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Bellatrix

Nevada Legalization Initiative Not Dead Yet!

Judge's order means initiative may make ballot

August 02, 2004 at 11:02:42 PDT

By Cy Ryan
<cy@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas Sun

CARSON CITY -- U.S. District Judge James Mahan issued a temporary restraining order Friday stopping the state from taking any further action on the marijuana initiative petition that is short of the necessary signatures needed to qualify for the ballot.

Mahan has set Aug. 13 as the date for oral arguments on the suit by the Nevada chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the groups supporting the petition to allow adults to possess and use one ounce of marijuana.

Allen Lichtenstein, the Las Vegas lawyer for the ACLU, said the judge wanted to keep the status quo and said the temporary restraining order prevents any more action by Secretary of State Dean Heller that might disqualify the petition.

The group wants the judge to order Heller to put the issue on the November ballot.

Bellatrix; on his website, Heller has the audacity to claim that "It is my duty as an elected officer of the state of Nevada to uphold the Nevada Constitution." And he does this by trying to disqualify a ballot initiative being put forth by the ACLU, and is so adament about doing it that a judge has to order him to stop. Either the man is a raging hypocrite or a huge fan or George Orwell.

"This is a really good sign," said Jennifer Knight, spokeswoman for the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana. "The fact that this judge issued a temporary restraining order in our case means that it has merit."

In the meantime, the committee is continuing its campaign, including television ads and meeting with community groups.

"We're planning for success," Knight said.

Renee Parker, chief deputy secretary of state, said keeping the status quo means the petition still failed to qualify. She said the initiative has 50,088 valid signatures and needs 51,337 to qualify for the ballot.

Parker said the secretary of state's office followed the orders of District Judge Bill Maddox of Carson City who ruled that signatures on petitions which did not contain the affidavit signed by a registered voter must be counted. In the case of the marijuana petition, slightly more than 15,000 signatures were added after the ruling.

The decision by Maddox was delivered in reference to the petitions to raise the minimum wage and to prevent frivolous suits. Parker said the office then applied the ruling to the marijuana petition but it still came up short.

Heller said he is going to appeal the Maddox ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court.

The suit by the ACLU, the Marijuana Policy Project and the Committee to regulate and Control Marijuana, challenges a section in the Nevada Constitution that requires an initiative petition have 10 percent of the voters in 13 of the 17 counties to sign the documents.

The suit also challenges the decision of Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax to exclude the signatures of those who registered to vote on the same day they signed the petition. That totaled 2,039 signatures.

Bellatrix; there's some more "defending the constitution" for ya. Can anyone say "disinfranchised voters"?

Parker said the petition only succeeded in 12 of the 17 counties. In Clark County petition supporters fell short of the required 31,350 names by about 4,500 signatures.

Parker said she's "starting to wonder if we can pull it off" with all the lawsuits and challenges on the initiative petitions. "It's pretty scary," she said.

The county clerks need to have the final language on the proposed constitutional questions by Sept. 1 to get the absentee and sample ballots printed for the general election.

On the marijuana issue, she said there is no committee yet to write the pros and cons on the ballot question. Arguments before Judge James Mahan are scheduled for Aug. 13, she said. The state Attorney General's Office Friday filed a motion with the Nevada Supreme Court for an expedited handling of the appeal on the ruling of the District Court to put the minimum wage and the frivolous law suit initiatives on the ballot.

Kirsten Searer contributed to this story.

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jmasterj

I hope this initiative does NOT make it on the ballot, and if it does I hope it does NOT get approved by voters. This is a very dangerous initiative. I am in favor of full legalization of marijuana and this initiative would, taken from the actual text,............“Establish a penalty of one to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 for a person who has attained the age of 18 years who does not own or work at an establishment that is licensed to sell marijuana who is convicted of a first offense of distributing or selling marijuana to a minor, and a maximum penalty of life in prison for a second or subsequent offense of distributing or selling marijuana to a minor.”!!!!!!!!! That means an 18 year old kid who buys some weed for his friends will be forced to spend an entire year in prison. And if he gets caught doing it again after being released from prison, the next time he gets possible LIFE IN PRISON, FOR WEED!!!!! THIS IS INSANE!!!!! The people in charge of drafting and backing this initiative need their head examined. I call on every citizen of Nevada to VOTE NO. Read more about it at http://www.marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=755

Jusitis leage

yo pot smokers make me sick, you are always saying that pot is not even bad for you you guys are all idiot! i mean it is ovious and there is been many studies that said pot smoking makes you stupid and other things to, like hart problems and other things related to inside of your body, but mostlly it is inside of your brain because the cemicals inside of the pot are proven to make you stupid. I really despice that you guys are trying to make it so that kids all a round smoke pot and then they become stupid, america is already stupid from the hippies from the 60s and what not but you guys are making it worse. you really sicken me. i don't even know why the goverment even alowed you guys to be on the internet, I have been on the computer for a very long time, and you guys have to be the stupitest, idioitic people I have ever even seen , i think u guys should realy learn that the studies say and stop trying to deny the fact that show u guys are just runing your life and the life of others with this crud. u guys are the stupidest guys I have seen on the internet in a long time.


ps I am sorry my tiping is not that good yet.

Kannibal

Frankly your whole post wasted 20 seconds of my life and should be made illegal.And to add to that, you don't even have the courtesy to use a spell checker or a dictionary.
You been on the computer a long time? sorry your 'tiping' hasn't improved much.

Here is a hint tho that may help you with your spelling.It is called a dictionary...

I don't know how to help you with your lame ass attitude.

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rick

Please dont feed the trolls...

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xxdr_zombiexx

Detroit voters approve allowing medical marijuana use
Wed, Aug. 04, 2004

DETROIT - The approval of a ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana use in the city will have little practical effect, but it sends a strong signal in favor of changing state drug laws, the initiative's backers said.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting early Wednesday, 60 percent, or 47,093 votes, were in favor of Proposal M, while 40 percent, or 31,868 votes, were against.

[SNIP]

Mission Accomplished!

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