Agency Should Get Own House in Order

Public support for the legalization of marijuana is on the rise. According to a recent Gallup poll, 58 percent of Americans think it should be legalized.

That's a 14 percent jump since Gallup polled Americans in 2009, and a 46 percent jump since Gallup first asked the question in 1969.

Recreational marijuana use is now legal in four states, and close to two dozen states have provisions allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

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Re "Marijuana slows achievers" (Upfront, Dec. 3):

There are too many variable factors to point toward different countries' educational statistics to rationally claim cannabis (marijuana) causes lower achievement, unless, truth be told, Washoe Assemblymember Pat Hickey is a Republican cannabis prohibitionist with an agenda. Further, using Colorado's example, once government is forced to regulate cannabis, adolescents have less opportunity to acquire the plant than when the black market regulates it. It's time to stop caging responsible adults who choose to use the extremely popular, relatively safe, God-given plant cannabis.

Truthfully,

Stan White

Dillon, Co.

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Washoe Assemblymember Pat Hickey has come out against the marijuana legalization measure that will appear on next year's Nevada ballot.

In a prepared statement, Hickey-former Assembly Republican floor leader-said he took that stance in the interest of U.S. productivity after returning from a trip to Vietnam "where I witnessed firsthand the incredible strides our former enemy has made in overtaking America's educational status in the world."

Hickey took the position in his email newsletter. Quoting former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown and California Gov. Jerry Brown, Hickey said pot and low achievement go hand in hand.

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Well, it's almost over. My class at TMCC called "Welcome to Wonderland-The Golden Age of Psychedelia '65-'67," which wraps up on Wednesday the 18th. This is the second time I've conducted this nostalgic bus ride back to a time that was just a little more remarkable than most, and it leaves me with some unanswered questions.

In the class, we re-live the lysergically enhanced music of that rich era (Beach Boys, Stones, Beatles, Dylan, Pink Floyd, etc.) that's now 50 years old. Fifty freakin' years!

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Civil asset forfeiture (CAF) goes back to our Revolutionary period. Government licensed privateers who raided British merchant ships. Privateers were not pirates.

Privateers were licensed by the state to attack and seize enemy assets.

Pirates are non-state outlaws who band together to seize any assets they want. There is a lot to like in pirate culture, as any fan of Starz' series Black Sails will attest. But there is even more to like about privateers. Privateers had to follow strict rules that limited collateral damage.

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Congress tried to end the Drug Enforcement Administration's war on medical marijuana last year. The DEA ignored the clear language of a new law in pursuit of a now-illegal agenda.

Now a federal judge has called out the DEA for its unaccountable overreach. Will the DEA ignore a second branch of government to continue one of the country's great policy failures?

As the nation's attitude toward marijuana has changed - first with acceptance of medical marijuana and then with the gradual decriminalization of recreational marijuana - the DEA's approach to pot hasn't shifted at all. It relentlessly prosecutes individuals and businesses engaging in commerce legal under state laws.

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Re "Yes, in your backyard" (Editorial, Sept. 17):

Interesting editorial on the marijuana dispensary on Mt. Rose Highway in your Sept. 17 issue, but you ignored a couple of facts.

First, the proposed owner/developer moved it there because the original location was too close to his home in Saddlehorn, and he got threatened. Five hundred people there signed a petition to move it.

Second, the owner/developer's lobbyist has told the legislature that this is a "nose under tent," and the intention is to sell recreational marijuana. Do the math; there aren't enough medical users per permit to even generate enough money to pay the property taxes. So it's not really medical marijuana establishment, it's a combination liquor store and vape parlor.

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There was nothing new in your most recent editorial about the federal government's war on drugs ("DEA whitewash," Monday Review-Journal). The logic for legalization of recreational drugs has been common knowledge for many decades, yet the reasons for government resistance have never been forensically addressed.

Law enforcement relies heavily upon informants, lots of government-laundered money and citizens who fear and respect the institution. The results of prohibition have been Whitey Bulgers, Drug Enforcement Administration parties and a rebellious population, all of which contribute to rotting the very soul of our once-great republic by undermining the national will.

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Over-Regulation Only Helps Criminals

The fundamental goal of drug decriminalization is to put criminals out of business. It's to bring billions and billions of dollars in black-market, back-room commerce into the sunshine. Prohibitionary policies have done nothing to reduce Americans' demand for currently illegal drugs, and they have cost taxpayers dearly through the militarization of police, crowded courts and the highest incarceration rate in the world. Imagine the results of an armistice in the war on drugs: more resources for community policing, less strain on the justice system and more tax dollars for essential government services.

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Another Failure of the War on Drugs

Each year, the United States spends more than $51 billion on the war on drugs - a war we're clearly losing. The war has become so futile that the federal agency charged with leading the fight has undermined its own mission - and no one is being held accountable.

A Justice Department review found that, for years, DEA agents assigned to Colombia indulged in sex parties involving prostitutes supplied by drug cartels. The report found that local police often stood guard during the parties, keeping an eye on the agents' weapons and other belongings, and that three DEA supervisors involved in the parties accepted gifts of money, weapons and other items from the cartels.

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You want to see how democracy is not supposed to work? Take a look at the hysteria that's going on down at the Washoe County Commission.

A couple of hundred NIMBYs are concerned about a medical marijuana dispensary being placed in the Galena Lodge. Public commenters have chosen a scorched earth strategy, attacking and threatening individual commissioners, particularly Kitty Jung, despite the chairwoman's frequent admonishments to act like mannerly adults. They're advocating a "We're inside, close the door to development behind us."

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Finally, there's a national plan more sophisticated than a soundbite. The gaping hole in the social safety net has allowed far too many Americans to descend into the nightmare of addiction.

Nevada, in particular, has been hit hard by the tragedy of heroin addiction and overdose deaths, as a close reading of the obituaries in newspapers around the state reveals. It's no surprise that our last place finish in the number of behavioral health professionals and a severe lack of state funding for treatment has led to 87 percent of Nevadans with drug addiction receiving no treatment last year. Alcoholics fared even worse. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administation's "behavioral health barometer" for 2014, 95 percent of Nevadans who needed treatment for alcoholism didn't get it.

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Re "A year of living soberly" (Feature story, July 2):

This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart. It is a subject I find I must defend over and over in my good, sensible conscience. What is this fascination, nay, obsession, with the concept of addiction? When viewed in a light slightly more favorable, addiction becomes a corn-fed value I force feed myself in times of insecurity: "Up your focus. Focus on persistence. Persist and go further." Where is the line between culturally acceptable behavior and a lifestyle, which needs a stigma?

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Clark County's first legal medical marijuana dispensary plans to open Monday after months of delays.

Euphoria Wellness got final state and county approvals this week, a spokesman said Thursday.

The news, a relief for patients and advocates, came more than two years after the Nevada Legislature voted to allow marijuana dispensaries.

"It's pretty exciting," said state Sen. Tick Segerblom, who sponsored that bill. "It's one small step, but it's pretty amazing."

For its first two days, Euphoria will sell only to invited customers who pre-registered. On Wednesday, it will open to anyone with a state-issued medical marijuana card. The dispensary is at 7780 S. Jones Blvd. in the southwestern Las Vegas Valley.

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Why One Patient Gave Up Her State Card

For more than a year, Sheila Gerstenzang has carried the card in her wallet: "Medical Marijuana Patient."

But she's yet to purchase a single bit of marijuana.

After a year of frustration and more than $200 out of her pocket, she gave up and let her card expire in May.

Months of delays in opening the first legal Las Vegas-area dispensary have cost investors money and frustrated advocates. But the effect on patients has been the most cruel.

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Re "Liberals should learn from pot regulation" (Let Freedom Ring, July 30):

While I agree with Brendan Trainor's premise that government can screw-up policy implementation, I choose to not agree that all government participation in economic strategic planning is bad. Yes, Nevada has had numerous missteps rolling out the medical marijuana dispensaries, but does that really mean that they can do nothing well? What is the alternative to some degree of government oversight, a free-for-all? Government's role is to establish the rules of the game so people and the environment are not ruined by endless greed. Do they get too heavy-handed on occasion? Of course.

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Re "Liberals should learn from pot regulation" (Let Freedom Ring, July 30):

Whether one supports or opposes medical marijuana establishments in Washoe County, everyone can agree on one issue. The current site dispensary selection procedure is totally devoid of any semblance of promised transparency. Our politicians certainly waxed poetic last November regarding the need for transparency and integrity in government. Would it surprise you to know that this legislation was specifically written to keep secret the identity of the dispensary owners? Tradespeople were required to sign non-disclosure agreements! Prominent dispensary owners only went public to help with public relations damage control when rumors started circulating. This is not governmental transparency in action.

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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.

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The long-awaited grand opening of Nevada's first medical marijuana dispensary happened Friday morning in Sparks.

More than three dozen people arrived early to wait in line outside the doors of Silver State Relief, snaking their way along the building and into the parking lot. They filled out forms as they waited, eager to purchase the first legal, commercially sold marijuana in the state.

Nevada's first medical marijuana dispensary opens in Reno on July 31, 2015. Andy Barron

"I'm way more emotional than I thought I would be," said Aron Swan, general manager of the dispensary.

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In a recent interview with Yahoo News, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie - - also a presidential candidate - said he wants the justice system to "stop treating the victims of addiction as enemies in a war." He said that the war on drugs has been a failure, and that far too many nonviolent offenders are incarcerated. And we totally agree.

The trouble is, Gov. Christie's logic ends there.

Gov. Christie calls for treatment and not incarceration for nonviolent, addicted offenders, but also says that marijuana (which he calls a "gateway drug") and other drugs should remain illegal, and that if elected president, he would not allow states to decriminalize pot. While Sen. Marco Rubio agrees with Gov. Christie, many of the governor's GOP rivals, including Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, support letting states set their own polices.

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