MARIJUANA LEGISLATION: LEGISLATORS AVOID POT DECISION

Police, Some Lawmakers Decry Initiative; Vote Goes to People

CARSON CITY -- The Assembly Judiciary Committee decided to take no
action Thursday on whether to legalize an ounce or less of marijuana.

That means Nevadans will get a chance to vote on the measure in the
November 2006 election.

Rod Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project,
predicted Nevadans will narrowly support the proposal. "We don't
expect a landslide victory," Kampia said.

But Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, declared in no
uncertain terms that he would do everything in his power to stop the
legalization of marijuana in Nevada.

As deputy chief of the Henderson Police Department, Perkins said he
has arrested people who committed crimes because they were "spurred on
by substance abuse and mostly by marijuana."

"Does this committee, this Legislature want to send a message to our
youth that using a drug is a good thing?" Perkins asked.

He and other law enforcement officers, including Clark County Sheriff
Bill Young and District Attorney David Roger, said legalizing
marijuana only would lead to increased drug abuse and more crime.

Young called the proposal "totally irresponsible," adding Nevada would
become the laughingstock of the nation if marijuana became legal.

"We do not need dope smokers walking the streets of Clark County or
any city in Nevada with impunity," Roger added.

Young noted possession of an ounce marijuana in Nevada is a
misdemeanor crime, punishable by a $600 fine. He said the Las Vegas
police policy is to issue suspects a ticket for possession of small
amounts of pot.

"We are not filling up our jails with them," he added.

By a margin of 61 percent to 39 percent, Nevada voters rejected
another Marijuana Policy Project initiative in 2002 that would have
legalized up to three ounces of pot for adults.

The latest marijuana legalization petition, circulated among citizens
last fall, calls for legalizing one ounce and for doubling the
penalties for driving under the influence of marijuana or alcohol and
for selling marijuana to children.

Under the state constitution, the Legislature had to adopt the
petition unchanged within the first 40 days of the session or it
automatically would be placed on the ballot as a question for voters
to decide.

During his testimony, Kampia said more teenagers in America now use
marijuana than smoke cigarettes. With marijuana illegal, otherwise
law-abiding citizens have to come into contact with criminal elements
to purchase drugs, he said.

With legalization, they would buy marijuana from state-approved
stores, ending their ties with the drug culture.

"I didn't hear a solution," added Kampia about the police testimony.
"If you have tried a war (on drugs) for 35 years and drug use has gone
up, it is time for a new approach."

Mitch Earleywine, a professor at the University of Southern
California, disputed arguments by police that marijuana is a gateway
drug that leads to use of harder drugs. He also challenged the
contention that people using marijuana become aggressive and commit
crimes.

He said the gateway drug tends to be the one most prevalent in one's
community and often that is crack cocaine. Other drugs, such as
methamphetamines and cocaine, may cause aggression in users, but not
marijuana, he added.

Jack Cole, a former New Jersey police detective, said he put 1,000
people in jail during a long career as a narcotics officer.

"I can't say how many of them would have led fine productive lives if
they had not been convicted, but many would have," Cole said. "Think
of how many people you know personally who used illegal drugs and then
put them aside? George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Newt Gingrich.
They all used illegal drugs when they were young, but they weren't
caught and they quit using them.

"You can get over an addiction, but you can't get over a conviction,"
added Cole, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.