HYPOCRISY ON POT?

At least four Denver City Council members and the mayor have smoked
or ingested marijuana, a fact that has pot proponents screaming
hypocrisy over the unanimous decision of Council not to support a
ballot initiative that would make marijuana the police department's
lowest enforcement priority.

City Council members look at it from very different terms, arguing
that the initiative is not about marijuana, but instead about the
Council's right to dictate to the police department what should be
their enforcement priorities. The City Council decided unanimously
last week that it does not have the right to tell the police
department how to conduct its enforcement.

The proposed ballot initiative is up on final reading tonight before
the City Council and a courtesy public hearing on the topic will be
held before the Council makes a final decision whether to send the
question to voters this November. There is unanimous consent to let
voters decide the question, but not to immediately enact the proposed
ordinance into law.

The Admitted Smokers

A recent Denver Daily News investigation determined that Mayor John
Hickenlooper, Councilwomen Marcia Johnson, Carla Madison and Jeanne
Robb, and Councilman Rick Garcia have all experimented with marijuana
at least once in life.

The majority of Council remained silent on the question, with six of
the elected officials refusing to comment.

Councilmen Michael Hancock and Paul Lopez said that personal
experience kept them away from marijuana, and Councilwoman Jeanne
Faatz said she also never tried the drug.

As for the Council members who refused to comment, most either said
it was "none of (the Denver Daily News's) business" or joked about
having grown up during a time when marijuana was prevalent.

"I'm going to go on record saying I've never smoked pot. I've also
never parked illegally and never sped," joked Councilman Chris Nevitt.

"I'm 60-years-old, I went to school at the University of Michigan, do
a little research," said Councilwoman Carol Boigon, placing herself
in college during the flower child times of the 1960s, but refusing
to comment on whether she ever used marijuana.

Serious No-Comments

Others were more serious in refusing to comment.

"That's none of your business," answered Councilwoman Peggy Lehmann.
"And if I had smoked marijuana, it was illegal. If I had ever smoked
it, it's always been illegal and it's still illegal."

Citizens for a Safer Denver, the group spearheading the ballot
petition process for the proposed ordinance, said Council members
should be making a statement and vote in favor of the ordinance so
that other good people like themselves are not faced with a possible
criminal record for smoking pot.

"I think it's safe to say most of these elected officials would not
be where they are today had they been arrested for marijuana in their
past," said Mason Tvert, executive director of Citizens for a Safer
Denver. "I have to wonder how many future Denver leaders' lives were
derailed this past year after they were caught doing what our
officials once did."

Hickenlooper

One such official is Hickenlooper, who said his decisions in life
should not be the basis for public policy.

"As I've already been open about in the past -- and as I assume many
would expect -- I made personal choices when I was younger that I
neither support nor condone for others and certainly wouldn't
encourage through public policy," Hickenlooper said.

The mayor's spokeswoman, Lindy Eichenbaum Lent, defended the mayor's
opposition to ordinances that lower the enforcement policy for
marijuana as not hypocritical, but as lessons learned in life.

"Given that the mayor didn't contemplate running for elected office
until he was 50, I'm sure it comes as no surprise to anyone that he
made personal choices during his younger days that he wouldn't
encourage as mayor through public policy," she said. "That's not
hypocritical -- that's common sense."

Madison was another one to embrace the spirit of full disclosure and
explained that she stopped smoking pot because she felt it was not for her.

Pot Makes You Stupid?

"Marijuana just isn't a good drug for me, it makes me stupid," she
said, stating that she quit smoking pot when she was 21 years old.
"Some people become eloquent and energetic, but for me I become one
of those stupid people."

Councilman Doug Linkhart supported the 2005 ballot initiative to
legalize the simple possession of marijuana in Denver, but refused to
comment on his personal experience with the drug.

"I don't want to get into that, I don't think it's appropriate for
this ballot issue," he said.

Hancock said he never tried marijuana because he is confident that it
is a gateway drug that leads to more harmful substances.

"I'm convinced through personal experience and empirical data that
marijuana is a gateway drug," Hancock said, noting that he watched
his brothers lose their "sense of control" when they smoked pot.
"Those who sit back and promote the use of any illegal substance
quite frankly concerns me."

Gateway Drug

Councilwoman Judy Montero agreed that marijuana is a gateway drug.
She refused to comment on her personal experience with the drug,
arguing that the issue is not about her.

"I'm not going to answer that, this isn't about me," she said. "(My
constituents) can think what they want, I'm not going there with this
initiative because it's not about me, it's about what was before us
when they brought their petition."

Gateway to What?

Tvert pointed to the fact that at least four on Council and the mayor
all smoked marijuana, but never became addicted to drugs.

"Councilman Hancock claims marijuana is a 'gateway drug,' but our
mayor and council members never went on to use harder drugs, with the
exception of alcohol, of course," Tvert said.

Councilman Charlie Brown, who led the opposition effort in 2005 to
Initiative 100, refused to comment on whether he ever used marijuana,
stating that he's "sick" of the issue and that the proponents never
admit to using marijuana themselves.

Tvert said he has smoked pot: "I've certainly used marijuana, and I
think it's unfortunate that the only drug I can use legally in Denver
- -- alcohol -- is far more harmful," he said.

Symbolic, Unenforceable

For most elected officials, however, the issue is with supporting an
initiative that is symbolic and unenforceable. Officials argue that
marijuana is illegal statewide and by federal law and therefore
police officers are sworn to uphold those laws, despite the will of
local voters.

"This particular referendum being considered by City Council is yet
another symbolic measure by which some voters will -- as they have in
the past -- register frustration with the federal war on drugs, their
support for medical marijuana or their sense of humor -- particularly
since they know it won't change the law," Hickenlooper said, adding
that simple marijuana possession is already a low priority for the
Denver Police Department.

Lopez said he cannot support an ordinance that lowers the priority of
drug enforcement in his neighborhood.

Wrong Message

"For my district, it's the wrong message," Lopez said, stating that
he grew up with people who sold drugs -- relationships that made him
want to stay away from illicit substances, including marijuana. "In a
district where we lack youth programs and positive outlets, it's the
wrong message."

Faatz said it's a matter of not wanting to overstep her role as a
city councilwoman.

"I want the law enforcement officers to enforce the laws that are on
the books," she said. "It's not my role as a city councilperson to
pick and choose."

Johnson admitted that she had once ingested marijuana, but that her
personal experience is irrelevant to the current ballot issue.

"I had a brownie once, there may have even been a bowl going with it
. I got a good taste and even a case of the giggles, but I voted
against it because I'm thinking of the message to little children,"
Johnson said.

Research

Garcia said his decision to oppose initiatives that make marijuana a
lower priority is based on research, not from his personal experience
trying marijuana when he was 20-years-old.

Robb echoed similar sentiment, admitting that she once as a teenager
smoked pot and then had to drive some sick friends home, an
experience that she said was "very difficult." She does not buy
Tvert's argument that initiatives to legalize or lower the priority
of marijuana enforcement is aimed at saving good people from criminal trouble.

"The odds are that it is very unlikely that if you speed once, you'll
get a ticket," Robb said. "But, if you speed habitually, you do."