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Colo. Attorney General: Treating Marijuana Magazines Like Porn is Unconstitutional

Jun 06, 2013

attorney general, Colorado, John Suthers, magazine, Mason Tvert, porn


[caption id="attachment_6549" align="alignright" width="300"]Mason Suthers MPP's Mason Tvert debating Attorney General Suthers in 2006[/caption]

Colorado's staunchly anti-marijuana attorney general, John Suthers, has declared that a rule created by the legislature to treat marijuana-themed publications like pornography is unconstitutional and said the state will not defend it in court. His determination came after state marijuana regulators concluded that it was not constitutional and should not be enforced.

The Associated Press reports:

The magazine requirement was part of a larger set of laws enacted to state how the newly legal drug should be grown and sold. The behind-the-counter restriction was adopted after parents testified that their children should be protected from exposure to magazines touting the drug,  which remains illegal under federal law.

The resulting law left Colorado in an unusual position — one of only two states to allow recreational use of the drug,  while also the only state to restrict the display of publications about marijuana. The state's decision to reject the magazine restriction was applauded by marijuana legalization activists.

"The idea that stores can prominently display magazines touting the joys of drinking wine and smoking cigars, yet banish those that discuss a far safer substance to behind the counter, is absolutely absurd," wrote Mason Tvert,  who campaigned for Colorado's pot law and now is spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project.