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They Finally Admit It: Medical Marijuana Advocates Want Legal Pot

June 17, 2002 – A new political action committee, Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement, filed a petition in Nevada in mid-May to legalize possession of up to 3 ounces of marijuana for recreational use. The group is funded by the Washington D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), which has long advocated for medical marijuana.

MPP boasts that it played a major role in filling audiences for public hearings conducted by the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine when the institute gathered information from the public for its report on medical marijuana, published in 1999. In January of this year, MPP announced a new program to provide $50,000 grants to help groups overturn marijuana laws outright in cities and states across the nation.

The Nevada initiative would legalize pot and tax it the same way alcohol and tobacco are now taxed. It requires the state to cultivate, tax, and sell marijuana to stores it would license for retail sales. While permitting marijuana to be taxed, the initiative specifies that the tax rate on pot could not exceed that of tobacco.

The initiative would prohibit marijuana sales to those under age 21, and prohibit use in jails, prisons, and public schools. Smoking pot in public and in casinos is also banned, as is advertising. However, critics charge that provision would not stand, because the Supreme Court has consistently held that the First Amendment protects commercial speech.

MPP is funding the initiative effort in Nevada and is paying signature gathers $2 per signature. An estimated 60,000 to 110,000 signatures must be collected by June 18 to place the initiative on the ballot. If passed this year, it would have to appear on the ballot again in 2004, because the initiative would change the state constitution. Organizers say similar drives are underway in other states.

Sources: Press reports from Associated Press, Law Vegas Sun, Nevada Appeal, Las Vegas Review-Journal, and Las Vegas City Life. National Families in Action was unable to obtain a copy of the initiative itself. A description of the initiative filed with the Secretary of State's office is available at: http://sos.state.nv.us/nvelection/int_ref/2002int_refer.htm

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