Medical marijuana: Sandoval should sign enabling bill into law

Nevadans have waited long enough for legislation that allows the sickest among us to obtain doctor-prescribed marijuana. Gov. Brian Sandoval can end that wait this week.

Nevada voters approved medical marijuana more than 12 years ago because they recognized its value to the seriously ill. Especially for patients who suffer from nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite and weight loss as a result of chemotherapy or medication, marijuana is salvation from suffering.

However, when the electorate enshrined medical marijuana in the state constitution in 2000, the amendment left it to state lawmakers to determine “appropriate methods for supply of the plant to patients authorized to use it.” And a 2001 law crafted in response to the amendment did not allow the sale of medical marijuana. To this day, the only way for patients to legally obtain marijuana is to grow it themselves.

Last year, a District Court judge ruled that the enabling statute was unconstitutional because it gave patients no realistic way to obtain marijuana. And so this year, the Legislature finally honored the will of voters. Senate Bill 374 would allow Nevada’s 3,400 medical marijuana patients to purchase physician-prescribed doses of marijuana through licensed, state-regulated dispensaries.

Gov. Sandoval has been relatively quiet on the issue, expressing support for patient access to marijuana but wanting to see final legislation before making a decision on whether to sign or veto the bill. He should sign SB374 into law.

First, Nevada is not reinventing the wheel here. Sen. Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, Sen. Mark Hutchison, R-Las Vegas, and other lawmakers modeled SB374 after laws in other states, even traveling to Arizona together to see how that state’s regulated dispensaries work. New Mexico and New Jersey also have regulated medical marijuana producers.

Second, Gov. Sandoval has put a premium on respecting the wishes of voters. That’s why he openly supported an increase in Clark County’s “More Cops” sales tax, which was passed by the electorate as an advisory question in 2004, even though the governor generally has opposed tax increases. Gov. Sandoval should side with voters on medical marijuana, too.

Gov. Sandoval is a former state attorney general and federal judge. He has seen, first-hand, how federal prosecutors carry out the nation’s ongoing failed war on drugs. Washington has no respect for state medical marijuana laws. But if dispensary operators are willing to take the risk of paying thousands of dollars in nonrefundable taxes and fees to operate in such a climate, they should be allowed to do so.

Will there be costs associated with regulating dispensaries? Of course. But dispensary and patient taxes and fees should cover much of those costs.

Most importantly, medical marijuana already is allowed under the Nevada Constitution. Nevada lacks a constitutional law to get marijuana to sick people.

In the interests of the law and the ill, Gov. Sandoval should sign SB374.