NEVADA BLAZES TRAIL FOR LEGAL MARIJUANA

LAS VEGAS -- Nevada established its renegade reputation in the 1920s
when local leaders thumbed their noses at the federal ban on alcohol,
with one mayor openly threatening to put "a barrel of whiskey with a
dipper" on every street corner.

The state, long a haven for prostitution, then legalized the sex trade
in 13 of its 17 counties. And at a time when the rest of America
considered gambling taboo and confined it mainly to illegal backroom
parlors, Nevada enshrined it in gaudy casinos.

Now the state regarded by many as the sin capital of America is again
pioneering a new frontier: the legalization of recreational pot smoking.

In November, Nevada voters will decide whether to become the first
state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, for quantities of
3 ounces or less, for adults 21 and older. If the measure passes this
fall and again in November 2004 as required for amendments to the
state constitution, Nevada also would tax marijuana and establish a
system for distributing the drug--possibly selling it in smoke shops,
pharmacies or coffeehouses.

This week, the state's largest law-enforcement group, the Nevada
Conference of Police and Sheriffs, endorsed the initiative, saying
decriminalizing marijuana would free officers to concentrate more on
"life-threatening and serious incidents."

The initiative thrusts Nevada into the battle between the federal
government and nine states over their efforts to legalize medical
marijuana for chronically ill patients and into the center of an
international debate over moves by Canada, Great Britain and other
nations to approve the across-the-board use of marijuana.

More than 60 years after the federal government passed the first law
prohibiting its use, marijuana is the most debated and studied illegal
drug in the nation. It also is the most widely used illicit
substance--the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration says that 1 in 3 people age 12 and older have tried it
at least once during their lifetime--despite billions spent by
federal, state and local law-enforcement authorities to fight it.

"What this does is allow respectable people to use marijuana in their
homes and bans it everyplace else," said Billy Rogers, spokesman for
Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement, the measure's sponsor.

Echoing the sentiment of the police and sheriffs group, Rogers said:
"This will allow law enforcement to concentrate on more serious
criminals: terrorists, rapists, murderers."

Marijuana use peaked in the 1970s; nearly 30 million people 12 years
old and older used it at least once in 1979, according to the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The number
of users steadily dropped, to 26 million in 1985, then 16 million in
1992. The number of users then increased before stabilizing at about
19 million in 2000.

Use declines with age

Statistics show that marijuana is most popular among teens and young
adults and that use declines sharply as people reach their 30s and
40s.

Still, experts say, a sizable constituency of Baby Boomers smoke
marijuana. One study shows that 1 in 40--or 2.6 percent--of
40-year-olds use marijuana on a regular basis.

Marijuana advocates, attempting to counter the Cheech and Chong images
of the 1970s, have launched campaigns to portray marijuana as
mainstream. Earlier this year, the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws plastered billboards all over New York City
featuring this response from Mayor Michael Bloomberg when asked
whether he ever had smoked pot: "You bet I did, and I enjoyed it."

"We want equal rights with people who use alcohol and tobacco," said
Mikki Morris, director of the Northern California-based Cannabis
Consumers Campaign.

Seeking to follow the example of the gay-rights movement, Morris posts
on her Web site photos of doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs and other
professionals who openly describe their marijuana use. "To gain our
rights, we have to come out of the closet and show that we're
non-threatening to society," she said.

Marijuana falls into the realm between liquor and hard drugs such as
heroin and cocaine, experts say, creating inconsistent and often
contradictory public policies.

Most states have lowered marijuana possession charges from a felony,
punishable by a prison sentence, to a misdemeanor or a finable
offense. Yet in 2000, about 743,000 people nationwide were imprisoned
for marijuana possession, the highest number ever.

Despite intense efforts to crack down on illegal drugs in New York
City, a sophisticated underground delivery system using bike-riding
and limousine-driving couriers--mainly for exclusive Manhattan
residences--proliferates.

"Rank-and-file officers often wink and look the other way when it
comes to a segment of the [marijuana-]using population," said Ric
Curtis, chairman of the anthropology department at John Jay College of
Criminal Justice in New York, who has studied the city's illicit drug
trade extensively. "For [officers], it's not worth the time and effort
to go after the more upscale people."

Whether non-conformist Nevada is the right place for proponents to
make their point about the mainstreaming of marijuana is an open
question. Under the measure, a ban on public use of marijuana would
remain, but police no longer would arrest users 21 and older who
possess no more than 3 ounces of the drug and smoke in private.

No organized effort has formed in Nevada to oppose the measure. But
the initiative is facing harsh criticism from the federal government.

Contradicting federal law

If it passes, the measure would put Nevada, like California, at odds
with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The agency has raided
and shut down medical marijuana dispensaries in California, equating
them to drug traffickers. While the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled
against the California medical marijuana law, state Supreme Court
justices recently decided that users are protected from prosecution in
state courts.

"This is the wrong message to send, the wrong program for Nevada,"
said DEA spokesman Will Glaspy. "We will respond to this in a way
similar to the approach used for the cannabis buyers clubs. This is
still against federal law."

Other opponents say the Nevada measure is a well-orchestrated,
well-financed attempt by proponents to achieve the eventual
legalization of all drugs.

Robert Maginnis, vice president for policy at the Family Research
Council, asserts that arguments about compassionate use of medical
marijuana are a smoke screen by proponents who want to liberalize laws
to allow recreational use of pot.

In fact, the Marijuana Policy Project, which was involved in many of
the medical marijuana measures, launched the Nevada organization that
is sponsoring the decriminalization initiative. Moreover, billionaire
George Soros has provided millions of dollars to finance several
organizations advocating medical marijuana and legalizing drugs.

"We've got to make sure we're not comparing age-old memories of
Woodstock with what's going on today," Maginnis said.

"Today's cannabis is much more potent," he said. According to the DEA,
the level of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, has risen to 7
percent from less than 1 percent in 1974. "You'll get addicted much
faster."

Along with the quality, the price of marijuana varies widely across
the country--from $400 to $5,000 a pound. The Nevada initiative would
require the state to establish a price, a tax structure and a
distribution system for marijuana. The issues of quality and purity
are not addressed, but that is something that the state most likely
would have to consider.

"We spell out that it couldn't be sold in places that allow gaming . .
. and that the establishments would have to go through a licensing
process," said Rogers of the initiative campaign.

"What [the distribution system] would look like is impossible to
say."