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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.
The letter, which introduces a CDIA position paper on marijuana legalization, states:
Those who want to legalize drugs weaken our collective
struggle against this scourge of our society. Like a cancer, proponents
for legalization eat away at society's resolve and moral fiber. The
marijuana-drug legalization movement has nothing to offer users and
addicts but more drugs.
"It's just very clear that this individual has no interest in
working towards what the people want," says Tvert, noting that a recent
internal poll found that half of likely voters statewide and two-thirds
of those in Denver support making marijuana legal. "And if Hickenlooper
is going to represent the people of Colorado, he has to take a stand on
this. [Martinez] should not be in a position where he's influencing
policy on this issue."
Martinez, for his part, says the campaign to give him the boot is
hardly worth a comment, since his role on the city's Denver Marijuana
Policy Review panel and his position at the CDIA are "two totally
different things." He stands by his opinion of marijuana, however.
"When you look at how drug abuse ruins the lives of different people,
it's a tough deal, and I think Mason would agree that marijuana use is
addictive," he says. "He has agreed to that in a public forum, and when
you put another addictive drug on the streets, it makes it tough for
society."
This particular clash may come to a head next Tuesday, when the
Denver Marijuana Policy Review Panel meets at the Denver City and
County Building at 3:30 for its regular meeting. "We hope to see a
response from the mayor sometime before then," says Tvert. There's
another bit of important business up for consideration at the meeting,
too: The City Attorney's Office is scheduled to present 2009 statistics
on adults cited or arrested for marijuana possession in 2009.
In other words, get ready for more fireworks. |
