Pubdate: Thu, 17 Oct 2002
Source: Reno News & Review (NV)
Copyright: 2002, Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsreview.com/issues/reno/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2524
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?162 (Nevadans for Responsible Law 
Enforcement)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?163 (Question 9 (NV))

NO RISK IN VOTING 'YES' ON 9

So you feel you've been bullied by both sides of the Question 9 debate. The 
big drums of the war-on-drug mongers beat out their reefer madness nonsense 
on one side. The drooling drug legalization crowd led us on about making 
marijuana more accessible to those with a legitimate medical need. The 
pro-pot folks just want what they've always wanted--legal weed.

So what's a person in the middle of all this to do?

Well, registered voters, you've got two choices. You can vote no on 
Question 9, and the debate ends. That's it. It's over.

Or you can vote yes and let the discussion--and perhaps an honest search 
for answers--continue for another two years.

Remember, even if Question 9 wins a vote of the people this time around, it 
has to come back for another vote in 2004. The initiative doesn't go to the 
state legislature for action until after it passes a second time.

Two years would give us time to deal with plenty of unanswered questions. 
What are the real dangers of legalized marijuana? How would such a thing 
change your life? How would the federal government react to Nevada's 
decision not to prosecute folks with three ounces or less of pot? How many 
fewer individuals would be in Nevada prisons today if that pot had been legal?

OK, we can answer that last question. Nevada has three individuals 
currently in prison solely for possessing marijuana, according to Fritz 
Schlottman, a research analyst for the Nevada Department of Corrections. 
But local police officers have arrested, searched, harassed, given police 
records to, fined and placed on probation many individuals who possess 
small amounts of weed. Not all pot smokers are the burned-out dregs of 
society you catch sight of sleeping in the park during the day. Some are 
actually successful professionals.

Is pot a gateway drug? For some people, it is. So is alcohol, which is 
legal. So is tobacco, which is more addictive than heroin.

Would some kind of government regulation benefit users of pot? That doesn't 
seem unlikely. Legalized brothels in Nevada, where working girls undergo 
routine medical check-ups for sexually transmitted diseases, are arguably 
safer places to buy sex than the average AIDS-infested street corner. Does 
legalized prostitution make selling sex OK? Not for many people--who don't 
go to brothels.

Legalizing small amounts of pot would make it possible for small dealers 
and moderate users to obtain dope without dealing with the seedy underworld 
of illegal drug cartels. With the right kind of creative business plan, 
tourism could conceivably benefit. Nevada has historically been on the 
cutting edge of sin in the United States--divorce, legal gambling, 
prostitution--why not pot?

Voting no on 9 ends it here. A yes vote gives us two more years to think 
about our fears and about the possibilities.

An anti-drug pamphlet used in Washoe County School's substance abuse 
classes has a list of reasons why a person shouldn't smoke pot. The first 
reason offered: "It is illegal."

What happens if it's not?
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager