DRUGS: CONDONING CANNABIS

Legalizing Pot Is On The Nevada Ballot This Fall

Is Sin City getting more sinful? Question 9 - an initiative to legalize
pot, making it OK to carry as many as three ounces of marijuana for private
recreational purposes - pops up on the Nevada Nov. 5 ballot. Since 1996,
eight states have passed laws legalizing medical marijuana - even as the
federal government continues to maintain it is illegal and occasionally
stages raids on marijuana clubs. But Nevada is the first state to
seriously consider outright legalization. Most stunning of all is that
Question 9 could actually win - a prospect that has both the Bush
administration and the gaming industry taking notice. Polls, both from
local newspapers and the pro-pot group Nevadans for Responsible Law
Enforcement, show a tight race, and that has brought out the big guns to
keep voters here from lighting up. Bush drug czar John Walters has visited
Nevada twice since August to argue the evils of pot, and former Bush Sr.
aide Sig Rogich raised more than $200,000 from the casino industry for a TV
campaign featuring law-enforcement leaders worrying about the Strip's
becoming a 24/7 Grateful Dead concert. With "the most liberal drug laws in
the union," Rogich warns, "Las Vegas would become an ongoing Jay Leno
joke." Still, many political observers doubt that Question 9's core
audience - young liberals - will turn out on Nov. 5 in the numbers
necessary to beat the dependable opposition from elderly voters and
parents. Even so, Marijuana Policy Project chief Robert Kampia is
optimistic. "Most people in the country, and most of our donors, never
thought we'd win," he says. "If we lose 48-52, that's still and all-time
record." And if they win, Nevada may be only the first state to go to pot.