Pubdate: Thu, 19 Sep 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: Benjamin Spillman

MORE WAITING FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA SHOPS

City Council Attracts Heat for Moratorium

Medical marijuana businesses looking to file applications to set up 
shop in Nevada's biggest city will have to wait six more months under 
an ordinance approved Wednesday.

The Las Vegas City Council voted 7-0 in favor of a moratorium against 
land use, building permit or business license applications for 
medical marijuana businesses, despite pressure from patients and 
others tired of waiting for action.

The moratorium is intended to give the council time to update city 
code to accommodate marijuana businesses while adhering to state 
regulations that are still being written.

"We are going to get there, but you have to be patient for us so we 
get it done right," said Councilman Steve Ross. "We can't just throw 
it out there and think it is going to work."

People who showed up to testify on the subject were in no mood to 
indulge the council's pleas for patience after being denied a chance 
to speak despite waiting more than three hours for the opportunity.

When making a motion to approve the moratorium, Mayor Carolyn Goodman 
said there would be no opportunity for public comment. She said the 
10 or so people who showed up to testify had a chance to speak when 
the bill was at the council's Recommending Committee on Sept. 3.

City Attorney Brad Jerbic told council members that while they had 
the option of hearing public comment, the open comment period at the 
beginning of the meeting and the previous meeting were enough to meet 
requirements of the state open meeting law.

"If you want to hear more comment, it is at your discretion," Jerbic said.

The move rankled people who had waited through lengthy discussions 
about everything from a sandwich shop proposed in City Hall to a 
report on the efficiency of development services programs before 
being told their input wasn't welcome.

"I was very upset," said Bruce Gale, an attorney and medical 
marijuana advocate who had his testimony shut down. "I think everyone 
should have been given an opportunity to be heard."

Attorney Marc TerBeek, who specializes in medical marijuana 
regulatory issues, said the city is "putting its head in the sand" 
hoping to avoid accommodating the businesses altogether.

TerBeek said the strategy could backfire because once state 
regulations are in place, businesses will open without going through 
the city at all.

"People are going to open up ... and the city of Las Vegas isn't 
going to have its own voice in regulating and overseeing the process," he said.

Interest in medical marijuana businesses is spiking in Nevada as a 
result of a bill signed into law in June that directed the Department 
of Health and Human Services to create regulations that would govern 
marijuana dispensaries.

The bill was a response to complaints from patients and others who 
said the Legislature's previous requirement that people grow their 
own product or receive it from a caretaker was too onerous and pushed 
buyers into the black market.

Voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2000 that legalized 
medical marijuana; the Legislature approved the "grow your own" 
framework in 2001.

The regulations are due by April 1, although state officials have 
said they might come sooner. City officials say they want to wait to 
make their own rules until they have a chance to see what the state does.

But patients and their advocates are tired of waiting.

"You are in pain, you are in medical need of something, and you don't 
have access to it," Gale said.

Council members insisted they were sympathetic to patients' plights 
but needed more time to make sure whatever the city does complies 
with state law.

They're also worried that even with support from the state, the city 
could run into problems with the federal government.

Although President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have 
stated they wouldn't seek to prosecute medical marijuana, the drug 
remains illegal under federal law.

"With all due respect to the attorney general and president, they 
can't do that," said Mayor Pro Tem Stavros Anthony, a retired Las 
Vegas police officer. "I could be going from captain of vice (and) 
narcotics in my previous career to an accused drug trafficker on a 
federal level."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom