The state of Colorado has a new amendment, Amendment 64, which will be present on the ballot for voters very soon. The amendment would regulate marijuana just like alcohol is regulated within the state’s borders. One of the directors of a support campaign for the amendment, Mason Tvert, has been working towards gaining support for the legalization of marijuana in Colorado. Denver republicans back the idea by a whopping 56 percent and the idea of legalizing marijuana is also endorsed by Pat Robertson, the television evangelist.
“You might have a situation where you have 51/38 one week, something happens and a month later, it could be 38/51 the other way, and it could switch right back,” said Colorado State University Political Science Professor Kyle Saunders during a recent interview on KUNC. “That’s different than something like abortion. You know where you stand on abortion, and it very rarely changes.”
The first step in the support campaign for the amendment is a billboard that was revealed Thursday of last week. The billboard is on I-25 in downtown Denver. The billboard has a middle-aged woman on it smiling and it reads as follows:
“For many reasons, I prefer… marijuana over alcohol. Does that make me a bad person?”
Why can’t we just regulate cannabis like alcohol and tobacco? Those industries seem to do just fine and cannabis isn’t too dissimilar from tobacco except in that it doesn’t kill people or cause cancer, heart disease, brain damage, liver disease, emphysema, or any other significant health issue, and its addiction potential is about on par with coffee. In fact, when it comes down to pure safety cannabis is safer than coffee!
So why do the legislators who make up the federal government keep cannabis illegal when people could use it as a substitute for alcohol which would do a lot to improve their health and our safety?