Ending marijuana prohibition

You’d expect some support for marijuana legalization measures in Nevada. After all, we’re basically libertarians at heart here in the Silver State, constantly griping that Government is clumsy, costly and shouldn’t be telling us what to do. So it’s kind of surprising that a recent Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. poll (paid for by the Las Vegas Review-Journal) in which Nevadans were asked about their position on pot legalization showed that 44 percent backed the initiative.

It’s hard to know what to think of this.

The pro-pot folks argue that legalizing the possession of marijuana (up to three ounces) would save taxpayers loads of money now spent in pursuing, jailing and rehabilitating stoners. Legal marijuana might bring tourists here by the vanload. Whole new taxable industries might sprout like weeds in the valley. The import business might boom, too, in tiny three-ounce increments.

Of course, it may just be a stepping stone to even more permissive drug laws, worry folks like District Attorney Dick Gammick. Before you know it, they’ll be selling meth at Wal-Mart and giving crack to kids as a Happy Meal prize.

Gammick & Co. have warned us all along that those medical marijuana backers were hiding their true agenda: The Legalization of All Drugs. Nevada’s new medical marijuana laws went into effect in October after two medical marijuana referendums passed in previous elections. Besides creating a system for ailing individuals to grow pot, the new laws reduced the penalty for possession of less than one ounce from a felony to a misdemeanor. Gammick, in a recent Reno Gazette-Journal story, said that the new permissive laws make it harder for the government to help marijuana addicts by mandating counseling and strict court supervision.

Marijuana addicts?

The initiative, to be voted on in November’s general election, would be the first step toward legalizing possession of up to three ounces of weed. That would be a historic thing, as Nevada would be the first state in the nation to approve pot for (essentially) adults’ recreational use.

Who knows what this would do to our relationship with the federal government? Maybe the feds—who like to vote with their checkbook—would rescind the TIFIA loans we’re using to build the depressed railway through downtown Reno. Holy bighorn sheep. Could a “yes” vote for marijuana legalization be a “no” vote for the trench?

If the initiative passes during the general election on Nov. 5, it has to be passed once again in the 2004 general election to change the Nevada Constitution. Some folks are saying the initiative stands about as much chance of passing as dry sage does of staving off a wildfire.

The bright side? Here’s an issue that may actually increase voter turnout. A 17-year-old who is otherwise disinterested in politics recently noted that he plans on registering to vote as soon as he turns 18 in October.

“I wouldn’t vote on anything else,” he said. “I just want to vote ‘yes’ on that.”

It’s good to see young people getting involved, don’t you think?