Pubdate: Wed, 23 Jun 2010
Source: Denver Daily News (CO)
Copyright: 2010 Denver Daily News
Contact:  http://www.thedenverdailynews.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4274
Author: Gene Davis

BACKING POT LEGALIZATION

Both Candidates For HD 2 Support Legalizing Marijuana

Although many issues separate the Democrat and  Republican candidates
running for State House District  2, the contenders agree on one
thing; marijuana  should be legal for adults.

Having Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, and Doc Miller,  his Republican
opponent in the upcoming election, both  publicly support the
decriminalization of marijuana has  some activists giddy about the
changes in public  opinion towards the drug.

"I think it's a good sign that marijuana reform is  becoming a widely
accepted position," said Mason Tvert  of Safer Alternative For
Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER),  a group that points out the ways they
perceive  marijuana to be less harmful than alcohol. "We see
Democrats and Republicans not only both voicing public  support for
reforming marijuana laws, but in some sense  often vying to see who
can support them more."

Ferrandino, a member of the Joint Budget Committee,  said legalizing
marijuana would help the state's  pocketbook, which is facing an
additional $75 million  shortfall next budget year and a potential $1
billion  shortfall the following year. 9News reported this week  that
the city of Denver collected more than $1 million  in sales tax
revenue from medical marijuana from  December-April.

"If you legalize it and you tax it, you're going to  increase the
amount of revenue to the state,"  Ferrandino said. Miller, a lawyer
challenging  Ferrandino for his House District 2 seat, added that
legalizing marijuana would result in fewer people in  jail, less money
spent by the state, and allow him as  an attorney to "stop fishing
them out one at a time."

"My solution to the drug war is to do like we did with  prohibition
when we realized that didn't work;  legalize marijuana," he said.

A regulated environment

Although he supports the legalization of marijuana,  Ferrandino said
the industry would have to be regulated  in order to avoid a "wild,
wild West" type of  environment. He believes the biggest hurdle to
legalization is making sure that police officers could  definitively
tell whether someone was driving under the  influence of marijuana.

Denver Police officers are trained to recognize when  someone is
driving and under the influence of drugs.  Officers can also call over
a "Drug Recognition Expert"  police officer to conduct tests and
further identify  the signs of someone driving under the influence of
drugs.

However, police officers don't have a device like a  Breathalyzer that
can determine on scene whether  someone is definitively on drugs. DPD
Spokesman Sonny  Jackson said that the police department isn't made up
  of scientists or inventors who could invent such a  device, so they
must rely on their training.

Jeremy Rosenthal, an attorney who specializes in DUI  cases, said it's
very tough for cops and the state to  prove in court that a person was
driving under the  influence of drugs because there is no
near-foolproof  test like a Breathalyzer.

"They usually only win those cases when the cop  actually sees the
person smoking," he said.

Rosenthal added that he has seen more clients who are  charged with
driving under the influence of drugs since  the proliferation of
medical marijuana dispensaries.  Because the Denver Police Department
doesn't have a  separate ticket for driving under the influence of
marijuana, it's impossible to say how many people have  been arrested
or cited for it, Jackson said.

Public support

Ferrandino believes the path to marijuana legalization  must go
through the voters. Tvert, who originally  considered putting an
initiative on this year's ballot  asking voters to legalize marijuana,
will likely wait  until 2012 to bring the measure forward because of
funding issues.

However, recent polling shows that nearly half of  Coloradans support
the legalization of marijuana, and  as U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo.,
said earlier this  year, having multiple lawmakers publicly talk about
  legalizing marijuana would have been unheard of only 10  years ago.

"The time for debate and discussion has definitely  come," said
Ferrandino. 
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