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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.
How Laxalt won A spotlight has been thrown by a New York Times investigation on a campaign contributor that kept Adam Laxalt’s bid for Nevada attorney general alive this year—the Republican Attorney General’s Association (RAGA). In a 5,644-word report, the Times reported on the way corporate lobbyists have turned their attention with growing success to state attorneys general, wining and dining them to get them to drop consumer fraud probes or lawsuits. RAGA has been a prominent vehicle for funneling money in this process. There is also a Democratic Attorney General’s Association, though Democrats initially resisted forming one, concerned that such groups would politicize their official missions. But to stay competitive with Republicans, they went ahead and created DAGA, and—what do you know?—their official missions have become increasingly political. “I wish those two organizations did not exist,” Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster—who has received a lot of campaign money from DAGA—told the Times. DAGA has never been able to provide the kind of money RAGA has. RAGA has a club with a $125,000 admission fee that it uses to fund campaigns. The group poured millions into Laxalt’s campaign when he appeared doomed after documents from his former law firms described him as marginally competent, bringing his candidacy back to life. Laxalt has not yet filed his post-election contribution disclosure report. DAGA gave money to his Democratic opponent, Ross Miller, but not in the same volume. The Las Vegas Sands, the Times reported, gave a half-million dollars to RAGA. Its lobbyist has been pushing state AGs to oppose bans on online poker. Nevada’s weak lobbyist disclosure laws, like many state statutes, do not cover the attorney general’s office.
Hansen aftermath Following our report last week on this page on Republican state legislator Ira Hansen’s comments on race, women, gays, and his suggestion that the Clinton administration was responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing, he issued a statement: “I am deeply sorry that comments I have made in the past have offended many Nevadans. It is unfortunate that these comments, made almost 20 years ago as a newspaper columnist and talk radio host, have been taken out of context and are being portrayed as intentionally hurtful and disrespectful. These comments were meant to be purposely provocative in various political, cultural and religious views. I have the utmost respect for all people without regard to race, gender, religious or political beliefs. I am committed to showing that actions are much louder than words and my office will always have an open door to all backgrounds and political viewpoints. This will not distract us from finding solutions to building a brighter and more prosperous Nevada.” The Washington Post located additional Hansen quotes, including this one he wrote in 2010: “[Televison host] Mathews and Reid and Biden, of course, live in lily-white wealthy worlds of gated communities and private schools and token Negroes who they take pictures with. ... Racism and its supposed evil is not the issue. Power and the accumulation of power is what it is all about, and pounding your opponents over the head with the racist club is simply a tool, a means to an end. Negroes since Reconstruction times have been pawns in the game.” The Reno Sparks NAACP called on the Assembly Republican caucus to choose a different legislator as speaker. Civil rights leader Julian Bond, who headed the national NAACP for 10 years, sent a message to Nevada: “I hope you will do all you can to get the Republican Party to repudiate this bigoted legislator. He is a disgrace to Nevada and a disgrace to democracy. The onus here needs to be placed on the Republican Party. Are they going to continue to harbor this man and treat him as a responsible human being or expose him as the scoundrel he really is? Can he continue in this position of responsibility or should he be made to step down? Make them choose!” Gov. Brian Sandoval and U.S. Sen. Dean Heller also released statements critical of Hansen.
—Dennis Myers 8 | RN&R |
NOVEMBER 26, 2014
Pot progress Patients must be patient a little longer “It’s marijuana,” said Clark County Sen. Richard “Tick” Segerblom. “From my perspective, whatever you do, no one by Marina Palmieri 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.
“We’re all hoping that there are no lawsuits.” Kathryn Reiter Nevada dispensaries lobbyist In order to open a dispensary, applicants had to pay a $5,000 application fee plus processing cost. They had about three months to complete their applications and turn them in by mid-August. The Division of Pubic and Behavioral Health then had 90 days to review the applications. During the week of Nov. 3, the results of that review process were received. However, not all the applicants signed
a release form allowing their results to be made public on the division’s website, so the public is still figuring out who the “winners” were. There is criticism of the secrecy. It is believed that most of the funding is provided by local Nevadans. Legislators designed the law to encourage experienced out-of-state people to merge with locals. Most are a combination of local and out-ofstate businesspeople from Colorado, California, Arizona and Washington who have had experience with marijuana dispensaries. “The amount of money that is being set forth is just incredible,” said Segerblom. “And it’s based upon the idea that they can make money down the road. I think realistically it’s because they think it’s going to be recreational in a couple of years.” On Nov. 12, an initiative petition with 200,000 signatures was turned in, providing for recreational marijuana. It goes first to the Nevada Legislature, whose members can approve and enact it into law outright, reject it, or propose an alternative version of their own. If the legislature chooses either of the last two choices, the petition will go on the ballot in 2016—alongside the legislature’s version, in the case of the third choice. If voters approve the petition or a legislative alternative, Nevada could be looking at possible use of recreational marijuana in 2018. As for the current law, applicants who received the provisional license from the state will then have to go to their local jurisdiction and go through
whatever bureaucratic hoops the jurisdiction puts in place. According to Nevada Medical Marijuana Association director Kathryn Reiter, these range from a simple business license, special use permit, or a whole administrative review, as is the case in Sparks. “A lot of winners are now kind of looking at, Where we go from here? and we’ll see over the next six months where all this shakes out in terms of who has the authority to decide local jurisdiction over the state, which licensees get to open, those kind of things,” said Reiter. “We’re all hoping that there are no lawsuits, but we’ll see.” The law provides zoning regulations for areas in which the dispensaries are allowed to open. Medical marijuana establishments must be located in their own separate buildings in commercial or industrial zones. They cannot be within 1,000 feet of a school or within 300 feet of day care, public parks, pools, playgrounds, religious buildings or any recreation facilities for children or teens. Most applicants say they are going to open their doors early in 2015. Some moved forward in the local approval process before they received the state license. However, both state and local licensing is needed before they can open shop. “In reality, if you start today, build out your facility for a grow operation, you probably would have the built-out finished by the end of the year,” said Segerblom. “It takes three months to grow, so I’m saying by April you’ll definitely have some marijuana dispensaries open with product here in Nevada.” Unlike neighboring states, Nevada cardholders are unable to consume marijuana on the premises of the dispensary. But, Nevada will create a medical marijuana tourist industry by allowing out-of-state cardholders to buy their medicine at a Nevada dispensary. Out-of-state cardholders will be allowed to buy from Nevada dispensaries if they have all the proper paperwork and have not exceeded a threshold of purchases of the medicine within a certain number of days in their own jurisdiction. Although they are allowed to purchase in Nevada, it is still illegal to drive the medication across state borders.
The feds Medical marijuana is still legal only on the state level, so even with a state medical card, patients could potentially run into problems with the federal government. The good news is the “Obama administration has basically said, ‘Hands
