During their state convention last weekend, Colorado Democrats adopted a party platform that officially calls for the legalization of marijuana, stopping just short of endorsing the Amendment 64, a statewide ballot initiative which seeks to accomplish exactly that later this year.The Democratic Party’s official support for legalization comes about a month after a slim majority — 56 percent — of Denver County Republicans voted to support Amendment 64, according to Mason Tvert, who’s leading the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. However, the position was not adopted because of the local party’s requirement of a two-thirds majority to change its platform.

Colorado Democrats, however, embraced the addition to their mission statement with a bear-hug, confirming the platform by a nearly unanimous vote on Saturday night. It features legalizing marijuana as one of their core policy positions, right atop their list of most-wanted criminal justice reforms.

“The language does say that the party supports Amendment 64, however that is different than an endorsement,” Colorado Democratic Party spokesman Matt Inzeo told Raw Story on Monday, clearly hedging his bets and noting that official “endorsements” come from an internal committee and not the platform at-large.

However, he added: “We feel it is important to reexamine our drug policy, the effects on public health, on the resources that have to be devoted to the criminal justice system, to our state’s budget, to our personal freedoms. All of these are hugely important issues that have been massively affected.”

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