MARIJUANA CAMPAIGN STARTED

Legalization Backers Urge Voters to Support Proposal on November Ballot

The Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana opened its office in
Las Vegas on Monday, officially kicking off its second statewide
campaign to legalize possession of the weed by adults.

The group's goal is to get voters to approve a measure in November
that would legalize possession of up to one ounce of pot for anyone
21 and older in Nevada.

"This will put it into a tightly regulated tax and control market for
people who want to buy it," said Neal Levine, campaign manager. "It's
taking it out of the schoolyards and putting it underneath the
watchful eye of state government."

About 15 volunteers and staffers make up the Nevada campaign
committee affiliated with the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington
D.C., attended. Several of them said Tuesday that they believe
Nevadans ultimately will agree that regulation of marijuana is a
safer alternative than forcing users to drug dealers.

"I'm not in favor of cocaine or coke or -- God! methamphetamine, it's
terrible -- but cannabis has been around for thousands of years,"
said 45-year-old Jack Roberto, one of those who will be working on
behalf of the legalization effort.

So far, members of the group said, they're finding supporters at Las
Vegas' First Friday arts festival and at college campuses.

If voters approve the measure, the state Department of Taxation would
then set up a system to issue licenses to marijuana farms and
businesses to sell the drug.

The initiative also would double the maximum penalty for vehicular
manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol, marijuana or any
drug and would double the penalty for giving or selling marijuana to
a minor. Advertisements on the sale of legal marijuana would be
illegal, and distributors would not be allowed to sell pot within 500
feet of schools or places of worship.

The language differs from a ballot initiative that failed in 2002
with only 39 percent of the vote. That initiative would have
legalized three ounces.

"We've been working on this initiative now going on five years. We
crafted it in a way we think appeals to all Nevadans," Levine said.

It doesn't appeal to Las Vegas Detective David Kallas, executive
director of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association.

"Any form of legalized marijuana provides no benefit to our
community," he said.

Legalizing even small amounts will make the drug more accessible to
Las Vegans and their children, he said.

He recalled several years ago he noticed a vehicle driving in a
commercial parking lot early in the morning. When he stopped the car,
he said he found marijuana, cocaine and fraudulent IDs. The car in
which they were located was also stolen, he said.

"You could interview any street officer, it occurs fairly regularly,
you find an individual who is committing some form of crime and
marijuana or some other form of drug is involved," Kallas said.

Officers have no immediate plans to mobilize against the committee,
he said, noting the funeral Tuesday of Sgt. Henry Prendes, who was
shot and killed on duty last week.

"We've got enough problems in society now without adding the problem
of legalizing marijuana that we know has the potential for abuse," he said.

But 38-year-old Susan Grosz, one of the campaign's volunteers, said
legalizing possession of marijuana by responsible adults would
prevent the needless arrest of many harmless pot smokers who pose no
threat to anybody. She also said it could create a boon of tax
revenue for the state. A 2002 UNLV study estimated legalization would
bring $28.6 million a year into state coffers.

She brought her 5-year-old son to the grand opening of the office.

"They're still pretty young," she said of the children that were at the event.

"I don't advertise it (marijuana) to my child," she said, adding
she's a good and protective mother.

But she'll leave the decision up to him if one day he wants to try it
when he is an adult. It could be legal by that time, she hopes.

"I just keep on voting any chance I get and signing every petition I
come across. I keep hoping there's enough of us out there," she said.

She suspects there will be a legal challenge that will delay
legalization even if voters pass this initiative.

"All I can do is try," she said.