ARE NEVADANS READY TO ROLL DICE ON LEGAL MARIJUANA?

If proponents of a popular ballot initiative in Nevada have their way,
theirs will be the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

Under their proposal, the state would regulate the production and sale of
marijuana to adults, and collect taxes on it in the bargain.

It makes sense that this would happen in Nevada. This is a state that
already makes recreation out of activities other people consider vices:
gambling, prostitution and assaulting normal standards of good taste, to
name a few.

So maybe they figure if they're going to hell anyway, they might as well go
stoned.

Or maybe the whole thing is a ploy to get more tourists. Maybe they've
already got a new ad campaign in the works, using the slogan "Las Vegas,
the Amsterdam of the West." All they lack are tulips.

On the other hand, Nevadans have no monopoly on vice, or their tourist
industry wouldn't be so successful already. Lately, Las Vegas has been
trying to encourage people to think of it as a "family" destination, but
let's face it, about as many people go to Vegas for the shows as read
Playboy for the articles.

So possibly Nevadans simply figure they should deal with marijuana the way
they do other vices: If you can't beat it, regulate it.

And if you're doing that anyway, then (this being America) you might as
well make a profit from it.

Most states and the federal government are still trying to beat it, but the
national consensus on marijuana does seem to be changing. Nine states
(including Nevada) have passed legislation to allow patients with a
doctor's prescription to use marijuana for pain relief.

These laws are in defiance of federal law, but a bill recently introduced
in the House of Representatives with bipartisan support would allow states
to legalize medical marijuana.

These changes have widespread support, even among people who have no
interest in using marijuana. If it's medically superior to the alternatives
for certain conditions, we figure, then what's the big deal?

Save the worrying for addictive tranquilizers, not a cancer patient's
painkiller.

Of course, Nevada's law would go much farther, though its conflict with
federal law means it couldn't take effect even if passed. Even supporters
don't expect Nevada to start contracting with marijuana growers next spring.

What they want is to make Americans rethink our drug policy.

Certainly some impatience with the current approach is in order. We've
spent about as much on the war on drugs as we did on the Cold War, but
there's no Soviet Union to pack it in and declare us the winner at the end.

The best we can hope for is to keep spending billions more every year just
to hold the line. If this were a military strategy, we'd fire the general.

The fact that Nevada's legalization effort focuses on marijuana also
reflects the maturing of the baby boomers, who were the first Americans to
use cannabis on a large scale. So many potheads of the '60s and '70s grew
up to be normal, middle-class adults that it's hard for this generation to
accept the demonization of the drug that's been the establishment party
line for almost 40 years.

And now that we boomers have suddenly discovered we ARE the establishment,
that line's become just a little embarrassing as well.

But whether legalizing marijuana would really result in a net societal
benefit is the megabillion-dollar question. Proponents say it would
conserve law enforcement resources and let the police and courts focus on
more serious crimes.

Critics fear marijuana use would increase. And the effect on children - who
are always at the center of any drug debate - is wholly unknown.

The Nevada initiative would ban sales to people under age 21, but it's fair
enough to worry that legalizing sales to adults will lead to an increase in
consumption by kids. (Though it could hardly make marijuana easier to
obtain; the class druggie is already closer than the corner drugstore.)

The closeness of the polls in Nevada (currently 44 percent are in favor and
46 percent opposed) shows voters there understand that legalizing marijuana
would be a major gamble.

But what makes gambling such a popular vice is that every once in a while,
somebody wins big. And watching this gamble unfold would offer more than
entertainment value for the rest of us.

If Nevadans have found a way to beat the house, it would be worth a trip to
Vegas to see how it's done.