COLO. POT ADVOCATES PLAN 2012 LEGALIZATION PUSH

Activists See Growing Support Despite New Rules on Medical Marijuana

In the wake of new legislation regulating the burgeoning medical
marijuana industry, advocates in Colorado are planning another
attempt to simply legalize the drug for recreational as well as
medicinal purposes.

Activists have their eyes on placing a state constitutional amendment
on the ballot in 2012.

The Boulder-based Cannabis Therapy Institute announced Friday it will
work on a legalization measure for 2012. Greg Stinson, president of
the Front Range chapter of the National Organization for the Reform
of Marijuana Laws, said he's aware of at least one other group
looking at a 2012 ballot measure, though he wasn't sure the group was
ready to go public.

In a news release, the Cannabis Therapy Institute said the medical
marijuana regulations signed into law by Gov. Bill Ritter are too
restrictive, and the best solution is to push for full legalization.
Under the name "Legalize 2012," the institute is forming a
fundraising board and a committee to work on the language of the initiative.

Representatives of the group could not be reached Friday afternoon.
The group's Web site says they are considering language that would
legalize the sale, production, transport and use of marijuana and
allow for taxation and regulation of the industry in ways similar to
the regulations around the production of alcohol.

The last statewide ballot initiative to legalize marijuana --
Amendment 44 in 2006 -- lost, 61 percent to 39 percent.

Since then, Nederland and Breckenridge residents have voted to
legalize marijuana in largely symbolic ballot measures.

A Rasmussen poll in May of likely Colorado voters found that 49
percent favored legalizing and taxing marijuana, with 39 percent
opposed and 13 percent undecided.

Stinson, who is not involved in Legalize 2012, said the proliferation
of medical marijuana dispensaries created a backlash in many
communities, but those who favor legalization are more organized and
more numerous.

Stinson said the new regulations adopted by the General Assembly,
which create strict licensing requirements for dispensaries, prohibit
wholesale growing operations and regulate doctors who recommend
marijuana, actually strengthen the argument for legalization.

In 2006, opponents argued that legalizing the personal use of
marijuana would inevitably help criminals because there was no legal
source of marijuana. Now that the state has created a regulatory and
tax system for marijuana and there is a legal production system, that
argument goes away, Stinson said.

"We've got considerably more manpower this time around, and the
climate is a lot more favorable," Stinson said.