Mason Tvert

Are Travis Henry and Ricky Williams SAFER One Toke Over the Line?

It's almost 4/20 -- and here comes Mason Tvert

A Flickr photoMason Tvert hasn't turned narc. He's seen wearing a Halloween costume. April 20 isn't only the anniversary of the killings at Columbine High School. It's also 4/20, a national celebration of cannabis culture -- something long supported by Mason Tvert, executive director of SAFER (Safe ... More >>

Going to Pot

Greetings from the Mile High City.

Mason Tvert bamboozles his way onto the Amazon bestseller list

Amazon.com is no match for Mr. Tvert.​Mason Tvert, executive director of SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation), which ran a successful 2005 campaign to legalize possession of up to one ounce of marijuana in Denver, has long been the merry prankster of Colorado weed activists -- a ... More >>

The Westword.com blog shortcut, August 21 edition

Roll out the barrel....​The line starts here. Today in Cafe Society: • Mountains of food and wine this weekend at the Mesa Verde Country Food, Wine and Art Festival. • Cherry Creek North Food and Wine Festival takes over Fillmore Plaza. • Mysteries of Sheehan's Desk: Day 8. • Andrews ... More >>

Should Lance Armstrong's new team be sponsored by marijuana?

Lance Armstrong at rest.​Mason Tvert is brilliant at making any subject about marijuana -- but he's really outdone himself this time. In his latest media jeremiad, the head of SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation) goes after bicycle racer Lance Armstrong for becoming the new spoke ... More >>

SAFER's Mason Tvert on medical marijuana, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers and a weed poll on the rise

Mason Tvert gets ready for Halloween. Busted!​It's already been a big week in marijuana. Yesterday, the Obama administration issued new, less strident rules about medical-marijuana, prompting Colorado Attorney General and anti-pot crusader John Suthers to demand tighter regulations on dispensa ... More >>

Marijuana advocate Mason Tvert launches petition targeting drug czar

SAFER's Mason Tvert thinks drug czar Gil Kerlikowske has some splainin' to do.​

Mason Tvert and Brian Vicente's plan to legalize Colorado pot in 2012

​Mason, left, and Vicente: a match made in pot heaven.​Move over, Cheech and Chong: The two most important people in Colorado's marijuana scene are Brian Vicente and Mason Tvert -- and they're out to prove it by passing a statewide initiative in 2012 that will legalize marijuana for all ... More >>

Mason Tvert sees good news in survey showing teen marijuana smoking up, binge drinking down

Mason Tvert thinks teens may be on the right track.​A new University of Michigan survey shows binge drinking among teenagers declined over the last year, but more tenth and twelfth graders used marijuana. Panic time? Not for Mason Tvert, founder of SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recre ... More >>

Mason Tvert wants Denver's pot laws to be more like Seattle's

Maybe Mason should follow our former restaurant critic Jason Sheehan to Seattle -- where the grub is tasty and the weed is slightly more legal.​Forget California dreamin'. These days Mason Tvert, the media-savvy founder of SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation), has been dreaming o ... More >>

SAFER's Mason Tvert calls for boycott of Starbucks, alleged sponsor of group backing restrictive medical marijuana laws

Apparently, caffeine isn't Mason Tvert's favorite stimulant.​Hardly a day goes by without Mason Tvert, head of SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation), going after some individual or institution standing in the way of legalizing marijuana use for adults in Colorado and beyond. Still ... More >>

Marijuana advocate Mason Tvert on why you should boycott Starbucks

Mason Tvert isn't drinking the coffee.​Today, Mason Tvert, founder of SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation), called for a boycott of Starbucks, saying the coffee chain supported the Colorado Drug Investigators Association, a lobbying group that has opposed to medical marijuana. T ... More >>

Marijuana advocate Mason Tvert calls for the ouster of Ernie Martinez, his Denver pot-panel colleague

Mason Tvert is taking aim at an old opponent​In many ways the friction between Mason Tvert, head of Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) and Lieutenant Ernie Martinez, head of the Colorado Drug Investigators Association (CDIA), personifies the ongoing clash between law enforcemen ... More >>

Marijuana advocate Mason Tvert rebuffed: Mayor John Hickenlooper's office declines to pull Lieutenant Ernie Martinez from pot panel

Mason Tvert's latest demand hasn't been granted.​Last week, we told you how prominent pot advocate Mason Tvert, head of Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), wanted the mayor-appointed Denver Marijuana Policy Review Panel, on which he sits, to expel one of its members: Lieutenant ... More >>

Marijuana legalization: As a precaution, Mason Tvert files language to put it on November ballot

​Pot advocate Mason Tvert filed language on Wednesday for a November ballot initiative that would allow Coloradans 21 and older to use marijuana. Does that mean Colorado is about to be embroiled in a full-scale movement to legalize weed? Not necessarily.

Marijuana and right-wing politics get together: Mason Tvert and Jon Caldara sign on to lawsuit about ballot petitions

"I agree with Mason Tvert about something? AARGH!"​At first blush (and second) (and third), marijuana advocate Mason Tvert and Jon Caldara, frontman for the conservative Independence Institute, are strange bedfellows. But today, they're partners in a legal love match. They're among the plaint ... More >>

Medical marijuana patient busted for driving under the influence makes TV news: Mason Tvert weighs in on sensationalistic coverage

Raghv Sharma doesn't look stoned to us...​TV-news coverage of medical marijuana often veers toward the sensational -- and a story on Channel 4 serves as a perfect example. Last night, the station reported that two people in Boulder, Raghv Sharma and Benjamin Gennis, were busted for driving un ... More >>

Marijuana advocate Mason Tvert on why he joined a ballot-petition lawsuit -- and the future of his marijuana-legalization initiative

Mason Tvert doesn't think many current rules about petitioning make sense.​On Tuesday, we told you about a lawsuit over the rules pertaining to ballot initiatives that's supported by some strange bedfellows -- among them the Independence Institute's Jon Caldara and Mason Tvert, the marijuana a ... More >>

Mason Tvert to Ben Roethlisberger: Maybe you wouldn't be in trouble if you'd been smoking weed

A Flickr photoMason Tvert's got a message for Big Ben.​You can always count on SAFER head Mason Tvert to defend the honor of marijuana. Note that he's previously praised a study showing teen toking is on the rise but binge drinking is falling and advocated a boycott of Starbucks, allegedly bec ... More >>

Mason Tvert touts marijuana-is-better-than-alcohol rallies at eighty-plus colleges nationwide

Mason Tvert prefers Emerald to Amethyst.​For indefatigable marijuana booster Mason Tvert, founder of the advocacy organization Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), April 1 is a very big day. Rallies are scheduled to take place at more than eighty colleges and universities across ... More >>

Mason Tvert celebrates marijuana decriminalization in Nederland

Nederland: It's number three.​In its article about Nederland decriminalizing marijuana within town limits last night, the Boulder Daily Camera describes the town as the second in Colorado to take such a step, following Breckenridge, whose voters passed a similar measure last November. Marijua ... More >>

Mason Tvert on Fort Lewis College approving a marijuana initiative -- and what it means for legalization

These days, Mason Tvert is a big man on campus.​After an attempt to decriminalize statewide the adult possession of an ounce or less of marijuana failed at the polls in 2006, Mason Tvert, executive director of the drug policy reform organization Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFE ... More >>

Mason Tvert and SAFER celebrates five years of marijuana advocacy

Mason Tvert​The Grand Hyatt Denver will be hopping this Saturday, as folks gather to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, the local drug-policy reform organization better known as SAFER. Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, Denver City Councilman C ... More >>

Mason Tvert wants Betsy Markey to honor medical marijuana industry

Mason Tvert's always got an angle.​Mason Tvert, executive director of SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation), has spent five years arguing that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol -- and even critics would have to agree that his creativity in promoting this idea is off the chart ... More >>

Mason Tvert on marijuana protest at Aurora mall: Pro-pot, no problems

Mason Tvert at the protest, as seen on Channel 4.​On Friday, SAFER's Mason Tvert announced that he would lead a march at Town Center of Aurora to protest the treatment of John Gailey a week earlier. Back then, Gailey was cited for trespassing and banned from the mall for a year because he wor ... More >>

Marijuana-book giveaway: Mason Tvert offers DARE instructors tome saying weed's SAFER

Mason Tvert.​Mason Tvert, the main man behind SAFER, lives to promote the theory that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol -- and if he can hype his book Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? at the same time, that's even better. These goals come together in Tvert's la ... More >>

Marijuana legalization: Mason Tvert blasts John Hickenlooper and politicos who dodge issue

Mason Tvert.​At this hour, SAFER's Mason Tvert is slated to hold a press conference at the Denver City and County Building to highlight his pro-marijuana outfit's first-ever voter guides -- and to bash Mayor John Hickenlooper for what Tvert sees as his backwards stance on weed. But at least Hi ... More >>

Proposition 19 loss gives CO chance to be first state to legalize marijuana, says Mason Tvert

Mason Tvert.​Update: Reached a short time ago, SAFER's Mason Tvert is philosophical about the defeat of marijuana legalization measure Proposition 19 in California. He sees a number of flaws in the approach of organizers there that may have contributed to it falling short -- errors he feels hi ... More >>

Mason Tvert: Colorado attorney general John Suthers using scare tactics about teen pot stats

John Suthers.​Update below: A National Institute on Drug Abuse study showing pot use up among all grades surveyed, with eighth grade taking the largest leap, prompted strong words from Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, an opponent of MMJ dispensaries who blames their prevalence for much ... More >>

Medical marijuana bans don't spell doom for pot legalization in 2012, says Mason Tvert

Mason Tvert.​This week, Grand Junction and Castle Rock banned retail sales of medical marijuana, joining Loveland and many other Colorado municipalities that have enacted similar prohibitions. Do these votes suggest that a proposed 2012 ballot measure to legalize pot for adult recreational us ... More >>

Marijuana legalization: Mason Tvert touts initiative process openness, seeks more input

Mason Tvert.​The filing of eight 2012 marijuana legalization initiatives by a group led by Brian Vicente and Mason Tvert has come in for criticism from Cannabis Therapy Institute's Laura Kriho, who accuses organizers of ignoring local activists. But Tvert says nothing could be further from th ... More >>

Reader: Marijuana legalization advocates -- can't we all just get along?

Mason Tvert.​Yesterday, marijuana advocate Mason Tvert refuted claims that his group's filing of 2012 legalization initiatives wasn't intended to disrespect local activists. One commenter called for all parties in this particular dispute to put down their arms and give peace a chance.

Marijuana: Mason Tvert can't pimp paperback deal on Facebook because book is about pot

Mason Tvert.​In general, the Internet is a marijuana-friendly place -- but that doesn't mean every door is open to weed, as pot advocate Mason Tvert learned firsthand. His publisher wanted to use Facebook to tout a special deal on his book Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to D ... More >>

Marijuana legalization debate preview: Meet the advocates who'll be hashing it out

Free me.​It's fitting that Wednesday night's debate between Colorado cannabis activists has been dubbed "Round One." The event is being advertised as a "lively and friendly" debate -- but if it's as impassioned and fiery as the comments on our marijuana blogs have been, it might be closer to ... More >>

Proponents of marijuana legalization know that where there's smoke, there's ire

Free me.​It's fitting that Wednesday night's debate between Colorado cannabis activists has been dubbed "Round One." The event is being advertised as a "lively and friendly" debate -- but if it's as impassioned and fiery as the comments on our marijuana blogs have been, it might be closer to ... More >>

Marijuana: Great Legalization Debate quickly goes to pot

​If only Ron Paul and Barney Frank had introduced their federal marijuana-legalization proposal one day earlier, the Great Legalization Debate might have turned into a truly great discussion. Instead, last night's "debate" at Casselman's more closely resembled an episode of Family Feud -- whic ... More >>

Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012: Mason Tvert on petition drive launch

​Update below: At 2 p.m. today, backers of the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012 will stage a press conference formally launching a petition drive to land the measure on next year's ballot. Read it below and get more details from Mason Tvert, part of a group hoping to make history a ... More >>

Marijuana activist Miguel Lopez admits taking Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act petition

Miguel Lopez.​Marijuana activist Miguel Lopez took a signed petition for the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol act of 2012 out of a voter's hands on July 17 and allegedly prevented volunteers from retrieving it. When the petition didn't resurface last week, Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol propon ... More >>

Marijuana activist Miguel Lopez moving on after dropped Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol beef

Miguel Lopez.​Update: Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act proponent Mason Tvert decided this week not to pursue an official complaint against activist Miguel Lopez for allegedly snatching a signed petition from a Regulate volunteer in July. We've spoken with Lopez, who says he is happy to mov ... More >>

Marijuana: Great Legalization Debate II will be about unity, not bickering, says organizer

Laura Kriho.​In June, the first Great Legalization Debate, which was intended to seek common ground on the issue of legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana, deteriorated into a snipe-fest, with Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act proponent Mason Tvert pitted against most of the other participa ... More >>

Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act: Mason Tvert upbeat despite infighting claim

Mason Tvert.​"Infighting Trips Up Supporters' Legalization Bid," a story on the front page of today's Denver Post, missed the mark for Mason Tvert, among the most prominent proponents of the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012, and not just because much of the information in it had alr ... More >>

Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act endorsed by ACLU, petition signatures reach 60,000

Mason Tvert.​The Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012 hasn't sparked up love from all pro-marijuana activists, but it continues to win support from other sources. According to Regulate proponent Mason Tvert, the latest organizations to endorse the measure are the American Civil Libertie ... More >>

Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol celebrates Supreme Court wins with Signature Bomb

Mason Tvert.​The Colorado Supreme Court has rejected two title-board-related challenges to the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012 -- one by gadfly Doug Bruce, another from advocate Corey Donahue. Although these matters may have seemed like distractions, Regulate proponent Mason Tvert ... More >>

Marijuana activists ask John Suthers to take ethics pledge after Dan Hartman criticism

John Suthers.​At noon today, Mason Tvert and other Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act backers will stage an event at Attorney General John Suthers's office. Why? Suthers feels a letter by (outgoing?) Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division head Dan Hartman published in places mulling MMJ retai ... More >>

Med. marijuana laws = 9 percent traffic-death decline, 5 percent beer-sales dip, study finds

​The subject of driving under the influence of marijuana has been much debated in these parts. A bill to set a THC driving limit was shelved in May, shortly before an HDNet report demonstrated pot-related driving impairment -- and in August, the Colorado Department of Transportation launched a ... More >>

Reader: Drunk drivers are more lethal than stoned ones

​In our post about a University of Colorado Denver study that found traffic fatalities declined in medical marijuana states, weed advocate Mason Tvert argued that pot smokers drive more cautiously than do those who use alcohol and get behind the wheel. This statement spurred a lively conversat ... More >>

Operation Sweet Leaf raids boost marijuana regulation, says Mason Tvert

Mason Tvert.​To pot prohibition supporters, Operation Sweet Leaf, a raid on 25 reputed cannabis grows, paints the picture of growing criminality that begs for a police crackdown. But Mason Tvert, one of the main proponents of the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act, which recently submitted ab ... More >>

Medical marijuana patient numbers in Colorado decline for fifth month in a row

​For the fifth month in a row, thousands of patients have dropped off the Colorado medical marijuana registry. From October to November 2011, the registry lost more than 8,000 patients, according to statistics released yesterday by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act falls 2,400 signatures shy of ballot

Mason Tvert.​Earlier this week, Brian Vicente, one of the primary proponents of the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act, told us that news about whether the measure qualified for the November ballot could come as early as Friday. This prediction proved accurate, but the word isn't one Vicente ... More >>