Lawmakers plan to close pot loophole

Erin Neff

Monday, Feb. 26, 2001 | 11 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- State legislators find themselves in quite an unusual position this session after learning they inadvertently made it legal to grow up to 100 pounds of marijuana.

Now Senate Judiciary Chairman Mark James, R-Las Vegas, is hoping to send the 1999 session's mistake up in smoke.

The legal loophole was created in 1999 when Assembly Bill 454 deleted the prohibition against growing marijuana from one section of law. The intent was to insert it into another section of law, but the Legislature adjourned its first 120-day session without the second step taking effect.

James told his committee on Friday a new bill must be introduced "to correct a mistake we inadvertently made during the last session."

"We had no idea we made that legal," James said.

While growing up to 100 pounds of pot is currently legal, it is still against the law to possess or sell marijuana. And growing more than 100 pounds of marijuana is still in place because that amount applies to trafficking and felony statutes.

Someone could conceivably grow 99 pounds of marijuana in an open field without facing any fines. But attempting to harvest the crop would be against the law.

The Nevada District Attorney's Association asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to introduce a bill outlawing the growth of marijuana.