Medicinal pot petition criticized

Monday, March 16, 1998 | 9:45 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- State medical and law enforcement associations say they will not support an initiative petition filed Friday to legalize marijuana for medical use in Nevada.

The 1,100-member Nevada Medical Association says it doesn't believe there have been enough scientific studies to show marijuana is a valuable tool in treating diseases such as cancer.

Lawrence Matheis, executive director of the medical association, said its House of Delegates voted last year to oppose the medical use of marijuana but supported more research concerning the drug's medicinal value.

"There is no consensus on the clinical value of it," Matheis said.

District Attorney Noel Waters of Carson City agreed with Matheis. "I don't think the temperament of most DAs is in favor of legalizing it. It is still viewed as a drug of abuse."

A group called Nevadans for Medical Rights filed the petition -- similar to California's plan -- to amend the Nevada Constitution to permit the medical use of marijuana.

"We believe an individual who is ill has a right to use marijuana. I think this coincides with the feeling of the population," Dan Hart, a Las Vegas publicist for the group, said.

"This is an issue of compassion. Nevadans are fiercely protective of individual rights."

The initiative petition says a patient could use, upon the advice of his physician, marijuana for "treatment or alleviation" of cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, persistent nausea, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and other medical problems.

The petition permits a minor to use the drug only upon written authorization by his doctor and parents. The petition would not require insurance companies to pay for marijuana that is used for treatment.

There would be a confidential registry of patients authorized to use marijuana which would be accessible to law enforcement officers for verification. Hart said the plant also could be grown as long as it was not used for illegal purposes.

He said the group that helped pass the marijuana petition in California plan to throw a "good chunk" of money into the Nevada campaign. The organization has filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in Las Vegas to invalidate a state attorney general's opinion that groups or individuals would be limited to a $5,000 contribution toward passage of an initiative.

Hart said that after the story on the lawsuit surfaced last week, 35 people volunteered in one day to circulate the petition. Backers of the initiative must gain 46,764 signatures of registered voters by June 16 to qualify the petition for the Nevada ballot.

Hart said a signature-gathering firm would be hired to supplement volunteer efforts.

The organization also is seeking to place the issue on the ballots of other states.

"This is an issue of allowing people who have particular symptoms to use the medication that is most effective," Hart said.

Waters said the federal government is fighting the law in California.

"The feds are not willing to open the door," he said. "I don't think this (marijuana use) is the world's worst crime or the worst drug, but I'm not for legalizing it."

Waters, former president of the Nevada District Attorney's Association, said the initiative would be a topic of discussion at the association's convention in May.