A group pushing for a citizens initiative to legalize small quantities of marijuana will submit more than 155,000 signatures next week to put the amendment on next year’s ballot.

Mason Tvert, a proponent of the measure and head of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, said Wednesday he and hundreds of volunteers are nearing the end of the petition-signature stage to get the measure on the November ballot.

Tvert said the group plans to turn in petitions to the Secretary of State’s Office next Wednesday.

“There’s been an ongoing discussion about marijuana in Colorado for the past seven years, and more Coloradans than ever believe that we should regulate marijuana similar to alcohol,” he said. “Because so many people have been hearing about marijuana and about the fact that it’s far safer than alcohol, they are becoming increasingly comfortable with acknowledging that an adult should be allowed to use it without fear of punishment.”

Better than that, Tvert said, it’s also an economic driver.

Read the entire story at: http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/pot_backers_could_get_question/

The annualMonitoring the Future survey of substance use by eighth, 10th, and 12th graders was released Wednesday, and it shows students are drinking and smoking tobacco at historically low levels, but marijuana use is on the rise...

While careful to point out that responsible marijuana reform activists do not encourage teen substance use, Mason Tvert, head of the activist group SAFER (Safe Alternatives for Enjoyable Recreation) and coauthor of Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? dared to suggest that young people who do use drugs are making smarter choices about which drugs they choose to use.

"We're always concerned about young people using drugs, but it's clear that more young people are understanding that marijuana is a less harmful substance and making that choice," said Tvert. "While we certainly don't want to promote marijuana use among minors, this report suggests they are making the safer choice to use marijuana rather than alcohol."

Tvert attributed both the rise in teen use and the decline in their perceptions of marijuana's risks to their increasing exposure to knowledge about marijuana.

"Ultimately, people are hearing more and more about the facts surrounding marijuana, and as they continue to hear that marijuana is far less harmful than alcohol, that it doesn't contribute to violence, that there is no danger of a deadly overdose, they are increasingly more comfortable making that choice..."

Read the entire story at: http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2011/dec/14/teens_rejecting_alcohol_tobacco

Marijuana articles giving you the munchies? Now you can turn the need to feed into a donation to fight against the war on drugs. Denver’s Sexy Pizza is donating a portion of its sales to LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), a group of police officers, judges and others in law enforcement who think the war on drugs is counterproductive...

“Kudos to the folks at Sexy Pizza for supporting LEAP and the countless law enforcement officials speaking out in support of ending marijuana prohibition,” said Mason Tvert, executive director of SAFER and a lead proponent for the marijuana regulation initiative. “They are invaluable members of our coalition and will play a critical role in the historic 2012
Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.”

Read the entire story at: http://coloradoindependent.com/106705/denvers-sexy-pizza-declares-war-on-drug-war

The passage of state medical-marijuana laws is associated with a subsequent drop in the rate of traffic fatalities, according to a newly released study by two university professors...

Rees said the main reason for the drop appears to be that medical-marijuana laws mean young people spend less time drinking and more time smoking cannabis. Legalization of medical marijuana, the researchers report, is associated with a 12-percent drop in the alcohol-related fatal-crash rate and a 19-percent decrease in the fatality rate of people in their 20s, according to the study.

The study also found that medical- marijuana legalization is associated with a drop in beer sales.

"The result that comes through again and again and again is (that) young adults . . . drink less when marijuana is legalized and traffic fatalities go down," Rees said...

Mason Tvert, the head of the pro- marijuana-legalization group SAFER, said the study suggests legalizing marijuana would be beneficial in unexpected ways...

Read the entire story at: http://www.denverpost.com/news/marijuana/ci_19437417

A study released Tuesday by the University of Colorado Denver indicates that the legalization of medical marijuana reduces alcohol consumption and, as a result, alcohol-related traffic deaths without a corresponding increase in deaths caused by stoned drivers.

The study, hailed as “groundbreaking” by the University, is the first to examine the effect of legalizing medical marijuana on the prevalence of traffic fatalities. Researchers analyzed traffic fatalities nationwide, and in those states that have legalized medical marijuana they found that alcohol consumption went down among those 20 to 29 years old, resulting in fewer deaths on the road...

“Every objective study on marijuana has concluded that it is far safer than alcohol for the user and society,” said Mason Tvert, executive director of Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) and coauthor of the book, Marijuana is Safer: So why are we driving people to drink? (Chelsea Green, 2009). “It should come as little surprise that when we allow adults to make the safer choice to use marijuana it results in less drinking and fewer alcohol-related problems,” he said in a press release.

Read the entire story at: http://coloradoindependent.com/106742/cu-study-medical-marijuana-saves-lives

CUSG will vote to support CU administration's efforts to move smokeout

The University of Colorado Student Government plans to present a resolution to its Legislative Council Thursday night supporting moving the annual 4/20 marijuana smokeout off CU's campus, according to the meeting agenda released Wednesday...

Read the entire story at: http://www.dailycamera.com/news/ci_19441050