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By Mason Tvert

Denver voters will once again weigh in on how the city handles marijuana, and this time they will consider a new ordinance designating private adult possession the city’s lowest law enforcement priority.

The measure comes at a time when pot arrests are at an all-time high in the state capital, despite voters’ approval of a 2005 initiative calling on the city to end them entirely.

Denver police and other city officials argued then that they must continue enforcing the state marijuana law, and it is unsurprising that they have dusted off those very same talking points for 2007.

But this assertion is just as bogus now as it was two years ago.

Officials have yet to provide any concrete justification for their need to be subservient to the state here, and they fail to discuss what — if any — repercussions there would be if the city ignores the state pot law.

Unfortunately, much of the mainstream press in Denver opted to take these officials at their word, rather than asking them such tough questions concerning intergovernmental relations.
The Rocky Mountain News, for example, ran an editorial claiming that this latest initiative will make no difference in the city if passed (“Pot vote, Round 2/Possession will remain illegal, no matter what the result”). This came on the heels of a Denver Post story bearing the headline, “Denver cops say they can’t ignore state pot law.” But according to the Denver city attorney’s office, the issue is not so clear cut.

As Assistant City Attorney David Broadwell put it in the Post story: “This is an entirely new beast, and I don’t know what it means. There’s not a single law on the books like this.” But there are virtually identical laws that are on the books in other major cities — a fact omitted in the Rocky editorial.

Seattle voters adopted a “lowest law enforcement priority” measure in 2003, and it has resulted in a dramatic decline in marijuana arrests and prosecutions.

Even Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr, who originally opposed the initiative, has admitted that implementation of the policy has been safe and effective.

Moreover, neither Carr nor the home-rule city of Seattle ever doubted its ability to implement such a policy. So, why does Denver?

The Mile High City also enjoys home-rule status, having been granted the right to self-governance under Article XX of the Colorado Constitution.

Along with enumerating Denver’s abilities to “define,” “regulate” and “alter” the powers of the local police, Section 6 explicitly states:

“ and ordinances made pursuant thereto in such matters shall supersede within the territorial limits and other jurisdiction of said city or town any law of the state in conflict therewith.”

Herein lies Denver officials’ dilemma. They say they are sworn to uphold state laws, thus they supposedly cannot implement the proposed city ordinance and ignore the state pot law. But the state constitution says that such city ordinances “shall supersede” conflicting state laws. The result: In order for Denver police to abide by the state constitution, they must implement the ordinance.

Denver officials have tried to account for this inconvenient truth by arguing that the city only gets to flex its home-rule muscle when it comes to local laws that are stricter than state laws.

But this fails to take into account the fact that Denver police do often ignore stricter state laws.

For example, a Sept. 11, 2006, article in the Rocky carried the following headline: “Denver ignores DUI law: City not enforcing state’s photo, fingerprint rule for those caught driving drunk.” If Denver can take it easy on people who get drunk and drive, why can’t we take it easy on adults who simply possess a small amount of a drug that is safer than alcohol?

It is time Denver city officials admit that their hands are tied only by themselves. And if voters approve the “lowest law enforcement priority” initiative, it must be implemented.

Mason Tvert is the spokesperson for Citizens for a Safer Denver. The text of the latest marijuana initiative is available at www.SaferDenver.com.

READER COMMENTS

Anonymous poster is in denial. I can, have and do, outwrite any of the dimwit prohibitionists posting here and if they will stick to issues rather than making ad hominem, snarky comments, they will lose any debate, hands down (which is why they limit themselves to making snide comments...).

And I suspect, based on the style and bad spelling of the writer, anonymous is the infamous Linda1.

So come on Prohibs, lets stick with facts and medical science not ONDCP propaganda talking points.

I stand by my earlier post.

Pity the dopers.

So many people misinformed. Who wants to know the only reason pot is illegal.

Big wigs in certain industries would stand to lose everything to the industrialization of pot.

Don't believe me, check for yourself, you have been kept in the dark for a reason. And that reason is exactly what plagues this country in more ways than one. When cash is king, morality and reason take a backseat.

To the "noname" commenter below who said "The netherlands is closeing down its pot shops and other drug related places. Why, because they have determined drugs to be bad."

I happen to live in the Netherlands, and your claim is of course not true. You need to -read- the news, not just their headlines. Some cities in the Netherlands -are- closing shops that are too close to schools (Rotterdam), but go figure, they do not close the pubs that are next door. This is because Prohibitionism is shamefully making progress even here, thanks to retarded neighbor countries' such as UK with their new PM, the whining Belgians and French. There is an enormous international pressure on NL to close coffee shops, but so far they stood up well for what they believe is THE correct system to handle soft drugs. Any other nation would have caved under such international pressure long time ago.

So no, they have not realized drugs are bad, mmmkay?

Also, the "pot smoke is more harmful than tobacco" is an old story. Not only that this has proven to be not true, but I have a better advice, don't smoke it! Instead, eat it, drink it, vaporize it. But before you do any of this, educate yourself instead of making self-embarrassing posts on countries and issues you know nothing about.

"The netherlands is closeing down its pot shops and other drug related places. " WRONG!!

I was just there three weeks ago and they're open for business. There is no talk about closing the coffee shops with pot, but there has been some talk about closer regulation of mushrooms.

I bet TMR is an alcoholic and a tobacco addict. Typical reich wingnut, thinks all pot smokers are "hippies". There are 10 million of us and we are in all the professions. We are smarter than you, TMR.

Mayor Chickenlooper has done nothing to enforce the existing decriminalization law. Denver cops are busting twice as many people for pot possession as before. Meanwhile, people are getting shot in broad daylight in Denver because the cops are wasting their time busting people for pot.

Commenter Allen talks about the Netherlands, but what he failed ,or omitted to say was this fact. The netherlands is closeing down its pot shops and other drug related places. Why, because they have determined drugs to be bad.

The claims of the government withholding reports on the benifiets of pot are so wrong. Allen must be smoking what he is trying to preach here. The most recent report talks of the fact that pot smoking is worse then cigarette smoking (go figure ). However the antismoking crowd is not up in arms over this. Why because a vast majority of them are too high on thier pot.

One joint does as much damage to the lungs as 4 nonfiltered cigs. It also destroys the same amount of brain cells as a six pack of beer. But anyone who talks to the potheads can tell that.

The whole point is there is NO reasonable logic to have caanabis illegal at all.

The fact is... that in 7 decades of pot being illegal that Prohibition has succeeded only in making it the # 1 crop in the country. Is that the success you anti-cannabis folks want to continue.

The fact is... our nation, once looked at fondly by others as the "Land of the Free," is now the "Land of the Most Incarcerated." Any right thinking human being should be able to recognize such a grand failure as our war on pot and the few other drugs that remain illegal.

Fact is... the government keeps burying any and all studies showing any benefit to pot, any studies that call for legalization or at minimum decriminalization.

Why do they bury these studies away from public view? Because that is the Prohibition bureaucracy's job... to maintain their jobs. Jobs which would disappear if we ended Prohibition II.

If someone smokes pot and drives and they speed, or fail to signal or tailgate or wtf-ever... they deserve a ticket, the same as if they had been drinking at the time of the offense, the same as if they hd been talking on their cell phobes, reading th morning paper, putting on their make-up... or if they were only driving. Bad driving is its own crime. As is theft, assault, etc.

Everyone knows about crowd violence at major international soccer matches. But did you know that in 2000 in the Netherlans a major tournament went off violence free because the police cracked down on alcohol use but turned the other way to open pot use? Did you know that in isbon, Portugal in 2004 the police there did the same thing and that tournament once again showed that people can consume pot in a public environment and behave?

Except for inane blustering the folks who are against pot cannot defend its prohibition in a debate using fact. Why do you think the government does not allow public comment on the drug policy blogs? Why do you think the same is true for the anti-drug orgs like PDFA? Because, to a bit of paraphrasing "they can't HANDLE the truth!"

Humans have been using cannabis for THOUSANDS of years and there are no dead bodies from overdose because you CAN'T overdose. Is cannabis for everybody? No. But not every one should drink, not veryone should have kids or cars or alcohol...

Instead of lame inflammatory outbursts like these anti-pot-heads here I'd like to see someone, somewhere, calmly and coherently defend the Prohibiton of cannabis. Jack Herer has $100,000 saying someone CAN'T.

Those first two posts are perfect examples of what kinds of imbeciles us freedom lovers are up against. The thing is, they think their arguments are quite rational! Luckily for these idiots, the powers that be love them and everyone else incapable of independent thought. Sigh.

To "noname" poster - people drive around drunk, smoking cigarettes, talking on the cell phone, doing makeup and looking for a donut shop. I am not sure what your point is.

To TMR poster: For your info, "dope smokers" ARE “able” to get jail time, were you asleep? I have no problem paying $100 for pot the day when you pay $100 fine or go to jail for drinking a beer or a glass of wine, or whatever you use to dumb yourself down to this point.

Just what we need people driving around smoking a joint,while text messaging his dealer and looking for a 7-11.

Are you kidding me? I think dope smokers should be able to get jail time, instead of the maximum $100.00 fine that is now imposed. Kepp your dope smoking away from me hippie moron.

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