COLORBEARER OF ATHENS, GEORGIA LOCALLY OWNED SINCE 1987
March 19, 2014

Twitter's Take on the #DensonDebate

By Blake Aued | March 19, 2014 8:21pm

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Photo credit: UGA Young Democrats via Twitter.

Mayor Nancy Denson debated challenger Tim Denson for the first time tonight at a University of Georgia Young Democrats meeting.

Maybe the biggest news was that Nancy, like Tim, is in favor of legalizing marijuana possession for personal use.

"I would like to see small amounts of marijuana decriminalized," she said. "This is the first time I've said that publicly. I've talked about it a lot privately."

[UPDATE: Nancy's campaign released the following statement this afternoon:

For years, I have spoken privately about decriminalizing possession of small amounts (less than one ounce) of marijuana and last night, in response to a question on this issue, responded that I would support such efforts.

Though supporting legislation at the state or national level to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, I do not plan to take any action at the county level.

While I do not support legalizing marijuana, I find it unconscionable that we ruin the lives of young people by creating criminal records for possession of small amounts of marijuana that follow them for the rest of their lives. 

I absolutely encourage legalizing the use of medical marijuana to provide help for those suffering and hope that the state House and Senate can find a compromise on this issue before the end of the legislative session.]

And Tim proposed requiring stores to charge a fee to shoppers to use plastic bags, an environmental measure that's gaining steam in other progressive cities.

Nancy, though, said such a fee would drive grocery stores out of Clarke County and primarily affect the poor, not "the little yuppies who get in their SUVs and go to EarthFare."

Tim replied that businesses would keep part of the fee to offset any additional costs, and shoppers could avoid it by bringing their own bags or asking for paper.

We'll let the tweeters take it from here.

And finally, perhaps the most important question:

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