For you Coloradans: (Marijuana)

rod_farva

Well, I'm using my first post on this. I think it's worthy.


http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/9638818/detail.html

DENVER -- Voters could be deciding on whether to legalize marijuana statewide this fall.

Members of the group Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation dropped off 129,000 signatures at the Secretary of State's office Monday morning. The signatures of 68,000 registered Colorado voters have to be verified before the measure can be placed on the ballot.

"The fact that we collected nearly twice as many signatures as are required under statute highlights the widespread support for ending the madness of marijuana prohibition in Colorado," said SAFER Campaign Director Mason Tvert.


The measure, if approved by voters, would make possession of one ounce of marijuana legal in Colorado for those 21 or older.

Spartanacus

Colorado doesn't sound like a bad place to live. Fort Collins was named by Money as the top place to live this year, and Colorado Springs was named the best big city to live. If I didn't have family in the Midwest, I'd be there!

1970RR

rod_farva wrote:

Well, I'm using my first post on this. I think it's worthy.


http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/9638818/detail.html

DENVER -- Voters could be deciding on whether to legalize marijuana statewide this fall.

Members of the group Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation dropped off 129,000 signatures at the Secretary of State's office Monday morning. The signatures of 68,000 registered Colorado voters have to be verified before the measure can be placed on the ballot.

"The fact that we collected nearly twice as many signatures as are required under statute highlights the widespread support for ending the madness of marijuana prohibition in Colorado," said SAFER Campaign Director Mason Tvert.


The measure, if approved by voters, would make possession of one ounce of marijuana legal in Colorado for those 21 or older.

If this passes, look for the feds to swoop in and start rounding up people in drug sweeps. There is no way the Federal Government would stand by and let this happen without utilizing its "War on Drugs" arsenal.

denverfan

The issue here is that cops really dont care if you have less than an ounce...the new legislation only covers up to an ounce. The bill is pointless, if you get caught with less than an ounce you get a 25 dollar fine etc. Marijuana was voted legal here in Denver, but again, nothing really changed.

Denver/CO is a great place to live. I've got all the great sport teams, worlds best skiing (arguably) within an hour and a half of Denver...Music scene blows, but other than that you can have a good job and it's still relativley cheap to live here.

vedderelf

I went to Denver last January to see my Blues play the Avalanche and the people there could not have been nicer or more levelheaded. If only every state could be like Colorado.....

sourdough

Vancouver is known to be the Amsterdam of North America. Pot is superfluous here but still not legalized. The battle against pot has been a losing battle here so legalization, taxation and regulation seems to be the only obvious solution but hasn't happened yet.

surferdude

sourdough wrote:

Vancouver is known to be the Amsterdam of North America. Pot is superfluous here but still not legalized. The battle against pot has been a losing battle here so legalization, taxation and regulation seems to be the only obvious solution but hasn't happened yet.

I'm waiting for us to legalize it so we can tax the hell out of it. I'd like to see a reliable method to quickly check for driving under the influence first. It scares me that so many people think that pot doesn't affect their driving. That's the same kind of backwards thinking people had about booze 50 years ago.

sourdough

Exactly! I'm sure they can come up with something. The tax dollars alone would be huge. I'm still astonished by the amount of people who think its ok to drink and drive (as exhibited by a recent staff party :()

surferdude

sourdough wrote:

Exactly! I'm sure they can come up with something. The tax dollars alone would be huge. I'm still astonished by the amount of people who think its ok to drink and drive (as exhibited by a recent staff party :()

I thought drinking and driving was pretty much left to the young (not all but the stupid) and alcoholics. I know my group of friends we always err on the side of caution. I couldn't imagine the treatment the bosses would give you where I work if they thought you drove home drunk from a company event.

sourdough

surferdude wrote:

I thought drinking and driving was pretty much left to the young (not all but the stupid) and alcoholics. I know my group of friends we always err on the side of caution. I couldn't imagine the treatment the bosses would give you where I work if they thought you drove home drunk from a company event.

I thought so too, but it seems its much more common than I ever imagined. Sadly, not much is done about it and it doesn't even seem to be a big deal to anyone. By the way, you're 1 post short of 3000!

surferdude

I'd be happy to legalize pot, tax it as much or more than booze is taxed but with the agreement that half of all tax revenue from pot goes to rehab and prevention of harder drugs. Vanouver's Downtown Eastside is a disgrace. It blows my mind that nearly everyone finds it acceptable. It's crazy to think that I could smoke crack or shoot-up right in front of the police station and not get hassled at all, but if I try to enjoy a beer at Kits I'm a criminal. It just seems crazy to me.

rod_farva

denverfan wrote:

The bill is pointless, if you get caught with less than an ounce you get a 25 dollar fine etc. Marijuana was voted legal here in Denver, but again, nothing really changed.

I don't understand.

Isn't 25.00 too much for something that should be totally legal? I'd hate to have to pay a fine everytime someone catches me drinking a beer or smoking a cigarette, even a small fine.

The part that seems a little odd is that it only covers posessing up to 1 oz. There's nothing that changes the law about cultivation. That seems really silly to me since it will do nothing but benefit commercial growers/dealers since someone has to supply the people with their 1 oz. In order for the law to make sense, it would have to legalize cultivation in some form as well. But hopefully this thing will lead to more, better laws. Maybe it will eventually encourage other states to loosen up their laws a bit too. A lot of them are a little harsher than Colorado.

yosi1

rod_farva wrote:

The part that seems a little odd is that it only covers posessing up to 1 oz. There's nothing that changes the law about cultivation. That seems really silly to me since it will do nothing but benefit commercial growers/dealers since someone has to supply the people with their 1 oz. In order for the law to make sense, it would have to legalize cultivation in some form as well. But hopefully this thing will lead to more, better laws. Maybe it will eventually encourage other states to loosen up their laws a bit too. A lot of them are a little harsher than Colorado.

Interesting point. It seems to make it ok to have, but illegal or impossible to grow/sell.

sponger

A friend of mine got busted at an Arizona checkpoint for having a 1/4 oz. of weed and a pipe. She's now being dragged into court and looking at fines up to $3000. She hired a $2000 lawyer to represent her, and that is considered cheap for a pot lawyer in Arizona.

rod_farva

ouch, yeah Arizona's laws look pretty bad.

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?wtm_view=&Group_ID=4523

Then when you see stuff like:

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?wtm_view=&Group_ID=4557
Ohio

And

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?wtm_view=&Group_ID=4526
Colorado

It sorta makes you ill.
Had she been in either of those states, she'd be out 100$, had her weed and pipe taken, and nothing more.

I dunno, just seems to me that if that deal in Colorado passes, things will get better all over the country. And yeah, it does sort of make me wonder what the Feds will do. It would be interesting.

RockinInCanada

My three points on this matter:

1) If it was to get legalized and the only legal supply was to be through the government and growing (for personal consumption) was made illegal, I would rather see the law stay as it is....

Or

2) If it is legalized it can be government supplied (therefore taxed)...but production should be handled the same as home beer making...as long as it is for personal consumption you should be okay to do that.....

Or

3) Goto decriminalization and remove mandatory sentences/prison terms in placement of small appropriate fines (that do not appear on your record)...for under an ounce.....

Pearl Jam and toast

1970RR wrote:

If this passes, look for the feds to swoop in and start rounding up people in drug sweeps. There is no way the Federal Government would stand by and let this happen without utilizing its "War on Drugs" arsenal.

I hate to say so, but i think you're right.

The federal govt. is at the highest position on being completely ignorant and misinformed about drug use.

They'll sooner beat up a pothead and give him 30 years than keep our president in line.

Ahnimus

sourdough wrote:

Vancouver is known to be the Amsterdam of North America. Pot is superfluous here but still not legalized. The battle against pot has been a losing battle here so legalization, taxation and regulation seems to be the only obvious solution but hasn't happened yet.

I lived in Victoria for a while and it's no slouch either. I remember each year a lot of people gather on the lawn infront of the parliament buildings to smoke weed and protest the laws. Any given day you can go down to the cosway and a lot of people will be down there smoking weed. I remember on New Years night there were 100s of people down there drinking and smoking weed, the police were powerless to stop it.

lillbur

Spartancus wrote:

Colorado doesn't sound like a bad place to live. Fort Collins was named by Money as the top place to live this year, and Colorado Springs was named the best big city to live. If I didn't have family in the Midwest, I'd be there!

Ft. Collins is allright, the weather is great and much better than the midwest(I'm originally from Iowa). However, it's somewhat conservative here, although not as bad as the Springs. I moved here from Portland, ME. and would much rather be out there by the ocean. Unfortunately, family is a big thing for my wife and she did not like being half way across the country. Anyway, like I said ft. collins is allright.