&npsp;A Denver judge ordered state officials to place an initiative on the November ballot that would allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Petitioners Coloradans for Medical Rights (CMR) sought the court ruling after discovering that the Secretary of State’s office made frequent errors when processing a random-sample check of the more than 88,000 signatures gathered in support of the proposal.
“We are delighted,” initiative backer Martin Chilcutt said. “I’m very happy that the citizens of Colorado and patients throughout the state have prevailed.”
State officials originally disqualified the initiative in August after a review of 4,500 signatures found that petitioners apparently failed to gather the necessary number of signatures to qualify for the ballot. However, after petitioners reviewed the random sample, they discovered mistakes made by the Secretary of State’s office and sufficient signatures to qualify for a line-by-line review. District Judge Herbert Stern determined that there no longer remained adequate time to conduct such a review and authorized the initiative to appear on the ballot.
The Colorado initiative seeks to allow seriously ill patients who have a doctor’s recommendation to possess up to two ounces of marijuana or grow three plants for medical use. Voters in Alaska, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, and most likely the District of Columbia will decide on similar medical marijuana initiatives this year.
For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup of NORML @ (202) 483-5500 or Dave Fratello of Americans for Medical Rights @ (310) 394-2952.