NEVADA VOTERS WEIGH LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

LAS VEGAS - The state that legalized cathouses and craps is now
considering condoning cannabis.

A voters initiative on the November ballot would permit possession in
Nevada of up to three ounces of marijuana by persons 21 and older.
They would be allowed to smoke it in the privacy of their own homes,
but not in their car or public places.

While law enforcement officials are railing against the measure, state
officials are quietly pondering how the state-licensed sale and
taxation of marijuana might stoke the state's coffers by tens of
millions of dollars annually.

Legalizing marijuana by amending the state Constitution is a two-step
process. If a simple majority of voters approve the measure in
November, it would need to be reaffirmed by voters in 2004. The second
vote could be avoided if the measure is adopted next year by the state
Legislature, which already has decriminalized possession of marijuana.

That course is considered unlikely because most politicians -
including Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn - are not taking a stand on the
issue, saying they will defer to the voters' wishes.

Nevada is one of nine states that allows the use of marijuana with a
doctor's prescription and one of 11 states that has lowered criminal
sanctions for possession.

Ohio has the nation's most lenient marijuana possession laws, issuing
a civil citation and fining $100 for possession of up to 100 grams
(about 3.5 ounces) of marijuana, according to the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Only Alaska previously has attempted to legalize possession of
marijuana altogether. But even pro-pot proponents said the 2000 ballot
measure went too far, because it didn't ban smoking in public and
sought reparations for jailed marijuana users. The ballot measure was
defeated by 59 percent of the voters.

State polls suggest that Nevada voters are about evenly split on the
question. The state's largest newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal,
has editorialized saying that the measure "would end the needless
harassment of individuals who peacefully and privately use marijuana."

Nevada may seem a logical place to test the issue because of the
state's renowned live-and-let-live philosophy, as already manifested
through its extensive gambling and rural houses of
prostitution.

And as a practical matter, the debate can be financially waged in just
one media market. Clark County is home to two-thirds of the state's
residents. But it is also its most unpredictable political audience
because of the region's explosive growth of non-Nevada transplants
during the past decade. Most of rural Nevada is conservative, Las
Vegas is not.

The $375,000-petition drive, which collected more than 100,000
signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot, was spearheaded by
the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project. One of its policy
directors, Billy Rogers, took a leave of absence to head the local
campaign under the moniker Nevadans for Responsible Law
Enforcement.

"Nevada is the only state in more than a decade to have passed
decriminalization legislation," Rogers said. "We believe we already
have a strong base of support in Nevada and that the legislature would
give a good-faith effort to implement the necessary laws."

Among public officials, the most vocal supporter of the measure is
Chris Giunchigliani, a school teacher and a Democrat assemblywoman in
Nevada's part-time legislature.

"We shouldn't be making criminals out of casual, at-home adult users,"
said Giunchigliani, who last year successfully rallied legislative
support to reduce the penalty for possessing small amounts of
marijuana from a felony to a misdemeanor. "This measure is reasonably
well written and gets to the heart of the matter: Our drug policy
hasn't been working," she said. "We've created a subculture of
criminals among otherwise law-abiding citizens."

If the initiative becomes law, state officials would have to determine
who would grow the marijuana (some suggest the state's agriculture
department), and how to make it available through state-licensed
retail outlets.

The notion of mining marijuana sales as a state revenue source, as the
initiative calls for, is enticing, Giunchigliani said. "If people are
going to smoke it, we might as well tax it and get some funding out of
it," she said.

Nevada, which does not tax personal or nongambling corporate income,
is casting about for additional state revenue, and the casino industry
is resisting perennial suggestions that its gambling profits be taxed
more.

Opposition to the marijuana initiative has not yet organized under a
single banner, but law enforcement officials throughout the state are
criticizing it.

Among the most adamant is Dick Gammick, the Washoe County district
attorney in Reno.

"I don't support legalizing any drugs until the Food and Drug
Administration says it's a beneficial drug that can be allowed in the
system," he said. "But for now, it remains a Schedule One controlled
substance, right up there with the most dangerous drugs we have."