Marijuana group joins Cancer Society to appeal petition's denial

The Marijuana Policy Project Monday joined the American Cancer Society in asking the Nevada Secretary of State's Office to reverse its denial of its initiative petition.

Citing what they described as "numerous errors" in the Nevada Attorney General's Opinion saying they needed up to 30,000 more signatures to qualify, initiative backers requested that Secretary of State Dean Heller transmit the petition to legalize small amounts of marijuana to the 2005 Legislature.

Spokesman Bruce Mirken said they and "Smoke-Free Kids," organizers of the anti-smoking petition caught by the same attorney general's opinion, are also planning a state lawsuit and a federal lawsuit over the ruling.

The groups collected signatures on their petitions for several months and submitted them to Heller's office Nov. 9. But a month after they submitted the petitions, the Attorney General's Office issued an opinion saying they needed 83,156 valid signatures to qualify instead of the 51,337 signatures they had been told were the minimum throughout the petition campaign.

The basis of the ruling was a requirement that petitions gather signatures totaling 10 percent of the turnout in the "last general election." The 51,337 total is 10 percent of the November 2002 turnout but - at the request of overloaded county election officials - the petitions weren't turned in until after the November 2004 elections and 10 percent of that turnout is 83,156 signatures. Attorney General Brian Sandoval ruled "last general election" means just that, and the petition organizers must meet the higher requirement.

Heller rejected the petitions as failed, saying he had no choice.

"We are hoping Secretary Heller will recognize that his previous action changes the rules after the game has ended, violates our right to due process and simply doesn't pass the straight-face test," said Neal Levine, of the Marijuana Policy Project. "But if he won't play fair, we fully expect to win in federal court."

The marijuana petition asks the Legislature to legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana among other changes to the law.

Bob Crowell, who filed the same request last week on behalf of the Cancer Society, also said it was unfair to change the rules after the petitions had been turned in.

Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at nevadaappeal@sbcglobal.net or 687-8750.