REEFER REFERENDUM LATEST NEVADA LIBERTY

LAS VEGAS - Smoking tobacco in public places may be illegal in other
states, but you can light up almost anywhere in Nevada.

Need a drink? They're free in casinos, if you gamble.

Las Vegas Boulevard is crowded with hawkers handing out pictures of naked
women who will come to your hotel room for a private strip tease or
something more. Prostitution is legal in most parts of Nevada.

And soon, you may be able to legally smoke marijuana.

If Nevada voters give their approval, it would no longer be a crime for
anyone 21 or older to possess up to 3 ounces of pot o enough for between
150 and 250 marijuana cigarettes o within the state's borders.

But even if the referendum passes Nov. 5, it must be approved in a second
referendum in 2004.

Proponents say legalizing pot would free police to work on more serious
crimes like rape or murder. Opponents say making another mind-altering drug
legal would lead to other crimes.

"I can't imagine how we can throw another illicit drug into the mix and
people can believe in any way, shape or form that it would be a good
thing,ii said Sgt. Rick Barela, spokesman for the Las Vegas Metro Police
and a cop for more than 20 years. If the referendum passes, proponents say,
look for other states to follow.

"Literally, you're going to have tens of thousands of people who are
currently illegally using marijuana who will suddenly be legally using it,"
said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, the
group behind the Nevada measure.

The group is working on getting similar ballot initiatives elsewhere, and
was behind referendum efforts that failed in Florida and Washington, D.C.
"Hopefully it sends a message to other states that's loud and clear: The
people of one state at least are fed up with marijuana laws today," Kampia
said.

Even if Nevada and other states soften their marijuana laws, pot smokers
and cops alike will still face a confusing conundrum when it comes to cannabis.

While local police might not be able to arrest recreational pot users,
possession of marijuana is still illegal under federal law.

Federal authorities last month shut down a well-known medicinal marijuana
operation in Santa Cruz, Calif., but not without raising protests that
reverberated in demonstrations nationwide in places such as Austin, Texas
and Washington, D.C.

Following the raid, the local police chief pulled his officers off the
federal marijuana task force that conducted the Santa Cruz raid, citing
clear conflicts of interest. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer,
meanwhile, fired off a letter of complaint to U.S. Attorney General John
Ashcroft, calling the raids "wasteful, unwise and surprisingly
insensitive," given California laws allowing the use of marijuana for
medicinal purposes.

Federal drug czar John Walters, who is making marijuana a major target
because of its widespread use, has made his position on Western reefer
referendums clear.

During a swing through Arizona and Nevada this month, Walters called the
Arizona ballot initiative a "stupid, insulting con." In Nevada, he
chastised proponents of pot legalization, saying he didn't think Nevada
should become a "center for drug tourism."

Exactly how federal law enforcement officials will react if the initiatives
pass, though, is unclear. Theoretically, federal agents could crack down
hard on marijuana users even if they aren't violating state law, but
Walter's office has stopped short of saying it will push to do that.

"What the director is saying, bottom line, is that federal law supersedes
state law," said Jennifer de Vallance, spokeswoman for the Office of
National Drug Control Policy.

According to the agency and others, smoking pot can lead to detrimental
health problems ranging from respiratory infections to memory loss and
panic attacks. Walters also has blamed marijuana usage for 20 percent of
all auto wrecks, and considers it a "gateway" drug that can lead to
addiction to more dangerous drugs such as cocaine.

Advocates of marijuana disagree, saying that federal and local officials
simply refuse to admit that they've wasted billions of dollars and
countless hours trying to eliminate a drug that's not that harmful.

"There's sort of a widespread recognition in our society that the drug war
has failed," Kampia said. "So now the question becomes, what do you do to
fix things? Voters, particularly in the West, have said they're willing to
support drug policy reform."

Nevada's dope debate is already causing plenty of acrimony.

Last week, the chief spokesman for law enforcement groups against the
initiative was forced out or quit - depending on whom you ask - after
alleging drug cartels had links to the local measure.

Opponents, meanwhile, are taking issue with what they call trickery by the
boosters behind the initiative. While operating under a group called
Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement, the effort is heavily backed and
funded by Kampiais Washington, D.C. group.

"That's the first lie these people perpetrated on the public," said Barela,
adding that the confusing name is resulting in irate calls from residents
who think Las Vegas law enforcement is behind marijuana legalization.

"They're not Nevadans, they're not law enforcement and they're surely not
responsible," he said.