FAILED MEDICAL MARIJUANA INITIATIVE SPONSORS APPEAL

CARSON CITY -- Supporters of a failed initiative to legalize the use of
marijuana for medical purposes in Nevada filed an appeal Tuesday with the
secretary of state in an effort to get the measure on the November ballot.

The appeal by Americans for Medical Rights asks Secretary of State Dean
Heller to review the signature counting by county clerks in Nye and Lyon
counties that resulted in rejection of the measure.

The ballot question was successful in 11 of 13 counties where it was
circulated. But the petition fell short by seven signatures in Lyon County
and 36 signatures in Nye County.

Heller declared the measure failed on July 13. The group needed to qualify
the petition in all 13 counties for the measure to go on the ballot.

The organization had workers in the field in both counties over the past
several days looking at the signatures and trying to find some that should
have been counted but were not. Workers found 25 potentially valid
signatures in Lyon County, and an additional 75 in Nye County, that if
counted, would qualify the petition for the November ballot, according to
the appeal.

"From our analysis, we think we have enough signatures," said Dan Hart, a
spokesman for Americans for Medical Rights. "Of course, it's not our
analysis that matters.

"But I think we have a rational argument that needs to be considered," he
said. "I think a reasonable person will find that we have enough signatures."

Heller does not have a time limit by which he must act to review the
petition results in the two counties. If the group's appeal is rejected by
Heller, it can challenge the decision in district court.

Lyon County officials earlier this month checked all 1,418 signatures on
petitions circulated by the group. Only 975 were from registered voters,
however, seven short of the 982 required, according to the review by the
county clerk.

The Nye County signature-checking process has been plagued with problems. A
number of signatures that were not counted there by the clerk were ordered
counted by Heller.

Even so, only 890 valid signatures of registered voters were found in a
total of 1,228, or 36 short of the 926 needed.

The medical marijuana initiative proposes to allow a patient to use, upon
the advice of a physician, marijuana for "treatment or alleviation" of
cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, persistent nausea, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and
other medical problems. The proposal is one of several being pushed in
states across the nation.

The proposals have drawn opposition from people concerned that the ballot
questions are a step toward legalization of marijuana.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett