Seventeen states have legalized medical use, and two states have legalized adult recreational use, of the non-narcotic, controlled substance marijuana. Nevada could benefit by adopting Colorado and Washington laws. The greedy pharmaceutical companies will no doubt protest as the drop in sales of drugs will eat into their multibillion-dollar profits. They fail to tell you that misuse of nearly every narcotic and controlled substance that they sell via prescription can kill you, except nonaddictive marijuana. The deadliest "controlled substances" in our country are alcohol and tobacco, which kill more people than all diseases combined. But the government says that's OK because the multibillion-dollar alcohol and tobacco conglomerates pay taxes. [continues 150 words]
Re "NORML man" (15 Minutes, Nov. 15): The voters of Colorado and Washington state have made it clear that the federal government can no longer get away with confusing the drug war's collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter use, prohibition is a failure. The United States has double the rate of use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. [continues 57 words]
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws was founded in 1970. Mike Meacham is the executive director of the Northern Nevada NORML. For more information, visit http://norml.org/nv/ item/northern-nevada-norml. NORML is an organization that works to provide information to the public about marijuana and its current laws. We also work to reform laws to make them more citizen friendly. NORML stands for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law, and that's what we work to we do. ... There's all kinds of propaganda about how marijuana makes you go crazy. As it is now, it's classified as a class-one felony, which puts it up there with cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. ... It doesn't makes sense to be classified with those drugs. You can't overdose on it. You can't really hurt yourself on it. The worst side effects are hunger and laziness, things that don't really affect anybody but the user. You don't see anybody wanting to get in a fight on marijuana. You don't see people having ill will just because they've smoked. .. It should've been legal years and years ago. Actually, it was. Right now, what's going on is exactly the same as what happened with alcohol. Alcohol went through a period of prohibition, and was still used widely in the underground. Same thing is happening now. People have been using marijuana in the underground for years and years, and it's starting to become mainstream because all the propaganda is becoming dissolved. [continues 294 words]
Marijuana Legalization Victories in Colorado, Washington State Raise Questions Votes to legalize recreational marijuana use in Colorado and Washington state have set the stage for a confrontation between states' rights and federal law that could reverberate in Nevada's ongoing war on drugs. The Colorado and Washington measures remove criminal penalties for adults possessing small amounts of the drug - the boldest rejection of pot prohibition laws passed across the country in the 1930s. In Seattle, John Davis, a medical marijuana provider, called the votes "a significant movement in the right direction," but said he expects some confrontation with federal authorities. While state laws allow the recreational and medicinal use or marijuana, the drug is still illegal under federal law. [continues 1208 words]
More People Are in Favor of Legalization, and Like Voters in Washington and Colorado May Do This Election, the State Should End the Prohibition Let's talk pot. Perhaps the most consequential decision faced by voters in three Western states, other than control of the White House, are voter initiatives that would legalize marijuana. Polls suggest voters in Colorado and Washington may approve initiatives to do so while Oregonians are more reluctant. This would be a welcome retreat in the most foolish front of the Drug War, and one that would likely mark the beginning of the end of marijuana prohibition. [continues 833 words]
A Las Vegas middle school teacher has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Clark County School District for allegedly holding her against her will in a room and forcing her to take an "invasive" drug test. Christ Casillas, a teacher at Cadwallader Middle School, is seeking injunctive relief ordering the School District to change its drug testing regulations, policies and procedures to conform with constitutional 4th Amendment mandates. She is also seeking compensatory damages of $100,000, punitive damages and attorneys' fees. Her attorney is Richard Segerblom. [continues 170 words]
Re "The man who would be prez" (Feature story, Sept. 13): Ending prohibition would greatly reduce the market in illegal narcotics, cause a reduction in the number of users and addicts, greatly curtail drug related illness and deaths, reduce societal harm from problematic abusers, and bring about an enormous reduction in the presence and influence of organized crime. The people who use drugs are our own children, our brothers, our sisters, our parents, and our neighbors. By allowing all adults safe and controlled legal access to psychoactive substances, we will not only greatly reduce the dangers for both them and ourselves but also greatly minimize the possibility of 'peer-initiation' and sales to minors. [continues 119 words]
Operators of 'Organic Releaf' Dispensary Face Heavy Prison Term and Fines Two Henderson brothers accused of running a medical marijuana dispensary in Las Vegas and growing marijuana in a Henderson office complex pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to distribute more than 100 marijuana plants, federal authorities announced. Eric Medlin, 28, and Raymond Medlin, 31, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute more than 100 plants, according to Daniel G. Bogden, U.S. Attorney for Nevada. The Medlins, who entered their pleas before U.S. District Judge Gloria M. Navarro, will be sentenced Nov. 29. They each face up to 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine. [continues 253 words]
Mexican cartels are working to establish a direct foothold in Las Vegas to sell drugs here and use the region as a stepping stone to shipping large quantities of drugs to the East, law enforcement officials say. The vast majority of drugs entering the region still come via long-established routes through Phoenix or Southern California and are overseen by middlemen. But with greater frequency, traffickers here are ordering drugs directly from cartels in Mexico, enforcement officers have found. [continues 602 words]
Who is this Lori Santos? Why does her letter get in RN&R and not mine? She says that addiction is an illness and not a moral judgment. Who is she trying to fool? Of course it's a moral issue. You have to have respect for yourself not to take drugs. Poeple who take drugs have no respect for themselves. Of course it's a moral thing. [Perhaps] she's trying to divert attention because she has a member or members of her family who are into drugs. [continues 104 words]
The drug legalizers and the potheads are upset at the Obama administration for cracking down on medical marijuana dispensaries even though the president was an "enthusiastic" (his word) weed-smoker in high school. Although Nevada voters legalized medical marijuana several years ago, they've never fallen for the spurious arguments put forward by organizations like the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, which want to authorize the recreational use of marijuana as a prelude to the legalization of even more dangerous drugs. Nevadans have twice rejected by 60-40 margins ballot proposals to legalize personal doses of pot. [continues 418 words]
Voters might be wondering if Republicans are smoking something these days after two ranking Republicans recently supported exploring whether marijuana and other drugs should be decriminalized, if not legalized. For years, supporters of legalizing pot have viewed Nevada as a potential stomping ground, hoping the libertarian streak that runs through Democrats and Republicans in this state would be kind to their efforts. So far, however, they've failed at the ballot box. And it's never been a mantle that politicians have been fond of taking up. An effort, for example, to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in Nevada failed in the Legislature last year. [continues 583 words]
Pro-marijuana forces are giving up on one of their favorite states, for the time being, anyway. No effort will be made by the Marijuana Policy Project to go to the Nevada ballot with a legalize-and-regulate measure in 2012. Instead the project, which has backed several earlier Nevada ballot initiatives, will focus on Colorado, where the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol gathered almost twice the number of required signatures on an initiative petition. Marijuana issues of one kind or another have appeared on the Nevada ballot by petition in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2006. Enough signatures were gathered for another ballot measure in 2004 but a box of petitions containing 6,000 of those signatures were misplaced until after the filing deadline ("Weeding out signatures," RN&R, July 1, 2004) and in 2010 a marijuana petition failed to attract enough signatures. [end]
Re "Is Obama in control?" (Editorial, Dec. 22): In Ken Burns' outstanding PBS documentary Prohibition, it was revealed that alcohol prohibition corrupted all levels of our government-all the way up to the Warren G. Harding White House. The alcohol cartels had hundreds of politicians on their payroll. Is it unreasonable to suspect that the drug cartels of today are following in the footsteps of the alcohol cartels? It's obvious that medical marijuana dispensaries were making a major dent in the income of the drug cartels. Would a $10 million bribe motivate Obama to change his policy regarding medical marijuana? We will never know. But I certainly suspect so. Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. [end]
Re "Is Obama in control?" (Editorial, Dec. 22): Obama could be in control of the marijuana problem by upholding the rule of law, the Constitution of the United States. The marijuana laws impinge upon fundamental rights, a justiciable controversy under Article III. Criminalizing marijuana because marijuana has no medicinal use is unreasonable and unnecessary regulations of my fundamental rights to liberty, to property and to privacy. Marijuana and the private use of this property does not threaten the rights of others. Who have presidents been afraid of? National police? [continues 58 words]
Re "Is Obama in control?" (Editorial, Dec. 22): When the last number of presidents have used cannabis (marijuana) recreationally, there should be no question cannabis prohibition should automatically be terminated, especially since roughly 70 percent of Americans support it. Roughly 50 percent of Americans support-and that number is increasing-legalizing and regulating cannabis because it is one of America's worst policy failures in history. Cannabis prohibition is perpetuated exactly because President Obama is in control. If citizens were in control, cannabis prohibition, persecution, discrimination and extermination would end immediately. Ending cannabis prohibition is one of the most important issues of our time. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
Federal prosecutors have been conducting a war against California medical marijuana shops, in defiance of President Obama's stated policy. When he was campaigning for the presidency, Obama said, "What I'm not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue simply because I want folks to be investigating violent crimes and potential terrorism. We've got a lot of things for our law enforcement officers to deal with." After Obama became president, his attorney general quickly reinforced that stance. Eric Holder said this: "For those organizations that are doing so [allowing medical marijuana] sanctioned by state law and do it in a way that is consistent with state law, and given the limited resources that we have, that [prosecuting medical marijuana cases] will not be an emphasis for this administration." [continues 433 words]
Re "Dear President Barack Obama" (Guest Comment, Oct. 13): Kudos to publisher Jeff vonKaenel for his outstanding letter to President Obama. I'd like to share with the readers a short letter I wrote to President Obama: Like millions of other voters, I voted for you in 2008, campaigned for you, and donated to your campaign for two basic reasons: 1. Candidate Obama said that the war on drugs was an utter failure. 2. Candidate Obama said he would not go after medical marijuana users or their caregivers. Obviously, I was duped. As a result I will vote for and campaign for your opponent in 2012. One final question: Why do you want marijuana to remain completely unregulated, untaxed and controlled by criminal gangs? Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. [end]
Re "Dear President Barack Obama" (Guest Comment, Oct. 13): Mexican drug cartels are no doubt thrilled with the Obama Administration's crackdown on voter-approved medical marijuana dispensaries. So much for change and 2008 campaign promises to respect states' rights. So much for jobs. The medical marijuana industry is one of the few job creators in the current down economy. If Obama succeeds in destroying the domestic medical marijuana industry, international drug cartels will move in to meet demand and reap the profits. This is basic economics. As long as there is a demand for marijuana, there will be a supply. Replacing domestic growers with organized crime groups that also sell cocaine, meth and heroin is not a good thing. Marijuana prohibition is a gateway drug policy. Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, D.C. [end]
Re "Dear President Barack Obama" (Guest Comment, Oct. 13): I wonder if your publisher, Jeff vonKaenel, who directed his commentary to President Obama last week, has any knowledge of the political tenets of Ron Paul. It's always puzzling to me when someone whom I suppose to be a democrat complains about something like medical marijuana rights being trampled upon, yet neglects to conclude that those who want to do something about this should support Ron Paul's bid for the presidency. Since this issue began, Dr. Ron Paul has always championed the rights of Americans to have the freedom to pursue any medical avenue they desire. In his support of freedom, he has called for the end of the War on Drugs, and for this wasteful, ruinous program to be replaced with drug education and rehabilitation in addition to legalization. I won't use up space listing all the positive benefits of ending the War on Drugs, but I will say that whatever your political persuasion, you should really take a look at Ron Paul's position on these issues. Cynthia Kennedy Virginia City [end]
Inside Nevada
