Earlier this week, SAFER asked you to call on Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper to replace Lt. Ernie Martinez on the Denver Marijuana Policy Review Panel after a letter was discovered in which he compared supporters of marijuana legalization to "a cancer eating away at society's resolve and moral fiber." 

Hundreds of you sent messages to Mayor Hickenlooper, letting him know such a viewpoint completely contradicts the Panel's mission and that Lt. Martinez should be removed. To our knowledge he has not responded to you or to the media. 

A response is needed, and if the Mayor isn't going to provide one, we will! 

We need as many people as possible to attend the next meeting of the Denver Marijuana Policy Review Panel, which will be this coming Tuesday (2/23) at the Denver City and County Building (1437 Bannock St.).  SAFER will be holding a news conference beforehand, which will begin at 3 p.m., so PLEASE arrive by 2:45 p.m. As Hickenlooper begins his campaign to become Colorado's next governor, we must make sure he knows...

We are NOT a cancer... We ARE Colorado!

WHAT:  News conference and meeting of the Denver Marijuana Policy Review Panel

WHEN:  This TUESDAY, Feb. 23, 2:45 p.m.

WHERE:  In front of the Denver City and County Bldg, 1437 Bannock St. (map/directions)

WHY:  To call on Mayor Hickenlooper to remove Lt. Ernie Martinez from the Panel and follow the will of Denver voters

After voters approved a new ordinance designating marijuana possession Denver's lowest law enforcement priority, Mayor Hickenlooper appointed a Panel to implement the new law "to the greatest extent possible."  Why would he appoint Lt. Martinez -- an anti-marijuana crusader and the head of an organization fighting to keep marijuana illegal and wipe out medical marijuana -- to a panel that is working to reduce marijuana arrests and prosecutions?  

Please FORWARD THIS ALERT and SPREAD THE WORD!

In a letter recently sent to members of the Denver Marijuana Policy Review Panel -- a mayor-appointed body of which Tvert is a member -- and other city officials, Tvert made note of how Pete Holmes, Seattle's new city attorney has announced he's dismissing all marijuana-possession cases that had been underway in the city and will no longer file charges for marijuana possession unless there are "out of the ordinary circumstances." The move is a response to a referendum Seattle voters passed in 2003 that made marijuana the lowest priority for local law enforcement.

While the two both sit on the mayor-appointed Denver Marijuana Policy Review Panel, they're far from chums. Last month, for example, Tvert demanded a boycott of Starbucks after he noticed the coffee chain appeared to be a sponsor on CDIA's website. (Starbucks apparently relented, and right now the CDIA's website is down).

Now Tvert's launched another broadside across Martinez's bow. SAFER is calling on Mayor Hickenlooper to pull Martinez from the city's marijuana panel, based on a 2006 CDIA letter penned by Martinez that compares marijuana legalization advocates to cancer.