RESTRAINING ORDER ISSUED IN POT PETITION

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- U.S. District Judge James Mahan has issued a
temporary restraining order blocking the state from further action on
a marijuana initiative petition that lacks the necessary signatures to
qualify for the Nevada ballot.

Mahan has set Aug. 13 for oral arguments on a lawsuit by the Nevada
chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and groups supporting
the petition to allow adults to possess and use one ounce of marijuana.

Allen Lichtenstein, the Las Vegas lawyer for the ACLU, said the
temporary restraining order issued Friday prevents any more action by
Secretary of State Dean Heller that might disqualify the petition.

"This is a really good sign," said Jennifer Knight, spokeswoman for
the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana. "The fact that this
judge issued a temporary restraining order in our case means that it
has merit."

"We're planning for success," Knight said, noting that the committee
is continuing its campaign, including television ads and meeting with
community groups.

Renee Parker, chief deputy secretary of state, said the initiative had
50,088 valid signatures and needed 51,337 to qualify for the ballot.

Parker said the secretary of state's office followed the orders of
Carson City District Judge Bill Maddox, who ruled that signatures on
petitions which didn't include an affidavit signed by a registered
voter must be counted. In the case of the marijuana petition, slightly
more than 15,000 signatures were added after the ruling.

The decision by Maddox involved petitions to raise the minimum wage
and to prevent frivolous suits. Parker said her office then applied
the ruling to the marijuana petition but it still came up short.

The suit by the ACLU, the Marijuana Policy Project and the Committee
to regulate and Control Marijuana, challenges a section in the Nevada
Constitution that requires an initiative petition have 10 percent of
the voters in 13 of the 17 counties to sign the documents.

The suit also challenges the decision of Clark County Registrar of
Voters Larry Lomax to exclude the signatures of those who registered
to vote on the same day they signed the petition. That totaled 2,039
signatures.