According to Mason Tvert, one of Amendment 64's main proponents, 56 percent of the delegates to the assembly supported a resolution to endorse the sort of regulation approach taken by the initiative.
That wasn't enough of a mandate for this policy to become part of the party's 2012 platform; it takes a two-thirds vote for that. However, the group adopted a different cannabis-related resolution, declaring that medical marijuana is a 10th Amendment issue -- meaning states, rather than the federal government, should determine the laws governing it. In doing so, assembly members raise symbolic questions about efforts like U.S. Attorney John Walsh's seizure-threat letters to 23 dispensaries near schools. This week, Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett, a Democrat, did the same thing in a missive sent to Walsh.The results of the assembly's resolution votes are on view below. Note that a resolution to support the concept of personhood -- the subject of a Colorado Personhood Coalition petition drive that launched this week -- garnered only 47 percent support.
Other prominent conservatives are also speaking in favor of measures like Amendment 64, including televangelist Pat Robertson. That's significant, Tvert believes.
"On the heels of the Pat Robertson endorsement of Amendment 64, it is great to see increasing support for regulating marijuana like alcohol across the ideological spectrum," he writes via e-mail. "It is impressive and encouraging that a majority of some of the most active Republicans in Denver voted to endorse the initiative.
"As more and more Colorado citizens see their friends and neighbors voicing their opposition to marijuana prohibition," he adds, "we expect support for the initiative will continue to grow."
Here are the results of the assembly's votes:
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More from our Politics archive: "Marijuana: Ex-guv thinks Regulate act could bring down global pot prohibition."