From: Colorado Citizens for Compassionate Cannabis, sponsors of the
Colorado Compassionate Therapeutic Cannabis Act
http://www.levellers.org/ctca.htm

To: Americans for Medical Rights, sponsors of Medical Use of Marijuana for
Patients with Debilitating Medical Conditions amendment

February 20, 1998

FACTS:
1) Currently, possession of one to eight ounces is a misdemeanor in Colorado.

2) The AMR initiative puts a two-ounce limit on possession of marijuana.

3) AMR defines no penalties or range of penalties possible for violations of the provisions of their amendment.

4) The General Assembly can set whatever penalties they want, including making possession of more than two ounces a felony for patients and others.

5) AMR has set a constitutional standard that only two ounces is a "safe" amount.

6) AMR does nothing to prevent the General Assembly from making more than two ounces a felony and in fact gives them a reason ("only two ounces is safe") to do it.

Conclusion:
This opens a new door to the General Assembly to get tough on marijuana. The AMR initiative gives the government the REASON and the POWER to increase penalties for possession of more than two ounces.

In our opinion, this makes Colorado law worse than it already is and endangers patients by opening them up to harsher penalties than they already face.

When we previously brought up these issues with AMR at a meeting in November 1997, Dave Fratello suggested that we were "paranoid" and that the government would "do the right thing" and not recriminalize mj., even though he admitted his initiative creates a whole new class of crimes and punishments to be determined by the General Assembly.

We are curious to see if AMR has any response to these concerns, from concerned Colorado citizens and patients, today.