Jordan Person, executive director of the Denver Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) submitted roughly 8,000 signatures this week to Denver’s Election Division with the hope of qualifying the Responsible Use Initiative for this November’s ballot. Relying on the hard work and dedication of more than twenty grassroots activists, the Denver NORML team worked tirelessly for more than three months educating voters on the issue and collecting signatures throughout the city. The campaign needs a total of 4,726 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.
“I could not be more proud of the grassroots movement Denver NORML has created. Our volunteers sacrificed every moment they could to work hard for this campaign.” Person said. “It was an easy choice for most because of how much they believe in the initiative they are fighting for. As we go through this interim period of waiting, hoping and preparing we look forward to the future with excitement.”
If certified for the ballot, Denver voters will be among the first in the nation to decide whether to regulate legal private marijuana clubs for adults 21 and over.
Officials with Denver Elections have 25 days to verify the campaign’s signatures. Regardless of the outcome, this has been a groundbreaking effort to normalize the consumption of marijuana in America.
In addition to Denver NORML’s Responsible Use Campaign, voters in the city might also have the opportunity to vote on a similar, yet more limited proposal that would restrict consumers to vaping in predesignated areas.
These are the kinds of historical moments that make me proud to donate and participate with NORML starting on a local level and watching the fruits of our labor grow to a national level. Congratulations Denver NORML on a job well done. Finally, a place where average Americans of all political affiliations can sit with their Congressman, enjoy some good bud and solve real problems.
We’re not second-class citizens, and we’re not doing anything wrong. We have a right to freely associate and assemble, just like everybody else in America.
Mason Tvert and the MPP folks have another initiative running. If the cannabis votes are split among the two, will they both fail?
My concern with the MPP backed initiative is the same as the first time they put forth an initiative like this: Is the legalization movement going to come to a screeching halt BECAUSE prohibitionists will use the alcohol-cannabis violence and police incidents of drunks/crunks to convince most of the public to make the pendulum swing back to prohibition? Only 13% of the public smoke cannabis, according to an article recently published right here on NORML’s site. Margins for legalization are close, barely over 50% in some regions. Let’s not screw it up. If the establishments handle Mason’s version properly, I’m hoping there is no ammunition from police incidents and negative publicity to screw it up.
The NORML backed initiative is for private clubs for cannabis only, no designated cannabis area of an establishment that serves alcohol. My concern is what does “private” mean insofar as cannatourists being able to join for a day or a week? If it’s just for residents, cannatourists still have no venue, no coffeeshop or whatever in which to consume out of public areas.
http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/08/12/social-pot-use-denver-cannabis-clubs/61093/
While we need to remain vigilante and not let so called “smart” or “safe” groups mix our marijuana studies with people who were driving under the influence of alcohol, keep in mind that our rebuttal is only from the NHSA and AAA… We cannot determine when someone has properly metabolized THC or even if THC impedes psychomotor skills (save driving slower and keeping a safe distance between the next vehicle, both main recommendations for both traffic safety organizations).
But what we can determine is when some prohibitionist tries to use a study where marijuana and alcohol are not controlled in a peer reviewed group. Sorry, thats not science; thats called propaganda.
Hi, I’m one of the two proponents of the NORML/Responsible Use Denver initiative to legalize private marijuana clubs and special events, and wrote our language. It’s geared toward tourists and anyone who wants a legal place to socialize and smoke that’s not a private residence, b/c Am. 64 that legalized MJ says you can’t consume “openly or publicly.” Our language leaves it up to each club – which can be any retail or service business model with almost unlimited commercial options, just not bars or restaurants – to decide their membership rules: “It shall not be open to the general public, and shall be limited to members,
who shall satisfy and agree to comply with the membership requirements and
formalities established by each licensee.” Contact me if other questions, support our efforts!
Thanks @Judd! A modest change which could broaden the consensus behind your Denver initiative is to abandon the insistence on “$moke” (which invariably includes heat shock, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, PAH’s among 4211 combustion toxins causing health, character and behavior disorders popularly attributed to cannabis) and emphasize Vaping:
.
1. Provide reasonable-cost Vaping apparatus to all qualified users on premises
.
2. Consider cheap, DIY one-heaters Vaping rather than $moking utensils even though uninstructed users may initially “light up the first second” as with a joint
.
3. Encourage and/or provide a flexible drawtube to slip over butt end of each utensil so users can execute the Easy-Learn, Heat-not-Burn procedure far enough from their face to see what they’re doing
.
4. Post and recite VapeToke Doggerel:
.
“Hold flametip far below,
suck smooth, slow,
don’t start Glow
till after 19
seconds or so.”
Thank you for your responses.
I certainly hope one of the initiatives passes. My preference is to be able to join a cannabis-only club as a cannatourist because I don’t want to be around people consuming alcohol because they tend to get nasty and violent. I want to mind my own business in there and avoid both homophobes and cannaphobes, and nasty drunks who fall into those categories.
Already donated Judd!
Post your links brother!
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=118157
Donate here!
Being a Colorado Native when I voted for the legalization measure I thought Canna Clubs would be a Natural offshoot of the measure, You know a Amsterdam kinda thing . Of course one cannot count on Logic or relevance when contemplating State Legislators .. what more these same Lawmakers have broken the Law by over taxing and placing burdensome legal requirements that Alcohol sales and consumption do not have .. The whole point of the Legalization measure was ” LIKE ALCOHOL ” I guess Colorado State Legislators kinda missed that clause in the Law .. Just the Tax alone on Pot is excessive when compared to Booze .. There is NOTHING ” Like Alcohol ” about our Legalization of Ganja.. other than the fact one can buy it and possess it .. That’s it ..
You got that right. Amsterdam-style coffee houses would have been a natural fit in Denver, but there’s still a lot of “prohibition 2.0” going around, which you might describe as a deep intransigence, and a lot of passive-aggressive hostility! …Kind of a corporate “fuck it or kill it” mentality.
But on the other hand, we have a lot of dedicated and inventive people on our side, let’s see how it pans out… I figure it’s gotta be a big improvement!