Posted on 08/17/2006 3:38:19 PM PDT by Wolfie
Marijuana Amendment Will Be On Ballot
Denver -- Coloradans are to decide this fall whether to make it legal under state law for anyone age 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. Secretary of State Gigi Dennis said Wednesday that backers of that initiative had turned in enough signatures to qualify for the Nov. 7 general election. The proposal will be Amendment 44 on the state ballot, Dennis said.
Under Colorado law, anyone in possession of an ounce or less of marijuana can be charged with a Class 2 petty offense, punishable by a fine of up to $100.
Legislative staffers preparing an analysis of the initiative report that during the 2005-06 state budget year, state courts convicted 3,700 adults for possession of such amounts of marijuana.
The legalization proposal is being pushed by SAFER, an organization that asserts that marijuana is a “Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation” than alcohol.
“The campaign will highlight the hypocrisy of laws that prohibit the use of marijuana while allowing and even encouraging the use of alcohol, an infinitely more harmful drug,” SAFER spokesman Mason Tvert said Wednesday.
If approved by voters, Amendment 44 would change state law to allow adults age 21 and older to possess or use small amounts of marijuana, according to the legislative staff analysis, as long as that use doesn’t occur in public. It still would be illegal for anyone younger than 21 to possess any amount of marijuana or for people 21 and older to possess amounts more than an ounce.
It also would still be illegal for individuals age 18 and older to transfer any amount of marijuana to anyone younger than 15.
State laws also would continue to ban: growing or selling marijuana; open and public display, use or consumption of marijuana; and driving under the influence of marijuana.
SAFER has noted that even if voters OK the initiative, home-rule cities and towns would still have the ability to ticket and prosecute marijuana users under local ordinances.
Last year, SAFER successfully campaigned for an ordinance change to make it legal for an adult to possess up to an ounce of marijuana in Denver, but the organization has complained that Denver continues to prosecute people under state law.
Tvert said in an interview that voter passage of a state legalization measure would “send a large message” to home-rule municipalities “about how the people of Colorado feel about this.”
Tvert said alcohol abuse “contributes to social problems like fighting, sexual assault, property damage and domestic violence. Marijuana use has never been linked to these types of issues.”
Tvert said he expects Amendment 44 to be opposed by members of the state’s law enforcement community, including Colorado Attorney General John Suthers.
Suthers spokeswoman Kristen Holtzman said Wednesday that “the attorney general’s position on this issue has not changed. He is adamantly against the legalization of marijuana.”
Foes of SAFER’s proposal have argued that marijuana use can lead someone to other illegal drugs and thus increase overall drug use and drug abuse in Colorado.
With all the Burnouts and libs in Denver/Boulder this
thing could easily pass - Sad...
White Widow: 6.50 Euros ($8.33 US) per gram. That works out to $223 per ounce.
You pay more than $223/oz. here?
I think it's more honest to admit that you don't care that California is violating the Supremacy Clause than to say California is not.
"Will the feds really send the troops in? I doubt it."
Me too. I think the AG will simply file a federal lawsuit. Or Congress will start impeaching judges.
And if the issue was any other than marijuana, you'd agree.
Myself personally I don't buy anything. For verifiable homegrown "named", and not Mexian schwag? That price you quoted is an extremely good deal.
Mexian = Mexican
BTW, that's $55.75 for a quarter of White Widow. Good luck beating that deal anywhere in America. Quarters of mid grade Mexican schwag go for $25-$60 usually.
"-- federal law trumps state law. The state would be violating the Supremacy Clause of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution.
Only federal law which is "made in pursuance thereof" [of the Constitution] trumps state law. --- There is no delegated power in the US Constitution to prohibit drugs, guns, etc..
In my opinion, any state official who supports this state law, who was sworn to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution, ought to be charged by the federal government with sedition, tried, and jailed.
In my opinion, any federal or state official who supports state or federal law infringing on our RKBA's, -- who was sworn to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution, ought to be charged by the federal government with sedition, tried, and jailed.
-- Have you ever sworn to 'protect & defend' paulsen? Most citizens have..
As Justice Hughes stated in The Shreveport Rate Cases (1914): "Nor can the attempted exercise of state authority alter the matter, where Congress has acted, for a state may not authorize the carrier to do that which Congress is entitled to forbid and has forbidden."
Congress has passed many laws repugnant to the Constitution in our history. In my opinion, any official who supports these repugnant 'laws', --- and any individual who has sworn to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution, ought to be charged by the federal government with sedition, tried, and jailed.
Look in a mirror paulsen, you've condemned yourself by advocating state gun prohibitions.
"--- Do you favor the passage of a state law that violates the Supremacy Clause (Article VI) of the U.S. Constitution? --"
You've done that robert:
"-- Ready for the big one? California can ban all guns if they so chose. There's nothing in the state constitution (one of six states, I believe) about the right to keep and bear arms. --"
129 posted on 11/20/2003 1:30 PM PST by robertpaulsen
LOL!
They can tax the bejezus off of pot and still have it way below the black market price.
Anybody know who is bankrolling SAFER?
I used to live in Colorado. I don't smoke the stuff (did years ago). Never been to a Grateful Dead, Phish, or Widespead Panic concert. If pot were made legal, I would not grow it or smoke it now.
But it's friggin' stupid to make it illegal. There are far worse battles to fight than pot. I would have signe this petition and voted for the amendment in the general election if I still lived out there (they already have decriminalized simple posession to a summary offense).
Of course, that doesn't explain why oil, which was $12/bbl in 1998, now costs $80/bbl. Same well, same oil, same everything. Did the pumps suddenly get more expensive to operate?
Wow, just wow Paulson. I can't believe you are this dense. We'll ignore the fact that poit is extremely cheap to produce, not to mention one doesn't need to install million dollar wells and truck it over in million dollar tankers. But gee, couldn't something like war in the region that produces much of the oil have any sort of effect on the price, could it?
That doesn't explain why diamonds are so expensive. They're just rocks. Artwork -- oil and canvas.
For his comparison, it expalined the price perfectly. It's not his fault you don't understand.
Who's to say that marijuana will be treated like tobacco and not like oil or diamonds? You're assuming that because marijuana CAN be treated like tobacco it WILL be treated like tobacco.
Why wouldn't it under a legal environment? Alcohol and tobacco are treated the same way, for the most part. Why not pot if the government had an interest in making it legal?
Where marijuana has been "legalized", prices are actually higher than the black market. Medical marijuana in the U.S. and Canada, and recreational marijuana in the Netherlands cost more than getting it illegally in the inner city.
I've already destroyed you on this on Paulson. I really don't want to do it again. I'll just point out the simple fact to everyone that pot is not legal anywhere, so saying that because medical pot is the same price or more expensive in California means nothing, as the medical people have to get their supply from the same illegal source everyone else does.
Definitely. Way more. $300 an ounce of top quality stuff, which White Widow certainly is, is a very good deal in most, if not all, of the United States. Quarter ounces (7 grams) are $100 in most places.
Whoever it is, they don't have a big bankroll. I haven't seen much advertisment for them out here.
I can't resist. Rocky Mountain High?
I got to watch Janet Reno come to Missouri to help with the campaign to defeat the CCW initiative. What do you think?
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