QUESTION 9: FIGURES HAZY, AD SAYS

Marijuana Initiative Backers Contend Officials Deceiving Voters

Advocates for legalizing marijuana start airing a television spot Wednesday
that implies three Nevada lawmen are lying about how many joints can be
rolled from 3 ounces of marijuana and contends they are overstating the
case to mislead voters.

The ad features outtakes of Metropolitan Police Department Undersheriff
Richard Winget, Washoe County District Attorney Richard Gammick and Las
Vegas police officer Todd Raybuck giving different answers to one question:
How much is 3 ounces of marijuana?

Gammick says 3 ounces is equivalent to 90 marijuana cigarettes, or joints;
Winget says 120, and Raybuck says 250.

"Opponents will say anything to scare us into voting against Question 9,"
the ad concludes.

Both sides recognize that most people who do not smoke marijuana have no
idea whether 3 ounces of pot is a little or a lot, and that could affect
how they vote Nov. 5.

Question 9 would amend Nevada's constitution to prohibit prosecution of
private use of 3 ounces or less used by adults over 21 in nonpublic
locales. To win approval, the question must pass this year and again in two
years.

At a Monday news conference unveiling the ads, Question 9 supporter Billy
Rogers said the measure's opponents "have a long history of not telling the
truth."

Contacted afterward, Gammick said he was being conservative in his estimate
of 90 joints. Acting at Winget's behest, Raybuck, a 10-year veteran, said
he rolled out 3 ounces of high-grade marijuana from the Police Department's
evidence vault. He was able to roll more than 250 joints.

But to demonstrate his point, Rogers placed 250 unfiltered Camel cigarettes
in a plastic bag and weighed them. With the result at just over 8 ounces,
he said: "That would be a felony."

Rogers' logic that 250 Camels would weigh the same as 250 joints does not
take into consideration that marijuana is rolled differently depending on
the potency. Low-grade pot is rolled in larger sizes than high-potency
marijuana, the three law enforcement officials used in the ad said.

"It depends on how fat you roll them," Raybuck said. He said the high-grade
sample he rolled would sell for as much as $600. Poorer quality marijuana
would sell for about a third that price, he said.

"These people haven't said the truth since they opened their mouths,"
Gammick said.

Though the ad suggests Gammick's estimate of 90 joints is wrong, Rogers
said the Northern Nevada lawman is probably closer to the truth than the
others.

Patients who use marijuana for medical purposes estimate that 3 ounces
would be between 80 to 100 marijuana cigarettes, Rogers said.

He challenged the opponents of Question 9 to pull their ads.

"If you stop making a mockery of the truth, we'll stop calling you on it,"
Rogers said.

Winget said he underestimated how much 3 ounces would be in an initial
interview and said he has been using the 250 figure ever since.

Winget, who has been nominated as U.S. marshal for Nevada, said he pulled
the 120 figure from an article from National Families in Action, which
estimated between 90 to 120 joints could be rolled from 3 ounces of pot.

Realizing the number would become an issue, he asked Raybuck, a narcotics
detective, to do the experiment.

Winget said he is sticking with 250 joints in 3 ounces because "it's the
truth."

He said, "You can argue how much you put in a cigarette, but so much
depends on the grade and refinement of the marijuana used."

"The significant issue is that it's a lot of marijuana, and our position is
it is way more than one person needs to hold for personal use," Winget said.

Gammick said if the question passes and becomes law, "I can toke up in
front of my kids in the house, drive to work, go into the privacy of my
office and toke all day, get in my car and go home and do it in front of my
kids again."

Retiring Sheriff Jerry Keller has come out against Question 9. Rogers
thinks Keller should adopt the position of White House Drug Czar John Walters.

Walters said in an Aug. 14 National Public Radio interview: "The initiative
covers possession amounts that are quite small. Usually, there's no federal
enforcement of possession amounts at that level, especially for marijuana.
So I doubt there would be any change in current federal practice. This is
largely a local law enforcement matter at these quantities."

Walters last week came to Las Vegas to oppose decriminalization of
marijuana, and he said it is a gateway drug that can destroy lives.

Keller did not respond to an interview request.