Re "Don't be a dick, Senator Brower" (Editorial, Jan. 30): Big Pharma is already losing north of $2 billion a year in lost sales to God's medicine, the green plant. Somebody has to look for the poor drug companies, so why not Sen. Brower? The other possibility is his ego would be shattered, if he had to admit he was wrong on the issue of medical marijuana. Some senators like Brower want to continue to stick their nose in my doctor's office and tell him what is or is not good for me. Brower is obviously neither a lover of liberty nor less government intrusion in the lives of the citizens of Nevada. Howard Wooldridge Adamstown, Maryland [end]
The Nevada Legislature's response to the mandate in 2000 by Nevada voters to create a system by which sick Nevadans could get access to medicine was childish and a dirty trick on the most vulnerable people in the state. Like when Mom said, "Quit touching your sister," and you responded by holding your finger two inches from her ear, "I'm not touching her," the Legislature followed the words of the law, but let the spirit of the voter-approved law and the intention of voters dissipate like vapor. [continues 416 words]
Re "Gone to pot" (Feature story, Jan. 23): After a relapse of leukemia, I had a bone marrow transplant and applied for a Nevada medical marijuana card. The State Medical Marijuana website asked for a request letter along with a $50 application fee, which I sent along with a letter from my practitioner. The packet I received completely overwhelmed me. In order to proceed I needed to get fingerprinted, get a Nevada doctor to complete a form, complete a waiver and have it notarized, and submit another $150. If approved, I would receive a temporary letter until the background check was complete, and then I would have to go to the DMV to get my card. The card needs to be renewed each year. None of this is mentioned on the website, which I found misleading. NRS 453 is linked to the website, but it's not very user friendly nor is it mentioned in the instruction letter. My intent here is not to bash the law or the website, but to give others a heads up before sending in the initial (non-refundable) $50 only to find out it's complicated and expensive, especially when going through serious medical treatment that could be helped by using medical marijuana. Jane Wirth Reno [end]
Re "Out damned pot" (Upfront, Jan. 16): Too bad pot can't be mined or fracked, for the Legislature would be behind it 100 percent. But we would have to hire Texans or other foreigners to run the business. Roberta Moose Reno [end]
I've just finished reading Radley Balko's outstanding book, Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces, and I think I have a solution to ending our drug war and SWAT raids. Require that all SWAT raids be videotaped before, during and after, with sound. And these tapes must be available to the news media immediately after the raids. I believe that if all of the raids that involved the wrong address or the killing of any people or pets or in front of children, the public will be outraged and demand an end to them. [continues 56 words]
Medical Marijuana Will Be Competitive Business In Nevada Just two days before Christmas, early on a Monday morning, dozens of people showed up to video-linked meeting rooms in Carson City and Las Vegas to talk about marijuana. The scene was rather different than the typical marijuana party depicted in movies or TV. The discussions centered on bureaucracy, regulation and taxation, rather than psychedelic music, snowboarding or nachos. Discussions that focus on business concerns make sense, since marijuana will soon be a legal business in Nevada, within certain parameters. [continues 1937 words]
Re "Out, damned pot" (Upfront, Jan. 16): Nevada still has one of the worst written and unfair medical marijuana laws in the country. We voted as a state to allow sick people access to one more medication that they can add to their arsenal of deadly prescription drugs. Pot is not just fun to smoke, it really does help very sick people. These are people tired of being dittoheads and just taking their corporate-manufactured drugs. Most prescription drugs have severe side effects. So does pot. Ever seen your roommate destroy a bag of Doritos and ruin your sofa? [continues 240 words]
Another municipality has blocked medical dispensaries for marijuana by adopting a "moratorium." On Jan. 7, the Henderson City Council voted to direct its staffers to reject business license, building permit, or land use applications for dispensaries in the next six months. Henderson is Nevada's second largest community. State voters approved medical marijuana use 13 years ago, a policy choice that was stymied for more than a decade by the Nevada Legislature's failure to provide for methods patients could obtain the substance. When the legislators finally acted, local governments became the problem. Las Vegas has taken a similar stance to Henderson, while Clark County is moving ahead with dispensaries ("Taking their time," RN&R, Jan. 2). [end]
Re "The real problem is prohibition" (Let Freedom Ring, Nov. 7): Thank you for this column. It is nice to read something that is factually based and not propagating fear and ignorance. Keep on doing real journalism and spreading educated truth. There are far too many prohibitionist articles from northern Nevada, especially when considering how libertarian this state's laws are in relation to gambling, prostitution and alcohol. The hypocrisy here is very frustrating. Shawn Tamborini Reno [end]
The Food and Drug Administration seeks to reschedule hydrocodone as a Schedule II Drug instead of Schedule III. This means those suffering chronic pain will have to pay for more doctor visits to get a written prescription. Phone-in renewals will be banned. The reason given is that hydrocodone is "abused" by those who want to enjoy synthetic codeine. Scamming scripts and buying on the street enable some to party on the pills. In 2006, Nevadans were the No. 1 users in America per capita of hydrocodone, sold combined with other drugs in brand names like Vicodin or Lortab. Nevada is still within the top five states for illicit pill use. [continues 490 words]
Feds and State Seem on the Same Page, but Localities Balk A few weeks ago, a California lobbyist involved in medical dispensaries in that state met with News & Review executives in Reno. He had been monitoring the new law enacted by the 2013 Nevada Legislature to implement a voter-approved medical marijuana measure intended to return marijuana to medical use for the first time in the state since the late 1930s. The businessperson said that under the new Nevada law, medical dispensaries were going to happen very quickly. [continues 1080 words]
The rightist Nevada Public Research Institute has called for an end to drug prohibition. "Nevada governments spent roughly $258 million in 2008 to enforce drug prohibition within the state's borders," the group said in lengthy paper on Nevada issues titled Solutions 2013. "This includes $51 million for policing, $62 million in judicial expenses and $150 million for corrections. As these figures indicate, enforcing the prohibition of a substance for which there is significant demand can be a costly proposal." Where drug warriors tend to blame drug-related violence on drug use, NPRI argues that drug prohibition causes it: [continues 228 words]
This sudden spate of liberal legislation feels surreal. This newspaper has been advocating for the gay community, legalization of marijuana, increased taxes on foreign-owned businesses (like corporate casinos and mining), and a path to citizenship for immigrants for as long as we can remember. Unfortunately, because we've also been advocating civil disobedience in the case of marijuana legalization, we can't really remember when that started, but trust us, we were for common sense reform of fascist laws long before anyone else thought the idea was cool. [continues 501 words]
For five years, Wellness Education Cannabis Advocates of NV has been the Las Vegas Medical Marijuana Meet up Group. We have recently gone non-profit in Nevada and are in the process of doing the same at a federal level. As you are aware, things are heating up on the cannabis issues. We as a patient advocacy group are primarily concerned with the issues regarding medical cannabis patients needs, potential business opportunities, job opportunities, and rights. Nevada residents/patients have the right to participate in green jobs and small-business opportunities that will be available once these programs are in place. If the fees related to the cannabis industry are outrageous, and there is no two years or more Nevada residency for owners/operator/distributors in place, big business from outside Nevada will take over, and the benefits/money will leave Nevada. We need the jobs and taxes for Nevada residents and education. [continues 135 words]
Re "Decriminalization" (News, Jan. 3): Go back, go back! I implore Nevadans to forego any thoughts of decriminalizing the "Devil Weed." Perhaps my experience on New Year's Eve will be instructive: I "found" a single joint of marijuana lying on the sidewalk here in Paonia. (I have no proof, of course, but I strongly suspect it was planted there by the Mexican drug cartels.) Realizing that it was now "legal" here in Colorado, I lit it up and took a tentative puff. What ensued can only be described as a nightmare. The first thing I did was search (fruitlessly) in the immediate area for a stash of Heroin or perhaps a few pills of Oxycontin. Then I searched my now fogged brain for the location of an open gun show so I might purchase a Bushmaster assault rifle or some other means of committing mass murder or at least an armed robbery. (None were open at that midnight hour.) Having no other lawless options available, I hopped in my car with the intention of running down pedestrians or smashing into other vehicles. By the merest circumstance I was only a half block from home. My aging Ford Taurus was unable to attain the 100 mph speed I so fervently sought. (I was able to exceed the posted speed limit by 5 mph, and when I got home I thoughtlessly parked with my wheels a good 15 inches from the curb, fully three inches outside what's permitted by local ordinance!) I stumbled into the house barely able to constrain my urge to kick the dog or beat my spouse. Thence to sleep. (A coma?) Now, as that poisonous THC slowly relinquishes its grip on my body and mind, I am returning to normal. The Iraq war was legitimate. The rich are deserving of tax relief. Personal freedom is mostly too dangerous to contemplate. A few more hours of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh and sanity will return. Be careful out there. Though the details of that experience are a little fuzzy, I'm pretty sure it happened much as I have described it. Larry L. Wissbeck Paonia, Colo. [end]
Can Nevada Turn Marijuana Enforcement Over to the Feds? Sen. Tick Segerblom, a Clark County Democrat, will introduce legislation at the 2013 Nevada Legislature to decriminalize marijuana. Assembly Republican leader Pat Hickey is open to the idea. While a Colorado-or Washington-style legalization is not likely in the cards-at least through the Legislature-decriminalization could lead to some substantial policy changes and shifting of resources in law enforcement if police agencies abided by the policy shift. Because the federal Drug Enforcement Agency does not have the resources to deal with both small users and big traffickers, a decision by the Legislature to end Nevada's police enforcement of marijuana possession cases would effectively create de facto legal marijuana. [continues 900 words]
Re "NORML man" (15 Minutes, Nov. 15): The voters of Colorado and Washington state have made it clear that the federal government can no longer get away with confusing the drug war's collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter use, prohibition is a failure. The United States has double the rate of use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. [continues 57 words]
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws was founded in 1970. Mike Meacham is the executive director of the Northern Nevada NORML. For more information, visit http://norml.org/nv/ item/northern-nevada-norml. NORML is an organization that works to provide information to the public about marijuana and its current laws. We also work to reform laws to make them more citizen friendly. NORML stands for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law, and that's what we work to we do. ... There's all kinds of propaganda about how marijuana makes you go crazy. As it is now, it's classified as a class-one felony, which puts it up there with cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. ... It doesn't makes sense to be classified with those drugs. You can't overdose on it. You can't really hurt yourself on it. The worst side effects are hunger and laziness, things that don't really affect anybody but the user. You don't see anybody wanting to get in a fight on marijuana. You don't see people having ill will just because they've smoked. .. It should've been legal years and years ago. Actually, it was. Right now, what's going on is exactly the same as what happened with alcohol. Alcohol went through a period of prohibition, and was still used widely in the underground. Same thing is happening now. People have been using marijuana in the underground for years and years, and it's starting to become mainstream because all the propaganda is becoming dissolved. [continues 294 words]
Re "The man who would be prez" (Feature story, Sept. 13): Ending prohibition would greatly reduce the market in illegal narcotics, cause a reduction in the number of users and addicts, greatly curtail drug related illness and deaths, reduce societal harm from problematic abusers, and bring about an enormous reduction in the presence and influence of organized crime. The people who use drugs are our own children, our brothers, our sisters, our parents, and our neighbors. By allowing all adults safe and controlled legal access to psychoactive substances, we will not only greatly reduce the dangers for both them and ourselves but also greatly minimize the possibility of 'peer-initiation' and sales to minors. [continues 119 words]
Who is this Lori Santos? Why does her letter get in RN&R and not mine? She says that addiction is an illness and not a moral judgment. Who is she trying to fool? Of course it's a moral issue. You have to have respect for yourself not to take drugs. Poeple who take drugs have no respect for themselves. Of course it's a moral thing. [Perhaps] she's trying to divert attention because she has a member or members of her family who are into drugs. [continues 104 words]
