NEVADANS ASKED TO BLAZE TRAIL FOR LEGALIZATION OF POT

That could be the new Nevada tourism pitch if voters approve a November
ballot measure to legalize marijuana. With prostitution and gambling
already sanctioned by the state, some argue that lawful dope smoking is the
next logical step in making this the nation's "getaway" capital.

Utah voters, of course, have no say in the laws of their more unbuttoned
neighbor. But a change in Nevada drug enforcement could provide some Salt
Lake Valley and St. George residents one more enticement to make weekend
forays to Las Vegas, or even quick trips to Wendover or Mesquite.

To tourists with a buzz on, those cheap buffets might seem downright
scrump-tious.

But even Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, who previously has suggested
support for decriminalizing marijuana, is quick to predict such a change
would never be allowed to cross the Utah state line.

"It'll never happen here," Anderson says.

Although he expresses sympathy for Nevada's proposal -- "I actually am in
favor of experimenting with all sorts of different solutions" -- he says
Utah needs to take a different path, expanding drug-prevention and
anti-abuse programs.

Regardless of Utahns' sober skepticism, marijuana legalization has found a
sizable reservoir of support among Nevada's conservative but
independent-minded voters. Some 110,000 residents signed petitions to
qualify for ballot status in a record 40 days. The state's largest
newspaper, The Las Vegas Review-Journal, has endorsed the measure, and
polls have shown it with about an even chance of passage.

But it would be premature for anyone to begin lighting up doobies in
celebration just yet. Because the initiative is a proposed amendment to the
state constitution, it must win voter approval in back-to-back general
elections. Should it pass Nov. 5, it will automatically come back around
for a revote in two years.

If ultimately approved, the amendment would make Nevada the first state in
the nation to make possession and private use of marijuana legal for all
adults. Up to 3 ounces of cannabis would be allowed for people 21 and older.

Driving stoned or smoking pot in public would still be illegal, as would be
transporting marijuana into or out of the state. Advertising of weed would
be banned, and the Legislature would be required to establish a system for
production and distribution, either through state stores, like Utah's
liquor agencies, or licensed private outlets.

The result would be a boon for individual rights and common sense, or a
recipe for increased crime and addiction, depending on who is doing the
predicting.

Driving the pro-pot campaign is a group calling itself Nevadans for
Responsible Law Enforcement. The name tells a lot about the message
advocates are trying to get across -- that legalizing limited amounts of
marijuana would actually improve drug and crime enforcement.

Initiative leader Billy Rogers says there are comparisons with marijuana
laws and the failed policy of alcohol prohibition.

"In a regulated marketplace, marijuana will be less available to children,
and underage use will decrease," Rogers says. "Drug dealers don't ask for ID."

Until a couple of years ago, when it legalized medicinal marijuana and
toned down penalties for possession of small amounts, Nevada had the
toughest pot laws in the nation. Possession of any amount was a felony.

"In one year, law enforcement officers in Nevada arrested about 4,000
people for possession," Rogers says. He calculates that that translated to
about 10,000 hours of police man-hours that could have been better spent on
serious crimes such as kidnapping, murder and rape.

The argument seemed unassailable when a group representing nine police
unions came out in support of the measure last month. But just days later
the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs retracted its endorsement and
ousted its president.

Most politicians are staying out of the fray, too, including popular
Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn.

Guinn appears poised to glide into his second term. But he has taken no
position on the marijuana initiative because he wants to see what voters
think, said spokesman Greg Bortolin.

The behemoth of Nevada politics also has been pointedly mute so far.
Despite competing claims by initiative forces that the multibillion-dollar
gambling industry would be helped or hurt by the legal marijuana, casinos
have stayed on the sidelines.

"It's not an issue that has our focus," says a spokeswoman at the Nevada
Resort Association. "We just haven't gotten involved."

Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick has no such qualms.

"We're playing with a dangerous drug here. It's 10 times more powerful than
it was a few years ago," Gammick says. "They throw out that marijuana is
not addictive. That's bull----."

The tough-talking cop-turned-prosecutor has emerged as one of the few
elected officials speaking out publicly against the initiative.

Where are all his political colleagues?

"You don't have to be an Einstein to see where they're coming from," says
Gammick, whose bid for re-election is unopposed. "They're afraid of the polls."

An Elko native, Gammick says he resents Nevada being targeted as the
laboratory rat for a national group out to reform U.S. drug policy through
a state-by-state campaign.

"I am highly offended we've got all these outside people coming here to
legalize drugs," Gammick says. "They just want to smoke pot."

Rogers insists he is not a smoker, but estimates up to 150,000 Nevadans are
and deserve to be left alone so long as they are responsible.

"Our initiative protects people in the privacy of their own homes, and
that's what we're going to be talking about," Rogers says. "We have zero
tolerance for public use and zero tolerance for use by minors."

He cites a Zogby poll earlier this year indicating that 61 percent of
Americans believe people should not be arrested for possessing small
amounts of marijuana.

"The fact is, 80 million Americans have tried marijuana at one time in
their lives and they didn't go onto harder drugs and they aren't homeless."

Many people see "no difference between somebody who gets off work and
unwinds by going home and having a beer and somebody who unwinds by going
home and having a marijuana cigarette."

Although he disputes that Nevada is the subject of a "grand experiment,"
Rogers acknowledges that if marijuana is legalized here, he would hope to
see similar reforms in other states.

The nonprofit organization behind the Nevada initiative is the Washington,
D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, whose stated goal is to "bring an end
to our nation's war on marijuana users."

Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement has been accurately described as a
subsidiary of the national group. That is borne out by looking at its books.

The Marijuana Policy Project has provided all but $275 of the $575,275
raised so far for the Nevada campaign. Proponents have spent most of the
cash already, doling out $387,000 to petition passers.

Rogers, who is officially on leave from his job as the national
organization's director of state policies, won't say how much more money is
available from the same source. A news release from the group last January
said its budget for 2002 was more than $1 million, thanks to contributions
from some major donors.

The largest of those, according to Rogers, is Peter Lewis, multimillionaire
chief executive officer of the Progressive Corp., of Ohio.

Meanwhile, the opposition has not even formed a political action committee,
let alone raised money to counter the initiative.

Eric Herzik, political scientist at the University of Nevada, Reno,
predicts the marijuana ballot measure will fail.

"I don't know if Nevada is willing to go that far," Herzik says. He
estimates that one-third of the voters are opposed because they think
"marijuana turns the mind to powder," and another third are undecided and
will come down on the side of caution.

But Herzik says if the campaign turns into an effective media blitz by
proponents against dead air by the opposition, "that could pump up" the
initiative enough to pass.