September 16, 2011 10:30 PM UTC

ACLU of Colo. Endorses 2012 Marijuana Initiative

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• by: ColoRabble

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Disclosure: I am one of the two formal proponents of the statewide initiative discussed in this post

The 2012 statewide initiative to end marijuana prohibition in Colorado picked up a strong endorsement yesterday.

As Scot Kersgaard of The Colorado Independent reports:

The ACLU of Colorado Thursday announced it has endorsed the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol.

“In Colorado we believe our laws should be practical and they should be fair. Yet we are wasting scarce public resources in our criminal justice system by having police, prosecutors and the courts treat marijuana users like violent criminals. It is unconscionable for our state to spend tax dollars to arrest, prosecute and crowd the courts, and jail people for possession of a small amount of marijuana, especially when those being arrested and jailed are disproportionately people of color,” said the ACLU in a statement on its web site…

…Moreover, [ACLU-CO Communications Director Rosemary Harris Lytle] said the effort to legalize small amounts of marijuana is in keeping with the ACLU’s mission of promoting and defending individual rights and freedom…

The ACLU of Colorado is one of the state’s most widely recognized and well-respected organizations working on criminal justice issues, so this should give quite a boost to the initiative effort. The campaign is just over two months and 60,000 signatures into its petition drive.