Marijuana petition qualifies for ballot

Tuesday, July 9, 2002 | 9:26 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nevadans will have a chance to vote this November whether to decriminalize possession by adults of small amounts of marijuana.

The Secretary of State's Office said today an initiative petition to change the Constitution has enough signatures of registered voters to put the issue on the ballot.

Deputy Secretary of State Susan Bilyeu said a statistical sampling showed the petition had more than 74,700 verified signatures and it qualified in 14 of the 17 counties. The petition needed 61,336 names and 10 percent of the voters in 13 of the 17 counties.

It did not qualify in Elko, Douglas and Nye counties, Bilyeu said.

Meanwhile the district attorneys in Nevada may vote Thursday whether to oppose the petition. Churchill County District Attorney Arthur Mallory, who is president of the DA's association, said it is meeting to draft its legislative program, and that issue may be discussed. Carson City District Attorney Noel Waters, who is vice president, said he has not seen the petition but added, "There is a wholesale conflict with federal law." He was referring in part to the plan that sets up a distribution system, including licensed shops to sell the drug.

In California the federal government cracked down on businesses that sold the drug.

The petition would allow people 21 years and older to possess up to three ounces of marijuana without being charged with a crime. It permits the Legislature to set up a distribution system to supply low-cost marijuana to the medically needy.

It would also allow for a regulated system "of cultivation, taxation, sale and distribution" of the drug to those who could legally possess it.

The proposed constitutional amendment, which would have to be passed by the voters this year and again in 2004, would prohibit smoking of marijuana in a vehicle, public place or casinos. Distribution, sale and possession of the drug would be prohibited in jails, prisons or public schools.

Advertising of marijuana on television, radio, in newspapers, magazines and billboards would be prohibited.

There would be a tax on the drug, similar to the one on tobacco products other than cigarettes.