Pubdate: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV) Copyright: 2002 Las Vegas Review-Journal Contact: http://www.lvrj.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/233 Author: J.M. Kalil Cited: Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement ( www.nrle.org ) Cited: Marijuana Policy Project ( www.mpp.org ) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/findUKP162 (Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/findUKP163 (Question 9 (NV)) MARIJUANA CAMPAIGN TO USE VALLEY RESIDENTS Lawmakers, Doctors Among Those Backing Ballot Initiative Holly Brady began smoking marijuana 12 years ago after finding conventional medications did little to quell the intense pain and nausea caused by her multiple sclerosis. The disabled Las Vegan rejoiced last year after the passage of a state medical marijuana law that allowed her to legally grow her own. But her happiness faded after several attempts at home production left her with unsmokable dried weeds. She returned to breaking the law by going through a dealer. "It really is miraculous medicine," Brady, 49, said Thursday afternoon, a few hours after toking through her morning dose of three joints. "That's why I get it anyway I can. To me, it's survival." Backers of Question 9, which if passed Nov. 5 would ease Nevada pot possession laws and make the drug available for purchase in state-licensed stores, hope Brady and others now being placed in the public eye will convince voters that decriminalization is a good idea. Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement, the group advocating passage of Question 9, on Thursday unveiled a steering committee including Brady and about 30 other Southern Nevadans who are lending their names, stories and opinions to the campaign to pass the ballot measure. NRLE campaign manager Billy Rogers said he believes the committee members, some of whom will appear in television ads, will boost support for Question 9. A recent Review-Journal poll found public approval of the issue has languished since earlier this year. "Where our campaign failed during the summer was not putting a human face on Question 9," he said. "This does that." The group also hopes that filling the committee's membership with Silver State residents, including a few high-profile Nevadans, will help erode the perception that Question 9 is being jammed through the state by out-of-state, pro-marijuana interests. "This is by Nevadans for Nevada," said Rogers, a Texan whose salary is paid by the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project. The committee includes: Democratic Assemblywoman Chris Guinchigliani, who serves as chairwoman; Democrat Wendell Williams, the chairman of the Assembly Education Committee; Dick Carver, a Republican Nye County commissioner; Bob Fulkerson of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada; Andy Anderson, the former president of the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs; four area doctors and two attorneys. "We're not talking about a bunch of hippies here," Guinchigliani said. If Nevada voters pass Question 9 in November and again in two years, people 21 and older will be able to legally possess up to 3 ounces of marijuana in their home, but not in vehicles or public places. Use of the drug by minors also would remain illegal, as would driving under the influence of marijuana. The drug also would be sold in smoke shops and taxed. Currently, possession of 1 ounce or less or marijuana in Nevada is a misdemeanor subject to a $600 fine for the first two offenses. Silver State voters already have approved the use of medical marijuana, but Guinchigliani said stories such as Brady's show the law isn't helping patients legally entitled to marijuana. The legislator said Question 9 should appeal to voters on a number of other fronts, including Nevadans' traditional dislike for legislating against personal vice. "If you're an adult in the privacy of your own home, who's the government to come in and tell you what to do?" she said. Anderson, who resigned as president of NCOPS last month, has argued that pot possession cases waste not only the time of law enforcement officers who patrol Nevada's streets but the limited resources of the state's heavily clogged courts system. Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker, who has become a leading opponent of Question 9, said that's untrue. The prosecutor accused those who joined the committee of endangering their fellow Nevadans. "They're creating a public safety nightmare," said Booker, who has prosecuted several high-profile driving under the influence cases involving deaths. "I don't know what their motivations will be, but I think they have to care less about kids, because if they did (care), they would recognize the inherent danger of legalizing this drug." Booker said the out-of-state proponents of marijuana decriminalization are trying to use Nevada as a testing ground for a national drug legalization battle. "They want to use us as test rats and test monkeys, and I don't want to see that happen to this community," said Booker, one of the several Question 9 opponents who frequently refer to Rogers as a carpetbagger. "If this is such a good idea, why don't they take it to Texas?" Booker and other opponents have formed their own group, Nevadans Against Legalizing Marijuana, and plan to announce today their own steering committee of anti-pot advocates. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth