Pubdate: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 Source: Reno Gazette-Journal (NV) Copyright: 2005 Reno Gazette-Journal Contact: http://www.rgj.com/helpdesk/news/letter_to_editor.php Website: http://www.rgj.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/363 Cited: Marijuana Policy Project ( www.mpp.org ) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/marijuana+initiative Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) ASSEMBLY SPEAKER VOWS TO DEFEAT POT PETITION The Assembly Judiciary Committee is set today to take up an initiative petition that would legalize adult possession of 1 ounce of marijuana. Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, renewed his vow to defeat the effort, saying he would testify against it today. At a news conference Wednesday with a group of local law enforcement officials, Perkins, a deputy police chief, said he would use "whatever influence" he has to see the measure isn't passed out of the Assembly. "These people have not spent their lives fighting crime and these people are not Nevadans," he said of the group that organized the petition. "We are not going to stand by and let our state be put at risk by encouraging criminals." The initiative petition, which 69,261 Nevada voters signed last year, is backed by the Marijuana Policy Project, a national group advocating the legalization of marijuana. Kami Dempsey, a Nevada spokeswoman for the effort, said she believes lawmakers will keep an open mind to the debate. If the Legislature does not pass the petition, it will go to voters to decide in 2006. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake