Medical-Pot Advocate Ken Gorman Slain in Denver Home

By Karen Rouse
Denver Post Staff Writer

A Denver man who was killed in a South Decatur Street shooting Saturday was a well-known advocate of medical marijuana, a neighbor confirmed.

Ken Gorman, a 59-year-old activist who promoted passage of Colorado's medical marijuana law in 2000, was shot sometime after 7 p.m. in the home in the 1000 block of South Decatur Street where he lived. He was transported to Denver Health Medical Center, where he later died, police said.

Police did not confirm his identity, but neighbor Alexandra MacKay said Gorman had lived in the community for four years.

"The first day he moved here, he came across the street and he was talking to me about how he sold marijuana, but he sold it legally," said MacKay, 79.

Colorado allows authorized patients to use marijuana for medical purposes, but federal law still prohibits its use. Colorado allows patients and primary caregivers to possess up to six plants and 2 ounces of marijuana.

Nearly a year ago, Gorman helped organize a pot gathering in Denver's Civic Center. It was part of an effort to make marijuana possession legal at the state and federal levels. It followed the city's passage of an ordinance that allows adults to legally possess a small amount of marijuana.

Colorado voters in November rejected Amendment 44, which would have allowed anyone 21 and older to possess and use up to an ounce of marijuana.

MacKay said she was not bothered by Gorman's activities, nor all the visitors he received.
"He was very calm," she said. "You never saw him drunk. ... He was a very nice person. ... He never had parties, no big drinking. He just sold the stuff."

She said she believes Gorman was trying to do the right thing. However, she said, she believed it would come to an end.

"I knew something was going to happen," she said.