Pubdate: Mon,  9 Sep 2002
Source: Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
Copyright: 2002 The Salt Lake Tribune
Contact:  http://www.sltrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/383
Author: Dan Harrie

NEVADANS ASKED TO BLAZE TRAIL FOR LEGALIZATION OF POT

That could be the new Nevada tourism pitch if voters approve a November 
ballot measure to legalize marijuana. With prostitution and gambling 
already sanctioned by the state, some argue that lawful dope smoking is the 
next logical step in making this the nation's "getaway" capital.

Utah voters, of course, have no say in the laws of their more unbuttoned 
neighbor. But a change in Nevada drug enforcement could provide some Salt 
Lake Valley and St. George residents one more enticement to make weekend 
forays to Las Vegas, or even quick trips to Wendover or Mesquite.

To tourists with a buzz on, those cheap buffets might seem downright 
scrump-tious.

But even Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, who previously has suggested 
support for decriminalizing marijuana, is quick to predict such a change 
would never be allowed to cross the Utah state line.

"It'll never happen here," Anderson says.

Although he expresses sympathy for Nevada's proposal -- "I actually am in 
favor of experimenting with all sorts of different solutions" -- he says 
Utah needs to take a different path, expanding drug-prevention and 
anti-abuse programs.

Regardless of Utahns' sober skepticism, marijuana legalization has found a 
sizable reservoir of support among Nevada's conservative but 
independent-minded voters. Some 110,000 residents signed petitions to 
qualify for ballot status in a record 40 days. The state's largest 
newspaper, The Las Vegas Review-Journal, has endorsed the measure, and 
polls have shown it with about an even chance of passage.

But it would be premature for anyone to begin lighting up doobies in 
celebration just yet. Because the initiative is a proposed amendment to the 
state constitution, it must win voter approval in back-to-back general 
elections. Should it pass Nov. 5, it will automatically come back around 
for a revote in two years.

If ultimately approved, the amendment would make Nevada the first state in 
the nation to make possession and private use of marijuana legal for all 
adults. Up to 3 ounces of cannabis would be allowed for people 21 and older.

Driving stoned or smoking pot in public would still be illegal, as would be 
transporting marijuana into or out of the state. Advertising of weed would 
be banned, and the Legislature would be required to establish a system for 
production and distribution, either through state stores, like Utah's 
liquor agencies, or licensed private outlets.

The result would be a boon for individual rights and common sense, or a 
recipe for increased crime and addiction, depending on who is doing the 
predicting.

Driving the pro-pot campaign is a group calling itself Nevadans for 
Responsible Law Enforcement. The name tells a lot about the message 
advocates are trying to get across -- that legalizing limited amounts of 
marijuana would actually improve drug and crime enforcement.

Initiative leader Billy Rogers says there are comparisons with marijuana 
laws and the failed policy of alcohol prohibition.

"In a regulated marketplace, marijuana will be less available to children, 
and underage use will decrease," Rogers says. "Drug dealers don't ask for ID."

Until a couple of years ago, when it legalized medicinal marijuana and 
toned down penalties for possession of small amounts, Nevada had the 
toughest pot laws in the nation. Possession of any amount was a felony.

"In one year, law enforcement officers in Nevada arrested about 4,000 
people for possession," Rogers says. He calculates that that translated to 
about 10,000 hours of police man-hours that could have been better spent on 
serious crimes such as kidnapping, murder and rape.

The argument seemed unassailable when a group representing nine police 
unions came out in support of the measure last month. But just days later 
the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs retracted its endorsement and 
ousted its president.

Most politicians are staying out of the fray, too, including popular 
Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn.

Guinn appears poised to glide into his second term. But he has taken no 
position on the marijuana initiative because he wants to see what voters 
think, said spokesman Greg Bortolin.

The behemoth of Nevada politics also has been pointedly mute so far. 
Despite competing claims by initiative forces that the multibillion-dollar 
gambling industry would be helped or hurt by the legal marijuana, casinos 
have stayed on the sidelines.

"It's not an issue that has our focus," says a spokeswoman at the Nevada 
Resort Association. "We just haven't gotten involved."

Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick has no such qualms.

"We're playing with a dangerous drug here. It's 10 times more powerful than 
it was a few years ago," Gammick says. "They throw out that marijuana is 
not addictive. That's bull----."

The tough-talking cop-turned-prosecutor has emerged as one of the few 
elected officials speaking out publicly against the initiative.

Where are all his political colleagues?

"You don't have to be an Einstein to see where they're coming from," says 
Gammick, whose bid for re-election is unopposed. "They're afraid of the polls."

An Elko native, Gammick says he resents Nevada being targeted as the 
laboratory rat for a national group out to reform U.S. drug policy through 
a state-by-state campaign.

"I am highly offended we've got all these outside people coming here to 
legalize drugs," Gammick says. "They just want to smoke pot."

Rogers insists he is not a smoker, but estimates up to 150,000 Nevadans are 
and deserve to be left alone so long as they are responsible.

"Our initiative protects people in the privacy of their own homes, and 
that's what we're going to be talking about," Rogers says. "We have zero 
tolerance for public use and zero tolerance for use by minors."

He cites a Zogby poll earlier this year indicating that 61 percent of 
Americans believe people should not be arrested for possessing small 
amounts of marijuana.

"The fact is, 80 million Americans have tried marijuana at one time in 
their lives and they didn't go onto harder drugs and they aren't homeless."

Many people see "no difference between somebody who gets off work and 
unwinds by going home and having a beer and somebody who unwinds by going 
home and having a marijuana cigarette."

Although he disputes that Nevada is the subject of a "grand experiment," 
Rogers acknowledges that if marijuana is legalized here, he would hope to 
see similar reforms in other states.

The nonprofit organization behind the Nevada initiative is the Washington, 
D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, whose stated goal is to "bring an end 
to our nation's war on marijuana users."

Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement has been accurately described as a 
subsidiary of the national group. That is borne out by looking at its books.

The Marijuana Policy Project has provided all but $275 of the $575,275 
raised so far for the Nevada campaign. Proponents have spent most of the 
cash already, doling out $387,000 to petition passers.

Rogers, who is officially on leave from his job as the national 
organization's director of state policies, won't say how much more money is 
available from the same source. A news release from the group last January 
said its budget for 2002 was more than $1 million, thanks to contributions 
from some major donors.

The largest of those, according to Rogers, is Peter Lewis, multimillionaire 
chief executive officer of the Progressive Corp., of Ohio.

Meanwhile, the opposition has not even formed a political action committee, 
let alone raised money to counter the initiative.

Eric Herzik, political scientist at the University of Nevada, Reno, 
predicts the marijuana ballot measure will fail.

"I don't know if Nevada is willing to go that far," Herzik says. He 
estimates that one-third of the voters are opposed because they think 
"marijuana turns the mind to powder," and another third are undecided and 
will come down on the side of caution.

But Herzik says if the campaign turns into an effective media blitz by 
proponents against dead air by the opposition, "that could pump up" the 
initiative enough to pass.
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MAP posted-by: Alex