In Denver, Colorado in America, legalisation proponents focused on the fact that cannabis, though illegal at the time, is a safer recreational drug than the legal recreational drug alcohol. Previous to November 2005, adults were forbidden from making the rational, safer choice; policy makers were content with leaving their outdated laws, originally based on prejudice, racism, and yellow journalism as they were: causing great harm to society and families, wasting great amounts of tax payer dollars with no results, overcrowding jails with non-violent and otherwise model citizens, and fuelling prejudice and misunderstanding. Every year alcohol is connected with cases of domestic abuse, drink driving deaths, deaths from overdoses, and brain damage for chronic users. Simply put, cannabis has shown to not be a contributing factor in these fields. However, any good legalisation proponent will readily admit that cannabis is not recommended for minors or those with a predisposition to mental disorders.

Here are some facts and assertions made by Safer Colorado that paved their way to victory:

1. Marijuana is far less addictive than alcohol.
2. Deaths from the two substances. There are hundreds of alcohol overdose deaths each year, yet there has never been a marijuana overdose death in history. The consumption of alcohol is also the direct cause of tens of thousands of death in the U.S. each year.
3. Alcohol is one of the most toxic drugs, and using just 10 times what one would use to get the desired effect can lead to death. Marijuana is one of – if not the – least toxic drugs, requiring thousands times the dose one would use to get the desired effect to lead to death. This “thousands times” is actually theoretical, since there has never been a recorded case of marijuana overdose.
4. Long-term marijuana use is far less harmful than long-term alcohol use.
5. The UK Science and Technology Select Committee considers alcohol far more harmful than marijuana.
6. There has never been a documented case of lung cancer in a marijuana-only smoker, and recent studies find that marijuana use is not associated with any type of cancer.
7. Studies find alcohol use contributes to the likelihood of domestic violence and sexual assault and marijuana use does not.
8. Studies find alcohol use contributes to aggressive behavior and acts of violence, whereas marijuana use reduces the likelihood of violent behavior.
9. Alcohol use is highly associated with violent crime, whereas marijuana use is not.
10. Alcohol use is a catalyst for domestic violence in Denver.
11. Alcohol use is prevalent in cases of sexual assault and date rape on college campuses. Marijuana use is not considered a contributing factor in cases of sexual assault and date rape, as judged by the lack of discussion of marijuana in sexual assault and date rape educational materials.

And isn't it nice that when presented with these facts, 54% of Denver voters voted to allow responsible adult users to make the safer choice, to use cannabis instead of alcohol if they desire.

Perhaps one day soon, we'll have news items like this in our cities:
A discussion about alcohol, marijuana, and domestic violence
See the rest of Safer Choice's youTube videos documenting Denver's legalisation success here.

And isn't it interesting that Aspen, Colorado is a sister city of Queenstown? Even notice that Aspen is approximately 170km from Denver, and Queenstown is approximately 169km from Dunedin. This is surely a sign from Jah...

-j