If one thing became clear in this, the RN&R’s first
(and probably last) Pot Issue, it’s that attitudes toward
marijuana in Northern Nevada, and the world beyond, are wide-ranging
and illogical.
Let’s see if we can make 10 general statements to lead us to a
universal theory of reefer policy.
1) Sick people should be able to get their legal medicine without
having to grow it themselves, which is akin to telling heart patients
to make their own nitroglycerin.
2) Marijuana use is rampant in most areas of our society.
3) Marijuana is considered so innocuous that many people consider it
a laughable topic.
4) Marijuana is useful as a medicine and a brownie ingredient.
5) Marijuana is illegal with certain medical and experimental
exceptions. During Prohibition, alcohol was illegal, although alcohol
for use in religious practice and for medicinal purposes was permitted.
Even now, children can have wine in church. The First Amendment trumps
the medical establishment, so why is there not a religious exemption
for Rastafari use of the ganja sacrament? This appears a government
preference for Christian religious practice.
6. Marijuana is a more environmentally destructive plant when grown
illegally.
7. Marijuana’s cousin hemp has many commercial uses that are
verboten under the United State’s draconian dope laws.
8. Marijuana makes us laugh giddily and take politics seriously.
9. There is so much misinformation about marijuana out there that
it’s difficult to tell exactly what is the truth about the
plant.
10. Marijuana makes music—even GWAR—sound better.
It is time for the United States and particularly Nevada to
grow up and regulate marijuana. This state misses many benefits through
prohibition rather than regulation. If pot were legalized for all
adults in any quantities and taxed accordingly (although once freely
available, who isn’t going to grow their own?), a whole new
tourism industry could be developed, and if Nevada took the lead in the
humanitarian effort to get marijuana to sick people, people from some
36 states would beat a path to our casinos.
It’s not government’s job, particularly in a libertarian
state like Nevada, to decide what is acceptable to put within
one’s own body, and it’s certainly not acceptable for
government to set onerous regulations on medical marijuana when the
Nevadan voters specifically and decisively told the Legislature to make
medical marijuana available to sick people.
C’mon people, Nevada should tune in, spark up, and quit
playing the hypocrite.