Judicial panel: Make marijuana possession charge a misdemeanor

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2000 | 10:18 a.m.

A judicial commission that is recommending a reduction in penalties in minor marijuana cases is not in favor of legalizing the drug, Justice of the Peace Nancy Oesterle said.

Instead, the Judicial Assessment Commission wants to bring Nevada in line with other states while saving taxpayers thousands, Oesterle said.

In 1993 the Nevada Supreme Court formed the commission to look at Nevada's justice system so it could make recommendations to the Legislature and create new rules under the Nevada Supreme Court.

As a result, the state's drug courts were expanded, a medicinal marijuana law was passed and funding for the expansion of the Clark County Detention Center was obtained.

Chief Justice Bob Rose reconvened the commission last year and its second list of recommendations was formally released Monday.

The commission is again recommending that people who are now being charged with felonies for possessing or using small amounts of marijuana be charged instead with a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor.

Oesterle said that the vast majority of people who are charged with those crimes end up pleading guilty to misdemeanors anyway as the result of plea agreements. By citing them with misdemeanors to start with, Nevada will save the cost of housing the defendants in jail pending trial, attorney time and court time.

"Nevada is the only state that treats these crimes as felonies," Oesterle said. "The committee specifically does not condone these two crimes, but it wants the law to be applicable to what's really happening in the court system. This is a realistic approach to these crimes."

The commission is also recommending that minor traffic offenses -- those that result in four demerits or less -- be re-categorized as civil offenses instead of criminal offenses, Oesterle said.