BILL WOULD TOUGHEN MARIJUANA LAWS

Measure Gives Nevada Judges Option To Send First-time Offenders To
Jail; Assemblywoman Says Change Unnecessary

CARSON CITY -- Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, has a
message for the Nevada Judges Association: Read the marijuana law she
sponsored during the 2001 Legislature.

The association wants the 2003 Legislature to pass a bill that would
give judges the discretion to send first-time marijuana offenders to
jail. Karen Kavanau, the association's lobbyist, said judges need the
power to so they can force marijuana users into drug rehabilitation
programs. She said users of an ounce or less of marijuana now are
required to pay only a $600 fine.

"The judges really would like that leverage," Kavanau said. "They need
a tool to force them into rehabilitation. There is nothing there to
get them off drugs."

But Giunchigliani said her law already gives judges the leverage to
put first-time offenders in rehabilitation programs. Under the law she
sponsored, judges can require first-time offenders to pay a fine of as
much as $600 or have drug treatment officials examine them to
determine whether they are addicts who could benefit from
rehabilitation.

Second-time violators of the marijuana law can be fined as much as
$1,000. They automatically are assigned to drug rehabilitation programs.

Giunchigliani believes the association, which consists of municipal
judges and justices of the peace, came up with the bill as a knee-jerk
reaction to last fall's Question 9 campaign to legalize possession of
up to 3 ounces of marijuana in Nevada. Voters rejected the measure, 61
percent to 39 percent.

During that campaign, Giunchigliani was a paid consultant to Nevadans
for Responsible Law Enforcement, the organization that sought approval
of the ballot question. The organization was funded by the Marijuana
Policy Project, a Washington, D.C., group that advocates
decriminalizing marijuana.

In addition, she said requiring jail time for users of small amounts
of marijuana goes against the recommendation of the Rose Commission, a
group of prominent citizens and judges who proposed in 1994 and in
2000 that Nevada decriminalize the use of an ounce or less of
marijuana. The commission was led by Supreme Court Justice Bob Rose.

Commission members proposed minor marijuana offenders "receive a
citation rather than being arrested."

Ironically, Kavanau, then administrator of the Administrative Office
of the Courts, wrote one of the chapters in the 1999-2000 Rose
Commission report.

"I am sure the Rose Commission's intent was as honest and true as the
Nevada Judges Association's intent," Kavanau said. "I think judges
believe more good can be done if they change the law back to a
misdemeanor."

However, minor use remains a misdemeanor under the current
law.

Stan Olsen, the legislative lobbyist for Las Vegas police, said his
agency has not taken a position on the association's bill. He also
said judges have the power to order marijuana users into drug
treatment programs.

"I don't know if jail on a misdemeanor offense serves any real
purpose," Olsen added.

Giunchigliani said she has not heard any police objections to her law.
Until the law went into effect Oct. 1, 2001, Nevada was the only state
in the nation that made possession of an ounce or less of marijuana a
felony.

Now, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws lists
Nevada among the 12 states that have decriminalized marijuana. By
decriminalization, NORML means first-time offenders receive no prison
or jail time, and the offense is treated like a minor traffic citation.

Giunchigliani said she hopes the Nevada Judges Association bill will
not receive a hearing before a legislative committee.

"Why change what has worked well?" she asked.