...But Mason Tvert, of the pro-marijuana advocacy group Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), says failed drug policies are to blame for the continuing increase in youth drug use.  He says there is much less risk surrounding marijuana than alcohol.  Tvert believes more youth smoking pot suggests progress.

“We would all like teens to remain drug free,” said Tvert.  “But if they are going to use an intoxicating substance, they pose far less harm to themselves and to others if they choose to use marijuana instead of alcohol.” 

“Alcohol contributes to overdose deaths, significant long-term health problems, serious injuries, and violent crimes, whereas marijuana has never been found to contribute to such problems,” Tvert added.  “Teens choosing to use marijuana instead of alcohol are in fact making a safer choice.”

Read the entire story at: http://www.thedenverdailynews.com/article.php?aID=11021

...But marijuana advocates took a different tack.

Mason Tvert, the executive director of the pro-marijuana group SAFER, noted that teen alcohol use dropped. General alcohol use still remained more prevalent than marijuana use.

"We would all like teens to remain drug-free," Tvert said. "But if they are going to use an intoxicating substance, they pose far less harm to themselves and to others if they choose to use marijuana instead of alcohol."...

Read the entire story at: http://www.denverpost.com/news/marijuana/ci_16860842

Colorado’s two largest cannabis-reform groups have agreed to move forward with a statewide 2012 ballot initiative similar to California’s recent Prop 19 effort.

Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) and Sensible Colorado are working to place a measure on the 2012 ballot to remove penalties for adult cannabis use and establish a system of regulations similar to that for alcohol.

Read the entire story at: http://www.westcoastleaf.com/?p=2511

FAU’s NORML club wants to lessen the charges for marijuana possession on campus

...Koramblyum is the president of the FAU chapter of NORML, a national organization that lobbies for marijuana reform. Her biggest goal is to pass a "SAFER referendum" on campus to make the penalties imposed by administration for small marijuana possession similar to those for underage drinking.

If SAFER passed, students who get caught with less than 20 grams of pot, which is enough pot to fill half a plastic sandwich bag, would pay a ticket or a small fine and have to take a drug and alcohol class, instead of facing expulsion or suspension.

This semester, Koramblyum had one NORML member found drinking underage, and another got caught with weed. FAU sent the student who was drinking to a drug and alcohol course, while the student busted for pot was kicked out of her dorm, sent to a drug and alcohol course and given a community service requirement.

This semester, Koramblyum had one NORML member found drinking underage, and another got caught with weed. FAU sent the student who was drinking to a drug and alcohol course, while the student busted for pot was kicked out of her dorm, sent to a drug and alcohol course and given a community service requirement.

So far, 13 college campuses have made efforts to pass SAFER, and FAU could be next...

Vice president of FAU NORML Chris Alford said he wants students to act responsibly when it comes to smoking weed, but doesn't agree that getting caught with a blunt or two should ruin a student's future.

"Instead of diverting the student's attention away to all these rehab programs you would have for marijuana, [SAFER] would be just like alcohol: Do your online course, go to this class, pay for your dues, and then move forward," said Alford, a senior public administration major. "We want to keep them in the college focused on what they are here for."

The University of Central Florida and Florida State University both passed SAFER, turning the wheels for marijuana reform in Florida colleges.

Read the entire story at: http://www.upressonline.com/smoking-soultion-1.2416980

Proposition 19, which would have legalized marijuana in California, received more votes than the Republican nominee for governor, Meg Whitman.

Marijuana advocates gathered in Denver recently for an event that was partly a review of the California campaign for legalization.

It also received untold news coverage, bringing the debate a new level of legitimacy in the eyes of many supporters. And while it lost — with 46 percent of the vote — its showing at the polls was strong enough that those supporters are confidently planning to bring it back before voters in California, and perhaps other states, in 2012.

“We’re going to win,” said Aaron Houston, the executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a nonprofit group in Washington. “And we’re going to win a whole lot sooner than anybody thinks.”

But for all that heady talk, proponents of legalization still face a series of stiff challenges, including winning over older members of the electorate — who overwhelmingly rejected the measure — as well as wary elected officials from both political parties. And while most advocates say that Proposition 19 was a high-water mark for the movement, many admit that the road to legalization will also require new campaign ideas, more money and a tighter, more detailed message to overcome persistent cultural concerns about the drug.

“The Prop 19 campaign really did not do anything to help people get over their fear of marijuana, the substance,” said Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project, a national organization that has helped pass medical marijuana laws. “If people believed marijuana is a dangerous drug that people shouldn’t use before the campaign, that is probably how they felt at the end of the campaign.”

Read the entire story at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/us/14pot.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=marijuana&st=cse

Disappointed yet emboldened by Proposition 19's eight point loss a week ago, state and national marijuana legalization leaders are already planning to push for initiatives in as many as five states in 2012. Meetings in California and Colorado in the past few days are laying the groundwork for legalization initiatives there, and similar efforts are being talked about for Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.

With election post-mortems already yielding to pre-planning the next moves, the legalization movement smells victory in the air not too far down the road. And the Yes On 19 campaign team is hitting the ground running...

...And it doesn't have to be California.In Colorado, SAFER (Safe Alternatives for Enjoyable Recreation) and Sensible Colorado last Thursday announced that they were pushing ahead with a legalization initiative for 2012. And Saturday, a statewide conference brought national movement figures including SSDP head Aaron Houston, Drug Policy Alliance head Ethan Nadelmann, Steve Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project, and Prop 19's Jeff Jones to Denver to help lay the groundwork. The Saturday summit was also the scene of the announcement of a second initiative campaign, Legalize It 2012, a Jack Herer-style "freedom based" measure, led by Laura Kriho of the Boulder-based Cannabis Therapy Institute.

"There is a great deal of interest in a 2012 statewide initiative to regulate marijuana and start treating it like alcohol," said SAFER's Tvert.  "I think we're poised to make this happen. We've seen support go up dramatically over the past five years and internal polls had it at about 50% this year. Attitudes here have reached a point where this is very realistic," he said.

Read the entire story at: http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2010/nov/09/marijuana_legalization_movement