(The following are excerpts from the Westword.com feature, "Pot power players: Who's who in Colorado")

Mason Tvert

Title/Organization: Executive director of Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER)

Representative quote: "Marijuana is safer than alcohol."

Standing on the Pot Passion Index: 9

Strengths: Tvert is the merry prankster of marijuana, albeit one with a deadly serious goal. From hosting keg-party protests outside the Governor's Mansion to getting his recent book onto the Amazon bestseller list to standing strong alongside Vicente on the mayor's marijuana policy review panel, Tvert has been very, very good at getting one simple but catchy concept across: Marijuana is safer than alcohol.

Weaknesses: His opponents say that his attention-grabbing hijinks may one day backfire - but so far, this media-savvy maverick seems to be coated in Teflon.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.