Marijuana advocates are planting “Make Denver Safer” campaign signs around the city, enraging one City Council member who fears they’ll mislead voters into thinking their initiative would put more police on the streets.
In fact, the ballot measure would decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.
“This is the most deceitful tactic I’ve seen in 25 years – associating marijuana with more cops,” said City Councilman Charlie Brown. “We’ve been working hard to get more cops on the streets, an issue that has dominated the media. Trying to couch a marijuana message with making our streets safer is a stretch, at best.”
The red-and-white signs state “Make Denver Safer. Vote Yes on I-100.” They were installed by the nonprofit group Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), which collected enough signatures to put the initiative on the November ballot.
If passed, the measure would make it legal for anyone 21 or older to possess 1 ounce or less of marijuana in Denver. It would not preempt state law, which makes possession a misdemeanor.
“They’re not misleading at all,” said Mason Tvert, 23, director of SAFER. “Our organization believes that allowing adults to make the safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol would make Denver safer.
“Councilman Brown voted to loosen restrictions on alcohol in public. What message does that send when the council allows alcohol in parks, where there’s no control, no checking of IDs? Alcohol is clearly associated with sexual assaults, domestic violence, fighting and other violent crimes. Marijuana does not.”
Brown became so angry when he saw the signs inside Observatory Park and on the median of Evans Avenue that he stopped and pulled the signs out.
“You don’t put campaign signs in public parks,” he said. “So I tore them up and put them in the Dumpster. I’ll pull up any campaign signs I see in parks, regardless of the message.”
Brown said he called the city’s Neighborhood Inspections office to take the signs off public property.
Tvert said he has more than 100 volunteers and can’t control them from posting signs in parks and medians.
But Brown wasn’t swayed. “I want these guys to have the common decency to change their signs,” he said.
Tvert said he has no plans to change the signs and will continue spreading them right up to the vote.
Staff writer Mike McPhee can be reached at 303-820-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com.
