Out of Options, Medical Marijuana Patient Pierre Werner Files Suit Against the Department of Agriculture For five years, Pierre Werner has fought defiantly to open Nevada's first legal cannabis club. He has fought anti-pot activists, Metro Police and conservative politicians. He has fought Clark County, the state and even the feds. In short, the diminutive Las Vegan has taken on all comers -- regardless of their size, power and influence. And now, he's really getting dirty. On May 11, Werner -- a medical marijuana patient -- filed a lawsuit against the Nevada Department of Agriculture in Clark County District Court. The suit alleges the department, which oversees the state's medical marijuana program, wrongfully interfered with Werner's plan to open a cannabis (or "compassion") club in Clark County and unlawfully disclosed patient information to the media. [continues 645 words]
Care-Giver or Drug Dealer When the smoke clears, a judge will have to decide if a licensed medicinal marijuana user was acting as a "care giver" or a drug dealer as he grew and sold pot to other medically licensed users in Clark County. District Judge John McGroarty heard testimony on Monday that will serve as the focus to determine if 34-year-old Pierre Werner can use the defense theory that he was acting within his rights as a licensed medical marijuana user when he grew and sold the drug to about 50 other licensed users. [continues 624 words]
Re "Pot for everyone" (Letters, April 28). Beyond just the use of marijuana as medicine, why do so many of our politicians want to keep a natural herb that has never been documented to kill a single person an illegal substance? Why do apparently intelligent people want to arrest and jail other people who use or sell an easy-to-grow weed? Perhaps, to understand their position, we should study the history of U.S. alcohol prohibition. The notorious gangster Al Capone made most of his illegal money from alcohol prohibition. Capone often bragged that he "owned" the city of Chicago. Obviously, he didn't own all of the city of Chicago; however, he had most or all of the politicians and police who ran the city on his payroll. Al Capone was a successful businessman, and it's not unreasonable to suspect that the drug cartels of today are following his business model. [continues 103 words]
Re "All journalism is biased" and "Pot is a gift from God" (Letters, April 14): There are two things I'd like to state about these letters: Yep, all journalism is biased and hence, it's no surprise that there has been very little reporting of the fact that a Marijuana Regulation Initiative is set to be on Nevada's 2006 ballot. That's right, folks, Nevada will be among the first (simultaneous with Alaska) to allow its citizens to vote to "remove all penalties for marijuana use by adults aged 21 and older, as well as create a system for the legal cultivation, distribution and sale of marijuana to adults. It's about time, but how much news of this milestone have you heard? [continues 95 words]
Appeal police reporter F.T. Norton's powerful two-part series on Carson City's methamphetamine epidemic focused public attention on an issue that had been hidden for far too long in our town. And it should cause us to look very carefully at proposals to legalize dangerous drugs in the Silver State. "(Meth) is the most frequently encountered drug in Nevada," Norton wrote, "and although meth use is working its way across the United States, it's easily been the drug of choice in Carson City for at least 20 years." [continues 847 words]
Drugs have always been a problem. Even a quick study of pop culture reveals that some of the world's groundbreaking artists experimented with drugs: Charlie Parker, Lenny Bruce, Montgomery Clift, Kurt Cobain (OK, so he shot himself, but only after he took a lethal dose of heroin), Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday, Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison. Brilliant artists all. The list is longer than a stairway to heaven. Or is it more like an elevator to hell? With drugs, those artists found inspiration and solace. They also found death. Death under a blinding mudslide of booze, pills, and powders. [continues 1348 words]
Re "Pot Prohibition Madness" (RN&R, News, March 17): With all the discredited, government-subsidized persecution of cannabis and the public's subsequent brainwashing, it is important for cannabis users to know where they stand on the issue in biblical terms. It is biblically correct to re-legalize cannabis (kaneh bosm before the King James Version). It is no accident that the Bible indicates God created all the seed-bearing plants and said they were all good on literally the very first page of Genesis (1:11-12 and 29-30). The only biblical restriction placed on cannabis is that we use it with thanksgiving: See 1 Timothy 4:1-5, where it even describes who will promote its prohibition--those who have fallen away from the faith. It is time for government to stop caging humans for using what is good. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
The Libertarian Party of Nevada supports Initiative Petition No. 3, the initiative to decriminalize up to one ounce of marijuana for personal use in the privacy of the home. Nevada is well-known for its tolerance of behaviors that do no harm to others but that could only harm the individuals indulging in them, if anyone is harmed at all. Nevada has been a haven over the years for those seeking to gamble, to pay for sexual favors, to get a quick divorce, to seek alternative medications. [continues 275 words]
When the latest anti-pot commercial comes on the radio, I grimace. Here's roughly how it goes: "I got high and nothing bad happened," a female voice says. "I got high and nothing bad happened," a boy says. "I got high and ..." You hear sirens and a girl crying over a never-revealed tragedy that occurs because somebody smoked marijuana. The logic leaves me shaking my head. Like a faulty syllogism, the radio bit has an interchangeable proposition. A person could swap "I got high" with any other phrase and leave the rest of the ad unchanged. [continues 539 words]
Legislators Pitch Tighter Restrictions to Curb Growth Of Often-Confusing Ballot Measures As Nevada's general-election ballots get fatter with initiatives from monied special interests, state lawmakers have begun scrutinizing the way these measures are presented to voters. After a tumultuous election season last year that resulted in multiple court challenges to the state's initiative process, lawmakers have come to believe that the system needs to be overhauled. As a result the Nevada Legislature is considering numerous proposals aimed at clarifying the often confusing process. [continues 2515 words]
Nevada citizens need to ask themselves if legalizing recreational marijuana is a good thing for our state. The supporters of the "Regulation of Marijuana" measure would like you to be able to stop by a store on your way home from work and buy bread, milk and marijuana. Although the supporters would lead you to believe their measure would regulate marijuana usage, the passage of this measure would serve only to increase marijuana use and the social problems related to that use. It would allow adults age 21 and older to possess one ounce of marijuana and would make Nevada the only state in the nation to legalize its use. [continues 449 words]
Nevada is not the only state grappling with overcrowded prisons ["When in Doubt, Lock 'Em Up," Randall G. Shelden, March 10]. Throughout the nation, states facing budget shortfalls are pursuing alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders. A study conducted by the RAND Corp. found that every additional dollar invested in substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.48 in societal costs. There is far more at stake than tax dollars. The drug war is not the promoter of family values that some would have us believe. Children of inmates are at risk of educational failure, joblessness, addiction and delinquency. Not only do the children lose out, but society as a whole does too. Incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders alongside hardened criminals is the equivalent of providing them with a taxpayer-funded education in antisocial behavior. [continues 80 words]
The initiative petition that would legalize use and possession of marijuana in Nevada will be put on the next election ballot. More than 80,000 people signed the petitions asking lawmakers to legalize possession of up to an ounce of pot and authorizing the state to license retailers who would sell it. Rob Kampia of the Marijuana Policy Project said the initiative would also double current penalties for selling to minors and penalties for driving under the influence of marijuana. He urged The Nevada Assembly's Judiciary Committee to support the petition, saying current marijuana laws are part of a 35-year war on drugs that is a total failure. [continues 391 words]
Nevada's Prison Budget Doesn't Have to Keep Climbing Two recent news reports have brought up some old sores for me. They have to do with the ever-growing Nevada prison population. The first story, appearing Jan. 25, reported that Nevada's prison population, expected to rise to about 11,800 by 2007, may "go through the roof," according to state Budget Director Perry Comeaux. His comment came as state legislators began to review the governor's proposed plan to spend $532.3 million on prisons in the next two years, representing a 20 percent increase over current spending on the prison system. [continues 863 words]
The initiative petition that would legalize use and possession of marijuana will be put on the next election ballot. More than 80,000 people signed the petitions asking lawmakers to legalize possession of up to an ounce of pot and authorizing the state to license retailers who would sell it. Rob Kampia of the Marijuana Policy Project said the initiative would also double current penalties for selling to minors and penalties for driving under the influence of marijuana. He urged The Nevada Assembly's Judiciary Committee to support the petition saying current marijuana laws are part of a 35-year-old war on drugs that is a total failure. [continues 393 words]
A panel of Nevada lawmakers refused Thursday to take a position on whether the state should legalize marijuana, choosing instead to let voters decide next November. The Assembly Judiciary Committee tabled a citizen initiative petition that would allow adults to possess one ounce of marijuana, meaning the question will appear on the 2006 ballot. Although lawmakers did not take a formal vote on the issue, many seemed uncomfortable with the prospect of making Nevada the first state in the nation to legalize pot. [continues 377 words]
The Assembly Judiciary Committee is set today to take up an initiative petition that would legalize adult possession of 1 ounce of marijuana. Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, renewed his vow to defeat the effort, saying he would testify against it today. At a news conference Wednesday with a group of local law enforcement officials, Perkins, a deputy police chief, said he would use "whatever influence" he has to see the measure isn't passed out of the Assembly. "These people have not spent their lives fighting crime and these people are not Nevadans," he said of the group that organized the petition. [continues 86 words]
CARSON CITY -- It appears that legislators will turn a cold shoulder to three initiative petitions that would regulate smoking and marijuana. If they do, the measures will automatically go to the ballot in 2006 for voters to decide. Advocates of the two smoking petitions presented their case in front of the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. But after two hours of testimony, chairman Bernie Anderson, D-Reno, said he'd rather leave the smoking issues up to the public. "The only vote that we have is a yes vote," he said. "If we were to move either one of these that would take it out of the prerogative of the public to take up this issue." [continues 692 words]
CARSON CTIY, Nev. (AP) - A Nevada Assembly panel decided not to vote Wednesday on two dueling initiative petitions - one more lenient than the other - that would tighten rules on smoking in public areas. The Assembly Judiciary inaction means both initiative petitions will now go to the voters in 2006. If both pass, the one with a higher number of "yes" votes will become law. While sponsors of both initiatives say they want to protect Nevadans, particularly children, from second-hand smoke, legislators noted one proposal, Initiative Proposal 1, goes a lot farther than the other, Initiative Proposal 2. [continues 722 words]
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - If Nevada voters want to legalize marijuana, they're going to have to do it themselves. An Assembly panel declined to vote Thursday on an initiative petition that would have legalized possession of one ounce of marijuana, and the non-vote automatically puts the issue on the November 2006 ballot. In 2002, Nevada voters rejected a petition to legalize up to three ounces of marijuana by a 61-39 margin. The latest proposal would put the legal limit an adult could possess at one ounce. [continues 558 words]
Inside Nevada
