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Proposition 7 failure isn't major bummer for pot users
11-17-06|pahrumpvallyetimes| By MARK WAITE

The failure of ballot question 7 in the Nov. 7 election means marijuana won't be available for purchase legally in Nevada.

But pot smokers don't have to worry much about facing jail time in Pahrump for possessing the drug.

Pahrump Justice of the Peace Tina Brisebill said only 39 first offenders came in front of her court for marijuana possession from July 1, 2005 to date.

"I'm kind of surprised the numbers that low," Brisebill said. "I would hazard to guess there's a lot more methamphetamine cases filed."

Brisebill said the average fine for a first-time offender for possession of marijuana is $500. The penalties for possession of marijuana in Nevada were reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor in 2001.

The judge said she has no way of knowing when defendants appear in front of her for subsequent marijuana possession offenses.

"When they enacted the legislation to reduce it to a misdemeanor, they put in the enhancement there. But they didn't put in any tracking system," she said.

Brisebill said she wouldn't know about a defendant's prior convictions for marijuana possession, "unless someone calls all the courts to see if they had a prior conviction."

Brisebill said most marijuana possession citations she hears involve defendants found with the drug during a traffic stop or during a domestic disturbance.

Proposition 7 would have legalized the sale of up to an ounce of marijuana. Brisebill and other authorities don't feel that would've been a good idea.

Brisebill said when she hears a marijuana case, she's reminded of Jessica Williams, the Las Vegas stripper who was sentenced to 18 to 48 years in prison after running over six teenagers cleaning up the median strip on Interstate 15 two hours after she smoked marijuana with a friend at Valley of Fire State Park March 19, 2000.

Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo said he did backup for deputies who pulled over a Las Vegas motorist for speeding on Homestead Road the day before a reporter called to ask his opinion about the proposal. A woman passenger was found to have marijuana after deputies smelled it in the car.

"They get a citation," DeMeo said. "We brought the dog out, the dog indicated there was marijuana in the car."

DeMeo said he didn't feel the legalizing of pot would have been a good idea. He complained outside lobbyists were using Nevada as a testing ground for the proposition. As it turns out, Nevadans may not be as libertarian as people think.

"In my opinion, the proponents to that question seven are just targeting us. They think that we're under-educated. Their ads were very deceiving," DeMeo said.

"As far as Nye County sheriffs going out there and targeting marijuana users, we're out there after the people pushing the drugs. We really have had more marijuana seizures than methamphetamine seizures."

The sheriff was concerned that if marijuana was legal, people like police officers or bus drivers could also be using the drug.

The legal system can still throw the book at people who possess large quantities of marijuana.

Guy Woodard, 48, was arrested for cultivating, trafficking and selling marijuana Nov. 3 after members of the Scorpion Task Force searched a residence in the 3000 block of Thousandaire Boulevard and found 390 marijuana plants and over 70 pounds of marijuana, with a street value of over $1.3 million. He was held on $36,321 bail.

Stacey Smith, director of the Nye Community Coalition, and a few other coalition members, stood in front of the Bob Ruud Community Center on election day, urging voters to reject Proposition 7.

"Any time a drug is legal it increases availability and accessibility by kids. The proposal stated they were going to have a highly regulated situation, but if you look at across the nation the way kids get substances if it's legal it's accessible," Smith said. "Alcohol and tobacco are two highly abused substances across the nation. It makes it seem legitimate. It makes it seem OK to use."

Statistics show marijuana use decreasing around the country in the past 10 years, she said.

"The big problem that I had with the proposal was that it was full of misinformation and it was full of things that would never be put in place. But it had these outs.

"Basically marijuana was going to be legalized, the state wouldn't get any money out of it because the state wouldn't be selling it because it wouldn't be legal.

"One thing that really worried me, they had the thing in there about the people that were caught under the influence that they would be highly prosecuted. Well how do you test for marijuana levels? You don't."

Smith said when she worked as a counselor in drug treatment programs, she never met anyone who went to jail for possession of marijuana.

"When I worked in treatment out here, the majority of the kids I saw were coming to me because of marijuana," Smith said. "The majority of the adults I saw were (referred for) methamphetamine. But the majority of the kids were marijuana."

Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett said it's been 20 years since he's seen people charged with a felony for possessing marijuana, when he was a public defender in Clark County. Beckett said there aren't many marijuana cases in Pahrump.

"Pot's not the 'in' drug right now or the 'in' substance right now. It's meth," Beckett said.

A few Pahrump residents who were asked to make any comment at all about the election in front of the Bob Ruud Community Center Nov. 7 chose to reply about how they favored legalizing marijuana.

But the impetus to legalize marijuana, like Cheech and Chong movies and bellbottom pants, seems to have faded over time.

 

Buzzby

I read about a couple of guys who smoked marijuana and many years later became Presidents of the United States. It must have been the marijuana that got them there... Why do people insist on dredging up these kind of horror stories when we all know that marijuana has fewer deleterious effects on driving ability than alcohol, which no one is suggesting be made illegal? I wonder how many people get killed each year because drivers nod off from not getting enough sleep?

And the point is? Having marijuana in a passenger's pocket makes drivers speed?

Yeah. Only 46% of the voters favored legalizing marijuana. (All we need is 5% more!)

If you think marijuana is a dangerous drug you are under-educated!

This is a good thing. Meth is a very dangerous drug. Also, marijuana is the most widely used illicit substance so it stands to reason that it would be found pretty often.

It is illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana. If Question 7 had passed, penalties for DUI would have increased. Having marijuana legal wouldn't make it permissible to use on-the-job any more than it's permissible to drink alcohol on-the-job.

Around 90% of high school students report that marijuana is very easy to get. For most of them it's easier to buy marijuana from a drug dealer than to acquire alcohol or tobacco, legal substances with age restrictions on purchasers. If alcohol was illegal, teens could buy it from illicit dealers (bootleggers) the same way they get pot.

Question 7 called for a $45/oz tax on every ounce sold. Didn't these people bother to read their newspapers or the ballot?

You test for impairment. If a person is impaired and tests positive you've got a bust.

The ones who went to jail weren't in drug treatment. The ones in drug treatment were there because parents put them there or judges offered treatment in lieu of jail time.

Wishful thinking. Take it from someone on the front lines: we're just getting started.

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