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Courtesy Metro Police
Metro Police raided a sophisticated marijuana grow operation inside a house located on the 800 block of Vegas Valley Drive Monday night, seizing more than 200 plants with a street value of $700,000.
By J. Patrick Coolican (contact) 
Friday, Oct. 26, 2012 | 2 a.m.
J. Patrick Coolican
Sun coverage
- Marijuana backers courting conservatives (10-18-2012)
- Police raid marijuana grow house in Seven Hills (10-10-2012)
- Officers on patrol uncover marijuana grow house (10-04-2012)
- $7 million in marijuana is unearthed at Mount Charleston (09-27-2012)
- Authorities uproot pot farm on Mount Charleston (09-13-2012)
- Nevada part of coordinated crackdown on marijuana grow sites (08-21-2012)
- Pahrump drug bust nets $5.7 million worth of marijuana, officials say (08-10-2011)
- More columns by J. Patrick Coolican
- More political stories
Let’s talk pot.
Perhaps the most consequential decision faced by voters in three Western states, other than control of the White House, are voter initiatives that would legalize marijuana.
Polls suggest voters in Colorado and Washington may approve initiatives to do so while Oregonians are more reluctant.
This would be a welcome retreat in the most foolish front of the Drug War, and one that would likely mark the beginning of the end of marijuana prohibition.
“If any of them pass, it will be the first time since the widespread prohibition of marijuana that any state pulled back,” says Morgan Fox, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates reform. “It will be a really big deal.”
If these states legalize marijuana, Nevada, which has tried and failed to legalize in the past, should consider doing the same. I’ll return to that later.
Marijuana prohibition is becoming less popular by the day. A Gallup poll last year found that 50 percent of Americans favor legalization, a first. Just as astounding is the trend, as support has doubled in about 15 years.
Demographics help explain this, as there were 45 million Americans between 18 and 29 as of 2009, with more coming. These people are more socially liberal than their parents. What they realize is that it’s just not a big deal.
Marijuana filled a room at 2440 Turtle Street in Pahrump in August 2011. The alleged operator of the grow house was 28-year-old Amos Cavallo.
There’s also growing skepticism about the effectiveness of marijuana prohibition, and it’s coming from conservatives. William F. Buckley, the late godfather of conservatism, was long a voice against prohibition, but lately it’s become a chorus of conservatives. This shouldn’t be surprising. Although marijuana is often associated with the lefty counterculture of the much reviled 1960s, the drug war requires big government resources to achieve its dubious ends. It is expensive and inevitably leads to the abuse of government power.
Conservative columnist George Will recently gave a full airing to the idea of legalizing not just marijuana but “hard drugs,” as well: “(I)t is not unreasonable to consider modifying a policy that gives hundreds of billions of dollars a year to violent organized crime.”
Rich Lowry, the editor of the conservative National Review and longtime critic of marijuana prohibition, wrote recently, “Exhaustion is finally setting in with the enormous human and fiscal costs of attempting to eradicate the ineradicable.”
What costs? According to the Drug Policy Alliance, more than 850,000 Americans are arrested every year for marijuana-related crime, including 750,000 for possession only. This contributes to our having the highest incarceration rate in the world. We spend $51 billion per year on the drug war.
Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron concludes that legalizing marijuana would save federal, state and local law enforcement about $8.7 billion.
(Am I the only one baffled by story after story about Metro police making another pot bust while Sheriff Doug Gillespie complains about budget constraints?)
Miron also estimates that if taxes on marijuana were commensurate with current alcohol taxes, the levies would raise another $8.7 billion.
Metro Police released this picture from a raid on a marijuana grow house discovered in the 8300 block of Fox Brook Street.
Obviously, legalization would come with public health risks. But consider alcohol, which kills 40,000, not even counting alcohol-related homicides and accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tobacco, meanwhile, is responsible for 1 in 5 American deaths, or nearly 500,000 people per year when you factor in victims of second-hand smoke.
How many people die from smoking pot, eating munchies and watching Colbert? Basically zero.
Despite all this evidence, the politicians remain way behind the public. Enforcement is such a failure that most people who want to smoke pot do so without thinking twice, but they aren’t about to come out of the shadows and join a movement to pressure the politicians. (Plus, ha ha, they might be too lazy.)
Meanwhile, Democratic elected officials, who should be pushing this issue, are cowards, feebly whimpering in the face of anticipated attacks that they are the pot party. They all fear the inevitable TV ads about “Congressman So-and-So has gone to pot.”
So that leaves state initiatives.
The problem with this route is that it will create a messy conflict with the federal government, as we’ve already seen with medical marijuana. For the sake of argument, however, let’s assume the feds don’t put up a major fight. In that case, it will be a huge deal if Washington and Colorado approve state-licensed marijuana stores. It will be a source of unending fascination by the national press. Although Washington and Colorado would still prohibit marijuana use in public places, marijuana tourism can’t be far behind. Catch that? Tourism.
Think of the possibilities.
Some Colorado business leaders are opposing the measure because they don’t want Colorado to become known as the pot state. (To which I might reply: Too late.)
This is certainly a risk for Nevada. Our “What happens here” image has created its own branding challenge as we also try to be known as something other than a pleasure capital.
The train, however, is leaving the station. In a decade, I’m guessing marijuana will be legal in a dozen states or more. It would be a strange break with our libertarian tradition if we weren’t one of those states.
If our quickie-divorced, prostitute-procuring, degenerate gamblers want to chill their frazzled nerves with a marijuana cigarette, who are we to tell them they can’t?
Actualy, An article like this in the state of Nevada confirms that the current decriminalization of MJ in Colorado has no bearing on the illegal distribution of Colorado MJ or its subsaquent state legalisation as it may relate to cartel or gang distribution of MJ.
There are people here apposed to the state legalization of MJ and use the line that it would make the state a haven for Illegal cartel or gangs to distribute MJ to minors.
MJ will be distributed to minors with or without it being legalized on a state or federal level. this should be an issue that the states and feds continue to prosecute as its unacceptable.
The real issue is the fact that the majority in most states do in fact beleive that the current state and federal policy's are no longer the will of the people. ( Probably realy never were)
Clearly current regulation has nothing to do with common sense!.Many States and the feds would prefer to allow funding the cartels over funding needs of the American people through taxes?.
By not legalizing,the federal Government would prefer allowing these same illegal drug pushers to maintain contact with the children of our state/country?, allowing our children access to other drugs that truely are harmful to our children?.Continue to allow funding the cartel's activity's all across the world?.
Its way past time the American people wake up to the harm this war on Marijuana has cost us all!. currently 17 states have realised there is an issue regarding the ignorant beleif that mariuana is an evil herb with no real benefits. Soon there WILL be states such as Colorado and Washington letting our government know that there policy's maintaining MJ as an illegal drug have destroyed to many life's by incarsuration for possesion or distribution and that the current policy's actualy fund illegal activity all across the world.
To many good people inprisoned for nothing more than a joint or a bag of pot as well as a perminant record of a drug conviction. What a joke!.
Marijauna will be legal in my lifetime. Thats a fact you can take to the bank.The People that think MJ is harmful are a dieing bread in this fight to sustain an unmoral, unethical, war against the citizens of the U.S.A for the use of Canibus, by the U.S Government to maintain a status quo that wasnt justifiable in the 1930's and is without a dought unjust in the 21st century.
The war on drugs ( Specificaly MJ )is nothing more than a modern day witch hunt based on propaganda and false acusations that ignorants in position of control continue to try making the sheep follow. Problem is, the sheep out number the ignorant's in the 21st century and that thought process is no longer relevent in todays society!.
Time for states and the feds to pick a new war becouse this one is coming to an end very soon!.
https://www.facebook.com/TheTruthAboutSt...
Great article. And by the way, per capita, we have about 6 times as many people in prison as China.
The best way to eliminate marijuana in the USA is to tax it. And heavily.
CarmineD
If it's that big a deal, then why is it that every single time NV has had legalization on the ballot, the stoners never come out in droves to vote for it? It's always been voted down.
Don't Legalize Marijuana!
Because:
It is a 'drug', even if it is non-addictive and doesn't present profound health issues like alcohol and tobacco.
Cancer patients don't really need the medicinal qualities that alleviate treatment side effects.
thousands of otherwise innocent users deserve to have their employment prospects ruined through marijuana felony convictions.
marijuana felons overcrowd our prisons and ensure job continuity for thousands of prison guards. Besides we don't need the space for violent criminals.
marijuana distribution provides immense amounts of money to criminal enterprises and drug cartels. Support your local cartel.
marijuana is a 'gateway drug' with a vast underground distribution network. How else would users find out about and get their hands on addictive and dangerous drugs like cocaine, crack, meth, etc.
government doesn't need any more tax revenue like the billions it would get if marijuana was a legal drug available for sale under the same or similar rules and restrictions as alcohol.
Police departments need the diversions they get from busting marijuana users. Don't make them focus their time on other crimes which are more harmful to individuals or society.
We're too free and we need more governmental intrusion into our personal lives.
It's long past time to end the "war on drugs." Forget about the fact that its been a total failure and has cost us dearly in money, time & effort that could have been used to fight real "crime." The more important reason is: What business is it of the government in a "free" society as to what we ingest as long as it does not physically harm another? There is a case for going after those incapacitated by alcohol or drugs who threaten others on the roadways or elsewhere. But, to stop morons from smoking pot or shooting up heroin? As long as they are not performing criminal acts to get the money to buy their choice of poison, let them ruin themselves, I say. Another thing, why is it legal to execute the innocent unborn, but illegal to smoke a joint? Where are our priorities?
We keep hearing about "legalizing marijuana for recreational use", but what it really appears to be is an attempt to legalize marijuana as a far safer alternative to alcohol.
According to the CDC, alcohol kills 80,000 people every year in the U.S. while marijuana kills none, and marijuana's addiction potential is only about the same as coffee.
Since marijuana is far safer and far less addictive than alcohol, we could GREATLY reduce the amount of harm and addiction in society by giving people the right to switch from the more harmful drug, alcohol, to the less harmful drug, marijuana.
Paranoid old men are keeping marijuana illegal and making our children LESS safe.
Legalize marijuana now, then it will be cocaine and heroin down the road. The other half of Las Vegas will be driving around impaired. We need tougher penalities and prison time for drug users and abusers. Marijuana is a drug that impairs the senses. A DRUG! No more slaps on the wrist. The ones that want to legalize marijuana are usually the ones that are using it illegally.
The war on drugs is a waste of time and money.
The US waste over 50 BILLION DOLLARS per year NOT INCLUDING THE 6 BILLION the government spends on putting people in jails because of these STUPID LAWs.
It costs $40,000 per year to keep the people in jail.
You could simply pay them this money to live in rental properties and spend on consumer goods.
It would be a huge boost to the economy and create jobs.
Legalize it and tax it.
I am going to agree with Mr. Fink here. You want to use drugs and you are not hurting others than have at it. Don't waste our tax money and resources on it.
Here is the question though. As you are shooting up, you OD and end up in a gutter but still alive. Who pays for your medical care and taking care of you because you have shot up to much and can no longer function?
So now I can smell the stench of marijuana everywhere I go that smoking is allowed?
No thanks.
" No more slaps on the wrist."
I'm tiring of cranky old white men.
The war on drugs will never end, way too much money to be made from it! Decriminalize not legalize.
It's not legal?
The Presidents have smoked marijuana. But the poor man goes to jail.
You're right Coolican and thanks for your honesty and bravery to state the facts.
Legalization does not have to mean there are no restrictions and various controls similar to alcohol. The penalties should be similar for driving impaired, under-age possession and the various abuses that we see with alcohol. No public consumption, etc.
The battle is with these task-force clowns who paint their faces, dress up in the cammo with the macho Vietnam style patches and listen to Credence Clearwater on the MP3 as they hike up the mountain with their GPS and box lunches. These wannabees need to have a cause and some way to stroke their own ego without actually joining the military or going to Afghanistan! I mean there's no In & Out Burger in Kabul and people actually shoot at you over there!
Comment removed by moderator. Inappropriate
Coolican really needs to learn the definition of "most people."
Legalization will give the president even more reasons to visit Nevada.
Like most of the pro pot crowd Coolican glosses over the complications caused by pot being a federally controlled substance. I watched for years in CA as this same argument has gone on there.
I would vote in favor of legalizing pot for medical reasons with a legal prescription from a practicing doctor with hospital privileges or other mechanism to prevent the abuses we have seen from the throngs of phony pot docs that have sprung up in CA and other places.
Would I vote to legalize pot for general use by adults? Maybe. Depends on the legislation, how it's worded and how the tax revenues are controlled. Done properly it might be useful. Done badly, it would create more problems than solutions and once passed would be almost impossible to rescind or correct. The danger of justifying legalization on the basis of tax revenues is that politicians always want to get their hands on more scrip for buying votes, new million dollar special interest groups would spring up over night and law enforcement would have a nightmare until it all gets straightened out which could take a decade or more and millions of tax payer dollars through dozens of court challenges.
And of course, as we have seen in neighboring states, when the feds bust down the doors in armored vests carrying letal weapons to raid the dispensaries and related activities they couldn't care less about state law or lawyers.
Nevada did run a pro-legalizarion candidate in the primary Dr. Stephen Frye whom is an international expert on the drug war and marijuana. It would have been nice had his campaign recieved attention before the primary on this issue. I do commend the Democratic party for allowing this candidate to run through his primary as a litmus test as to the will of Nevada voters about legalization. Here was his website http://fryefornevada.com/ if the voters want this bad enough they will need to organize and mobilize to make it happen. I for one have seen too many people suffer from cancer, HIV, MS, at the end of their lives with the additional burden on them that they are breaking the law getting the marijuana that gives them relief. Nevada needs to step up and bring sanity to its medical marijuana program to actually help patients. This is wht you should be asking everyone running for local office today what will they do to help the patients on medical marijuana today who still can't get what they need and have to still break the law by going through a dealer.
I will support ending the war on drugs if we also end the war on poverty.
No way! There's enough drunk and lousy drivers there now without being high on marijuana and driving. Hope Wa state votes NO on it. Terrible law to want to legalize marijuana!
re: lady61
Do you think that people aren't driving around stoned now?
"If these states legalize marijuana, Nevada, which has tried and failed to legalize in the past, should consider doing the same."
Coolican -- I'm surprised you're coming off as another ignorant journalist. The good people of this state legalized medical marijuana by changing our Constitution in 1998. Anyone can see that @ http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Const/NVConst...
I've raised this point over and over in articles like this, yet none of you have bothered to ask our legislators why 14 years later we still don't have those laws in place -- despite their oaths of office to support, protect and defend that Constitution.
"The best way to eliminate marijuana in the USA is to tax it. And heavily."
CarmineD -- why? It's literally a weed and grows just fine wild.
"It's long past time to end the "war on drugs."
lvfacts101 -- good post, but I'd take it up to the next level by querying those against decriminalization why growing hemp is still illegal. That more than anything spotlights the utter stupidity of these laws. In a few minutes I'll be sitting down to my usual morning breakfast, hot 10-grain cereal with raw, shelled hemp seeds. Since hemp in any form is also highly illegal, this incredibly nutritious food must be imported from Canada.
"Tobacco, hemp, flax and cotton, are staple commodities." -- from Thomas Jefferson "The Works," vol. 3 (Notes on Virginia I, Correspondence 1780-1782), "A Notice Of The Mines And Other Subterraneous Riches; Its Trees, Plants, Fruits, &C."
If the US really wanted to wage a war on escalating national debt they would legalize pot, and gay marriage across the country. Making far more economical growth in areas that are underutilized for making and putting money in to our economy and tax system.
I am a Canadian living in B.C., the home of BC bud. We have not been able to decriminalize pot up here although the vast majority of folks think that it is a good idea and would agree with the majority of comments posted here. The war on pot is big business - helicopters flying around my home looking for growops, courts and police wasting tax dollars on investigations, sting operations, media spinning. All this goes on while organized crime reps the profits of what could and should be a legitimate industry and taxation base for our province.
It seems like an easy fix to generating more tax revenue, but I'm afraid of the social consequences. I'm no drug expert and I don't know how addictive and harmful it is compared to other drugs, but it is a drug. I'd rather see budget cuts than have a few people waste their lives away because they finally decided to try marijuana since it's legal and end up getting hooked.
The medical marijuana cards in all the states is a joke. For a hundred bucks certain doctors will give you one for a hang nail. Just look at California. There's probably more medical marijuana cards out there than driver's licenses. Only a joke there. As for taxing it and making it legal, it will continue to be grown illegally if it is taxed. My main concern would be the driving public. We already have problems with booze, marijuana would just add to it. The problem with the drug war is that people get off with a slap on the wrist. The punishment needs to be severe and painful.
WBTerry6, that would be impossible. For SEVENTY YEARS we've tried to do exactly as you suggest and we've completely failed. All we've achieved over those seven decades to full our prisons with non-violent "offenders" until now we have more people in jail than any other country in the world.
This is NOT success! This is unmitigated failure, and increasing the severity of the punishments handed out for victimless "crimes" is NOT going to make us any more successful.
Take a look at the countries that EXECUTE drug users - notice how even this most draconian of punishments DOESN'T stop the people in those countries from using drugs? Even if the U.S. joined in this abhorrent practice we also would still FAIL to stop drug use.
And ask yourself this, do you really want to live in a country where YOUR door could be smashed down at any time due to paranoia over a plant? Isn't it just more sensible to legalize marijuana like beer and wine and let adults decide for themselves what they'll put into their bodies and how they'll keep themselves safe?
Mrs. Kramer,
What makes Dr. Stephen Frye a international expert on the drug war and marijuana?
Nothing on his web site would back up that statement.
Legalize it and tax it. We will reduce the number of prisoners and generate revenue. I double if a lot of people are going to run out and start smoking pot just because it is now legal. Most people who would want to smoke pot already do and have access to it.
Go ahead legalize it, just like in California and then don't regulate it, so you have a pot store on every corner like in some parts of LA. Even in LALA land, they tried to regulate after the fact and failed miserably.
If it is legalized here, develop a proper controlled and regulated system of distribution. Don't allow all sorts of co-ops or dispensary to just start hanging out a shingle. And don't allow every pot head with a headache to get a so called prescription. Make it the same as any other medically controlled substance. No pseudo "green health clinics". Allow the normal family physician to prescribe it just like he or she would with any medicine.
Big Pharma will always fight this idea tooth and nail. Just think what it will do to the legal drug market.
But I agree, it is long past time to legalize pot.
They call it "dope" for a reason.
@missd who calls it dope? lol
so its legal for me to go buy 5 bottles of jack daniels and drink myself to death but if i wanna smoke a little and watch some tv, somehow that is wrong. Its been proven that marijuana is a harmless drug. If the drunks are allowed to go buy bottles everyday, smokers should be allowed to fire up at home. For all you religious freaks, if GOD made everything then he made pot. its not a man made substance it grows wild.
You people make me sick. How can anyone sit here and say, "Wah, wah, I'm a little baby, life is so hard, I can't make it without using a mood modifying drug. I need marijuana to make it through the day, to survive." You sit there with pride and say the solution to this gateway drug and all the problems with it is to legalize it. Yeah, let's make the useage age one year old. If it is so great and harmless, we should have 5 year olds and nine and ten year olds use it too. It is harmless, and we need MORE tax revenues. Thirteen year olds and 14 year olds would enjoy it in the privacy of their homes, not hurting anyone. They could get jobs like delivering newspapers, cutting the neighbors' lawns, to get money to afford it. This would boost the economy and we would get even more tax revenues than from just letting adults use it. No need to prevent people from driving while impaired either, can't have gov't intrusion.
Comment removed by moderator. - -
Works for me. Those who would drive intoxicated are doing that now. We might need a little realistic scientific help with how long after one is considered sober.
First thing Pat, there has never been one proven case of anyone dying of second hand smoke. Get your facts, before you make a ass of yourself. Second, its been proven that marijuana is addictive. You have proven that you can't do your job and your a left wing nut.
Who is against growing hemp for use in clothing? Dow Chemical and other big Corporations who produce synthetic material at the expense of denying American farmers another potential cash crop and American consumers with choices of earth friendly natural materials used by peoples for hundreds of years but illegal here in America because our congress representatives are self-serving greedy money hungry trough feeders.
The for profit U.S.A. Prison industry relies on slave labor of poor unfortunates many of those whose only crime against the state was enjoying smoking pot in the privacy of their homes, a right guaranteed & protected by the 4th amendment to our U.S. Constitution > The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches...
The gamed Drug Court system of Nevada is basically a jobs program for Democrats trapping Nevada's youth into 18 months of not being able to find work or maintain a job because of unrealistic counseling times 2x a week; wiz quiz tests 2x weekly,going to court at least 2x a month. Added to courts costs expense are traveling costs for fuel and road time especially for those living in rural central Nevada where Tonopah-Nye and near-by Esmeralda County do not offer or have a program" forcing Drug Court participant's to spend large amounts of money and time traveling. There-by guaranteeing prison time for anyone that fails to support the Drug Court jobs program. Who does this help, kids smoking pot or bureaucratic employment? I will say that the program does offer meth addicts a chance to clean up.
Paul, I agree with your assessment of the for profit U.S.A. Prison industry. I think that the pot smoker is not a danger to society. There are already laws in place about driving when high. The Libertarian part of me says let people be free to pursue their own hapiness if they are not hurting anyone else.
Marijuana for adults should be no problem. In that respect, it is not a dangerous gateway drug. Parents are responsible to see that their kids do not have access to it, just like alcohol. It is a product that could generate tax dollars, instead of wasting tax dollars as current law enforcement enforcing existing laws does. I am tired of the charade suggesting that wiping out marijuana is accomplishing something.
O.K. First I call bull$hit on the article saying that a little more than 200 plants were valued at $700,000.00 That comes to get this $3,500.00 per plant and I don't see that plant producing enough buds to recoup that cost.
Second I could be convinced to go along with it provided all monies saved and taxes collected could go into the Obamacare fund.
Third It is not a drug because a drug has been manufactured ie changing the chemistry by man where as MJ is nothing more than a herb.
Fourth I do not think more people would suddenly start smoking this it would only allow those that currently use it to do so more openly.
Fifth The last bag I bought and smoked was four fingers wide in a sandwich bag it cost me $15.00 back in 1981 I quit because it was too expensive.
Sixth I will move my business there and employ the pot smokers so I can control them to increase my wealth.
No to this harmful drug. The writer is incredibly naive. He should be writing for some college newspaper.
few years after they legalize, tax and control it...
folks will wonder what the big deal was.
Uhhh, heh heh, heh heh...
I think Prohibition was in the 20's & up to about 1933, so it was mostly in the 20's. The 30's was when the Great Depression took place, starting in late 1929. You might wanna check your history books. Of course if you smoke pot, the memory thing might be due to it. It's good to dry out now and then. Clarity IS a good thing, even though I do share Jerry Fink's opinion.
I'm surprised that we haven't seen comments from BChap, his time as a corrections officer might provide some enlightenment. I concur with several correspondents here: too much money and too many jobs involved in keeping ot illegal.
The worst thing that's going to happen smoking pot and driving is stopping at a STOP sign and waiting for it to turn green.
Legalize it now!
Question: Is there a quick an easy way to tell if a person in impaired? - An equivelant to a breathalyzer?
I don't care what people do in their own homes, but if they get behind the wheel and cause an accident, is there a way to test them at the scene that is easier than a blood draw?
Patrick..get a life. It is a stupid bad idea. You are just as stupid to suggest it. You need to go back to junior high and learn how to write something sensible.
Everyone can freak out about Supporting a Drug Cartel and what not with Marijuana but what about Over the counter Drugs, Doctors are giving people over the counter drugs that are harming there bodies, not helping at all and also are causing serious health problems all to push the drug for the Sellers of those Drugs.
Compare that to Legalizing Marijuana and I would rather see a person sick taking Pot than something that has a WARNING LABEL that say.... WARNING - If you take this drug for your head ache your could bleed from your rectum, have your eye pop out, may have a rash for 3 days, hair may or may not fall out etc..
I see both sides of the Story here but.. Honestly the People that Smoke Pot are goin to smoke pot and the people that do no, will not. So Making it Legal is not goin to change much. Companies have drug testing rules and yet people that smoke week work for them and still pass the test. So, Unless your trying to look for people to Burn like they did to Lance Armstrong, what is the big deal.
Everyone Seems to Try to Push there MORAL BELIEFS on to the Subject. Moral Beliefs are for the House Hold. This is a National Issue. Look at the Bigger Picture. We need to kill this Debt and Marijuana could help as long as our Greedy and Selfish Congress can spend the Money Correctly. State government as well.
Ending the (so called) war on drugs has been a 3rd rail of American politics since the days of Ronald (who proved that anyone can be president) and carried on by Geo Jr. (who proved that it can be dangerous to have one).
It is going to take a while for the politicians to climb out of their bunkers (you don't expect a politician to have something common like a fox hole do you?). And the Tea Bagger part of the party of No is just waiting to jump on anyone brave enough to go down on the public record as being in favor of ending something that has cost, blood and gold beyond measure.
I am sure that the Tea Baggers will claim that legalizing pot will lead to the collapse of western civilization, it is hard to understand how such a claim can be made since in places like the Netherlands pot has been De-criminalized for so long with no effect other than all the people wearing wooden shoes.
I would think it a total no brainer in a state that is so heavily dependent on tourism.
IE Legal Pot = More Tourists = More revenue for both the city and the state.
I think it especially makes sense in the state that leads the nation in unemployment. In states with authorized dispensaries, that require the dispensary to grow their own for resale each new dispensary means at least 20 new jobs.
And in a state that is having so many problems balancing it's budget you would think the the additional revenue from taxing legal pot would be of interest, not to mention the additional savings from de-cluttering the police, court and prison systems.
I think it is telling that much of the support to maintain war on drugs comes from the prison guard union.
Disclaimer/Conflict of Interest
For transparency I need to say that I have a conflict of interest in this question.
I am a stage IV (recurrent) lung cancer patient. Pot is one of the few things I can count on to maintain my appetite, in fact it is one of the few things I can count on to make the bad days a little better.
The current medical marijuana laws in Nevada are just about worthless.
First you have to get the card, which with the fee's and background check costs over 600 bucks, and has to be renewed annually. Unable to work I have a very limited income and simply cannot afford to get one.
If I had a card, without a network of dispensaries such as they have in other states, it would do me little good. I doubt that I could afford set up an indoor growing system, and outdoor growing would simply result in an endless parade of bad guys coming over the fence to rip me off.
Jump the que, lets make Nevada the 3rd state to legalize recreational pot.