The state's public college system continues to ban pot out of fear of losing federal funding even as Nevada is moving toward opening its first medical marijuana dispensaries early next year.

The Board of Regents on Thursday gave initial approval to an amendment to include medical marijuana to the long-standing policy banning controlled substances on all campuses and system facilities. The policy update includes possession, use, cultivation, manufacturing and delivery.

Marijuana remains an illegal controlled substance under federal law, and university system officials are concerned that allowing any marijuana use would jeopardize nearly $500 million in annual federal funding, including the nearly $370 million in student financial aid.

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My neighbor and friend Andy Whyman wrote a guest column in the Aug. 15 Sierra Sun and Aug. 24 Bonanza stating his case for legalizing pot. Hopefully after he reads this we will still be friends. But Andy is just plain wrong on this issue and here is why.

His opening paragraph states that "the criminalization of marijuana is a war on citizens, particularly citizens of color." So by that reasoning we should legalize killing in the inner city neighborhoods for the same reason. Or maybe make mass murder legal because it is a war on white people.

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No Neon, No Problem, Says City in Announcing Waivers

If you want to set up a business on Las Vegas Boulevard between Washington and Sahara avenues, one thing's for certain: You will need a neon sign.

Unless you're in the medical marijuana industry.

Though the city's Scenic Byway Plan requires all establishments in that part of the boulevard to have signs with 75 percent neon to preserve the road's storied history as a glowing desert landmark, the city of Las Vegas is making an exception for owners of the medical marijuana dispensaries rapidly spreading across the Las Vegas Valley.

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The federal illegality of pot hangs "like a cloud" over banks wanting to be involved in the medical marijuana industry, Rep. Dina Titus told an industry advocacy group Wednesday.

"Bankers are not allowed to do business with what is considered an illegitimate activity," said the Nevada Democrat. "Dealing with marijuana is still illegal under federal law, so banks are hesitant to get into that business as much as they would like to."

However, the best way to provide legitimacy to the new industry is to provide access to the federally regulated banks, she said.

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It's not surprising that both the Florida Sheriff's Association and the Florida Medical Association oppose legalizing medicinal marijuana. Expanding public access to legal marijuana is bad for business. Locking people up for minor drug offenses and maintaining a monopoly on the bountiful pain-relief industry are two aspects of the status quo that law enforcement and physician groups have an interest in maintaining.

Sure, they dress up their concerns in different terms. But I don't buy it.

"The dangers of marijuana have been well-documented in recent years with increased crime and traffic accidents in states that have passed legislation legalizing marijuana," the Florida Sheriff's Association announced. "For example, of the 20 states with the highest driver acknowledgement of drugged driving, 15 were states that have passed legislation legalizing marijuana."

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Now that the Carson City Board of Supervisors has approved two "medical marijuana" pot shops for our town, Sheriff Ken Furlong and his officers should prepare themselves to deal with the dangerous side effects of marijuana, including the possibility of hash oil explosions in residential areas.

I learned about hash oil explosions during a recent family visit to Seattle, where "recreational" marijuana is legal. In fact, I saw four pot shops sporting green crosses - presumably to advertise pot's alleged medicinal properties - in the 10-mile stretch of highway between Snohomish and Woodinville in the Seattle suburbs.

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With so much of Washington preoccupied with increasing federal power at the expense of our rights - think IRS, NSA, DEA, and on and on - it's cause for celebration when someone suggests decreasing government power to protect our rights.

Now comes Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who seeks to end the racket known as asset forfeiture.

The federal government and state and local authorities use asset forfeiture laws to seize the property of criminal suspects. Although the people who have their assets seized are presumed innocent until proved guilty, their property does not enjoy due process protections. If police and prosecutors merely suspect that your assets were obtained or used in the commission of a crime, they can take the property from you. And to get your property back, whether it's cash, a car, a cellphone or a house, defendants have the burden of proving the property was obtained and used lawfully.

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Re "Lost Dowd in high weeds" (Notes from the Neon Babylon, July 10):

Great column regarding marijuana edibles. Just as most people have to suffer the seriously unpleasant effects of alcohol poisoning before they truly understand how to use that well known drug, so do people need to learn how to dose themselves on edibles.

As one who suffered an MJ overdose more than 40 years ago, I have been absolutely gun shy around pot munchies. One of the best things that should come out of legalization is an understanding of dosage, regulated content and potency of edibles.

I can't wait. I would love to be able to eat just enough to relax me to sleep.

Roll on, reefer sanity!

Paul Blakey

via email

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Re "Lost Dowd in high weeds" (Notes from the Neon Babylon, July 10):

Let's remember that dumbass Dowd gobbled an entire edible that was clearly marked as a 16-dose edible. Hell, that kind of edible dose would would have given Rasta Bob Marley heart palpitations. I have been a California medical cannabis patient since 1998 and now, after recent heart surgery and a complication or two, I can not vaporize flowers ever again, and I depend entirely on edibles and tinctures for pain medication.

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Newsrooms always get a lot of material on financial services-public offerings, merger announcements, that kind of thing.

Those materials are getting more interesting these days. For instance, this came in on July 1, datelined from Mesquite in Clark County:

"Cannabis Sativa, Inc. (OTCQB:CBDS) announced today that on June 30, 2014, it consummated the acquisition of Kush, a Nevada corporation ('Kush'), and its consolidated subsidiary, following which Kush became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (the 'Merger'); ... Kush is a development stage company engaged in the research, development and licensing of specialized natural cannabis products, including cannabis formulas, edibles, topicals, strains, recipes and delivery systems."

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Regarding Erin Ryan's July 7 column, "A child of the '80s grapples with the failures of the =80'war on drugs,'" the drug war is largely a war on marijuana consumers. Marijuana is by far the most popular illicit drug. In 2012, there were 749,825 marijuana arrests in the United States, almost 90 percent for simple possession.

If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal is to deter use, marijuana prohibition is a catastrophic failure. The United States has almost double the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legal.

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Medical Marijuana Access Spotty As Local Jurisdictions, Entrepreneurs Show Little Interest

CARSON CITY - Much of urban Nevada is quickly moving forward to license medical marijuana dispensaries, but patients in some rural areas might find it difficult to obtain the drug because local governments are opting out.

Another barrier to getting the drug is the apparent lack of interest by entrepreneurs to operate in the sparsely populated areas. Nevada's rural counties reported little to no interest from applicants wishing to establish dispensaries, according to the Nevada Association of Counties.

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Restaurant's Slot Operator Removed

The Gaming Control Board told owners of a Las Vegas restaurant Thursday to find a new slot machine route operator for the business's games - one whose owner doesn't have ties to medical marijuana.

The decision marks the first time gaming regulators have ruled on a licensing matter concerning a gaming business in light of the state's fledgling medical pot industry.

In May, the Control Board in an industry notice admonished gaming license-holders and prospective license applicants to stay away from the medical marijuana business in light of continued federal enforcement of anti-drug laws.

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On June 3, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd blew a lot of minds when she wrote about her experience in Colorado with one of the newly legal pot-laced candy bars now available there.

What made it memorable was that Maureen got rocked hard by her stony treat. "I felt a scary shudder go through my body and brain. ... I lay curled up in a hallucinatory state for the next eight hours. ... I was thirsty but couldn't move to get water. ... I became convinced that I had died and no one was telling me" and so on and so forth.

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Nevada's implementation of the law requiring medical marijuana establishment (MME) licensing is so far plagued by hidden financing, proxy companies, questionable campaign contributions and forbidden crossovers between gambling licensees and dispensary ownership in Clark County. The problem is that the state has capped the number of dispensaries by county, has required enormous capital to apply, and the licenses are awarded by politicians. What could possibly go wrong?

When the state artificially creates a market, rather than markets creating themselves, there will be corruption. When the number of legalized outlets is capped by government, and only government can approve new applications, the opportunity for start up competition is capped as well. Without competition, there will be a few entrenched special interests who will dominate the industry. Nevada promised transparency in the selection process, but so far the process has been opaque.

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War has been declared on the "war on drugs." Not by violent cartels, but by economists, public health workers, human rights advocates and others who believe that punitive, blanket prohibition is not only failing but has done enormous harm. Thousands took to the streets of more than 100 cities across the globe June 26, "reclaiming" the United Nations' International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking by protesting the fallout of the drug war, from health crises to mass incarceration.

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Americans Fund Cartels That Have Kids Fleeing

Since Oct. 1, U.S. Border Patrol agents have apprehended more than 52,000 children traveling alone from Central America and Mexico. Many of these kids made the dangerous trip to escape even more dangerous conditions in their home countries. According to a 2013 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees survey of 400 children who fled to the United States from Central America and Mexico, nearly half said drug cartel and gang violence had affected them personally, while 20 percent said they had been abused or otherwise experienced violence in their own homes.

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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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