MEDICAL MARIJUANA PETITION NETS MORE SIGNATURES THAN ESTIMATED

CARSON CITY -- Initial counting by county clerks around Nevada shows
advocates of a plan to authorize marijuana for medical treatment turned in a
few thousand more signatures than they thought.

The secretary of state's office said Friday reports from 11 of the 13
counties that got medical marijuana petitions showed a raw count of 73,756
signatures. The petitioners had estimated the total from all 13 counties at
70,155. Most of the change occurred in Clark County, up from 43,694 to
45,955; and Washoe County, up from 16,111 to 17,201.

The raw count won't go up a lot higher: the remaining counties that must
report are Esmeralda and White Pine, and between them the petitioners only
had 525 names. Additional verification steps must be taken before the
Nevadans for Medical Rights proposal can qualify for a spot on the November
ballot. That will include sampling to ensure signatures are valid. Nevada
law requires a minimum 46,764 petitioners, representing 10 percent of the
voters in at least 13 of the state's 17 counties before a petition can be
placed on the ballot.

While the raw count is far higher, in some counties the petitioners can't
afford to lose many names in the verification process. The loss of one
county would stop the proposal cold since petitions were filed in the
minimum 13 counties.

In Esmeralda County, for example, the petitioners said they turned in 78
signatures. But the minimum count needed there is 55, so the loss of only a
couple dozen names in that county would keep the plan off the state ballot.
The proposal would have to win voter approval in November and again in
November 2000 before it could take effect.

The Nevadans for Medical Rights is part of the group that launched a
successful 1996 medical marijuana petition in California. Under the plan,
marijuana could be used by anyone suffering from cancer, glaucoma, AIDS,
epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, or from severe nausea caused by other "chronic
or debilitating medical conditions."

A person who wants to use marijuana would have to get a go-ahead from a
doctor, and any use of the drug by a minor would have to be approved in
writing both by a doctor and the minor's parents. A registry of patients
authorized to use marijuana for medical purposes would be available to
police if they needed to verify a claim that it's being legally used by someone.

A final section says an insurer wouldn't have to reimburse a health care
policyholder for costs of buying marijuana, and an employer wouldn't have to
make accommodations for pot-smoking by sick employees.

Despite the careful wording, the Nevada Medical Association and some law
enforcement groups have said they won't back the initiative petition. The
1,100-member Nevada Medical Association says it doesn't believe there have
been enough scientific studies to show marijuana is a valuable tool in
helping people with diseases such as cancer.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett