Las Vegas Review-Journal With February's Nevada caucuses fast approaching, the Review-Journal is publishing a 10-editorial series on policies and government reforms all candidates should be able to get behind. The fifth policy goal we'd like all presidential candidates to champion: removing marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.

Marijuana laws are among the most perplexing laws in the nation. While federal law bans any and all uses of the drug, many states allow the possession, production and use of marijuana for medical purposes. Meanwhile, since the federal government argues that federal law trumps state law, the federal government can, in theory, prohibit the use of marijuana anywhere it wants to, and the states can't do anything about it.

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Civil Forfeiture Puts Burden of Proof on Suspects, Not State

In January, the U.S. Justice Department curtailed the ability of state and local law enforcement agencies to piggyback on federal law as cover for seizing billions in cash and property from people who are never formally charged with wrongdoing.

Nevada lawmakers now have an opportunity to build upon that federal reform. Legislation introduced in Carson City would protect Nevadans from the danger of subjugating the presumption of innocence to policies that let state and local police agencies seize and keep money, cars, homes or other property without a warrant or criminal charge.

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Forum Addresses Resource-Heavy Indoor Cultivation

Early last year, the broker for a 100,000-square-foot warehouse near Las Vegas called the power company to find out how much juice the building would need.

Longtime NV Energy executive Arnold Lopez went out to meet a group on the site and asked what kind of business they planned.

After some hesitation, they told him: medical marijuana cultivation.

Lopez asked questions and started doing some quick math. And, as State law prohibits outdoor cultivation he recalled, "All of a sudden I came up with numbers I'd never seen before."

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Businesses Waiting for State Committee to Develop Rules for Pesticides

Nevada's first legal marijuana dispensaries can't open yet because a state advisory committee hasn't figured out what pesticides growers will be allowed to use on plants.

That leaves it uncertain when the first of 8,575 cardholders - close to 6,200 of them in Clark County - will be able to buy medical pot in a shop.

"All I know is I'm done. I'm ready. I can move quickly," said Joe Lamarca, co-owner of Euphoria Wellness, a dispensary southwest of McCarran International Airport. "I just need to get others on the same page."

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From the news coming out of Washoe County, you'd almost think there's a glaucoma epidemic erupting at Lake Tahoe's Incline Village.

Not one, but three licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries have been issued to companies with plans to open pot shops at Incline and nearby Crystal Bay. Incline Village has just 8,000 permanent residents, but of course this isn't really about them.

The area bustles with visitors during ski season and vacationers seeking to beat the heat in summer. Lake Tahoe's South Shore casinos are just a few miles away. The region draws more than 4 million visitors a year.

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