POT LAW MAKES BALLOT

Denver Initiative Would Legalize Adult Possession, Use

Denver would become the second city in the nation to legalize the adult use
of marijuana if voters approve a ballot measure in November.

The first city was Oakland, Calif.

Voters there overwhelmingly approved an initiative last year that requires
the city to regulate and tax marijuana, similarly to the way it administers
laws on alcohol. It also directs Oakland officials to make pot the city's
lowest law enforcement priority.

The new law has not been enacted because it conflicts with the state of
California's laws.

Denver's initiative may face the same fate.

The ballot measure would make it legal for adults 21 years and older to
possess less than 1 once of marijuana. But state law prohibits the
possession of marijuana.

City Council members on Monday begrudgingly cleared the way to put the
measure on the Nov. 1 ballot. They didn't have a choice.

The measure's backers, Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation,
collected more than the 12,000 signatures needed to force the matter onto
the ballot.

"This initiative shouldn't even be here at the local level," said
Councilman Michael Hancock, one of the measure's most vocal critics. "I've
seen the devastating effects of drugs in our urban city.

"I have no tolerance for these kinds of discussions. It has no place in the
public dialogue."

City Council members pointed out that 99 percent of the marijuana cases in
Denver are prosecuted under state law.

Supporters of Denver's ballot measure argue that smoking marijuana should
be regulated and taxed much like alcohol. They also contend that personal
use of marijuana causes less harm and law enforcement problems than alcohol.

"A lot of people say that we are encouraging the use of marijuana," said
Mason Tvert, executive director of Safer Alternative for Enjoyable
Recreation. "We're encouraging an alternative that's less harmful than
alcohol."

Tvert said about 85,000 people per year die in alcohol-related incidents.

"We need to have policies that reflect reality and common sense," Tvert
said, "and not policies that reflect the morality of elected officials and
certain pockets of the population."

One other Colorado city is also dealing with the issue this fall.

Telluride residents will be asked to vote on a ballot measure in November
that would make it easier to possess or smoke small amounts of pot without
the fear of being arrested or charged with a misdemeanor.

The southwestern Colorado town's ballot measure would mirror an initiative
soundly passed in Seattle in 2003 that made arresting and jailing adults
for marijuana use a low-enforcement priority.

In the past five years, activists in other states, such as Alaska and
Nevada, have pushed similar measures. Cities such as Tallahassee, Fla., and
Columbia, Mo., are preparing marijuana initiatives.

"Denver's one of the few cities in the forefront of this issue," said
Krissy Oechslin, a spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana
Policy Project, an organization that seeks the passage of laws that
regulate the use of marijuana, similarly to alcohol.

"There are a lot of people around the country sticking their necks out
because there is growing support for change in the laws that govern marijuana."

Denver's vote will be closely watched, said experts and advocates.

"Denver is the biggest city in the nation to consider such a far- reaching
initiative like this," said Brian Vicente, an attorney who heads Sensible
Colorado, an organization based in Telluride that's spearheading the ballot
measure there. "You have other cities, such as Oakland and Seattle, that
have passed such initiatives, but Denver is taking it one step further by
attempting to make the use of marijuana outright legal."

Vicente said his group's ultimate goal is to push for a statewide
initiative by 2008 that could require the state to tax and regulate marijuana.

Marijuana initiatives

Cities and states nationwide that have adopted or rejected initiatives
aimed at relaxing laws governing marijuana.

Seattle: Voters in 2003 passed what is known as the I-75 initiative, which
eases enforcement against adults possessing 40 grams or less of pot for
personal and medical use. The law still allows the city to freely arrest
and prosecute sellers and minors.

Oakland, Calif.: This city became the first to legalize adult use of
marijuana when voters approved a measure that requires the city to regulate
and tax marijuana, similarly to the way it administers laws on alcohol.

States where the issue has been rejected: Nevada, Alaska

Other areas of the country:

The town of Oak Creek, near Steamboat Springs, passed a resolution earlier
this month supporting the medical use of marijuana.

About 12 districts in Massachusetts, between 2000 and 2002, passed
nonbinding initiatives on taxing and regulating marijuana.

Source: The Marijuana Policy Project; The Colorado Municipal League