QUESTION 9

To the editor:

In regard to the Aug. 24 article on the marijuana initiative ("Economic
Benefits Touted"):

As a Libertarian, I am a strong supporter of Question 9, but not because of
any cash flow to the state. "Economic Benefits" really mean more choices
and purchasing power for individuals, not more money for the government.

I support Question 9 mainly because it gives individuals more freedom to
make decisions over their own lives. Adults have the right to decide what
does and what does not go into their bodies and parents have the right to
decide this for their children. These are God-given rights. In a truly free
country people do not go to jail because they smoke a politically incorrect
plant.

Actually, all laws prohibiting marijuana should be repealed and no new ones
enacted. In other words, there should be a free market, or at least
marijuana should be on the same legal footing as other goods and services.

I also support Question 9 because, like Yucca Mountain, it is a states'
rights issue. President Bush, regardless of rhetoric, is a staunch opponent
of states' rights just as he is of individual rights, and he wants all
power to be vested in the federal government (actually in his own hands).

The Bush administration needs a good, sound woodshed experience for many
reasons and Nevada is just the state to give it to them. Passage of
Question 9 will do just that and make me proud to be a Nevadan.

Alice Lillie

Las Vegas