Springs newspaper endorses pot amendment

Rocky Mountain News

Published November 3, 2006 at midnight

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The "Colorado Springs Gazette" today endorsed Amendment 44, which would legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

"We encourage freedom lovers to vote yes on Amendment 44," the newspaper said on its editorial page. "The long journey toward a more rational and workable national drug control policy begins with a single step."

If the amendment passes, Colorado would become the first state to legalize marijuana. Federal law still bars possession of marijuana, and the nation's drug czar came to Colorado to campaign against the amendment.

The newspaper said the federal drug warriors worry that Colorado's passage would start a flood of legalizations across the country.

Amendment 44 applies only to adults and limits possession to less than an ounce of marijuana. Colorado law would still make it illegal for minors to possess any quantity of the substance.

"A blanket prohibition on the use of certain drugs clearly isn't working," the editorial said. "We have long been on record as questioning the reasons behind and conduct of the so-called war on drugs, an effort that's responsible for thousands of deaths, prison overcrowding and untold misery for a lot of people in a number of countries."

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