Jason Whited
Las Vegas City Life
November 5, 2009
If some enterprising activists have their way, pot will be Sin City's next growth industry.
Emboldened by a creeping, nationwide acceptance of medical marijuana and a recent U.S. Department of Justice decision not to prosecute such cases in states that allow it, Nevada cannabis advocates say now is the time for Las Vegans to enjoy legal, California-style dispensaries, which have sold medical-grade weed for years.
Apparently, the entrepreneurs here among the activists also know those Golden State dispensaries do pretty well, raking in at least $200 million in sales last fiscal year, according to California records.
The only thing standing in the way is the Nevada Revised Statutes, which, although allowing medical marijuana here since 2001, don't permit anyone to buy, sell or trade the plant, its seeds or its flowers in exchange for money or anything of value -- what the law calls "consideration."
"But if somebody wanted to challenge that law, we believe that little word, consideration, is where we should focus attention. We believe it could be challenged using the Equal Protection Clause in the 14th Amendment," says Mike McAuliffe, a longtime pot activist.
While the Equal Protection Clause figured prominently in civil rights activists' dismantling much of America's institutionalized racism, it's never been used to force states to allow patients to buy weed.
McAuliffe demurs when asked if he'd join a number of Nevada activists now openly discussing hiring lawyers, opening dispensaries and taking their chances in court. Dispensaries are cropping up from suburban California to Denver, many pot activists here say, why not sell openly to patients here too, despite the state ban?
"Here in Nevada the people voted that marijuana is medicine. If it is medicine then why can't you buy it like any other medicine? Nevada should be constitutionally required to treat cannabis the same way as any other medicine," says McAuliffe.
For years, underground pot gardens have flourished at various points around the valley. Despite the illegality of cannabis changing hands for cash, hundreds of medical marijuana patients here who can't grow their own already buy from a network of underground gardeners.
Activists say the social hypocrisy of allowing the use of a substance while not providing reasonable access to it is thicker than a stand of pot trees, especially considering some medical marijuana patients in the past have waited more than six months for Nevada officials to renew their state-issued cards.
"The state, in its wisdom, does not want to have a large, secure, managed program by which to serve the needs of the patients. Instead, the state prefers to have at least 1,000 small grows," says McAulife.
Grass, roots
For now, the fervor largely remains in the grassroots of this movement. Paul Stanford, founder of the nine-state pot-referral chain The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, who also operates a Las Vegas branch, says he and other cannabis entrepreneurs prefer to lobby state lawmakers or push for ballot initiatives.
"Getting a medical marijuana card in Nevada is an onerous process ... but the free market can handle marijuana. When it's legal the price will come down to $10 an ounce. I mean, this stuff literally grows on trees. It should not be as expensive as it is, and we need to stop this whole charade for patients," he says.
Still, neither McAuliffe nor any of the activists or dealers interviewed for this story would predict when Las Vegans could soon see their first pot dispensary -- or whether they or someone they know will personally challenge the state ban.
Beth Soloe, who two weeks ago unveiled the Las Vegas Cannabis Club (Southern Nevada's first legal marijuana collective whose members show patients how to grow and harvest their own plants), predicts something must break.
"The law talks about 'appropriate methods' for patients to get their medicine, but this does not mean patients who are very sick growing for themselves ... also, this part about no compensation was added a couple of years ago, when they decided to make a few changes to the law. We are in the process of asking the [Nevada] attorney general for a ruling on this issue, and she's gonna have to make a ruling," says Soloe.
Dave Schwartz, Nevada manager for the Marijuana Policy Project, an organization that has spent millions here in the state on two marijuana ballot initiatives in 2002 and 2006 (when 44 percent of voters here cast ballots in favor of regulating it), says his organization is constantly focused on building support for the legalization and taxation of marijuana.
Schwartz says he agrees with a January 2009 CityLife analysis that predicted at least $28 million in new state revenue in the wake of such a measure -- nearly three-quarters of the estimated $39 million in tax dollars city of Los Angeles would lose if officials ultimately pass a recently proposed ban on dispensaries.
Schwartz says the Marijuana Policy Project is now "weighing all our options" on whether to push another ballot initiative or to work with state lawmakers to introduce a bill taxing and regulating the plant.
better and different
Chris Giunchigliani, the current Clark County commissioner and former state assemblywoman whose legislation first enabled and codified the state medical marijuana program in 2001, says many people think it's time to move past even the idea of medical dispensaries.
"I think nationally the polling data shows our drug policy has failed and that we have to think better and different about this issue. And there's a revenue issue, where you can also stop driving things underground. You know, treating this as a criminal issue instead of a public health issue, those [prohibitions] were made by people who drink Chardonnay ... let's start thinking about how to regulate it and collect the taxes on it," she says.
Newly reinstated U.S. Attorney Dan Bogden tells CityLife the recent federal decision to stop prosecuting medical marijuana patients here is in keeping with his philosophy, although whether he'd prosecute someone for opening up a pot dispensary is something he says he'll examine in consultation with local and state law enforcement officials.
"It's something we'd sit down with and discuss with District Attorney David Roger and the attorney general. But at this point, we don't have any intel about this happening," he says.
