DISPUTE OVER POLICE GROUP'S STANCE ON MARIJUANA INITIATIVE STIRS THE POT

One can only guess what Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs president
Andy Anderson was smoking last week when he announced his group's
endorsement of the controversial marijuana initiative without a vote of the
board.

Some quietly speculated he'd started shilling for proponents of the
"reeferendum." Others thought it possible Anderson mistakenly thought NCOPS
stood for "No Cops Oppose Pot Smoking."

Alas, dudes, it turns out he was politically dazed and confused. His
announcement did, however, focus national media attention on Nevada's
controversial Question 9.

Too much attention.

By Friday afternoon, Anderson had resigned and NCOPS had cut its hair and
traded its Doobie Brothers albums for the theme from "Dragnet." Bummer, Andy.

It's an even bigger bummer for advocates of marijuana decriminalization.
Anderson's announcement had the effect of rallying troops who otherwise
might have passed on the issue.

Now the 3,000-member police organization officially has come out against
Question 9, which proposes to amend the Nevada Constitution to
decriminalize private possession by adults of under 3 ounces of marijuana.

Although the NCOPS debacle badly damaged the initiative's chances, Anderson
had made a valid point: Most nickel pot pinches have wasted the cops' time
and resulted in no jail time.

But that's one reason the past session of the Legislature, acting in part
on behalf of "medical marijuana" advocates, reduced possession of up to an
ounce of pot from a felony to a glorified traffic citation. Such changes
were in line with the state Supreme Court's study of the issue.

Question 9 effectively forces the issue by stripping away the "medicinal
use" veneer.

Billy Rogers leads the Question 9 drive from the office of Nevadans for
Responsible Law Enforcement (perhaps "Silver State Stoners" was taken). Not
surprisingly, he calls Anderson's earlier announcement courageous and
believes a "silent majority" of cops agree with the effort to decriminalize
small-scale marijuana possession.

But if he dreamed of a silent opposition, he dreamed in vain.

"For this (resignation) to happen is just outrageous," Rogers says.

Maybe. But it was political suicide for Anderson to go public with such a
controversial announcement without nailing down the votes. Even a Keystone
Kop would know a police organization's backing of marijuana
decriminalization would be hugely controversial.

Rogers says the board succumbed to "tremendous pressure" from the district
attorney's office and sheriff's office. "Ultimately, the NCOPS board could
not withstand that pressure," he says.

But who would expect less? Truth is, Anderson is responsible for his mess
and his fate.

Now Rogers appears to be panicking. On Friday, he said police and
prosecutorial officials might have violated state and federal law by
removing 6 ounces of marijuana from evidence to use as props in a political
campaign against Question 9.

Oh, please.

Fact is, according to a recent Review-Journal poll conducted by Mason-
Dixon Research, Nevadans are split on the issue. They might be known for
hard living and free thinking, but they don't want to be labeled as morally
lax. Like most zealots, Rogers has mistaken his own philosophy for those of
the crowd.

The Question 9 controversy begs a compelling political question: Will it do
for Democrats what Question 2 might do for Republicans? Namely, get out the
vote? Some observers think so.

While Question 2, the no-gay-marriage initiative, has rallied conservative
voters, Question 9 probably will find a constituency with Nevada liberals
(several were recently found hiding in '50s bomb shelters) and libertarians
(aka "pot-smoking conservatives").

The prospect of decriminalizing up to 3 ounces of weed ought to get the old
hippies to dust off their "McGovern in '72" buttons.

Who knows, perhaps history will note that Campaign 2002 was decided by the
potheads and homophobes. The fact that those groups are being courted says
plenty about the state of this union.

Talk about reefer madness.