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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