VOTE YES ON 2F IN BRECKENRIDGE

Remove Criminal Penalties For Adults Possessing Small Amounts Of
Marijuana

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over
expecting a different result, then our current marijuana policies are
insane. This country has waged a multi-billion dollar annual war on
marijuana with no meaningful results. The only thing the war on
marijuana has produced is misery: criminalizing the 20 million
Americans who have been arrested for simple possession since 1965,
causing lost jobs, lost student loans, denied housing, and a loss of
tax revenue from refusing to regulate this market. It's time to end
the madness.

The war on marijuana is a war on good people. It is a preemptive war
that declares we must arrest everyone who uses marijuana in hopes of
getting a hold of the few who might use it irresponsibly. It is the
equivalent of the "let's burn the village to save the village."
According to current Breckenridge law, people like President Obama,
Colorado Governor Ritter, and local town councilman Jeff Bergeron are
criminals because they have admitted to smoking marijuana. This is
Breckenridge, not Alabama, and it's time to make our local laws
express our local will.

The war on marijuana is blatantly hypocritical when compared to our
alcohol policy. Every objective study has found that marijuana is less
dangerous than alcohol, both to the user and to society at large.
Alcohol use alone can kill and regularly leads to violence, where
marijuana use does not. While there is no physical addiction to
marijuana, the small numbers of people who suffer some psychological
dependence to marijuana is half of the addiction rate of alcohol. In a
society that celebrates and encourages alcohol use, it is hypocritical
and bad public policy to punish people for using a less-harmful substance.

There are 13,000 marijuana arrests at a cost of $75 million per year
in Colorado. There is a multi-million dollar drug task force in Summit
County that spends most of its time setting up people who possess
small amounts of marijuana. That is your tax dollars at work. In
Summit County, there are nearly 400 marijuana prosecutions for simple
possession every year - that's one fourth the number of arrests in
Denver - a town more than 100 times bigger. Since Breckenridge voters
overwhelmingly supported the statewide marijuana initiative in 2006
removing criminal penalties for adult possession of marijuana, there
have been nearly 100 marijuana prosecutions in the town. Law
enforcement has not gotten the message from the voters, and there
continues to be disproportionate enforcement of marijuana laws in this
county.

Breckenridge's initiative matters. Breckenridge was a leader in 1992
when it was the first town to say that medical marijuana patients
should not be prosecuted. Eight years later voters statewide enshrined
that principal into the Colorado constitution - legalizing medical
marijuana. A yes vote on 2F means four things: your town tax dollars
will no longer be used to criminalize people for using small amounts
of marijuana; no longer will our visitors and residents have a
criminal record as a result of a town prosecution for marijuana; the
will of the voters expressed in 2006 will be respected by removing
this outdated law; and the war on marijuana has failed miserably and
Breckenridge voters will not support this policy.

Vote yes on Breckenridge initiative 2F on Nov. 3. Let the change begin
here at home. There is nothing inherently criminal in the responsible
use of marijuana by adults over 21. The long arc of time bends toward
justice, and passing 2F will be yet another turn in that long journey.