Ain’t nobody’s business if you do, said 54% of Denver residents on Measure I-100, which changes Denver city ordinances to allow possession of marijuana. But prosecutions will continue, according to Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrisey.
“The change in Denver’s city ordinance does not change Colorado state law,” said Morrissey. “It is still illegal to possess less than an ounce of marijuana anywhere in the state, and that includes Denver.”
With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, 54 percent, or 56,001 voters, had cast ballots for Measure I-100, while 46 percent, or 48,632 voters, voted against it.
Morrissey estimated that more than 90 percent of the marijuana possession cases filed in Denver were already being filed by using the state statute and he did not expect a large impact from the ballot measure. . . .
Some supporters hoped the Denver proposal would launch a national trend toward legalizing the drug. They say enforcement causes more problems than it cures. They argued that smoking marijuana should carry the same penalties as abusing alcohol.
“What this does say is reconsidering marijuana prohibition is absolutely a mainstream issue now,” said Bruce Mirken of the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project.
He said government regulation — and taxation — of the drug would halt clandestine growing operations, make it more difficult for teenagers to obtain marijuana and free space in prisons. — The Denver Channel
Stephen VanDyke gave “high fives to Denver residents for voting for what they believe in and not buying into the reefer madness hype.”
It’s sad that it’s taken this long, and it’s going to take much longer still, to end the insane “War on Drugs.” Prohibition created organized crime the first time around, and it created a different sort of organized crime this time, too. It must end.
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Susan
Nov 02, 2005
Marijuana should be legalized, but it should have the same restrictions on it as does alcohol. The effects of marijuana are very similar to that of alcohol. Operating a vehicle becomes deadly, you often experience impaired judgement, and the person who is smoking it often feels the same feelings as one does with alcohol. So why is one legal and the other banned? I think it should have the same rules that coincide with alcohol applied. You must be a certain age, operating a vehicle under the influence is prohibited, etc. Basically, though, our law enforcement has so many other situations on their plate that the thought of so much time and effort given to 16-year-old potheads over the true criminals of society makes me ashamed that we are donating so much time to such a little problem in the big scheme of things.
Kevin Fields
Nov 05, 2005
What the change in this law now means is that the DA for the city of Denver cannot prosecute marijuana cases. If they want them prosecuted, the entire case is going to have be turned over to the state police and then the state DA for prosecution. This will eat into the state’s budget and force them to either pander for more money out of a strapped state budget, or they will have to decline prosecution of other types of crimes. Now, this could mean that they just simply say no to prosecuting marijuana cases from Denver, or it could mean that they stop prosecuting more serious crimes in order to make it look like they’re effective in the “War on Drugs”. Hopefully the Denver DA will just throw his hands up and declare “we’ve got better things to do”.
bud, smoker
Feb 01, 2007
I Looooooooooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeddddddddddddddddddddddd!!!!!!!!!!1
bud, smoker
Feb 01, 2007
now just legalize it in kansas, specifically manhattan