By a vote of 55% to 45%, Denver voters chose to further decriminalize pot laws in the City and County of Denver.
Question 100 overview:
Original text:
Shall the voters for the City and County of Denver adopt an ordinance to the Denver Revised Municipal Code that would make the private use and possession of marijuana by persons 21 years of age and older the City’s lowest law-enforcement priority?
Check here for vote totals from the Rocky Mountain News.
Mason Tvert, campaign director of Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, the group behind the initiative said,
"...the measure was motivated by what he says are overzealous police who continue to cite adults for possessing under an ounce of marijuana despite a law that allows simple pot possession in Denver."
The courts, judicial systems, law enforcement and correctional departments spend alot of valuable resources in Colorado prosecuting marijuana possession. According to the U.S. Department of Justice's Uniform Crime Reports program, in a county-by-county breakdown of arrests there were over 11,400 marijuana arrests in Colorado in 2001 (one of the last years for which such detailed data are available), more than 58 percent of all drug arrests. Of these, over 10,900 were for marijuana possession.
The wasted resources are a stunning misaapropriation of law enforcement priorites.
"These sorts of measures in cities and towns across the country have an unbroken winning streak and it's looking like that streak is continuing and that's a sign that voters around the country don't want police time and effort wasted on small-time marijuana enforcement," said Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Washington D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, a group that contributed $30,000 to SAFER.
Cheers to the voters of Denver for making their city a SAFER place.