Wednesday, November 06, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

State voters reject legalizing marijuana

Question 9 loses by wide margin

CARSON CITY -- The drive to make Nevada the first state with legal marijuana failed overwhelmingly Tuesday as voters decisively defeated Question 9.

Nearly complete statewide returns showed 61 percent of the voters opposed Question 9. Passage would have allowed adults to possess as much as 3 ounces of marijuana. Thirty-nine percent backed the initiative placed on the ballot through petitions circulated by Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement.

"We are elated," said Sandy Heverly, one of the leaders of the Coalition Against Legalized Marijuana. "I think the message we have sent to these people is never underestimate the power of good people who have a lot of passion."

Heverly, executive director of STOP DUI, had emphasized throughout the campaign that Nevadans did not need another legal drug added to the problems already associated with alcohol abuse. She said 57 people have died in the last five years in accidents involving Nevada motorists who had used marijuana and that with legalization that number would increase.

"Once you leave the glitz and glamor of the Las Vegas Strip, you will find families who go to work every day, go to church and who do not want their children subjected to more drugs in our society," she said.

The move to make Nevada the first state with legal marijuana captured the nation's attention. Media flocked to Las Vegas to write accounts of the latest sin in Sin City and national drug czar John Walters made two trips to Nevada, calling marijuana a gateway drug that can destroy lives.

Billy Rogers, leader of Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement, said the question recognized the reality of today's world. Although the drug is illegal, Rogers said, many people will continue to use it and they should not be considered criminals. He pointed to studies that show 11 million Americans regularly use marijuana and 80 million have tried the drug.

If approved Tuesday and again in 2004, Question 9 would have obligated the Legislature to regulate, cultivate, sell and tax marijuana. Low cost marijuana would have been made available to people with permission to use marijuana for medical reasons.

Rogers attributed the defeat to the strong national wave of support for Republicans and the high quality television commercials produced by Walters in his move to defeat the question.

"Obviously, I thought we were going to do better," Rogers said. "Clearly there was a conservative wave that caught us. We knew we were going to get clobbered by Republicans. I think we won among Democrats."

But he said he advised his staff not to give up and predicted that eventually marijuana use will become legal for adults.

"I don't think the voters were saying we should throw people in jail for smoking marijuana in the privacy of their homes," he said. "I think they were afraid that more people might drive under the influence of marijuana and more children might use marijuana."

He added that high profile deaths involving drivers who had used marijuana also may have contributed to the defeat of Question 9.

"These tragic events were beyond our control," Rogers said. "In hindsight, we could have been more clear about the safeguards in Question 9 to protect people on the road from anyone under the influence of marijuana."

Voters interviewed at the polling places in both rural and urban Nevada had strong viewpoints about Question 9.

"I don't think it is any more dangerous than alcohol or tobacco," said George Schmidt, a middle-aged man outside a polling place in Douglas County. "If you got them, smoke them."

But Wes Stephenson, a voter at Dean La Mar Elementary School in Las Vegas, said he was very conservative and voted against Question 9.

"It's the way I believe," he said. "It's my core values."