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Colorado Marijuana Initiative Turns in Final Signatures

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #722)

The proponents of a Colorado initiative to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol turned in more than 14,000 additional voter signatures Friday in a last bid to qualify for the November ballot. The initiative needs only 2,400 valid signatures to qualify, meaning a whopping four out of five signatures handed in would have to be invalidated to keep the measure off the ballot.

The campaign had earlier turned in 159,000 signatures, nearly twice the 86,000 needed to qualify. But on examining the signatures, state election officials found that nearly half were invalid, an usually high percentage.

The initiative would amend the state constitution to allow the use, possession, and limited growing of marijuana by persons aged 21 or over. It would also establish a system through which marijuana is taxed and regulated -- like alcohol.

If the initiative qualifies for the ballot, Colorado will become the second state to ask voters to choose to legalize marijuana this year. New Approach Washington has successfully placed a similar measure, I-502, on the Washington ballot. Legalization initiative campaigns are also underway in California, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, and Oregon, but none of those have passed the signature-gathering hurdle.

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Comments

Paul Pot (not verified)

Yeah, I'm excited.

2012 is going to be the most awesome year for drug law reform.
Hopefully there will be a half dozen initiatives at least, plus there are 3 presidential hopefuls calling for an end to the drug war. 
 
Mexico has an election this year too and several Latin American leaders have expressed openness to the idea of reform. 
 
The media attention on the marijuana aspect of this election is going to get extreme the closer we get to it as it looks like there really is a chance of winning this time. The feds don't want it to happen because the whole world will be watching and talking and if it is legalized certain nations will be calling out ''we want some of that too'', and the drug war could just suddenly collapse and the Arab spring just keeps going.
All wars end. All regimes topple.
It time for the drug war to die.
Legalize! Apologize! Compensate!
 
 
Sat, 02/18/2012 - 2:14am Permalink
Moonrider (not verified)

the invalidation of nearly half those signatures.  Apparently, once before, it was deemed that there were not enough signatures to get an initiative on the ballot in CO (1998?) and when the person who declared there were not enough sigs died a year later, there were found more petitions in her office with more than sufficient valid sigs which had been excluded from the original count.  Who's to say the same thing didn't happen this time?  It seems those in power will stoop to any dirty tricks they can come up with to prevent legalization efforts from being successful.  If reformers are not vigilant and demanding of proof (recheck and recount by  different person/group) when these kinds of things are declared invalid (and when vote totals seem wrong, as they do so often these past few elections).

Mon, 02/20/2012 - 2:45am Permalink

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