POT LAW BACKERS DRAW FLAK

Initiative Foes Assail Billboards That Will Show Battered Woman

Backers of a Denver ballot measure to legalize marijuana for adults
were accused Thursday of exploiting crime fears and deceiving voters.

A pro-pot group, Change the Climate, on Monday plans to unveil three
billboards around Denver showing a battered woman with her male
abuser behind her and the slogan:

"Reduce family and community violence in Denver. Vote Yes on I-100."

Nowhere does the ad mention that Initiative 100's passage would amend
Denver law to make it legal for adults to possess 1 ounce or less of marijuana.

Earlier this week, Denver Councilman Charlie Brown blasted I-100's
sponsor, Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation - or SAFER - for
campaign signs that declare: "Make Denver SAFER, Voter Yes on I-100."

Brown said the slogan is designed to fool residents into thinking the
measure on the Nov. 1 ballot is about highly publicized efforts to
combat rising crime and falling arrest rates by boosting police staffing.

He was so furious because the red-and-white signs were illegally
scattered in his Observatory Park neighborhood and along street
medians that he spent an hour Saturday yanking them out.

Now a political analyst and an activist who fights domestic violence
are criticizing the billboard sponsor for using the emotionally
charged image of the brutalized woman with a black eye to "distort"
the goals of the pot legalization campaign and exploit Denver
residents' fear about growing crime and police understaffing.

All political advertisers are "pretty liberal with the truth" as they
strive to grab people's attention and deliver the message, said
veteran Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli on Thursday. "But this is
probably on the very far edge . . . in terms of a political accuracy
and honesty.

"They're not even identifying what the issue is at all."

And while the group could make a strong argument for its central
claim - that adult marijuana is a safer alternative than
violence-fueling alcohol - the billboard's message "is pretty
distorting," Ciruli added.

But Change the Climate founder Joe White said the Greenfield, Mass.,
nonprofit group's Denver billboards reflect dozens of
marijuana-reform advertising campaigns it has run from California to
Washington, D.C.

He said his group independently spent less than $10,000 to post the
billboards in support of the I-100 campaign. One billboard will be at
Santa Fe Drive and Alameda Avenue, another will be outside Invesco
Field at Mile High and a third will be at 5500 Colorado Blvd.

The goal, White said, is to get political leaders to rethink the
wasteful expenditure of $50 billion nationwide to combat nonviolent
marijuana users, when many American cities are hard-pressed to fund
police, fire, libraries and other social services.

"Our ad is seeking to stimulate debate and raise new ideas for
political leaders to consider in an era of extremely tight and almost
nonexistent funding for social services," White said Thursday.

But Councilman Brown said the billboard sponsors are using the smoke
screen of domestic violence to mislead voters.

"Domestic violence is not on the ballot," Brown said. "Why can't they
be grown-up about this issue and be straight with the Denver voters?

"If you want a marijuana initiative, use the 'M' word. Don't hide
behind these other issues. Yeah, alcohol causes problems, there's
absolutely no doubt. But alcohol is not on the ballot, and alcohol is
a legal drug."

White said the group isn't hiding its pro-pot message.

He said the billboard directs people to its Web site where "you'll
see (their marijuana reform crusade) front and center."

The head of the Yes-on-100 campaign, SAFER's Mason Tvert, defended
the billboard's imagery, even though his group wasn't involved in crafting it.

"The fact of the matter is, if people used marijuana instead of
alcohol, fewer crimes, instances of domestic violence, fights and
traffic fatalities would occur," he said.

"This is a more honest campaign than any you will ever see."

Randy Saucedo, advocacy director for the Colorado Coalition Against
Domestic Violence, issued a sharp rebuke of the billboards.

"I find it pretty offensive that we're getting some out-of-state
types trying to further their goal by masking the tragedy of domestic
violence, when the issue has nothing to do with domestic violence,"