No marijuana citations for Democratic Nat’l. Convention in 2008?
Seeing as the Denver City Council and Mayor John Hickenlooper are sooooo concerned about public safety here in Denver — and soooo opposed to allowing adults use marijuana responsibly — we decided we’d offer to strike a compromise.
Below is our press release announcing our proposal, followed by our follow-up release rebutting the city’s ironically hysterical response.
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release — Aug. 23, 2007
Marijuana proponents will withdraw “lowest law enforcement priority” initiative if Denver City Council and Mayor agree to terms
Deal calls for moratorium on marijuana citations during 2008 Democratic National Convention
DENVER — The proponents of a highly contentious marijuana reform initiative are offering to withdraw their measure that has qualified for the upcoming November ballot if the Denver City Council and Denver’s Mayor agree to terms set forward by the campaign.
The measure would create a new city ordinance designating private adult marijuana possession Denver’s “lowest law enforcement priority,” and it would create a Marijuana Policy Review Panel to oversee its implementation. The City Council is set to place the initiative on the ballot at a hearing Monday evening (August 27), although the Council and the Mayor have expressed their opposition to the proposal.
Citizens for a Safer Denver will withdraw the latest marijuana initiative from the ballot if the Denver City Council and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper agree to the following conditions:
1. The Denver City Council and Mayor shall formally recognize that adult marijuana use poses less harm to the user and to other Denver residents than adult alcohol use.
2. The Denver City Council and Mayor shall commit to exploring what marijuana policies the City can implement that reflect the fact that adult marijuana use poses less harm to the user and to the City than adult alcohol use.
3. The Denver City Council and Mayor shall enact a moratorium on citations for possession of less than one ounce of marijuana by adults 21 and older during the Democratic National Convention in August 2008.
Statement from Citizens for a Safer Denver Spokesman Mason Tvert:
“Every objective study ever conducted on marijuana has concluded that it is a far safer recreational drug than alcohol. Alcohol use by adults contributes to overdose deaths, acts of violence, rioting, and countless other serious crimes, whereas the use of marijuana by adults does not contribute to any of these serious health and social problems.
“We hope our city officials will consider the relative harms of these two substances, as well as the potentially dangerous effects of a policy that pushes adults toward the more harmful of the two. The city has every right to stop arresting adults for possessing small amounts of marijuana, and we hope they will stand up for the voters who elected them and exercise that right.
“In order to demonstrate their commitment to a more rational approach to the use of marijuana and alcohol — and to set an example for the rest of the nation — our campaign respectfully requests city officials enact a moratorium on citations for adult marijuana use during the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
“Tens of thousands of people will be flooding Denver for this tumultuous event, and visitors and city residents should not face the threat of arrest for simply making the rational, safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol, if that is what they prefer. After all, this is the first city in the United States that has voted to remove all penalties for private adult marijuana use.
“We understand the Denver City Council and Mayor Hickenlooper are extremely concerned about maintaining order during the convention. By allowing adults to consume marijuana instead of alcohol during this hectic time, they could potentially prevent the disorder that is all too often accompanies the use and abuse of alcohol.
“We sincerely hope to work with the City Council and the Mayor towards a safer Democratic National Convention, as well as more rational and effective marijuana and alcohol policies in Denver.”
# # #
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release– Aug. 23, 2007
Denver city officials now want to force marijuana initiative on the ballot in order to avoid being honest about the relative harms of marijuana and alcohol
Assistant City Attorney claims that proponents of city initiative do not have the same ability as proponents of state initiative to withdraw an initiative
DENVER – In order to avoid addressing the offer made to the city earlier today, in which the proponents of the marijuana-related “lowest law enforcement priority” initiative offered to withdraw their initiative in return for the city taking actions that reflect the fact that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol, Assistant City Attorney David Broadwell just issued the following statement to a member of the media:
“There is no law allowing the a petition committee to withdraw an initiative petition once it has been all the way through the process and certified to the city council. Absent from Mr. Tvert’s press release is any mention of how or why he or his attorneys believe that it would be legally possible to withdraw the petition at this late date. Once the Denver City Council receives a valid initiative petition, our charter gives them only two choices—adopt the proposed ordinance or schedule it for an election. There is simply no provision for withdrawal, whether it be a unilateral withdrawal by the petitioners or some sort of negotiated withdrawal.”
What Mr. Broadwell fails to acknowledge is that the withdrawal of an initiative is an accepted practice in the state of Colorado. In fact, pursuant to C.R.S. 1-40-134, petitioners of a statewide initiatives may withdraw their initiative after signatures have been verified – as demonstrated in 2006 when proponents of Amendment #45 concerning “Domestic Partnerships” withdrew their initiative on August 22 (see http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/pressrel/withdraw.htm). While city law is silent on the subject, we see no reason to believe that proponents of an initiative in Denver would not have the same ability and right. Moreover, if both the proponents of the initiative and the City Council are opposed to having the initiative on the ballot, we do not believe that any court would force the initiative to be on the ballot.
“We find it is somewhere between ironic and hilarious that the City is now fighting to keep this initiative on the ballot,” said Citizens for a Safer Denver spokesman Mason Tvert. “Just days ago, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrisey was openly calling for the City Council to keep the initiative off the ballot. Now, because city officials live in fear of acknowledging the simple truth that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol, they are hiding behind the law rather than accepting our offer to withdraw the initiative from the ballot.”
# # #
August 24th, 2007 at 4:11 am
FIRE REALLY DOES WORK
Unanimously Adopted in Congress July 4, 1776
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitles them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain UNALIENABLE Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
@ copyright i.e. OH! Pinion.
Only legislature can make laws? What?
The history of the present federal government is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct objet the establishment of an absolute Tryranny over the States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
“No taxation without representation” complete Tyranny. The federal government has refused Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
The federal government has forbidden Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation.
The federal government has refused to pass other Laws for the accomodation of large districts of people, unless these people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
The fed’s have called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with their measures.
The fed’s have dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness and their invasion on the rights of the People.
The fed’s have refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
Has obstructed the Adminstration of Justice, by refusing their Assent to laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
Have made judges dependent on their Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
Have erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance.
Have kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
Have affected to render the Military independence of and superior to the Civil Power.
Has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constituion, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving their Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
Many people assume that marijuana was made illegal through some kind of process involving scientific, medical, and government hearings; that it was to protect the citizens from what was determined to be a dangerous drug.
The actual story shows a much different picture. Those who voted on the legal fate of this plant never had the facts, but were dependant on information supplied by those who had a specific agenda to deceive lawmakers. You’ll see below that the very first federal vote to prohibit marijuana was based entirely on a documented lie on the floor of the Senate.
You’ll also see that the history of marijuana’s criminalization is filled with:
* Racism
* Fear
* Protection of Corporate Profits
* Yellow Journalism
* Ignorant, Incompetant, and/or Corrup Legislators
* Personal Career Advancement and Greed
These are the actual reasons marijuana is illegal.
August 24th, 2007 at 8:02 am
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