Posted on 10/08/2002 9:16:35 AM PDT by MrLeRoy
CARSON CITY -- Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani demanded Monday that Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, and a deputy district attorney apologize for saying the drive to legalize marijuana in Nevada is financed by an investor with ties to the South American drug cartel.
Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, said Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement has never accepted and never will accept money from drug cartels. The group is pushing for passage of Question 9, which would amend the state constitution and allow adult Nevadans to possess up to 3 ounces of marijuana.
Giunchigliani authored the bill last year that reduced the penalty for possession of an ounce or less of marijuana to a misdemeanor punishable by a $600 fine. Her bill also put into place the system under which people can grow marijuana for medicinal purposes.
At a Friday meeting of the state Board of Health, Clark County Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker said the drug cartel has financed the movement to legalize pot in Nevada. He based his comments on research done by Neal, the Democratic candidate for governor.
Neal said Excellent Intelligence Review, a publication owned by Lyndon LaRouche, reported that billionaire investor George Soros has financed the Medical Marijuana Project, parent organization of Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement. LaRouche also said Soros was financing movements in South America that helped drug lords.
"Gary Booker and Joe Neal are taking the word of a criminal who says President George W. Bush is insane and who claims that Queen Elizabeth was behind the Oklahoma City bombing," said Giunchigliani, chairwoman of the campaign to pass Question 9.
LaRouche said in a news release last week that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney "by their pattern of bizarre behavior" have shown themselves to be insane.
He contended their moves to launch a "war of aggression" with Iraq violate the constitution, international law and the United Nations charter.
Giunchigliani said LaRouche once hired a Ku Klux Klan member to provide intelligence to his organization.
Neal refused Monday to offer any apology to Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement. Booker did not return a telephone call seeking comment.
The Executive Intelligence Review " is a credible source," Neal said. "Let them sue the ERI. The ERI stands behind their publications. I trust their information."
From his dealings with the LaRouche organization, Neal said, he knows LaRouche is not a racist or anti-Semitic. Neal, who is the Democratic nominee for governor, is black.
LaRouche is a Democratic candidate for president in 2004. He spent five years in prison for fund-raising violations. He has been a candidate for president in every election since 1976.
Billy Rogers, leader of Nevada for Responsible Law Enforcement, said Neal and Rogers should be ashamed for using comments from LaRouche to back their viewpoints.
"It is beyond belief that Question 9 opponents would stand with a convicted felon who relied on a member of the KKK and who said Queen Elizabeth is a terrorist," he said. "You have people abusing the power of their offices to put out bald-faced lies about our campaign."
In response, The Executive Intelligence Review in a statement said Rogers's "kind of aberrant mental behavior" is what one expects form a "habitual marijuana user."
Rogers has stated in previous stories that he does not smoke marijuana and has not used the drug for more than 15 years.
"More than 4,000 Nevadans, including state Assembly members, retired police officers and doctors, have publicly endorsed Question 9 because they support protecting responsible adults in the privacy of a home or under the care of a doctor," Giunchigliani said. "Nevadans are turning their backs on the opposition's campaign of lies."
The state Board of Health voted unanimously Friday to oppose passage of Question 9. Dr. Joey Villaflor, chairman of the board, said he was concerned that more children would acquire marijuana if the ballot proposition passes.
"Four days after making a controversial accusation, Clark County Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker was replaced as the chief law enforcement spokesman opposing the movement to legalize marijuana."
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