Co: Voters Support Wider Pot Use‏

[+Malamute]

Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 09 Jul 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/hSdw3NHQ
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact: openforum@denverpost.com
Website: http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Ricardo Baca

VOTERS SUPPORT WIDER POT USE

A Poll Shows Denver Citizens Back Limited Use at Businesses.

A majority of Denver voters support an initiative that would allow
"limited social marijuana consumption" in businesses such as bars,
according to a poll commissioned by the group behind the proposal.

The poll results say 56 percent of likely Denver voters either
strongly support (20 percent) or somewhat support (36 percent) the
initiative, according to the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling.

For those against the initiative, 31 percent strongly oppose and 9
percent somewhat oppose it, while 5 percent said they weren't sure.
The automated telephone poll has a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.

The pollsters asked whether voters would support allowing "the
consumption of marijuana at private venues in Denver, provided that
the owner of the venue permits the consumption, access to the venue
is limited to individuals 21 years of age or older, smoking marijuana
indoors is prohibited and any outdoor use is hidden from public view."

The initiative's primary authors are the Marijuana Policy Project's
Mason Tvert and Brian Vicente of cannabis-focused law firm Vicente
Sederberg. They are gathering 5,000 signatures to get the question on
Denver's November ballot.

Another of the poll's findings - that Denver residents, by a 4-to-1
ratio, say that alcohol causes more problems in the city than
marijuana - also favors their side of the contentious issue.

"Denver voters have made it quite clear that they support treating
marijuana like alcohol," said Tvert, a national pot activist and one
of the primary authors behind Colorado's
recreational-cannabis-legalizing Amendment 64. "Voters approved
measures to that effect in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2012, and so it's not
surprising that we're still seeing such strong support, even among a
more conservative voting population in an offyear election."

Public Policy Polling conducted the survey from June 12-15 by polling
a representative sample of 629 likely voters in Denver.

The party breakdown of active, registered voters in Denver, as of
last month, was 48 percent Democrat, 35 percent unaffiliated and 16
percent Republican - perhaps explaining why the poll's breakdown
favored Democrats (60 percent) to independents (23 percent) and
Republicans (17 percent).

In the question that asked respondents if alcohol or marijuana caused
more problems in Denver, 55 percent said alcohol, 13 percent said
marijuana, 26 percent said both and 6 percent weren't sure.

Long known for his marijuana-is-safer-than-alcohol mantra, Tvert
wasn't surprised at that question's results.

"Anyone who has spent time in LoDo on a weekend evening or walked
down Colfax Avenue on any given day knows that alcohol contributes
far more problems and far more severe problems than marijuana," he said.

[AmishRnot4ganja]

The plot thickens...