MEDICAL MARIJUANA: RUSSO UPSET AT GUINN DECISION

Unwillingness To Fund Program Has One-Time Candidate Mulling Another Run
For Governor

CARSON CITY -- Former gubernatorial candidate Aaron Russo said Monday that
Gov. Kenny Guinn's decision not to fund the state's medical marijuana
program may induce him to challenge the governor in next year's election.

"The people in the state voted on medical marijuana twice and the governor
has denied what the people of Nevada wanted," Russo said. "Because of the
way he is behaving I may run against him. He is acting more like a king
than a governor."

Guinn declined an invitation to comment on Russo's views.

Russo said he was disgusted by comments made last Wednesday by Paul
Iverson, director of the state Department of Agriculture.

Iverson said he did not want Russo to embark on a new television
advertising campaign to raise money to fund the medical marijuana program.
He said he was dismayed because Russo uses the medical marijuana issue to
attack Guinn.

Iverson's agency manages the medical marijuana program that begins Oct. 1.
Under the program, patients with permission of a doctor can use marijuana
to treat symptoms of cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and other diseases.

Nevada became the ninth state to approve a medical marijuana program when
65 percent of the voters last November backed a constitutional amendment
creating the program. In the 1998 election, 59 percent of the voters
supported the same question. To change the constitution, voters must
approve ballot questions in two elections.

While Guinn signed a bill in June setting up the medical marijuana program,
he did not put aside $30,000 in his $3.8 billion state budget to operate
the program.

Despite the lack of money, Iverson said his agency will implement the
program, running it with existing staff and using funds designed for other
agriculture programs.

"We are going to take care of it with existing staff," Iverson said. "It is
no different than any other unfunded mandate. We encourage donations, but
we are going to make it work with what we have."

Russo said he strongly differs with Iverson's interpretation that the
medical marijuana program is another unfunded mandate.

"This is beyond an unfunded mandate," he said. "It is a constitutional law.
How can you vote for a governor who doesn't listen to the will of the
people? The people wanted medical marijuana. It is the law of the land."

Russo said he smoked marijuana earlier in his life and has "no shame about
it." He said there are many people like him and that Guinn "is a dinosaur."

Despite Iverson's wish he not raise funds to run the medical marijuana
program, Russo said he will go ahead with fund-raising and eventually
present a check to the Agriculture Department. He said he received many
calls from supporters willing to pay for the medical marijuana program when
he ran a series of television ads this spring.