Nevada May Got to Pot

By Christian Probasco, 10-31-06

On the upcoming Nevada ballot: Question 7, which would make possession of up to an ounce of pot legal under Nevada law while regulating and taxing the sale of marijuana and funneling half the revenues towards the state’s general fund and half towards education and alcohol and drug treatment. The measure would also increase penalties for driving under the influence and selling pot to minors. Neal Levine, campaign manager for the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana (CRCM), the local organization responsible for getting the proposition on the ballot, argues that legalizing marijuana would put a kink in drug lords’ business plans and free up law-enforcement resources for more serious crimes than possession, now a misdemeanor.

A September poll by the Review-Journal shows the initiative, which lost in a different form in 2004, falling short again fifty-one percent to forty-two percent, with seven percent undecided. Levine, however, believes the measure will pick up enough momentum to pass before the November election.

Arguing against the proposition is Todd Raybuck, a fourteen year veteran of Las Vegas Metro Police, who notes that whatever the local laws, federal law, which takes precedence, would still prohibit the possession and use of marijuana. Says Raybuck, “They (the CRCM) are misleading people into thinking they can get legal marijuana. They are promising something that isn’t going to happen.”

Standing with Raybuck, the “Committee to Keep Nevada Respectable,” which I did not just make up. Also on Raybuck’s side, a lot of folks in the federal government, most notably Drug Czar John Walters who paid a visit to Las Vegas earlier this month to weigh in against Question 7 and debunk the notion that Nevada would or could legally set up an agency to regulate and tax marijuana. “No state official is going to be involved in the taxing and marketing of a drug that’s a violation of federal law to be trafficked,” he said.

Behind the CRCM, and responsible for most of its funding, is the national Marijuana Policy Project, whose advisory board includes actor Jack Black of King Kong and School of Rock fame, politically incorrect television host Bill Mahar, former U.S. Surgeon General and going-it-solo advocate Jocelyn Elders, M.D., former wrestler and governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura and health guru Andrew Weil, M.D. The MPP’s largest single donor is Peter Lewis, chairman of Progressive Insurance Corporation. (Why would somebody connected with an insurance company want to loosen up pot laws? He got busted smoking it). The MPP has been trying and failing to legally block Walters from using tax money to campaign against the initiative.

Also for the measure: The Las Vegas Review-Journal and a coalition of thirty-three clergy members from various denominations. And a lot of users who must remain anonymous.

Walters has been trying to paint Levine, who moved to Nevada about a year ago, and his CRCM crew, as a bunch of Washington carpetbaggers. Walters’ visit--from Washington--may have boosted the advocates’ numbers by a few points. So too might statements by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, nominally against the measure. Christina Dugan, vice president of public affairs opined, “By legalizing marijuana in our state, not only would more people be inclined to try marijuana due to its new legal status, it would also create a myriad of problems for businesses in loss of productivity and competitiveness as well as increasing liability and exposure to lawsuits.”

In other words, if you let people do what they want and have a little fun, they might not make such good worker bees. (But wait—this is Las Vegas where the liquor flows free to impair gamblers’ judgment. If they smoked the ganja, wouldn’t the casinos and the state which taxes them recoup their losses at the roulette wheel? This issue has not been addressed.

Further inflaming the debate is the argument over what defines an “arrest” for pot. Police records show 4962 arrests last year for marijuana use. Las Vegas Sheriff Bill Young says, “Nobody is going to prison. I disagree with those numbers.” In the vast majority of those incidents, contend Young and Raybuck, a citation was issued and nobody was dragged off to jail in handcuffs. However, as I found out recently when I was pulled over by two overzealous traffic cops in nearby Henderson, even if you are stopped for a minor traffic violation, such as a malfunctioning tail light, for Christ’s sake, you are still technically under arrest. You can’t have it both ways.

But(!) Young and Raybuck do address an erroneous extrapolation made for a report paid for by the MPP, namely that Nevada is wasting $42 million a year locking up potheads. If most of these arrests end in a citation and a $600 fine, you could probably argue the police are making money for Nevada arresting pot smokers.

Confused? Great! If you’re a Nevadan, you’re ready to go out and vote for or against. But if you want to be there to vote for Question 7, don’t smoke too much weed the night of November 6th.


[End of article]