NEVADA POLICE BACK LEGALIZED MARIJUANA

Associated Press LAS VEGAS -- Nevada's largest police organization has
endorsed a state ballot initiative that would let adults legally possess
small amounts of marijuana. The board of the Nevada Conference of Police
and Sheriffs, a 3,000-member group that represents about 65 percent of the
state's street patrol officers, voted 9-0 on Tuesday to support a change in
the state constitution that would decriminalize possession of up to three
ounces of marijuana.

"I was a Metro Police officer for 28 years and I spent a lot of time
booking people on marijuana charges that never went to court," said Andy
Anderson, president of the conference.

Under the proposal, marijuana would be sold in state-licensed shops and
taxed like cigarettes and other tobacco products.

A distribution system would also be set up to provide low-cost pot for
medical uses.

To become law, the change needs voter approval in November and again in
2004. But whether it could ever take effect is unclear. Federal law bans
marijuana possession, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that
states cannot make exceptions for medical use.