(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.

Ernie Martinez

Title/Organization: President, Colorado Drug Investigators Association

Representative quote: "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."

Standing on the Pot Passion Index: -1

Strengths: As the head of the Colorado Drug Investigators Association as well as a member of the Denver Marijuana Policy Review Panel, Martinez has been the mouthpiece for law enforcement's concerns about marijuana. A 2006 letter he wrote that compared marijuana advocates to cancer underlined his hard-line stance on the issue.

Weaknesses: Wily pot proponent and fellow marijuana review panel member Mason Tvert has set his sights squarely on Martinez -- and Tvert wields some serious firepower.