Marijuana issue to remain on Nevada ballot

CARSON CITY - The secretary of state's office says a question on medical marijuana will stay on Nevada's Nov. 7 ballot despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bars a California club from dispensing pot to sick people.

Chief Deputy Secretary of State Donald Reis said the 7-1 Supreme Court decision wasn't a final ruling on whether doctors can recommend marijuana to patients.

Reis added Wednesday that the court may have to decide which laws take precedence: state laws allowing medical marijuana or federal laws prohibiting any use of marijuana.

Nevada's Question 9 would allow doctors to recommend marijuana to treat victims of cancer, glaucoma and other illnesses.

Two years ago, 59 percent of Nevada's voters approved the medical marijuana question, one similar to that passed in California in 1996.

But unlike California, the Nevada Constitution requires ballot questions to be approved at two consecutive elections before they take effect.

Americans for Medical Rights, the same group that pushed for the California law, is behind the Nevada effort to put the medical marijuana initiative before voters.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the U.S. Justice Department's request to block the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to distribute marijuana to thousands of patients with doctors' orders.

The ruling overturned a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that allowed the cooperative to distribute marijuana to its members.

The appeals court order, according to the Justice Department, was a dangerous one that created ''incentives for drug manufacturers and distributors to invoke the asserted needs of others as justification for their drug trafficking.''

Supporters of medical marijuana contend it helps reduce pain associated with glaucoma, eases nausea brought on by chemotherapy and induces AIDS patients to eat.