Marijuana Issue In Air
by Ed Vogel

October 04, 1998 - Las Vegas Review-Journal - letters@lvrj.com

CARSON CITY -- A new poll shows the Nevada ballot question to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes is a tossup, with the margin of support just less than the poll's margin of error.

A statewide poll commissioned for the Review-Journal and KTNV-TV, Channel 13, found 47 percent of the respondents support Question 9, while 44 percent oppose the proposition. Nine percent were undecided.

"It is absolutely too close to call," said Del Ali, the pollster for the Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research Inc. The margin for error is 3.5 percentage points.

Ali said the results are similar to what his survey found in California a month before voters there passed a similar proposition in 1996.

In the election that fall, 56 percent of California's voters approved Proposition 215.

Passage of that question spawned initiative petition efforts by Americans for Medical Rights that resulted in medical marijuana questions being placed before voters in Nevada and five other states on Nov. 3.

"When we get our message out we will be ahead by even more," said Dan Hart, the Nevada leader of Americans for Medical Rights.

Hart said the organization is reviewing various advertising campaigns, including television ads and direct mailers, to put its message before voters.

"The compassionate use of marijuana for patients with catastrophic illnesses should be allowed in Nevada," Hart said.

Unlike other states, Nevada voters must pass the question in November and again in 2000 to amend the state constitution to allow use of marijuana for medical reasons.

Under the question, doctors could recommend marijuana for patients with cancer, glaucoma, AIDS and other illnesses.

The proposal calls for the Legislature to pass laws to set up a distribution system and for the creation of a registry through which law enforcement officers could determine that people are authorized to use marijuana.

Hart sees the poll results favorably because he doubts there will be an organized movement to stop passage of Question 9.

The state's chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, said she doesn't support the marijuana questions because the drug remains illegal under federal laws.

"There are a lot of legal questions that need to be worked out if this passes," she said. "I see some challenges to overcome."

Col. Michael Hood, chief of the Nevada Highway Patrol, fears passage of the question would lead to greater drug abuse.

"In my 22 years of law enforcement work we have been fighting against these kinds of drugs," he said. "I don't want to keep people with legitimate needs out, but right now I think the law needs a lot of work."

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