SIGNATURES FILED: PETITION PROMOTERS START EARLY

Initiatives Ask Lawmakers To Legalize Marijuana, Limit Cigarette
Smoking

Like a persistent weed that won't go away, the petition pushers are
back.

Just a week after Election Day, two initiative petitions, one to
legalize small amounts of marijuana and another to restrict cigarette
smoking in public, were handed into election officials on Tuesday.

Backers of the marijuana initiative said they turned in 84,665
signatures, and the smoking ban supporters said they turned in 77,440.
If each measure has at least 51,337 valid signatures, the issues will
go before the 2005 Legislature.

Lawmakers then can choose to enact the measures into law or place them
on the 2006 ballot and let voters decide.

"We're going to lobby the Legislature, but we don't expect to
succeed," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy
Project, a Washington, D.C.-based group backing the Nevada initiative.

A third measure expected to be filed on Tuesday apparently was
abandoned. No signatures were turned in for a measure titled Protect
Claimants' Rights to Fair Recovery, which would have restricted
attorneys' fees in contingency cases.

The marijuana and anti-smoking measures were the second and third to
be turned in by Tuesday, the deadline for measures to amend an
existing state law.

A separate anti-smoking petition was turned in Nov. 3 by a group
calling itself the Smoke Free Coalition.

The anti-smoking group that turned in its signatures on Tuesday, the
Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition, said the competing measure is
intended to confuse voters if both end up on the 2006 ballot.

Kendall Stagg, policy director for the Nevada Tobacco Prevention
Coalition, said its proposal goes much further in regulating smoking
in public places in Nevada.

The measure would prohibit smoking in virtually all indoor public
places, including child care facilities, movie theaters, video
arcades, government buildings, malls and retail establishments, all
areas of grocery stores, and all indoor areas within
restaurants.

Smoking still would be allowed in stand-alone bars, gaming areas of
casinos, outdoor areas or private residences.

It should meet the minimum number of signatures required, according to
Stagg. "We're feeling pretty good," he said.

Last week, Lee Haney, a spokeswoman for the Smoke Free Coalition, said
that group's competing proposal, titled the Responsibly Protect
Nevadans from Second Hand Smoke Act, is more in keeping with the
public's views on where smoking should be allowed. It would allow
smoking to continue in bars and most areas of casinos, not just the
gaming floors.

The marijuana initiative returns after a defeat this year. The
Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, the local offshoot of the
Washington, D.C., group, fell about 2,000 signatures short of
qualifying for the ballot.

Backers said this time there should be no question that they will have
enough signatures. Campaign Manager Larry Sandell said the group's
calculations estimate that 57,835 of the 84,000 signatures collected
should be valid.

"We fully believe that voters who were deprived of an opportunity to
vote on this in 2004 will be able to in 2006," Kampia said.

The measure would legalize the possession of up to one ounce of
marijuana by people 21 or older, increase penalties for adults who
provide marijuana to minors and increase penalties for driving under
the influence of marijuana or alcohol. It also would tax and regulate
the sale of marijuana, with much of the proceeds going to drug and
alcohol treatment programs.

A similar measure failed in Nevada in 2002, 61 percent to 39 percent.
In addition, a similar but more liberal measure failed last week in
Alaska, 57 percent to 43 percent.

If the initiatives turned in this fall end up on the 2006 ballot, it
will mark an early start for interest groups using the ballot process
to win support for their agendas.

Six such measures were on this year's ballot, and three
passed.

If the three turned in this fall make it on the ballot, the 2006
election will already have five initiative-backed measures, with more
possible by Election Day.

Two from this year's ballot will be on the ballot again in 2006: one
to require the Legislature to fund public education before any other
state government programs; and the other to raise the minimum wage.
Because the two proposals are constitutional amendments, they must win
voter support a second time before they can take effect.

Kampia, the marijuana initiative backer, said his group will be back
if it fails with Nevada's voters in 2006.

"If, for some reason, it does not get enough support, we will keep
going every two years, forever if need be," he said.