Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Judges won't try to amend marijuana law

Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, said Monday the state's judges have decided not to introduce a bill to allow them to order minor marijuana offenders to serve time in jail.

Giunchigliani said she has persuaded the Nevada Judges Association not to amend the 2001 law she sponsored.

Judges had wanted the discretion to sentence first-time marijuana offenders to jail. They thought they needed that power so they could induce offenders to enter drug rehabilitation programs.

But Giunchigliani pointed out her 2001 law already allows judges to order offenders to drug rehabilitation.

Under the law she sponsored, judges can either require first-time offenders who possess an ounce or less of the drug to pay a fine of as much as $600, or be examined to see if they are drug addicts and could be helped by a program.

Second-time offenders can be fined as much as $1,000, and automatically are sent to drug rehabilitation programs.

In both cases, the offense is a misdemeanor, but is treated like a traffic ticket without offenders going to jail.

Until the law went into effect on Oct. 1, 2001, Nevada was the only state in the union that made even possession of an ounce or less of marijuana a felony.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws lists Nevada among the 12 states that have decriminalized marijuana. By decriminalization, NORML means first-time offenders receive no prison or jail time and the offense is treated like a minor traffic citation.