Poll Shows Nevada Marijuana Initiative in Dead Heat: Drugwar.com

Poll Shows Nevada Marijuana Initiative in Dead Heat

posted drugwar.com July 25, 2002

Dear friend:

A statewide public opinion poll in Nevada -- released yesterday by the Las Vegas Review-Journal -- shows that the Marijuana Policy Project's ballot initiative campaign is in a dead heat!

Fully 44% of the voters say they plan to vote for the initiative, 46% say they are opposed, and 10% are undecided. And this poll described our initiative simply as providing that "possession of three ounces or less of marijuana by a person aged 21 or older is not a cause for arrest." The results would have tilted our way if the voters would have also been told that our initiative imposes penalties for driving dangerously while under the influence of marijuana, distributing marijuana to minors, and smoking marijuana on public transportation.

In a political campaign where both sides are running neck-and-neck, the side with the most money wins. Would you please visit http://www.NRLE.org to donate $10 or more to the Nevada initiative campaign? "Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement" is our PAC in
Nevada.

If we run a professional campaign and the polling remains close until mid-October, we will win on Election Day if we can afford to run hard-hitting TV ads at the end of the campaign. Your donation will be used to pay for these ads.

DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson has already spoken out against our initiative when he was visiting Reno on July 11, saying, "That would leave Nevada with one of the most liberal policies on drugs -- what kind of tourism will Nevada attract?" The Las Vegas Review-Journal -- the largest newspaper in the state, which had already endorsed our initiative -- responded by lampooning him with a second editorial. Please see http://www.NRLE.org for an archive of this news coverage.

Please help us defeat Asa Hutchinson, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Drug Czar John Walters, and other cruel federal officials who like the fact that more than 700,000 Americans are arrested every year on marijuana charges.

Would you please donate $10 or more at http://www.NRLE.org ?

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Since we announced on July 16 that MPP's voter initiative to end all marijuana arrests would appear on the Nevada ballot this November:

* 433 subscribers on this e-mail list have donated a total of $14,415
* 61 subscribers said they cannot afford to donate
* 21 people unsubscribed from this e-mail list

Unfortunately, 44,485 subscribers have not yet responded. If you are in this group, would you please go to http://www.NRLE.org or thebottom of this message to choose one of the three options above for how you want to participate (or not participate) in the Nevada campaign?

If you and most of the other subscribers on this list would each donate $10 or more between now and Election Day, this will generate all the money we need to run hard-hitting TV ads in Nevada at the end of the campaign ... which will catapult our initiative to an historic victory on November 5.

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WHAT WILL OUR INITIATIVE DO?

If approved by a majority of the voters, our ballot initiative will eliminate the threat of arrest and all other penalties for adults who use and possess up to three ounces of marijuana. Second, it will
require the state government to implement a system whereby adults could obtain marijuana through a legally regulated market, rather than
from the criminal market. Third, it will allow seriously ill patients to obtain marijuana at a lower cost than non-medical users. And, fourth, it will impose common-sense restrictions that the voters demand, such as imposing penalties for driving dangerously while under the influence of marijuana, smoking marijuana in public, and providing marijuana to minors.

In short, this ballot initiative will end the government's war on responsible marijuana users, thereby allowing the police in Nevada to
focus their time and resources on murder, rape, robbery, and property crimes. "Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement" is the right name
for our campaign committee.

To see the text of the initiative, please visit http://www.NRLE.org. And, if you like what you see, would you please use the contribution form on that Web site to donate $10 or more to this historic campaign?

I want to thank you in advance for your generosity.

Sincerely,

Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

P.S. With only 105 days until November 5, we don't have much time to raise the substantial sum of money that is needed to run hard-hitting TV ads at the end of the campaign. Please visit
http://www.NRLE.org right away to donate $10 or more.

Thank you!

P.P.S. By donating $250 or more now, you will receive a videotape of all of the campaign's hard-hitting TV ads in October, as well as all of the TV news coverage of the Nevada campaign.

P.P.P.S. Our first-ever national conference will begin two days after Election Day in Anaheim, California. To join us for what will hopefully be a victory celebration, please register at
http://www.mpp.org/conference .