backers of the pot initiative collected enough valid voter
signatures to put the issue on the ballot.

The measure would legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana
by people 21 years and older.

"This goes to show what we knew all along: that adults in Colorado
support a safer alternative to alcohol," said Mason Tvert, campaign
director for Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation. "We think
that getting that message across loud and clear will mean success for
us in November."

SAFER was also behind a successful initiative in Denver last November
that made it legal for adults to possess up to one ounce of pot.
Denver law enforcement officials, however, continue to ticket
small-time pot-possession violators under state law.

Tvert acknowledged that the state initiative will only amend drug
statutes, not the state constitution, which would allow members of
the General Assembly to simply overturn its passage.

A total of 130,815 signatures were submitted for the pot proposal. To
make the ballot, 67,829 signatures are required.

The latest approval by the secretary of state brings to seven the
number of citizen initiatives on the November ballot.

Voters also will decide measures that would raise the minimum wage,
impose new government ethics rules, define marriage as between a man
and a woman, limit the terms of state Supreme Court and state Appeals
Court judges to three terms, put requirements on school district
spending, and make it easier for citizens to propose initiatives at
all levels of state and local government.

Still awaiting a ruling by the secretary of state is a measure that
would specify that same-sex couples have the same legal rights and
benefits granted to married couples.

In addition, the legislature has put seven measures on the ballot.