MARIJUANA HEARING REJECTED

CARSON CITY -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected a new
hearing for a group that wanted Nevadans to vote in November for a
ballot question to legalize marijuana.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision ends the efforts of
Nevadans to Regulate and Control Marijuana to put the issue on the
election ballot. But communications director Jennifer Knight said her
group already has started collecting signatures on a new marijuana
petition drive.

Knight said her organization is trying to collect the required 51,337
signatures by a Nov. 9 deadline to force the 2005 Legislature to
consider legalizing marijuana.

The new petition calls for legalizing an ounce or less of marijuana
for adults. Sales would occur at state licensed shops and would be
taxed.

"We won't make it on the November ballot," Knight said. "But it
doesn't mean we are done."

The committee's initial effort, which needed voter approval in
November and in 2006, also would have placed harsher penalties on
vehicular manslaughter and delivery of marijuana to minors.

Knight said voters could be more inclined to support the proposal in
2006 because they may have "felt cheated" because they could not vote
on the initiative this year.

The committee's petition drive fell less than 2,000 signatures short
of the number needed to automatically win a spot on the ballot.

Knight noted the petition would have qualified had not a federal judge
refused to allow the group to count about 2,000 signatures of newly
registered voters whose registrations were not immediately forwarded
to election registrars. The committee then appealed to the 9th Circuit
Court, and a panel rejected their arguments on a 2-1 vote.

The committee then filed a request for a rehearing by the full 9th
Circuit Court. That request was rejected Tuesday.

The committee last spring misplaced petitions that contained about
6,000 signatures. The lost petitions were not found until after the
deadline for submitting them to election registrars had passed.

The Marijuana Policy Project of Washington, D.C., funded the
committee's efforts and is supporting the new petition drive.

Two years ago, the Marijuana Policy Project also backed another
petition effort to let Nevada voters decide whether to legalize as
much as three ounces of marijuana. That proposal was rejected by
voters with 39 percent backing it and 61 percent opposing it.