Denver Votes to Allow Marijuana Possession

The people of Denver have spoken. In Wednesday’s vote, just over half of the voters approved an ordinance allowing residents 21 years and older to carry up to an ounce of marijuana without fear of prosecution. The vote was very close, with 54% voting in favor and 46% voting against the law, and residents were sharply divided over the issue.

"We educated voters about the facts that marijuana is less harmful to the user and society than alcohol," said Mason Tvert, campaign organizer for SAFER, or Safer Alternatives for Enjoyable Recreation. "To prohibit adults from making the rational, safer choice to use marijuana is bad public policy." Tvert’s argument was that legalizing marijuana would reduce consumption of alcohol, which he said leads to higher rates of car accidents, domestic violence, and street crimes. Seattle, Oakland, and a few other college towns already have laws on the books making it a low priority for law enforcement personnel to punish people carrying negligible amounts.

The group criticized Mayor John Hickenlooper for opposing the proposal, because they said his opinion was biased since he owns a popular local bar. It also pointed out recent violent crimes, such as last weekend’s shooting of four people, and said crimes such as those are a pointed reminder of how legalizing marijuana will steer people away from alcohol abuse. Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C., told reporters that he hopes the approval of Denver’s proposal will launch a national trend toward legalizing small amounts of marijuana, since enforcing laws against it causes more problems than the laws solve.

Opponents of the measure said that it makes no sense to prevent prosecution by Denver local authorities since marijuana charges are usually filed under state and federal law, not local law. Authorities have noted that state laws will still be applied in spite of the local law voted in by the city. In another close vote on Tuesday, residents in Telluride, CO, rejected a proposal to make possession of an ounce or less by people 18 or older the town’s lowest law enforcement priority.

The law will not affect the medical marijuana law approved by voters in 2000. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the marijuana laws approved in Colorado and nine other states would not protect licensed users from federal prosecution.