ANTI-POT PERKINS MUST BE HIGH

In Speaker of the Nevada Assembly/Henderson Police Chief Richard
Perkins' recent column in CityLife [ "Do NOT rock the ganga!," Your
Opinion, May 25], Perkins expresses some remarkably hostile
sentiments in criticizing the initiative to tax and regulate
marijuana in Nevada. He even tries to distract readers with baseless
attacks and outright lies about both the initiative and our campaign
manager, Neal Levine.

First and foremost, Perkins' personal attacks on Neal Levine are
unwarranted. I know Neal and work with him every day. He doesn't
smoke marijuana, and he's a devoted husband and father. He's
sacrificing and working ungodly hours in support of the initiative.
Like many, he recognizes that the war on marijuana is a miserable and
expensive policy failure, and he's working hard to promote
commonsense alternatives. Unfortunately, it appears Perkins doesn't
know how to disagree without being disagreeable.

Our initiative is on the ballot because 86,000 Nevadans signed a
petition to make it a reality. Like Neal, many citizens in our state
recognize that marijuana prohibition isn't working and that anyone
who wants to use marijuana can do so.

The best way to gain real control over marijuana use is to take it
out of the criminal market and put it into a tightly regulated
system. And the people of the Silver State will have a chance to vote
on this proposal in November. Either we keep trying to make the
failed system of prohibition work, or we start seeking sensible alternatives.

In his piece, Perkins relies on the baseless "gateway theory" to prop
up a false link between marijuana and more dangerous drugs. It's not
surprising, as Perkins asserts, that hard drug addicts have used
marijuana. After all, it's the most widely available substance on the
criminal market. But studies prove that using marijuana doesn't cause
people to use heroin, crack or meth. Responsible, nonviolent
marijuana users shouldn't be grouped with hard drug addicts, and we
shouldn't be wasting resources citing, arresting or prosecuting them.

Perkins paints the picture that marijuana is extremely dangerous.
Let's look at the numbers. Each year, 20,000 people die of alcohol
overdoses. Over 400,000 people die from tobacco use. Yet, in 4,000
years of recorded medical history, not one marijuana overdose has
ever been reported. Perkins' arguments would be far more effective if
he simply replaced the word "marijuana" with "alcohol" when talking
about issues of societal harm. Marijuana is far less harmful than
other substances currently controlled and regulated by our
government, like alcohol and tobacco.

It should be noted that Perkins is advised by some of the most
expensive political consultants in the state, yet he accuses us of
being "big money interests." We'd rather put our trust in the people
of Nevada to make the right choices for our state than a professional
politician like Perkins. While elected officials like him may be
unwilling to take a stand for real marijuana policy reform, the
voters of our state see the complete failure of marijuana prohibition
every day. We see a criminal market funneling money to violent gangs
and drug dealers, who can sell marijuana anywhere, anytime, to
customers of any age. We desperately need an alternative to our
current failed marijuana laws, and we encourage our fellow Nevadans
to vote in favor of a real solution this November: the taxation and
regulation of marijuana.

Patrick Killen

Committee To Regulate And Control Marijuana