MEDICAL MARIJUANA: STATE-RUN POT FARM IDEA SINKS

Lawmakers Look At How Patients Could Get Drug

CARSON CITY -- Members of an Assembly committee spoke out Tuesday against a
plan to have the state operate a marijuana farm for people who need the
drug for medical reasons.

"I'm hesitant to have a state-run program," said Assembly Majority Leader
Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas. "The state has no money for the startup costs."

She made her comments after state Agriculture Department officials said
they would need $750,000 to build an indoor farm to cultivate marijuana for
an estimated 400 patients.

Patients then would be charged $250 per ounce for the state marijuana. The
plan could yield $1.2 million a year for the state.

Assemblywoman Gene Ohrenschall, D-Las Vegas, questioned how patients who
may be nearly indigent could afford the cost.

Their comments came during an Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing on
Assembly Bill 453.

The proposal would implement the voter-approved constitutional amendment
that allows people suffering from cancer, AIDS and other illnesses to
secure legal marijuana.

The bill by Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, also would make
the possession of one ounce or less of marijuana a misdemeanor, punishable
by a $600 fine.

Possession of any amount of marijuana in Nevada now is a felony, although
the law allows people to receive probation and clear their records if they
attend an anti-drug use program.

While some witnesses said people in rural areas still are being charged
with felonies for using small amounts of marijuana, the Department of
Prisons has no inmates for such offenses.

Glen Whorton, a spokesman for the prisons, said 15 inmates are serving time
for violating terms of their probation after they were convicted on minor
marijuana charges.

The prisons system has more than 10,000 inmates.

The committee took no immediate action on the marijuana bill. Chairman
Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, said members may approve amendments Thursday.

Without a state-run farm, Giunchigliani said, patients could obtain
marijuana as they do now -- by growing their own or buying it illegally.

"They would purchase it as they purchase it currently," she said.

She considered the state farm as a possible option because the security and
distribution of marijuana could be controlled.

But Las Vegas police Lt. Stan Olsen said he opposes a grow-your-own medical
marijuana plan.

"If they grow their own, how do we know they are not selling it?" Olsen asked.

Oregon, which has a medical marijuana law, allows patients to grow seven
marijuana plants. AB453 as currently written has no limitation.

After the hearing, Buckley said she may consider an amendment that permits
Nevada's medical marijuana program to begin only after the U.S. Supreme
Court gives its consent to such programs.

The court recently heard an appeal by the Oakland Cannabis Cooperative
against federal moves to close down its marijuana distribution center. A
decision should come this summer.

Buckley said from what she has read it appears the high court is leaning
toward finding state marijuana programs unconstitutional.

"I haven't made a decision on whether we should delay it or not," she said.
"On one hand we are charged with implementing the will of the people. But
it seems the U.S. Supreme Court is going for the first time in many
decisions to rule against states' rights. I don't think they are going to
allow state experiments with medical marijuana."

During the hearing, a Las Vegas woman identified only as Rose said
marijuana has helped her husband, who is paralyzed from the chest down,
live a productive life as a banker.

Without pot, he suffers from uncontrollable spasms that can throw him from
chairs.

"Our goal is not to case trouble," she said. "We are struggling to survive."

Only a couple people testified against the bill. Gemma Waldron, a Washoe
County deputy district attorney, said patients can use Marahol, a legal
prescription drug, which has the same chemical characteristics as marijuana.

Janine Hansen, state president of Eagle Forum, said marijuana today is 25
times more potent that the type sold in the 1960s.

She said marijuana damages the lungs and brain and leaves "users passive
and devoid of personal ambition."