MARIJUANA POSSESSION: RECORDS SHOW FEW JAILED

Official: Figures evidence police not spending too much time handling minor
drug offenses

CARSON CITY -- Las Vegas police records show that only 14 of the 187 people
arrested on marijuana charges in June ended up in jail on a sole charge of
marijuana possession, a narcotics officer said Tuesday.

Todd Raybuck said the figures show that local police are not spending an
extravagant amount of time handling minor marijuana cases when they could
be working on major crimes, as was claimed by the leader of a marijuana
legalization effort.

While a report filed by the Metropolitan Police Department with the FBI for
June stated 187 people were arrested for marijuana offenses, Raybuck said
his examination of each arrest found 115 people actually were issued
citations and sent on their way.

Most of the others were booked for other crimes, according to Raybuck,
while just 14 ended up in jail on only the single charge of marijuana
possession.

Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement is pushing for approval of
Question 9 on the Nov. 5 statewide ballot. Passage this fall and again in
2004 would allow adult Nevadans legally to possess 3 ounces or less of
marijuana in the privacy of their homes.

"It is not accurate to say we are spending time on marijuana instead of
other crimes that threaten the public safety," Raybuck said. "It is the
practice of the Las Vegas Metro Police Department to issue citations to
those persons found in possession of 1 ounce unless other aggravating
circumstances exist."

Billy Rogers, leader of the pro-marijuana group, charged Monday that law
enforcement officials are misleading the public about the number of people
being arrested for marijuana possession.

He pointed out that anti-Question 9 leaders like Raybuck and Clark County
Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker repeatedly have said 50 people were
arrested on marijuana charges in the first six months of 2002 when the
Police Department's Web site reported 187 arrests for marijuana in June alone.

Booker clarified Monday that only 50 people have been arrested on the sole
charge of marijuana. Many others were booked on charges of burglary,
domestic violence and other crimes, in addition to marijuana possession, he
said.

Since a law went into effect in October 2001 that made possession of an
ounce or less of marijuana a misdemeanor, Raybuck said police typically
hand offenders who only face a marijuana offense a citation. Offenders can
be fined $600.

Rogers questioned Tuesday why Las Vegas police reported 187 marijuana
arrests in June if people only received citations in 115 of those cases.

"They are reporting those as arrests," he said. "When Metro tells the world
they arrested 187 people for simple marijuana possession, I believe them
and not a detective that had nothing to do with compiling the reports."

Since possession of an ounce or less is a misdemeanor, the same as a
speeding ticket, Rogers questioned why citations should be counted as arrests.

"Do you know how many arrests they reported for speeding tickets?" he
added. "Zero."

Raybuck said FBI uniform crime reporting rules consider citations issued in
marijuana cases as arrests.

He added it has taken time to train 2,000 police officers in Clark County
on how they should handle offenders under the new misdemeanor possession law.

"The standard practice is to issue them a citation equivalent to a traffic
citation and release them," he said. "We just don't go out on the street
and scoop people up for marijuana."

He said it is difficult to determine why there were 50 actual arrests in
the first half of 2002 on the sole charge of marijuana possession.

Police may have interceded in domestic crises in some of those cases, found
no signs of violence but spotted marijuana, Raybuck said. To handle the
potential violence problem, they may have elected to book people for
marijuana possession, he suggested.