In wake of pot measure defeat, SAFER goes national
As the smoke clears and the buzz fades, some say the marijuana-legalization landscape has been forever altered
Vimal Patel
Issue date: 1/25/07 Section: News
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Hey, winning over 2 of 5 Colorado voters isn't too shabby.
That's what Mason Tvert tells himself.
More than two months after Tvert and SAFER's pot-legalization measure got smoked, the group is planning to branch out nationally and plant the seeds of legalization on other college campuses, like it did about two years ago at CSU.
But the group's efforts in Colorado are far from done. The group is set to be in C144 of Clark at 7 p.m. today as part of Students for Sensible Drug Policy's spring kickoff event.
Despite the November loss, it's moving forward expressing optimism and success at the election results and the future of the marijuana legalization landscape.
Voters shot down Amendment 44, which would have legalized possession of up to an ounce of pot, 59 to 41.
And given all the decades of propaganda against marijuana and the powerful institutions opposed to its legalization, Tvert said, campaign workers should be proud of the election results.
"They were right about where we were expecting," he said. "We weren't disappointed in the least."
Tvert said "it's pretty amazing" that more than 2 of 5 Coloradans voted for the measure despite the powerful coalition opposed to marijuana legalization, including prominent politicians, law enforcement and even the national drug czar.
"If it was possible to make marijuana legal with $60,000, it would have been done a long time ago," he said, referring to the money spent on the post-petition campaign drive.
SAFER - Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation - spent about another $120,000 on the petition drive to gather the required 68,000 valid signatures to place the measure on the ballot. The group's most visible claim was that marijuana is far more benign than alcohol, and therefore it's illogical and fundamentally unfair to keep it illegal while tolerating the drink.
"It's an argument that a lot of people have been forced to think critically about," said Seth Anthony, chair of the CSU Libertarian Party, which campaigned for the legalization measure.
That's what Mason Tvert tells himself.
More than two months after Tvert and SAFER's pot-legalization measure got smoked, the group is planning to branch out nationally and plant the seeds of legalization on other college campuses, like it did about two years ago at CSU.
But the group's efforts in Colorado are far from done. The group is set to be in C144 of Clark at 7 p.m. today as part of Students for Sensible Drug Policy's spring kickoff event.
Despite the November loss, it's moving forward expressing optimism and success at the election results and the future of the marijuana legalization landscape.
Voters shot down Amendment 44, which would have legalized possession of up to an ounce of pot, 59 to 41.
And given all the decades of propaganda against marijuana and the powerful institutions opposed to its legalization, Tvert said, campaign workers should be proud of the election results.
"They were right about where we were expecting," he said. "We weren't disappointed in the least."
Tvert said "it's pretty amazing" that more than 2 of 5 Coloradans voted for the measure despite the powerful coalition opposed to marijuana legalization, including prominent politicians, law enforcement and even the national drug czar.
"If it was possible to make marijuana legal with $60,000, it would have been done a long time ago," he said, referring to the money spent on the post-petition campaign drive.
SAFER - Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation - spent about another $120,000 on the petition drive to gather the required 68,000 valid signatures to place the measure on the ballot. The group's most visible claim was that marijuana is far more benign than alcohol, and therefore it's illogical and fundamentally unfair to keep it illegal while tolerating the drink.
"It's an argument that a lot of people have been forced to think critically about," said Seth Anthony, chair of the CSU Libertarian Party, which campaigned for the legalization measure.
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