NEVADA VOTERS TO GET SECOND CHANCE TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

The Marijuana Policy Project (http://www.mpp.org) hopes the second
time is the charm. In 2002, MPP attempted to make Nevada the first
state to legalize marijuana possession and regulate its sales, but its
initiative was beaten back after facing a strong counterattack, and
picked up only 39% of the vote. Now, MPP and its Nevada affiliate, the
Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana (http://www.regulatemarijuana.org)
are set to try it again.

On February 18, CRCM filed papers with the Nevada Secretary of State's
office to get the signature-gathering process underway for the
Regulation of Marijuana Amendment. Proponents must now gather some
51,000 valid signatures by June 15 to get on the November ballot. If
the measure passes in November, under Nevada law it must be
resubmitted to the voters for a second approval in 2006.

Last time around, opponents of marijuana legalization hammered hard
and effectively at the quantity adults would be able to possess (three
ounces in 2002), the dangers of driving under the influence, and the
alleged deleterious impact legalization would have on the youth. MPP
and CRCM were listening, and this year they have crafted an initiative
that they hope addresses those concerns.

According to CRCM, the initiative would:

* eliminate the threat of arrest and jail for adults aged 21 and older
who use and possess up to one ounce of marijuana (which is the
equivalent of one-and-a-half packs of cigarettes);

* direct the state legislature to regulate the manufacture, taxation,
and sale of marijuana, whereby establishments that are licensed to
sell tobacco will also be permitted to sell marijuana, provided that
they neither sell alcohol nor are within 500 yards of a school or
place of worship;

* earmark marijuana-related tax revenues to alcohol and drug treatment
and education;

* maintain penalties for underage marijuana use, smoking marijuana in
public, using or possessing marijuana on school grounds or in prisons,
and transporting marijuana across state lines;

* increase penalties for providing marijuana to minors, as well as for
motorists who kill someone while under the influence of alcohol,
marijuana, or any other substance; and

* take effect on December 5, 2006, if a majority of Nevada voters pass
the initiative in November 2004 and again in November 2006. December 5
is the anniversary of the end of Prohibition in 1933.

"People said we lost and we should give up," said MPP executive
director Rob Kampia, "but our mission is to regulate marijuana like
alcohol, and to do that we are going to have to win in some states. We
want a state where people are sympathetic, and even though we lost in
Nevada in 2002, that doesn't mean we can't win there this time."

MPP and CRCM had listened not only to opponents but to voters in
crafting this year's initiative, Kampia added. "We've changed the
language on the permissibility amount, lowering it from three ounces
to one ounce," he told DRCNet. "We've hard-wired in penalties for
vehicular manslaughter while under the influence, we've hard-wired in
penalties for selling marijuana to minors, we've noted that tax
revenues will be earmarked for drug and alcohol treatment. Now people
in Nevada who want treatment have a 35-day waiting list, and you know
how tragic that can be for someone who desperately wants treatment.
With this measure, we can bring that wait down to zero."

And in a move that is politically savvy though certain to rub some
youth rights advocates the wrong way, the campaign will hammer hard at
theme of teen pot use, Kampia said. "We have started running a series
of TV ads whose focus is to explain that marijuana prohibition has not
prevented teens from using. According to the White House, 67% of
Nevada teens have tried marijuana. The ads compare that figure to the
28% of teens that have used in Holland, where it is regulated, and
suggest that maybe it is time for a change," said the MPP head.
"Running these ads will change the tone of the debate, and we'll be
running them for months."

The campaign has even created a special web site (http://www.stopteenuse.com)
to further the argument that regulation is the best way to keep pot
out of the hands of kids.

"In this campaign, we're targeting teens, we're saying current laws
aren't working," agreed CRCM spokeswoman Jennifer Knight. "Anyone who
is supporting the status quo is essentially saying they want to keep
teen pot use sky high. What kind of message is that sending? This
initiative actually allows for stricter control of marijuana than we
currently have for tobacco or alcohol," she told DRCNet. "Under the
initiative, no one under 21 can enter a shop where marijuana is sold,
and anyone who sells marijuana to a minor faces up to ten years in
prison for a first offense, life for a second. No one who sells
alcohol or tobacco to minors faces a penalty like that," said Knight.

The presence of Knight is another difference from 2002, said Kampia.
Along with Andy Anderson, the former head of the Nevada Council of
Police Chiefs and Sheriffs, Knight will help bring a strong in-state
component to a campaign criticized last time for being led and
financed by outsiders. "Last time around, our man on the ground in
Nevada, Billy Rogers, was an out-of-stater, but being an in-stater
brings with it lots of political connections," he said. "So we have
brought back Andy Anderson, who will be paid by us to work full-time
organizing police and tough guys around the state and building a
coalition of police leaders to support the initiative. And we hired
Jennifer Knight as our spokesperson. She was a reporter for the Las
Vegas Sun, which makes her hiring particularly important because she
knows reporters all around Las Vegas and she knows opinion leaders at
the state house. She is really part of the community," Kampia said.

Knight may also be able to help bring her former employer to a less
hostile position. The Sun became especially vocal in its opposition to
the 2002 effort after one its editors was run down and killed by a
driver under the influence of marijuana.

Knight will also hammer at the issue of traffic safety, she said. "The
argument was that this is going to create more carnage on our
highways, but if you look at National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration numbers, you see that in 2001, we had 78 traffic
fatalities to due alcohol, but 121 due to speeding. Those people are
just as dead and their families just as bereaved, and there are more
of them, but no one is talking about that. If we want to reduce
highway fatalities, maybe we should just enforce existing laws," she
suggested.

Also, Knight pointed out, most of the alcohol traffic fatalities are
people coming home from drinking from bars and hotels. "The initiative
does not allow for smoking marijuana in a public place or in your car,
so there will be no driving home stoned," she argued. "And coupled
with the stronger language about DUI fatality penalties, I think we
will actually see a big deterrent to people driving under the
influence of alcohol."

While MPP and CRCM appear to have their ducks in a row -- they've done
the polling and the focus groups, their ad campaign is underway, their
ground troops are mobilizing -- Kampia acknowledged that factors
external to the campaign could derail it, as, he suggested, was the
case in 2002. "Some things are out of your control," he said. "One
reason we lost was because in 2002 Republican voter turnout was heavy,
while the Democrats and independents stayed home. There were actually
more votes for legalizing marijuana than for any Democratic candidate
except one. This time around, everybody is going to be doing get out
the vote work. Democrats and independents are 57% of the Nevada
electorate, and if they come out in large numbers, unlike 2002, they
will trend in our favor. A big turnout will be good for us."

Visit http://www.regulatemarijuana.org/04init/index.php?ref=498 for
CRCM's new text. Visit http://www.stopteenuse.com/commercial/ to view
the campaign's TV ads.