Faulty Arguments Underline Pro-Marijuana Effort We can think of several possible reasons to decriminalize the possession and use of small amounts of marijuana. Public safety is not one of them, whatever the folks at SAFER Colorado would like you to believe. SAFER is the group that waged a successful campaign in Denver to legalize the possession and use of an ounce or less of marijuana by people 21 and over. The measure approved last month by voters was basically symbolic - Colorado law still bans marijuana possession - but success at the local level has encouraged SAFER to take the next logical step: a ballot initiative to do away with the state law. [continues 459 words]
Heavier police presence expected at '4/20' event University of Colorado police say they'll have more officers at Farrand Field today than at previous "4/20" marijuana smokeouts. Every year, hundreds gather at 4:20 p.m. April 20 on the field to protest state and federal drug laws. CU administrators have been trying to discourage the rally this year, saying it sends the wrong message following a series of image problems for the school. "We'll probably have more people there monitoring it than we have in the past," Lt. John Kish said. "People should expect to be held accountable for what they become involved in." [end]
New student leaders also elected; fee for crew fails University of Colorado students this week approved a measure that asks officials to ease up on marijuana penalties. The referendum, put forth by the Boulder-based group Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation, asks that university officials make sanctions for marijuana use no more severe than they are for comparable alcohol violations. Polls in the campus wide election closed Friday night. Students approved 10 of the 11 referenda that were put before them. [continues 323 words]
I recently read an article that addressed the annual pot-smoking event held on Farrand Field every April 20 at the University of Colorado, Boulder. While the CU administration is trying to "snuff" the event and prevent it from happening in fear of adding more bad publicity to the school's already tainted reputation, the simple act of taking action puts the school in the spotlight once again. Even as a CU student, I had never heard of this annual occurrence until I read the article. I am aware that I am part of the minority and that I do not represent the entire student body in my ignorance of the event. However, I know of it now after having read the article; so do people like my grandma and the priest at my church. [continues 122 words]
Let's Go Back To The Stone Age As a student at the University of Colorado, I must comment on the supposed "4/20 Riot" that was exposed in the April 11 Daily Camera. I don't know whom Dan Enfield has been talking to, but the silent masses of CU students who represent the real opinion of our beloved campus believe 4/20 is a day to congregate in a peaceful gathering to celebrate Mother Earth's wonderful gift of marijuana. [continues 248 words]
CU Students Casting Ballots For Marijuana Referendum Student voting began Monday on a measure supporting weed as a safer alternative to alcohol at the University of Colorado. About 20 students gathered at a rally to promote the referendum, asking CU to be more lenient when it comes to marijuana offenses because they say the drug is much less dangerous than alcohol. =09 "The university's policy on this is intellectually dishonest, and it has been for 35 years," former Boulder County Commissioner Paul Danish said at the campus event. "CU has to face that its problem is an alcohol problem, not a marijuana problem." [continues 493 words]
Wait Till Next Year To Get Stoned, Kids In yet another link of an unending chain of controversy at the University of Colorado, students are now threatening a riot over rumors of the university attempting to end their annual April 20 festivities in which they congregate on Farrand Field to smoke an illegal drug (marijuana) for all the world to see. I've heard many students who advocate pot usage state that it's a peaceful thing, not like alcohol, which often causes violent acts, so I must ask how rioting symbolizes the peaceful effect of pot. Now as a CU student myself, I often feel the university is unreasonable when it comes to alcohol and drug policy, but something tells me a photograph of 500 stoned college kids is not the best way for us as students to shake off our party-school image. [continues 156 words]
The crackdown on the export of marijuana from Colombia is a good example of how drug control policies can do more harm than good, panelist Sanho Tree said Thursday in a discussion of "Margaritas and Marlboros: Alcohol and Tobacco Policy" at the Conference on World Affairs. After facing harsher consequences for their crime, marijuana traffickers in Colombia began to smuggle more potent drugs such as cocaine, said Tree, a fellow and the director of the Drug Policy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. The project works to replace the punitive "war on drugs" with alternatives addressing root causes of the problem. [continues 216 words]
FORT COLLINS (AP) -- Students at Colorado State University and the University of Colorado are urging administrators to lighten up on enforcement of marijuana laws because they say it's less harmful than alcohol. Both universities have suffered student deaths this school year as a result of alcohol poisoning. Student activists argue that penalties for smoking marijuana should be no stiffer than those imposed for underage drinking. Last week students signed petitions to put a marijuana referendum on the ballot for next month's student elections. [continues 134 words]
Student Government Wants Penalty for Marijuana Reduced An underage University of Colorado student who gets caught drinking a beer can prepare to spend a semester on probation, do some community service and attend a $100 drug and alcohol program. A student who gets caught smoking marijuana can bank on roughly the same punishment -- and the student government says that's too much. Student leaders approved a referendum this week calling for CU to acknowledge the drug as a relatively safe alternative to alcohol. Sponsors of the proposal said they want the university to make that distinction in the way it punishes students. [continues 398 words]
Opposition To Cuts Appears To Persuade Health Board Halona Donaghy is the kind of woman a heroin user can relate to. "I have used drugs in every major city in the United States and Canada," she told the Boulder County Board of Health at a study session Monday. "I never found a place that made me feel important until I moved here." For six years, Donaghy has volunteered for the Boulder County needle exchange program, getting drug users clean needles and telling them how to get tested for disease. [continues 528 words]
SAFER Wants Priority Shifted to Alcohol Enforcement Marijuana is a much safer drug than alcohol, a new campaign says, and punishments for smoking a joint or taking a hit from a bong are too harsh. "Alcohol has long been linked to overdose deaths, sexual assault, violent crime and vandalism on campus," said SAFER Executive Director Mason Tvert, a recent graduate from the University of Virginia. SAFER stands for Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation. The nonprofit group was founded last month and is organizing campus chapters at the University of Colorado and Colorado State University, Tvert said. [continues 620 words]
Mayor Richard Daley, a former prosecutor, runs the nation's third-largest city with a pragmatic, law-and-order style. So when he starts complaining about the colossal waste of time and money involved in prosecuting small-time marijuana cases, people take notice. Daley said late last month that a police sergeant was on to something when he suggested that it might be better to impose fines between $250 and $1,000 for possession of small amounts of marijuana rather than prosecute the cases. Sgt. Thomas Donegan determined that nearly 7,000 cases involving 2.5 grams of pot or less were filed last year in Chicago. About 94 percent were dismissed. [end]
Prison Sentences, Death Penalty, Free Speech On Agenda WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court session starting Monday features many of the same wrenching issues that splintered the justices during the last term and led to some unusually acrimonious dissents. The death penalty, free speech and prison sentences are back on the agenda, along with new topics such as medical marijuana and out-of-state wine purchases that are likely to produce significant disagreement. Many of the biggest cases last session came down to 5-4 votes and some justices on the losing end offered harshly worded minority opinions. [continues 755 words]
Libertarians Form Chapter to Advocate Legal Marijuana Boulder County is getting normal - well, a NORML chapter anyway. Two local Libertarians got word last week from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws that their Boulder County chapter is official. Longmont resident Paul Tiger and Boulder resident Jeff Christen-Mitchell are hoping to grow the chapter beyond its current five members. "We decided that, look, there's a whole mess of card-carrying NORML members in the county and no organization to support them," Tiger said. There are about 105 NORML chapters nationwide. The Boulder chapter will bring the number in Colorado to two. The other chapter is at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. [continues 369 words]
Reading his contribution to the new book, "The New Prohibition: Voices of Dissent Challenge the Drug War," I was intrigued to learn that San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters once was an avid drug warrior. It was, he indicates, simply part of what it meant to be a Republican law enforcement official. But after several years of approaching drug use as a criminal problem, especially in free-spirited Telluride, he was frustrated by "the increasing drug problems in the county." In other words, arresting and jailing drug users, which he had accepted without question, simply didn't work. [continues 748 words]
Delay In Filing Charges May Influence Verdict ATLANTA - The government could have a tough time proving its drug conspiracy case against Baltimore Ravens running back Jamal Lewis because of the length of time it took to file charges, legal experts say. The charges filed Wednesday were within the five-year statute of limitations. But a jury may ask why it took so long when authorities claim to have two taped conversations from June 2000 in which Lewis tried to broker a cocaine deal, say two former federal prosecutors and a law school professor. [continues 389 words]
WASHINGTON - A look at some of the positions of Republican President Bush and Democrats contesting their party's presidential nomination. They are former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, Sens. John Edwards and John Kerry, Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton. Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington allow medical use of marijuana, but possession remains illegal under federal law. Bush: Has opposed legalization. Dean: Would have Food and Drug Administration study issue, then follow FDA recommendation. Edwards: Opposes legalization until medicinal benefits are proved. Kerry: Wants scientific review before deciding. Kucinich: Legalize. Sharpton: No known position. [end]
WEST PALM BEACH - Rush Limbaugh says prosecutors have subpoenaed records from his doctors as part of the investigation into the conservative radio commentator's prescription drug use. Prosecutors are trying to determine whether Limbaugh visited several doctors to illegally receive duplicate prescriptions of controlled narcotics. Limbaugh sought treatment for his admitted addiction to painkillers in October and has not been charged with a crime. On Friday, the state's 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach gave prosecutors 15 days to respond to Limbaugh's appeal of a Palm Beach County judge's order allowing them to review his medical records, which remain sealed. [end]
SOUTH HAVEN, MI. - An assistant principal who was trying to get a student expelled admitted planting marijuana in the boy's locker, police said. Police say Pat Conroy told them this month that he placed the marijuana in the locker at South Haven High School last year because he suspected the boy was a drug dealer and wanted him expelled. The plan failed because a police drug dog didn't find the contraband during a school search last year. Conroy, who has been placed on administrative leave, said he "lost his perspective" and had done something "stupid, arrogant and unethical," according to a police report. He told police that he only planted evidence once, according to the report. [continues 65 words]
