DENVER — Prosecutions for private adult marijuana possession plunged more than 21 percent in 2008, reaching the lowest rate since 2005, according to the Denver City Attorney’s Office.

Director of Prosecution Vince DiCroce presented the 2008 statistics to the Denver Marijuana Policy Review Panel at its meeting Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. in the Denver City-County Building. The Denver City Attorney’s Office is required to provide the Panel with marijuana possession statistics every six months.

Prosecutions fell from 2,105 in 2007, to 1,658 in 2008, the year following voters’ adoption of a city ordinance designating adult possession the city’s “lowest law enforcement priority” and Mayor John Hickenlooper’s subsequent appointment of the Denver Marijuana Policy Review Panel. The Panel was established to implement, monitor and report on the new ordinance. In May 2008, it recommended the city halt prosecutions for adult marijuana possession, and in August it called on city police to refrain from citing adults during the Democratic National Convention.

The new trend in marijuana prosecutions is NOT the result of fewer arrests for other offenses, according to DiCroce, who speculated that the number of charges filed for all offenses in Denver likely increased or held steady in 2008.

“Our city punished far fewer adults for marijuana possession this year, yet the sky did not fall,” said Mason Tvert, a member of the Panel and the executive director of Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), the organization behind the successful marijuana initiative campaign. “Hopefully this is just the beginning of Denver’s shift toward a more rational approach to marijuana.”

“There are still far too many adults in Denver being needlessly punished simply for using a substance that is far less harmful than alcohol,” Tvert said. “It’s time to stop these prosecutions altogether and start allowing adults to make the safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol, if that’s what they prefer.”