MARIJUANA INITIATIVE BACKERS FORGOT SIGNATURES

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- An initiative to legalize possession of up to 1
ounce of marijuana in Nevada might go up in smoke, after organizers
forgot to file 6,000 petition signatures in Southern Nevada.

Clark County Registrar Larry Lomax said Billy Rogers, president of the
political consulting firm seeking to qualify the petition, is pleading
for him to accept the 6,000 names.

"Unfortunately, the state law says they have to turn it all in by June
15," Lomax said.

The oversight doesn't kill the petition but narrows the margin for
error for the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana to qualify
in 13 of the state's 17 counties and secure a spot on the November
statewide ballot.

An initial count found a sufficient number of signatures in 14
counties. Officials have yet to determine how many signatures are valid.

Steve George, spokesman for Secretary of State Dean Heller, said 70
percent of petition signatures usually are valid. Others often are
duplicates or people who aren't properly registered to vote.

In Clark County, organizers submitted about 35,000 signatures in
support of the marijuana petition, with 31,360 needed to qualify.

If the petition fails to qualify in Clark County, it must qualify in
each of the other 13 counties validating signatures.

Rogers sent Lomax a letter Monday saying the signatures that
organizers forgot to submit were properly notarized before the June 15
deadline.

"Your refusal to accept signatures gathered prior to June 15, 2004,
may disenfranchise voters who signed the petition prior to June 15,
2004," said Rogers, who works for the Marijuana Policy Project, a
Washington, D.C., lobbying group.

Nevada has attracted efforts to legalize marijuana in part because of
the state's liberal initiative laws and because voters have approved
the use of marijuana for medical reasons.

But voters in 2002 overwhelmingly rejected Rogers' efforts to legalize
up to 3 ounces of marijuana.

The new measure would amend the Nevada Constitution to legalize
possession of 1 ounce of marijuana sold, licensed and regulated by the
state. It also would raise penalties for driving under the influence
of a controlled substance and for selling marijuana to minors.

Voters would have to approve the measure in November and again in 2006
before it could take effect.