Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
President-elect Donald Trump, legalized marijuana, gun background checks ... Nevadans are still reeling from last week's election results. Big changes are ahead, and if you are like most people you have a lot of questions.
Perhaps no issue has raised more eyebrows in this part of the state than the marijuana initiative that will legalize adult possession of up to one ounce, under sales regulations that have yet to be enacted. Like our city and county leaders, we at the Elko Daily Free Press don't know exactly how this is going to play out locally.
That's why we are starting a "marijuana countdown." Over the next six weeks we will be asking questions and providing readers with the answers we get from public officials and others who will be impacted by the new pot policies that take effect Jan. 1.
When and where will marijuana be available for purchase from a Nevada dispensary? How will police know if someone is driving while stoned? Will schools be prepared if children take marijuana-laced edibles to their schools?
The new law gives the state Department of Taxation a full year to set up licensing regulations, but legal pot could be sold before then.
Existing medical marijuana dispensaries have the first shot at retail sales, and the tax department is working on issuing temporary licenses that could allow the first legalized pot sales to happen by next summer, according to a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. That's earlier than the 2018 deadline but much slower than Oregon, which had its medical dispensaries selling recreational pot within a month of their law being enacted.
The budding marijuana industry is anxious to start sales in Nevada.
"If you have a situation where it's legal to possess and use marijuana, but there's no legal mechanism to purchase it, you are creating a bigger black market by definition," Andrew Jolley, co-owner of medical marijuana company The+Source, told the Review-Journal. "The sooner we can allow retail sales, the better the outcome for the community, and the faster the transition away from the black market to the regulated market."
Here in Elko County there are no medical dispensaries, thanks to moratoriums enacted by city and county boards. But local governments cannot ban retail sales, they can only enact zoning restrictions that might limit where pot will be sold.
Elko and other rural counties can only have two dispensaries, according to the law. But how much control will public officials have over deciding where they are placed? Will Elko have two, or will one be in West Wendover or Jackpot?
West Wendover is reportedly interested in a dispensary, because of its relative proximity to Salt Lake City, where the potential for out-of-state sales would be an economic boon but also could raise issues with law enforcement if the drug is transported across state lines. Will they set up drug checkpoints?
How long can cities or counties drag their feet when it comes to approving a retail dispensary? Could it take up to three years for Elko to get one, as Undersheriff Ron Supp suggested at Monday's county commission meeting?
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Editorial - Countdown To Legal Marijuana In Elko County
Author: Staff
Contact: 775-738-3118
Photo Credit: Christine Hochkeppel
Website: Elko Daily Free Press
Perhaps no issue has raised more eyebrows in this part of the state than the marijuana initiative that will legalize adult possession of up to one ounce, under sales regulations that have yet to be enacted. Like our city and county leaders, we at the Elko Daily Free Press don't know exactly how this is going to play out locally.
That's why we are starting a "marijuana countdown." Over the next six weeks we will be asking questions and providing readers with the answers we get from public officials and others who will be impacted by the new pot policies that take effect Jan. 1.
When and where will marijuana be available for purchase from a Nevada dispensary? How will police know if someone is driving while stoned? Will schools be prepared if children take marijuana-laced edibles to their schools?
The new law gives the state Department of Taxation a full year to set up licensing regulations, but legal pot could be sold before then.
Existing medical marijuana dispensaries have the first shot at retail sales, and the tax department is working on issuing temporary licenses that could allow the first legalized pot sales to happen by next summer, according to a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. That's earlier than the 2018 deadline but much slower than Oregon, which had its medical dispensaries selling recreational pot within a month of their law being enacted.
The budding marijuana industry is anxious to start sales in Nevada.
"If you have a situation where it's legal to possess and use marijuana, but there's no legal mechanism to purchase it, you are creating a bigger black market by definition," Andrew Jolley, co-owner of medical marijuana company The+Source, told the Review-Journal. "The sooner we can allow retail sales, the better the outcome for the community, and the faster the transition away from the black market to the regulated market."
Here in Elko County there are no medical dispensaries, thanks to moratoriums enacted by city and county boards. But local governments cannot ban retail sales, they can only enact zoning restrictions that might limit where pot will be sold.
Elko and other rural counties can only have two dispensaries, according to the law. But how much control will public officials have over deciding where they are placed? Will Elko have two, or will one be in West Wendover or Jackpot?
West Wendover is reportedly interested in a dispensary, because of its relative proximity to Salt Lake City, where the potential for out-of-state sales would be an economic boon but also could raise issues with law enforcement if the drug is transported across state lines. Will they set up drug checkpoints?
How long can cities or counties drag their feet when it comes to approving a retail dispensary? Could it take up to three years for Elko to get one, as Undersheriff Ron Supp suggested at Monday's county commission meeting?
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Editorial - Countdown To Legal Marijuana In Elko County
Author: Staff
Contact: 775-738-3118
Photo Credit: Christine Hochkeppel
Website: Elko Daily Free Press
