ASSEMBLY SPEAKER VOWS TO DEFEAT POT PETITION

The Assembly Judiciary Committee is set today to take up an initiative
petition that would legalize adult possession of 1 ounce of marijuana.

Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, renewed his vow to
defeat the effort, saying he would testify against it today.

At a news conference Wednesday with a group of local law enforcement
officials, Perkins, a deputy police chief, said he would use "whatever
influence" he has to see the measure isn't passed out of the Assembly.

"These people have not spent their lives fighting crime and these
people are not Nevadans," he said of the group that organized the petition.

"We are not going to stand by and let our state be put at risk by
encouraging criminals."

The initiative petition, which 69,261 Nevada voters signed last year,
is backed by the Marijuana Policy Project, a national group advocating
the legalization of marijuana.

Kami Dempsey, a Nevada spokeswoman for the effort, said she believes
lawmakers will keep an open mind to the debate.

If the Legislature does not pass the petition, it will go to voters to
decide in 2006.