cannabisnews.com: Ex-undersheriff Backs Question 9





Ex-undersheriff Backs Question 9
Posted by CN Staff on October 25, 2002 at 14:24:48 PT
By Ed Koch 
Source: Las Vegas Sun 
A former Metro Police undersheriff has come out in support of Question 9, the marijuana initiative. Don Denison, who was undersheriff in the early 1980s, says he supports the legalization of up to 3 ounces of marijuana for adults."There are thousands and thousands of users of marijuana in the Las Vegas Valley from all professions -- they are our neighbors and our friends," said Denison, who is retired. "Do we make them criminals or allow them to smoke in the privacy of their homes and not bother people?"
The marijuana initiative has put Nevada in the middle of a national debate over whether the legalization of the drug in this state would spread across the nation.With early voting under way, and as the Nov. 5 election nears, polls show voters are divided equally on the issue.Denison, who also served as director of the Department of Motor Vehicles and served two terms as chairman of the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners, is the second high-profile former law enforcement officer to come out in favor of the ballot initiative. In August Andy Anderson, president and co-founder of the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs, the state's largest police organization, announced that his organization supported it.Amid criticism from law enforcement officers, the group's board announced Anderson had misspoken and withdrew support.Anderson quit the group, though, and still endorses the initiative."I saw Andy Anderson take a position that was not popular with his peer group, and I told him at the time that I was very proud of him," Denison said. "He asked me why don't I stand with him?"If I think something is important and right it does not matter if others do not like my opinion. Being an American means I can speak my mind."Denison, who was a Metro narcotics cop in the 1970s, recalled a bust he made involving a moving van filled with 800 pounds of marijuana. He soon learned that what he thought was a lot of grass accounted for what just one group of drug dealers would sell in Las Vegas over just the Christmas and New Year's holidays."That was 30 years ago when the Las Vegas population was nowhere near what it is now," Denison said.Source: Las Vegas Sun (NV)Author: Ed Koch Published:  October 25, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Las Vegas Sun, Inc.Contact: letters lasvegassun.comWebsite: http://www.lasvegassun.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:NRLEhttp://www.nrle.org/Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/State Ballot Question 9 http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14546.shtmlNevada Should Back Question 9 http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14539.shtmlNevada Pushes Next Frontier: Legalizing Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14503.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by knox42897 on October 25, 2002 at 19:19:00 PT:
CANNABIS SMOKERS PATRIOTIC AMERICANS
"There are thousands and thousands of users of marijuana in the Las Vegas Valley from all professions -- they are our neighbors and our friends," said DenisonIf I think something is important and right it does not matter if others do not like my opinion. Being an American means I can speak my mind."TRANSLATION:Cannabis smokers are patriotic AmericansOnly communists would vote no on 9
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Comment #2 posted by canaman on October 25, 2002 at 15:32:13 PT
Another honest cop! 
This is good but my guess is he's speaking out because he's retired. The working cops have their marching orders from the czar himself. Even though they may agree with question 9 I doubt if they're talking about it. 
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Comment #1 posted by DdC on October 25, 2002 at 15:26:21 PT
Oh, Another One of Them Realist!
"If I think something is important and right it does not matter if others do not like my opinion. Being an American means I can speak my mind."Is that the message we should be sending to kids?Damn Straight!ACCEPTABLE RISKS Every U.S. commission or federal judge who has studied the evidence has agreed that cannabis is one of the safest drugs known. With all its therapeutic uses, it has only one side effect that has been exaggerated as a concern: the "high." The DEA says this is not acceptable, so cannbis continues to be totally illegal in utter disregard for both doctor and patient. Every day we trust physicians to determine whether the risks associated with therapeutic, yet potentially dangerous drugs are acceptable for their patients. Yet, doctors are not allowed to prescribe the herb that Federal Judge Francis Young in 1988 called "one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." We don't put out doctors in charge of stopping violent crimes. The police, prosecutors and prison guards should not be in charge of which herbal therapies people may use to treat their personal health problems. 
http://www.jackherer.com/book/ch07.html"Arbitrary and capricious" is legal language that was used by DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young in 1988 to conclude that DEA was obligated under the Controlled Substances Act to reschedule marijuana as a prescription medicine. DEA Chief Administrator Robert Bonner proceeded to arbitrarily and capriciously disregard Judge Young's well researched and reasoned decision, which the Act allowed him to do."
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