SAFER To Run A New Pot Initiative

Denver police would have to make possession of small amounts of marijuana by adults their lowest law enforcement priority under a proposal a pro-pot group is pushing.

"We're doing this because the city has been unwilling to recognize the fact that people in Denver do not think adults should be punished for using marijuana, a less harmful drug than alcohol," Mason Tvert, executive director of Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, said Thursday.

In 2005, voters approved Initiative 100, which legalized the possession and private use of 1 ounce or less of marijuana by adults.

Since then, arrests for misdemeanor possession have gone up.

"The people of the city have no other option but to move forward with a measure to tell the city how they want it run," Tvert said.

Tvert is meeting with city officials at 2 p.m. Monday for a "review and comment" hearing on the proposed ordinance. Tvert said he will then begin a signature-gathering drive to put an initiative on the November ballot.

Similar initiatives have been adopted in Seattle and Oakland.

But David Broadwell, an assistant city attorney, said there's still a question whether a policy through an initiated ordinance can be enforced here.

Initiative 100 "clearly related to a law of the city and changed that law," he said. "But this one is obviously quite different in terms of purporting to direct administrative behavior in the executive branch in a very specific way. I don't think we've ever had an initiative quite like this one."

The proposal also calls for the creation of an 11-member Marijuana Policy Review Panel "to assess and report on the effects of this ordinance."

Rocky Mountain News