Thanks for publishing Neal Levine's thoughtful letter "Prohibition has failed the nation" [Voices, May 19].

I'd like to add that marijuana prohibition causes marijuana to be completely unregulated, untaxed and controlled by criminals -- just like alcohol was when it was illegal.

And, just like alcohol was when it was illegal, today's marijuana is of unknown quality, unknown purity and unknown potency.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.

[end]

Margaret Salas has every right to dislike marijuana [Letters, May 12], but laws should be based on facts.

She dismisses medical marijuana for pain control despite the fact that several recent studies have verified that marijuana is safe and effective for this purpose. And drug companies are indeed researching marijuana.

Plenty of research has been done on marijuana, consistently finding that its health risks are much less than legal drugs like tobacco and alcohol. That's why every independent expert commission ever to examine the issue in the U.S. and abroad has concluded that there is no justification for arresting people simply for possessing marijuana.

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The Nevada Supreme Court Thursday tossed a drug conviction against a Reno man, ruling that the forcible, warrantless entry by police into his home was not justified.

Sean Andrew Hannon was convicted of drug possession in a case filed after police responded to a domestic disturbance call at his apartment.

The disturbance was a loud verbal argument between Hannon and his girlfriend Lea Robinson. When officer Eric Friberg arrived, the woman assured him she was OK and no one inside was injured.

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INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. - Incline High School doesn't have immediate plans to implement random drug tests for students participating in extra curriclulars, said athletic director Dan Schreiber.

The tests - which can cost almost $40 a pop - won't be instituted at Incline next year because of the difficult financial climate, Schreiber said, although he said he thinks they are a great idea.

"Quite honestly I think you're going to see it everywhere in the next couple of years," Schreiber said. "I think in any athletic arena it's a positive, the central idea behind it is the safety of the kids, and that's what we're here for."

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CARSON CITY - A bill to tighten the law for growing marijuana has died in the Assembly Judiciary Committee on a 6-6 vote.

Eight votes are needed for passage by the committee of Senate Bill 262, which breezed through the Senate on an 18-3 vote.

The bill would have imposed a penalty on the number of marijuana plants discovered by law enforcement. Assemblyman Bernie Anderson, the chairman of the committee, said the criminal penalty now is based on the weight of the marijuana.

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I find it very hard to understand why altering your moods and way of thinking by smoking marijuana is a good thing. Some are trying to get it legalized to gain revenue. Others are fighting for it for pain control. If it's such a good harmless substance for pain control, why aren't the drug companies latching on to this? Most original pain medications are made from plants.

Cigarettes are almost banned, because it's supposed to harm our health. So in its place will be packs of marijuana. Will that be better for us? What about the smokers and their children?

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Small Group Says Drug Could Help More Nevadans, Seeks Reform of Laws

About a dozen advocates for medical marijuana rallied Saturday outside the Regional Justice Center -- a symbolic location because the issue is medical and not criminal, said organizer Beth Soloe, chairwoman of Nevada NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

The rally was intended to generate understanding about the facts of medical marijuana -- mainly that it is legal in Nevada.

More people need to be more willing to talk about it and stop being scared," she said.

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The Marijuana Policy Project, the most politically savvy of drug reform groups in the nation, has established a chapter in Nevada. MPP was heavily involved in earlier ballot measures in the state, including the successful medical marijuana initiative.

The Nevada committee will be headed by Neal Levine.

[end]

Narcotics-Related Violence Shows Systemic Failure In Drug Fight

Take a look at the havoc in Cuidad Juarez, Mexico, a lawless no-mans-land situated across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas. It is the capital of the Mexican-monopolized North American illegal drug business and an exploding assemblage of murderous warlords and foot soldiers.

The human and economic cost of the drug gang firefights is staggering. The body count for 2008 was upwards of 6,000 that included traffickers, police, soldiers and innocent civilians. The most tragic victims of the bloodshed are the teenage boys from the broken, impoverished barrios, which serve as incubators of crime and violence. Lured by the status and power that comes with cartel membership, they are recruited to become little daring assassins, or "sicaritos." The towns and cities of Mexico are overrun with narcotic syndicates engaged in disastrous turf wars whose gangsters mercilessly gun down opposition and torch business storefronts.

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Protecting Against The Murderous Drug Cartels Is A Bigger Priority Than Workplace Raids

Dozens of federal agents would be assigned to reinforce agents already in place along the border with Mexico under a plan being finalized by the Justice and Homeland Security departments.

The plan, which has not yet been publicly announced, is an emergency reaction to the mounting violence occurring as members of Mexican drug cartels battle for control of drug routes into the United States.

Associated Press reporters last week wrote that they had talked with federal officials involved with the plan. They learned that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, known as ICE, will shift more than 90 officers to the area. Also, the AP reported, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is hiring 37 more people for assignments along the border.

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Attorney General Holder Announces Hands-Off Approach To Medical Marijuana

After California in 1996 became the first state to permit individuals to purchase marijuana for medicinal purposes as long as they have a doctor's prescription, Nevada and 11 other states followed with similar laws. Despite opposition from those who consider marijuana a gateway to harder drugs, proponents in the 13 states successfully argued that medical marijuana laws could help patients who suffer from pain or loss of appetite.

The rub has been that the state laws run counter to federal law, which prohibits the possession or sale of marijuana under any circumstance. A string of court decisions favoring the federal government gave the Bush administration license to approve law enforcement raids of dispensaries where medical marijuana is sold.

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Let's finally end the ill-conceived war on both marijuana and our citizens. There is no better time than today's historic budget crisis to raise tax revenue and free up wasted police and government resources.

For the record, I do not smoke dope, but those who oppose this idea will accuse me of such. The morality squad, those shrill opponents of legalization, always attack and accuse; they seek to control what others think and do without understanding, compassion or reason. The second leg of opposition, the law enforcement establishment, is addicted to drug budgets and jobs like a troubled junkie.

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On Feb. 23, California Assemblyman Ammiano introduced a bill in Sacramento to legalize and tax cannabis.

This is terrible legislation, as it would force hard-working Mexican drug cartels out of business. Instead, legalization would cause this money to go to the state, depriving entrepreneurs of their income.

Prohibition keeps prices high, and those profits are necessary to buy the guns and personnel needed to maintain market control. Furthermore, taxation of cannabis places an undue burden on dealers, who have historically operated with no regulation or taxation. How will marijuana remain more accessible to children than alcohol if the only place you can buy it is from authorized licensed sellers?

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LAS VEGAS--A couple of years back, Pierre Werner went to prison. It made the papers. It was his own fault.

The prison sentence followed Werner getting caught growing many dozens of marijuana plants in his house, which he swears he was doing for medical purposes.

The growing of the pot plants came after much pot smoking--a lot of it, he admitted, had nothing to do with the drug's medicinal qualities.

A lot of that pot smoking came after a prison stint in New Jersey for, well, for selling lots and lots of pot.

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The lead contributor to the violence in Mexico is suffocating in its own cloud of smoke.

Stringent in its attempt to win the war on drugs, the U.S. continues to drown itself in a haze of ignorance.

The media has ignored the situation in Mexico, as it has in many other nations plagued with internal conflict in the past. Six thousand Mexican civilians died last year due to escalating tension between drug cartels, but the only prevalent issue covered involving Mexico was illegal immigration.

[continues 536 words]

To the Editor,

Stephen H. Frye hit the bull's-eye calling for credible drug law reform (Speaker Rebuts Drug Policy, Feb. 19, 2009) and that means Re-legalizing cannabis (marijuana) at the very least.

One beneficial component of re-legalizing cannabis that doesn't get mentioned is that it will lower hard drug addiction rates. DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) brainwashes youth into believing lies, half-truths and propaganda concerning cannabis, which causes grave future problems.

How many citizens try cannabis and realize it's not nearly as harmful as taught in DARE type government environments? Then they think other substances must not be so bad either, only to become addicted to deadly drugs. The old lessons make cannabis out to be among the worst substances in the world, even though it's never killed a single person.

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Students, Professor Discuss The Effects And Future Of War On Drugs

American's fight against drug trafficking and abuse needs a fresh outlook, according to Students for Sensible Drug Policy's guest Stephen H. Frye.

Frye researched the topic for three years and released his book "We Really Lost This War! Twenty Five Reasons to Legalize Drugs" in May of 2008. Each chapter discusses one reason to legalize drugs.

Frye projected the table of contents of his book and talked extemporaneously about each topic, focusing on prisons, race, the government, children and solutions.

[continues 554 words]

Re "Some more taxes" (Editorial, Jan. 22):

While the Reno News & Review's editorial speaks about "legalizing the growth and sale of cannabis (marijuana)," one important point must be mentioned: Except for those who profit, nearly every person who uses cannabis would prefer to acquire it from regulated sources but all will purchase it in the black market if necessary. It's just a matter of who consumers give their money to. Right now consumers are ready, willing and eager to give it to regulated sources along with its share of taxes to government. If government doesn't want it, the money is changing hands either way.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

[end]

The Drug Enforcement Administration has vetoed a decision by Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner, stopping a University of Massachusetts Amherst medical marijuana research project. The Medical Marijuana Project, a drug war reform group, said the research was "vital if marijuana is ever to be an FDA-approved medicine."

Medical marijuana is legal under Nevada state law, and the drug has been decriminalized as part of an effort by state lawmakers to encourage marijuana research. Previously, simple possession of any amount of marijuana was a felony in Nevada, but voter approval of medical marijuana helped change the stance of lawmakers.

[continues 169 words]

Nevada has a unique way of looking at taxes. We don't want to pay them. We know our government needs money to provide services--to build roads, to provide public safety, to educate students--and we want those services. We just think someone else should shell out for them. Saying that statement is not true, that it's somehow irresponsible, doesn't really advance the debate over how to solve the budget crisis.

As Nevadans, we prefer our tax-base to come from two sources, out-of-staters and the iniquitous. We especially like it when the two groups come together. We like to take advantage of other people's and business' weaknesses to fund our state's most basic needs.

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