July 25, 2002

Editorial

Las Vegas Review-Journal

Mary Anne Solberg, deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, urged police officers Tuesday night to actively oppose Nevada's marijuana ballot initiative.

"Nevada is a state that is facing a crisis: the legalization of marijuana," she told about 2,000 officers who teach the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program to schoolchildren across the United States.

Speaking at the Las Vegas Hilton for the national DARE conference, she said decriminalization of marijuana "is a bad idea," and that increasing availability to pot would hurt the nation's youth, likening it to relaxed access to alcohol and tobacco for children.

The initiative, on the Nov. 5 ballot, would legalize possession of as much as 3 ounces of the drug. Possession of any amount by minors would remain a crime. The use of marijuana in public and by drivers would also be prohibited.

Solberg said powerful men with "more money than we've ever seen" were lobbying to ease pot laws across the nation, and that it was up to the nation's police officers to campaign vigorously against that effort.

"You need to get involved with this issue," she said, encouraging officers to write letters to the editors of their hometown newspapers. "Educate your parents. You need to educate your community... We cannot sit back and say this is a terrible thing and somebody better do something about it."