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Denver Daily News: Tipping point on pot? |
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Written by Gene Davis
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Monday, 20 December 2010 |
Legalization efforts get underway at KushCon IIThe marijuana legalization movement will reach a tipping point in 2012 and Colorado is poised to help lead the way, according to the former governor of New Mexico and likely presidential candidate.
Gary Johnson, a two-term GOP governor who has reportedly been eyeing a presidential run in 2012, was a featured speaker at KushCon II, the marijuana festival that took place over the weekend at the Colorado Convention Center. Johnson used medical marijuana for three years while recovering from a serious paragliding accident and believes the war on drugs has been a waste of taxpayer money.
“I see this as two years away of being a tipping point where we recognize the war on drugs is a failure on A to Z fronts,” he told the Denver Daily News. “I oppose the war on drugs from A to Z.”
Meanwhile, pro-marijuana group Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) used the KushCon II to officially kick off their campaign to put a marijuana legalization initiative on the 2012 Colorado ballot. Many people at the KushCon said Colorado has a good chance to be the first state to legalize marijuana for adults.
“We are starting to build the infrastructure for the largest legalization campaign this state has ever seen,” said Mason Tvert of SAFER. “It is going to be massive, it is going to be effective, it’s going to change the way the state handles marijuana for all adults.” Read the entire story at: http://www.thedenverdailynews.com/article.php?aID=11049
KushCon was billed by organizers as the largest cannabis convention in
the world. The event at the Colorado Convention Center featured 340,000
square feet of marijuana-related booths and activities, eight bands and
450 vendors from eight countries across the world.
Tvert said the size of the event was symbolic of how accepting people in
Denver and Colorado now are of marijuana. He believes the city’s
overall embrace of KushCon is an indicator that the state will has a
good chance of legalizing the drug in 2012.
“(KushCon) is being accepted just like the Great American Beer
Festival,” said Tvert . “It’s a normal thing that people are open enough
to and accepting as part of our culture.”
All of the vendors interviewed at the KushCon talked about the positive
economic impact medical marijuana is having on the state. CannaStaff, a
staffing company that sets up applicants with dispensaries and grow
operations, hired 50 people within the last month, according to employee
Kevin Cheney.
“There really is just an exorbitant amount of small business growth,” he
said. “Especially in the bad economy, this is one industry that keeps
on growing.”
KushCon II came only days after Republican state Attorney General John
Suthers said a recent national report suggests that increased
accessibility and acceptability of marijuana Ń such as medical marijuana
centers in Colorado Ń is to blame for a rise in drug use among youth.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse report attributes the 1.5 percent
increase in drug use among 8th-graders to increased marijuana use. The
percentage of 8th-graders using drugs rose to 16 percent from 14.5
percent the previous year.
“These increases in youth drug use are being fueled by the increasing
accessibility and acceptability of marijuana use,” Suthers said in a
statement. “Marijuana use can have grave detrimental effects on the
developing minds and behavior of teens. This report highlights one of
the side effects of the increasing social acceptance of medical
marijuana and the ramifications of its widespread use.”
But Tvert countered that failed drug policies are to blame for the
continuing increase in youth drug use. He says there is much less risk
surrounding marijuana than alcohol. Tvert believes more youth smoking
pot suggests progress.
“We would all like teens to remain drug free,” said Tvert. “But if they
are going to use an intoxicating substance, they pose far less harm to
themselves and to others if they choose to use marijuana instead of
alcohol.”
A Rasmussen poll released in May found that 49 percent of Colorado
voters support legalizing marijuana. The pro-legalization poll numbers
are significantly higher than when Colorado voters rejected a ballot
initiative to legalize marijuana on a 61-38 percent vote in 2006.
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