AUTHORITIES URGE CHANGE TO DRUG LAW

CARSON CITY -- Prosecutors predicted Thursday a coming epidemic in the use
of methamphetamine because state law allows manufacture of the drug for
personal use.

Clark County Deputy District Attorney Ben Graham pleaded with the Senate
Judiciary Committee to approve Senate Bill 204, which would plug a loophole
that has existed in Nevada law since 1983.

"Now the world is aware of this loophole, and we will see it in every
case," Graham said. "Everyone is going to say it is for personal use."

Last year District Judge Brent Adams of Reno threw out charges against John
Arthur Isbister. Police found methamphetamine in the basement of his
parents' home. He admitted he made the drug for personal use several times
a week.

Under a 1971 law, the manufacture of any amount of the drug was a crime.
But in 1983, Assemblyman Marvin Sedway, D-Las Vegas, added provisions to
allow the manufacture for personal use. How much constitutes personal use
is not defined.

In the Isbister case, police did not find baggies, phone lists and other
items found in methamphetamine labs where large quantities are made.

Lt. Doug Cardwell of the Washoe County Sheriff's Department said 55
methamphetamine busts were made in his county in 2000 and nearly 300 in
Clark County.

The drug is a stimulant, often called crank. Washoe County Deputy District
Attorney Gemma Greene Waldron compared its effects to drinking 1,000 cups
of coffee.

"It's not like the '60s drugs," she said. "The people involved in the
manufacture are very criminal."

Committee Chairman Mark James, R-Las Vegas, did not take an immediate vote.
He said he is concerned because prosecutors want to make manufacture of any
amount an offense punishable by a three-to 15-year prison term.

"I want that to apply to serious traffickers but not for people who really
manufacture just for personal use," he said.

But he added that does not mean people should escape prosecution for
individual use.

James noted prosecutors could point only to one case scuttled by the loophole.

Police testified the items needed to manufacture methamphetamine can be
bought in department stores. Only when "cookers" mix the items does
possession of the materials become a crime.

"This isn't an amateur chemist stirring up rosemary and thyme," Graham said.

He said the loophole is a "built-in defense" for anyone caught with the drug.

Greene Waldron said someone could cook a half ounce of methamphetamine at a
time a couple of times a week and have a thriving business.

Besides the methamphetamine loophole, the Senate committee also is handling
legislation to plug a loophole in the marijuana laws. Now people can grow
up to 100 pounds of marijuana without sanction.