CO: Judge Throws Out Marijuana Proponents' Challenge To Voter Guide

Plainsman1963 · 09-14-2006, 10:20 AM

Judge Throws Out Marijuana Proponents' Challenge To Voter Guide
09-13-06 | TheDenverChannel.Com

Supporters of an initiative that would legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana have lost their bid to block the state from distributing its voters guide.

Backers of Amendment 44 said the guide's arguments against the proposal are meant to frighten voters into opposing the measure. The guide is approved by state lawmakers and sent to all voters to explain the proposals on November's ballot.

Amendment backers filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Denver but District Court Judge John McMullen said he didn't have the authority to interfere in the legislative process.

The guide says that Amendment 44 would allow people to give up to an ounce of marijuana to juveniles at least 15 years old for no compensation. Amendment backers say that's wrong.

Mason Tvert of SAFER Colorado said the proposed amendment would not affect the existing state law that bans giving small amounts of marijuana to minors.

"Attorneys for the council have succeeded in having the court dismiss the complaint," said Tvert in a news release Wednesday. "They must be very proud of themselves for successfully completing their plan to deceive the voters."

Lothar121 · 09-14-2006, 04:36 PM

RIP Colorado

Ok ok, I'll try to be positive, but really this is probably the end of that initiative.

Buzzby · 09-14-2006, 07:26 PM

The full story is that the current Colorado possession law includes a provision for the same $100 fine for transferring an ounce or less to any individual over 14 for no compensation that you get for possessing that amount yourself. By eliminating the $100 fine for possession, the $100 fine for uncompensated transfer will be eliminated as well. This was not SAFER's intent - it's an unforeseen consequence.

Lothar121 · 09-14-2006, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buzzby

The full story is that the current Colorado possession law includes a provision for the same $100 fine for transferring an ounce or less to any individual over 14 for no compensation that you get for possessing that amount yourself. By eliminating the $100 fine for possession, the $100 fine for uncompensated transfer will be eliminated as well. This was not SAFER's intent - it's an unforeseen consequence.

Yeah I understand how it happened, it's just so unfortunate. This is really going to hurt

Nugget Lover · 09-14-2006, 08:15 PM

This is so typical...

Anubis_Ice · 09-15-2006, 07:52 PM

man, when will we actually have a fair chance to get whats rightfully ours and not get punished for it

Buzzby · 09-16-2006, 01:25 AM

This came from SAFER in today's email:

Quote:

First, the DEA.

Now, the Colorado Speaker of the House.

Over the past three weeks, both the federal agency and the individual named above have tried to do what people at all levels of government have done over the past few decades in order to keep marijuana prohibition alive: They have pulled out their bag of dirty tricks. What is sad but true is that these tricks have almost always worked and marijuana prohibition is alive and well.

A funny thing has happened, however, on the way to the Colorado statewide election. The dirty tricks are still there, of course, but SAFER's responses to them have completely changed the usual dynamic. In fact, our opponents' actions are not hurting us; instead, they are making us stronger. And the evidence can be found in a growing number of articles and editorials calling out these government officials.

Here are two powerful examples:

Colorado Speaker of the House, Andrew Romanoff: As the chair of the Colorado General Assembly's Legislative Council, the Speaker was ultimately responsible for production of the Blue Book, a voter guide distributed to all households in the state with voters. Long story short, the Legislative Council completed their draft of the Blue Book last week. In its analysis of our statewide marijuana legalization initiative, they declared, based on a biased interpretation of the law, that it would be legal to give less than an ounce of marijuana to minors 15 years of age and older, as long as there was no compensation. What they ignored is the fact that an existing law pertaining to contributing to the delinquency of a minor makes - and will continue to make - it illegal to give any amount of marijuana to anyone under 18 years of age.

We sued them in court to fix the error, but the Legislative Council sidestepped the entire hearing by filing a motion that the case be dismissed due to lack of jurisdiction. The judge, who had called for the emergency hearing because he clearly felt otherwise, ultimately decided he better not wade into the legislative process, so he dropped the case without hearing the arguments.

Despite the legal defeat, we generated a massive amount of media coverage and did not pull punches in calling members of the Legislative Council "liars" and accusing them of "perpetrating an act of fraud upon the people of Colorado." In response, Speaker Romanoff said we were "reckless" and "wrong." Well, the Rocky Mountain News let the people of Colorado know their opinion this morning. Turns out we weren't so "wrong" after all. And the Speaker came out looking pretty bad.

Here is a quote from the editorial: "Did we say blunder?...Strike that: The line was deliberately placed in the Blue Book and is defended to this day by the Legislative Council as a legitimate interpretation ... Unfortunately, the clear implication of that statement - that the amendment decriminalizes such transfers, at least insofar as the state is concerned - is simply false."

As the campaign continues, we plan to use this as an example of how the government lies, exaggerates, and distorts the truth without shame in order to fool the people into opposing marijuana legalization. It will undermine every argument our opponents try to make.

The DEA: A few weeks ago, an article in one of the local Colorado papers reported that the DEA had sent out an E-mail seeking a campaign manager for a committee opposing our initiative. We jumped all over this and decried the possible federal involvement in a statewide initiative. As a result, there were editorials slamming the DEA in a number of major newspapers, including the Denver Post, the Rocky Mountain News, and the Colorado Springs Gazette, which despite being a somewhat conservative publication, issued the most scathing remarks about the DEA's actions.

Although these editorials have not discussed the substance of our initiative, there seems to be a growing appreciation of the way that the deck is usually stacked against our issue. This can only help us in the long run as our opponents' actions will likely be analyzed more closely and their statements will be closely watched for evidence of falsehoods and distortions of the truth.

This is all part of SAFER's master plan.

As one of our E-mail subscribers, you are probably quite familiar with the primary mission of SAFER, which is to educate the public about the fact that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol. Less well known is our secondary objective: To exposes the lies, deception, and hypocrisy that are used by elected officials and members of the law enforcement community to maintain a system in which adults are punished simply for making the rational choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol.

This is how we like to say it: For 70 years, our government has been playing a game to keep marijuana illegal. The game is over.

So, on behalf of the millions of Americans who believe it should not be a crime to use marijuana, we have fought and we will fight with every ounce of our energy to end marijuana prohibition in Colorado and around the country. If any member of government tries to attack our commonsense position, we are going to strike back at them twice as hard. It is simply not possible to defend laws that allow people to drink alcohol, but punish them for using marijuana. We have both facts and logic on our side. And, as you have seen, we will not just attack their words, but their methods, as well.

If you support our mission and our determination to end marijuana prohibition in this nation, please make a contribution today. Visit - SAFERcolorado.org - to support our Colorado initiative and our other lobbying endeavors.

Together, we can win this war.

Sincerely,
The SAFER Team

Steve Fox
Executive Director

Mason Tvert
Campaign Director

Evan Ackerfeld
Membership and Field Coordinator

dredpiratrobert · 09-16-2006, 04:13 AM

At least there's some good news coming out of the quagmire...

09-14-2006, 10:20 AM	#1
Plainsman1963 Account Closed Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 5,567 Grams: 55,273.14 Thanks: 837 Thanked 1,875 Times in 886 Posts Stock Portfolio Total Value: 0.000 Gain/Loss: -1.000%	CO: Judge Throws Out Marijuana Proponents' Challenge To Voter Guide Judge Throws Out Marijuana Proponents' Challenge To Voter Guide 09-13-06 \| TheDenverChannel.Com Supporters of an initiative that would legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana have lost their bid to block the state from distributing its voters guide. Backers of Amendment 44 said the guide's arguments against the proposal are meant to frighten voters into opposing the measure. The guide is approved by state lawmakers and sent to all voters to explain the proposals on November's ballot. Amendment backers filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Denver but District Court Judge John McMullen said he didn't have the authority to interfere in the legislative process. The guide says that Amendment 44 would allow people to give up to an ounce of marijuana to juveniles at least 15 years old for no compensation. Amendment backers say that's wrong. Mason Tvert of SAFER Colorado said the proposed amendment would not affect the existing state law that bans giving small amounts of marijuana to minors. "Attorneys for the council have succeeded in having the court dismiss the complaint," said Tvert in a news release Wednesday. "They must be very proud of themselves for successfully completing their plan to deceive the voters."

09-14-2006, 04:36 PM	#2
Lothar121 Seasoned Activist Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 1,401 Grams: 5,918.40 Thanks: 7 Thanked 33 Times in 15 Posts Stock Portfolio Total Value: 0.000 Gain/Loss: 0.000%	RIP Colorado Ok ok, I'll try to be positive, but really this is probably the end of that initiative. __________________ Donate. Write. Make a difference.. Posting Guidelines \| Marijuana Policy Project \| NORML \| DPA \| Drug WarRant \| Media Awareness Project

09-14-2006, 07:26 PM	#3
Buzzby Buddhist Curmudgeon Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 16,810 Grams: 91,226.07 Thanks: 997 Thanked 6,797 Times in 3,140 Posts Stock Portfolio Total Value: 0.000 Gain/Loss: 0.000%	The full story is that the current Colorado possession law includes a provision for the same $100 fine for transferring an ounce or less to any individual over 14 for no compensation that you get for possessing that amount yourself. By eliminating the $100 fine for possession, the $100 fine for uncompensated transfer will be eliminated as well. This was not SAFER's intent - it's an unforeseen consequence. __________________ 60% of the people of America now say we are heading toward a depression. Not a recession, a depression. We are in desperate need of profitable industries that we can tax. Um... Now can we legalize pot? ~ Bill Maher Theocracy Watch

09-16-2006, 04:13 AM	#8
dredpiratrobert Jr. Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 110 Grams: 2,457.25 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Stock Portfolio Total Value: 0.000 Gain/Loss: 0.000%	Nil Despaerandum At least there's some good news coming out of the quagmire... __________________ True Patriots Live Free Or Die Trying!!!

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