HEALTH BOARD OPPOSES QUESTION

Safety At Risk If Ballot Measure On Pot Wins, Panel Members Say

CARSON CITY -- To the cheers of drug opponents, the state Board of Health
voted unanimously Friday to oppose the ballot question to legalize
marijuana for Nevada adults.

Board members said a "clear and present danger" to the health and safety of
Nevadans would exist if voters approved Question 9.

The ballot question, if approved Nov. 5 and again in the 2004 election,
would allow adult Nevadans to possess as much as 3 ounces of marijuana.

Dr. Joey Villaflor, chairman of the board, urged Nevadans to rally their
friends and neighbors to show up at the polls and defeat the ballot question.

Marijuana would remain illegal to minors even if Question 9 passed, but
Villaflor said the drug would become more available to children,
particularly children of marijuana users.

"It will be seen as an OK thing to do" by children, he said.

Driving under the influence of marijuana would remain illegal, but
Villaflor said marijuana-related highway fatalities still would increase.

"It is already difficult to drive" because of alcohol abusers, he said. "It
will become more difficult when more drivers will be impaired because of
marijuana."

About 50 people attended the meeting, none of whom expressed support for
the measure.

Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement, the group pushing for approval of
Question 9, did not send a representative to the Board of Health meeting, a
video conference between Las Vegas and Carson City.

But Billy Rogers, the group's leader, said in a telephone interview he was
shocked by the "outrageous, slanderous claim" made by Clark County Deputy
District Attorney Gary Booker.

Booker told the Board of Health that the "cartel" is financing the campaign
of Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement and its parent organization,
the Marijuana Policy Project of Washington, D.C. He said he based that
conclusion on work done by Sen. Joe Neal, the Democratic candidate for
governor.

Neal earlier said Hungarian-born billionaire investor George Soros backed
South American drug cartels and the campaign to legalize marijuana in
Nevada. In a phone interview, Neal said his information came from the
Lyndon LaRouche publication Executive Intelligence Review.

A LaRouche release in September said a Soro-backed group, the Drug Policy
Foundation, has given money to the Marijuana Policy Project.

LaRouche, who spent five years in prison for fund-raising irregularities,
is a perennial presidential candidate who has announced his 2004 candidacy.
His opinions are described as extreme, such as suggesting that the British
monarchy was responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing.

Neal said he believes LaRouche because his publications have not been sued
by Soros over their allegations.

Soros donated money two years ago to campaigns to legalize medical
marijuana in Nevada and other states, but Rogers said Soros has given
nothing to his organization.

Soros has said he has given $15 million to pro-marijuana efforts over the
years. He has never been charged with any crimes and often is quoted in
national publications as an economics expert.

Rogers said more than 10,000 people have contributed to the Medical
Marijuana Project, including 350 Nevadans. He said the biggest contributor
is Peter Lewis, the 68-year-old chief executive officer of Progressive
Insurance, the fourth-largest auto insurer in the United States.

Lewis was arrested in New Zealand in 2000 for possession of 3.5 ounces of
marijuana, but the charges were dismissed when he made a donation to an
Auckland anti-drug center.

"Gary Booker's words speak for themselves," Rogers said. "He couldn't find
the truth with a magnifying glass."

During the hearing, Booker said he has heard he will be sued by Rogers'
organization. But Rogers said he has no intention of suing Booker, even
after the cartel comment.

"He ought to wash his mouth out with soap," Rogers said. "It is an insult
to the people of Nevada and the people who publicly support Question 9 to
make an outrageous, slanderous claim about our campaign."

Among the speakers who urged the Board of Health to oppose the marijuana
question was Roxane Clark Murphy, a municipal court administrator who
assigns drug offenders to court programs in Clark County. She said her son
was a marijuana and cocaine user and is now in prison.

"He killed someone," she said. "The view that people who use marijuana do
not get violent is wrong. The view they sit in the corner and just munch
brownies is wrong."

Murphy said the out-of-state residents who think they can persuade Nevadans
to back legal marijuana because of the state's reputation as free-wheeling,
wide-open place are mistaken.

"We do have a gaming industry," she said. "That does not make us a Sin City
or a Sin State."

Cindy Ogden, another witness, said that the father of her infant son blew
marijuana into the face of their baby. The child ended up in the emergency
room after he slept more than half a day before he was revived, Ogden said.

"I got involved with a man from a cult who believed marijuana is here from
God," Ogden said. "So is poison ivy."

Ogden predicted if Nevadans back Question 9, then irresponsible parents
will use the drug in front of their children.

"'If we want to put the kid to sleep, let's blow a little marijuana in his
face," she said. "I am totally blown away by Question 9. Are we not
thinking of kids in their homes?"

Theresa Lemus, executive director of the North Star substance abuse
treatment center in Reno, testified that half of the juveniles entering
rehabilitation programs in Nevada suffer from marijuana addiction problems.

Lemus said Nevada does not have enough treatment facilities to handle more
than half of the current drug abusers. She predicted passage of Question 9
would lead to worse problems.

Because his organization was not invited by the Board of Health to attend
the hearing, Rogers said he decided against attending. In a phone
interview, he repeated his opposition to marijuana use by minors.

"We are about kids, too," he said. "Our initiative does not allow criminals
like that person who blew pot smoke in a baby's face. It is outrageous to
suggest Question 9 would allow it. That person would go to jail for a long
time."

He said 80 million Americans have tried pot, and 11 million are regular users.

"To suggest that marijuana is the reason people become addicted and do bad
things ignores the struggles of thousands of people in Nevada who are
fighting their addiction and are in the recovery process," Rogers said.