FORMER DENVER COP AND FORMER LAFAYETTE JUDGE COLLECTING SIGNATURES FOR
FULL POT LEGALIZATION IN COLORADO

A former Denver Police officer and former Lafayette judge will be
collecting signatures to support the new full recreational use of
marijuana legalization initiative by the Campaign to Regulate
Marijuana Like Alcohol. The pot legalization advocates are hoping to
gather enough signatures to get the initiative on the state 2012 ballot.

According to a Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) press
release, Tony Ryan, a former Denver Police officer and board member of
LEAP will be gathering signatures at the Denver City and County Bldg.
on Wednesday, Aug. 3 at 1 p.m. Ryan will be joined by former Lafayette
judge Leonard Frieling, also a member of LEAP.

Both Ryan and Frieling are former criminal justice professionals who
once enforced Colorado's marijuana prohibition laws, but they have
changed their ways and are now advocates for the legalization and
regulation of marijuana. Frustrated with ineffective drug policy, Ryan
said this in a press release:

During my 36 years as a Denver cop I arrested more people for
marijuana than I care to remember, but it didn't amount to one bit of
good for our citizens. Keeping marijuana illegal doesn't do anything
to reduce marijuana use, but it does benefit the gangs and cartels who
control the currently illegal marijuana trade.

Former Judge Frieling expressed similar sentiments in a press
statement about the valuable resources spent on an ineffective war on
drugs and the toll it takes on the criminal justice system:

When so many murders, rapes and robberies go unsolved, it makes
absolutely no sense to keep taking up space in our courtrooms and
jails with people arrested for marijuana possession. And even on the
distribution end, no matter how many drug cartels and gangs we bust,
there are always more criminals willing to step up and risk their
lives and freedom for a chance at lucrative black market profits. Our
state's voters have the power to strike a bigger blow against
organized crime with this initiative to treat marijuana like alcohol
than any amount of skill and dedication in the criminal justice system
ever can.

Supporters of legal recreational-use pot in the state need
approximately 86,000 signatures to get a measure on the ballot for
next year, according to The Denver Post If the amendment were to get
approval by voters, pot would be legal in Colorado, in small
quantities, for adults aged 21 and over starting as early as 2013.

Currently, sixteen states allow medical marijuana, but full
legalization for recreational use would set up a federal showdown over
the often contentious disparity between state and federal pot laws,
according to The Huffington Post.

LEAP represents police, prosecutors, judges, prison wardens, federal
agents and others who want to legalize and regulate marijuana after
fighting on the front lines of the "war on drugs" and learning
firsthand that prohibition is not only ineffective but causes violence
and crime. Learn more about LEAP and their various events and advocacy
efforts here.

The efforts of these Colorado pot advocates is part of the Campaign To
Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, a collective of marijuana activist
groups and individuals including SAFER, Sensible Colorado, NORML and
others.

The Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012 makes the personal
use, possession and limited home-growing of marijuana legal for adults
aged 21 and older. It establishes a system in which marijuana is
regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol is currently. The act also
would allow for the cultivation, procesing, and sale of industrial
hemp.