POLICE SUPPORT POT INITIATIVE

The state's largest police organization today endorsed the marijuana
initiative.

The board of the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs, an umbrella
group that has 3,000 members and represents about 65 percent of the
state's street patrol officers, voted 9-0 to support the proposed
constitutional change that would decriminalize possession of up to
three ounces of marijuana.

"I was a Metro Police officer for 28 years and I spent a lot of time
booking people on marijuana charges that never went to court," said
NCOP President Andy Anderson, former president of the Police
Protective Association union.

"It would take anywhere from a couple of hours for a single arrest to
about half my shift if there was a line at the booking window or
multiple arrests -- time that could have been better spent on the
streets addressing violent crime."

Billy Rogers, spokesman for Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement,
which supports Question 9, said this is the first police group to
break ranks and support the initiative.

"The perception in Nevada was that all law enforcement agencies would
line up against this measure, but this endorsement shows that we did
listen to what police wanted when this bill was drafted," Rogers aid.

Anderson said safeguards in the bill that include strict penalties for
people who smoke marijuana in public, sell pot to minors or drive
under the influence and kill people, played a big role in his group
endorsing it.

"We do not support the smoking of marijuana," Anderson said. "But
violent crime is on the rise and terrorism remains a real threat. Our
priorities in law enforcement have changed and, with out limited
resources, so should our laws."

Nevada changed its marijuana laws last year, making it a misdemeanor
for possession of less than one ounce instead of a felony.

Question 9, which was put on the ballot by the Marijuana Policy
Project, would have to pass in November and again in 2004 to become
law.

Law enforcement agencies and prosecutors have come out against the
initiative saying it would create more problems for police officers
and prosecutors with the potential for additional crime and driving
the influence incidents, as well as encourage use by minors.

Metro Police Detective David Kallas, executive director of the Las
Vegas Police Protective Association, had just returned from a trip out
of town and didn't know about the vote. He said he is against the
initiative because it does not address the "larger problem" problem of
drug trafficking.

"Both personally and professionally, while you've eased the burden of
the user, you haven't assisted law enforcement with the overall
problem of drug trafficking," he said. "The people who purchase it
still have to purchase it somewhere."