PRO MARIJUANA BACKERS HIGH ON DENVER'S VOTERS

CARSON CITY - Buoyed by the approval of a similar measure by Denver
voters, marijuana proponents say they're growing more confident about
the chances for success next year of a Nevada ballot initiative that
would allow adults to possess an ounce of pot.

Neal Levine, leader of Citizens to Regulate and Control Marijuana,
said he thinks the Nov. 1 vote to legalize marijuana in Denver is a
sign that "the mainstream" electorate now supports adults' private use
of pot.

The Denver ballot measure, approved by a 54 percent to 47 percent
vote, allows people 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.

Because of a successful petition drive by Levine's group last year,
Nevadans will be faced with a similar question on the November 2006
election ballot.

Levine said the initiative is far more restrictive than a November
2002 ballot measure that was shot down by a wide margin in Nevada.

That proposal called for the legalization of 3 ounces, three times
more than the current initiative.

"We have been working in the state since 2001 and talking to Nevada
people every day," Levine told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "It is
based on what people have told us they would like to see.

"We talked to real people and have come up with a solution. People are
going to use marijuana regardless. The current laws don't work."

Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick was hoarse and unable to
talk Saturday. Assistant District Attorney John Helzer didn't
immediately return a phone call.

But many law enforcement authorities from across the state spoke out
against the marijuana proposal when it was debated at the Legislature
in March.

At the hearing, Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins said that as a deputy
police chief he had arrested many people who committed crimes while
under the influence of marijuana.

"Does this committee, this Legislature want to send a message to our
youth that using a drug is a good thing?" Perkins asked at the time.

Under the latest proposal, the State Department of Taxation would set
up a system to issue licenses for marijuana farms and for certain
retailers to sell pot.

Levine's group is an offshoot of the Marijuana Policy Project based in
Washington, D.C., which funded the drive to place the initiative on
next year's ballot in Nevada.