Grand Junction Sentinel: Pot backers could get question on 2012 ballot

A group pushing for a citizens initiative to legalize small quantities of marijuana will submit more than 155,000 signatures next week to put the amendment on next year’s ballot.

Mason Tvert, a proponent of the measure and head of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, said Wednesday he and hundreds of volunteers are nearing the end of the petition-signature stage to get the measure on the November ballot.

Tvert said the group plans to turn in petitions to the Secretary of State’s Office next Wednesday.

“There’s been an ongoing discussion about marijuana in Colorado for the past seven years, and more Coloradans than ever believe that we should regulate marijuana similar to alcohol,” he said. “Because so many people have been hearing about marijuana and about the fact that it’s far safer than alcohol, they are becoming increasingly comfortable with acknowledging that an adult should be allowed to use it without fear of punishment.”

Better than that, Tvert said, it’s also an economic driver.

Read the entire story at: http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/pot_backers_could_get_question/