HEARING REVEALS CONTRADICTIONS SURROUNDING NEW MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

A hearing Tuesday to answer questions about Nevada's new medicinal marijuana
law left people with many uncertainties that some said could force them to
break the law.

"First you've got to be illegal to get the seed, so you're in jeopardy, and
when you harvest the plant you're in jeopardy," said Gary Brown, one of the
few potential users who attended the meeting sponsored by the Department of
Agriculture at the Sparks City Hall.

Gov. Kenny Guinn signed the law June 14, to take effect Oct, 1.

The Department of Agriculture anticipates that between 200 and 400 people
will enter the program in the first year, but officials said they will be
prepared if many more join.

Assistant Director Don Henderson said the program has many problems but most
changes would have to wait until the next legislative session.

"The contradiction in the whole law is you want to make something that's
useful for the people who need it, but won't be taken advantage of by the
people who want it," he said after the meeting, which drew about 10 people.

The program allows medical marijuana users registered with the Nevada
Department of Agriculture to legally grow, own, transport, or use up to one
ounce of marijuana, and seven marijuana plants. But users are not exempt
from federal laws and are still liable for federal prosecution.

Participants during Tuesday's meeting said the program allows growing and
use, but it doesn't provide any way for them to initially start growing
plants, or account for the fact that harvesting three blooming plants will
yield more than one ounce of marijuana, putting growers in violation of the
law.

Under the plan, participants will get a signature from a physician
confirming they suffer from a qualifying illness, give fingerprints and be
checked in a regional database of 11 western states to see if they have ever
been convicted of selling drugs.

Each year, participants will register anew for the program and receive a
card from the Department of Motor Vehicles proving their right to use small
quantities of marijuana: one ounce of marijuana, three mature plants, and
four immature plants.

There will be no cost to register, but there will be fingerprint and ID card
costs.

Qualifying illnesses include AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, muscle spasms including
muscular dystrophy, seizures and severe nausea. Interested parties can also
petition the Division of Health to include other illnesses or symptoms.

The design is based on similar medical marijuana programs in Oregon and
Maine, with most of the plan legislated, not created by the Department of
Agriculture.

Meeting participants worried that the marijuana program could not address
several of their concerns, the primary one being how to get it--both when
patients first start to grow, and for those patients who can't grow
themselves.

"People who can't grow their own are forced to the streets for access," said
Kathy Chambless, whose husband suffers from chronic pain. "It's not safe."

Chambless, 49 of Fallon described her's as a "normal, average-joe family."
With her hair held back in barrettes, and lilac shirt dotted with tiny blue
flowers and buttoned to the top, she doesn't fit the stereotypical portrait
of someone who would be comfortable growing marijuana.

She first became interested in medicinal marijuana use when her dying
mother's oncologist recommended marijuana to alleviate the pain. But, said
Chambless, she couldn't obtain it because it was unsafe to purchase it
illegally.

"I sat and watched her suffer and she died in my arms in excruciating pain,"
she said.

Chambless pointed out that street marijuana may not be pure, and the areas
where people buy it aren't necessarily the safest.

"If I'm selling drugs, and I don't have money, and I'm desperate…" she said,
trailing off. "You just don't know."

Other participants expressed concerns about getting doctor's signatures.
Although physicians won't be prescribing marijuana, only certifying that a
person is ill, some doctors still may not want to have any part of the
program. The Nevada State Medical Association has gone on record as opposed
to it, and participants said their own doctors feared federal reprisal.

While the law protects professionals from having their licenses yanked
because of medicinal marijuana use, it also says that businesses don't have
to accommodate use. Agricultural officials didn't know whether workplaces
could fire someone for using pot to ease pain outside of work hours.

Costco touts its drug-free workplace, and Reno store general manager Phil
Reddick didn't know how he might handle a medical marijuana case.

"We will have to take it if it does come up," he said. "I guess we'll have
to wait and see."