MARIJUANA ISSUE IN AIR

Americans for Medical Rights is confident voters will take the first steps
to legalize the drug for medical reasons.

SIDEBAR: Link to Poll Results at
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/1998/Oct-04-Sun-1998/photos/poll-pot.jpg

CARSON CITY -- A new poll shows the Nevada ballot question to allow the use
of marijuana for medical purposes is a tossup, with the margin of support
just less than the poll's margin of error.

A statewide poll commissioned for the Review-Journal and KTNV-TV, Channel
13, found 47 percent of the respondents support Question 9, while 44 percent
oppose the proposition. Nine percent were undecided.

"It is absolutely too close to call," said Del Ali, the pollster for the
Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research Inc. The margin for error is 3.5
percentage points.

Ali said the results are similar to what his survey found in California a
month before voters there passed a similar proposition in 1996.

In the election that fall, 56 percent of California's voters approved
Proposition 215.

Passage of that question spawned initiative petition efforts by Americans
for Medical Rights that resulted in medical marijuana questions being placed
before voters in Nevada and five other states on Nov. 3.

"When we get our message out we will be ahead by even more," said Dan Hart,
the Nevada leader of Americans for Medical Rights.

Hart said the organization is reviewing various advertising campaigns,
including television ads and direct mailers, to put its message before
voters.

"The compassionate use of marijuana for patients with catastrophic illnesses
should be allowed in Nevada," Hart said.

Unlike other states, Nevada voters must pass the question in November and
again in 2000 to amend the state constitution to allow use of marijuana for
medical reasons.

Under the question, doctors could recommend marijuana for patients with
cancer, glaucoma, AIDS and other illnesses.

The proposal calls for the Legislature to pass laws to set up a distribution
system and for the creation of a registry through which law enforcement
officers could determine that people are authorized to use marijuana.

Hart sees the poll results favorably because he doubts there will be an
organized movement to stop passage of Question 9.

The state's chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del
Papa, said she doesn't support the marijuana questions because the drug
remains illegal under federal laws.

"There are a lot of legal questions that need to be worked out if this
passes," she said. "I see some challenges to overcome."

Col. Michael Hood, chief of the Nevada Highway Patrol, fears passage of the
question would lead to greater drug abuse.

"In my 22 years of law enforcement work we have been fighting against these
kinds of drugs," he said. "I don't want to keep people with legitimate needs
out, but right now I think the law needs a lot of work."

Checked-by: Don Beck