'NO LAW' AGAINST IT

Las Vegas Grants First Marijuana-Related Business License

Bill Kosinksi, whose back was injured in a car accident, uses
marijuana.

It's legal for medical purposes in Nevada, though the federal
government -- ignoring the 10th Amendment -- does not approve.

Nor is it easy to get the state's registration card, which costs $200,
all told. Mr. Kosinski says his took a year. He even had to get
fingerprinted.

In order to get registered. To legally use a naturally occurring plant
with few known toxic effects. For medical purposes.

So onerous is the registration procedure that five of six people who
are mailed state applications never return them. So, it occurred to
Mr. Kosinski there might be a business opportunity there, helping
patients navigate the regulatory hurdles.

He applied for a city business license for his proposed Medical
Marijuana Consultants of Nevada -- and was promptly turned down, in
June.

There was a concern that Mr. Kosinski might be planning to grow or
distribute marijuana, which would be illegal under federal law,
explains Jim DiFiore, manager of the city's Business Services
Division. But as it turns out, "He's simply going to assist someone
with an ailment who needs to see a doctor who would prescribe medical
marijuana," Mr. DiFiore says. "We have no law that denies an
opportunity to do that."

So, on Monday, the city of Las Vegas finally gave Mr. Kosinski his
license.

(How the right to conduct a legal business became a privilege
requiring a "license" is a good question in and of itself -- but one
reform at a time.)

For a fee, Mr. Kosinski now proposes to guide people with health
problems to one of the 170 Nevada doctors who have recommended
marijuana for their patients. He will also advise them about Internet
sites where they can learn where to buy marijuana seed and how to grow
the plants -- of which registered Nevada patients are allowed to
possess seven, only three of which may be mature.

Much of the confusion over Mr. Kosinski's application was because this
is the first such license to be issued by the city, Mr. DiFiore explains.

Las Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic even warns that a case now working
its way through the federal appellate courts might bar Mr. Kosinski's
enterprise, at which point "he won't have a license."

But at least the city's licensing agents -- finding no law against
what Mr. Kosinski proposes to do -- have finally done the right thing,
and granted him his license.