Saturday, April 4, 1998 | 11:01 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- A group that wants to permit the medical use of marijuana will be in federal court in Las Vegas Monday challenging the $5,000 limit on campaign contributions.
U.S. District Judge Philip Pro will hold a hearing at 4 p.m. on the complaint filed by Americans for Medical Rights who have sued Secretary of State Dean Heller to prevent enforcement of the donation limit.
The organization contends there have been U.S. Supreme Court decisions that prohibit any restriction on the amount of money that can be spent for or against an election ballot issue. It says this is a violation of free speech.
Voters in Nevada agreed to amend the Constitution to prohibit contributions of more than $5,000 on ballot questions. But the Legislature did not include the section in the campaign reform bill.
Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa says the voters have spoken and the limitation should be upheld. She said Friday the citizens want campaign reform and these contribution limits are one of those reforms.
"The $5,000 contribution limit gives everyone the opportunity to raise sizable amounts of money for ballot questions, while limiting the advantage of wealthy special interest groups," Del Papa said. "Unfortunately today's elections are often decided by who has the most money."
The marijuana organization must collect 46,764 signatures of registered voters before June 16 to qualify the issue of medical use of marijuana for the November election ballot.
Del Papa said the suit by Americans for Medical Rights is premature because the contribution limits only apply to ballot questions and not the signature gathering process for initiative petitions. She said it would be speculation to say now whether the initiative petition will qualify.
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