State won’t give medical marijuana to patients

Monday, Aug. 27, 2001 | 11:22 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Department of Agriculture, the agency that will operate the state's new medical marijuana program, won't help those with debilitating illnesses to either get the seeds or grow the plants.

The department, at a final public hearing Friday, said it would be up to individuals or their caregivers to obtain the seeds to grow the marijuana.

The state Board of Agriculture meets Thursday in Carson City to adopt the final regulations. The law becomes effective Oct. 1, and the department will have applications ready Sept. 24 for individuals to fill out and qualify.

Those with chronic illnesses such as cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, epilepsy or multiple sclerosis can ask their physicians for a recommendation that the use of marijuana would ease their pain or help in curing the disease. Once they receive the statement from the physician, they can apply to the Agriculture Department for a permit.

That entitles people to have one ounce in their possession plus seven plants.

At the public hearing Friday, George Clack asked how a person can get the seeds to grow the plants. He said it would be a federal offense to receive them through the mail. He also wondered about instructions to grow the plants.

The state should assist the ill person or caregiver in getting the seeds, he said.

Don Henderson, assistant director of the Agriculture Aepartment, said it will not provide any information on how to grow the plant or obtain the seeds. The law says the department must ask the federal government for permission to start a seed bank, but there has been no approval yet.

The biggest objection to the proposed regulation centered on caregivers. The department has determined that a caregiver can only have one patient who is in the medical marijuana program at a time.

Witnesses told agriculture officials that caregivers are hard to find. They suggested the regulation be amended to allow a caregiver to have multiple patients, but a limit be placed on the amount of marijuana the caregiver could possess.

The department is afraid that caregivers could grow a large number of plants to take care of all of their patients.

"The federal government has not tried to enforce the laws" in the other nine states that have medical marijuana programs, Henderson said.

"If we allow a caregiver a large quantity, that will put it on the federal radar screen," he said.

Kristina Phillips of Carson City said she had a disabled husband with four children. She did not want to grow the plants in her home and wondered if the cultivation could take place in her brother's house.

That would not be allowed, Henderson said.

He added that people who have marijuana cards in California would still have to get approval in Nevada.

After residents get clearance, they must have a background check, costing $5 to $20, to determine if they have a conviction for drug sales. An ID card from the state Department of Motor Vehicles will cost another $9.