Rural Nevadans opted out of medical pot

CARSON CITY — Much of urban Nevada is quickly moving forward to license medical marijuana dispensaries, but patients in some rural areas might find it difficult to obtain the drug because local governments are opting out.

Another barrier to getting the drug is the apparent lack of interest by entrepreneurs to operate in the sparsely populated areas. Nevada’s rural counties reported little to no interest from applicants wishing to establish dispensaries, according to the Nevada Association of Counties.

The City Council in Fernley, which in 2010 had a population of 19,368, voted 3-1 last week to prohibit the dispensing, growing and manufacturing of marijuana for medical purposes within the city limits, according to Mayor LeRoy Goodman. The action taken was to direct staff to draft an ordinance to officially ban a dispensary in the Northern Nevada city.

“I’m surprised,” said state Sen. Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, who authored the bill in the 2013 Legislature to establish the medical marijuana dispensary program. “There are lots of people that live there who want access to it and won’t be able to get it, and that will put a burden on voters.”

Segerblom said those cities are losing out on potential tax revenue that can be generated by the dispensaries, and if voters don’t agree with the Fernley City Council’s decision, they should vote those politicians out of office.

The drug has been touted as an effective pain reliever that counters nausea, helping cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Legalization proponents also say it helps patients with AIDS, glaucoma, epilepsy and a handful of other diseases.

Elsewhere in Lyon County, Yerington Mayor George Dini said a medical marijuana dispensary is “not a good fit for our city.” The town in 2010 had a population of 3,048.

With decisions by both Lyon and Storey counties not to allow dispensaries, residents of this western Nevada region will be forced to drive elsewhere to purchase medical marijuana. A patient from Yerington would need to travel 120 miles round trip to get to the nearest dispensary in Carson City.

This same scenario could play out across much of the rest of rural Nevada as counties opt out of the dispensary program.

Such prohibitions have drawn criticism from medical marijuana proponents.

“Since we as citizens of the state of Nevada passed this law in 2001, it’s been a right to grow marijuana in the state, but we as patients are suffering because not everyone can grow it,” said Julie Monteiro, RN and cannabis educator who spoke at a meeting of a state panel that deals with the medical marijuana program.

“If we the people have decided this issue in 2000, how can cities veto something that has been voted into law?”

Monteiro believes that some local governments are limiting patients and their right to obtain their medicine and that it might encourage patients to continue to purchase their medicine from the black market or go without.

Concerns from rural counties included conflict with federal drug laws which prohibit the growing or sales, as well as the perception among local law enforcement that dispensaries would be connected to an increase in crime.

There are other challenges in rural Nevada as evidenced by Esmeralda County, Nevada’s least-populated county that lies northwest of Las Vegas. There, county officials approved licenses for dispensaries, but the county has no zoning regulations, which are needed to construct a building.

Clark County and its incorporated cities can have up to 40 dispensaries under the law passed by the Nevada Legislature in 2013. Washoe County, the second most populous in the state, is allowed up to 10, and Carson City can have as many as two. Every other county in Nevada is entitled to one dispensary but local elected officials have the right to opt out of the program.

The licensing and approval process is moving quickly in nearly all of the communities in Clark County. The County Commission has already approved 18 potential dispensary operators.

Officials in North Las Vegas have already approved their ordinances, and the city of Las Vegas and Henderson also are moving forward approving regulations that would allow medical pot businesses. Boulder City has banned a pot dispensary from being built in the city.

The small city of Mesquite on the eastern edge of Clark County it still considering the proposal.

“The issue of creating a dispensary is still alive,” said Andy Barton, Mesquite city manager. Barton said a community forum on the issue will be held later this month at City Hall.

According to Jennifer Lee, deputy city clerk of the city of Ely, the City Council has not considered medical marijuana dispensaries but there is discussion about taking up the issue in the future. The Elko City Council on March 25 implemented a two-year moratorium until its government revisits the subject.

While many local governments, from Washoe County to Carson City to those in Southern Nevada, are advancing the licensing process, the ultimate approval will come from the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health.

The agency will accept applications for medical marijuana licenses over 10 working days starting Aug. 5 and ending Aug 18. Then a 90-day review process will begin. State officials will score and rank dispensaries, cultivators, laboratories and production facilities for the entire state.

Chad Westom, who is overseeing the medical marijuana program for the state, said the review is a merit-based ranking process established in state law and regulation. Once applicants have a provisional certificate from the agency, they will have to secure local government approval before they can open for business, he said.

The review will be performed by 12 state employees and 15 contracted employees who are specialists related to the medical marijuana industry.

There is no appeal process for applicants who are denied a certificate, although they could reapply in the following year.

Westom said a fully operational medical marijuana establishment could open in Nevada by early 2015.

Contact Capital Bureau reporter Whip Villarreal at wvillarreal@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901. Find him on Twitter: @WhipVillarreal.