Pubdate: Sun, 20 Oct 2002 Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV) Copyright: 2002 Las Vegas Review-Journal Contact: http://www.lvrj.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/233 Author: Ed Vogel, Review-Journal Capital Bureau 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)) MARIJUANA QUESTIONS ALSO ON BALLOT ELSEWHERE CARSON CITY -- Nevada isn't the only state where citizens on Nov. 5 will be preoccupied with marijuana. Arizona voters also decide whether to decriminalize pot use; South Dakotans determine whether to legalize industrial hemp, and San Franciscans decide if their city should grow pot for medical patients. None of the initiatives has received as much national attention as Nevada's Question 9, but a lot of money has been spent in Arizona over its initiative to decriminalize the possession of 2 ounces or less of marijuana. The measure also requires the Department of Public Safety to provide two free ounces to people with permission to use marijuana for medical reasons. The Arizona Republic reported in September that the campaign to decriminalize marijuana is being bankrolled by Phoenix entrepreneur John Sperling, New York financier George Soros and Cleveland businessman Peter Lewis. The trio have donated a combined $840,000 to a campaign committee known as "The People Have Spoken." If the question passes, then residents would pay only $250 fines if caught with small amounts of marijuana. Lewis, the chief executive officer of Progressive Insurance Co., also has made contributions to the Marijuana Policy Project, the parent organization of the group seeking to to legalize marijuana in Nevada, Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement. Police organizations have railed against the ballot question, particularly the requirement that medical marijuana patients receive free pot. Arizona voters established a program to allow people to use marijuana for medical purposes in 1996. South Dakota would become the fourth state with a law allowing farmers to grow industrial hemp for industrial purposes if its citizens back a ballot question. Polls show 85 percent of the population supports the plan. Industrial hemp is defined as the type of cannabis plant that contains 1 percent or less of THC, the mind-altering chemical found in marijuana. Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia already allow industrial hemp cultivation, although growing the crop remains against federal law. South Dakota farmers want to grow hemp because it has become a $500 million a year crop, grown mainly for fiber. Members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to let residents decide whether they want the city to grow marijuana for patients. That measure came in response to a Drug Enforcement Administration raid on a Northern Nevada farm that supplied medical marijuana. Polls show this question also probably will pass. About 3,600 people in San Francisco have permission to use marijuana as medicine. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh