NOTES ON THE VOTE

I just read your picks for ballot questions and I have to comment on your
choice for Question 9. I think that you must realize how bad this is for
Nevada. I know that when you have a cop for a brother you have no doubt
heard all of the sane reasons for not wanting to amend the Nevada
Constitution to include the legalization of marijuana.

My gut feeling is that you are scared that your customer wants to hear you
say it's the right thing to do and you're placating them. Have you asked
yourself how you'll sleep at night if it passes and you feel even remotely
responsible for the carnage it will cause?

Just in case you really believe the "it's no worse than alcohol" line,
let's address that: Alcohol currently is responsible for 16,000 of the
41,000 fatalities on our roads annually; there is no doubt that it is a
dangerous drug, and no one associated with this cause has ever said
otherwise. This goes back to two wrongs don't make a right. Alcohol is a
water-soluble drug. One drink leaves your body and reflexes at their
original levels about four hours after you drink it (one drink equals one
ounce of hard liquor, or one beer or one glass of wine). Can you have the
equivalent of one drink with one marijuana cigarette? The answer is no. You
can't control the level of THC or predict how many tokes it will take to
equal one drink. Marijuana is fat-soluble; it does not leave your body for
weeks and will impair your fine motor skills for 24 hours; some even report
changes for 48 hours.

Question 9 calls for adults using in the privacy of their homes, but it
doesn't address how long you have to stay there before operating any
machinery, especially a vehicle. Just this week a driver in Las Vegas
pleaded guilty to killing Sandy Thompson while high on marijuana that he
smoked the night before. He was still more than seven times the legal level
of impairment. Also this week a woman in Silver Springs, Nev., pleaded
guilty to driving while impaired on marijuana when she lost control of her
pickup truck and rolled it, killing two small children and injuring five
others. Last week in Reno, a young woman was arrested for causing a crash
that killed a police officer responding to a call. She, too, was high on
marijuana. I'm sure all of these drivers felt they were fine. This is a
small slice of the terror on our roads that is to come if this measure
passes. This is one week's worth of news in our state while marijuana is
still illegal. To stoop to making it a joke by adding the "pass the
Funyuns" line is truly irresponsible.

As a final note, I am neither a cop nor a stuffed shirt. I'm a 40-year
resident of Las Vegas. I love Nevada and want my child to be safe here. My
child is currently 13 years old and she truly gets it. When asked recently
why she opposed Question 9, she simply stated that "it's hard enough to say
no to things that are legal that you know are wrong..." Too bad you're not
as smart as she is.

- --Erin Breen,

Safe Community Partnership Nevadans Against Legalizing Marijuana