(NN&V Staff) – On Wednesday, Dave Schwartz, manager of the Marijuana Policy Project of Nevada (MPP-NV), announced that he has filed documents with the Nevada Secretary of State establishing a Ballot Advocacy Group to support a ballot initiative to create a legal, regulated market for marijuana for persons 21 years of age or older.
The name of the committee is Nevadans for Sensible Marijuana Laws, and it has been organized with the goal of conducting a successful signature drive in 2010 that will place an initiative on the ballot in November 2012. The committee plans to file the language of the initiative with the state in January.
“As a long-time resident of Nevada, I am excited to be a part of this campaign,” said Schwartz, who will serve as chairman of Nevadans for Sensible Marijuana Laws. “Over the next three years, we will be meeting with and talking to voters all across the state about the harms caused by our current marijuana laws.
“We will talk about lost revenues, wasted law enforcement resources, and the fact that keeping marijuana illegal actually steers kids into an illicit market where they are exposed to far more dangerous drugs. Most of all, we will ask Nevadans to think about how we are actually steering adults toward a far more harmful substance – alcohol – by threatening to punish them if they choose to use marijuana instead.
“In so many ways, our current laws simply don’t make sense. We need sensible marijuana laws, and that is what our initiative will produce.”
MPP of Nevada is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating Nevadans about the true nature of marijuana and about the harms caused by marijuana prohibition in the state. For more information about MPP of Nevada, please visit http://www.mppnv.org
