Pubdate: Tue, 23 Jul 2002
Source: Las Vegas Sun (NV)
Webpage: www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-gov/2002/jul/23/513752229.html
Copyright: 2002 Las Vegas Sun, Inc
Contact:  http://www.lasvegassun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/234
Author: Ed Koch
Cited: Marijuana Policy Project (www.mpp.org)

STATE AT FRONT LINE IN POT DEBATE

Nevada Could Become 'Nation's Marketplace For Marijuana

Nevada is shaping up as a national battleground in the war to make 
possession of small amounts of marijuana legal.

The Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington-based group that advocates the 
decriminalization of marijuana, collected enough signatures to put an 
initiative to legalize possession of less than three ounces of pot on the 
fall ballot.

As Secretary of State Dean Heller held televised forums Monday and today to 
come up with the language for the question, White House drug czar John 
Walters prepared to step into the fray Wednesday with a visit to Las Vegas.

"If the measure passes here, Director Walters feels that it will make 
Nevada the nation's marketplace for marijuana," Walters' spokesman Tom 
Riley said. "So this is not just a state issue, but one of national 
importance."

Walters is speaking to 3,000 law enforcement officers attending the 
national DARE conference this week at the Las Vegas Hilton. His visit is 
primarily to promote President Bush's National Drug Control Policy 
Strategy, which calls for a 10 percent reduction in drug use over two years 
and 25 percent over five years.

Walters will also address the implications of Nevada's marijuana ballot 
question at a news conference Wednesday, and he would have come to Nevada 
just to address the issue, Riley said.

Billy Rogers, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said opponents 
are full of "a lot of hot air" in criticizing the petition.

"Nevadans are independent and are sick and tired of the federal government 
stepping in and telling them what to do and how to vote on Nevada laws," 
Rogers said.

Rogers said there are safeguards in place because the marijuana measure 
also calls for strict penalties for people who smoke marijuana in public, 
sell pot to minors or drive under the influence.

"The public is pretty smart. It knows the difference between marijuana and 
hard drugs," he said. "And those who say our ballot question is aimed at 
opening the floodgates to legalizing all drugs are telling outright lies."

Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell said he agrees that Nevadans 
are independent, but he said they also are aware of potentially dangerous 
ideas.

Bell said he would hope Walters' message in Las Vegas this week "will make 
it clear that the use of marijuana can lead to serious consequences that 
people should consider before (supporting those) giving its use credence."

Walters will hold a news conference Wednesday after visiting with drug 
treatment specialists and officials of the Drug Court program, which offers 
treatment options for minor offenders.

At Monday night's forum in Reno, meanwhile, proponents of the state's 
marijuana initiative had the stage nearly all to themselves. Heller said he 
invited the Washoe County district attorney to send a representative, but 
no one from the office appeared.

Most of the callers to the hourlong program agreed, voicing their approval 
of the plan that would also allow the state to open a system of shops to 
sell small amounts of marijuana.

Rogers said scientific evidence shows marijuana is not a "gateway drug" 
that leads to heroin and cocaine. He said his organization is not in favor 
of legalizing all drugs, and that it is concerned only with marijuana. 
Rogers said marijuana is less harmful than cigarettes to a person's health, 
and that studies show only a small percentage of pot users become addicted. 
"It is one of the least addictive drugs," he said.

Employers, Rogers said, would still be able to conduct random drug tests 
and make their own decisions on whether to retain or dismiss workers who 
test positive.

Rogers said decriminalizing small amounts of pot would free up the police 
to concentrate on serious crimes.

Only one opponent of the initiative showed up Monday. Betty Kruk of Carson 
City said she signed the petition but only because she thought it was for 
medical marijuana. She said she approves of medical marijuana but not 
recreational use of the drug.

Changes in state law made Nevada fertile ground for the war to 
decriminalize pot, said Rogers, who also serves as spokesman for Nevadans 
for Responsible Law Enforcement.

Voters twice passed a ballot initiative to make medical use of marijuana 
legal, and in the last Legislature the law was changed to make possessing 
less than one ounce of pot a misdemeanor, instead of a felony. Before that 
action Nevada had one of the strictest marijuana laws in the nation.

"Because of the action at the last Legislature we believe Nevada's citizens 
and legislators do not want to not waste tax dollars arresting and 
prosecuting people for small amounts of marijuana," Rogers said.

The current ballot question would change Nevada's constitution to allow a 
person to possess up to three ounces of marijuana and not be charged with a 
crime.

The question must be approved in November and again in 2004 to become law.

Rogers said nationwide, 750,000 arrests were made for marijuana possession 
in 2000, with each arrest taking four to eight hours in booking and court time.

Bell disagreed, saying "these cases are not clogging the system. A number 
of them go to Drug Court and others are settled with the payments.
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