Legalization Opens Paths for Investors

HENDERSON, Nev. - The frenzy in the cavernous Green Valley Resort ballroom might have passed for any conference of entrepreneurs pitching their business plans to poker-faced angel investors - until an organizer took the podium for a public service announcement.

Please stop smoking weed out by the parking lot, he implored. Hotel security did not approve.

The gathering this month of several hundred Wall Street types, tech industry disrupters, agricultural enthusiasts and assorted others shrugged and went back to the business at hand: leveraging the legalization of marijuana into a windfall.

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Pot Hedge Funds and Others Join the Frenzy to Turn Legalization into Financial Windfall.

HENDERSON, Nev. - The frenzy in the cavernous Green Valley Ranch Resort ballroom might have passed for any confab of entrepreneurs pitching their business plans to pokerfaced angel investors - until an organizer took the podium for a public service announcement.

Please stop smoking weed out by the parking lot, he implored. Hotel security did not approve.

The gathering last week of several hundred Wall Street types, tech industry disrupters, agricultural enthusiasts and assorted others shrugged and went back to the business at hand: leveraging the legalization of marijuana into a windfall.

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CARSON CITY - Backers of an initiative petition to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in Nevada said Friday they have collected far more than the required number of signatures to bring the measure to the ballot in 2016.

Joe Brezny with the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol said the group plans to turn in about 170,000 signatures to county clerks Wednesday. The group needs 101,667 signatures from registered Nevada voters to qualify the measure.

Brezny said he expects to have nearly two times the number of signatures needed in each of the state's four congressional districts.

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Recreational Marijuana Coming to Nevada

Republicans weren't the only ones living the high life on Election Day. Proponents of legalized, recreational marijuana also were big winners, with decriminalization measures passing in Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C. Nevada could be the next state to join them. Oregon's ballot measure passed Tuesday night with 54 percent of the vote, creating the country's third legal market for recreational marijuana (Colorado and Washington state voters passed similar measures in 2012). Oregon residents 21 and older can now possess and grow marijuana. Hours later, Alaska became the fourth state, with 52 percent of voters approving a measure to tax and regulate the production, sale and use of marijuana, making its use legal for people 21 and older. Florida voters narrowly rejected recreational marijuana despite providing majority support - that state's measure required 60 percent of the vote to pass but received 58 percent.

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Lawmakers Face Variety of Upcoming Issues About Medicinal Use

CARSON CITY - Medical marijuana dispensaries are on the verge of becoming a reality in Nevada but that doesn't mean the smoke has cleared on a number of pressing issues related to the medicinal use of the drug.

From concerns about what some argue is Nevada's indefensible standard for driving under the influence of marijuana to whether college students should be able to use medicinal marijuana on campus, a whole array of issues will likely come forward for debate in the 2015 session of the Nevada Legislature.

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Not everybody has been happy with Nevada's medical marijuana process, but that doesn't mean it's broken.

That's according to investment banker Leslie Bocskor, a founding chairman of the Nevada Cannabis Industry Association and adviser to five Southern Nevada medical pot permit hopefuls.

Bocskor has provided seed funding and permitting guidance to a dozen pot entrepreneurs looking to navigate land use and business licensing in Nevada and two other states.

He said the Silver State's two-pronged approach to pot permitting has acquitted itself nicely, especially when stacked up against oft-criticized systems in Colorado and California.

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Re "Return of the Messenger" (Feature story, Oct. 2):

After reading your article on Gary Webb, I was saddened to see his cause of death once again listed as suicide. Really? this man uncovers a drug-running scandal that winds up implicating two former presidents and our intelligence-gathering apparatus and then takes his life by shooting himself twice with a .38 revolver? Again, really? The Mockingbird machinery is obviously still in place and well oiled. I'm sure you're aware the first shot exited through his lower left jaw. Please show on a diagram an angle how this is possible without it being a ridiculously counter intuitive way to hold a weapon. To the other readers out there, stand in front of a mirror pretending to hold a revolver and try to find a believable way to to make that first shot. It doesn't work. What more can be said, other than "the mighty Wurlitzer plays on."

Robert Franklin

Sun Valley

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For perhaps the first time since Nevada finally got serious about implementing its medical marijuana laws, a state regulation makes sense. The state's Division of Public and Behavioral Health announced it would not invoke its discretionary authority to limit the amount of marijuana grown in Nevada to between 650,000 and 1 million square feet.

That's the right call: The entrepreneurs who set up marijuana growing and dispensing businesses should be the ones making the decisions about how much they need, based on their best estimate of what the market demands. Sellers note that some products - such as lotions infused with marijuana - require more of the drug to manufacture.

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UNLV's most impactful recruit this year might be nowhere near the basketball court.

Nevada's state and federal lawmakers have been working to bring medical marijuana researcher Dr. Sue Sisley to the university to conduct a pilot study on the safety and efficacy of marijuana on veterans with chronic and treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder.

While the study would be financially supported by sponsors and not receive any federal money, it has received all the federal approvals, said Sisley, who has been working on securing the study since 2011. She is hoping the university will provide the research space.

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To the editor:

Now that marijuana is becoming more accepted in our society, people are fearful that we will have lots of motorists driving around on our streets impaired. Here's a news flash: We already have drunken drivers, people texting and playing games with their cellphones, people trying to eat a three-course meal while steering their vehicle and a host of other distractions once we get on the road.

Let's face it, the streets are a jungle and it is survival of the fittest. People smoking pot and driving is just one more spoke in the wheel, no more or no less dangerous than any of the other factors.

Tim Hicks

NORTH LAS VEGAS

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Nevada Regulation Allows Limits on Cultivation of Marijuana

The cost of medical marijuana might already be headed upward in Nevada, and the dispensaries and grow houses haven't even opened yet.

The situation has drawn concerns from not only the entrepreneurs who hope to make lots of money from such operations but also from local governments that have approved applicants hoping to break into the fledgling industry.

At the heart of the matter is a state regulation that allows, but doesn't require, the state Division of Public and Behavioral Health to limit the cultivation of medical marijuana in Nevada. The state estimates Nevada needs about 650,000 to 1 million square feet of medical marijuana cultivation space to support the needs of Nevada residents and out-of-state visitors with medical marijuana cards.

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Wolfson Argues Current Law Is Too Vague to Determine Driver Impairment

Determining whether a motorist is under the influence of marijuana is much more difficult than determining whether a motorist is under the influence of alcohol.

Nevada's DUI marijuana laws need to be changed to reflect the impairment of the driver, not just a standard blood level, according to Clark County's top prosecutor, some lawmakers and pot advocates.

In Nevada, if there is enough THC - marijuana's active ingredient - in the blood system despite passing a field sobriety test, the driver is "per se" guilty of DUI of a controlled substance; per se meaning the driver is guilty without consideration of extraneous factors.

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To the editor:

Regarding medical marijuana, Rep. Dina Titus stated she supported an amendment to a bill stipulating that financial institutions would not be penalized for working with the medical marijuana industry ("Titus: U.S. law will keep banks out of the medical pot industry," Aug. 28 Review-Journal). The amendment was also supported by Reps. Joe Heck and Steve Horsford. Rep. Mark Amodei voted against it.

All four Nevada representatives voted for another amendment that denied funds for the Justice Department to prosecute doctors and others who abide by state laws.

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The state's public college system continues to ban pot out of fear of losing federal funding even as Nevada is moving toward opening its first medical marijuana dispensaries early next year.

The Board of Regents on Thursday gave initial approval to an amendment to include medical marijuana to the long-standing policy banning controlled substances on all campuses and system facilities. The policy update includes possession, use, cultivation, manufacturing and delivery.

Marijuana remains an illegal controlled substance under federal law, and university system officials are concerned that allowing any marijuana use would jeopardize nearly $500 million in annual federal funding, including the nearly $370 million in student financial aid.

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My neighbor and friend Andy Whyman wrote a guest column in the Aug. 15 Sierra Sun and Aug. 24 Bonanza stating his case for legalizing pot. Hopefully after he reads this we will still be friends. But Andy is just plain wrong on this issue and here is why.

His opening paragraph states that "the criminalization of marijuana is a war on citizens, particularly citizens of color." So by that reasoning we should legalize killing in the inner city neighborhoods for the same reason. Or maybe make mass murder legal because it is a war on white people.

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No Neon, No Problem, Says City in Announcing Waivers

If you want to set up a business on Las Vegas Boulevard between Washington and Sahara avenues, one thing's for certain: You will need a neon sign.

Unless you're in the medical marijuana industry.

Though the city's Scenic Byway Plan requires all establishments in that part of the boulevard to have signs with 75 percent neon to preserve the road's storied history as a glowing desert landmark, the city of Las Vegas is making an exception for owners of the medical marijuana dispensaries rapidly spreading across the Las Vegas Valley.

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The federal illegality of pot hangs "like a cloud" over banks wanting to be involved in the medical marijuana industry, Rep. Dina Titus told an industry advocacy group Wednesday.

"Bankers are not allowed to do business with what is considered an illegitimate activity," said the Nevada Democrat. "Dealing with marijuana is still illegal under federal law, so banks are hesitant to get into that business as much as they would like to."

However, the best way to provide legitimacy to the new industry is to provide access to the federally regulated banks, she said.

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It's not surprising that both the Florida Sheriff's Association and the Florida Medical Association oppose legalizing medicinal marijuana. Expanding public access to legal marijuana is bad for business. Locking people up for minor drug offenses and maintaining a monopoly on the bountiful pain-relief industry are two aspects of the status quo that law enforcement and physician groups have an interest in maintaining.

Sure, they dress up their concerns in different terms. But I don't buy it.

"The dangers of marijuana have been well-documented in recent years with increased crime and traffic accidents in states that have passed legislation legalizing marijuana," the Florida Sheriff's Association announced. "For example, of the 20 states with the highest driver acknowledgement of drugged driving, 15 were states that have passed legislation legalizing marijuana."

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Now that the Carson City Board of Supervisors has approved two "medical marijuana" pot shops for our town, Sheriff Ken Furlong and his officers should prepare themselves to deal with the dangerous side effects of marijuana, including the possibility of hash oil explosions in residential areas.

I learned about hash oil explosions during a recent family visit to Seattle, where "recreational" marijuana is legal. In fact, I saw four pot shops sporting green crosses - presumably to advertise pot's alleged medicinal properties - in the 10-mile stretch of highway between Snohomish and Woodinville in the Seattle suburbs.

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With so much of Washington preoccupied with increasing federal power at the expense of our rights - think IRS, NSA, DEA, and on and on - it's cause for celebration when someone suggests decreasing government power to protect our rights.

Now comes Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who seeks to end the racket known as asset forfeiture.

The federal government and state and local authorities use asset forfeiture laws to seize the property of criminal suspects. Although the people who have their assets seized are presumed innocent until proved guilty, their property does not enjoy due process protections. If police and prosecutors merely suspect that your assets were obtained or used in the commission of a crime, they can take the property from you. And to get your property back, whether it's cash, a car, a cellphone or a house, defendants have the burden of proving the property was obtained and used lawfully.

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