IT'S TIME TO ENACT NEW STATE MARIJUANA POLICY

Nevada voters will once again take up a marijuana ballot initiative
this fall, an issue muddied in rhetoric from both sides. The
Regulation of Marijuana Initiative will appear on ballots in November.
It would allow those 21 years old and older to legally possess, use
and transfer one ounce or less of marijuana. Penalties are also
stiffened for those who drive under the influence of marijuana or sell
it to minors. Use in public would be prohibited.

For a $1,000 annual license fee, state-licensed retailers would be
able to sell marijuana. An excise tax of $45 per ounce would be
collected by the state from wholesalers. Sales tax would be the same
as other products. Half of the profits from related licensing fees and
taxes would be used for substance abuse treatment and education.

It's time to pass this multi-pronged approach to marijuana regulation
and end years of speculation and fruitless debates.

What the initiative offers is a chance for voters to change a
decades-long war on marijuana that has failed to curb its prevalence
among Nevadans of all ages. Long compared to the country's failed
prohibition of alcohol in the 1930s, current marijuana laws foster an
illegal market. Nevadans who use marijuana legally for medicinal
purposes are forced to grow their own or obtain it through illicit
sources.

Detractors of the initiative argue that marijuana is a gateway drug
that leads to use of more dangerous substances. But the same could be
said of caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, gambling, sex or any other
activity that stimulates the brain's pleasure zones.

Some of the above mentioned activities are legal and regulated in
Nevada. In fact, the state's most powerful industry caters to those
same visceral pleasures.

In a state where prostitution is legal in certain counties, bars are
not required to close and children can legally possess and use
tobacco, objections to marijuana legalization on a moral basis seem
hypocritical. Education and parental involvement affect a person's
decisions more profoundly than state policy.

The initiative would give law enforcement and the judicial system more
resources to aggressively pursue a far more destructive and insidious
substance: Methamphetamine. State-licensed marijuana retailers will
reduce marijuana's value in the criminal market.

Those who view marijuana as a blight on society have yet to offer an
effective solution of how to stop its spread through society or better
fund law enforcement. Continuation of the ill-funded, half-hearted
campaigns of the past is little more than veiled acceptance of its
current widespread and illegal use.

If governments won't embrace efforts to successfully eliminate
marijuana use and distribution, then regulate it, tax it and transfer
the money from drug dealers' pockets to worthwhile endeavors. Vote yes
for the Regulation of Marijuana Initiative Nov. 7.