Letter: Leave Nevada alone in deciding marijuana issue

Monday, July 29, 2002 | 8:54 a.m.

I see the feds have come to our state trying to tell adult Nevadans we don't have the right to choose a safer recreational drug than tobacco or alcohol.

John P. Walters, the head of the federal Office of Drug Control Policy, also seems so concerned about our tourism. Under the initiative it will be illegal to bring marijuana across the Nevada border (to or from Nevada). So the "drug tourist" will have to come empty-handed and purchase the marijuana at a state-licensed shop. The initiative also states marijuana cannot be used in public. So we have a few stoned tourists hiding in their hotel rooms, buying Nevada-grown pot. Ooh, I'm so scared. They will still be contributing to our economy.

Mr. Walters also said decriminalizing marijuana in Nevada would encourage drug use, increase the number of people dependent on other drugs, "and feed the criminal organizations that are a dangerous threat to democratic institutions in the Western Hemisphere."

Unless the government of Nevada is a criminal organization, there will be no danger to our democratic republic or the Western Hemisphere. In numerous studies marijuana has been shown not to be a gateway drug. One of marijuana's therapeutic effects is to help wean addicts from other drugs.

Since the state will be selling the marijuana there will be no more marijuana dealers pushing it on our children. Eliminating the drug pusher will decrease the use and glorification. Would you buy a can of beer from someone on the corner or go to a grocery store? Come on, now. This initiative will make it much harder for kids to obtain marijuana.

As of right now the most dangerous effect of marijuana possession and use is jail.

JEFF OAKES