Pubdate: Sun, 08 Sep 2013
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Copyright: 2013 Las Vegas Review-Journal
Contact: http://www.reviewjournal.com/about/print/press/letterstoeditor.html
Website: http://www.lvrj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/233
Author: Glenn Cook
Page: 3D

WHAT HAS MAYOR BEEN SMOKING?

Marijuana makes politicians do some pretty dope things. Clinging to 
the principles of Prohibition, imprisoning nonviolent Americans and 
making cancer patients suffer unnecessarily come to mind.

But the reefer madness that overtook a Las Vegas City Council 
committee Tuesday begged a question: What in the world is Mayor 
Carolyn Goodman smoking?

The panel recommended a six-month moratorium on business license 
applications for medical marijuana dispensaries. The Legislature 
finally authorized the dispensaries this year - more than 12 years 
after voters approved an amendment to the Nevada Constitution 
allowing the use of marijuana with a doctor's prescription.

The new state law allows as many as 40 Clark County marijuana 
dispensaries and farms. What is the council hoping? That all those 
dispensaries will open outside city limits? If that's the case, the 
council committee should have voted to post signs outside City Hall 
that say "Weed not welcome" or "This bud's not for you."

Goodman certainly did her part to keep lucrative marijuana sales out 
of Las Vegas proper. Her ideas on how the dispensaries should operate 
were better suited for a smoke-filled college dorm.

As reported by the Review-Journal's Adam Kealoha Causey, Goodman's 
stoner-worthy monologue suggested that all dispensaries function as 
nonprofits, because only nonprofit entities could be trusted to 
supply high quality hemp. She also said the council should set prices 
at all city dispensaries, because identical pricing would ensure the 
same caliber cannabis.

"They should not have to shop around," Goodman said of patients. 
Duuuuude! Government-set prices? Ordering a business licensee to 
obtain 501(c) status? Discouraging competition as a way to boost 
product quality?

Oh, Carolyn. You inhaled, didn't you? Someone pass her the chips.

It's hard to decide what's more delusional: the mayor's understanding 
of basic economics, or her understanding of the limits of the council's power.

Medical marijuana patients require a variety of choices. Different 
strains treat different symptoms, from pain to nausea. Entrepreneurs 
take on huge risks in opening dispensaries, knowing federal agents 
could kick down their doors and shut them down on any given day, so 
they put a lot of work and effort into improving and diversifying 
their products.

Don't take my word for it. Take the word of state Sen. Tick 
Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, who sponsored the legislation that authorized 
medical marijuana dispensaries. After lawmakers toured an Arizona 
dispensary to learn about the industry, Segerblom said, "Best bud 
I've ever seen."

A state license to operate a marijuana dispensary costs $20,000, with 
annual renewals costing $5,000. The incentive in making such 
investments: profit.

Fortunately, there were plenty of people at Tuesday's meeting to call 
out Goodman's toke talk. Adam Sternberg, of the medical marijuana 
consulting group Compassion Nevada, reminded Goodman that his 
clients, like tens of thousands of other legal companies, are in 
business to make money.

"They're in it for profit as it is now," he said. "We're also in it 
for creating jobs and income for the citizens of the state."

Can you imagine Goodman making such demands of any other industry? 
Given her interest in medicine, let's apply her idea to drugstores. 
Las Vegas has hundreds of them. I can go into Wal-Mart and get any 
number of generic prescriptions for $4. Same at Target. Should 
Goodman require every pharmacy in the city to provide identical $4 
generic offerings, even if they lack the volume to make such prices pencil out?

No one pays sales taxes on their drugstore prescriptions. Medical 
marijuana dispensaries, on the other hand, will charge sales taxes. 
And they'll collect a lot of revenue for whatever jurisdiction 
they're based in. Colorado's legal medical marijuana dispensaries 
reported more than $219 million in retail sales in fiscal year 2012. 
Through three quarters of fiscal year 2013, the state had exceeded 
that total, with $225 million in sales.

This is a big business. It will be competitive. It likely won't be 
able to meet consumer demand. It will generate millions of dollars in 
sales tax revenue. And the mayor wants to make them wait six months 
for a city business license, fix prices and convert companies into 
charities? She must be high.

Then again, these ideas come from the same woman who, less than a 
year ago, suggested at a local government summit that Nevada impose a 
$5 per person, per year "recovery" tax - ostensibly a tax just for 
living and breathing in the state of Nevada, a levy that wouldn't 
even recover the costs of enforcing and collecting it.

If Goodman is serious about wanting high-quality marijuana for some 
of Southern Nevada's sickest residents, allowing dispensaries to 
profit is the surest way to guarantee it.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Madam Mayor.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom