Pot action may not affect Nevada

Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2003 | 9:18 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The U.S Supreme Court decision Tuesday on medical marijuana will probably have only a "marginal" impact on Nevada doctors, the director of the state's medical society said.

The Bush administration had wanted the Supreme Court to rule that the federal government could take action against doctors who prescribe or recommend use of marijuana for their patients, but the justices refused to formally consider the request.

Larry Matheis, executive director of the Nevada State Medical Society, said Tuesday many doctors already had been advising their patients about the use of medical marijuana despite the risk of being disciplined by the federal government.

"There's been an adequate number of physicians (in Nevada) to counsel" patients who want to use marijuana to ease their pain or treat their illnesses, Matheis said.

People in Nevada may apply to the state Department of Agriculture for a permit to use medical marijuana without being arrested. The person must show a document from a doctor that he or she has been diagnosed with a chronic debilitating medical condition and that medical marijuana may help the condition.

Agriculture Department Director Don Henderson said 330 patients are registered in the program and have cards that say they can use marijuana without fear of being arrested.

Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, called the Supreme Court ruling a "victory for doctors and their patients." She said the federal government's effort's to overturn the states' laws on medical marijuana are "misguided, uninformed and a waste of taxpayer money."

Giunchigliani noted the voters in Nevada twice overwhelmingly approved the use of medical marijuana. She said the federal government should accept the role that marijuana plays in health care.

Giunchigliani backed an unsuccessful effort last year that would have made it legal for a people to carry relatively small amounts of marijuana. She said she expected the federal government to continue its efforts to overturn the will of the people in the states for these programs.

Matheis said the Drug Enforcement Agency focused its efforts on a few physicians in California and Oregon, trying to revoke their licenses. In Nevada, doctors do not prescribe but only sign a statement that marijuana may be helpful to a patient.

He said that because people in Nevada have voted to include medical marijuana in the state's constitution "it's inappropriate for the federal government to try to overturn this."

Matheis said that when Nevada adopted its medical marijuana program, he asked whether the state attorney general's office would defend a doctor who runs afoul of the DEA. He said he was assured the state would take the case.

The Nevada law says a person with a "chronic or debilitating medical condition" can seek a state card to have marijuana. This includes AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, severe nausea, epilepsy, severe pain or other medical conditions.

The 2001 law also asks the University of Nevada School of Medicine to conduct a study to evaluate the effectiveness of marijuana. But the school has reported that the federal government is disapproving of that research.

The legislation also calls for the state to get approval from the federal government to establish a bank or repository of seeds that would be used to grow medical marijuana. Lawmakers also suggested that the state Agriculture Department pursue a program in which it may produce and deliver marijuana to people who use the drug.

None of that has been done, however.