POT ADVOCATES PUSH STATEWIDE LEGALIZATION

DENVER -- Stoked by their surprise victory in Denver,
marijuana-legalization advocates are hoping to ride the momentum with
statewide ballot initiatives this year in Colorado and Nevada.
Colorado activists announced a drive two weeks ago aimed at bringing
a clone of Denver's Initiative 100 before voters statewide in
November. Initiative 100 allows adults in the city to possess small
amounts of marijuana.

And activists in Nevada, who have secured a place for a legalization
measure on the state ballot in November, are taking heart in the
success of Initiative 100, which captured 54 percent of the vote in
the Nov. 1 election.

"What Denver shows is that this is a mainstream issue," said Neal
Levine, campaign manager of Citizens to Regulate and Control
Marijuana in Las Vegas.

If the measures pass, Colorado and Nevada would become the first
states to win voter approval for marijuana legalization.

Alaska allows adults to possess up to 4 ounces of marijuana in their
homes, thanks to court decisions upholding privacy rights, but voters
defeated a 2004 initiative that would have abolished all penalties
for possession and regulated marijuana sales.

Denver political analyst Eric Sondermann warned that interpreting the
Denver vote as a mandate for statewide legalization would be "a big
mistake." He noted that the Denver measure never took effect because
authorities have since prosecuted violators under the state law. "The
Denver vote was seen mainly as a symbolic vote with no statewide
impact," Mr. Sondermann said. "This will be seen as amending state law."

Voters of these Republican-leaning states are known for their
independent, anti-big-government orneriness, advocates say.

"There's a libertarian streak in Colorado and a respect for people's
individual rights throughout the West, so there's no reason people
shouldn't vote for this," said Mason Tvert, campaign director of
Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, the Denver-based group
behind Initiative 100 and the statewide campaign.

Both state proposals would legalize possession of up to 1 ounce of
marijuana for adults older than 21, but that's where the similarities
end. The Colorado proposal, which goes before the Legislative Council
on Wednesday for review, says nothing about sales, production or
taxation. However, the Nevada initiative provides a detailed
regulation system in which marijuana would be sold only by
state-licensed vendors and located no closer than 500 feet from
churches and schools.

Sales would be prohibited in gambling establishments, and penalties
for selling marijuana to minors or driving under the influence would
be doubled. The measure also earmarks half the revenues from taxing
and licensing for alcohol- and drug-treatment education, with the
other half going to the state general fund.

"The approach we've taken in Nevada is that what we need is a system
of regulation, not the Wild West, which is what we have now under
prohibition," said Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy
Project in Washington, which is directing the Nevada campaign. "The
message is to treat it the same as we treat alcohol."

Eleven states, including Colorado and Nevada, permit the use of
marijuana for medical reasons, and several cities, including Seattle
and Oakland, Calif., make possession the lowest law-enforcement priority.