Pubdate: Mon, 27 Oct 2014
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Copyright: 2014 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: James DeHaven

EVERY POT CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING

Not everybody has been happy with Nevada's medical marijuana process, 
but that doesn't mean it's broken.

That's according to investment banker Leslie Bocskor, a founding 
chairman of the Nevada Cannabis Industry Association and adviser to 
five Southern Nevada medical pot permit hopefuls.

Bocskor has provided seed funding and permitting guidance to a dozen 
pot entrepreneurs looking to navigate land use and business licensing 
in Nevada and two other states.

He said the Silver State's two-pronged approach to pot permitting has 
acquitted itself nicely, especially when stacked up against 
oft-criticized systems in Colorado and California.

"Almost everyone I've spoken with has had problems with the process," 
Bocskor said Thursday. "It's a competitive process. ... Every time 
someone raises a complaint, I'm reminded of the way players in a 
basketball or a football game complain to referees."

Bocskor said Nevada's regulatory framework - one that sees local 
governments vet applicants for licensing and land use entitlements 
while state regulators look into their criminal background and 
business bona fides - has become the gold standard among states 
looking to join the green rush.

Las Vegas leaders have opted to fast-track the city's first round of 
medical pot permit approvals, moving ahead with an up-or-down vote on 
city pot hopefuls a few days before state regulators are expected to 
hand down their verdict on those applicants' business credentials.

Councilman Bob Coffin has voiced serious misgivings over the move, 
one he fears could provoke lawsuits from state-approved applicants 
spurned by the city.

Bocskor said he was familiar with those concerns and sympathetic to 
applicants' fears that such a move plays into the hands of powerful lobbyists.

But at the end of the day, he said, things could be a lot worse.

"For all of this talk, we have to remember that the state Legislature 
did a very good job," Bocskor said. "First Security Bank is the first 
in the nation to take medical marijuana business accounts. ... We're 
the only state in the nation to have reciprocity in our (medical 
marijuana use) legislation.

"The state's regulatory framework is being heralded as the best in the nation.

In part, I think, because of the experience Nevada has with regulating gaming."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom