cannabisnews.com: Polls: Support Falling for Nevada Legalization 





Polls: Support Falling for Nevada Legalization 
Posted by CN Staff on September 01, 2002 at 17:43:27 PT
By The Associated Press 
Source: Reno Gazette-Journal 
Support is fading for a proposal to make Nevada the first state to legalize marijuana, according to a statewide poll by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The survey found 55 percent of likely voters oppose Question 9 on the November election ballot. Forty percent of respondents back the measure, and 5 percent are undecided.
The results are a dramatic shift from a similar poll in early July, when 44 percent of the respondents said they favored legal pot, while 46 percent were opposed.Passage this year and again in 2004 would change the state constitution and allow adult Nevadans to legally possess 3 ounces or less of marijuana.The telephone survey of 625 likely voters was conducted Monday and Tuesday by Mason-Dixon Polling&Research Inc. of Washington, D.C. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.Support has waned because law enforcement leaders have begun to focus on the issue, said Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon.Coker said he was not surprised at the numbers."All it takes is a little push from law enforcement and people back off,"he said."It certainly won't pass."Washoe County District Attorney Richard Gammick said he thinks"people are now learning the truth.""All the proponents want to do is legalize marijuana so they can smoke dope,"Gammick said."Now that people realize their motivation, they are making a rational decision about it."Possession of 1 ounce or less or marijuana in Nevada is a misdemeanor subject to a $600 fine for the first two offenses.Gammick said pot supporters left the false impression that passage of Question 9 was necessary to implement the state's medical marijuana program.Two years ago, 65 percent of voters passed a constitutional amendment that led to establishment of a state medical marijuana program.Although Question 9 would require the state to provide low-cost marijuana to medical marijuana recipients, its main focus would be setting up a system to allow adults to possess small amounts of pot without reprisal. The ballot question provides a vehicle for the state to tax and sell marijuana.Gammick has said federal laws would prohibit the state from doing so, but Billy Rogers, who leads the drive to make marijuana possession legal in the state, has argued the nation's drug czar is already on record as saying he won't step up enforcement of federal drug laws if the measure passes.Rogers said his own polls show Nevadans remain split on the marijuana question.His group, Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement, collected nearly 110,000 signatures on petitions from residents seeking to place Question 9 on the ballot.Rogers said the latest poll shows his organization must do a better job of explaining the issue to voters. The group has raised $525,000 in contributions and intends to launch a fall campaign, including TV spots, to explain the question.In particular, he said the group must emphasize that passage of the question only would allow adults to possess marijuana in the privacy of their homes, not in public places or while driving. Use of the drug by minors also would remain illegal."If that is what voters are hearing on election day, we will win the election,"Rogers said."We have to let them know exactly what is in the initiative."Rogers'organization has maintained the public will be better served if police concentrate on more serious crimes than wasting time arresting and booking people for small amounts of marijuana.Complete Title: Polls Show Support Falling for Nevada's Legalization of MarijuanaSource: Reno Gazette-Journal (NV)Published: September 1, 2002Copyright: 2002 Reno Gazette-Journal Website: http://www.rgj.com/Contact: rgjmail nevadanet.comRelated Articles & Web Sites:NRLEhttp://www.nrle.org/Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Marijuana is Bad, Mmm'kay? Don't Smokehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13944.shtmlMan Behind Marijuana Proposal Eschews Its Use http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13943.shtmlQuestion 9: Marijuana Support Falls in Pollhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13942.shtmlVote May Affect National Policyhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13805.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by SWAMPIE on November 07, 2002 at 18:37:25 PT
Hi Marcus!Welcome to C.News!
 As to your comment about dealers opposing legalization,you are probably right.In my experiences with some,I tried to get some on the bandwagon,even semi-prominent business owners,and all I did was piss them off because they said it would hurt their ability to make the extra money they wanted to make.A couple of them don't even use cannabis at all,but I could buy ANY legal or illegal drug that I wanted from them!Some were even taking govt.money to boot.(as if this isn't common).What do we as honest citizens do?On one hand,you could turn them in anonymously for their crimes,or Try to convince them that things would be better,or have nothing to do with them because they're assholes.They,unless caught and felonized would still be able to vote against any issues that would ruin the honest peoples'intention of passing laws to correct this farce known as the WOD.I'm NOT a narc,but these people infuriate me!Ya can't whup their asses to make them do whats right,ya can't send"Guido" over to their business to make sure they "pay their dues to the society".There are probably hundreds of thousands of these idiots across the country and I'm sure that most of us know at least one.When ALL cannabis users get on the same page,it will be a simple thing to get out the vote,until then,your guess is as good as mine on how to cure this problem.  ONWARDTHROUGHTHEFOG!!!!!!! SWAMPIE
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Comment #1 posted by marcus on November 07, 2002 at 02:35:28 PT:
legalize?
  
  There is few things that I would like to say about marijuana. First off, if alcohol is legal then so should marijuana be, or they should both be illegal. I believe marijuana is no more of an evil than alcohol. I feel like I can say this with confidence and understanding because I have tried both. Now let me tell you, alcohol makes me far less functionalble than marijuana. I would guess that the majority of people that are down on marijuana are people that have never even tried it. I don't understand how one can be so against something that they hardly even know anything about.  The greatest argument for the anti-marijuana movement is that it is the gateway drug. They claim that people first start off with marijuana then move to harder drugs.
Now this is definitely true. The reason I say this is because it happened to me. I first tried marijuana when I was a teenager. I started buying it regualarly from a drug dealer, but same guys selling marijuana are the same ones pushing cocaine, speed and various other drugs. And if alcohol was illegal they would be selling that too, and then alcohol would be the gateway drug. See marijuana is at the bottom of the illegal drug chain, so to speak. And I'm here to tell you, as a victim of the gateway drug theory, that if marijuana was legal and one could buy it at a legitamite store that was not trying to sell you other harmful drugs, I would have never tried other drugs.  There is one more thing that I would like to add. Who do you think is the biggest fan of marijuana prohibition?
Is it the president of the United States, the drug czar, the police officer, the school teacher, the physician........
NOWAY it's the supplier, the cartell, the ones getting rich from it being illegal. Think about it!
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