WHAB
Active member
Colorado, SAFER, marijuana initiative signature drive.
These are e-mails I have recieved from SAFER. I thought I would share them in the hopes of promoting FULL participation in this latest marijuana intiative. The drive is on NOW.
__________________________________________________ _______
Tue, 21 Feb 2006
Friends:
Last week, I informed you that we needed to raise $3,000 in a week in order to launch our statewide signature drive in Colorado. Five days later, thanks to the generosity of SAFER supporters like yourself, we are more than two-thirds of the way to our goal. While this was a great response, we are still $1,000 short of our target. If we don't raise this amount we will not be able to produce a full supply of petition booklets to deliver to our volunteers. Please consider making a $5, $10, or $25 contribution to help us reach our fundraising goal. If just 100 people reply, we will likely hit our target.
Please visit -- http://www.SAFERColorado.org -- today to make a financial contribution of any size. It will take just two minutes of your time and will mean so much to the campaign.
As I noted in the last alert, more than 250 individuals in Colorado have signed up to collect signatures for the campaign. These people are planning to dedicate hours of their free time to fight for the right of adults to make the rational choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol. If you are proud of these individuals for giving up their free time for this cause, please help us provide them the materials they need by contributing just $5 or $10 with a credit card through Pay Pal on our campaign Web site:
http://www.SAFERColorado.org
If you are in Colorado and would prefer to help the initiative campaign by joining the more than 250 other Coloradans who have signed up to be a part of the signature drive. Please visit our Web site -- http://www.SAFERColorado.org -- to volunteer for the signature drive or for some other campaign activity.
This is not just another request for help on a campaign or a cause. This is an opportunity to be part of history. If this campaign succeeds, it could be the tipping point that leads to the end of marijuana prohibition in this country. So if you have thought about supporting marijuana policy reform in the past but have never quite pulled the trigger, please do so today by making a contribution. Here is the Web site again (in case you missed it):
http://www.SAFERColorado.org
Thank you so much for any help you can give. Together, we will win the battle to end marijuana prohibition.
Gratefully,
Mason
Mason Tvert
Campaign Director
Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER)
__________________________________________________ ___
IMPORTANT: Please forward this e-mail to every person you know who would like to see the end of marijuana prohibition. By word of mouth, we will change the nation.
================================================== ============
Friends -
We at SAFER are firm believers in the theory of the "Tipping Point", famously described by Malcolm Gladwell in his 2002 book by that name. According to Gladwell, massive social and consumer movements are oftentimes triggered by much smaller incidents and trends that spread like viruses throughout society. While we do not like to consider our organization a virus, it is starting to feel like our message -- and our determination to bring an end to marijuana prohibition -- is spreading just as rapidly.
Yesterday, the students at the University of Texas at Austin passed a referendum, by a 64-36 margin, calling on the university to reduce penalties for the use of marijuana, based on the fact that marijuana is demonstrably less harmful than alcohol. This is not only a fantastic result on a substantive level, but it has also produced a massive amount of media coverage. In nearly all of this coverage, one message appeared prominently: Marijuana is safer than alcohol. (Our dedicated campaign coordinators in Texas have created a Web site -- http://www.SAFERTexas.info -- where you can see much of this coverage.)
Also yesterday, SAFER's campaign director, Mason Tvert, held a press conference by the State Capitol in Denver, the purpose of which was to announce the launch of our signature drive to place a marijuana legalization initiative on the November ballot in Colorado. As usual, multiple television stations and the major newspapers in the state covered the event. But by far the most pleasing piece of coverage was a column in the Denver Post (pasted at the bottom of this e-mail). It conveys the essence of SAFER. We are just a small group of determined activists who are willing to stand up, be real, and talk about an issue silently supported by millions of Americans.
We want our "marijuana is safer than alcohol" message and our open recognition of the rights of marijuana users to spread like wildfire throughout this nation. But we cannot do it alone. We need your help to keep this momentum building. Whether you have a minute to spend or a dollar to spare, your involvement will make a difference.
Here is what you can do:
1. Make a donation to SAFER. The reach and impact of SAFER are only limited by our available resources. For example, we need funds to pay for promotional materials, like buttons and stickers, to distribute to students and others around the country. In addition, we need to fund our media outreach efforts so that a growing number of reporters cover this important issue. If you can contribute any amount, please visit the SAFER donation page:
http://www.saferchoice.org/d_donate.html
2. If you live in Colorado, get involved in our statewide campaign. As the column below describes, we are truly a grass roots movement. We need every available and able person in the state to help us collect the 100,000+ signatures we need to qualify for the ballot. We do not have the funds to pay for this on our own. If you want to sign up to gather signatures (or if you want to make a contribution to the campaign), please visit our campaign Web site:
http://www.safercolorado.org/
3. Forward this e-mail to as many people as possible. This may be the most important request of all. Approximately 20 million Americans are regular or occasional marijuana users in this country. Many more believe that marijuana users should not be punished for making the rational choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol. If we can get a significant percent of these people to join forces -- be it mentally, physically, or financially -- we will end this war on marijuana. Please take a minute, hit the "forward" button, and send this e-mail to whomever you think will be (or might be) interested. Those who receive this E-mail from a friend should visit -- http://www.saferchoice.org/d_getinvolved.html -- to sign up for direct updates in the future.
Thank you as always for your support.
Sincerely,
Steve
Steve Fox
Executive Director
Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER)
==================================
Denver Post - 3/2/06
Pot initiative is packing the only real grass roots
By Diane Carman
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Politicians are always blabbing about the grass roots. Bankers, lawyers, sons of millionaire former presidents - they're all populists on the stump, proud products of the salt of the earth speaking from the heart about common-sense issues important to the people.
It's such claptrap.
Take away the focus groups, the education committees financed by special-interest soft money and the speaking points produced by consultants, and they're not called populists anymore.
They're called losers.
With one possible exception: The leader of the subversive little movement to decriminalize possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.
SAFER director Mason Tvert set up a folding table on the sidewalk in front of the state Capitol on Wednesday and got a couple friends to hold signs to announce that the campaign that legalized adult possession of small amounts of marijuana in Denver - at least theoretically - is going statewide.
Tvert said SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation) has more than 300 volunteers poised to circulate petitions to get the initiative on the November ballot. If passed, the measure would change state law to make it legal - at least theoretically - for persons over 21 to possess an ounce of marijuana or less.
Tvert admitted straight up that if the initiative passes, it won't alter local and federal laws prohibiting marijuana possession. He doesn't care.
"It's part of an end game for marijuana prohibition in this country," he said.
And this is where he could be onto something.
The surprise passage of SAFER's marijuana initiative last year in Denver suggests that the professional politicians were wildly out of touch with the grass roots, at least on the issue of grass.
They were so confident the measure would lose, few campaigned against it.
It could happen again, despite a recent Denver Post poll that showed 37 percent of Colorado voters favor the SAFER initiative while 51 percent oppose it.
That means "after more than 70 years of marijuana prohibitions, propaganda and misinformation, just over half of the state agrees with marijuana prohibition," Tvert said.
OK, sometimes even a grassroots campaigner can't resist the urge to spin.
The guy's obviously counting on other polls, the ones that show at least half of Americans admit to having smoked marijuana despite federal, state and local bans and a relentless national war on drugs.
Sure, most of these people get all sanctimonious around their bosses and their children. But in the privacy of the voting booth, if everyone with a stale joint or an old film canister of marijuana from college tucked away in the sock drawer votes for the measure just to feel young and reckless again, the professional politicians could be in for another shock.
"We're nearing the tipping point," said Tvert, who dared Gov. Bill Owens, Mayor John Hickenlooper and Attorney General John Suthers to be among the first to sign the petition to put the initiative on the ballot so everyone can see what the voters really think about marijuana laws.
Coincidentally, while Tvert was mobilizing SAFER on the sidewalk, the tough-on-crime former District Attorney Bill Ritter was several Capitol steps above him trying to rally support behind his plodding campaign for governor.
"I can't tell you how excited I am today," he said, to which about a dozen guys in Teamsters Union jackets and as many state legislators clapped politely.
Tvert ignored it all.
He was comfortably in his element, standing on a sidewalk with the wind buffeting him, motorists honking their horns in approval, passers-by stopping to sign the petitions and a guy in full biker regalia revving his Harley in an enthusiastic show of solidarity.
Never mind the barrage of Oreos- and-Grateful-Dead humor that accompanies every commentary on his campaign. He's serious about about taking grassroots politicking to a higher level.
Oops. I couldn't resist.
Blame it on peer pressure.
__________________________________________________ ___
I spoke with Mason today (actually it was tonight, just a short time ago). Signatures and signature collectors are needed. I have volunteered to be a signature collector. There will be a signature sheet at the Colorado Compassion Club 'patient support center'.
*Please be sure and use your current/accurate voter registration address* Many votes are invalidated because people forget to inform the Registrar after a move. They will invalidate your vote if you supply a different address other than the one you registered with. Mason placed special emphasis on this point.
Momentum is in our favor. We need to continue the push for decriminalization, legalization. The recent success of I-100 (legal possesion of 1oz in the city of Denver) has proven the will of the people can make a difference.
It has been suggested that a volunteer force can't perform as well as the 'paid' organizations. Lets prove them wrong.
Please do what you can to help. I hope to see you out there.
Thank you for listening.....be safe and well.
WHAB
These are e-mails I have recieved from SAFER. I thought I would share them in the hopes of promoting FULL participation in this latest marijuana intiative. The drive is on NOW.
__________________________________________________ _______
Tue, 21 Feb 2006
Friends:
Last week, I informed you that we needed to raise $3,000 in a week in order to launch our statewide signature drive in Colorado. Five days later, thanks to the generosity of SAFER supporters like yourself, we are more than two-thirds of the way to our goal. While this was a great response, we are still $1,000 short of our target. If we don't raise this amount we will not be able to produce a full supply of petition booklets to deliver to our volunteers. Please consider making a $5, $10, or $25 contribution to help us reach our fundraising goal. If just 100 people reply, we will likely hit our target.
Please visit -- http://www.SAFERColorado.org -- today to make a financial contribution of any size. It will take just two minutes of your time and will mean so much to the campaign.
As I noted in the last alert, more than 250 individuals in Colorado have signed up to collect signatures for the campaign. These people are planning to dedicate hours of their free time to fight for the right of adults to make the rational choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol. If you are proud of these individuals for giving up their free time for this cause, please help us provide them the materials they need by contributing just $5 or $10 with a credit card through Pay Pal on our campaign Web site:
http://www.SAFERColorado.org
If you are in Colorado and would prefer to help the initiative campaign by joining the more than 250 other Coloradans who have signed up to be a part of the signature drive. Please visit our Web site -- http://www.SAFERColorado.org -- to volunteer for the signature drive or for some other campaign activity.
This is not just another request for help on a campaign or a cause. This is an opportunity to be part of history. If this campaign succeeds, it could be the tipping point that leads to the end of marijuana prohibition in this country. So if you have thought about supporting marijuana policy reform in the past but have never quite pulled the trigger, please do so today by making a contribution. Here is the Web site again (in case you missed it):
http://www.SAFERColorado.org
Thank you so much for any help you can give. Together, we will win the battle to end marijuana prohibition.
Gratefully,
Mason
Mason Tvert
Campaign Director
Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER)
__________________________________________________ ___
IMPORTANT: Please forward this e-mail to every person you know who would like to see the end of marijuana prohibition. By word of mouth, we will change the nation.
================================================== ============
Friends -
We at SAFER are firm believers in the theory of the "Tipping Point", famously described by Malcolm Gladwell in his 2002 book by that name. According to Gladwell, massive social and consumer movements are oftentimes triggered by much smaller incidents and trends that spread like viruses throughout society. While we do not like to consider our organization a virus, it is starting to feel like our message -- and our determination to bring an end to marijuana prohibition -- is spreading just as rapidly.
Yesterday, the students at the University of Texas at Austin passed a referendum, by a 64-36 margin, calling on the university to reduce penalties for the use of marijuana, based on the fact that marijuana is demonstrably less harmful than alcohol. This is not only a fantastic result on a substantive level, but it has also produced a massive amount of media coverage. In nearly all of this coverage, one message appeared prominently: Marijuana is safer than alcohol. (Our dedicated campaign coordinators in Texas have created a Web site -- http://www.SAFERTexas.info -- where you can see much of this coverage.)
Also yesterday, SAFER's campaign director, Mason Tvert, held a press conference by the State Capitol in Denver, the purpose of which was to announce the launch of our signature drive to place a marijuana legalization initiative on the November ballot in Colorado. As usual, multiple television stations and the major newspapers in the state covered the event. But by far the most pleasing piece of coverage was a column in the Denver Post (pasted at the bottom of this e-mail). It conveys the essence of SAFER. We are just a small group of determined activists who are willing to stand up, be real, and talk about an issue silently supported by millions of Americans.
We want our "marijuana is safer than alcohol" message and our open recognition of the rights of marijuana users to spread like wildfire throughout this nation. But we cannot do it alone. We need your help to keep this momentum building. Whether you have a minute to spend or a dollar to spare, your involvement will make a difference.
Here is what you can do:
1. Make a donation to SAFER. The reach and impact of SAFER are only limited by our available resources. For example, we need funds to pay for promotional materials, like buttons and stickers, to distribute to students and others around the country. In addition, we need to fund our media outreach efforts so that a growing number of reporters cover this important issue. If you can contribute any amount, please visit the SAFER donation page:
http://www.saferchoice.org/d_donate.html
2. If you live in Colorado, get involved in our statewide campaign. As the column below describes, we are truly a grass roots movement. We need every available and able person in the state to help us collect the 100,000+ signatures we need to qualify for the ballot. We do not have the funds to pay for this on our own. If you want to sign up to gather signatures (or if you want to make a contribution to the campaign), please visit our campaign Web site:
http://www.safercolorado.org/
3. Forward this e-mail to as many people as possible. This may be the most important request of all. Approximately 20 million Americans are regular or occasional marijuana users in this country. Many more believe that marijuana users should not be punished for making the rational choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol. If we can get a significant percent of these people to join forces -- be it mentally, physically, or financially -- we will end this war on marijuana. Please take a minute, hit the "forward" button, and send this e-mail to whomever you think will be (or might be) interested. Those who receive this E-mail from a friend should visit -- http://www.saferchoice.org/d_getinvolved.html -- to sign up for direct updates in the future.
Thank you as always for your support.
Sincerely,
Steve
Steve Fox
Executive Director
Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER)
==================================
Denver Post - 3/2/06
Pot initiative is packing the only real grass roots
By Diane Carman
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Politicians are always blabbing about the grass roots. Bankers, lawyers, sons of millionaire former presidents - they're all populists on the stump, proud products of the salt of the earth speaking from the heart about common-sense issues important to the people.
It's such claptrap.
Take away the focus groups, the education committees financed by special-interest soft money and the speaking points produced by consultants, and they're not called populists anymore.
They're called losers.
With one possible exception: The leader of the subversive little movement to decriminalize possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.
SAFER director Mason Tvert set up a folding table on the sidewalk in front of the state Capitol on Wednesday and got a couple friends to hold signs to announce that the campaign that legalized adult possession of small amounts of marijuana in Denver - at least theoretically - is going statewide.
Tvert said SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation) has more than 300 volunteers poised to circulate petitions to get the initiative on the November ballot. If passed, the measure would change state law to make it legal - at least theoretically - for persons over 21 to possess an ounce of marijuana or less.
Tvert admitted straight up that if the initiative passes, it won't alter local and federal laws prohibiting marijuana possession. He doesn't care.
"It's part of an end game for marijuana prohibition in this country," he said.
And this is where he could be onto something.
The surprise passage of SAFER's marijuana initiative last year in Denver suggests that the professional politicians were wildly out of touch with the grass roots, at least on the issue of grass.
They were so confident the measure would lose, few campaigned against it.
It could happen again, despite a recent Denver Post poll that showed 37 percent of Colorado voters favor the SAFER initiative while 51 percent oppose it.
That means "after more than 70 years of marijuana prohibitions, propaganda and misinformation, just over half of the state agrees with marijuana prohibition," Tvert said.
OK, sometimes even a grassroots campaigner can't resist the urge to spin.
The guy's obviously counting on other polls, the ones that show at least half of Americans admit to having smoked marijuana despite federal, state and local bans and a relentless national war on drugs.
Sure, most of these people get all sanctimonious around their bosses and their children. But in the privacy of the voting booth, if everyone with a stale joint or an old film canister of marijuana from college tucked away in the sock drawer votes for the measure just to feel young and reckless again, the professional politicians could be in for another shock.
"We're nearing the tipping point," said Tvert, who dared Gov. Bill Owens, Mayor John Hickenlooper and Attorney General John Suthers to be among the first to sign the petition to put the initiative on the ballot so everyone can see what the voters really think about marijuana laws.
Coincidentally, while Tvert was mobilizing SAFER on the sidewalk, the tough-on-crime former District Attorney Bill Ritter was several Capitol steps above him trying to rally support behind his plodding campaign for governor.
"I can't tell you how excited I am today," he said, to which about a dozen guys in Teamsters Union jackets and as many state legislators clapped politely.
Tvert ignored it all.
He was comfortably in his element, standing on a sidewalk with the wind buffeting him, motorists honking their horns in approval, passers-by stopping to sign the petitions and a guy in full biker regalia revving his Harley in an enthusiastic show of solidarity.
Never mind the barrage of Oreos- and-Grateful-Dead humor that accompanies every commentary on his campaign. He's serious about about taking grassroots politicking to a higher level.
Oops. I couldn't resist.
Blame it on peer pressure.
__________________________________________________ ___
I spoke with Mason today (actually it was tonight, just a short time ago). Signatures and signature collectors are needed. I have volunteered to be a signature collector. There will be a signature sheet at the Colorado Compassion Club 'patient support center'.
*Please be sure and use your current/accurate voter registration address* Many votes are invalidated because people forget to inform the Registrar after a move. They will invalidate your vote if you supply a different address other than the one you registered with. Mason placed special emphasis on this point.
Momentum is in our favor. We need to continue the push for decriminalization, legalization. The recent success of I-100 (legal possesion of 1oz in the city of Denver) has proven the will of the people can make a difference.
It has been suggested that a volunteer force can't perform as well as the 'paid' organizations. Lets prove them wrong.
Please do what you can to help. I hope to see you out there.
Thank you for listening.....be safe and well.
WHAB
