Pubdate: Mon, 22 Oct 2012
Source: Aurora Sentinel (CO)
Copyright: 2012 Aurora Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.aurorasentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1672
Author: Brandon Johansson

PROP 64: VOTERS TO DECIDE WHETHER COLORADO MOVES AHEAD WITH 
LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

Backers say THC prohibition is an expensive sham and has run its 
course; critics say the change is an unworkable dream that will hurt kids

For the second time in six years, Colorado voters will be asked to 
"legalize it."

If it passes, Amendment 64 would make possession of marijuana by 
people older than 21 legal under state law, and establish a system to 
tax and regulate the sale of marijuana.

A caregiver picks out a marijuana bud for a patient at a marijuana 
dispensary in Denver on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012. Colorado, Oregon and 
Washington could become the first to legalize marijuana this fall. 
All three state are asking voters to decide whether residents can 
smoke pot. The debate over how much tax money recreational marijuana 
laws could produce is playing an outsize role in the campaigns for 
and against legalization, and both sides concede they're not really 
sure what would happen. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

A similar measure in 2006 got only about 40 percent of the vote. 
Another marijuana legalization measure failed in California in 2010, 
but supporters of the Colorado initiative say they are confident 
Colorado voters are on their side this time around.

"This isn't 2006, and it's not California," said Mason Tvert, 
co-director of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which 
is pushing for the plan.

Tvert said the measure is different from the 2006 effort in one major 
way: in addition to legalizing the drug for recreational use, it 
would also set up a system to tax the sale of marijuana from 
legitimate businesses, similar to those currently selling medical marijuana.

"This is a far more comprehensive plan, and Coloradans have 
demonstrated it's something they want to see," he said.

The issue has received an odd mix of bi-partisan support and criticism.

A few Libertarian-leaning Republicans are on board the legalization effort.

Former Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo says he's never used marijuana 
but finds its prohibition nothing but "nanny-state" interference.

The Republican Liberty Caucus of Colorado also backs marijuana legalizations.

Some conservatives cite states' rights while talking about marijuana. 
They also argue that youth access to the drug could be reduced and 
not expanded if marijuana were legal without a doctor's recommendation.

Still, the measure is meeting stiff, bipartisan opposition from some 
law enforcement, elected leaders and others.

Laura Chapin, a spokeswoman for the No On 64 campaign, said the 
measure wouldn't even do what it's supporters hope -- legalize marijuana.

"Marijuana still will remain illegal at the federal level. And there 
is nothing Colorado can do that will affect that," she said.

If the amendment passes, that conflict between state law and federal 
law will only lead to trouble, she said. Because the drug is illegal 
federally, federal agents could crackdown on marijuana businesses in 
Colorado and some federal grants could be put at risk, she said.

Some of the problems the state's medical marijuana industry has 
faced, including a lack of banks willing to do business with them, 
will only be compounded by the amendment, she said.

Also, Chapin said the idea that current laws are particularly onerous 
for people who want to use marijuana is a myth. For the most part, 
she said very few people are arrested solely for using marijuana.

"We don't arrest people solely for marijuana in this state," she said.

Chapin said the net effect of the plan will be more young people 
using marijuana.

"This brings a lot of very serious risks, not the least of which more 
pot ending up on the hands of Colorado kids"

Adams County District Attorney Don Quick echoed that, saying that the 
state has already gone to great lengths to essentially decriminalize 
the use of marijuana, and that Colorado's medical marijuana laws have 
made the drug plentiful and easy to access. He said that the 
legalization measure would only serve to make it more accessible to 
children because of the lack of controls.

But Tvert rejected that.

"Our campaign cares just as much about keeping marijuana out of the 
hands of young people, but our current system has failed to do that," he said.

Concerns about challenges legalization could raise are largely 
unfounded, he said, especially considering the cost of enforcing 
current drug laws and the black market those laws have helped to spawn.

The fact is that the policy in place right now has utterly failed."

Colorado is one of three states considering ballot measures to legalize pot.

The Associated Press contributed to this story. 
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom