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Denver Post: Denver's voter initiative does little to curb marijuana citations
Written by John Ingold   
Monday, 01 March 2010

More than two years after Denver voters approved a measure making minor marijuana crimes the city's lowest law-enforcement priority, city officials continue to prosecute marijuana cases at a steady clip.

Denver city attorneys last year prosecuted 1,696 cases in which possession of less than an ounce of marijuana was at least one of the charges.

In 2008, 1,658 cases were prosecuted. In 2006 — the year before the initiative was approved — prosecutors handled 1,841 marijuana cases.

Police citations for possession of small amounts of marijuana continue unabated as well. Figures for citations and prosecutions were released last week at a meeting of the city's Marijuana Policy Review Panel.

The continued enforcement has frustrated some members of the panel, which was created by the voter initiative to implement the new law.

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Portland Observer: Marijuana advocacy group: Allow pot on reality TV
Written by Jake Thomas   
Friday, 26 February 2010

A national marijuana advocacy organization is calling for MTV to allow the cast of “The Real World” and “jersey Shore” to use the drug as a safer alternative to alcohol.

“The Real World,” a docu-drama on MTV that has been running since 1992, puts a cast of average twenty somethings in one house for several months, allowing viewers to witness the heated drama and friendships that naturally occurs.

A recent episode, featured an alcohol-soaked incident where one cast member pushed another down a flight of stairs resulting in their hospitalization.

Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) is using the incident to convince MTV that participants in the show should be allowed to use marijuana, arguing that such an incident would never have occurred had the cast been mellowing with reefer than guzzling booze.

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Westword: Marijuana advocate blames continued unnecessary pot prosecutions on Mayor
Written by Michael Roberts   
Wednesday, 24 February 2010

Last week, reporter Joel Warner told you about marijuana advocate Mason Tvert's call for removal from the Denver Marijuana Review Panel of fellow member Lieutenant Ernie Martinez, head of the Colorado Drug Investigators Association. Martinez's sin? He wrote a 2006 letter comparing marijuana legalization to cancer.

Mayor John Hickenlooper, who appointed the members of the panel, rebuffed that demand through his office, prompting a press conference by Tvert protesting the decision prior to yesterday's panel meeting.

In addition, Tvert is upset at what he sees as the unjustifiably high number of pot prosecutions in Denver despite the passage back in 2005 of a measure decriminalizing possession of up to one ounce of marijuana by adults in the city.

Regarding the press conference, Tvert says, "We held it at the Denver City and County Building, and there were probably thirty folks there -- all of them Colorado voters, many of them Denver voters. They made a large sign that read, 'We are not a cancer. We are Colorado voters.'"

The placard was intended as "a message to Mayor Hickenlooper, who's seeking statewide office," he continues. "It was a way of letting him know that he needs to stand up for these voters -- voters who are certainly not a cancer. Recent surveys have shown that there's about 50 percent support for making marijuana legal statewide, and about two-thirds support in Denver. These are the people Lt. Martinez referred to as a cancer, and we're concerned that Mayor Hickenlooper would appoint someone like this to a panel dealing with marijuana policy -- and we hope it's not a sign of things to come should he be elected to statewide office."

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Westword: Mayor John Hickenlooper's office declines to pull Lt. Ernie Martinez from pot panel
Written by Joel Warner   
Monday, 22 February 2010

Last week, we told you how prominent pot advocate Mason Tvert, head of Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), wanted the mayor-appointed Denver Marijuana Policy Review Panel, on which he sits, to expel one of its members: Lieutenant Ernie Martinez, head of the Colorado Drug Investigators Association (CDIA). Tvert called for the ouster of Martinez, a longtime rival, because of a 2006 letter the investigator had written that compared marijuana legalization advocates to cancer.

However, Mayor John Hickenlooper's office isn't going along with the request, according to a prepared statement from communications director Eric Brown:

The Marijuana Policy Review Panel (MPRP) intentionally represents a variety of viewpoints, including those of Lt. Martinez. The MPRP has 11 appointed positions (the appointment of the District Attorney was declined) and there are 10 voting panelists in practice.

Lt. Martinez is one voice on the panel. Police officers and recreational users of marijuana may, understandably, have very different perspectives on the phrases "lowest law enforcement priority" and "greatest extent possible." The role of the MPRP is to determine what this ordinance means, in practice, after incorporating all viewpoints -- not just those on one side of the debate. The MPRP's upcoming report to City Council should shed more light on this matter.

It will be interesting to see how the flare-up impacts the panel's report to City Council, as well as the MPRP's meeting tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. to go over 2009 marijuana arrest statistics. After all, knowing Tvert, he likely won't be accepting the mayor's decision quietly.

 
Westword: Marijuana advocate calls for the ouster of his Denver pot-panel colleague
Written by Joel Warner   
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
In many ways the friction between Mason Tvert, head of Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) and Lieutenant Ernie Martinez, head of the Colorado Drug Investigators Association (CDIA), personifies the ongoing clash between law enforcement and marijuana activists.

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.

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Capital News Service (VA): Delegate Proposes Marijuana Legislation
Written by Stephen Utz   
Tuesday, 26 January 2010

RICHMOND — A Republican delegate from Gloucester is proposing legislation to expunge the records of people who are one-time offenders convicted of marijuana possession.

Under Del. Harvey Morgan's plan, law enforcement officers will still have the conviction on file but employers will not find the conviction on the employee's record when they conduct a background check.

This bill expands on the Virginia Code that allows first-time offenders to complete a drug treatment program and have the charges dismissed. Under current law, the dismissal remains on a person's record. Morgan's legislation would expunge all information regarding the incident if the person does not commit the same offense for a period of 10 years.

Morgan cited the stigma that is placed on people who have a drug conviction on their record.

"No matter how much time goes by," he said, "that offense will always be on that person's record. The stigma is impossible to live with."

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