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Denver votes to legalise pot |
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Thursday, 03 November 2005 |
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The people of Denver have voted to make it legal for adults to possess as much as an ounce of marijuana, with 54 per cent of voters in favour and 46 per cent against.
“We educated voters about the facts that marijuana is less harmful to the user and society than alcohol,” said Mason Tvert, campaign organiser for Safer Alternatives for Enjoyable Recreation. “To prohibit adults from making the rational, safer choice to use marijuana is bad public policy.”
Bruce Mirken, of the Marijuana Policy Project, in Washington, said he hoped that the approval would start a national trend toward legalising a drug whose enforcement caused more problems than it cured. But many opponents of the measure said that it made no sense for the city to make possession legal when most prosecutions were brought under state and federal law.
Mr Tvert argued that legalising marijuana would reduce consumption of alcohol, which led to more traffic accidents, domestic and street violence and other crimes. His group criticised the opposition to the measure by the mayor, who owns a brewing company.
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