Supporters of marijuana policy reform are coming together to produce a statewide ballot initiative that would end cannabis prohibition in Colorado in 2012.  No single organization or individual is heading the effort; rather, there is a wide variety of activists, organizations, businesses, professionals, and other stakeholders working together to create and pass the best law possible.

As Colorado’s largest organization dedicated exclusively to marijuana reform, SAFER and its lobbying arm, the SAFER Voter Education Fund, are working to engage everyone possible in the process.  We are soliciting input and feedback from the community, which we will bring to the table as an initiative is drafted by some of the most qualified attorneys and advocates from across Colorado and around the nation.

If you would like to take part in the process of putting together the best possible legalization initiative for 2012, please send an e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Let us know what you do or do not want to see in the initiative, or just let us know if you have any ideas or thoughts on the process.  As you can imagine, we probably won’t be able to respond to every e-mail, but we assure you they will all be read and taken into consideration.  Submissions must be received on or before February 25, 2011.

Click below to read a column by SAFER Executive Director Mason Tvert that appears in the February issues of Kush Magazine, which discusses what a 2012 ballot initiative could entail.

Last week the World Health Organization announced that alcohol use is now responsible for more than 4 percent of deaths worldwide, which is more than AIDS, TB, or violence.  The international group attributed the striking news to rising incomes in African and Asian countries, as well as to the current culture and policies that surround the popular intoxicant.

As MSNBC.com reported:

Yet alcohol control policies are weak and remain a low priority for most governments despite drinking's heavy toll on society from road accidents, violence, disease, child neglect and job absenteeism, it said.

Approximately 2.5 million people die each year from alcohol related causes, the WHO said in its "Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health."

Compare this to marijuana, the use of which has never directly resulted in a single death.  Indeed, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control attributes ZERO deaths to marijuana each year, whereas it attributes more than 30,000 deaths to alcohol use alone.

A great column appeared this week in Princeton University's student-run newspaper, The Daily Princetonian. Here are a few excerpts, otherwise you can CLICK HERE to read the entire piece.

The world is rife with paradoxes and double standards. One such incongruity is the disparity in attitudes toward and treatment of marijuana as opposed to those of alcohol and tobacco. The manifestation of these attitudes are clear in the “Rights, Rules, Responsibilities” handbook. For alcohol, “violations will result in a dean’s warning,” whereas even the possession of marijuana or its associated paraphernalia results in at least probation...

Marijuana is also not addictive like alcohol or tobacco, so overdose and binge-usage are far less likely. It is nearly impossible to die from marijuana overdose — the same cannot be said of alcohol...

I believe the United States should decriminalize marijuana and recognize that its use is not qualitatively different from the usage of similar legal substances, such as alcohol and tobacco. Even if the greater state authority does not take action towards marijuana policy, Princeton University should treat marijuana as it does alcohol. The University can treat marijuana similarly and turn the traditional blind eye to violators, or at least make the punishments roughly equivalent.