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Volume Two V2 Issue 5 Colorado is almost a SAFER state
Volume Two V2 Issue 5 Colorado is almost a SAFER state
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Oaksterdam News
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| Colorado is almost a SAFER state |
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| Written by Steve Fox | |
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Strong showing at ballot box shows shifting public attitude There was good news and bad news out of Colorado during this election season. The good news is that the Amendment 44 campaign, sponsored by the SAFER Voter Education Fund, pushed the cannabis issue — along with its ‘marijuana is safer than alcohol’ message — to the forefront of the political debate in the state. The bad news is that after 70 years of anti-cannabis prohibition, the people of Colorado were not quite ready to embrace cannabis legalization.  SAFER Director Mason Tvert courted controversy with his ad campaign. Photo courtesy SAFER. But with a very small budget, the campaign was not able to overcome the combined voices of the federal government, state elected officials and members of the law enforcement community at all levels. On the state level, the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the attorney general all campaigned against the initiative. In addition, the head of the local DEA office, Jeff Sweetin, and the head of the Rocky Mountain HIDTA office, Tom Gorman, were very active and vocal opponents during the campaign. One thing is certain, anti-marijuana prohibitionists took the SAFER challenge seriously, despite the fact that SAFER spent less than $50,000 on the campaign after the signature drive. At times it was like an anti-marijuana freak show in the state, with appearances by Drug Czar John Walters, Deputy Drug Czar Scott Burns, former Deputy Drug Czar Andrea Barthwell, DAMMAD’s Steve Steiner, and both Calvina Fay and David Krahl of Save our Society from Drugs. The Amendment 44 campaign, however, should be appreciated as a battle, not a war. If it were possible to make cannabis legal in a state for $50,000, it would have been done long ago. What the Amendment 44 campaign accomplished was getting in the heads of people across the state. {quotes}The campaign forced people to think about the fact that cannabis is less harmful than alcohol.{/quotes} In the end, even most editorials opposing the initiative acknowledged that fact, but sheepishly said it would be the “wrong message” for kids to make cannabis legal. (Presumably, these editorial boards were not influenced by all of the alcohol-related advertising dollars flowing to their publications.) As they did in the Denver campaign, SAFER used creative stunts and advertising to generate extensive earned media coverage. Among this year’s tactics were a billboard quoting an ad from the Drug Czar’s office calling cannabis use “the safest thing in the world;” another billboard featuring a bikini clad woman and noting that cannabis has “no carbs;” and a television ad providing statistics about alcohol-related violence and asking whether we want our daughters growing up in a society in which the only legal recreational substance is alcohol. With this massive public education effort under its belt, SAFER will now focus most of its energy for the foreseeable future on campus organizing. The organization plans to work with students on at least 20-30 campuses this spring. Anyone interested in organizing a campus SAFER campaign should send an E-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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