cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Measure Not Likely To Matter










  Marijuana Measure Not Likely To Matter

Posted by CN Staff on November 08, 2007 at 06:16:57 PT
By David Montero, Rocky Mountain News  
Source: Rocky Mountain News  

Colorado -- Once again on a ballot measure, Mason Tvert pushed for allowing marijuana possession in Denver, and once again, he got it by a whopping vote total. And once again, the vote likely means nothing legally. Ballot Question 100 sought to make possession of less than one ounce of marijuana the "lowest law enforcement priority."
This comes on the heels of a 2005 ballot measure pushed by Tvert and his group, Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, or SAFER, that legalized possession of less than an ounce of marijuana within the city of Denver. Tuesday's measure passed 53.6 percent to 43.7 percent, with only several thousand votes still outstanding. Since 2005, Tvert has pushed three pot ballot measures - and has now succeeded on two of them. The third was a statewide ballot measure in 2006 that sought to legalize possession of less than an ounce of marijuana in Colorado. That measure failed badly in the state, but Tvert pointed out that it actually passed in Denver, too. "It's just showing more and more people are fed up with the way our city is handling this," Tvert said. "We hope they will respect the will of the voters." Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper issued a statement Wednesday saying that he understands the frustration with current marijuana laws and that he will create a community-based panel to review the issues raised by the initiative. "We respect the fact that many voters used this largely symbolic initiative to register frustration with the federal war on drugs," Hickenlooper said in his statement. "Given that adult possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is already one of the police department's lowest priorities, it is unclear what substantive impact, if any, the initiative's passage will make." And Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman said that the department doesn't currently target possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. Tvert said he believes that if he keeps pushing the issue on the ballot, the idea of marijuana being an unusual or strange thing to vote on will diminish. "It's more and more a legitimate issue," he said. Note: But Hick promises to form panel after 'symbolic' initiative.Source: Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)Author: David Montero, Rocky Mountain News Published: November 8, 2007Copyright: 2007 Denver Publishing Co.Contact: letters rockymountainnews.comWebsite: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Safer Denverhttp://www.saferdenver.com/Denver Poised To Make Marijuana a Low Priorityhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23456.shtmlDenver Decides Second Pot Issuehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23454.shtmlVoters Could Shift Cops' Pot Priorityhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23421.shtml 

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Comment #10 posted by observer on November 09, 2007 at 11:08:23 PT
Pushing the Propaganda
It's absolutely amazing that in such a short article, only sixteen sentences or so, that Montero actually managed to use the words "Tvert" and "Pushed", three times in three separate sentences, and still was able to top it all off with the words "Tvert" and "Pushing" in still another. Or maybe his editor said, "See how many times you can use the word push or a variation of it in that piece on the marijuana measure."Good catch, Hope. They are of course doing exactly what you suggest. Trying to pre-load the idea of "drug pusher" (a-la "gather 'round kiddies, the man with the goodies is here") and punch that image over and over. Using repetition, they "catapult the propaganda", as Der Dumkoff "W" Fuhrer let slip once. 
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Comment #9 posted by Hope on November 09, 2007 at 00:44:51 PT
At least Hickenlooper is appearing to realize
that it is the voting public that made this decision and they've said it before and they apparently really mean it...and most of all...they are the VOTING public, and he is, himself, an ELECTED official. He's acting like it's kind of getting through to him...maybe."Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper issued a statement Wednesday saying that he understands the frustration with current marijuana laws and that he will create a community-based panel to review the issues raised by the initiative."
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Comment #8 posted by Hope on November 09, 2007 at 00:37:56 PT
David Montero
needs to be nominated for the Ignobel Prize for this piece of ignoble, very yellowish, pseudo journalism.
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Comment #7 posted by Hope on November 09, 2007 at 00:35:50 PT
Rewrite...with integrity intact...
Once again on a ballot measure, a majority of the citizens of the city voted for allowing marijuana possession in Denver. It's likely that Denver's public officials will once again ignore and make every effort to diminish the sanctity and power of the votes of the voting public of Denver. Montero does tend to be repetitive. He used the term "Once again" three times in the first paragraph.Is he expressing prohibitionist frustration with the will and effort of the people that Tvert is the main spokesman for? Is he basically saying the people should just stop nagging and nagging that their vote actually matter? I think he is. Imagine that.
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on November 09, 2007 at 00:26:05 PT
David Montero. How clever is he?
Is David Montero just repetitive? He appears to have a very limited vocabulary for a professional journalist. Maybe he doesn't know how to use a thesaurus when he's challenged for words, or perhaps he's trying to be some sort of cunning master of mass hypnosis and suggestion?:0)Ooooh. A cunning plan. How about trying to sneak in a little extra, almost subliminal, influence, a little tricky sleight of hand, they'll never notice it. Let me see... a cunning plan..."I know", thought that cunning Mr. Montero, "I'll try to associate Tvert's name with "push" as in "push drugs"... the "pusher man"... "Push, push, push", as often as possible? Yeah...that's the ticket." It's absolutely amazing that in such a short article, only sixteen sentences or so, that Montero actually managed to use the words "Tvert" and "Pushed", three times in three separate sentences, and still was able to top it all off with the words "Tvert" and "Pushing" in still another. Or maybe his editor said, "See how many times you can use the word push or a variation of it in that piece on the marijuana measure."That's truly impressive."Once again on a ballot measure, Mason Tvert pushed for allowing marijuana possession in Denver, and once again, he got it by a whopping vote total.""This comes on the heels of a 2005 ballot measure pushed by Tvert and his group, Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, or SAFER, that legalized possession of less than an ounce of marijuana within the city of Denver.""Since 2005, Tvert has pushed three pot ballot measures - and has now succeeded on two of them.""Tvert said he believes that if he keeps pushing the issue on the ballot, the idea of marijuana being an unusual or strange thing to vote on will diminish."
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Comment #5 posted by CorvallisEric on November 09, 2007 at 00:14:05 PT
Final vote count
Updated version of the same article:In final returns, the measure passed 57 percent to 43 percent.Maybe that matters a little more than "53.6 percent to 43.7 percent" which adds up to only 97.3 percent.
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Comment #4 posted by unkat27 on November 08, 2007 at 20:04:29 PT
Ruling-Class is Fascist and Unamerican
It's been the same way in Mass since mj made a popular comeback in the mid 90s. Every 1 or 2 years measures for reform and decriminalization are voted on in the various counties in Mass and the results are always something like 80 percent or more in favor of decriminalization. And every time, the local ruling-class, the congress in Boston, and the cops all ignore the majority vote and continue to treat mj users like common criminals.If the majority vote means nothing to the ruling-class, then they are the ones that are being anti-american.
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Comment #3 posted by observer on November 08, 2007 at 15:05:03 PT
the vote means nothing to the police state
And once again, the vote likely means nothing legally.Of course. Only laws which increase punishments for potheads have any meaning for police and prosecutor (because their paychecks hang in the balance). When a majority of citizens peacefully vote to stop the jailing and punishing of cannabis users: then that is all wrong. (Why, it is immoral! As protectors of our morals, government can never jail too many potheads. After all, should we legalize murder?! Etc.) Only increasing the punishments for marijuana smokers means anything to government. It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it. -- Upton Sinclair, "The Jungle"
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Comment #2 posted by sam adams on November 08, 2007 at 09:54:29 PT
unbelievable
It "doesn't matter"? The citizens of Denver repeatedly tell the armed police to stop attacking them, and the cops ignore them? Sure, it doesn't matter, it's only the foundation of our entire governmental and societal system that's being destroyed. you know "government by the people"? Does that ring any bells?I love what they're doing in CO. You have to understand what's really going on. Colorado is a Big Alcohol town. That is precisely why the state government has fought all MJ reform, including medical, tooth and nail.Listen to the Coors song! "Changin', Everything's changin', but I'm not going to go changin'!"I find it fascinating that our system relies on most people believing that the government is just and fair and representative. But every time push comes to shove and the government is directly instructed by the people, they refuse to act. And in the case of MJ reform, they continue attacking the civilian population with armed thugs.  It's still illegal because most people are totally asleep, they don't realize their assumptions are totally wrong. They refuse to wake up. All those 20,000 commercials they've watched have turned their brains to mush.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on November 08, 2007 at 06:48:20 PT

One Third of Popular Songs Refer to Substance Abuse
Rap and country top the list with references to alcohol, drugs, study finds.By Randy DotingaTHURSDAY, Nov. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Could country music be worse for kids than rock music? If you judge by the number of alcohol and drug references in songs, a new study suggests the answer could be yes.URL: http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/healthday/071108/one-third-of-popular-songs-refer-to-substance-abuse.htm
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