Effort to legalize marijuana renewed

Kirsten Searer

Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2004 | 11:41 a.m.

Advocates are kicking off a campaign today to again try to legalize marijuana in Nevada.

The Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana announced it would file an initiative with the secretary of state's office today and start gathering signatures.

The group's new initiative would allow people 21 and older to legally possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana for recreational use. It would make Nevada the first state to do so.

The petition needs the signatures of 51,244 registered voters by June 15 to qualify for the November ballot. The committee needs to gather signatures from 10 percent of the voters in 13 of the state's 17 counties to qualify.

Proponents are hopeful that they will be able to get the initiative on the ballot. The last group to sponsor the effort, Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement, gathered 110,000 signatures in 2002 to land the initiative on the ballot.

The initiative would then go to the voters and needs to pass in two general elections before it would be amended to the Nevada Constitution.

A similar initiative, which would have allowed possession of up to 3 ounces, was rejected soundly by Nevada voters in 2002.

"This is a totally different initiative," committee spokeswoman Jennifer Knight said. "It has a totally different team. We have addressed concerns of voters that were voiced in the 2002 campaign."

The committee, which is supported by the Marijuana Policy Project, has changed the amount of marijuana that would be legal and is suggesting an increase in the penalty for driving under the influence.

Still, some in the law enforcement community were quick to react, saying they're opposed to any version of a measure that would legalize marijuana.

"The last thing we need to be doing as a society, especially in Nevada, is to tell our youth that it's OK to use drugs," said Capt. Stavros Anthony, head of Metro Police's vice narcotics bureau.

"There is no valid reason for using marijuana except to get high," Anthony said. "And there have been studies that have shown marijuana can potentially be a gateway drug to other narcotics."

Knight and other advocates argue that the measure actually would cut drug use among teens by regulating the drug and argue that would cut the number of black-market drug dealers.

She pointed to a 2001 study cited by the White House Office of National Drug Control that found that more than 67 percent of Nevada's high school seniors say they have tried marijuana at least once in their lifetimes.

A separate study in the Netherlands, where some marijuana use is legal, found that 28 percent of Dutch teens had tried marijuana.

The Marijuana Policy Project has been touting those numbers in an ad campaign launched in November. The ads still play frequently in the Las Vegas market.

The group donated the funds toward the new Nevada initiative partly because Nevadans have responded positively to the ads, said Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project.

"We thought it was worth giving it a try and we absolutely believe that this is a better proposal," Mirken said.

"The basic outline of what we're trying to do is right not just for Nevada but for America. It simply makes sense to regulate marijuana and bring it off the streets so society has some control," he said. "Our current laws guarantee we have no control."

Under the initiative only licensed tobacco shops would be allowed to sell the drug to adults, Knight said.

The initiative would increase penalties for people who sell marijuana to minors. First-time offenders could receive up to 10 years in prison and second-time offenders could be sentenced to life.

"Extremely evil people are getting extremely rich," Knight said of illegal drug dealers. "This is just another element that needs to be stopped."

Knight said she voted against the last initiative, partly because she felt it didn't send a message to marijuana users that they couldn't use the drug and drive.

The new initiative would beef up the penalties for driving under the influence. And people convicted of vehicular homicide while driving under the influence could face up to life in prison, compared with the maximum 20 years in jail now imposed.

"Anyone who even thinks about getting behind the wheel should think twice if they know they're going to face a life sentence," Knight said.

No matter what punishments the initiative would levy, it still would send the wrong message to children that marijuana use is legitimate, Anthony said. District Attorney David Roger also said he is opposed to the legalization movement.

"We participated in the effort to defeat the measure last time and we will continue with our efforts to stop the further legalization of marijuana," Roger said.

The initiative on the 2002 ballot garnered only 39 percent of the vote.

The committee is kicking off its campaign using a $150,000 contribution from the Marijuana Policy Project, the nation's largest organization that seeks to reform marijuana laws. The group has 14,000 members, including 300 in Nevada.

Some people involved in the last drive will continue their support. Andy Anderson, a retired 29-year police officer and former president of the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs, will be the campaign manager. Billy Rogers, who led the last campaign on behalf of the Marijuana Policy Project, will serve as a consultant.

Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, who spoke in favor of the last initiative, said she's glad it will be introduced with tougher restrictions on how much marijuana a person can legally have.

"I'd rather get to the people who are dealing it, and if government has restrictions and regulations in this area, then you will actually be putting more of the dope dealers out of business and take it out of the hands of kids," Giunchigliani said.

With regulation, she said, "we have a much better chance of overturning this war on drugs and making it something that is meaningful rather than a war on rhetoric."