Cannabis Convention Attracts Business-Minded Attendees

Attendees at the International Cannabis Association's convention Sunday sought to apply their business experiences to an emerging market.

Among those present at the two-day convention at the Hard Rock Hotel were a security expert, a New York ammunitions manufacturer, a self-described reverend of cannabis, a real estate investor and others - all eager to learn more about the emerging industry.

The keynote speaker was New York state Sen. Diane Savino, a Democrat and a sponsor of a medical marijuana bill that passed in New York on Friday. New York would become the 23rd state to legalize medical marijuana if Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs the bill.

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Taking a slow but steady approach, the city of Las Vegas has a tentative plan to handle applications for medical marijuana establishments in its own fashion. Not the way Clark County did it. Not the way Henderson is doing it. Not the way North Las Vegas is expected to do it.

"The tentative plan is to have special use permits before the Planning Commission with meetings in the month of September," Planning Director Flinn Fagg said Wednesday. "Then it would be forward to the City Council in October. It would be about the same time the state will be reviewing it."

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Permits Granted to Production, Cultivation Firms

Clark County commissioners on Tuesday approved 101 applications from medical marijuana developers seeking to open production, cultivation and laboratory facilities from Laughlin to Las Vegas.

With unanimous votes, commissioners approved the vast majority, rejecting only five applications from a pool of 106. Commissioners started the day with 112 applications, but six were withdrawn.

The seven-hour hearing capped the county's foray into approving medical marijuana applications for special use permits. They approved 58 permits for cultivation facilities, 38 for production facilities and five for laboratories for testing medical marijuana.

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Henderson on Right Path, but Don't Over-Regulate

Henderson is taking the high road in licensing medical marijuana dispensaries. Rather than pick favorites at the outset of the process, the city proposes to screen license applicants based on defined suitability criteria, then forward them to state regulators for evaluation. Under ordinances that will be considered by the City Council today, Henderson would not take the approach of Clark County, which invited a lobbying frenzy - and questions of integrity - by marching every applicant in front of the board and making its picks before state consideration. If the state doesn't license a dispensary, the application dies.

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Columnist's Pot Candy Flipped Switch in Brain

NEW YORK - Maureen Dowd, a 62-yearold Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times, had a bad marijuana trip earlier this year. As part of her research into the legalization of recreational cannabis in Colorado, she ate a few too many bites of a pot-infused candy bar, entered a "hallucinatory state," and spent eight paranoid hours curled up on her hotel room bed.

Dowd used the experience as a jumping-off point to discuss the risks of overdosing on edible marijuana, which has become a major issue in pot-friendly states.

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Financial Institution Eager to Do Business With Would-Be Marijuana Dispensary

If finance executives are worried about getting involved with medical marijuana clients, don't tell Las Vegas banker John Sullivan.

First Security Bank of Nevada, led by CEO Sullivan, has signed on to manage cash and other banking transactions for would be dispensary operator GrowBlox Sciences.

GrowBlox, which said it "operates with the utmost compliance integrity," said its arrangement with First Security would eliminate the "cash-only" status of medical marijuana shops that have left them vulnerable to devastating theft.

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After my admission that I did a foolish thing in Denver - failing to realize that consuming a single square, about a quarter, of a pot candy bar was dicey for an edibles virgin - many in the pot industry upbraided me for doing a foolish thing.

But some in Mary Jane world have contacted me to say that my dysphoria (i.e., bummer) is happening more and more in Colorado.

Justin Hartfield is the California founder of Marijuana.com and Weedmaps.com (a sort of Yelp for pot), and an entrepreneur involved in some of the nation's top marijuana-technology companies. As The Wall Street Journal noted in a profile in March, the 30-year-old former high school pot dealer wants to be "the Philip Morris of pot."

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Council Meeting Will Set Up Parameters for Businesses

Henderson is getting ready to enter the medical marijuana fray a year after the state signed the industry into law.

The city is scheduled to introduce a series of bills at the June 17 City Council meeting that would set the parameters for medical marijuana establishments including locations, fees, application process and general regulations.

The new ordinances are scheduled for final approval at the July 1 council meeting.

However, no time frame for accepting applications and beginning the approval process for licensing dispensaries has been established, according to city spokeswoman Karina Milani.

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When Alecia Phonesavanh heard her 19-month-old son, Bounkham, screaming, she thought he was simply frightened by the armed men who had burst into the house in the middle of the night. Then she saw the charred remains of the portable playpen where the toddler had been sleeping, and she knew something horrible had happened.

Bounkham "Bou Bou" Phonesavanh, who is in a medically induced coma at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, may never wake up. But the appalling injuries he suffered during a police raid in Habersham County, Ga., last month should awaken the country to the moral obscenity that is the war on drugs.

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Winners Must Go Through State's Vetting Process Before Opening Shops

They came from near and far. Las Vegas Valley developers, medical marijuana industry veterans from Colorado and area doctors were among them.

The odds were against them. Seventy-nine applicants - down from 81 - aiming for part of the region's next industry: medical marijuana. And Clark County had just 18 slots for medical marijuana dispensaries.

There were familiar names among the winners that county commissioners picked Friday at the end of a three-day hearing. Longtime developer and gaming executive Randy Black, who retired last year as chief operating officer at Mesquite Gaming, for example, hopes to open a dispensary in Laughlin. He was the only applicant there.

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Operators Need Blend of Experience, Reputation

Several months ago, medical marijuana was stuck in neutral in Southern Nevada. Today, it's full speed ahead for the licensing and opening of dispensaries in unincorporated Clark County, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas. Local elected officials appear to have finally conquered whatever irrational fears they might have had about legal, taxed sales of an otherwise prohibited drug - and they appear to have listened to most of the concerns of the public and the industry in regulating the production of the narcotic.

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Reno Mayor Bob Cashell said he may consider applying to operate a medical marijuana dispensary. A rumor that he may apply for a dispensary license has been circulating in Reno. When asked, he didn't deny it.

"I've not done any of that, at this point," he said. "My daughter has a daughter that's used [cannabis medication] a little bit, and she's working with some people and stuff like that. But if a business opportunity comes along, I might look at it."

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When Voters Lay Down the Law, Some Officials Balk

It was midday at Casale's Halfway Club on East Fourth Street. Though lunch is not always a big thing here, today there was a group of 10 people around a single table. Tom Case had bid in a silent auction on lunch for 10 with the mayors of Reno and Sparks at Casale's. He won, and this was the gathering.

It was a fairly affluent group gathered around the table, so it was perhaps surprising that one of the first questions was about medical marijuana, directed at Reno Mayor Bob Cashell, who had recently endorsed its health care use. Seated under a poster for Birra Peroni lager, Cashell explained again the evolution of his thinking on the matter, which involves his hearing neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta explain the issue on CNN.

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Clark County commissioners will embark today on a three-day marathon of public hearings to winnow 81 applicants for medical marijuana dispensaries to 18 dispensaries.

The county's three-day process means that, at the earliest, commissioners will decide Friday afternoon on the 18 dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county that will be sent to the state for approval. A decision on the 18 could come after Friday as well.

Each of the 81 applicants has a public hearing, giving neighbors a chance to testify. But commissioners intend for the process to remain on a tight schedule.

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Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., has introduced legislation that would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level.

He said the proposal would turn the decision whether pot use and possession is legal over to the states.

"States that have voted to legalize marijuana for medical and/or recreational use should not fear federal agents raiding their businesses and intimidating their citizens," Horsford said.

He said the bill doesn't force states to legalize pot but would simply direct the Attorney General to remove marijuana from the list of controlled substances and put it under the federal Alcohol Administration Act.

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The medical marijuana dispensary license applicant swore he could smell something in the air inside Clark County government, and it wasn't pot smoke.

It was the malodor of politics.

Why, he recently asked after we agreed he'd remain anonymous, were applicants with connections to the state's gaming industry receiving special consideration? Couldn't they have easily anticipated the state Gaming Control Board would take issue with their relationship with a drug that's against federal law to sell? Shouldn't they have done their due diligence?

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Coalition's Website Pushes for Legalized Recreational Use in Nevada

A pro-marijuana group seeking to legalize the recreational use of the drug in Nevada is getting organized, creating a website where information about the effort, including how to volunteer, can be found.

The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in April filed its petition to send a recreational marijuana proposal to the 2015 Legislature. Its website is http://www.regulatemarijuanainnevada. org/.

The group also has a Facebook page. The initiative petition was filed by Joe Brezny, executive director of the Nevada Cannabis Industry Association.

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The Gardnerville and Minden town boards will weigh in with their feelings about having medical marijuana establishments in their communities this week.

On Friday, the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health announced it will accept applications for medical marijuana establishments Aug. 5 - 18. The application form can be found on the department of health's Medical Marijuana Program web page at: http://health.nv.gov/medicalmarijuana.htm.

Douglas County has imposed a temporary ban on medical marijuana establishments while it collects information to produce an ordinance.

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Recreational Pot Petition Good Policy

Nevada voters have an opportunity to reset America's costly drug war. This week, petitioners began collecting signatures for an initiative to legalize recreational use of marijuana within the state. If the petitioners collect 101,667 valid signatures from registered Nevada voters by Nov. 11, the measure would go before the 2015 Legislature for consideration. And if lawmakers ignore or reject it, the petition would appear on the November 2016 ballot.

We're guessing the petition, put forward by the Nevada Canabis Industry Association with help from the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, won't have a problem collecting signatures from less than 10 percent of Nevada's electorate. Polling consistently shows a majority of voters now support decriminalizing the drug. All the way back in 2006,when voters were far less open to the idea of legalizing the purchase, possession and use of small amounts of marijuana, 44 percent of Nevada voters backed a ballot question to do just that.

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Plants Could Yield Millions in Revenue With Minimal Water Use, Observers Say

Marijuana could become one of the biggest cash crops in Nevada when cultivation facilities open in the coming months, a UNLV soil and water scientist said.

"They're going to make a lot of money using very little amount of water," professor Dale Devitt said. "That's how you justify the use of water in the desert."

High-grade alfalfa grown on farms throughout Northern Nevada earns about $100 profit per acre-foot of water. Golf courses in Las Vegas make about $5,000 to $7,000 per acre-foot of water.

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If you want to know where the medicinal marijuana issue is going in Nevada, don't sweat the future location of the pot shop nearest you. Instead, just drop by Richard "Tick" Segerblom's downtown law office.

There you'll find him dressed casually and working several cases at once, none of which is related to the state's ongoing marijuana evolution. Although the issue has taken up much of his time for more than a decade, he is one of the few Southern Nevada insiders not in direct line to make a score once the dispensaries are up and running.

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In coming months, Clark County is expected to issue the first medical marijuana business licenses on four different levels: cultivation warehouses, production facilities, lab testing and dispensaries.

That covers each stage of getting pot from seed to sale.

At a hearing scheduled for June 5, which could spill over into the next day, county commissioners are expected to decide which of 109 companies that applied for licenses will be sent to the state Public and Behavioral Health Division for review.

State and county officials want to closely oversee newly legalized sales, and have set strict guidelines for companies that want to enter the pot business.

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Policy Targets Weed Fed by Colorado River

Budding local weed farmers can breathe easily. A new federal policy directive that could bar the delivery of Colorado River water to marijuana cultivators apparently does not apply to those in the Las Vegas Valley.

Though roughly 90 percent of the valley's water comes from the river by way of federally managed Lake Mead, officials from the Southern Nevada Water Authority believe their agency is exempt from a temporary policy statement unveiled this week by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

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Here's the latest word for Nevada gaming licensees who want to plunge into the state's new medical marijuana marketplace: The answer is still no.

The Nevada Gaming Commission voted Thursday to uphold the state Gaming Control Board's edict earlier this month that keeps anyone with a gaming license from investing in or owning a medical marijuana dispensary or growing the plant for use in the budding industry.

In a May 6 industry notice, the Control Board said license holders should stay away from state-sanctioned medical pot because the federal government still views distribution, possession and sale of the drug as a crime. The control board warned even potential gaming license applicants to stay away from the pot trade.

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The Clark County Commission signaled this week that it would ignore a recommendation by the state and continue with its medical marijuana application process unchanged.

Commissioners said during a meeting that they plan to choose operators for 18 dispensaries from a pool of 81 applicants when they review applications starting June 4.

That differs from a request from the state Monday afternoon that local governments forward "a large number of applicants" for state approval.

Under the two-step system imposed by the Legislature in 2013, medical marijuana applicants must receive a special-use permit from local governments and a license from the state.

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Ending a 13-hour meeting packed with controversy, the Las Vegas City Council unanimously approved a zoning ordinance laying out where medical marijuana establishments will be allowed.

Councilman Bob Coffin made a successful run Wednesday at setting the city's stricter proposed standards to align with the state's standards.

The council will allow dispensaries in commercial and industrial districts. The council removed the requirement that dispensaries be in fully detached, standalong structures, which some speakers called too restrictive.

The council also voted to allow dispensaries on Las Vegas Boulevard and on Fremont Street, east of Eighth Street. Clark County rejected the idea of dispensaries on Las Vegas Boulevard and Coffin said if the city allowed it, it would provide a competitive advantage.

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Julie Hornsby lives in constant pain. She suffers from peripheral neuropathy, a painful condition that attacks the body's nervous system. She also has degenerative disk disease in her lower back, painful enough on its own.

There's no cure for it, so Hornsby's life centers on managing her pain with strong narcotics, including morphine and Percocet.

"I'm 49 years old, unable to work," Hornsby said. "I quit (working) full time in 2008 and have been on disability for almost four years now. I don't work outside of the home. I can't. I can't get out of bed."

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Citizenry's Ire From Killing of Pets Could Help Stifle Collateral Damage in Violent Raids

If Radley Balko is right, it may be the dog lovers of America who touched off a movement to rein in the strong-arm tactics that have accompanied the militarization of the country's police forces.

Balko, who writes The Washington Post's "The Watch" blog on criminal justice issues, says that police these days too frequently shoot people's pets when making a raid, and people are becoming fed up.

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It's called Charlotte's Web and it is a strain of marijuana that won't get you stoned.

Yet this particular strain of pot is considered a wonder drug by parents and doctors who use it to treat children with epilepsy and other seizure-causing conditions.

For children like 8-year-old Samuel Brady of Carson City, getting access to the Charlotte's Web tincture and oil that is processed from the marijuana plant will be a matter of life and death.

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To the editor:

In recent months, local and national news outlets have reported that marijuana can damage people's brains, and can also cause heart damage. So where does the American Medical Association stand on the use of recreational marijuana?

Just because Colorado passed laws to permit medical and recreational marijuana does not mean that Nevada needs to do likewise in order to get tax money. I can think of various things to do or laws to pass to get tax money without legalizing recreational marijuana.

LAS VEGAS

[end]

Nevada employers are facing a dilemma over how to treat employees who use medical marijuana - a drug that's still considered illegal under federal law and is not permitted by much of corporate America.

Meanwhile, Nevada law requires employers to consider "reasonable accommodations" for those who have a medical marijuana card and test positive for pot in an employment drug test.

"Nevada employers are really in a pickle," said Karyn Jensen of the Human Resource Connection in Reno.

"There is a conflict for employers with what the federal law is telling them and what the state law is telling them what to do," Jensen said. "So from an HR perspective, this is a nightmare, to be completely candid. It's a nightmare."

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Planning commissioners pushed North Las Vegas a step closer to a medical marijuana ordinance Wednesday, unanimously approving new pot planning regulations set for City Council approval next month.

Rules OK'd by commissioners this week put a few extra teeth into the state's green rush land use restrictions, including having a 300-foot proposed buffer zone between pot dispensaries and residential developments.

They also pull quite a few teeth out of regulatory schemes recently adopted in Las Vegas and Clark County, where pot dispensaries are required to observe a 1,500foot setback between nonrestricted gaming establishments and a 1,000-foot buffer between other pot production, testing and cultivation facilities.

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To the editor:

For those of us who need pain relief, weed is not the answer. Marijuana has two main components: THC and cannabidiol. THC is the psychoactive component, and the cannabidiol component is the true medical marijuana.

If we could educate people about this fact and lead our government to approve cannabidiol, it could be made into a tablet that could be ingested like aspirin. Doing that would diminish the hype and resistance that goes along with the legalization of marijuana. above. Understand the message. Be motivated by the wisdom and scared to death by the warning.

PHYLLIS COLLINS LAS VEGAS

[end]

Security, Software, Cash-Payment Kiosks Just Some of the Byproducts of Marijuana Sales

Lenny Davis spent much of his 31year career in law enforcement busting down doors to confiscate illicit marijuana and piles of drug money. Some of the dealers he locked up are still in prison.

Phil Gervasi busted drug dealers as an officer with the New York City Police Department, and spent 17 years with the Clark County School District police.

These days, Davis and Gervasi are part of security companies competing for deals with dozens of Clark County medical marijuana businesses.

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The Clark County Commission voted today to increase the number of medical marijuana dispensaries allowed in the unincorporated county from 10 to 18.

The decision drew protests from officials representing Henderson and North Las Vegas, which lose dispensaries under the arrangement.

With 45 percent of the population living in the unincorporated county, Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak said it should get 45 percent of the dispensaries.

Under the distribution proposed by Sisolak and approved unanimously today, the unincorporated county would get 18 dispensary licenses, Las Vegas would get 12, Henderson five, North Las Vegas four and Mesquite one dispensary license.

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Clark County revealed today the names of hundreds of people looking to get into the region's budding medical marijuana industry. The list of applicants includes doctors, lawyers, real estate brokers, political power players and gaming moguls.

Included among the applicants are:

* Retiring District Judge James Bixler, who owns a 25 percent stake in Greenleaf Dispensaries, which is seeking two licenses.

* Former Henderson Mayor Robert Groesbeck, who is listed as a manager for MM Development Co., which is seeking dispensary, cultivation and production facility licenses. Former Henderson City Councilman Larry Scheffler is also listed as a manager in the company.

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Notable List of Southern Nevadans Making Bids to Garner One of the Pot Permits

At the height of the "Just Say No" campaign in the war on drugs, Sig Rogich was a senior adviser to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Now Rogich, who runs one of the most powerful public relations firms in Nevada, is part of a team looking to snag one of Clark County's medical marijuana licenses.

"It was 30 years ago, a lot has changed," Rogich, 69, said of his involvement with marijuana's staunch political opponents. "They're legalizing it in 22 states now."

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Marijuana on Path to Full Legalization

Marijuana has gone mainstream. That's the lesson we can take from the outpouring of interest in medical marijuana businesses seen by Clark County last week. A total of 206 proposals were entered by 109 different companies for everything from dispensaries to grow houses to testing labs.

We'll no doubt see similar interest in the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, which are also preparing to allow medical marijuana businesses within their jurisdictions. North Las Vegas, especially, could use the tax revenue such businesses would bring to the strapped city's coffers.

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Despite Medical Marijuana Cards, Judges Have Discretion

As Southern Nevada readies for expanded access to medical marijuana - and an anticipated avalanche of people seeking access to it - legal experts have a warning for parents: One of the drug's myriad effects is its heavy sway on some child-custody battles.

Judges have broad discretion in custodial cases, Las Vegas family law attorney Stacy Rocheleau said, and their personal philosophies about marijuana use can affect each ruling.

That means medical marijuana cardholders with children should scrutinize the reasons they're using the drug and the frequency with which they do it, Rocheleau said.

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Does Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick realize associating himself with the claim cannabis (marijuana) is a "Schedule I" substance is in fact the root of the farce ["Legal pot an uphill climb in Nevada," April. 24]? Cannabis prohibition is the "hoax" dependent on lies, half-truths and propaganda to perpetuate.

Claiming heroin is no worse than cannabis and methamphetamine, and cocaine is less harmful than cannabis by insisting cannabis is a Schedule I substance alongside heroin while methamphetamine and cocaine are only Schedule II substances is disingenuous and dangerous.

A sane or moral argument to continue cannabis prohibition doesn't exist.

Stan White, Dillon, Colo.

[end]

CARSON CITY - A pro-marijuana group filed a petition Wednesday to start the process of legalizing the recreational use of marijuana in Nevada.

The decision probably will be decided by voters in 2016 if the group can gather the requisite number of signatures.

The initiative petition was filed in the Las Vegas office of the secretary of state by Joe Brezny, executive director of the Nevada Cannabis Industry Association.

Supporters must collect 101,667 signatures by Nov. 11 to put a petition to change a state law on the ballot in 2016. If they do,

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Mike Lee calls for "a new conservative reform agenda" based on "three basic principles," one of which is federalism. "The biggest reason the federal government makes too many mistakes is that it makes too many decisions," the Republican senator from Utah explained in a speech at the Heritage Foundation last year. "Most of these are decisions the federal government doesn't have to make - and therefore shouldn't."

So why on earth is Lee cosponsoring a bill introduced last month that would ban online gambling throughout the country, instead of letting each state decide whether to allow Internet-assisted poker? The contradiction illustrates one reason the GOP seems destined for permanent minority status: Too many of its members are unprincipled killjoys who do not understand that federalism requires tolerance of diversity.

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Residents Voice Concerns at Medical Marijuana Town Hall

Look at what Las Vegas and Clark County have done, then do the opposite.

That was the consensus reached at North Las Vegas City Hall on Tuesday night, where a healthy crowd warned city leaders against over-regulating their share of 40 pot grow houses, dispensaries and testing facilities recently authorized under Assembly Bill 374.

Officials - meeting at the first of several town halls aimed at crafting a regulatory approach to the newly state-sanctioned medical marijuana facilities - didn't say when they plan to introduce an ordinance to allow city pot operations.

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The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Wednesday filed a petition with the Nevada Secretary of State to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in the Silver State.

The group, made up of investors who are entering Nevada's burgeoning medical marijuana industry, needs to get 101,667 signatures by Nov. 11 to move the process forward.

The first stop would be the 2015 Nevada Legislature.

It will be an uphill battle for backers of the petition because approval would take a two-thirds vote in both houses because the petition has a tax component. All tax hikes in Nevada need a two-thirds vote in the Legislature to pass. It would also need the signature of Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval to become law.

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LAS VEGAS - Officials have received at least 178 applications from people seeking to start medical marijuana-related businesses in Clark County.

The Clark County Business License Department announced the totals 90 minutes before a 5 p.m. Tuesday submission deadline.

The number includes 60 applications related to cultivation, 77 in the dispensary category, one in the laboratory category and 40 in production.

Clark County became the first municipality in southern Nevada to accept applications for marijuana-related businesses after approving regulations last month.

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Like much of Nevada, the casino industry is grappling with issues surrounding medical marijuana. So much so that gaming companies and regulators have had little to say publicly about doctor-prescribed pot.

Medical marijuana has been legal in Nevada since 2000, but it took state lawmakers 14 years to allow dispensaries to operate. Now, with a state law in place calling for up to 66 potential medical marijuana outlets throughout Nevada, the issue is finding its way into gaming headquarters.

No one has suggested Nevada casinos offer medical marijuana dispensaries as part of their retail amenities. Online gaming has fueled heated debate. Imagine the discussions around this issue?

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The Reno City Council is moving ahead with rules for medical marijuana establishments within the city limits.

The Reno Gazette-Journal reported that council members on Wednesday directed staff to draft ordinances and zoning rules for dispensaries, cultivation operations, testing labs and kitchens for edible products.

Washoe County approved requirements governing medical marijuana in unincorporated areas of the Truckee Meadows earlier this month.

Nevada voters approved marijuana for medicinal purposes in 2000, but patients had no legal way to obtain it except to grow it. That changed last year when the Legislature approved a law setting up a tax and distribution structure.

Local governments are now writing their own restrictions and requirements.

[end]

I'm writing about Jackie Valley's story in The Sunday: "Modern addiction: Our heroin epidemic."

The question that needs to be asked is: Why don't children and adolescents believe those who warn them about the dangers of drugs like heroin? The answer: Because when the drug war cheerleaders lie about or grossly exaggerate the dangers of marijuana, they lose all credibility.

When children find out that they have been lied to about marijuana, they make the logical assumption that they are also being lied to about the dangers of other drugs like heroin.

This has been a recipe for disaster.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.

[end]

How Your Medicine Cabinet Can Lead You To A Back Alley Drug

Not even the funeral of his beloved older brother, dead from a lethal injection of their shared drug of choice, could put the brakes on Dylan Engle's downward spiral.

Death didn't scare him. He made daily trips to the dope man's house, blowing his paychecks on a pricey habit that left him cloistered in his home's bathroom.

There, he would smoke heroin, sometimes up to six times a day. He lost weight, and acne sprouted on his face, but neither physical change deterred him. Nor did his first stint in rehab.

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Legal marijuana is spreading like a weed across the land, but it has yet to take root in the place where people might benefit most from inhaling: the U.S. Capitol.

The Maryland General Assembly finished work Monday on a marijuana decriminalization bill, joining two dozen other states and the District of Columbia in some form of legalization. Colorado and Washington allow recreational pot, while most others have legalized only medical marijuana, but the combined campaign has redefined the meaning of a grass-roots movement.

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