Pubdate: Sun, 28 Jul 2013
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Copyright: 2013 Las Vegas Review-Journal
Contact: http://www.reviewjournal.com/about/print/press/letterstoeditor.html
Website: http://www.lvrj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/233
Author: Tom Ragan

MEDICAL MARIJUANA BUSINESS WILL PROFIT NEVADA, LEGISLATOR SAYS

Future pot dispensary owners in Nevada are in a perfect position to 
make millions of dollars because the state is the only one in the 
country that plans to accept out-of-state medical marijuana cards, 
state Sen. Tick Segerblom told a 200-plus crowd Saturday.

After receiving a standing ovation at a National Cannabis Industry 
Association symposium for helping to pass a law legalizing such 
dispensaries, the Las Vegas Democrat said he expects the medical 
marijuana business to be a boon not only for state coffers but also 
for the 40 operators who will be able to sell medical pot to anybody 
who holds a card from another state.

At last tally 19 states had legalized medical marijuana - from 
Colorado to Oregon and Washington to Connecticut, Vermont and Delaware.

"And with tourism what it is in Las Vegas, with the millions of 
people who visit here, I don't need to tell you how profitable it can 
be," said Segerblom, who worked more than a decade to get the law 
passed. "And Nevada needs the money. It's very short on revenue. But 
we're not going to become a Venice Beach. Nevada has a thorough and 
fair bill, and we're going to regulate this industry the right way."

Responding to a question about whether Las Vegas hotels and casinos 
will ban medical marijuana, Segerblom said he hopes that they will accept it.

Other states have wrestled with the effects of secondhand marijuana 
smoke. Colorado already is trying to figure out how to separate the 
medical marijuana smoking populace from everyday tourists who just 
want to visit Rocky Mountain National Park with their children 
without breathing skunky smoke from the adjacent hotel room.

"I would think that our hotels and casinos would embrace it," 
Segerblom said. "They're already very smoker friendly."

The one-day symposium at the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel drew experts 
and dispensary operators from around the country. A few of the 
attendees have done well for themselves but not without first having 
to fight the federal government along the way. That includes Steve 
DeAngelo, the symposium's keynote speaker who operates the Oakland, 
Calif.-based Harborside Health Center.

With more than 100,000 medical marijuana patients, DeAngelo's 
dispensary is still fighting to stay open amid a federal government 
crackdown that's so controversial that the city of Oakland has come 
to DeAngelo's aide to protect the interest of his patients.

"The future is an inherently uncertain thing, but the change to 
regulate medical marijuana across the country is inevitable," he told 
the audience. "The wine is out of the bottle and it ain't going back 
in. But we have to remember to hold high standards for ourselves. We 
have to remember that we're not like any other business. Every other 
business is not illegal."

It's a touchy subject, the tug of war between states and the federal 
government in a country where there have been 750,000 arrests for 
marijuana possession every year, panelists at the symposium noted.

And while polls have shown that most people have no problem with 
legalizing medical pot, that doesn't mean they approve of it morally, 
DeAngelo said.

He urged the crowd to get the word out that there are real patients 
amid the recreational users, and that the weed has been known to 
boost appetites for AIDS and cancer patients, relieve pain among 
scoliosis and multiple sclerosis patients, even alleviate everyday 
anxiety and stress.

And yet the "jokes about 'the munchies' and Doritos" are still the 
norm rather than the exception at many a planning commission meeting 
where local land usage has had to be changed to make way for the next 
pot dispensary, noted Robert Jacobs, the owner of Peace in Medicine, 
a pot dispensary in Sebastopol, a small city in Marin County in 
Northern California.

His advice to future operators: join the local Rotary Club, open up 
the wallet and contribute to political campaigns, and dress appropriately.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom