cannabisnews.com: Pot Smokers' Bad Bet





Pot Smokers' Bad Bet
Posted by CN Staff on October 01, 2002 at 21:53:10 PT
By Jimmy Boegle
Source: Newsday 
If you ask the folks from the Marijuana Policy Project why they chose to make Nevada the nation's first battleground in the war to legalize marijuana, you won't get a straight answer. They'll either dance around the question or make very little sense. "Nevada is the only state in the last decade that's enacted marijuana decriminalization legislation," says Billy Rogers, the man the Marijuana Policy Project sent to Nevada. 
He's referring to a move by the 2001 state legislature to make possession of an ounce or less of pot a misdemeanor. Until then, it was a felony to possess any amount. So, the marijuana advocates have come to a state whose pot laws were among the harshest in the nation less than two years ago. We can only speculate about their reasons.They've put a lot of time and money into Nevada, so they must think they're onto something. They came from Washington, D.C., where they are one of the nation's most prominent pot-legalization organizations, and formed a political action committee, the hilariously named Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement. As of their Aug. 27 contribution and expenses report, the group has dropped more than $500,000 into the effort - nearly $387,000 to pay the people throughout the state who gathered the 74,740 valid signatures needed to get the question on the ballot.But what makes them think Nevada voters will vote to legalize the possession of up to three ounces of marijuana? They are rumored to have polls showing that Nevadans are open to the idea. They probably looked at Nevada's small population and figured that this would be a relatively easy place to mount a statewide campaign. And they must have been counting on Nevada's reputation as a libertarian-thinking, live-or-let-die, anything-goes state.Their reasoning is understandable.Nevada was the first state to give gambling a home, and look how well that worked out: Nevada-style casinos now dot the country. Nevada's rural counties are the only in the nation to legalize prostitution, and Nevada has one of the nation's highest smoking rates (either No. 1 or No. 2, depending on the year). When the federal government wanted a place to dump its nuclear waste, Nevada was the only place seriously considered. Are you looking for a place to legally indulge all of your vices? Nevada's the place to be. Or, at least it used to be. Yes, Nevada still has the gambling, the prostitution, the smoking and soon, the nuclear waste. But it also has a growing and increasingly powerful right-wing movement. And that is why the marijuana legalization effort will almost surely be voted down come November.Until two years ago, Nevada arguably was one of the nation's gay-friendliest states. In 1993, the legislature revoked the sodomy law, deciding that what consenting adults did in their bedroom was nobody else's business. In 1999, it became illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.But then in 2000, the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage formed. Largely funded by right-wing Christian groups, as well as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the organization launched a successful petition drive - just like the pro-marijuana drive - to put a question on the ballot defining marriage as being only between one man and one woman. This passed with 70 percent of the vote (although it needs to pass again this year, as amendments to the Nevada constitution must pass by the voters twice). That victory was used by its anti-gay proponents to convince legislators to defeat a reciprocal benefits bill for domestic partners during the 2001 legislature. Most political observers agree that if it weren't for the success of the marriage ballot, the benefits bill probably would have passed.Conservative groups once viewed as fringe had gained power, seemingly overnight. The right wing now controls the Republican Party in Clark County, the area around and including Las Vegas, where more than two-thirds of Nevada's population lives. The county Republican chairman, Steve Wark, has been doing his best to drive moderate-thinking or libertarian-minded Republicans out of politics. As an example, the party failed to endorse moderate Republican State Sen. Mark James for re-election; he ended up running for another office instead and is rumored to be considering a party switch.Not surprisingly, the marijuana ballot question has drawn the ire of some of these same right-wingers. Law enforcement officials, led by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Detective Todd Raybuck and Washoe County District Attorney Richard Gammick, have spoken out strongly against the initiative, using the fact that the ballot question would legalize the possession of the equivalent of 60 to 120 joints. That's a lot of marijuana. And an initial endorsement by the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs was reversed following a huge outcry from some law enforcement officials and the resignation of the organization's longtime leader. Polls now show that the marijuana ballot question is doomed. July polls by the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Reno Gazette-Journal, the state's two largest daily newspapers, showed voters were evenly split. But an August poll by the Review-Journal, taken after the Conference of Police and Sheriffs debacle, revealed that 55 percent were opposed and 40 percent were in favor.The Marijuana Policy Project may have picked the right state to start its marijuana legalization effort. But it seems to have picked the wrong time. Jimmy Boegle is news editor of Las Vegas CityLife, a weekly newspaper.Source: Newsday (NY)Author: Jimmy BoeglePublished: Sunday, Sept. 29, 2002Copyright: 2002 Newsday Inc.Contact: letters newsday.comWebsite: http://www.newsday.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:NRLEhttp://www.nrle.org/Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Marijuana Backer Says Foe Fudging Arrest Numbers http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14315.shtmlQuestion 9 Enjoys Potpourri of Supporthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14311.shtmlWe Could Go Up in Smoke Over This http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14310.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Post Comment