REFER MADNESS... MOVE TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA AFOOT AGAIN

Here we go again. Nevada, whose image to the world is of one huge Wild
West town where virtually everything is legal, has once again been
targeted as the test case for legalizing marijuana in America.

This time around, it is a group named the Committee to Regulate and
Control Marijuana that has very quietly filed an initiative petition
with the Secretary of State's Office aimed at legalizing possession of
as much as one ounce of the drug.

Two years ago, it was a group tabbed as Nevadans for Responsible Law
Enforcement that filed a ballot initiative seeking to legalize
possession of as much as three ounces of the drug.

Voters defeated that measure in 2002, and they should defeat this one
in 2004 because this measure--right down to the name of the group that
filed it--is just as disingenuous as the last one.

In 2002, Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement tried to tie their
campaign to claims that police officers statewide had bigger and
better crimes to prevent than to bust small time marijuana users
and/or that current laws made it virtually impossible for medical
marijuana users to get the drug.

It was even proposed that the state become the controlling party in
the sale of the drug, which would have effectively put Nevada into the
marijuana business.

Having learned from a stinging defeat two years ago, the focus this
time around is on 'protecting' Nevada's youth from the drug by
strictly regulating it.

You've seen the commercials on TV for some time...They're the ones
that talk about how 67 percent of Nevada high school seniors have
tried marijuana; while in the Netherlands, where possession of the
drug is legal, only 28 percent have tried it.

In addition, the new initiative has trimmed the legally possessed
amount from three ounces to one, and would increase penalties for
those providing marijuana to minors and/or causing a fatal accident
while driving under the influence of the drug.

On top of that, organizers have proposed that sale of the drug would
be taxed, and that revenue from that tax would be earmarked for drug
and alcohol treatment and education programs.

Each of those points is appealing, and smart politics, as is the
standard claim that the present laws 'just don't work.'

But Nevadans need to remember that the initiative is largely sponsored
by the National Marijuana Policy Project, which is based in
Washington, D.C., and has expressed as its mission, from the very
beginning, making Nevada the first dot on the legalized drug map nationwide.

That specified goal leaves little room for empathy for the actual
citizens of Nevada, and the metamorphosis of the initiative alone
should be evidence that the folks behind this measure are not so much
concerned with keeping the drug out of the hands of dealers through a
state-regulated system as they are in getting the drug legalized somewhere.

Arguing that it is easier for a kid in Nevada to get marijuana right
now than it would be if he had to go to a store to get it is likewise
disingenuous. The problems this nation already experiences with
pornography and alcohol, both of which are legal, getting into the
hands of minors should be proof enough that simply legalizing
marijuana will not guarantee that its consumption among American
youths will go down.

Policing your children...educating them and talking to them about the
drug--actually taking responsibility as an adult and a parent--will be
far more effective in accomplishing that goal, if that is indeed the
goal of the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana.

I, for one, do not believe that it is.

Nevadans saw through the smokescreen two years ago, when it was making
cops' lives easier that was supposed to be the goal.

They should likewise see through the veil this time around, even
though the new 'goal' is purportedly to protect the youths of the state.

Using kids to promote a campaign is one of the oldest tricks in the
book because, as every good fundraiser knows, it's very hard to say no
to kids.

What Nevadans need to recognize is that when they vote against this
initiative, they won't be saying no to kids, they'll be saying no
adults who are simply seeking to indulge themselves in yet one more
vice without having any consequences attached to that indulgence.

As Sandy Heverly, executive director of Stop DUI and a primary
organizer in Nevadans Against Legalizing Marijuana, a coalition that
will oppose the initiative, has said, 'It's a public safety issue,
whether it's three ounces or one ounce. We do not need to legalize
another drug that impairs.'