We know what the Clark County District Attorney's office thought about the marijuana case filed against Cynthia Warren of Boulder City. Although she was initially charged with felonies including drug trafficking, prosecutors let her pled no contest to possession of a controlled substance. She paid a $500 fine, got a 30-day suspended sentence and was ordered to drug counseling.

We also know what the Boulder City Attorney, Dave Olsen, thought of the marijuana case. He filed a civil action to seize Warren's Boulder City home, which he claims was part of the "instrumentality" of the crime of marijuana trafficking. The home is worth an estimated $400,000, according to the Las Vegas Sun.

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Boulder City Woman Convicted Of Pot Possession Will Keep Home, For A Price

Boulder City's attorney has decided he doesn't want to seize Cynthia Warren's house after all. In fact, he says he never did.

Although state law allows authorities to confiscate any homes and vehicles used in drug dealing, Boulder City Attorney Dave Olsen told the Las Vegas Sun this week he is optimistic he will reach a cash settlement in the civil forfeiture suit he filed against Warren. In July she was convicted of marijuana possession, a misdemeanor.

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A 3-year-old Labrador retriever fired from his drug-sniffing job at the Carson City Sheriff's Office because of overtime concerns has landed on his paws at the Nevada State Prison and has cut back on illegal drugs there, the warden said.

If he can develop the statistics to verify Luke's success, other Nevada prisons could get drug-sniffing dogs, Warden Mike Budge said.

"The word is his (Luke's) presence on the yard has pretty much dried the yard out" of drugs, said Mike Cruse, the senior correctional officer in charge of handling Luke at the prison.

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This is in regard to your Sept. 18 editorial headlined, "Drop the lawsuit." You expressed opposition to a civil lawsuit brought by Boulder City officials. The suit, based on Nevada's forfeiture law, seeks to have the woman's home forfeited to the city on the grounds that she was using her home to grow and sell marijuana. The financial incentives created by civil asset forfeiture laws create a dangerous precedent. Police can confiscate cars, cash and homes without bothering to charge owners with a crime. Vague allegations of drug trafficking don't justify turning what should be protectors of the peace into financial predators. The drug war threatens the integrity of a country founded on the concept of limited government. Police searches on public transit, drug-sniffing dogs in schools and random drug testing have led to a loss of civil liberties while failing miserably at preventing drug use.

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A former state Senate candidate has been ordered to stand trial in Fallon on drug charges.

John K. O'Connor is scheduled to appear Tuesday in district court in Fallon after Justice of the Peace Dan Ward determined there is enough evidence for the case to proceed.

O'Connor is accused of selling more than 11 ounces of marijuana to an informant who was working with a police drug task force in 2003.

He was charged with sales of a controlled substance.

O'Connor ran unsuccessfully last year against Republican state Sen. Mike McGinness.

[end]

Both the Las Vegas Sun and the Review-Journal jumped all over Dave Olsen, city attorney of sleepy Boulder City, when he filed a lawsuit to seize the home of Cynthia Warren.

Boulder City police, ably assisted by the SWAT team from nearby Henderson, stormed Warren's home in April to discover six marijuana plants and various and sundry marijuana-related paraphernalia inside. She was arrested, charged with several felonies, and ultimately pled no contest to possession of a controlled substance. But before she entered her plea, Olsen filed a lawsuit to seize her house, valued at around $400,000, contending it was part of the instrumentality of her crime.

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A former candidate for the Nevada State Senate will stand trial on allegations he sold 11.7 ounces of marijuana to an informant working with police in 2003, a judge ruled Thursday.

Justice of the Peace Dan Ward told John K. O'Connor to appear in district count on Tuesday to enter a plea to sales of a controlled substance. Ward found there was enough evidence presented at a preliminary hearing to send the case to trial.

O'Connor, who unsuccessfully ran against Sen. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, last year for a senate seat, is accused of selling the marijuana for $80 to a woman working with the North Central Narcotics Task Force in December 2003.

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A Boulder City woman was arrested in April after a search of her home turned up six marijuana plants, about 5 ounces of marijuana and various drug paraphernalia. In July she pleaded guilty in District Court to a misdemeanor possession charge.

She was fined $500 and ordered to complete drug and alcohol counseling. A routine case -- if only that were the extent of it.

Boulder City officials, however, decided to make an example out of this woman who they believe was selling the drug out of her home. About a week after the arrest of Cyntha Warren, 56, long before her guilt had been established in criminal court, the city filed a civil suit in District Court seeking to confiscate her $400,000 home. The state's forfeiture law allows a person's home to be seized if the person was using it as a base for drug sales.

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A recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals could have wide ranging implications for Fallon defendants accused of crimes.

Churchill County District Attorney Arthur Mallory said the decision means conditions cannot be put on defendants who are released from jail on their promise to appear in court.

Local judges commonly impose conditions on a defendant who is released from jail on his or her own recognizance, such as no drinking or no driving for a person accused of driving under the influence of alcohol.

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Boulder City's attempt to seize the $400,000 home of a woman convicted of misdemeanor drug possession after police found six marijuana plants there has sparked debate in the community over personal property rights versus a need to crack down on drugs.

Boulder City officials are defending their right to file a lawsuit to confiscate the Capri Drive home of 56-year-old Cynthia Warren, who police said was arrested April 13 as part of an undercover investigation.

Officials said the charges related to cultivating and selling marijuana out of her residence. She pleaded no contest and was fined $500.

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MINDEN, Nev. - More than 200 people from Nevada and California gathered in Minden to discuss steps to combat the methamphetamine epidemic.

The Partnership of Community Resources and the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California sponsored the all-day program Friday at the Carson Valley Inn.

Meth was once associated with rural, blue-collar users. But the drug has invaded big cities and its abusers now include members of all racial and economic groups, said Washoe Tribal Chairman Brian Wallace.

"Given all the serious challenges that face us, I've never seen one more serious than what we're talking about today," Wallace said.

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More than 200 people from 12 Nevada counties and Northern California packed a conference room at the Carson Valley Inn on Friday to learn what they could do to combat the effects of methamphetamine.

"Given all the serious challenges that face us, I've never seen one more serious than what we're talking about today. We're being stalked by it," said Washoe Tribal Chairman Brian Wallace in opening remarks.

Wallace said the problem crossed racial, economic and social boundaries.

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The area bound by Desert Inn, Flamingo, Maryland Parkway and Paradise is one huge crime scene. A report from the front lines of the worst neighborhood in the city.

Monday, July 11, 8 p.m. Sierra Pointe 1064 Sierra Vista Drive

The moniker is apropos. "Crack Alley" is a stretch of pavement nestled between two brownish buildings that comprise Desert Aire and Sierra Pointe, the latter an apartment complex so crime-riddled that, in 2003, the Clark County Housing Authority refused to manage it, Nevada Sen. John Ensign tried to shutter it and many residents wanted to move out of it.

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Medical marijuana is legal in nine states. Nevada is one of seven states whose voters decided overwhelmingly in favor of allowing marijuana use for the sick under particular conditions.

In early June 2005, by overturning the decision of individual states, the U.S. Supreme Court deliberately ignored the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which grants individual states the right to make such decisions for themselves. The highest court in the land purposely disregarded the will of the people, who voiced their choice at the polling booths and for that, a voting nation should take them to task. If the feds think nothing of overriding this states' right - and get away with it - they will also think nothing of violating any other states' right that suits their fancy. Regardless of how one feels about the subject matter, we are treading on dangerous ground when the highest court in the land circumvents the Constitution to deny 10th Amendment rights and the voting voice of the people.

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Internet, Changes in the Law Make the Marijuana Business More Competitive

There is no doubt recent years have been hard times for America's farmers. And that's especially true of the one group who receives no agricultural subsidies from the government and no proceeds from Farm Aid (unless you count loyal patronage of Willie Nelson).

J. has operated marijuana grow rooms indoors in various locations around Las Vegas since 1999. On a recent weekend hanging out with one of the wholesale buyers of his product, K., the conversation between the two men floated around fond reminiscences of crops past and present with names like Johnny Law, Strawberry Cough, Purple Kush and Afghooey.

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They said it's OK for a city to steal people's homes, and hand them over to developers. They've said even if your state has passed a law legalizing medical marijuana, the federal government can still arrest users and put them in jail. They've said it's OK to have a monument to the 10 Commandments on public property, so long as it's not religious. (Have they even read the first commandment, the one that says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me"?) And when they had the chance to save two journalists from a government prosecutor bent on learning the identities of confidential sources, they took a pass. (And let's not forget how they installed George W. Bush into the presidency in 2000!)

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A licensed medical marijuana user who claims it's within his rights to grow and sell pot to other licensed users was released on his own recognizance Monday after prosecutors failed to file a criminal complaint.

Pierre Werner, 33, was released from Clark County Detention Center on Monday afternoon but was ordered to return to court on July 28 by Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure to face charges from his June 15 arrest.

The fact prosecutors had not filed a criminal complaint is not an unusual occurrence, but Werner's attorney, Ryan Mortier, said he was surprised because the charges were almost identical to those Werner is currently facing before District Judge John McGroarty.

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LAS VEGAS (AP) - A medical marijuana activist was in custody Thursday after his second arrest in 17 months on felony drug charges.

A lawyer for Pierre Werner, 33, said the arrest on state charges was a law enforcement effort to pressure Werner after the Supreme Court's decision this month that state medical marijuana laws don't protect users from federal prosecution. Werner also faces state marijuana possession charges from a previous arrest.

"The DEA is flexing their power," lawyer Ryan Mortier said after visiting Werner at the Clark County jail in Las Vegas. "They're saying they're not going to tolerate all the media attention he's been getting."

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Critics say good riddance to proposed law that might have killed ballot-box activism in Nevada

It's no secret Nevada is being invaded by California. Whether through home prices or invading hipsters, the "Californication" of Nevada -- particularly Southern Nevada -- is as plain as the rumpled script in the apron pocket of a Hollywood waiter.

And that specter of Californication has cast a chill through the Nevada Legislature as well, which, until last week, was considering a bill that would make it more difficult to get initiatives on the ballot -- that part of the election process in which the public writes its own laws and then votes directly on them -- issues ranging from legalizing marijuana to ending gay marriage. If voting is the food of democracy, ballot initiatives are Burger King, where you get it your way.

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Despite Nevada's permitting medicinal cannabis use, the few heroic people actually willing to provide medicinal cannabis face more bureaucratic red tape than brothel operators ["High and Dry," May 19].

A similar problem exists here in California, where terrified city councils are rampantly passing bans and moratoriums blocking new dispensaries.

As a glaucoma patient and cannabis user since 1968, I can personally attest to the therapeutic benefits of both the herb AND its legalization. But despite decisive margins of public support, somehow the actual dispensing of medical cannabis is too often seen as a major public risk or as "sending the wrong message to the children."

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