Police, Federal Agents Disrupt Pot Education Convention

Las Vegas police and federal agents arrested 10 people and seized drugs over the weekend at Hempcon, a marijuana education convention at the Cashman Center.

People who were there described seeing police dogs around the event, as well as officers on the roof of the building, apparently looking for people smoking marijuana.

The arrests outraged event organizers, and some attendees said they left medical marijuana patients frightened as Nevada's first legal dispensaries prepare to open.

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Investors See Opportunity in Decriminalization, Treatment

Richard Branson has brought his war on the war on drugs to Las Vegas. Branson, the charismatic founder of the Virgin Group, was a panelist at a session debating U.S. drug policy at the Starbridge Capital Alternatives Conference, a high-level investment event that brings in top names in business, government and politics to discuss issues leading to wise investment decisions.

Among the big names at the four-day conference at Bellagio that ends today were former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke; energy entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens; retired CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus; political operatives James Carville and Karl Rove; actor Michael J. Fox; retired tennis professional Andre Agassi; and billionaire entrepreneuradventurer Branson, who produced a documentary "Breaking the Taboo" on drug addiction.

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I am astonished at the uncompromising ignorance some people exhibit while speaking (or writing) on a topic they know absolutely nothing about. The subject matter of concern to me here is marijuana, and more specifically, the plant itself. The hemp plant has been around for millennia, and has provided humans with benefits still being discovered to this very day.

The discovery of the New World was powered by hemp sails and rigging. With modern technology, we are learning we can use the hemp plant in many ways to take advantage of this natural gift of the earth. Hemp seed, as an example, is nature's perfect food product, containing proteins and essential fatty acids. Only recently have we talked about the medicinal benefits contained in marijuana. Some state legislators have passed laws legalizing medical marijuana, including our very own state of Nevada. Others have begun the process of legalizing the plant for recreational use.

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Labs, Dispensaries Have Been in Limbo for Months Awaiting Policy

After spending months in limbo, waiting for the state to hash out rules for testing medical marijuana, laboratories might be able to get to work soon. That moves patients one step closer to the first legal sales in dispensaries.

A state health official said Tuesday that all the rules are in place for labs to start testing marijuana. But in a sign of how confusing the process has been, that news came as a surprise to a dispensary owner and a lab scientist, who both expected a longer wait for the state to finalize some rules.

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Nevada Lawmakers Get Up-Close View of Colorado's Pot Business

With medical marijuana already here and full legalization on the ballot in 2016, a group of Nevada legislators took a trip to Denver last weekend to get an up close look at how the state is handling its booming cannabis market.

What they saw was impressive, according to Sen. Patricia Farley, R-Las Vegas, who said Nevada would do well by mirroring the laws and regulations Colorado has put into place.

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Re "Borders on slander" (Letters to the Editor, April 2):

It may seem odd to some individuals that I am hardly a "member of the elite liberal progressive class," as, apparently, some folks on the right (and please forgive me for using labels here, but I do so merely to make a point) have labeled me. Evidently, I have given this impression because I questioned the role of Congress. Seriously, I believed they represented the people. The former and current Congress may not be the worst in our history, but it's darned close. The manner in which some members of Congress conduct themselves is beyond shameful. Spending so much energy on vilifying the sitting president is schoolyard bullshit. You may get standing ovations and cheers from the part of your constituency that really hates the president, but you're not getting anything done. And that is why sitting members of Congress should be working to get things done! It is called compromise, folks. It's finding some common ground somewhere and working on it. Perhaps some of Sen. Dean Heller's fellow senators can take a cue from our GOP senator from Nevada. He's far from perfect, but at least he tries to get things done for his home state and for his country. We "liberals" can applaud him for that.

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The seeds of a health care revolution in drug and alcohol treatment are just starting to germinate. The outcome is far from certain, but, with billions on the table, an epic battle is percolating.

Let's start with the convoluted back story. A hundred-plus years ago, drug and alcohol problems were generally viewed as moral weakness and/or personality defect confined to working class Caucasians or ethnic minorities. Alcohol and drug use was legal in America.

Then, the temperance movement produced alcohol Prohibition in 1920.

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Can Nevada's Newest Crop Weather a Record Drought?

In late March, Sierra Wellness Connection became Nevada's first commercial medical-marijuana business to get state approval. Less than a week later, the fledgling company led by former University of Nevada, Reno president Joe Crowley also got the City Council's unanimous nod to sell the medicine. As of press time, Sierra Wellness and Certified Ag Lab of Sparks were the only two such establishments to clear the final state hurdle, said Pam Graber with the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health. More are coming, of course, as hundreds of companies received provisional certifications last year.

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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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Dispensaries Number 10 Instead of 18 Allowed

Clark County commissioners on Monday rejected dozens of applicants for medical marijuana dispensaries, including eight who already won approval from the state.

The 5-1 action, with Commissioner Tom Collins opposed, sets the county up to have 10 dispensaries in unincorporated areas instead of the 18 allowed under state law. County officials said they are hopeful the state will grant provisional certificates to applicants who already have county permits but currently lack state approval.

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Applicants Eager to Find Spots in State's Gold Rush

The first medical marijuana dispensary in Nevada is yet to open, but the lawsuits are already flying as applicants jockey for a starting position in the state's green gold rush.

GB Sciences Nevada LLC, a company that won city approval for a Las Vegas dispensary but missed the cut on state licensing, has filed a lawsuit challenging the state's rankings. The state also faces a lawsuit from seven dispensary applicants hoping to open in unincorporated Clark County who gained county approval but not state approval.

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Re "Legalize marijuana for recreational use" (Let Freedom Ring, Nov. 27):

In Colorado, sales of retail marijuana have reaped about $18.9 million in state taxes from January through June. Crime is down. Housing prices up. Unemployment down. Sales tax revenue up. And we're spending less time on incarcerating fellow Americans for pot in their pockets and more time creating jobs. Start smart: join us at the Marijuana Business Academy. If you dare. Let's be very clear: MJ is "legal" in Florida already and has been for 23 years. Don't believe the hype. Read. Learn. Know. Don't fall for the lobbyist trap. Take your American liberties or they will never be yours to hold.

KC Stark

Colorado Springs

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LAS VEGAS - After decades helping lead the fight against the national war on drugs, Ethan Nadelmann recently joined thousands of marijuana entrepreneurs here celebrating legalization - and found the scene kind of irritating.

The rapidly expanding legal pot industry has started to make some people rich, but the new pot capitalists are stingy about keeping the momentum for legalization building, Nadelmann said.

The wealthy donors who have long bankrolled groups like Nadelmann's Drug Policy Alliance, anchored by billionaire George Soros, have taken notice. They got involved because of concerns over racial justice and civil liberties. If those issues are going to be overshadowed by the opportunity to sell cannabis candy bars to college kids, they're starting to say, then maybe the people making the money should bear the cost.

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Time did not heal all of the wounds inflicted on Lance Cpl. David Counts during the Korean War.

"I shouldn't be here, but I did make it back," said the former Marine Corps truck driver.

"The things I've seen in my life, it's not been good," said Counts, who copes with post-traumatic stress disorder by smoking medical marijuana. "It stays with me every day."

Veterans Affairs physicians prescribed 10 drugs, including those for anxiety and depression, for Counts. He recently started using medical marijuana after a VA nurse recommended it to him, even thought it's an illegal drug under federal law, he said.

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Patients Must Be Patient a Little Longer

Medical dispensaries for marijuana will soon appear in Nevada, but they are not likely to be accompanied by the free-swinging procedures that once characterized the California industry.

"It's marijuana," said Clark County Sen. Richard "Tick" Segerblom. "From my perspective, whatever you do, no one should be going to jail for marijuana. It's just marijuana."

Segerblom is one of a number of advocates of medical use of marijuana who have worked for years to move the state to a different stance on the medicine. In 2000, voters approved the use of medicinal marijuana. However, Nevada cardholders were required to grow their medicine on their own. Now, 14 years later, the push for dispensaries in Nevada has been successful. Up to 55 dispensaries will be opening across the state. With the exception of some of the smaller counties, all the major cities and counties have approved dispensaries in their area.

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Several Applications Approved Locally Rejected by Agency

Nearly half of the 18 medical marijuana dispensary applications that Clark County commissioners approved have an uncertain fate, as they failed to win state support.

The development has brought about frustration and unanswered questions among county officials and applicants who are now in limbo.

The county and the state face a quandary as Nevada prepares to welcome the new industry: The state has approved only 10 of the county's 18 selected dispensaries.

The final result could be that the county ends up with only 10 dispensaries instead of its 18 in early 2015. But that isn't a foregone conclusion - or a desire of county commissioners. County officials are still researching the issue and said Tuesday they plan to revisit the issue at a Dec. 3 meeting.

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