DENVER, August 3, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) ¨C Colorado and Nevada are preparing for statewide votes on legalizing "recreational" use of marijuana, with pot advocates lobbying heavily for the legalization of the possession of small amounts of the drug.

Both states are expecting ballot measures in the November elections that propose to legalize the use of one ounce or less of marijuana for those over 21.

The lobby group, Safer Alternatives for Enjoyable Recreation, argues that alcohol is more toxic and produces more dangerous behavior when abused. Instead of lobbying against alcohol use, the group, (SAFER), says that since use of marijuana is less harmful than abuse of alcohol, marijuana should be legalized. "Denver citizens are fed up with a system that punishes them for choosing to use a safer substance," the group¡¯s website says.

Mary Ann Solberg, deputy director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, dismissed the argument saying, "It is not a benign drug, but a serious drug with consequences," she said. "To legalize something for recreational purposes that we have documented does health harm to people seems silly."

A significant body of research has shown, in confirmation of Solberg's opinion, that while marijuana use does not have most of the problems associated with abuse of alcohol, it carries its own nest of medical and psychological threats.

Last year, researchers in New Zealand found that marijuana use doubles the risk of developing serious mental illness like schizophrenia. In a study of 1000 users, the University of Otago researchers established that psychotic symptoms were more prevalent in cannabis users.

In 2004, Irish researchers found a link between cannabis use and male infertility, a medical condition that is becoming a plague in Britain.