cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Hearing Rejected Marijuana Hearing Rejected Posted by CN Staff on September 29, 2004 at 10:03:21 PT By Ed Vogel, Review-Journal Capital Bureau Source: Las Vegas Review Journal Carson City -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected a new hearing for a group that wanted Nevadans to vote in November for a ballot question to legalize marijuana. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision ends the efforts of Nevadans to Regulate and Control Marijuana to put the issue on the election ballot. But communications director Jennifer Knight said her group already has started collecting signatures on a new marijuana petition drive. Knight said her organization is trying to collect the required 51,337 signatures by a Nov. 9 deadline to force the 2005 Legislature to consider legalizing marijuana. The new petition calls for legalizing an ounce or less of marijuana for adults. Sales would occur at state licensed shops and would be taxed. "We won't make it on the November ballot," Knight said. "But it doesn't mean we are done." The committee's initial effort, which needed voter approval in November and in 2006, also would have placed harsher penalties on vehicular manslaughter and delivery of marijuana to minors. Knight said voters could be more inclined to support the proposal in 2006 because they may have "felt cheated" because they could not vote on the initiative this year. The committee's petition drive fell less than 2,000 signatures short of the number needed to automatically win a spot on the ballot. Knight noted the petition would have qualified had not a federal judge refused to allow the group to count about 2,000 signatures of newly registered voters whose registrations were not immediately forwarded to election registrars. The committee then appealed to the 9th Circuit Court, and a panel rejected their arguments on a 2-1 vote. The committee then filed a request for a rehearing by the full 9th Circuit Court. That request was rejected Tuesday. The committee last spring misplaced petitions that contained about 6,000 signatures. The lost petitions were not found until after the deadline for submitting them to election registrars had passed. The Marijuana Policy Project of Washington, D.C., funded the committee's efforts and is supporting the new petition drive. Two years ago, the Marijuana Policy Project also backed another petition effort to let Nevada voters decide whether to legalize as much as three ounces of marijuana. That proposal was rejected by voters with 39 percent backing it and 61 percent opposing it.Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)Author: Ed Vogel, Review-Journal Capital BureauPublished: Wednesday, September 29, 2004Copyright: 2004 Las Vegas Review-JournalContact: letters reviewjournal.comWebsite: http://www.reviewjournal.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Marijuana Market Initiative Plannedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19560.shtmlMarijuana Petition Fails To Qualify in Nevadahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19423.shtmlMJ Initiative Backers Forgot 6,000 Signatures http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19055.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #6 posted by FoM on September 29, 2004 at 11:07:20 PT Cost How much has this cost people who give their hard earned money to help bring change to the current laws against cannabis? [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by FoM on September 29, 2004 at 10:58:51 PT medicinal toker I feel so bad that I can't get behind this effort but I just can't in good conscience. It seems just like a political issue. Where's the sense?I believe let your yes mean yes and your no mean no. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on September 29, 2004 at 10:58:44 PT waste of money 22%? They lost by 22% last time. They've got an awful lot of confidence in themselves to think they can make up 22%. As I've said before, legalization is the only way to go, but I doubt that referendums will ever be the way to get there. We're outgunned, the government spends a fortune on propaganda every year. This is America! We're the most morally conservative 1st world country in the world. I think many Bible Belt states would vote to enact alcohol prohibition if it was on the ballot. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by medicinal toker on September 29, 2004 at 10:54:54 PT who, indeed? "The committee's initial effort, which needed voter approval in November and in 2006, also would have placed harsher penalties on vehicular manslaughter and delivery of marijuana to minors."[snip]From a recent cannabisnews article about a new federal drug proposal:[snip]Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. said, "A 21-year-old who sells a few joints to his 17-year-old brother would face a mandatory ten years in federal prison for the first offense. Such cruel penalties will help nobody."[snip]As I noted, "How ironic he would put it that way. Isn't that basically what MPP's Nevada propossal does?"Yup. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on September 29, 2004 at 10:14:22 PT Related Article from The Associated Press Appeals Court Rejects Hearing in Nevada Marijuana Case Wednesday, September 29, 2004 CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) -- A federal appeals court has rejected a new hearing for a group that wanted Nevadans to vote in November for a ballot question to legalize marijuana. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision Tuesday ends efforts by Nevadans to Regulate and Control Marijuana to put the issue on the November ballot. But communications director Jennifer Knight said her group already has started collecting signatures on a new marijuana petition. Knight said her organization is trying to collect the required 51,337 signatures by a Nov. 9 deadline to force the 2005 Legislature to consider legalizing marijuana. The new petition calls for legalizing an ounce or less of marijuana for adults. Sales would occur at state licensed shops and would be taxed. The committee's initial effort needed voter approval in November and again in 2006. It fell less than 2,000 signatures short of the number needed to automatically win a spot on the ballot. Knight said the petition would have qualified had not a federal judge refused to allow about 2,000 signatures of newly registered voters whose registrations weren't immediately forwarded to election registrars. The committee appealed to the 9th Circuit Court but lost on a 2-1 panel vote, and then requested a rehearing by the full court. That request was rejected Tuesday. Copyright: 2004 Associated Press [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on September 29, 2004 at 10:04:55 PT Who Makes Up This Stuff? The committee's initial effort, which needed voter approval in November and in 2006, also would have placed harsher penalties on vehicular manslaughter and delivery of marijuana to minors. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment