[Nevada] Petition to Legalize Marijuana Filed

[Flaneur]

Source: Nevada Appeal

The group Nevadans for Sensible Marijuana Laws has formally filed a petition that would legalize, regulate and tax the cultivation and use of marijuana by adults in Nevada.

The petition filed Wednesday with the Secretary of State's office would put the proposed statute before the 2011 Nevada Legislature. The Nevada Constitution gives lawmakers faced with a statutory initiative 40 days to act. If they fail to approve the statute, it is automatically put on the following General Election ballot — in this case November 2012. To do so, the group needs to get 97,002 signatures of Nevada voters by Nov. 9.

Campaign Manager Dave Schwartz said the issue is being brought back to voters this year because people are looking at restrictive marijuana laws differently than 2006 when they failed to get a majority from the electorate. “The political climate has changed,” he said. “We're seeing that nationwide.”

He said the average person is beginning to understand that marijuana is safer than alcohol. In addition, he said law enforcement is wasting huge amounts of money trying to track down and prosecute small marijuana users and sellers. Schwartz also said it would help reduce the revenue and influence now going to Mexican drug cartels who he said get 70 percent of their money from marijuana sales.

The proposed statute would create a system allowing the cities and counties to license up to 120 retail sales outlets for marijuana statewide. It would also allow the state to license and regulate up to 50 marijuana cultivators.


Read more: http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20100106/NEWS/100109757/1070&ParentProfile=1058

---

This is laying the groundwork for a 2012 popular vote. They got 44% in 2006, but perhaps times have changed enough to actually go over the top. California will vote on it this year.

[tridim]

1. It'll certainly draw a new demographic to Vegas.

Last I heard they need the business.

[earcandle]

2. Good luck and thanks for taking the first step!

[izquierdista]

3. Safer?

I could believe that it's safer than those skanky whorehouses in Pahrump.

[nostalgicaboutmyfutr]

10. Yes, it is safer, way safer than alcohol

on several fronts...

if you doubt, go out to the internets and find the name of anyone that has died from marijuana overdose.....good luck!

[msongs]

4. grow your own should be legal and UNtaxed. nt

[Flaneur]

5. Well, it's not in this initiative, and you have to wonder why.

I suspect its because MPP believes it will improve the initiative's chances among crucial demographics--married couples with kids, older people--who worry about pot plants in their neighbor's back yards. Too easy for their kids to grab some, might attract a scary, scruffy element...

And if you're a stoner, are you going to vote against legalizing the weed because of that provision?

So, an electoral win-win for MPP at the expense of personal growers.

[Tunkamerica]

6. so scruffy=scary?

I guess I need to shave.

[Flaneur]

8. Me, too.

[ixion]

9. It's not the scruffy ones you have to worry about, generally

the really dangerous ones blend right in. Like Ted Bundy. People like to use Charles Manson as the iconic "crazed murderer", but Manson's scruffiness was just a disguise to blend into the hippie crowd, which was his exploitation ground.

Also, being that Marijuana is a robust plant, it would soon be growing everywhere. :smoke:

[Socal31]

7. Lets get medicinal country-wide first.

I am all for 21+ adults getting intoxicated by the chemical of their choice, but we have to be smart about this.

[totodeinhere]

11. Why not just legalize it for everybody?

That would include medicinal use, but why shouldn't people be able to legally smoke pot when it's no more harmful than alcohol? We could tax it and regulate it (no possession by minors, no driving while under the influence, etc.)