STATE AT FRONT LINE IN POT DEBATE

Nevada Could Become 'Nation's Marketplace For Marijuana

Nevada is shaping up as a national battleground in the war to make
possession of small amounts of marijuana legal.

The Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington-based group that advocates the
decriminalization of marijuana, collected enough signatures to put an
initiative to legalize possession of less than three ounces of pot on the
fall ballot.

As Secretary of State Dean Heller held televised forums Monday and today to
come up with the language for the question, White House drug czar John
Walters prepared to step into the fray Wednesday with a visit to Las Vegas.

"If the measure passes here, Director Walters feels that it will make
Nevada the nation's marketplace for marijuana," Walters' spokesman Tom
Riley said. "So this is not just a state issue, but one of national
importance."

Walters is speaking to 3,000 law enforcement officers attending the
national DARE conference this week at the Las Vegas Hilton. His visit is
primarily to promote President Bush's National Drug Control Policy
Strategy, which calls for a 10 percent reduction in drug use over two years
and 25 percent over five years.

Walters will also address the implications of Nevada's marijuana ballot
question at a news conference Wednesday, and he would have come to Nevada
just to address the issue, Riley said.

Billy Rogers, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said opponents
are full of "a lot of hot air" in criticizing the petition.

"Nevadans are independent and are sick and tired of the federal government
stepping in and telling them what to do and how to vote on Nevada laws,"
Rogers said.

Rogers said there are safeguards in place because the marijuana measure
also calls for strict penalties for people who smoke marijuana in public,
sell pot to minors or drive under the influence.

"The public is pretty smart. It knows the difference between marijuana and
hard drugs," he said. "And those who say our ballot question is aimed at
opening the floodgates to legalizing all drugs are telling outright lies."

Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell said he agrees that Nevadans
are independent, but he said they also are aware of potentially dangerous
ideas.

Bell said he would hope Walters' message in Las Vegas this week "will make
it clear that the use of marijuana can lead to serious consequences that
people should consider before (supporting those) giving its use credence."

Walters will hold a news conference Wednesday after visiting with drug
treatment specialists and officials of the Drug Court program, which offers
treatment options for minor offenders.

At Monday night's forum in Reno, meanwhile, proponents of the state's
marijuana initiative had the stage nearly all to themselves. Heller said he
invited the Washoe County district attorney to send a representative, but
no one from the office appeared.

Most of the callers to the hourlong program agreed, voicing their approval
of the plan that would also allow the state to open a system of shops to
sell small amounts of marijuana.

Rogers said scientific evidence shows marijuana is not a "gateway drug"
that leads to heroin and cocaine. He said his organization is not in favor
of legalizing all drugs, and that it is concerned only with marijuana.
Rogers said marijuana is less harmful than cigarettes to a person's health,
and that studies show only a small percentage of pot users become addicted.
"It is one of the least addictive drugs," he said.

Employers, Rogers said, would still be able to conduct random drug tests
and make their own decisions on whether to retain or dismiss workers who
test positive.

Rogers said decriminalizing small amounts of pot would free up the police
to concentrate on serious crimes.

Only one opponent of the initiative showed up Monday. Betty Kruk of Carson
City said she signed the petition but only because she thought it was for
medical marijuana. She said she approves of medical marijuana but not
recreational use of the drug.

Changes in state law made Nevada fertile ground for the war to
decriminalize pot, said Rogers, who also serves as spokesman for Nevadans
for Responsible Law Enforcement.

Voters twice passed a ballot initiative to make medical use of marijuana
legal, and in the last Legislature the law was changed to make possessing
less than one ounce of pot a misdemeanor, instead of a felony. Before that
action Nevada had one of the strictest marijuana laws in the nation.

"Because of the action at the last Legislature we believe Nevada's citizens
and legislators do not want to not waste tax dollars arresting and
prosecuting people for small amounts of marijuana," Rogers said.

The current ballot question would change Nevada's constitution to allow a
person to possess up to three ounces of marijuana and not be charged with a
crime.

The question must be approved in November and again in 2004 to become law.

Rogers said nationwide, 750,000 arrests were made for marijuana possession
in 2000, with each arrest taking four to eight hours in booking and court time.

Bell disagreed, saying "these cases are not clogging the system. A number
of them go to Drug Court and others are settled with the payments.