Thompson family feels the impact of marijuana

Erica D. Johnson

Monday, Oct. 28, 2002 | 9:23 a.m.

Kelly Thompson used to think that marijuana should be legalized. Then her mother, Sun Associate Editor and Vice President Sandy Thompson, was killed in August in a car crash caused by a driver under the influence of pot.

Now Kelly Thompson has become a vocal opponent of a state ballot measure to make possession of 3 ounces or less legal.

"Before any of this happened, I thought, 'Why not? It doesn't hurt anybody. It's all about the right to freedom,' " she said Friday. "But now I think, 'What about my mother's freedom to live?' "

Kelly Thompson and her father, Gary, spoke at a rally outside the Las Vegas Sun building along with other opponents of Question 9, the marijuana initiative.

The rally was taped for a television ad, which will air this week. Several community leaders, law enforcement officials and area pastors attended.

Most people who attended the rally listed safety on Las Vegas Valley roadways as the primary reason voters should defeat the initiative.

"Most of the people who would vote yes already use marijuana, even though it's against the law," Kelly Thompson said. "What makes us think these people would obey the law by not driving under the influence?"

Police said the driver of the car that crashed into Sandy Thompson had a large amount of marijuana in his system and was traveling at least 20 mph over the speed limit.

John Simbrat, 21, has pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of a controlled or prohibited substance causing death and is scheduled to be sentenced to four to 20 years in prison on Dec. 9.

Gary Thompson said it angers him that most of the proponents of the initiatives don't even live in Nevada.

"If this passes, they will go home, and Nevada will be left to deal with the financial, physical and emotional costs this will cause," he said. "We don't want anyone else to go through what we went through since Sandy's death."

Proponents of Question 9 say the initiative provides for strict penalties for those who drive under the influence of the drug.

But Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker, who attended the rally, said his job would be a lot more difficult if the initiative were to pass.

"There will be a lot more incidents of people being killed on the roads, and I will have no tools with which to prosecute these people," he said.

Booker, who is in charge of the district attorney's Vehicular Crimes Unit, said Clark County sees about 8,000 DUIs each year. About 20 to 30 percent of those accidents involve marijuana or other drugs, he said.

Representatives of law enforcement agencies including Metro Police, Nevada Highway Patrol and North Las Vegas Police also attended the rally.

NHP spokesman Jim Olschlager said legalized marijuana would cause local law enforcement agencies to be even more short-staffed than they already are because there will be more accidents.

"We're already short-manned enough," he said. "We respond from accident to accident as it is. We see fatal accidents every day for a living. Many of them are caused by DUI. If Question 9 were to pass, it would be a lot worse."