State could enter pot-growing business

Erin Neff

Tuesday, April 10, 2001 | 11:15 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Voters have twice overwhelmingly supported medicinal uses of marijuana, provided patients sign up for a registry.

But the bill that would enact the will of the voters contains two additional concepts -- state cultivation of the drug and reducing the severity of minor possession.

Assembly Bill 453, sponsored by Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, is modeled largely after Oregon's medicinal marijuana law.

An unidentified woman in Las Vegas, who was granted immunity for her testimony this morning, said her paraplegic husband does not wish to break the law by using marijuana for medicinal purposes to ease severe spasms.

"We are just struggling to survive," said the woman, called Rose for identification purposes. "Our goal, of course, is not to break the law, but only to help his condition."

The state's involvement in the proposed medicinal marijuana system includes a registry form, with identification cards issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles, and the cultivation of marijuana in indoor greenhouses.

Dan Geary of Nevadans for Medical Rights, which initiated the ballot question, said state-run cultivation is the safest way for patients to obtain the marijuana and for law enforcement to track the plants.

"We have to keep in mind the intent of the voters," Geary said.

Voters approved Question 9 in both 1998 and 2000 by a two-thirds margin.

John O'Brien, regional manager of the state's Agriculture Department, said he envisioned a highly secure building -- "a reverse prison" -- to serve as an indoor greenhouse. He estimated the cost at $750,000 and said his department's chemistry lab could establish tests to check the drug's potency, at a cost of about $8,500.

Each sample could be tested for about $82, he added.

Assemblyman Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas, asked who would set the market value for the marijuana.

"You wouldn't want to 'give it away,' " O'Brien said.

O'Brien said his research shows the market value at $350 an ounce, but that the marijuana could be sold for $250 an ounce in a program that would pay for itself.

Assemblyman Greg Brower, R-Reno, wondered why the bill is complicated.

"Why can't we simply treat it like any other prescribed drug?" Brower asked.

Giunchigliani said the federal government doesn't treat marijuana the same as drugs such as Valium. However, she said, she does not believe the federal government will interfere with the 14 states that have passed medicinal marijuana measures.

Giunchigliani said attorneys have cautioned her not to establish a state cultivation program.