A UCF student group pushing for the decriminalization of marijuana laws is celebrating what it calls “a victory for marijuana reform advocates,” according to a press release from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.

The celebration comes after UCF’s Golden Rule Review Committee voted 5-1 in favor of equalizing punishments students face when violating alcohol or marijuana regulations imposed by the Golden Rule. The proposal will now move to the desk of UCF Vice President Dr. Maribeth Ehasz for approval at the end of the semester.

“We are very glad to see the Golden Rule Review Committee standing up for a sensible and fair policy,” said Tyler Smith, the spokesman for the UCF chapter of NORML. “We look forward to working with the administration in order to ensure students’ voices are heard.”

Two new ballot initiatives could change the way Coloradans buy booze and pot.

The first is a plan to rearrange many of the regulations limiting how and where full-strength beer, wine and liquor can be sold in Colorado.

Initiative 48 has the backing of the Colorado Retail Council, and it comes as a Council-backed bill expanding alcohol sales looms on the legislature's calendar.

The initiative is more sweeping than the bill and could influence lawmakers set to consider allowing supermarkets to sell booze for the third time in as many years.

Pot advocate Mason Tvert filed language on Wednesday for a November ballot initiative that would allow Coloradans 21 and older to use marijuana. Does that mean Colorado is about to be embroiled in a full-scale movement to legalize weed?

Not necessarily.

"There isn't some large campaign being launched," says Tvert, reached during a business trip in San Francisco. "It's just something we wanted to make sure was possible if we decided to do it." He explains the he and his colleagues at SAFER, the marijuana reform organization Tvert runs, wanted to file the appropriate paperwork for such a contingency before key election deadlines had passed. But they're far from launching an official political operation.

After all, Tvert, who's never one to turn down a press opportunity, wasn't really looking to get the word out about the filing at all. "If we knew this was happening, we'd be the first ones to let people know about it," he says.