Could legalization of marijuana be in idaho’s future

Times-News

THE BIG STORY

Sunday, September 17, 2017 | E1

Sunday, September 17, 2017 | magicvalley.com | SECTION E

PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS FILE‌

Kelsey Osborne stands with other protesters after her preliminary hearing Nov. 29 at the Twin Falls County Courthouse. The Gooding mother, who gave her daughter marijuana-infused butter to treat seizure-like symptoms, pleaded guilty in February to misdemeanor injury to a child.

MARIJUANA IN IDAHO Could legalization of marijuana be in Idaho’s future?

NATHAN BROWN

nbrown@magicvalley.com‌

‌T

WIN FALLS — Last fall, Nevada legalized recreational marijuana, becoming the third state bordering Idaho to do so and opening the possibility that pot will soon be sold legally a short drive from Twin Falls.

So far, Idaho has stood fast against the trend of liberalizing marijuana laws sweeping statehouses and ballots across the country. Neither recreational nor medical marijuana use is legal in Idaho. Possession is a misdemeanor up to 3 ounces, and a felony for possession of more. In 2015, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter vetoed a bill that would have made it easier to use non-psychoactive cannabidiol oil to treat seizures, but created state-controlled CBD oil experiment treating three dozen children with severe seizures. The state Department of Health PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS‌ and Welfare is asking lawmakers to Student Resource Officer Steven Gassert shows off the Fatal Vision alcohol goggles approve $26,800 during next year’s he uses when he teaches Monday, Sept.

11, 2017, at South Hill Middle School in Twin legislative session to fund the tests for another year, as the drug is taking lon- Falls. Gassert is working to acquire Fatal Vision goggles for marijuana side effects. ger than expected to be approved for wider use federally.

“For cannabidiol oil, I think that program is working Attempts in Idaho to get ballot iniwell. If you were to take a vote on cannabidiol oil, I tiatives to liberalize marijuana laws, think it probably would pass. Medical marijuana, I which have worked in many states to legalize both medical and recreational don’t know, but recreational, absolutely not. The states marijuana, have so far fizzled. There that have expanded the use to recreational marijuana have been three attempts in recent years to gather signatures to put med- have seen significant issues with respect to the ical marijuana on the ballot — two Please see MARIJUANA , Page E3

Inside: Elko County bans

dispensaries outside of cities. Page E4

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enforcement of it. Fatalities are up. The societal cost has been significant.”

Brent Crane, R-Nampa, Assistant House Majority Leader

MORE INSIDE: ‘Deplorable’ youth blamed in 1927 ban, E2 | Marijuana in Idaho: A timeline, E3 | Stances of Idaho’s gubernatorial candidates, E3

BIG STORY

E2 | Sunday, September 17, 2017

Times-News

‘Deplorable’ youth blamed in 1927 ban NATHAN BROWN

nbrown@magicvalley.com‌

‌BOISE — Idaho’s strict marijuana laws may be out of step with the path most other states are taking now, but when it banned pot originally, Idaho was following the trend of other states.

Idaho is one of at least a dozen states that banned “marihuana,” as it was more commonly spelled then, in the 1920s. Passed in 1927, Idaho’s original law banned growing, possessing or selling “Cannabis Sativa, otherwise known as Cannabis Indica, Indian Hemp, American Hemp, or Marihuana, or any preparation thereof in a form capable of internal administration,” under penalty of a fine of $100 to $250 and/or up to six months in jail.

Unlike today’s law, the original didn’t include gradations of penalty based on the amount or distinguish between use and sale, but it did contain an exemption letting medical professionals possess it and dispense preparations that were in a form unfit for smoking or eating.

While the minutes of the debate have been lost to history, the legislative journals from 1927 show it passed both the House and Senate unanimously, which is usually a sign something

Unlike today’s law, the original didn’t include gradations of penalty based on the amount or distinguish between use and sale, but it did contain an exemption letting medical professionals possess it and dispense preparations that were in a form unfit for smoking or eating. wasn’t too controversial.

Marijuana use does not appear to have been anywhere near as common in the U.S. at the time as it is today. Newspapers published in Twin Falls in the late 1920s — the Twin Falls Daily Times, the Idaho Citizen, the Twin Falls Daily News and the Twin Falls Weekly News — didn’t even run anything on the Legislature’s action as it was happening. The Idaho Daily Statesman did run a few brief mentions as the bill worked its way through the legislative process and a short article with more detail when it passed the Senate in late February.

“Senators had some fun, both with the clerk when he stumbled through its Latinity, and with each other when it was found the measure forbids growing of the hemp, which in fact is a rather common weed, they were told,” the anonymous Capitol correspondent wrote.

“Senator Baker, chairman of the health committee, confessed that he had known little about the drug until police of Boise told him that its use was prevalent among the young people of Boise, with ‘deplorable’ results,” the article continues. “He told some of the tales of horror which he had unfolded in his researches, and cited others he had learned from the indefatigable police, who, it seems, are unable to prosecute anyone for selling the weed, in spite of its narcotic effects.”

According to the Statesman’s clips, Rep. L.W. Hatch, a Republican from Preston in southeastern Idaho, introduced the bill in early February to “add to the list of prohibited narcotics the drug known as Indian hemp.” He withdrew it a week later in favor of a substitute bill which became law and added the above-mentioned exemption for doctors and pharmacists.

COURTESY PHOTO‌

Minidoka County Sheriff Eric Snarr, left, shows 102 pounds of marijuana seized in early June.

Before the law passed, cannabis appears to have been an ingredient in cough medicines sold in Idaho, judging by the Pertussin ads that ran frequently in the Statesman in the late 1920s bragging of how the cough mixture was “entirely free from the usual ‘dope’ (such as narcotics, chloroform, cannabis or other injurious drugs) and can therefore be freely given to delicate children as well as adults.” The paper also contains many references to the use of hemp as a material for cloth and rope during the period.

The first mention of it as a drug in the Twin Falls press appears to have been a four-paragraph article “Marihuana lands Mexican in court” that ran in the June 14, 1927, edition of the Idaho Citizen.

“The Twin Falls country is gaining a reputation for a new ag-

ricultural crop that threatens to gain unmerited popularity,” the article starts. “It is marihuana, or hemp, and was responsible for the arrest Friday evening of Frank Kutch, native of Mexico, who was found by R.E. Leighton, chief of police, on a downtown street.

“Marihuana is a narcotic herb, said to be raised in small quantities in this vicinity,” it continues.

“A law passed at the last session of the state legislature makes it unlawful to have it in one’s possession. It can be smoked, chewed, snuffed, or made into a drink, and many who have used it are said to have become crazed.”

Judge C.A. Bailey sentenced Kutch to 60 days in jail, but he was “paroled to Frank Pico, Mexican interpreter, pending Kutch’s good behavior.”

PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS FILE‌

Robert Jones holds an upside-down flag in protest Nov. 29 as he talks to Serra Frank, founding director of Idaho Moms for Marijuana, at the Twin Falls County Courthouse.

Court blocked Hailey from relaxing pot laws City officials sued city to stop it NATHAN BROWN

nbrown@magicvalley.com‌

‌HAILEY — Marijuana policy is mostly controlled by the state and federal governments, but it does come up occasionally in city elections too.

In Twin Falls, Robert Hinkle ran for City Council in 2011 advocating the city adopt a policy similar to one Hailey had a year before, making marijuana use on private property the lowest police priority. And Larry Houser, who ran for the Twin Falls Council in 2015 and is running again in 2017, also supports liberalizing marijuana laws.

It’s also come up in state legislative races — legalizing medi-

“Basically, your property is your property, a man’s home is his castle. We’re not really looking and never have looked for … personal marijuana in their house.”

Dave Stellers, Assistant Police Chief cal marijuana was a top issue for Dale Varney, the Democrat who ran against Rep. Lance Clow, R-Twin Falls, in 2014 and 2016.

There’s a chance it could be even more of an issue in the 2nd District congressional race — Peter Rickards, of Twin Falls, the only Democrat so far to declare his intent to run against Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, is a drug legalization supporter. He was arrested on marijuana charges in 2013; his campaign website even

features his mugshot, smiling in an orange jail jumpsuit.

But at the local level, the issue has received the most attention in the City of Hailey, where the city itself went to court to overturn the pro-pot initiatives its voters approved a decade ago.

In November 2007, Hailey voters approved initiatives to legalize medical marijuana and industrial hemp, and to make enforcement of marijuana laws the lowest police priority. They rejected one

that would have legalized recreational use and required the city to regulate sales. The initiatives were the brainchild of Ryan Davidson, a libertarian who lived in Garden City.

City officials said the ballot initiatives conflicted with federal and state laws making marijuana illegal. After the ballot initiatives won, the City Council stalled for a while, then several city officials sued the city claiming the initiatives were illegal. That put City Attorney Ned Williamson, who also believed they were illegal, in the position of defending the city and the initiatives.

Voters, however, re-passed the same three initiatives in May 2008.

Fifth District Judge Robert Elgee sided with the city officials over the voters, declaring most

of the three initiatives illegal, upholding only the parts saying the city must advocate for reform and create a committee to study marijuana and hemp issues.

However, in 2010 the city did adopt a policy saying marijuana use on private property would be the police department’s lowest priority. The policy is still in effect. Assistant Police Chief Dave Stellers said Hailey police don’t look for marijuana use in private settings, although he said he doesn’t think their approach differs too much from other police departments in Idaho.

“Basically, your property is your property, a man’s home is his castle,” Stellers said. “We’re not really looking and never have looked for … personal marijuana in their house.”

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BIG STORY

TIMES-NEWS

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2017 |

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Stances of Idaho’s gubernatorial candidates NATHAN BROWN

nbrown@magicvalley.com

Tommy Ahlquist:

“I am completely against the legalization of marijuana,” Tommy Ahlquist, one of the three major candidates for the Republican nomination, told the Times-News editorial board.

Ahlquist Ahlquist said he saw plenty of drug addiction as a doctor. He told a story about taking an airplane flight, sitting near a couple of businessmen from Colorado who had supported legal-

ization but said they were moving because of the effect more widespread marijuana use was having on the quality of life in their town.

“They’re leaving because of it, because they have young kids,” he said.

However, Ahlquist supports letting people use cannabidiol oil as long as it doesn’t contain any hallucinogenic properties and is prescribed by a doctor. He said he doesn’t view it any differently than allowing opioid painkillers, of which he has prescribed plenty in his time as a doctor.

“Butch” Otter’s was still illegal. executive order “Those college students had all setting up a pro- kinds of pain problems,” he said. gram run by the state Department Raul Labrador: of Health and Labrador favors allowing wider Welfare to provide use of cannabidiol oil for mediCBD oil to some cal purposes, and children suffering Little from severe seihas co-sponsored zures. legislation in Con“That program’s working and gress to allow it in some other states are looking at states where it is legal under state it,” Little said. law. He draws a However, Little opposes mariLabrador sharp distinction juana legalization otherwise. He pointed to the number of dispen- between cannabis extracts and saries in Colorado cities like Boul- smokeable marijuana.

Brad Little: Little, who is lieutenant gover- der back when the state allowed “I’m all for using extract,” he nor currently, supports Gov. C.L. medical marijuana but recreational said. “I don’t understand why the

Marijuana in Idaho: A timeline The path to marijuana legalization in the West has been a long and winding one.

As several states move toward the legalization of both recreational and medicinal marijuana use, any efforts in Idaho have stalled in the early stages.

1915: Utah makes marijuana illegal. It’s the second state in the nation (California was first) and the first one bordering Idaho to do so.

1923: Nevada, Oregon and Washington pass laws making marijuana illegal.

1927: Idaho passes a law making marijuana illegal. Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado ban marijuana the same year.

1929: Wyoming bans marijuana, making it now illegal in every state bordering Idaho.

1996: California becomes the first state to legalize medical marijuana.

November 2007: Voters in Hailey approve initiatives to legalize

medical marijuana, make enforcement of marijuana laws the lowest police priority and legalize industrial hemp. They rejected one that would have legalized recreational marijuana use and required the city to regulate sales.

Early 2008: Believing the voter initiatives to be illegal, several Hailey officials sue their

city.

May 2008: Hailey voters re-pass the same three pro-marijuana initiatives.

2009: Fifth District Judge Robert Elgee guts Hailey’s marijuana initiatives.

2009-2012: Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, unsuccessfully pushes medical marijuana legislation in Idaho.

2010: Hailey adopts a policy saying marijuana use on private property will be the police department’s lowest priority.

2012: A proposed initiative to allow medical marijuana in Idaho fails to get enough signatures to make the ballot.

November 2012: Voters in Colorado and Washington

VOTE

become the first to legalize recreational marijuana use.

2013: The Idaho Legislature passes a resolution declaring its opposition to legalizing

marijuana in any form. The resolution condemns both marijuana legalization in neighboring states and a proposed medical marijuana ballot initiative. A joint memorial calling on the federal government to enforce drug laws in all states fails, though.

2013: Compassionate Idaho starts to gather signatures to get a measure allowing

medical marijuana on the 2014 ballot. It doesn’t get anywhere near enough signatures.

November 2014: Voters in Oregon approve legal recreational marijuana, bringing legal marijuana even closer to southern Idaho.

2015: The Idaho Legislature passes a law to allow use of cannabidiol oil, a non-psychoactive extract, to treat severe seizure disorders, not by legalizing it outright but by creating a legal defense for possessing it under some limited circumstances. Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter vetoes the measure, instead issuing an executive order creating a CBD oil experiment in which a limited number of children can take part.

2015: New Approach Idaho starts to gather signatures for a

petition to create a medical marijuana program in Idaho and to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana by adults. Also in 2015, residents of Huntington, Ore., debate whether to allow legal marijuana sales in the city.

March 2016: New Approach withdraws its petition, citing issues with its wording.

2016: Two dispensaries open in Huntington, putting legal

marijuana a little more than an hour’s drive from the Treasure Valley. Most other cities in eastern Oregon opted not to allow dispensaries. Marijuana is still illegal in Idaho.

Fall 2016: Signature gathering begins for another petition to allow medical marijuana in Idaho.

NOW

OPEN

2017: Eight states have legalized recreational marijuana, while a further 10 have “decriminalized” possession of small amounts for recreational use (generally speaking this means it’s treated like a traffic ticket rather than a misdemeanor) and legalized medical marijuana. Thirteen states have kept recreational marijuana possession as a crime while allowing medical marijuana. Most of the remaining states also allow medical use of cannabidiol oil, even if marijuana is still illegal in other circumstances. Idaho, Kansas and South Dakota are the only states left where possession of marijuana or cannabidiol oil is always illegal. (With the limited exception of the CBD oil experiment authorized

by Otter’s executive order.)

November 2018: The earliest date when people will be able

to apply for licenses to open dispensaries selling recreational marijuana in Elko County, Nev. Up to two dispensaries will be allowed in the county under state law, but municipalities will also be able to decide whether or not to zone to allow marijuana businesses.

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SOURCES: Books on the history of drug laws; Idaho legislative records; newspaper and media reports from the Times-News and others; Nevada Department of Taxation.

Marijuana From E1

didn’t get enough signatures and the organizers withdrew one early over problems with its wording.

In 2013, as Colorado and Washington were becoming the first states to legalize recreational cannabis, Idaho legislators voted to go on record opposing marijuana legalization in any form.

Now five years later, some on both the left and right in Idaho support relaxing penalties for possession and expanding limited medical use of cannabis-containing products, but there isn’t much reason to think the larger dynamic has changed.

“Recreational marijuana, the sentiment has not changed whatsoever,” said Assistant House Majority Leader Brent Crane, R-Nampa.

Legislators aren’t as hardnosed about medical uses of cannabis products, but recreational marijuana is still a nonstarter.

“For cannabidiol oil, I think that program is working well,” Crane said. “If you were to take a vote on cannabidiol oil, I think it probably would pass. Medical marijuana, I don’t know, but recreational, absolutely not. The states that have expanded the use to recreational marijuana have seen significant issues with respect to the enforcement of it. Fatalities are up. The societal cost has been significant.”

Meanwhile, Democrats are working on legislation for 2018 to reduce possession of smaller amounts of marijuana to an infraction rather than charging it as a misdemeanor. About a dozen states have similar laws to treat possession of small amounts more like a traffic ticket than a crime. House Minority Leader Mat. Erpelding, D-Boise, said he is especially concerned about how convictions under the current law could lead to young people being ineligible for federal aid, giving the example of a student who lives in Moscow or Lewiston and gets arrested after crossing the border to Washington, a state which has legalized marijuana.

“The last thing I want to do is have somebody who makes a mistake and goes across the state line and gets pinched and loses access to student loans,” he said.

“I believe that as long as Idaho has marijuana illegal and does not legalize it, it should be an infraction. It should not be so detrimental as to ruin somebody’s college career.”

Erpelding is working with some of the Legislature’s more conservative Republican members to bring a vote on CBD oil legalization, but he admits “our path on that bill is really difficult because we have the same governor in place.”

Erpelding would like to see a larger conversation about marijuana laws, although, again, he knows the Legislature’s thinking hasn’t changed that much from the one in 2013 that opposed any form of marijuana legalization, a vote he blasted as “classic electoral politics, just playing to the fears of their constituents.”

Currently, he said, Idaho is “criminalizing something that is more similar to alcohol while we ignore this opioid epidemic.

“There are a lot of us that sup-

governor vetoed that bill.”

Labrador opposes legalizing marijuana either for medical or recreational use.

“I have not seen any evidence, any science that tells me that should be the way that we do it,” he said.

However, he does favor changing sentencing laws, including getting rid of mandatory minimums for non-violent offenses, and is a proponent of alternatives to incarceration such as drug courts.

“I don’t think we should make a habit of putting people in jail for recreational use of marijuana ...

You’re putting them with a different kind of criminal. They advance in their criminality.”

“There are a lot of us that support finding a way to effectively utilize marijuana as a medicine and Idaho should be learning from the other states and moving in a direction that helps people stay off of opioids, because marijuana has a similar effect, but it doesn’t have all of the downsides.”

Mat. Erpelding, D-Boise, House Minority Leader port finding a way to effectively utilize marijuana as a medicine and Idaho should be learning from the other states and moving in a direction that helps people stay off of opioids,” he said, “because marijuana has a similar effect, but it doesn’t have all of the downsides.”

The Boise-based Idaho Medical Marijuana Association filed a petition in August 2016 saying it would gather signatures to get another initiative legalizing medical marijuana onto the ballot in 2018. Idaho sets a high bar for this. Organizers need signatures equaling 6 percent of the state’s registered voters, or a little more than 56,000, to get on the ballot, and there is a distribution requirement that was added a few years ago — they must have signatures representing 6 percent of the voters in at least 18 of the state’s 35 legislative districts. It remains to be seen if this effort will fare better than previous ones; the IMMA didn’t return calls and messages for this story.

Otter made some comments supporting marijuana legalization early in his political career, but as governor he has strongly opposed the idea, saying states that have legalized even medical marijuana have seen unintended negative consequences. In 2019, Idaho will have a new governor.

While it’s possible this could lead to legalizing wider use of CBD oil for medicinal purposes, all three of the major Republican candidates to succeed Otter oppose legalizing smokeable marijuana for either medical or recreational purposes. Troy Minton, a homeless man from Boise, is the only Democrat who has filed or declared.

Tommy Ahlquist and Raul Labrador both support medical use of CBD oil; Labrador, the current 1st District congressman, co-sponsored legislation to allow it in states where it is legal under state law. While the federal government hasn’t been interfering with states that allow it, it is still illegal under federal law.

“I’m all for using extract,” Labrador said. “I don’t understand why the governor vetoed that bill.”

However, both oppose wider marijuana legalization. Labrador wants to change sentencing laws and generally opposes putting people in jail for marijuana.

Ahlquist said his experience seeing drug addiction as a doctor Please see MARIJUANA , Page E4

About the author Nathan Brown covers state politics and government at the Times-News. These beats supplied him the necessary background to explore the marijuana laws of Idaho’s past, present and future.

BIG STORY

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Times-News

SRO tells kid ‘why not’ to use drugs Gassert focuses on education, not the law NATHAN BROWN

nbrown@magicvalley.com‌

‌TWIN FALLS — With societal attitudes toward marijuana changing and the the once-omnipresent D.A.R.E. program on the decline, anti-drug education has been shifting from “just say no” to “why not?”

“When you go to a classroom and tell a kid ‘Don’t do something,’ their first question is ‘Why?’” said Steven Gassert, Twin Falls police officer and school resource officer at South Hills Middle School.

What Gassert tries to do is focus on the potential negative consequences of marijuana use, such as the increased risk of crashes caused by driving under the influence. He will soon obtain a new tool to demonstrate this — a set of Fatal Vision goggles that replicate the effects of marijuana intoxication, similar to the more common alcohol intoxication ones he already has.

He also addresses adverse health impacts, the possibility of marijuana being laced with other drugs, and its potential interactions with medicines.

There isn’t any particular class where Gassert talks to the kids — he tries to spread it out between different subjects and grade levels, so he’s not taking up one teacher’s time.

While marijuana is illegal in Idaho, Gassert doesn’t use the law as the students’ primary deterrent. He views his role as educational, providing kids with the opportunity to ask a police officer questions they might not have the chance to otherwise.

“A lot of it is just kind of having open discussions with the kids,” Gassert said.

If a student is caught with drugs, law enforcement and the school administration work together to deal with it.

“We work hand-in-hand, but we also have two separate roles,” Gassert said.

If a student does get caught with marijuana, one response that’s sometimes used is sentencing youth offenders to a diversion program.

“Taking kids to jail really only addresses the short-term side of the problem,” he said. “It doesn’t address the long-term problem.”

This year, Gassert started to use a new online program, made available by the Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections, where kids he catches with alcohol, marijuana or tobacco have to

PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS‌

Student Resource Officer Steven Gassert talks about how he educates students about drugs and alcohol Sept. 11 at South Hill Middle School in Twin Falls. take an online course.

“I can put them into that in lieu of or including legal charges,” he said.

As an administrator, Gassert can track their progress. As of the second week of September, he hadn’t yet had to sign up any middle school students for being caught with pot. The program, he said, is more suited for low-risk or first-time offenders than for kids who have been caught multiple times or who are using alcohol or drugs more heavily.

What can parents do? Gassert recommends talking to your kids — TV commercials or movie plots can make good segues to bring up uncomfortable topics, he suggested — and resisting the urge to become angry if you find out your kids are doing drugs. Rather, he said, approach the conversation as a discussion of the risks and trying to find out why they’re doing what they’re doing.

“In my experience you’ll be quite surprised how much you learn from your kids,” he said.

“Ultimately, kids want their parPAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS‌ ents to be proud of them. If they feel like they’ve let you down, Pamphlets for parents and students about drugs sit on display in Student Resource Officer Steven Gassert’s they’re going to shut down.” office Sept. 11 at South Hill Middle School in Twin Falls.

Marijuana

JOHN LOCHER, AP‌

Workers put bar code stickers on jars of marijuana June 28 at the Desert Grown Farms cultivation facility in Las Vegas, in preparation for Nevada’s July 1 start of recreational marijuana sales.

Elko County bans dispensaries outside cities NATHAN BROWN

nbrown@magicvalley.com‌

‌ELKO, Nev. — Marijuana may be legal in Nevada, but don’t expect dispensaries to join casinos among Jackpot’s illegal-in-Idaho tourist draws.

A majority of voters in Elko County, as in most of the state’s more Republican counties, voted against the legalization initiative that passed with 54 percent of the statewide vote last November.

And county commissioners decided in early September to ban marijuana dispensaries outside of the county’s four incorporated cities.

“The incorporated cities can have a dispensary, but Elko County was awarded two licenses by the state and Elko County voted not to utilize those two in rural areas,” Commissioner Cliff Elkund told the Times-News.

“The incorporated cities, that’s their decision.”

State law limits Elko and other counties with fewer than 55,000

people to two dispensaries each.

Jackpot is not incorporated; the county’s four incorporated cities are Elko, Carlin, West Wendover and Wells. West Wendover, near the border with pot-unfriendly Utah, is attempting to approve an ordinance to allow a dispensary.

The other cities haven’t made any decisions yet, Elkund said.

The closest of those cities to the Idaho border, Wells, is about an hour and 45 minutes’ drive from Twin Falls but an hour-and a half closer than Huntington, Ore., the nearest place where recreational marijuana is currently sold legally.

Twin Falls County has not yet seen a noticeable increase in marijuana arrests due to the change in Nevada’s law, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Lori Stewart said.

And even those cities won’t have recreational dispensaries until November 2018 at the earliest, said Stephanie Klapstein, spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Taxation, which is in charge of the licensing. Until

then, the closest recreational dispensaries in Nevada are the ones in the Reno area.

“The way the ballot initiative was written, only existing medical marijuana establishments can apply for recreational licenses for the first 18 months of the program,” she said. “There are currently no medical marijuana dispensaries in Elko County, so no one there is eligible to apply for a recreational store license until that 18-month mark.”

The ban on rural dispensaries passed 3-2. According to the Elko Daily Free Press, Zack Wood of Jackpot showed up at the meeting with a petition signed by about 60 residents who wanted recreational marijuana establishments in the border town.

“There is no money coming into that town,” Wood told commissioners, adding that it might create jobs and bring funding for community development. “We want this ... Think about all the money that we can bring in.”

legislation addressing possession but not sale of such products.

“I think for the time being From E3 we’re just talking about possession,” Hoffman said. “Right now, informed his views, and told a story about sitting near a couple the discussion is, it’s a crime to have it. If your doctor says this of businessmen from Colorado is good for you and nothing else on an airplane who had supworks, are you still committing ported legalization but said they a crime against the state by poswere moving because of the effect it had on the quality of life in sessing a marijuana product of some kind?” their town.

Thirty-six kids with intrac“They’re leaving because of it, table seizures that haven’t rebecause they have young kids,” sponded well to other forms of he said. treatment are part of the state’s Brad Little, the current lieutest of Epidiolex, a drug made by tenant governor, is a fan of the GW Pharmaceuticals. state’s Epidiolex experiment, There were 40 spots in the saying other states are hoping Expanded Access Program, said to model similar experiments to Health and Welfare spokesman Idaho’s. He opposes legalization otherwise, pointing to the num- Chris Smith, but one family dropped out because they had ber of dispensaries in Colorado cities like Boulder back when the troubles with the screening prostate allowed medical marijuana cess, and three lived in remote areas and the burden of travel but recreational was still illegal.

“Those college students had all to get to the screenings was too kinds of pain problems,” he said. much. While the state pays for the treatment, the families pay The Idaho Freedom Founfor the travel costs. dation, a libertarian group that Out of the remaining parscores legislation and lawmakticipants, some parents have ers on their voting records, has joined efforts to legalize medical reported dramatic reductions in seizures while others have seen use of cannabis products. The more moderate improvements. foundation released a film last “It is serving a benefit,” Smith year, “Hope Vetoed,” about a said. young man in Salmon who used GW has filed for federal Food CBD oil to treat his seizures after and Drug Administration apother medications failed.

“People who many of us know proval for Epidiolex and is trying to get it fast-tracked. But even and interact with (use cannabis if the drug is approved soon, medically),” said IFF President Smith said, the FDA needs to Wayne Hoffman. “They’re our grandparents, they’re our friends, move it off of Schedule I status — the government’s category neighbors, they’re people we of drugs that aren’t approved go to church with. I think many people tend to be surprised when for any medical use, including marijuana. In the meantime, as they learn that somebody close the DHS request shows, money to them, perhaps a senior, peris needed to keep the program haps a veteran, uses some kind going another year. of marijuana product. These are “We feel there’s definitely good people. They have jobs, they been demonstrated benefit to have careers, they have families. the Expanded Access Program,” They’re law-abiding citizens, he said. “The families that are apart from this.” participating in it generally seem Hoffman expects the issue to come up next year, in the form of to say they’re noticing a benefit.”

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