Pubdate: Sun, 02 Aug 2015
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Copyright: 2015 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

DISPENSARY DELAYS

Clark County government decided more than a year ago that it wanted 
medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in unincorporated areas. We 
know this because county commissioners last year passed an ordinance 
allowing the dispensaries, then spent weeks meeting with lobbyists 
and juiced insiders before awarding coveted licenses.

And here we are in August 2015- almost 15 years after Nevada voters 
approved medical marijuana, more than two years after the Legislature 
finally authorized the retail sale of the drug to registered patients 
with a doctor's prescription- and no dispensaries are open in Southern Nevada.

Why? Because Clark County doesn't seem to want medical marijuana 
dispensaries, after all. That's a reasonable takeaway from the 
rigmarole the county is inflicting on Euphoria Wellness, a dispensary 
that could have opened in February if only the county had followed 
state standards.

The law allows dispensaries to obtain initial supplies by purchasing 
small amounts of marijuana from registered patients. However, as 
reported by the Review-Journal's Eric Hartley, Euphoria Wellness 
attorney Maggie McLetchie said the county conditioned the 
dispensary's license on obtaining marijuana only from commercial 
growers. Those growers don't have any product to sell and won't for 
some time. So the dispensary remains closed, bleeding capital on 
overhead, with no income. And the county won't reconsider its approach.

"All we're seeing from the county now are delays and delays and 
delays," said Ms. McLetchie, who also represents the Review-Journal 
in public records matters. She said the county's arbitrary approach 
was evident at an inspection where a commissioner went so far as 
micromanaging a product display.

The state's first medical marijuana dispensary opened Friday-in 
Sparks. What an indictment of local government in Clark County.

If the county and other local governments didn't want to have medical 
marijuana dispensaries, the time to make that decision was 2013 or 
2014. Boulder City, for example, wanted nothing to do with the 
industry. Clark County didn't have to pass a medical marijuana 
ordinance, either. But it welcomed the process- and commissioners 
collected plenty of campaign contributions as a result of it. It's 
too late for them to change their minds. Too much capital has been 
invested. Lawful businesses are suffering. The county needs to 
rethink its approach-fast. Jobs, tax collections and the health of 
many sick people depend on it.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom