Nevada isn't meeting the intent of a constitutional amendment allowing medical marijuana because there isn't a legal way for patients to get the drug, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were told Friday. In Nevada, a patient suffering from chronic conditions such as glaucoma, multiple sclerosis or others can get a doctor's certificate qualifying them to register and use marijuana to relieve their symptoms. Lawyer Gary Modaferri said a case involving to two men accused of illegally providing the drug to patients through a co-op is now before the Nevada Supreme Court after Clark County District Judge Donald Mosley threw out the case against them, describing the state law as "mind boggling." [continues 411 words]
"It was my life," is how one former methamphetamine addict described his craving for a drug he used for decades. Carl Kelly, who now works for New Frontier Treatment Center, said he started using alcohol at the age of 13 before turning to meth four years later. "It was the drug of choice. I did it everyday," he said, adding he knew he knew there was a problem the first time he used it. "There was no turning back," he remembered. "I kept doing it for 25 years." [continues 1505 words]
A& K Earthmovers Praised For Its Low Rate Of Positive Tests Attendees at the quarterly Churchill Community Coalition meeting learned Wednesdaythatasoliddrugtestingpolicycan save small businesses money on insurance, workers compensation claims and help weed out poor job candidates. Senior Deputy District Attorney Lane Mills saidbusinessownersneedtobeawareoftheir liability when one of their employees be-comes injured or injures another person while on the job under the influence of drugs of alcohol. Employers could face civil or criminal lia-bilities if a worker is involved in an injury acci-dent. As an example, a daycare owner would be criminally liable if a worker, under the in-fluence of drugs, injured a child while on the job, Mills said. The stakes are too high to not perform drug testing at large corporations and govern-ment entities, Mills said, and he urged small businesses to implement a consistent drug testing program and keep good records. DaveOakdenwithSandCClaimsServices Inc. in Las Vegas said some of his clients re-ceive discountedinsuranceifthebusinesshas a drug testing policy in place. [continues 506 words]
Churchill County School Board trustees will continue discussion Thursday on a proposed employee drug and alcohol testing policy. When the board first broached the subject two weeks ago, it decided to meet with representatives of the district's three labor unions before adopting a drug testing policy. Union representatives said they are not opposed to drug and alcohol testing but want provisions in the policy to protect employees' civil liberties. The original draft of the plan would allow testing of employees if there is a reasonable suspicion that an employee is impaired. It would also require testing whenever a worker's compensation claim is filed, and after an accident that causes $500 or more in damage. [continues 410 words]
As a Colorado Christian, like citizens throughout America, I am hoping Nevada citizens vote to re-legalize cannabis and thank you for your editorial in helping see positive results. I also enjoyed Al Engleman's letter: "Time For Legalization Of Marijuana Is Now." I also encourage all Nevada politicians to join in ending the policy of caging humans for using the plant cannabis. And I encourage this Biblically by pointing out that God indicated He created all the seed bearing plants saying they are all good on literally the very first page of the Bible (see Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30). Isn't it hypocritical and discrediting for government and politicians to say they support their constituents and support caging them for using a God-given plant at the same time? Truthfully, Stan White [end]
As a member of Nevada's Marijuana Policy Project from the start of this initiative, it is with gratefulness that I thank, and most of all laud, your recent editorial in support of our efforts. Your editorial has received national attention. Any rational person would concede that our present laws don't work, and as is the case with medical marijuana, have become so cumbersome so as to deny medicine to our sick citizens. It seems we have more to fear from knee-jerk authoritarian government than we do from pot. Even the August Federal Probation Report has stated that the biggest danger in using and possessing marijuana came from the laws against it. [continues 88 words]
I'm writing about Jason Haynie's not-so-thoughtful letter, "Marijuana piece lacked reasoning, a good solution." It was Haynie's letter that lacked reasoning and a good solution, not your thoughtful editorial, "It's Time To Enact New State Marijuana Policy." In the Czech Republic, citizens can legally grow and possess small quantities of marijuana. The Czech overall drug arrest rate is 1 per 100,000 population. The U. S. overall drug arrest rate is 585 per 100,000 population. [continues 109 words]
Nevada voters will once again take up a marijuana ballot initiative this fall, an issue muddied in rhetoric from both sides. The Regulation of Marijuana Initiative will appear on ballots in November. It would allow those 21 years old and older to legally possess, use and transfer one ounce or less of marijuana. Penalties are also stiffened for those who drive under the influence of marijuana or sell it to minors. Use in public would be prohibited. For a $1,000 annual license fee, state-licensed retailers would be able to sell marijuana. An excise tax of $45 per ounce would be collected by the state from wholesalers. Sales tax would be the same as other products. Half of the profits from related licensing fees and taxes would be used for substance abuse treatment and education. [continues 337 words]
I have just read online the editorial from Tuesday, which contains the following: "In a state where prostitution is legal in certain counties, bars are not required to close and children can legally possess and use tobacco, objections to marijuana legalization on a moral basis seem hypocritical." This kind of reasoning is why our society has these issues in the first place. That is akin to using the rationale that because there aren't enough police to pull over every speeder on the highway, that we should just let people speed. [continues 55 words]
A former candidate for the Nevada State Senate will stand trial on allegations he sold 11.7 ounces of marijuana to an informant working with police in 2003, a judge ruled Thursday. Justice of the Peace Dan Ward told John K. O'Connor to appear in district count on Tuesday to enter a plea to sales of a controlled substance. Ward found there was enough evidence presented at a preliminary hearing to send the case to trial. O'Connor, who unsuccessfully ran against Sen. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, last year for a senate seat, is accused of selling the marijuana for $80 to a woman working with the North Central Narcotics Task Force in December 2003. [continues 320 words]
A recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals could have wide ranging implications for Fallon defendants accused of crimes. Churchill County District Attorney Arthur Mallory said the decision means conditions cannot be put on defendants who are released from jail on their promise to appear in court. Local judges commonly impose conditions on a defendant who is released from jail on his or her own recognizance, such as no drinking or no driving for a person accused of driving under the influence of alcohol. [continues 569 words]
Editor: Well the election is over, and the chasm between those who value and express their freedom in iconoclastic and non-conformist ways and those who express their security by adopting authoritarian (blind unquestioned submission to any authority) views and values has, at least politically anyway, come to a head and severely divided in this country, and alas, here in Nevada as well. Authoritarians try to stifle the rest of us by disrupting our civil rights because they have been persuaded to be fearful and they falsely believe that a majority is a reflection and expression of a mandated authority. This is patently not true. A majority opinion, in a democracy, only shows the degrees of dialogue and compromise that will be necessary to allow for the minority's opinion. This does not confer any right authoritarily. Other than those authorities that are constitutionally provided for, the majority is held in check and valence by the minority's civil rights. Authoritarians believe that they can enact and legislate their authoritarian morality on the rest of us who are willing to give up some of our security (safe freedom) for greater expressions of freedom and independence. [continues 222 words]
The leaders of a campaign to legalize possession of marijuana inadvertently disproved their own case last week when they failed to turn in a box of petitions that likely would have secured the initiative a place on the ballot in November. Somehow members of the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana forgot, misplaced or otherwise spaced out a box of petitions with 6,000 signatures until four days after the deadline for submitting them had passed. Now they are trying to get the courts to order the state to accept the late petitions but aren't having much luck. You snooze, you lose. [continues 336 words]